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Nancy Grace
Girl Kidnapped by Man on Moped; Dad Leaves 22-Month-Old Baking in Hot Car
Aired September 15, 2016 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
NANCY GRACE, HOST: Breaking news tonight, an Amber Alert for a 6-year-old little girl kidnapped from her suburban home, Wilmington, North Carolina.
Bombshell tonight. As we go to air, a dramatic turn in the case.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Amber Alert, a community shocked when a 6-year-old girl is kidnapped from her driveway in North Carolina.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is in our community. This kind of stuff doesn`t normally happen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police officers lead a desperate search in the crucial first hours.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: The tragic death of 22-month-old toddler boy, Cooper, seemingly left alone for hours in a baking-hot car by Daddy, damning evidence Daddy
sexting six different women, sending photos of his private parts as baby Cooper bakes dead in the car, Daddy indicted on charges of murder. But
tonight, Justin Ross Harris in court.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Left Chick-Fil-A at 8:55 AM and drove to Harris`s place of employment less than half a mile away.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Police say Harris was sexting with six women while his son was dying.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His exposed (DELETED)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The father says he forgot to take the boy to day care.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us.
Amber Alert for a 6-year-old little girl. She was kidnapped from her suburban home, Wilmington, North Carolina. But as we go to air a dramatic
turn in the case. It`s our understanding the little girl has been found, according to WECT, chained to a tree out in a densely wooded area.
Straight out to Dave Priest, morning show co-host, WRNN. Dave, let`s take it from the beginning. When did the girl -- hold on. Hold on. There
you`re seeing the little girl being carried out of the woods in some sort of a tarp by all the searchers. There you see her, and those are the woods
that she is rescued from. These guys have been looking for her around the clock after she was taken by an unknown guy on a black moped wearing black
clothing, put on the moped and taken away, a 6-year-old little girl!
And this is the guy we suspect, Douglas Edwards, a 46-year-old male. And I can tell you that`s not a selfie, that is a booking photo. That is a
mugshot. OK, one, two, three, four -- four mugshots that we pulled up so far.
Dave Priest, WRNN, take it from the beginning. How did the girl go missing, a 6-year-old little girl? How did he get her?
DAVE PRIEST, WRNN (via telephone): Well, the 6-year-old girl was doing what a 6-year-old girl was doing. She was just playing in her driveway,
the way a lot of little girls would do, about 4:50 yesterday afternoon, middle of the day. It was a little bit rainy, but she was still out there
in her neighborhood, right in her own driveway, when this guy drove up on his moped, like you said, apparently snatched her and took her down the
road.
GRACE: So taken out of her own driveway. Marc Klaas, president and founder of Klaas Kids Foundation, you know, this reminds me so much of
Samantha Runnion, who was playing in her grandmother`s front yard, and a guy unknown to her comes up and takes her out of the yard, and she is dead
in no time. Do you remember that, Marc?
MARC KLAAS, KLAAS KIDS FOUNDATION (via telephone): Of course I do, Nancy. It`s also reminiscent of Amber Schwartz (INAUDIBLE) here in the Bay area in
the late `80s.
The difference, though, between Samantha`s case and this current case is that Samantha had other people with her. She was playing with other --
with at least one other child. In this case, I believe that the little girl was alone, which I think should be the lesson people take from this
situation.
GRACE: Yes, Samantha was playing with a sister or the friend from across the street when she was taken.
Here is this same guy. As we`re going to air right now, this little girl - - and we are not showing her photo or giving her name because we believe that she has been -- very likely has been a sexual assault victim. This
little girl played in her own driveway, her own driveway, Dave Priest, WRNN!
I want to know this, Dave. Is there any connection that we can establish so far between Douglas Edwards and the little girl, any familial
connection? Do they live near each other? What do we know about a connection?
PRIEST: As far as I can tell, he lived about four miles away from where the little girl was taken. And where she was found, where you were showing
the video earlier, was about two miles away from where she was taken.
