Witnesses: Quotes, statements, interviews, testimony and video *No Discussion*

[JerseyGirl]

Fellow chef at Uncle Maddio’s, Rodney Smith, agrees with his colleagues version of events.


Rodney, 24, also said Harris was behaving ‘suspiciously’ after he pulled to a halt outside the restaurant where passers-by desperately tried to revive little Cooper.


He confirmed Harris had said his son had been choking and said the frantic dad was pacing in circles and pulling on the branches of nearby trees.


Rodney says Harris was then handcuffed by police officers after he became irate during a heart-breaking phone call to his wife Leanna during which he told her ‘our baby is dead’.


Rodney said: ‘He was going crazy and the police cuffed him. He was trying to tell his wife what was going on but he didn't get much out because he was really - I guess you would say - in drama shock.


'A police officer said to him, "Calm down and explain to your wife what's going on". I didn't hear what he said because I was going back in but then whatever he said triggered the police officer to say, "You need to watch your mouth" and then they put the handcuffs on him.


'I don't know what he said to the wife - the only thing I heard was that he told her that her son was dead after that I couldn't hear.’


Rodney added: 'He seemed suspicious. I got a child the same age and I know how it would feel it's devastating but at the same time it was more drama than in shock he was more acting out than he was in shock.


'When you go in shock everything pauses in your brain and you don't know what to do.


‘It was more like he was putting on a show - that's pretty much what I got from it and I'm pretty sure everyone else felt the same way.'


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ake-supporters-think-twice.html#ixzz37MbjcdQK
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

another:

“The car drove up right by the store. An employee came in and said, ‘Call for an ambulance,’ so I dialed it and I walked outside,” said Rodney Smith, a witness who works at a pizza shop in the Akers Mills Square Shopping Center.

“The child looked sweaty and tired. Two guys started to give the boy CPR. I was on the curb and the father and another individual brought the boy out. The father kept circling around us yelling and screaming, “What did I do? Oh my God, my child is dead!” Smith added.

Police said Harris was distressed and had to be physically restrained when he realized his son was gone. But in hindsight, Smith says Harris’ actions didn’t appear to be that of a genuinely grieving father.

“I feel he was putting on a show. If I was in shock and my son just died, I’m going to be doing more than running in a circle waiting for the ambulance to come. I’m taking my son to the doctor myself,” Smith said.

http://www.hlntv.com/article/2014/06/25/harris-justin-ross-hot-car-murder-witness

 

[Dear Prudence]

Fellow chef at Uncle Maddio’s, Rodney Smith, agrees with his colleagues version of events.


Rodney, 24, also said Harris was behaving ‘suspiciously’ after he pulled to a halt outside the restaurant where passers-by desperately tried to revive little Cooper.


He confirmed Harris had said his son had been choking and said the frantic dad was pacing in circles and pulling on the branches of nearby trees.


Rodney says Harris was then handcuffed by police officers after he became irate during a heart-breaking phone call to his wife Leanna during which he told her ‘our baby is dead’.


Rodney said: ‘He was going crazy and the police cuffed him. He was trying to tell his wife what was going on but he didn't get much out because he was really - I guess you would say - in drama shock.


'A police officer said to him, "Calm down and explain to your wife what's going on". I didn't hear what he said because I was going back in but then whatever he said triggered the police officer to say, "You need to watch your mouth" and then they put the handcuffs on him.


'I don't know what he said to the wife - the only thing I heard was that he told her that her son was dead after that I couldn't hear.’


Rodney added: 'He seemed suspicious. I got a child the same age and I know how it would feel it's devastating but at the same time it was more drama than in shock he was more acting out than he was in shock.


'When you go in shock everything pauses in your brain and you don't know what to do.


‘It was more like he was putting on a show - that's pretty much what I got from it and I'm pretty sure everyone else felt the same way.'


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ake-supporters-think-twice.html#ixzz37MbjcdQK
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

Thanks for starting this thread, tlcya! I haven't seen some of these witness interviews before. Very interesting what the witness above says about Ross being on the phone with his wife, telling her "our baby is dead." I really wish we knew what time that 6 minute call was at. Could it be possible RH got Leanna on the phone at the daycare?

