GA - Suspicion over heat death of Cooper, 22 mo., Cobb County, June 2014, #8

[Judicious1]

We don't know they haven't. They only played a few of their cards today... I imagine they have MUCH more.

The detective was asked on the stand he said not yet ( as I recall)

 

[JLSChook]

Sorry if this has been asked, did anyone post a Youtube from todays bail hearing? I had a look but didn't see any?

and one more thought, im sad to think how "they" spent the last 2 nights with Copper in their bed saying their "goodbyes" not sure if the whole "Copper slept with mom and dad last two nights" is true but did see it mentioned before. Poor poor baby. xo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-tiBT_0nNg

 

[sorrell skye]

I'm curious about whether what was happening to his child was exciting to him. I didn't want to come out and say that, but there it is.

BBM

As abhorrent as the thought is to those of us who are normal and healthy and compassionate and who love & care for our children, I can totally envision this being likely with RH.

His fantasy of being "child-free", in order to pursue other women and teen girls, was finally within reach and was probably sickeningly titillating to him.

He makes me ill.

 

[tlcya]

I am so appreciative of Msollicito and the willingness to share impressions. We all have our own impressions via watching on tv but that is never the same as being right there, in the courtroom.

THANK YOU!

 

[RainCheck]

Cliffs on the hearing today:

Level 1 Slime:
Surveillance video shows RH backing into parking space when he arrived with son at work
no backup cam on vehicle, would have to use rear view mirror and would undoubtedly see child
Cooper was too big for carseat; mannequin was used to show child easily visible only 6 inches away from suspect

Very inexplicable that he could have "forgot" his son.

Level 2 Slime:
Harris LIED about Cooper probably falling asleep; daycare workers said he always arrived wide awake
Harris LIED about not returning to his vehicle that day; surveillance video shows him dropping light bulb boxes into his vehicle @ lunch
surveillance video shows him leaning into the car and turning his head (as if to investigate whether Cooper had died yet)
when Harris leaves the car to head back to work for the afternoon, surveillance video shows a passerby walking in direction of vehicle
Harris stops dead in his tracks to watch the passerby until they are no longer in the area of the vehicle

Shows intent to deceive and hide his deception.

Level 3 Slime:
When Harris pulled over later that day and exited the vehicle with his son's body he immediately said that Cooper was dead
not only did he immediately say Cooper was dead, but he made no attempt at CPR (another person had to)
spent 6 minutes on the phone while his son's dead body lay on the ground just a few feet away

But oh it gets worse ...

Level 4 Slime:
Harris had internet searches for "child free life" and participated in vile "child free" reddit sub-forum
Harris had internet searches for "how long does it take for a child to die in a hot car"

And much worse than that ...

Level 5 Slime:
Harris had watched (and apparently got off on) videos of people and animals suffering inside hot cars
Harris had watched (and apparently got off on) videos of people dying and being killed, including suicides and executions

And just when you think it can't get any worse ...

Level 6 Slime:
The whole time his kid is suffering baking to death in his car, Harris is sexting with 6 females
getting an erection and exchanging x-rated pictures with 6 different females while he is murdering his child

But that's not all ...

Level 7 Slime:
One of the girls is underage, and police hinted they will get him with child porn and child solicitation charges
Girl asks him if he has a conscience and Harris replies "No"

We're really getting into the deeper levels of hell here ...

Level 8 Slime:
He feels absolutely nothing for his child; callously lies to his wife that Cooper's eyes and mouth were closed (when they were not, Cooper died a horrific death)
Shed no tears at any point except when he ranted about everything HE was going through
ranted at his wife about how HE could get in trouble, how HE could lose his job, never said anything about his son

And then the wife was in on it too ...

Level 9 Slime:
Wife shows up at Daycare and when Cooper isn't there she immediately says "Ross must have left Cooper in the car"
Daycare workers try to convince her that there could be another explanation but she insists "No. Ross must have left him in the car". As if it were a premeditated attempt to establish accident right from the beginning
Wife asks Harris about his interrogation "Why, did you say too much?
Wife only asked to see her husband and never asked about her son, never showed any emotion or concern for what had happened to her son

And then the motive ...

Level 10 Slime:
Couple took out $27,000 in life insurance policies on Cooper
they were in bad debt

So they locked their 1 year and 10 month old child in a hot car and fried him to death while he banged his head violently against the car seat and scratched part of his face off -- all so they could collect $27,000 or $13,500 / each (if they were going to divorce) rather than give the kid away and get nothing

-----------

Every time one level of slime was uncovered, infinite layers of more slime were uncovered beneath that one.

These two people are the worst kind of monsters. Who wants to stand up for them now?

