On June 18, 2014, Justin Ross Harris said he forgot to drop his 22-month-old son Cooper off at daycare and drove to work instead.

Harris Indicted on 8 Charges

Sept. 4, 2014 - A Georgia man who said he forgot to drop his son off and daycare and drove to work instead has been indicted on eight counts by a grand jury. Justin Ross Harris will face charges of malice murder, felony murder and cruelty to children.

Other charges in the Cobb County grand jury indictment were related to sexually explicit exchanges Harris is accused of having with an underage girl. Prosecutors said Harris was exchanging nude photos of women while his son sat for hour in his SUV.

The malice murder charge indicates that prosecutors plan to show that Harris intentionally left his son in the hot car after searching the Internet about information on children dying from heat in vehicles.

"Today was another step in a long process," Cobb County District Attorney Vic Reynolds told reporters. "We look forward to the case running its course and, ultimately, justice being served in this matter."

Reynolds said he will decide later whether or not to seek the death penalty in the case.

Harris was arrested the day his son Cooper died and has been in jail since that day.

Previous Developments

On June 18, 2014, 33-year-old Justin Ross Harris strapped his 22-month-old son Cooper into a car seat in the back of his SUV to take him to daycare.

Instead, Harris drove straight to work at the offices of Home Depot in Cobb County, Georgia and left the toddler in the hot car all day with the temperature 88-degrees outside.

After work, Harris returned to the SUV and began to drive to meet up with friends to go to a movie. But then, he pulled into a strip mall parking lot, frantically called for help, took his son's body out of the back seat, placed him on the ground and began performing CPR. Witnesses heard him screaming, "Oh my God, oh my God, my son is dead, oh my God."

The witness said Harris was visibly upset.

Harris Was Arrested at the Scene

When police arrived, Harris told them that he had taken Cooper to breakfast that morning at Chick-fil-A, put him into the car seat, gave him and kiss, and then drove to work forgetting to drive to daycare.

At the scene, one of the police officers told Harris to get off his cell phone, but Harris refused to do so, going so far as to use profanity toward the officer. He was then placed under arrest.

Suspicions Begin to Rise

Investigators said Harris showed no emotion while being interviewed and they became suspicious. A video from the work parking lot showed that Harris went to lunch with co-workers and when he returned to the parking lot he opened the driver's side door of his SUV to put a bag of light bulbs he purchased in the vehicle.

The investigators became even more suspicious when a search of his computers revealed that he had searched for information about "child deaths inside vehicles." Leanna Harris, the child's mother and Justin's wife, told authorities that she also searched for what temperature could cause a child's car death because they were concerned that it could happen.

Manner of Death: Homicide

Those searches took place before the child's death, according to court papers. Detectives also discovered that Harris had done Internet searches for "how to survive in prison" and viewed websites advocating living a "child-free" life, according to court records.

An autopsy ruled that Cooper died of hyperthermia and the Cobb County medical examiner determined that the manner of death was a homicide.

Support Fades as Details Released

Harris was charged with murder and second-degree cruelty to a child. When the charges against him were first filed, many supporters began to speak up in his defense. An online petition asking that the charges be dropped gained 11,000 signatures and an online fund-raising effort raised $22,000 for funeral and legal defense expenses.

But, as more details were revealed the support began to disappear. The petition website was taken down and financial support dropped off drastically.

Leading a Double Life?

On July 3, at a bond hearing, even more details were revealed. Cobb County Police Detective Phil Stoddard testified that Harris had been leading a "double life." He said his investigation revealed that on the day that Cooper Harris died in the car, Harris was "sexting" pornographic images of himself to several women, including one 17-year-old girl.

The detective said Harris exchanged nude photos with six women on the day Cooper died. Stoddard said Harris chatted with multiple women via instant messaging services and had even met with some of them in person. One of them told investigators that Harris claimed to have cheated on his wife previously.

Stoddard also testified that there were two life insurance policies on 22-month-old Cooper, one for $2,000 and the other, for $25,000.

Influencing Public Opinion?

Defense attorney Maddox Kilgore argued that Harris' Internet and texting activities had no relevance to the case and was being presented to turn the public's, and potential jurors', opinion against his client.

Kilgore also argued at the probable cause hearing that if Harris had purposely left the child in the car that day he would not have brought is friends up close to the vehicle during their lunch break.

Harris Acted Normal

A long-time friend and co-worker of Harris said that he always talked about how much he loved his son and at lunch the day of the incident Harris acted normal.

"Nothing stuck out," said Alex Hall. "Nothing was weird."

After the probable cause hearing, the judge ordered Harris held without bond until his murder trial.

A Loving Father?

Meanwhile, Leanna Harris continued to support her husband. At Cooper's funeral in Birmingham, Alabama, she told reporters that he was a loving father who made a mistake.

"Am I angry with Ross?" Leanna Harris said. "Absolutely not. It has never crossed my mind. Ross is and was and will be, if we have more children, a wonderful father. Ross is a wonderful daddy and leader for our household. Cooper meant the world to him."

Detectives said both Harris and his wife are still under investigation, but Leanna Harris has not been charged in the case or named as a suspect.

'Did You Say Too Much?'

At the July 3 hearing, Stoddard told the court that when Leanna went to pick up Cooper from daycare on June 18 she was told that he was never dropped off. Stoddard said she "became calm" and said Harris "must have left him in the car."

When she was interviewed by police later, Stoddard testified that she showed no emotion except to say the incident was "her worse nightmare."

Stoddard also told the court that when Leanna Harris was able to see her husband in jail, she asked him, "Did you say too much?"

News Sources:
CBS News: Police: Dad "sexted" girl, 17, while son was dying in hot car
USA Today: Supporters abandon dad charged in tot's hot-car death
The Weather Channel: Mother Also Researched Child Deaths in Hot Cars