 

[JerseyGirl]

Nancy Grace interview with Madden

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rL84c0xfoQo

Here's another interview of Madden in print :

Hot car death witness: No way dad was faking it

http://www.hlntv.com/article/2014/07/07/cooper-harris-witness-madden-no-way-dad-faking-it

 

[tlcya]

from your link JerseyGirl

“When I was 30-40 feet away walking towards them, I thought it was a doll, but as I got closer I said ‘Oh my God, that’s a little boy, that's a toddler.’ It broke my heart. He looked normal, just lifeless though. He wasn't wrinkled, he was clean, and his hair wasn't sweaty,” says Madden. “I was 5 feet away from him and 3-4 feet from the dad and sweaty hair would have been the first thing I noticed…and there was no stench.”

http://www.hlntv.com/article/2014/07/07/cooper-harris-witness-madden-no-way-dad-faking-it

 

[JerseyGirl]

1:59 p.m. ET: Leanna Harris, the mom, went to pick up Cooper from daycare that day. They told her he was never dropped off. On her way out, she told witnesses: “Ross must have left him in the car… there’s no other explanation. Ross must have left him in the car.” Stoddard says they tried to console her but, “She’s like, ‘No.’”

http://www.hlntv.com/article/2014/07/03/justin-ross-harris-cooper-toddler-hot-car-death-live-blog

bbm

When a daycare worker told Leanna Harris there were a "million" other reasons why Cooper never showed up, Leanna Harris immediately said, "No." She didn't show any emotion, police said, but did say it was her "worst nightmare."

http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2014/07/justin_ross_harris_hearing_bri.html

 

[JerseyGirl]

Leanna Harris called her mother, who screamed and cried loudly and asked Leann why she wasn't crying. Leanna Harris' reply was, "I must be in shock."

http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2014/07/justin_ross_harris_hearing_bri.html

 

[JerseyGirl]

Michael Gordon from Northport, Alabama, said he had known Harris for about 15 years and even remembered the day his friend announced his wife's pregnancy.

He said: 'It breaks my heart that this horrible tragedy has happened. 'Ross high five'ed me at church almost 3 years ago and said we're pregnant, he had a huge smile on his face. He has been nothing but a caring father and supporting husband...

http://www.capitalbay.com/news/5310...ore-his-toddler-son-died-in-the-same-way.html

 

[tlcya]

long time friend of Ross Harris, Ben McRae, describes the man he knew and his thoughts on this case

[FONT=proxima_nova_rgregular]hey first bonded at the local University Church of Christ, during a church trip to see the Atlanta Braves play. They were very close and were both big Crimson Tide football fans.
[/FONT]
[FONT=proxima_nova_rgregular]"From that point on, we were inseparable," McRea said. "We were best friends." He characterized Harris as popular and outgoing.

SNIP

"He was just a great and outgoing personality. He always liked being the center of attention. He was the Ferris Bueller of Tuscaloosa."

SNIP

[/FONT]
[FONT=proxima_nova_rgregular]"We joked he was the kind of person to be late to his own funeral," McRea said. "It didn't seem like he ever took anything seriously. But I always assumed he could be serious when he needed to be."
[/FONT]
[FONT=proxima_nova_rgregular]"They seemed to love each other very deeply," McRea said. "I can't tell you how shocked I was to find out the things he was doing behind her back."
[/FONT]
[FONT=proxima_nova_rgregular]"She had very low self esteem, always called herself 'overweight," McRea said.

SNIP

[/FONT]
[FONT=proxima_nova_rgregular]On June 19th, the day after his birthday, McRea was driving to meet up with his parents at a local Olive Garden restaurant. He got a Facebook message from a mutual friend that said "Have you seen this?" It was a link to a story about Ross. "I had to pull over, and I just cried like a baby." At the restaurant, he said he was extremely upset. "I said, 'Momma, Ross killed his baby. Momma, Ross killed his baby. How? How?"
[/FONT]
[FONT=proxima_nova_rgregular]"Please God," he said he begged, "tell me he didn't leave him in the car. Tell me this wasn't on purpose."[/FONT]
[FONT=proxima_nova_rgregular]
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/ho...-dad-he-was-ferris-bueller-tuscaloosa-n153156


[/FONT]

 

[tlcya]

college friend Kristen Riker comments on the Ross Harris she knew

"He was a very family-oriented, nice, genuinely great guy," she told TODAY. "He was very computer-savvy, he was able to help me out on projects when I needed it. ...He was very outgoing, he would tell jokes, he was the life of the class."

SNIP

"I just want everyone to know that the time I knew him, he was a really great guy... I don't know what to think and I'm trying to stay unbiased until more evidence is revealed."

http://www.today.com/news/police-scrutinize-mother-over-toddlers-death-hot-car-1D79887209

 

[JerseyGirl]

video of witness Dale Hamilton speaking to reporters onscene

http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/child-dies-after-being-left-car-near-cumberland-ma/ngNc4/

Raw video

http://www.wsbtv.com/videos/news/raw-sound-witness-describes-fathers-reaction-to/vCfQ4N/

Hamilton on Nancy Grace http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/21/us/toddler-car-death-probe/

“Laid his son on the ground, started doing CPR trying to resuscitate him. Apparently the child wasn’t responding,” Hamilton told the station.