Don't forget all the donations that started rolling in at the beginning! They had to know they would get thousands even tens of thousands in sympathy money from family, friends, church and community!

 

[Msollicito]

>>subreddit - child free life

I do not put too much importance on this - he apparently was a big reddit addict (as am I and many other people) and on reddit you often link through to things you did not mean to- he only ever looked at 4 items in the child free life section


>life insurance policy $25,000 (adtl to one via work)

a lot of moms around here have Gerber life policies on their kids - when they get to be 18 the money can be taken out for their college fund - so I do not think this is too important

>During interview with LE RH used a lot of cop lingo and told LE he was a former jailer then told them he was former dispatch

I cannot see how this is significant though I can see some might seem it is an attempt to make friends with the cops and get them to believe he was innocent.. however I think that kind of thing annoys cops so it can (and did) do the opposite!!

>>While in room alone RH was described as pacing and trying to "work himself up" to teh point of hyperventaliation. LE viewed it as him attempting to feign or produce emotion where there was none genuinely

Yes I would like to see the security footage of this. I had a great view of RH and I watched his face the whole time. His face was totally unemotional - I would have trouble looking that unemotional at ANY time let alone if I was in this kind of trouble - but he DID cry twice - real tears - I saw them - but there was no reaction from him at points where I would have thought he would cried - stuff about Cooper - he only cried in reaction to friends saying nice stuff about him, stuff like that


>RH told LH C looked peaceful in death with eyes and mouth closed.
This might just be him trying to help his wife cope with things by telling her something nice so she thinks Cooper did not suffer in death..

> RH tells LH about "dreading" looking at C worried what he might look like but he looked peaceful

This was weird -- I want to know how RH explains that one away

>RH makes poor me comments "going to lose my job - why do I have to be punished??" etc (paraphrased)

Yes, again, weird, would like to understand RH's view on that

>Stoddard described C as mouth open tongue protruding, eyes half closed, horrible and noticeable odor of decomp in vehicle even hours later while performing search warrant.

Yes the odor is what worries me - I believe RH HAD to have known the baby was dead in the car as soon as he left Home Depot.. What I do not know is whether he knew BEFORE that point that the baby was dead (i.e. he planned the death) or whether he only found out when he got into the car - either is a serious crime, but one is more serious..

>at least one affair for RH in the past
Maybe I missed this - it was implied but I did not actually hear anyone say that - it was implied that he had met one of the sexters.

 

[SStarr33]

So. This mother knew that her dirty, filthy, cheating, [link removed], PAEDOPHILE husband had been sending photos of his erect penis to a minor as her precious baby suffered an excruciating death. Photos that he took while the baby was in the room. And she still spoke about having another baby with the guy who murdered her baby. At that baby's funeral.

Right.

So nothing has changed wrt my opinion of the father since the hearng. I'm not surprised at all by anything that was revealed. My opinion of the mother is much lower though. I had always suspected she knew what was going on and neglected to save her baby - putting her husband above him, thinking she could sacrifice the baby to save the marriage (she could always have another baby later, he was disposable to her). But now I see her as a direct accomplice. She knew what he was going to do, it's shown by her immediately saying he left the baby in the car when Cooper wasn't at daycare. Also by asking him if he revealed too much when he got to the police station.

I thought she just found out about the sexting today.

 

[Judicious1]

Isn't that the one where he claimed he didn't talk to anyone?

LE said he made 3 phone calls after he pulled into the strip mall and 'discovered' Cooper.

#1 was to Leanna but she didn't answer
#2 was to Home Depot office, no answer there either
#3 was to Home Depot Daycare toddler room and that one lasted for 6 minutes

I'm sure they'll find out as soon as they get all of the records they've requested

Hopefully he wasn't involved with one of Coppers teachers... Cc

 

[CHERIE.T]

This sickens me so much, like he got some sadistic pleasure out of planning his sons suffering.

I'm still in shock at such evil!

 

[Irisha]

I feel bad for all who thought they knew this man. today had to be quite a tough day for them. I am betting most of them found out about this evidence as we did, in court.

gonna cut the friends and family some slack. JMO

This is only is response to the co-workers. Home Depot needs to get rid of that/his x office. The co-workers/friends knowing what he was doing in there while Cooper lay dying. I know I would never want to walk into that office again.Or even pass by it. Wonder how many will speak out tonight or in the days ahead?



Death Penalty!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[CrazytownUSA]

Isn't that the one where he claimed he didn't talk to anyone?

LE said he made 3 phone calls after he pulled into the strip mall and 'discovered' Cooper.

