and what s more, some of the sexual chats happened on the very day cooper died. he was communicating with a woman ten minutes before he left with cooper? right. and we were able to determine that he had been messaging at least six different women throughout that day, sending pictures of himself, asking for photographs. prosecutors believed ross harris was in the grip of an escalating obsession with sex and they came to an awful conclusion. that ross wanted so badly to be rid of the constraints of family and fatherhood he decided to kill his own child. does being a creep with women make him a child killer? absolutely not. in this case though it showed us the extent to which he was living this other life. it showed us how it had overtaken in his life what was important to him. so they threw the book at him. ross was indicted for malice murder, the first person ever accused of using a hot car to intentionally kill a child.
and prosecutors say one message in particular said it all. just minutes before ross strapped cooper into his car seat for the last time, he messaged a woman on an anonymous app called whisper. he typed this. i love my son and all, but we both need escapes. honestly, it sent chills down our spines knowing we were in the head of a murderer. nonsense according to the defense. if he is in the throes of committing a heinous murder, is he really going to announce that by texting it through this application right in the middle of doing it? ross s defense team says the entire case against him was outrageous, built on evidence that was twisted by prosecutors to make him look like a killer. they say that message about escape, for instance, was about hanging out with friends, not killing his son. if you take that one message in isolation, you can make it
son at snack time. you want it? yeah! ross loved his little boy? yes, he did, very much. did you did you ever see ross express anger or hatred or malice towards his son, ever? no, never. then came that terrible day. the courtroom was silent as leanna described arriving at cooper s daycare and being told he wasn t there. she said, he didn t come today. and i just kind of i just kind of went into a panic. i didn t i didn t know what to do. i was just it didn t make sense. cooper was supposed to be at daycare. i was supposed to be the one to pick him up. it didn t make sense. the only thing that made sense to me based on everything that i
afternoon he actually called a prostitute and went to have sex with her instead of being in your home? i didn t know that. humiliating as it was, she stuck it out for nearly two days of testimony. that woman had every reason in the world to hate ross harris. and despite all of that, despite all of that, she was willing to come testify for him because she knew what the truth was. and then, in his final question to leanna, ross attorney wanted to make something clear. leanna was there for one reason only. she believed that what happened to cooper was a mistake, not a crime. and now she was ready to walk away. how do you feel about your ex-husband? he ruined my life. he destroyed my life. i m humiliated, i may never trust anybody again the way that i did. if i never see him again after this day, that s fine.
the case became a media sensation with more revelations. investigators said ross had done internet research on hot car death and even visited an online forum for people interested in living a child-free life. a monstrous portrait was emerging, but even after weighing all of the allegations ross s friends were still convinced he never meant to hurt cooper. did you ever hear ross get frustrated with cooper? no. treat him like he was a burden at times? no, no. you know, there are times when kids can get on our nerves. uh-huh. no, no, there are times when you definitely need a break, okay, but he he loved that boy. ross harris family enlisted the help of defense attorney mat tox kilgore and his team. the entire case was a house of cards. we felt that despite public sentiment and despite the