Toddler Likely Died from Being Overheated
COSTELLO: Just when you think the story could not get any worse, new details coming out this morning about a Georgia man who police say left his 22-month-old son to die in a hot car last week. Justin Harris now charged with murdering his son, Cooper. Police say not only did this father lie about the time line in which his son died, but even returned to his car during his lunch break at work. CNN's Victor Blackwell has more for us this morning. Good morning, Victor.</s>VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Carol, good morning. We got an answer to the question so many people were asking, where is mom in this whole story? Well, we understand that she was questioned by detectives here at Cobb County police department headquarters. They would not give details of that conversation. However, we are learning details of the claims police are making about what happened the day Cooper died.</s>BLACKWELL (voice-over): Early last Wednesday morning, Justin Ross Harris was seen at this Atlanta area Chick-fil-A. The newly released arrest warrant says, after breakfast, Harris was seen strapping his 22-month-old son Cooper into his car seat. He drove less than a mile away to his Home Depot store support center where he works as a web designer. Normally, Harris takes Cooper to a day care center on site, but not on this day. Instead, Harris headed inside the office and left his toddler in a rear facing car seat in the back, in a blazing Georgia sun. Investigators say Harris returned to the SUV at lunchtime, opened the driver's side door and placed something inside. He then closed the door and walked off. The temperature outside hit 88 degrees that afternoon. The temperature inside the SUV, potentially exceeded 130 degrees and Cooper was likely already dead. The arrest warrant says at 4:16 that afternoon, at the end of the workday, Harris returned to the SUV and started the drive home. Seven minutes later and about two miles down the road, Harris screeched into this parking lot.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hopped out of the driver's seat, opened the back door, pulled his child out, laid him on the concrete and tried to resuscitate him.</s>BLACKWELL: But little Cooper was dead. Patrol officers were in the area when the 911 calls came in.</s>SGT. DANA PIERCE, COBB COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT: Medical personnel arrived on the scene to determine that a child apparently had been in the automobile, the father's automobile since about 9:00 this morning.</s>BLACKWELL: Harris told police he somehow had forgotten to drop Cooper off at day care that morning.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He just screamed, "What have I done," loudly. Obviously it was a bit dramatic, you know, hands in the air looking up towards the sky, "What have I done?"</s>BLACKWELL: But police say it was all an act, charging him with cruelty to a child and felony murder.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You'll be entering a plea of not guilty at this time.</s>BLACKWELL: More than 10,000 people have signed an online petition urging the district attorney to drop the charges.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's no way it would have been intentional, especially from the father's reaction.</s>BLACKWELL: Meanwhile, investigators continue to search for answers.</s>BLACKWELL: Let's talk about those charges. The felony murder charge still stands, but we now know that the cruelty to a child charge has been downgraded from first-degree to second-degree. The difference here is that first-degree requires the state to argue malice, intent, that he intentionally meant to deprive his child of some sustenance, water, food. Second-degree only requires that the state prove negligence, so a major difference there. Also we learned from the medical examiner's office the manner of death here, homicide, cause of death, hyperthermia, which is simply an overheating of the body. Hopefully, we'll learn more today -- Carol.</s>COSTELLO: Going back to the wife, the mother, is the couple estranged?</s>BLACKWELL: Well, we don't know much about that. There was a long obit written in the "Tuscaloosa News", the newspaper where this -- in the community where the child will be buried Saturday. It writes that he was a blessing to his mother and father. It writes -- it reads very rosy. So it's a good picture there. But as far as any problems between the couple, we've read all the public reports, no problems that we know of between the two.</s>COSTELLO: Did they any other children?</s>BLACKWELL: Not that we know of. We know of this one child. We know that they were married for a little more than six years. They lived together in a small town, Moundville, Alabama, in Hale County there. And since Justin Ross Harris moved here and starting working for a Home Depot about two years ago, they've been in this community in Marietta just outside of Atlanta.</s>COSTELLO: Victor Blackwell, thanks so much. Still to come in the NEWSROOM, it's one of the biggest decisions left for the high court to decide, will a private company like Hobby Lobby be forced to provide emergency contraceptives to their employers -- or employees, rather? We'll talk about that next.