So to the best of my knowledge, he had no kind of connection to her that I`m aware of. But they did zero in on him pretty quickly, so the witnesses
may have seen him before. They`re going to find out more about that, though, tomorrow.
GRACE: I can tell you this, it`s not brain surgery. He`s a registered sex offender that pops up on a sex offender map. He lives within four miles of
this little girl`s house.
Matt Zarrell, I mean, it`s connecting the dots, two plus two is four. Of course they went to talk to him.
But my question is this. And I think Dave Priest is correct. I don`t think that there`s any familial connection, like, he`s not related to the
family, he didn`t work with the father or the mother. He has never worked on their yard. He never worked on their car. He didn`t know them from the
grocery store, nothing, which is even scarier because this is totally random, Matt Zarrell.
MATT ZARRELL, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER (via telephone): Yes, there is no connection that we know of. In fact, the police seem to have gotten the
description from the victim`s younger sibling, who saw what happened and ran in to tell the mother that something happened. And she was the one who
called police.
I would think, Nancy, if they knew her, they would -- if they knew this guy, the family would tell police, Oh, we know this guy. He`s So-and-So.
They didn`t say that. They just gave a physical description.
GRACE: Oh, yes. Absolutely. Matt Zarrell, hat more do we know how this occurred? Take it from the top, Matt.
ZARRELL: Well, the girl was playing just outside her home. The suspect was on a black moped. As I mentioned, the sibling ran to tell her mother
that something had happened, and they called police.
Now, police immediately issued an Amber Alert shortly after, and they got involved the FBI and their child abduction rapid response team. Now, we
know, Nancy -- we cover a lot of these cases -- one of the first things they look at is all the sex offenders in the area. You see the map every
time we cover the story. This is one of those cases where they looked at all these sex offenders in the area and focused on this guy. He only lived
four miles from the house.
GRACE: Just four miles from the house, a registered sex offender. You are seeing video of where the little girl has just been found only two miles
from home.
But it`s a needle in a haystack because this is as the crow flies, you know, just two miles, but the highways and the roads don`t go from her home
to this area. This an area that this guy, according to police, Douglas Edwards, had scoped out.
Can you imagine your child in your front yard, in your front yard, on your driveway, playing with their bike, playing with their sister or brother,
and out of the blue -- you may be at the kitchen sink, you may be setting the table, you may have just come home from work -- out of the blue, a guy
on a moped comes up, grabs your daughter and takes off, a 6-year-old little girl! That`s 1st grade. That may even be pre-K in this particular case,
or kindergarten.
So what do we know, Dave Priest, about how the little girl was gotten onto the moped?
PRIEST: Well, from what we understand and what you`ve heard from the eyewitnesses, he was just -- he grabbed her as he came up on the moped and
took off. Within a couple of minutes, they saw her traveling south on one of the main roads just south of the Wilmington area on the moped. But as
far as the specifics, I haven`t heard.
GRACE: Guys, you are seeing a map we created to show you where the little girl lived, four miles to the location, kidnapping, of the victim`s home,
four miles to the suspect`s home and then almost in a point, like a pyramid, the victim found in the woods.
Now, here comes the even scarier part. Dave Priest, WRNN, what do we know about Douglas Edwards?
PRIEST: This is scary and eerie, I tell you. Back in 1994, he was convicted of first degree sex offense, as well as indecent liberties with a
minor. He went to prison for 16 years, released in May of 2012. And Nancy, that offense back in 1994 was with a 6-year-old girl.
GRACE: You know, it`s almost too much to take in.
Matt Zarrell, he gets out in 2012 after doing 16 years for a sexual assault on a 6-year-old little girl. What do we know about that conviction?
ZARRELL: OK, so Edwards was renting a room from the victim`s mother and offered to baby-sit the 6-year-old victim. While Edwards and the victim
were alone, the victim asked to see Edwards`s snake, which he kept locked in his room.
