First - I do not have a opinion on this case one way or the other. not enough facts yet.
Now, I would like to comment on the smell of death in and around the car. My comments may seem insensitive, but they are not meant to be so.
Cooper was a toddler, not a large person. lets assume that he had been dead for 6 hours. 6:15 at the most. Given the temperature, this would put him in middle stages of rigor, and in the maximum stage of livor. Neither would have an effect on the smell, but would obviously affect the appearance. His body would have been through the "fresh" stage and VERY beginning the "bloat" stage of decomposition. There would likely be no outside (insect) activity, but there would be processes happening within his body that would result in trapped gasses and fluids.
Here is the "insensitive" part...please skip if you like......
imagine about 14 pounds ( the amount of relevant tissue in the toddler - half body weight) of whatever you want to imagine from your butcher shop, and it is loosely wrapped in a very thick plastic wrap. There are two holes in the wrap, the size of a half dollar at the top, the size of a nickel at the bottom. Imagine this package in the car for that time. The smell would be very noticeable, but not horrible or overpowering. Now, grab the package roughly while you struggle with buckles and straps. Pick it up in the center and squeeze and hold it, pulling it out of the car and setting it on the ground, and compress it, etc., etc.
2 minutes later 2 cops can come along and talk to each other. "did you smell the car? go smell the car!" there is no way he didn't smell that!
remember, the toddler's skin would not be decaying. There would be a build up of gasses and fluids, all of which would be expressed during the process described. It would be obvious that the baby was dead from the beginning, but to a parent, babies are sometimes thought to be alive until they are pried from the parents hands.
Now, am I saying that this was an accident? No. because I don't know.
One more comment:
Behavior after loosing a child in not logical. It is never the same for any 2 people. I lost a son. when I found out, my mind kept playing tricks on me. I kept trying to rationalize what had happened. I literally took hours for it to sink in. I cried. I paced. I cleaned his room. I had a strong appetite. I heard voices. I called a plumber to fix a toilet that had been running on for weeks. I didn't sleep for 2 days. after 40 hours someone pried a shirt of his that I had been gripping in my left hand without knowing it. People didn't recognize my voice on the phone because the stress changed my voice. I would sometimes literally forget to breath, but I walked the dog every hour.
so, my second point:
Activity after he found out his son was dead could be totally illogical. Unless he purposefully killed him. So, if you asked me based on what I have experienced (including 36 years as a nurse): Is it possible that he realized at noon or 4 that he had accidently killed his son, and then innocently did a lot of irrational things afterward?
yes, it is possible.
