Cops Searched Hot Car Dad’s Medical Records, Electronics
Published at
iStock/Thinkstock(MARIETTA, Ga.) — Police investigating the Georgia dad accused of leaving his son to die in a scorching SUV while he sexted women searched his medical records, electronics and family’s home for evidence in the case.
They seized and searched an iPhone 5, computer hard drive, thumb drive, memory card and DVD-R belonging to Justin Ross Harris for anything that shed light on his “finances, credit card debt, business information, life insurance,” family issues and more, according to search warrants released on Monday.
Authorities in Cobb County also had access to Harris’ and his son Cooper’s medical records, the documents show.
The warrants, dated June 27, reveal how police determined that Harris, 33, and his wife, Leanna Harris, had conducted Internet searches on animal and child heatstroke inside cars.
Prosecutors say that proves Justin Ross Harris, who faces felony murder charges for the June 18 incident, purposely left his 22-month-old son Cooper in the SUV to die of hyperthermia while he was at work at Home Depot.
His wife has not been charged with a crime.
Police also focused on the fact that Harris returned to his car during the day to drop off a box of light bulbs he bought during his lunch break, while his son boiled in the backseat.
A warrant to search the home shows police were looking to see if there were already enough light bulbs in storage at his home to “determine if there was a need to purchase light bulbs the afternoon of the incident.”
A judge denied Harris bond during a court hearing on Thursday on the basis that he could face the death penalty in the boy’s death.
Harris sat quietly in an orange jumpsuit during the three-hour hearing as a prosecutor portrayed him as a straying husband who wanted to live a “child-free life.”
Harris had exchanged explicit photos and messages with “multiple women,” including a 17-year-old girl, and was even sexting women on the day his son died, the prosecutor said.
A detective who testified also raised questions about Harris’ and his wife’s behavior on that day.
Cobb County Police Department Detective Phil Stoddard said the couple appeared unemotional and that Justin Ross Harris never shed a tear. When Leanna Harris went to pick up Cooper from the day care center, she was quick to say, “Ross must have left him in the car,” Stoddard said.
Witnesses who testified on Justin Ross Harris’ behalf said he was always gushing about his son, and that his hysterics upon finding the boy dead were “definitely genuine.”
Harris’ attorney, Maddox Kilgore, maintains that his client is a loving father who forgot to drop his son off at day care.
Follow @ABCNewsRadio
Copyright 2014 ABC News Radio