At Edwards`s request, the victim sat in his lap. Edwards then put his hand in her pants, under her clothes and digitally assaulted the victim. The
victim went to get a drink, refused Edwards`s second request to sit on his lap. She then went to the bathroom and locked the door, Nancy, and Edwards
was able to unlock the door with a nail, and then sexually assaulted the girl while she was on the toilet.
I should also note, Nancy, that in court documents, we found that in that case, the state also presented evidence of another child who was 7 years
old when they were sexually assaulted by Edwards in 1991. Now, Edwards was not prosecuted for that case, but the state used it as a prior bad act in
the 1994 conviction.
GRACE: This guy is living proof that a pedophile cannot be cured. I mean, if I had done 16 years behind bars in the penitentiary, I would not get out
and do the same thing again. But this is now, if this little girl is to be believed, who was found, according to reports, chained to a tree, a 6-year-
old little girl chained to a tree by this guy! This is at least his third go-around.
Look at this girl being pulled out of the woods in a tarp! The child can`t even stand up! Why was he on the loose?
Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have a granddaughter that age. It`s personal when this is in our community, and this kind of stuff doesn`t normally happen.
So this is just very personal, and it should be to everybody. I mean, we have children, and you know, I`ve got a granddaughter that age. So you
know, it`s just -- this is the kind of stuff that right here, the community should be very proud of what happened in the last 15 hours or so with
everybody working together.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A missing girl is located alive and reportedly chained to tree hours after being kidnapped in front of her home. The case becomes
just the latest example how important it is to waste no time when a child disappears.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: This little girl was taken out of her own front yard driveway by a guy driving a black moped and wearing a black outfit. We now know,
according to police, he is a registered sex offender, and this is at least the third time he has been accused of molesting a 6 to 7-year-old little
girl. He`s done 16 years behind bars already, and he`s out again and on the prowl.
And now coming to light out of New Hanover County, two good Samaritans, Maholco and Martif (ph), on their way to work on River Road in the morning,
when suddenly, they are flagged down by authorities on the search for this little girl. And not long after that, authorities begging, Do you have any
tools, bolt cutters, anything? All they had was this see-saw (ph) in the trunk. They pulled that out and they find -- they go with authorities and
they find the little girl covered in mosquito bites, covered, reportedly chained to a tree.
And police are out begging people that were just going down the road, Help us, do you have a bolt cutter, do you have a chainsaw, do you have anything
to get the little girl off the tree? They say their mind went blank and they sat there and they tried to aid as much as they could. They were not
mentally prepared for the scene that they saw.
But the little girl was totally quiet, not saying a word, nothing, as authorities struggled to release her, reportedly chained to a tree. It`s
almost more than I can take in for a 6-year-old little girl to be chained to a tree and molested.
Unleash the lawyers. Joining me tonight, Robin Ficker, defense attorney, Maryland, Mindy Smith, defense attorney, Atlanta.
OK, Ficker. Let`s hear your defense.
ROBIN FICKER, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, I`m glad they found the girl, so he can`t be charged with murder. But we don`t know who is in the video or who
saw who. He`s in black, must have had a hood. He took her back in the woods, or someone did. She`s not a reliable witness, given her age. I
wonder how they`re going to ID this specific guy.
GRACE: You know, Robin, I often wonder sometimes how you can spin a yarn like that, and you say it with so much believability. Now I know why you
win all your cases.
I mean, this is a fingerprint crime, Mindy Smith. It`s just like all the other cases where he identifies a 6 to 7-year-old little girl that I have
reason to believe looks very much physically like this little girl. I`ve seen her without her face blurred. I`ve seen many photos of her. I know
what she looks like. I have reason to believe his other victims that look very much like her. He does the same thing over and over again!
MINDY SMITH, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, we don`t know yet, Nancy. His involvement in the case is based on eyewitness. Eyewitness accounts are
often wrong. It`s too premature to convict this man at this point in time. This is based on eyewitness. They going to need to gather some hard
evidence against this guy, and I`d like to see it.
