Justin Ross Harris: True Accident Or Something More? | Prime Crime | A&E

A grisly death. I don't know of any case that actually viscerally impacted me more, that leads into a tough case. How is that against the law? This could be an accident. And the shocking moments caught on tape?

Hey there, everybody, I'm Jesse Weber, and welcome to prime crime. This is where we do a deeper dive into the most high profile and memorable true crime cases. Now, it's no surprise that tragedies occur every day, but how do we know if something is really an accident or murder?

911, what’s your emergency? There's a baby on the ground, June 18th, 2014, Windings Georgia, people at a shopping center watching in horror as a man pulls out a toddler's body from an SUV. We don't know if the baby's breathing exercises. It doesn’t look like it. Do you see anybody around them? Yeah, his dad and somebody is trying to give him CPR. The boy's 22-month-old, Cooper Harris, and the father is 33-year-old Justin Ross Harris, a web developer for Home Depot. We would learn that the child was left inside of that SUV for approximately seven hours on an incredibly hot summer day. A witness would later recount how Harris said, "I left him in the car."

In fact, it's reported that Harris initially tried to perform CPR on his son, but then gave up and walked away. You would think that this would go to, you know, this kind of parental primal response where you want to do everything to breathe life into this precious child. He was not doing it, and the last hands to touch this child were the hands of strangers. When police arrive, things get even more tense. Harris apparently gets into a confrontation with the officers. As for Cooper, he would ultimately be pronounced dead.

A vehicle and temperature were literally weaponized. You have him in a restraint position in this car seat where he cannot move. The exterior temperature got all the way up to 92 degrees Fahrenheit. Now you're inside of this metal bubble, increase that by about 30 degrees. That's the same heat level that we will turn an oven on at home. And you have the onset of what essentially is hypothermia, and that is an increased body temperature. Now he's got tremendous anxiety, he shallow breathing, and now he's in highlighting hot air. He finally had a fatal seizure in his heart. Literally stopped. This child suffered just suffered. Like, none of us can even begin to imagine. How could this happen?

Harris is brought into police headquarters. He says this is all a mistake. It was completely unintentional and he has no history of child abuse. I have no history of domestic violence. I have no criminal history. Harris explains to investigators how the day unfolded. "I left the house with Cooper, and the plan was I was going to take him to Chick-Fil-A, which I did. After we eat breakfast, I usually take him across the street to daycare, which is at the Home Depot. I made sure he strapped real in tight. I gave him a kiss. He gave me a kiss. I went to work as if he wasn't even in the back."

But listen carefully to what happened next. "Finish the workday and then was driving on Akers Mill, when I look to my right to change lanes and caught a glimpse of him in the back, I thought I saw. Then I saw him. Then lost it."

Is it possible a father just forgot about his baby son in the back seat? This could be an accident, and in fact, there was a case in Texas in which it was very publicized. It was prior to this case, and it was determined in that case that there was no evidence that it was anything other than an accident. "I pulled him out. For just a few seconds I attempted CPR. I couldn't compose myself to do it. And he had that stare in his face. I knew he was gone. I knew that I had done what every parent in their life fears they’ve done. And that's, just, leave their son in a car on a hot day. This just doesn't make sense to me that someone could forget this precious little angel that you had just eaten breakfast with within two miles of your final destination and you park your car and you leave. It struck me. You know, who am I to judge anyone relative to their parenting skills? But there is a certain awareness that comes along with parenting, particularly at this age, 18 months old."

What you're hearing is just the start of Justin Ross Harris's interview. Up next, there's so much more. He looked so peaceful. He didn’t... he wasn't like crazy looking. I'm at an absolute loss for everything. It's June 18th, 2014 in Georgia, and Justin Ross Harris is explaining to law enforcement how he accidentally left his 22-month-old son, Cooper, in his car for hours on a hot day, an act that resulted in Cooper's death. Is this a tragic mistake or something else?

At first, Harris appears devastated. I think that there is an argument that he does seem genuinely honest. How do you think this happened? There are occasions where in the morning after I drop him off, I'll go to Chick-fil-A. All those times I’ll always go through the drive-thru. I’ll never leave go inside. And I’ll leave Chick-fil-A, and when I turn out of Chick-Fil-A, I’ll turn onto Cumberland, I’ll take that U-turn, and I'll go straight to work. But he didn't notice that a child was in his car. While Harris talked about going to lunch, what he didn't tell the police was that he also purchased light bulbs and, after lunch, placed them on the front seat. A moment captured by surveillance video. Keep in mind that at this time, Cooper is still in the car. He didn't notice that a child was in his car seat.

He doesn't notice that a child’s in his car seat. But there is some argument, too, of how the appearance of the child would have been at that point, whether or not there would have been a smell that could have alerted him to the fact something was amiss inside his car. The fact that he didn't mention that when he was first questioned by the police, could he have forgotten? Could you argue that he was stressed out and he forgot that he'd done that, that he couldn't think clearly? Absolutely. But I think those two events together again raised suspicion that he really knew he'd done it.

Then there's Liana, Harris's wife. Do you still love me? I love you. While on the surface, Harris comes off as a devoted family man, a search of his phone and internet history reveals a disturbing secret. Harris had been having multiple affairs, including encounters with both women and men. He had sex with prostitutes, messaged people using Whisper, and had even sexted with underage girls. He was actively seeking out these relationships in locations that were not immediately around where he was domiciled. He allegedly had driven all the way from Atlanta to Tuscaloosa, which is quite a distance down I-20, in order to cruise for young coeds. And that's not all. On the day of Cooper's death, he