Father charged with murdering toddler son by leaving him trapped in 91F car had done internet search on how long it would take for animal to die in hot car

Justin Ross Harris, 33, from Marietta, Georgia, has been charged with murder of son, Cooper, aged 22 months

Investigators reportedly seized Harris' work computer after his arrest on June 18



Father claims he went to work at Home Depot, forgot to drop Cooper off at daycare, and only discovered his tragic mistake seven hours later

Earlier witnesses said he was acting 'odd' and claimed at first that Cooper was choking

An autopsy revealed the cause of death was consistent with hyperthermia, the medical examiner announced Wednesday



Police said on Wednesday that Harris actually RETURNED to his car at lunch while at work to put something in the front passenger seat



But an online petition has been launched with 11,000 signatures supporting Harris' release





A father whose son died after he left him in his scorching hot car had used his office computer to search how long it would take for an animal to die in such a way, it was alleged today.

The news comes as the Cobb County Medical Examiner's office announced that little Cooper Harris' cause of death was hyperthermia - or intense heat exhaustion - and confirmed the manner of his death was a homicide.



A law enforcement source in the Georgia county reportedly told Fox 5 News that investigators seized Justin Ross Harris' work computer at Home Depot after his arrest last week and that an internet search suggested the child's death was premeditated.



A police warrant also revealed Wednesday that Harris took his son to breakfast at the Vinings Chick-fil-A before driving to work, and that he returned to the car at lunch time to place an object in the car before leaving the child again.



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Google search: A law enforcement source in Cobb County, Georgia, reportedly told Fox 5 News that investigators seized the work computer of Justin Ross Harris, left, at Home Depot after his arrest last week and that it suggested the death of his son Cooper, right, was premeditated

Friends: This picture of Harris, second from left, was uploaded to Facebook by one of his friend's on Wednesday to show support

Fox 5 couldn't confirm exactly when the computer search was conducted.



Harris is accused of leaving 22-month-old Cooper alone in the car while he went to work at the Home Depot corporate office for roughly seven hours.



Harris is charged with felony murder and cruelty to a child in the second degree. He is being held in the Cobb County Detention Center without bond.

Cooper will be buried in a private family ceremony in Tuscaloosa on Saturday.

The Cobb County Police Department issued a statement late Wednesday asking for the public's patience in the case.

Chief of police John R. Houser said in the release that during the course of the investigation, detectives began to obtain physical evidence and testimonial evidence that lead them to believe a more serious crime had been committed that first thought.

'I understand that tragic accidents similar to this one do occur... (but) this investigation must be weighed on its own merit and the facts that lead our detectives to charge the father must be presented at the appropriate time during the judicial process.



'The chain of events that occurred in this case does not point towards simple negligence and evidence will be presented to support this allegation.'



He added finally: 'In fairness to everyone involved in this emotional case, I would ask that you not make conclusions based on rumor or suspicions and let our judicial system work as it is designed.

Tragedy: Justin Ross Harris (pictured with his wife Leanna and son Cooper) has been charged with murder after Cooper was found dead in his car after allegedly being left there for seven hours while Harris was at work



Claims: Witnesses claim that Harris told them that Cooper was choking at first - when he suddenly stopped his car in a parking lot ten minutes drive away from his work last Wednesday



Happier times: The couple is seen right with friends at a wedding

The medical examiner revealed the cause of death was hyperthermia - or intense heat exhaustion.



Alternatively, hypothermia occurs when the temperature drops below that required to maintain normal metabolism.



The new information comes after it emerged the father was 'acting oddly' and told bystanders who tried to save the child that he had been 'choking' minutes earlier.

Harris, 33, was supposed to drop 22-month-old Cooper to daycare around 9 a.m. last Wednesday but instead went straight to work, allegedly forgetting the boy was strapped in his car seat in the back of the vehicle for seven hours.

But instead of confessing to the tragic blunder – and admitting his baby had been dead for hours – it has been claimed Harris tried to cover his tracks by telling members of the public the child had just been choking.