GRACE: You know, Marc Klaas, what gives up excellent fingerprints, anything made of metal, like a chain or a lock. I fear, Marc Klaas, that
there is going to be DNA evidence left by his body. And even if it`s touch DNA, the reality is that he`s going to be identified by her in court. And
I guarantee you, at some point, that moped is going to be traced back to him.
KLAAS: Well, that may very well be how they found him. I mean, part of the sex offender registration requirements are any vehicles that are owned
by the offender.
But I think there`s a huge question looming out here, Nancy. This little - - I mean, everybody is patting themselves on the back for having done such a good job, but she was seen being kidnapped at 5:00 o`clock, yet the Amber
Alert wasn`t issued until 10:00 o`clock.
If he was going to kill her, she would have been dead by the time the Amber Alert was issued. It`s only by very good luck that this little girl is
even alive at this point.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police beat the odds by locating a 6-year-old girl snatched from in front of her home by a local registered sex offender. How
does the girl go back to a normal life? And what will Lady Justice serve up for her alleged abductor?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: The girl was taken out of the woods after being reportedly chained to a tree and molested. There you see her being taken out on a tarp, all
the searchers having found the girl.
The good news is the little girl is alive. And this is no fault of the parents. She was in her own yard, in her own driveway when she was
abducted, according to police, by a sex predator, a two-time convict, that we know of, two of his previous victims, 6 and 7-year-old little girls.
What do we know right now, Dave Priest, WRNN? The little girl has been in the hospital ever since she was found. She is under observation. Where is
he? Where is Douglas Edwards?
PRIEST: Right now, Douglas Edwards at the New Hanover County jail. He`s going to be there through the night. Tomorrow morning, he`s going to be
making his first court appearance. And according to the DA from New Hanover County, Ben David (ph), he says that we`ll finally be getting some more
information tomorrow morning as to what led investigators exactly to him. So we`ll have to wait until tomorrow morning to find out more information
on that. But he`s safe and sound behind bars right now.
GRACE: Good to know. he`s behind bars. The little girl is still in the hospital at this hour, Matt Zarrell. Are there any informal charges such
as the charges that police arrested him on?
ZARRELL: Yes. Right now, the police charges are first degree kidnapping and two counts of indecent liberties with a child.
GRACE: Well, that can easily be upgraded. Just because it`s indecent liberties with a child right now -- that doesn`t mean it`s not going to
turn into a full-on sexual assault once the DNA is back, Matt.
ZARRELL: Yes, you`re right, Nancy. In fact, in his prior case, he was convicted of one count of indecent liberties with a child and one count of
first degree sexual offense.
GRACE: OK, what is indecent liberties with a child? What`s the definition in that jurisdiction?
ZARRELL: OK, it`s two-pronged. One is willfully takes or attempts to take any immoral, improper or indecent liberties of any child of either sex
under the age of 16 years for the purpose of arousing or gratifying sexual desire, or doing the same thing, willfully commits or attempts to commit
any lewd or lascivious act upon or with the body of any part or member of the body of any child of either sex under the age of 16.
GRACE: To Dr. Imran Ali, resident physician in New York. Dr. Ali, thank you for be with us. What is the little girl undergoing right now? Why is
she still in the hospital?
DR. IMRAN ALI, PHYSICIAN: Well, most likely what they`re doing is they`re going to be performing an examination, a pelvic examination, to see if
there`s any signs or any abrasions or anything that could indicate that she was sexually assaulted. And like you said, they`re going to look for any
DNA evidence which they can link it with the perpetrator.
GRACE: To Dr. Tiffany Saunders joining us out of Chicago. Dr. Tiffany, I don`t get it. If I had done 16 years behind bars, I would not get out and
do it again.
