I agree. This and him not noticing immediately when he got in the car after work. I live in the same general area, and if leave so much as a half cup of coffee or a banana in my car during work, I can both smell and feel the difference in the air of the hot car.
I don't see many similarities between this case and accidental hot car deaths. No hectic morning, no thinking someone else got the baby out, no unusual routine, the baby was awake and active just minutes before, the car seat was easily visible, and, most damning to me, RH had no moment of clarity or panic - no trigger throughout the entire day - that he had "forgotten". There were so many prompts that could/should have jogged his memory, i.e., texting about Cooper that morning, seeing his car at lunch (not to mention going to the car and opening the door), asking LH about Cooper and daycare, driving off at the end of the day. I simply can't believe he had no occassion throughout the day to remember and realize he no recall of dropping Cooper off.
I wonder if he planned to "find" Cooper at lunch, but then decided against having to pull off that scene in front of people who knew him well. Maybe he thought he had a better chance of convincing an audience of strangers.
That said, everyone deserves a fair trial and I hope he gets one. I also hope the end result is the same.
Well, of course premeditation is possible. After Chris Watts, every case of a "lousy husband, good father" raises serious questions, tbh.
However, another version, "distractibility, and that day got distracted by own sexting", is not impossible. That still leaves him responsible for everything else, but removes premeditation. I guess we shall never know, either way.
Interestingly, the statistics of "forgotten babies" did not change since 1994. I just read that the first year when the numbers went down was 2020, the COVID year, the fewer-miles-per-day-year. So I assume that since this case did not change the numbers for 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 etc., when the case became known,...and only less time spent in cars changed it, then, maybe, this guy, still, belongs to the bigger statistics? It sounds horrible, "distracted by own sexting to minors and forgot his son in a hot car". But, maybe not "intentionally"?
(Myself, 60 unintentionally/40 premeditated). Not sure. Here is the article with the data year by year. It is from attorneys, but the data is the same everywhere. Very sad to read.
From other sources "National Safety Council reported
24 deaths in 2020, but in 2018 and 2019, the number reported was 58."
While forgotten baby syndrome can occur any time of year, it is particularly deadly from April to September every year. On a warm spring or summer day, a
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