And early Wednesday, police said that 'during lunch said accused did access the same vehicle through the driver's side door to place an object into the vehicle', hours before the drama unfolded.

Eyewitness Edward Cockerham, 49, told MailOnline: 'I was interviewed by the police last night and I told them I thought the guy was acting, he was really over-reacting to the situation.



'I think the dad knew all along that his baby was dead because he’d been left in the car, I think he was looking round for a place where there was people so he could make it look like the baby had choked and it wasn’t his fault'

- witness Edward Cockerham

'I know he had lost his baby but he was acting up more than he should have been. It seemed like acting to me. When he pulled in and people started asking him what had happened, he said that the baby had just started choking.

'But the baby didn't look like it had been choking, it looked like it had been sweating, like it had been in a swimming pool, his hair was all wet.

'I think the dad knew all along that his baby was dead because he'd been left in the car, I think he was looking round for a place where there was people so he could make it look like the baby had choked and it wasn't his fault.’

Cockerham's claim comes as two more witnesses also told MailOnline that Harris had behaved 'suspiciously' and 'very oddly' in the immediate aftermath of the incident last week.

The new witness accounts raise even more questions surrounding the unusual case.

After police sensationally charged Harris with murder and cruelty to children in the first degree, the case sparked national debate.

Breakfast: A police warrant also revealed Wednesday that Harris took his son to breakfast at the Vinings Chick-fil-A, pictured, before driving to work

Mystery: Police have stuck by the murder charge saying there is 'much more' to the investigation



More than 11,000 people have signed a petition pleading with the Cobb County District Attorney’s office to 'drop the murder charges,' believing they are too harsh for a caring father who has been punished enough with the loss of his child.

But police are openly questioning whether the Home Depot employee is telling the truth.

'Much has changed about the circumstances leading up to the death of this 22-month-old since it was first reported,' Cobb County Police Sgt. Dana Pierce told CNN.



'I've been in law enforcement for 34 years. What I know about this case shocks my conscience as a police officer, a father and a grandfather,' said Pierce.

Another witness, bartender Artiyka Eastland, 25, of Smyrna, also thought Harris' behavior was bizarre.

She was having lunch with friends and had gone outside to charge her phone in her car when the commotion happened.

Artiyka told MailOnline: 'I saw him (Harris) immediately jump out of the car, very quickly, very frantically.

'Acting': Rodney Smith said: 'It was more like he was putting on a show - that's pretty much what I got from it and I'm pretty sure everyone else felt the same way'

Charges: After police sensationally charged Harris, right, with murder and cruelty to children in the first degree, the case sparked national debate

'He pulled the baby out of its child seat and on to the floor, but I didn't realize the baby was lifeless at that point, I thought maybe he was choking. He put the baby on the ground and started to give him CPR, there was one other person there with him helping.

'I didn't want to get too close. I was emotional, it was crazy. He was shouting "What have I done, oh my God I've killed my son."'

But Artiyka said after that something wasn't quite right about Harris' demeanor.

She recalled: 'He was frantic as you'd expect, but when someone else came over to help with the baby he stepped away and he was acting like this is not happening type of thing.

'Something didn't seem right, I thought he was going through these weird spurts of being frantic and then being very calm.



'He wasn’t looking back in concern for his son, he was looking back to see who the police were talking to'

- witness Artiyka Eastland

'The police put him in the cop car and he was talking to one of the detectives and he would be very calm, but then very crazy, crying. I saw him looking back trying to work out what was going on, but he wasn't looking back in concern for his son, he was looking back to see who the police were talking to.

'I can't imagine what it's like to lose a child but his body language in the back of the car was very odd.

'I felt like he was worrying about something, it was strange behavior, he was back and forth between crying and looking around.'

Artiyka also believes the baby had been dead for many hours before Harris pulled the child out of the car.

'The baby was a grey/blue color, not its natural color. I know he was in the car seat but when the dad placed him on the ground his legs stayed in the same sitting position, as if he was laying on the ground with his knees up in the air stiff. It wasn't natural.