TIFFANY SAUNDERS, PSYCHOLOGIST: Absolutely, Nancy. I`m in full agreement. Sex offenders cannot be rehabilitated. There was precedents, two other
cases prior to this young lady being attacked in the safety of her home. So I hope that this young lady gets lots of counseling, that they work with
her parents and are very sensitive to her needs because of the trauma she faced by someone who should have just stayed in jail. So I`m really
disappointed with our judicial system for letting this monster out.
GRACE: Unleash the lawyers, Mindy Smith and Robin Ficker. He is living proof, Robin Ficker, that a sex predator cannot be rehabilitated. If 16
years behind bars did not change his behavior, nothing will.
FICKER: Well, if it`s him. We don`t know for sure that he`s the perpetrator. But there are also many sex offenders who are rehabilitated.
Just because...
GRACE: Name one.
FICKER: I don`t really have many friends who are sex offenders.
GRACE: Well, there you go.
FICKER: But they do not all remain in jail for the rest of their life.
GRACE: Why? According to you, they`re rehabilitated. Why don`t you bring them home for dinner one night?
FICKER: Some can be. I think the psychologists and psychiatrists in our country, who are very smart about these things, would agree that there are
many cases of successful rehabilitation, thank goodness.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: "Murder in the Courthouse", the third in the Hailey Dean murder mystery series, and Hailey is at it again.
What is it with her, whenever she shows up people drop dead like flies? But this time, will Hailey be the next murder victim?
Portions of proceeds from this book go to National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Help find missing children. Pre-orders come with a
signed manuscript page. Go to Amazon, Books-A-Million, Barnes & Noble`s and more. Or to get that manuscript page, murderinthecourthouse.com.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Throughout the day until 3:00 p.m., Justin exchanges explicit texts with six different women including a teenager girl.
At 4:16 p.m., Justin leaves work with the windows up. He begins his drive toward the movie theater. About 4:20 p.m., Harris stopped his car less than
2 miles from work and discovers Cooper`s lifeless body in the rear child seat.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: They tried to (inaudible), a 22-month-old tot boy, Cooper, seemingly left alone for hours in a baking hot car by daddy. Damning evidence that
daddy is sexting six different women, sending photos of his naked body parts as little Cooper bakes dead in his car. Daddy indicted on charges of
murder.
Tonight, Justin Ross Harris in court. Straight out to Nick Valencia, CNN national correspondent, by many accounts, Justin Ross Harris has appeared
extremely fidgety in court. What`s happening?
NICK VALENCIA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We have seen him in court, not just in Atlanta but now in the Brunswick courtroom. The venue has been
changed depending on who you believe, Nancy. You either thing that Justin Ross Harris is a vicious murderer or just an absent-minded father. We have
to take you back to the beginning, June 18, 2014, by all accounts it started as a normal day. Justin Ross Harris leaves his house with that 22-
month-old child you`re looking at, had breakfast at Chick-fil-A, then leaves breakfast ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Oh, whoa, whoa, wait. Whoa, whoa, wait. Is that -- oh, that`s the picture. The merry dad of one took a selfie to use on his profile. You
know what, Nick, I don`t know about you but I don`t think I`d take a selfie with a urinal in the background to be my Facebook cover, but back to the
story. Go ahead.
VALENCIA: Sure. June 18, 2014, he leaves that Chick-fil-A, and it`s important to know, Nancy, it`s just .6 miles from his Home Depot
headquarters work place but it`s during that 4- to 5-minute drive that Justin Ross Harris tells detectives he simply forgot that little Cooper
Harris was in the back of the car.
He goes back to that car after his ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Wait, wait, wait. I`m going to throw to our Mike Duffy as he does a drive along and give us a narration as he goes. But Nick Valencia, how many
minutes did you say it was from the Chick-fil-A to the Home Depot, the TreeHouse where he worked?
VALENCIA: 0.6 miles. The detective started -- there`s a lead detective on this case saying 320 to 40 seconds, conservatively speaking. They can give
it a roughly 4- to 5-minute estimate that it takes him to drive that distance. Of course, the prosecution is saying that it is not enough time
for Justin Ross Harris to have forgotten about his 22-month-old child.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: OK, listen to this, Nick. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Baby Cooper Harris died, Ross Harris reportedly drove from Chick-fil-A to his place of employment. No, one question on many
people`s minds is how could he have done this without seeing the little boy in the car seat?