Added Hamilton, “He kept saying, ‘What have I done? What have I done?’ And that’s all that I could ascertain that he was saying.”

http://wgntv.com/2014/06/25/tragic-accident-or-murder-in-hot-car-toddler-death/

‘He was in the same position as if he were sitting in the carseat,’ witness Dale Hamilton of the toddler boy who died in this hot car while his father worked at a Georgia mall.

"He was lifeless, he was in the same position as if he were sitting in the carseat," witness Dale Hamilton told the newspaper. "It's something that I'll remember for a long time."http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/ga-man-charged-murder-baby-dies-hot-car-article-1.1836144

One witness, Dale Hamilton, said he initially thought the child was choking, but quickly learned otherwise.

“He pulled him out, laid him on the ground, and tried to resuscitate him,” Hamilton said.

“He was lifeless, he was in the same position as if he were sitting in the carseat,” Hamilton said. “It’s something that I’ll remember for a long time.”

http://www.ajc.com/news/news/breaking-news/child-believed-left-in-car-in-cobb-has-died/ngNdR/

_____

"He kept saying, 'What have I done? What have I done?'" Dale Hamilton told CNN affiliate WSB-TV.

"Within moments of the first responders getting to the scene and doing their job and questions began to be asked about the moments that led up to their arrival at the scene, some of those answers were not making sense to the first responders," Pierce of Cobb County Police said.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/21/us/toddler-car-death-probe/

_____

Witness Dale Hamilton told this to the newspaper: "I wish I could have done something, but there's nothing that could be done."

"He kept saying, 'What have I done? What have I done?' And that's all that I could ascertain that he was saying," witness Hamilton said of the father.

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2014/06/dad_who_forgot_22-month-old_in.html

 

[JerseyGirl]

Another witness, bartender Artiyka Eastland, 25, of Smyrna, also thought Harris' behavior was bizarre.


Artiyka told MailOnline: 'I saw him (Harris) immediately jump out of the car, very quickly, very frantically.


'He pulled the baby out of its child seat and on to the floor, but I didn't realize the baby was lifeless at that point, I thought maybe he was choking. He put the baby on the ground and started to give him CPR, there was one other person there with him helping.


'I didn't want to get too close. I was emotional, it was crazy. He was shouting "What have I done, oh my God I've killed my son."'


But Artiyka said after that something wasn't quite right about Harris' demeanor.


She recalled: 'He was frantic as you'd expect, but when someone else came over to help with the baby he stepped away and he was acting like this is not happening type of thing.


'Something didn't seem right, I thought he was going through these weird spurts of being frantic and then being very calm.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...t-car-toddler-son-died-way.html#ixzz37MYwBqub
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

Artiyka said after that something wasn't quite right about Harris' demeanor.

She recalled: 'He was frantic as you'd expect, but when someone else came over to help with the baby he stepped away and he was acting like this is not happening type of thing.

'Something didn't seem right, I thought he was going through these weird spurts of being frantic and then being very calm.

'He wasn’t looking back in concern for his son, he was looking back to see who the police were talking to' - witness Artiyka Eastland

'The police put him in the cop car and he was talking to one of the detectives and he would be very calm, but then very crazy, crying. I saw him looking back trying to work out what was going on, but he wasn't looking back in concern for his son, he was looking back to see who the police were talking to.

'I can't imagine what it's like to lose a child but his body language in the back of the car was very odd.
 'I felt like he was worrying about something, it was strange behavior, he was back and forth between crying and looking around.' Artiyka also believes the baby had been dead for many hours before Harris pulled the child out of the car. 'The baby was a grey/blue color, not its natural color. I know he was in the car seat but when the dad placed him on the ground his legs stayed in the same sitting position, as if he was laying on the ground with his knees up in the air stiff. It wasn't natural.

http://www.capitalbay.com/news/5310...ore-his-toddler-son-died-in-the-same-way.html

 

[JerseyGirl]

Witness Dale Hamilton reported seeing Harris pull into Cobb County's Akers Mill Square shopping center, stop his car straddling two lanes of traffic, jump out of the vehicle and start to perform CPR on the child, according to the station.

"It is tough," Hamilton told WGCL. "I'm not sure how someone could forget they have a child in the backseat.... He was constantly saying, 'What have I done, what have I done.'"

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/georgia-dad-accused-of-leaving-child-in-car-charged-with-murder/

 

[JerseyGirl]

Thursday afternoon, a handful of cars were parked outside the family’s condo. A man identifying himself as Justin Harris’ father, Reggie, came outside to walk the family dog.

“We have some pretty strong feelings but we can’t talk right now,” he said.

http://www.ajc.com/news/news/breaking-news/child-believed-left-in-car-in-cobb-has-died/ngNdR/ - dated June 19, 2014

_____

Ross Harris' father also spoke [at CH's funeral] to the crowd sharing a story about how his son Ross had a dream Cooper was sitting on Jesus’ lap looking down at them, before the boy's death.

