Hold My Sweet Tea
Where True Crime collides with chilling ghost stories and Southern folklore. Join us, sip sweet tea, and uncover shocking tales of murder, mystery, and the supernatural, all with a healthy dose of Southern charm and a touch of sass!
Hold My Sweet Tea
Ep. 14-Justice for Cooper: Unraveling a Father's Double Life
What drives a father to leave his 22-month-old son in a sweltering car for seven hours? The tragic death of Cooper Harris in June 2014 initially appeared to be a devastating accident—a father who simply forgot to drop his child at daycare. But as investigators peeled back the layers of Justin Ross Harris's life, they uncovered something far more disturbing.
Behind the façade of a loving parent lay a web of calculated searches about hot car deaths, visits to child-free lifestyle websites, and explicit messages exchanged with multiple women—including a minor—even as his son slowly succumbed to hyperthermia in the Atlanta summer heat. Most damning of all, surveillance footage captured Harris returning to his vehicle during lunch break, placing light bulbs inside, yet seemingly oblivious to Cooper strapped in his car seat.
The behavior of Cooper's mother, Leanna Taylor, raised equally troubling questions. When told her son wasn't at daycare, her calm suggestion that Harris "must have left him in the car" seemed unnervingly prescient. Later recorded asking her husband if he had "said too much" to police, Taylor nonetheless avoided any charges and eventually became an advocate for "forgotten baby syndrome"—a defense her husband's attorneys unsuccessfully argued at trial.
Though Harris was sentenced to life without parole, a surprising 2022 Georgia Supreme Court ruling overturned his murder conviction while upholding charges related to his communication with minors. Released in 2024 after serving just ten years, his case continues to spark debate about justice, parental responsibility, and the tragic reality that an average of 38 children die in hot cars annually.
If you ever spot a child alone in a vehicle, don't hesitate—call 911 immediately. Your action could be the difference between life and death for someone who cannot save themselves.