Our reenactment of this drive took under two minutes. But during that time, we identified three instances when Ross Harris would have likely had
to look to the right over his shoulder and the car seat would have entered his field of vision.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: To Christian Boone, public safety reporter with "The AJC", the "Atlanta Journal Constitution". Christian, thank you for being with us. I
have been over and over and over this.
Isn`t it true that Cooper was in a rear-facing car seat, and as you`re driving you can`t even turn that far without seeing his head in your
vision? He`s right there at his dad`s right shoulder.
CHRISTIAN BOONE, "THE ATLANTA JOURNAL CONSTITUTION" REPORTER: That is correct. It was a rear-facing car seat.
GRACE: And another thing Christian Boone, isn`t it true that when Justin Ross Harris was taken to the police station, it was all about him. Me, me,
me, me, me, me. Why are you picking on me? I`m going to lose my job. Why are you doing this to me? What about the baby who is dead, Christian?
BOONE: Well, that is according to Law Enforcement`s perspective on that. The lead detective has been caught in a few exaggerations, shall we say ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Such as what?
BOONE: ... in the evidence but, you know, that`s ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Such as what?
BOONE: ... the defense`s -- when the video tape is shown in court, it will present a different view of how -- what his demeanor was like on the night
of his arrest.
GRACE: OK, that`s good to know. What are these so-called exaggerations to which you are referring?
BOONE: Well, one of them was involving when Ross Harris comes back from lunch the day of Cooper`s death then goes to his car to drop off some light
bulbs. The detective had testified that he, you know, had a view right into the car and that he was acting very strangely around the passerby just
trying to distract them. Surveillance video shows a different story, that there was somebody who passed by but Ross Harris didn`t even seem to notice
him and stuff like that. I mean, there`s no ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Christian Boone, hold on just a moment. Mr. Boone, isn`t it true that Justin Ross Harris went out to lunch
that day, his son still, by that time I`m sure dead in the car. It was 100 plus degrees in the car, and he insists that the people driving to lunch
take him to go buy light bulbs?
OK. So they go along and he goes in and gets light bulbs and then as they pull up, he goes whoa! I`m going put them in my car. So while they`re
there, parked right there, he opens the car door, the baby is inside ...
(CROSSTALK)
BOONE: Right.
GRACE: ... and clearly the smell of decomposition, according to the medical examiner that I`ve interviewed, would have been overwhelming at that point.
But he opened up the car and he tosses the light bulbs in and shuts the door.
(CROSSTALK)
BOONE: Correct.
GRACE: He still didn`t notice the baby is dead in the car?
BOONE: The defense claims that he was not looking into the car and just, you know, and just sort of tossed them in. You know, that -- that remains
to be seen.
GRACE: OK. I don`t find that to be a big inconsistency, but I think as you see that it is, it is going to be up to the jury to determine whether that
was an exaggeration on the part of the detective.
I do not believe that it is. But we could differ. Hold on. I want everyone to see a video that Justin Ross Harris viewed on his computer just before
his child dies in a hot car. Look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I`m at five minutes in. It is unbelievably hot in here. We`re nearing 100 degrees already, 10 minutes in. I tell you, it is almost
unbearable. At this point the temperature is about 106 degrees.
Fifteen minutes now and it`s about 110 in my car. Twenty minutes now at this point and it is right -- hovering right around 110, 112. Twenty-five
minutes, it`s now, oh, gosh, what is it, 113 degrees. Thirty minutes, 30 minutes in a parked car with the windows cracked. The temperature right now
is about 115, 116. Really hot.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Evidence shows Justin Ross Harris knew his 22-month-old son was in his sweltering SUV.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Obviously it 3wqas a bit dramatic, you know, hands in the air, looking up towards the sky, "what have I done?"