#1 was to Leanna but she didn't answer
#2 was to Home Depot office, no answer there either
#3 was to Home Depot Daycare toddler room and that one lasted for 6 minutes

I'm sure they'll find out as soon as they get all of the records they've requested

That part is a sticking part for me too. If he had a 6 minute call with the daycare, you would think that they would have told LH when she arrived about what had happened or at least said "OMG, you need to call your husband immediately", yet they were trying to come up with other things that might have happened than "Ross must have left him in the car"... so I'm thinking someone in that daycare had a VERY close relationship with RH.

 

[nightwatch]

I just can't get over the fact that RH was sexting images of his privates while Connor sat in that hot vehicle, strapped in his own car seat, probably crying for his Daddy.

RH=Pure evil!! :banghead:

Remember in a car seat he was too big for. His little head showing over the top. I've been harping that tight cramped car for days. The baby had no chance once Ross shut the door and walked away. Murderer. Jmo

ciao

 

[Sonya610]

Something else that struck me though was he was clearly worried he could be arrested if he had sex with a minor cos he researched on the internet what was the age of consent in Georgia (he was sexting with a 16 yr old) so I wonder - would someone that concerned about the law kill their own child intentionally? I do not think so..

However, apparently just by sexting with the 16 yr old he was commiting a felony - but I would not know that and I do not know if he would.

If I recall (and no I don't research this stuff) having sex with a 16 year old is perfectly legal for adults in GA.

Sending or receiving pornographic photos of folks under 18 is indeed a felony.

This RH was truly an idiot.

 

[osu]

Is there a link to video of the proceedings? Has it been recorded? I want to be able to watch after work. The little I was able to read about...speechless. So much worse than I thought. I'm sick. Horrible.

Channel 2 News (WSBTV) streamed it live and in their chat box during the hearing, they said that they will post the entire video on their site later this evening.

Said it would take them a few hours to get it up and posted.
http://www.wsbtv.com

 

[oh_gal]

I'm sure the facts Ross's mom learned about him today were devastating. She will probably never recover from them -- and I say that as a mother.

But the truth is the truth, I'm sorry to say.

 

[momrids6]

Things that made me think maybe he did not do it intentionally:
- we found out he was deaf in one ear so may not have heard baby in car seat.. He did not need to hear him- he could see him! he had enough hearing to be an LE dispatcher...
- apparently he often went to chickfila before work with baby. he only went to CFA 2x3 times a month as a "treat". Imo, he gave Cooper a special meal and kissed him goodbye.
- Justin always took son to daycare. Exactly; he said he forgot, not that he thought he dropped him off.
- Leanna often picked son up from daycare And?
- its confirmed in multiple ways that he and friends were planning to see a movie that night. Check transcript- multiple problems with that
- the akers mill shopping place is very close to the movie theater they were going to that night. N/A

rsbm/imo

 

[tlcya]

When I heard that I thought of the WS poster that said "Well I hope he also searched 'How to Survive in Prison'".

Having said that....I think it was probably a link he followed. I don't think R.H. actually thought he would EVER go to prison for this.

how very prophetic. Almost like our member had a "premonition"

 

[MotherOcean]

I feel bad for all who thought they knew this man. today had to be quite a tough day for them. I am betting most of them found out about this evidence as we did, in court.

gonna cut the friends and family some slack. JMO

Me, too. It could be anyone's spouse, anyone's son, brother, friend, fellow church member. NO ONE fully knows the heart or mind of another person.

 

[CrazytownUSA]

CrazytownUSA - I can definitely see he might have just thought he would get away with it and so did not cover his tracks.. my gut feel is that he was just a really sad depressed guy who could not get sex from his wife, wasnt succeeding at work, had money troubles cos he was overspending.. he got some excitement from sexting and it became an obsession cos he is a sex addict.. and that distracted him so much he forgot his son was in the car.. but I think he knew his son was dead as soon before he left at 4:15 from Home Depot - I think he was thinking about totally covering up the death in some way - discarding the body maybe - but thought better of it and went to the shopping mall to make a fuss.. Although this is not as bad as totally planning everything in advance, this is still a serious set of crimes

I can tell you that true sex addicts are like many drug addicts. I truly believe my ex would have killed me many times when I tried to stop his... and many of the women he had been with, he threatened their lives. They don't want anything coming in the way of their addiction and will do whatever it takes to make sure nothing does.

 

[JudyBolton]

Just think - 24 hours ago we were discussing whether any *real* new information would come out and whether the judge already had enough to proceed and that they may not want to expose too much evidence and then.....BOOM.....

I am still reeling - I listened to this alone and I was shouting (out loud) - WHAT??? more than once. I'm sure we are all just thunder-struck right now.