ATLANTA (AP) - A Georgia man charged with murder after his 22-month-old son died in a hot SUV searched online for information about kids dying in cars and told police he feared it could happen, according to documents released Saturday as the boy's family planned a funeral in Alabama.
The search warrants, including the family's condo, car and electronics, released by the Cobb County Police Department provide more insight into the investigation of Cooper Harris' death on June 18.
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Justin Ross Harris, 33, has told police he was supposed to drive his son to day care that morning but drove to work without realizing that his son was strapped into a car seat in the back.
In an interview after his son's death, Harris told investigators that he had done a web search on what temperature could cause a child's death in a vehicle.
''During an interview with Justin, He stated that he recently researched, through the internet, child deaths inside vehicles and what temperature it needs to be for that to occur. Justin stated that he was fearful that this could happen,'' one of the four warrants released to http://ift.tt/1m1lLds stated.
Harris also told police he was on his way to meet friends after work when he realized his son was in the back seat and pulled into a shopping center to get help, according to the warrants.
Harris is charged with murder and second-degree child cruelty in his son's death, and remained in jail on Saturday as family members prepared to hold a funeral in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
Police have said facts in the case ''do not point toward simple negligence.'' A previously released arrest warrant stated that Harris stopped with his son for breakfast and returned to put something inside his car during the day while the child was still inside. The Cobb County Medical Examiner's office said Wednesday that it believes the cause of Cooper Harris' death was hyperthermia and manner of death was homicide.
The temperature that day was 88 degrees at 5:16 p.m., according to a warrant filed the day after the child died.
Police searched the Marietta, Georgia condo where the family lives, looking for a laptop, electronic devices documents, photographs and any ''evidence of child neglect, child abuse.'' They also searched Harris' cellphone and the light blue 2011 Hyundai Tucson that Harris was driving when his son died.
Police said in the warrants that they were searching for trace evidence including hair, fingerprints, blood or DNA inside the car and any computers, electronic devices or paperwork ''related to the crime of Homicide and Cruelty to Children.''
In an obituary published this week, the child's family said Justin Ross Harris and his wife, Leanna, were ''the most proud parents there could ever have been.''
Cooper Harris loved trucks and cars, had just learned the color red and was a happy baby, it read.
''His 22 months of life were the most happy and fulfilling times of his mother's and father's lives, and we will miss him greatly,'' the obituary read.
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Associated Press writer Kate Brumback contributed to this report.
Entities 0 Name: Harris Count: 6 1 Name: Cooper Harris Count: 3 2 Name: Georgia Count: 2 3 Name: Justin Count: 2 4 Name: Justin Ross Harris Count: 2 5 Name: Alabama Count: 2 6 Name: Leanna Count: 1 7 Name: http://ift.tt/1m1lLds Count: 1 8 Name: Cobb County Medical Examiner Count: 1 9 Name: AP Count: 1 10 Name: Kate Brumback Count: 1 11 Name: Tuscaloosa Count: 1 12 Name: Marietta Count: 1 13 Name: Cobb County Police Department Count: 1 14 Name: ATLANTA Count: 1 15 Name: Hyundai Tucson Count: 1 16 Name: Associated Press Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/1lXAY09 Title: Dad who left tot in back seat researched heat deaths Description: ATLANTA - The father of a Georgia toddler who died in a hot SUV told authorities that he did an online search about children dying in vehicles because he was afraid it could happen. Justin Ross Harris faces charges of murder and second-degree child cruelty in 22-month-old Cooper Harris' death.