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Horrifying scene what he thought initially was a horrifying accident. The Police believe it was something more sinister.
SERGEANT DANA PIERCE, COBB COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT: Some of those answers were not making sense to the first responders.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pulled this child out, laid him on the concrete and tried to resuscitate him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: What were the answers, Nick Valencia, CNN National Correspondent, that did not make sense to the first responders?
VALENCIA: Well, it was his demeanor initially. When the first responders got there, he was combative. He told them to shut the blank up to one of
the detectives.
He had to be detained at one point. And it was during the questioning that things got even weirder, Nancy. The moment that it was brought up that
there was the potential that he could be charged with murder, he says "but there was no malicious intent." That really got the question of the
detective if there was malicious ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Oh, Whoa, whoa wait, put Nick up, please. What exactly were his words? There was what Nick?
VALENCIA: But you -- they asked him, or they said that the idea that he could be charged with murder was a possibility and he said, "but there was
no malicious intent." And it was his legal lead (ph) that he used that really caught the attention of the detective and caught him off-guard and
got him very suspicious.
GRACE: I, Nick, did not know words like that until my first year of law school. "No malicious intent". Somebody`s been reading the law book.
Unleash the lawyers, Mindy Smith, Atlanta; Robin Ficker, Maryland. Robin Ficker, let me ask you this. Why is it just before his child is found baked
dead in his car, he`s looking up online, and I quote, "people who die", "how to survive in prison", "how to have a child-free life", "the
temperature `needed` for a child to die in a hot car" what do you think? Maybe, Ficker, is he clairvoyant?
FICKER: I`d say it`s just a coincidence. We have a technological shortcoming. They used to put these car seats in the front, then because of
airbags they had to move them to the back, out of sight, out of mind. They should have a buzzer on the car seat so that when the doors close, the
buzzer goes off and the parents know the child is back there. That`s all we need to do. This poor guy is a victim of circumstance.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: So, you`re telling me I need a buzzer to know I have children in the back seat? That I just put in the backseat about ...
(CROSSTALK)
FICKER: It`s better than having a kid die in a car.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: ... 56 seconds before. Now ...
SMITH: I agree. I agree with Robin.
GRACE: I agree. That advice would be wonderful. But I think that he knew his child was back there. Marc Saltzman, technology expert joining us
tonight. Mark, what can you tell me about how all of these computer searches done by the dad just before his child`s death in a hot car were
recreated? How does it work?
MARC SALTZMAN, TECHNOLOGY EXPERT: Sure. So if he didn`t delete his web history, that`s easy enough. An 8-year-old can retrieve their searches for
you. And even if they did, you can go into something in Windows called system restore and restore the computer to an earlier time and then go
through that web history.
And then barring all that, there`s lots of digital forensics tools that the authorities use to comb through the hard drive, go through phones, look for
data that -- that could serve as evidence. It`s really not too difficult.
GRACE: Question. To Dr. Imran Ali, resident physician joining us out of New York. Dr. Ali, according to police that were on the scene, when they opened
the door of that car, the smell of that child`s body decomposing was overwhelming.
The child had been in there since 7-something that morning. The child`s face was covered in scratches for he was struggling to get out of his car
seat. His head had lacerations and abrasions on the back where he was hitting back against the car seat to escape.
I think the temp was around 105 or 120 inside of that car. Is there any way that police were wrong about the powerful smell of the child decomposing in
the car?
ALI: No. Absolutely not. When you have temperatures that high and you have somebody who just recently died, I mean, it is overwhelming, it is obvious
and it`s just a tragedy that this child was left in this condition where a car can get so hot in just than 20 minutes, as we saw in that clip ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Much less the hours that he was out there clawing at his face.
So Mindy Smith, how come dad, Justin Ross Harris, did not smell that? I mean, according to his own words, he went through, I guess, four to seven
red lights and stop signs before he realized his baby was in the back seat dead?
