IMO, if that's what happened, if they both know he did this in the past, that is was a 'habit--leaving him in the car while he did other things-- to the extent of Leanna's reviewing how dangerous it could be, that's criminal negligence on his behalf, felony murder.
There is something very disturbing to the "he must have left him in the car"... "There's no other explanation". My first thoughts would be 'did they get into an accident on the way to daycare? Did hubby decide to play hooky from work so he kept him home? Did the never leave the house this morning? Let me call hubby and see what's going on". Her response sounds something like she either A) Already knew Cooper was dead in the car ('when are you picking up my little buddy' was code), or B) Knew it was highly probable Cooper was left in the car for convenience, because she knew Ross did this all the time.)
I just realized. It could be a combination of both scenarios. This could have been his habit, she knew it, and after viewing hot car death information together because his wife was trying to scare him straight, a proverbial lightbulb went off over his head. These things happen every year. The public feels horrible for the poor, devastated parent. Once he explains the 'accident', LE would likely not press charges, the public would feel sorry for him.....and he'd be child free.
Just a thought...
I don't believe (at the moment, without hearing all the evidence) that he intended to kill Cooper, so I don't believe he thought about killing Cooper as he watched that video (videos) with LeAnne.
But I do find that video-watching together odd. It's possible LeAnne simply had a deep, even irrational fear of hot car deaths ("my worst nightmare") that was unrelated to Ross and anything he had or had not done, and that she asked him to watch the video with her to help explain her fear to him. Maybe that fear was why her very first thought at daycare was that Ross had left Cooper in the car.
Another possibility is that LeAnne insisted Ross watch the video to “scare him straight” as you say, because she knew he’d left Cooper alone in the car before. My question is, is it just me, or how weird is that??
Everyone and every marriage is different, but if I found out my DH had out of negligence or recklessness put our son at risk, much less had put him in a potentially fatal situation, I would not need a video to explain the situation or myself to him, and when I was done he would have no confusion whatsoever what was at stake or how I felt.
If he did the same thing again after that, reaching for a video is about the last thing in the world I would do. At that point I’d be forced to conclude that something was seriously wrong with my DH, and no matter how many practical or marital problems it caused, I would refuse to allow my DH to take out my son out alone until (or unless) I had been reassured by professional what-evers, not my DH, that our son was safe with him.
What’s also remarkable to me is what’s implicit in her immediate assumption at daycare that Ross had left Cooper in the car—that necessarily, she believed it was possible that Ross had left Cooper in the car and had forgotten about him for the ENTIRE DAY (I don’t believe it’s likely that it crossed her mind Ross had killed Cooper, or that he’d realized Cooper was dead and had done nothing).
What that suggests, IMO, is that she knew or thought that there was something more wrong with Ross than “just” gross immaturity. Immature is whining about not being able to go out and play with his friends, or spending money they didn’t have by running up their charge cards, even indulging in multiple infidelities rather than accepting the responsibility of working on what was wrong in their marriage.
Being capable of risking his own son’s life even after being confronted by his wife and after being informed of the consequences of his negligence, no matter what the reasons/causes/excuses for that negligence? IMO, that’s not immaturity. At best, it is reckless indifference about the harm he knew he was capable of causing his son.
LeAnne? Leaving aside moral or legal culpability, I think it’s possible: she realized immediately that Ross had left Cooper in the car (again) and the terrible mistake she’d made of allowing Ross to continue driving Cooper; that Ross confirmed her worst fear when he called her as he waited for LE to arrive; that she thought it would be worse for Ross (and perhaps for herself) if she told LE he’d left Cooper in the car alone before and had forgotten about him; and that she neither expected or demanded different behavior from Ross than what he displayed at the jail because she knew he was incapable, and perhaps, because she felt (still feels?) complicit in Cooper’s death because she didn’t prevent it from happening.