Regret: Cooper was pronounced dead at the scene - on a day where the high temperature in Atlanta was recorded at 91 degrees. Pictured is Harris appearing in court

'It's so so sad that a little baby has died like this.'

On Thursday, Harris pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.

Ominously for Harris' story, Pierce told CNN On Friday, 'I cannot confirm that the child, as originally reported, was in the car at 9 a.m.'

According to Harris' initial story, it wasn't until 4p.m., when he was driving home from work, that he noticed his son was lifeless in the back seat.

He pulled over the SUV at the Akers Mill Square shopping center on Cobb Parkway and tried to perform CPR on the boy but it was too late.

The child was pronounced dead at the scene - on a day where the high temperature in Atlanta was recorded at 91 degrees.



' These were very loving parents who are devastated. Justin already has to live with a punishment worse than death'

- petition to drop murder charges

Harris, a Tuscaloosa, Alabama, native, had been working at Home Depot as a web developer for just over two years. Harris, his wife Leanna and Cooper were renting a condo off Terrell Mill Road, but hoped to buy a home.

Many locals believe the charges against Harris are too steep and his arrest prompted a petition aiming to get the murder charge dropped.

Thousands of people across America have now joined the campaign voicing their support for dad-of-one Harris by signing a petition urging Cobb County DA's Office to drop the murder charges.

The petition - posted on change.org by a group called Parents Support Parents - has garnered over 11,000 signatures since it was launched last week.

The petition claims that Harris 'loved his son immensely' and the fatal incident was just a 'horrible accident.'

Heartbreaking: Rodney said Harris was then handcuffed by police officers after he became irate during a phone call at the scene to his wife Leanna during which he told her ‘our baby is dead’

Family home: Harris, from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, had been working at Home Depot as a web developer for two years. Harris, Leanna and Cooper were renting a condo off Terrell Mill Road (above), but hoped to buy a home





'Ross high five'ed me at church almost 3 years ago and said we're pregnant, he had a huge smile on his face. He has been nothing but a caring father and supporting husband'

- supporter Michael Gordon

It adds: 'These were very loving parents who are devastated. Justin already has to live with a punishment worse than death. Sending what's left of his family in to bankruptcy to defend him against these charges is only bringing more hardship to a family that will never recover from the loss of a child.

'There is nothing to indicate that the father intentionally left his child in the car, so a charge of murder is not appropriate.'

Sarah Laatsch, of Moorcroft, Wyoming, is campaigning for Harris's release after the same thing happened to her.

Her husband Kaleb left their nine-month-old baby Gideon in his boiling hot truck for eight hours in August 2011. Gideon, now three, miraculously survived but was left severely brain-damaged and is now confined to a wheelchair.

Sarah's husband was found guilty of child endangerment but during sentencing a judge claimed what he lived through was punishment enough.

Angry Sarah said she has decided to sign the petition to stop another family going through the same hellish ordeal she had.

Healing: After the tragedy, scene captured here by CBS46, supporters have come to Harris's defence. One said: 'All they are doing is robbing a family of the time they need together'

Many friends and close associates of the Harris family have also signed the petition which calls on Cobb County District Attorney Vic Reynolds to drop the 'murder charges against Justin Harris for his son's accidental death.'

Michael Gordon from Northport, Alabama, said he had known Harris for about 15 years and even remembered the day his friend announced his wife's pregnancy.

He said: 'It breaks my heart that this horrible tragedy has happened.

'Ross high five'ed me at church almost 3 years ago and said we're pregnant, he had a huge smile on his face. He has been nothing but a caring father and supporting husband...

'Is the judicial system going to start charging every parent that has an accidental child death? Pool drownings, TV's falling, guns etc.

'It is unbelievable the technicalities that have allowed criminals to walk away from premeditated crimes. The justice system can't punish Ross worse than he is punishing himself. All they are doing is robbing a family of the time they need together. It's really not fair to call it the justice system. - Just the system.'

Another online fundraiser was created to collect money for Cooper's funeral.

The site has so far raised more than $20,000.