SMITH: You know, Nancy, this is our society today. People are distracted all the time. You get in your car, you`re distracted, you`re not paying
attention. Everybody does this ...
(CROSSTALK)
SMITH: Everybody does this.
GRACE: Please put her up. Please put her up. Mindy, I think I would notice the stench of death in the back seat.
SMITH: Well, Nancy ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: What?
SMITH: ... we don`t know what it smelled like. I think you`re basing this on what the person said. We don`t have ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: No, I`m basing it on having smelled decomposition before. On many, many crime scenes and once you smell it, there, you know what it is. You
know immediately. You don`t need a cop to tell you what the smell is. It`s horrible. I -- there is nothing like it.
But he drove, I guess, four to seven red light stop signs ...
(CROSSTALK
SMITH: That`s not ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: ... before he got out.
SMITH: Maybe that`s when stop because he realized there was a smell. I mean, you are assuming that he didn`t realize the smell. Maybe that`s what
made him stop. What`s the smell in my car? Oh, my God, my child is in the back seat.
GRACE: OK, first, no OMG, OK? Don`t drag him into this.
And on that note, everybody for cancer patients, healthy foods are so important especially undergoing chemo. They have got to have nutritious
food during that treatment, and it can actually mean the difference between life and death. This week`s CNN hero is helping those battling this very
serious disease. Meet Cathryn Couch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CATHRYN COUCH, CNN HERO: When people get sick their life becomes very complicated. Eating well tends to go at the bottom of the list, but it is
really critically important.
What we do is not so much about chopping onions but about making this difference in the family`s life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: She is using some unlikely chef to connect to California community to these residents. Full story, CNNHeros.com.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Justin Ross Harris left the TreeHouse, the satellite Home Depot office where he worked as a web developer at approximately 4:16
on the afternoon of June 18th.
This is the route that Harris would have driven as he left his office. Along the route, Harris would have passed through seven traffic lights.
Each of those lights appears to have a camera.
Suddenly, Harris pulled into the Akers Mills Shopping Center. He said this was immediately after he realized that his son was in the back seat.
Our recreation of this drive took just under four minutes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: So let me understand, Nick Valencia, CNN National Correspondent. He drives four minutes with the stench of death in the back seat and doesn`t
notice?
VALENCIA: Yeah, that`s part of what the prosecution is saying, how could you not have noticed that overwhelming odor of a decomposing 22-month-old
child? And Justin Ross Harris saying that he just was absent-minded, he forgot.
Of course also that prosecution was, per the defense, was trying to make the sexting inadmissible. A judge overruled that. So now this is all a part
of the case against ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Right.
VALENCIA: ... him, sexting six women, one of them underage as well as all the (inaudible) that we talked about ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Christian Boone, what comes next?
BOONE: Well, I just want to correct one thing on the smell of death. The only person that testified about that were several officers and first
responders at the scene was Detective Phillip Stoddard. And we talked to a consultant forensic pathologist who told us it takes 24 hours to cause
decomposition to manifest itself. So I`m not sure that was a uniformed ...
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Also, the uniformed police officers, you are right, Christian, they will be on the stand and they can testify not only what they saw and heard
but what they smelled.
BOONE: Right.
GRACE: So we`ll see what happens.
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Let`s remember American hero, Army Sergeant Travis Cooper, just 24, Macon, Mississippi. Bronze Star, Purple Heart. Mississippi Medal of Valor.
Army National Guard. Center (ph) name in his honor. Loved military history to Discovery Channel. Aunt, Levon; brother, Antwan. Travis Cooper, American
hero.
And happy birthday to Connecticut friend Lauren. A dedicated daughter, sister, friend, mother to a beautiful boy, Nolan (ph). Happy birthday
Lauren.
Thanks to our guests but to you for being with us. Nancy Grace, signing off. I`ll see you tomorrow night, 8 o`clock sharp, Eastern. And until then,
good night, friend.
END
