Chilling CCTV shows toddler Cooper Harris in fast food restaurant before his dad ‘deliberately left him to die in a hot car so he could have sex with teen prostitutes’
The father and son went for breakfast at Chick-fil-A - hours later, the toddler was dead
THESE haunting images show the final moments of a toddler who died in a boiling hot car after his father allegedly abandoned him to have sex with teenage prostitutes.
Cooper Harris was found dead in the back of his dad Justin Ross Harris's SUV after spending eight hours in oven-like 120 degree (49C) temperatures.
Prosecutors accuse the 35-year-old web developer of deliberately locking the tragic tot in the car to "escape" from fatherhood, allowing him to focus on pursuing his sexual fantasies.
Harris is on trial accused of murdering the one-year-old outside his workplace in Atlanta, US, in June 2014.
In the new footage, which was played to jurors in Harris's trial yesterday, the dad can be seen holding Cooper in his arms and ordering food from a Chick-fil-A restaurant in Vinings, Georgia.
The blonde toddler appears happy in the arms of his father - no idea that minutes later he would be trapped inside the deadly hot car.
Jurors previously heard that Harris sent more than 30 messages which were "mostly to women, mostly about sex" on the day his son Cooper died.
It emerged he was texting a 17-year-old girl asking for images of her genitals.
Prosecutors allege Harris was unhappily married, wanted sex with other women and his son was an obstacle to this lifestyle.
Investigators found that Harris had researched child deaths inside vehicles.
But his attorneys have said the death was a tragic accident after the father took his son for breakfast at Chick-fil-A.
They claim he forgot to drop his son at day care and drove to work forgetting Cooper was inside.
Chris Redmon, manager at the fast-food restaurant, told jurors he recognised Harris as a regular customer who he had seen maybe a dozen times, .
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He remembered shaking hands with Harris as he introduced his son, adding: "I asked "Who is this little guy?" and then I said "Hey, Coop'".
Harris seemed to "love his child", Redmon told defense attorney Maddox Kilgore.
The case has been so closely followed by press and the public that a judge moved the trial 275 miles from Harris' home in Cobb County to Brunswick, Georgia.
Paramedic Peyton Barwick told the court he saw no emotion from Harris while questioning the dad as he sat in the rear of a patrol car.
The father seemed "very dry and emotionless" while being questioned about his son, Barwick said, adding: "He told me he ate breakfast about 8:45 and arrived at work at 9. He rolled up the windows and locked the car,' before walking into his office,'"
The paramedic added: "Harris asked, 'Is he dead?' I said, 'Yes sir, he is deceased'.
"There were no tears."
Temperatures inside the car were estimated to have reached 120 degrees (49C), according to medical examiners.
Cobb Police Captain James Ferrell told the court he smelled "a unique odour of death" when he approached the SUV.
Harris faces life in prison if he’s convicted of murder as prosecutors decided not to seek the death penalty.
He faces eight charges: malice murder, two counts of felony murder, cruelty to children in the first degree, cruelty to children in the second degree, criminal attempt to commit a felony of sexual exploitation of children, and two counts of dissemination of harmful material to minors.
At a previous hearing, Cobb County prosecutor Chuck Boring said Harris killed his son “in one of the most unimaginable, horrible ways”, according to .
Boring said Harris shed “not a tear” when he was being questioned by police.
“Is he screaming, ‘Can I see my son? What is going on here?’” Boring said. “No. He complains that it’s hot in the back of the patrol car.”
Minutes before leaving Cooper, he also sent an online message which read: “I love my son and all, but we both need escapes.”
The trial continues.
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