Leanna Harris Involved in Son's Death? Investigation Shifts to Too-Small Car Seat of 22-Month-Old
Did Leanna Harris and her husband Justin purposely put son Cooper in the wrong car seat in order to hasten his death? That's the focus of a new set of warrants and an investigation by prosecutors in the death of the 22-month-old boy left in a sweltering car.
Detectives are looking into Cooper's medical records to see if the boy was developing normally; his father told detectives that his son was "developing fine, was walking, talking and appeared to be a normal child for his age." That led to new questions as to why Cooper, if he was developing normally, was placed in a car seat too small for him.
Detective Phil Stoddard, lead detective on the case, testified on Thursday that Cooper was "several inches" too big for the rear-facing car seat his father had put him in. Stoddard also testified that Leanna and Justin had purchased a new car seat that faced forward and was more suitable for Cooper six weeks ago. They had been using that car seat but for an unknown reason decided to put the boy in the rear-facing seat on that fateful morning.
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"Harris knew the specific make and model of the seat and what the weight limit was for the child to be seated in it. When the seat was inspected, the straps for the seat were set on the lowest level for a small child," Stoddard said.
If Cooper was in the forward-facing car seat, his father may have been more likely to notice him in the car. However, with a rear-facing seat, Justin may have overlooked the boy and not seen him still in the seat. The smaller seat may have hastened the boy's death, too. Stoddard told the court that several injuries were noticeable on Cooper's body, including scratch marks on his face that indicated he struggled to free himself from the car seat.
Whether Cooper was put in a smaller car seat on purpose or not remains to be seen, but evidence is mounting that Justin, along with Leanna, m=could have killed their child in order to live a child-free life and collect the $27,000 in insurance money. Both had looked up how long it would take a child to die inside a hot car, and police have lately begun to wonder whether Leanna was involved in the death of her son and the cover-up. They intend to question her; the state of Georgia does not prevent spouses from testifying against one another in the death of a child, so Leanna could be called to either testify against Justin or explain what she knew and if she was involved.
"There isn't enough (evidence) to make her a co-conspirator … yet," criminal defense attorney Esther Panitch told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "Knowledge of a crime isn't prosecutable. A cover-up is. She needs to make a deal before the state finds more evidence against her."