He said he was playing a guitar in the dream and Leanna was working in a nursery with other children. Their Marietta pastor David Eldridge conducted the service that lasted more than an hour.

Cooper's grandfather said nobody loved and worshiped him as much as his father. He said he called him his handsome little devil.

http://m.wsbtv.com/news/news/local/cobb-county-father-makes-jailhouse-call-sons-funer/ngT8H/

 

[Cinnamon]

I think he did. In toddler room 5.

Good point, gngr~snap and Dear Prudence! I hadn't thought of that. Guess we'll have to wait until we know the times of the calls. :waiting: :waiting: :waiting:

 

[JerseyGirl]

Leanna Harris told mourners in Tuscaloosa that before Cooper's birth, she was concerned "about never being able to have a child." She described the toddler as perfect and told how he changed her and Ross Harris' lives. "As children do, he turned our lives upside-down," she said. "Cleaning, changing diapers, dinner, bath time. Finally, what I would call mommy time. I wouldn't trade it for the world."

She said Cooper had had trouble sleeping of late, and he had slept with her and her husband the two nights before he died, "snuggling in between both of us." "I remember turning over in the middle of the night. His mouth was open and his full toddler lips just breathing right into my face. I will cherish that moment forever."

She further said she was "happy" that Cooper would miss some of life's letdowns, including his first heartbreak, his parents' and grandparents' deaths and who to sit with at lunch at middle school.

"I miss him with all of my heart. Would I bring him back? No. To bring him back into this broken world would be selfish," she said.
She closed by saying that she wasn't angry with her husband and that Cooper "meant the world" to Ross, whom she described as a "wonderful daddy."

http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/07/justice/leanna-harris-5-questions/

 

[JerseyGirl]

4:00 p.m. ET: The defense has called another one of Harris’ friends, Winston Milling, to the stand. He also went to lunch with Harris on the day his son died and says everything appeared normal.

“He loved showing Cooper off to everybody. He liked picking him up, bringing him around. He was always happy, Cooper was always smiling,” Milling said.

When asked about Harris’ deafness in his right ear: “I always have to go to the other side of his head to talk to him.”

View attachment 54793

http://www.hlntv.com/article/2014/07/03/justin-ross-harris-cooper-toddler-hot-car-death-live-blog

A friend of the couple, Winston Rowell Milling, however, told the court that things seemed normal. Milling and his wife had joined Ross and Leanna Harris for festivals, picnics, hiking on Kennesaw Mountain and other family events. Both parents seemed to have a loving relationship with Cooper, he said.

http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/07/justice/leanna-harris-5-questions/

 

[JerseyGirl]

long time friend of Ross Harris, Ben McRae, describes the man he knew and his thoughts on this case

[FONT=proxima_nova_rgregular]hey first bonded at the local University Church of Christ, during a church trip to see the Atlanta Braves play. They were very close and were both big Crimson Tide football fans.
[/FONT]
[FONT=proxima_nova_rgregular]"From that point on, we were inseparable," McRea said. "We were best friends." He characterized Harris as popular and outgoing.

"He was just a great and outgoing personality. He always liked being the center of attention. He was the Ferris Bueller of Tuscaloosa."

[/FONT]
[FONT=proxima_nova_rgregular]"We joked he was the kind of person to be late to his own funeral," McRea said. "It didn't seem like he ever took anything seriously. But I always assumed he could be serious when he needed to be."
[/FONT]
[FONT=proxima_nova_rgregular]"They seemed to love each other very deeply," McRea said. "I can't tell you how shocked I was to find out the things he was doing behind her back."
[/FONT]
[FONT=proxima_nova_rgregular]"She had very low self esteem, always called herself 'overweight," McRea said.

[/FONT]
[FONT=proxima_nova_rgregular]On June 19th, the day after his birthday, McRea was driving to meet up with his parents at a local Olive Garden restaurant. He got a Facebook message from a mutual friend that said "Have you seen this?" It was a link to a story about Ross. "I had to pull over, and I just cried like a baby." At the restaurant, he said he was extremely upset. "I said, 'Momma, Ross killed his baby. Momma, Ross killed his baby. How? How?"
[/FONT]
[FONT=proxima_nova_rgregular]"Please God," he said he begged, "tell me he didn't leave him in the car. Tell me this wasn't on purpose."[/FONT]
[FONT=proxima_nova_rgregular]
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/ho...-dad-he-was-ferris-bueller-tuscaloosa-n153156


[/FONT]

But now McRea, who was a groomsman in Harris' wedding, says that if his old pal did in fact leave his 22-month-old son, Cooper, in a piping hot SUV on June 18 intentionally, he hopes "he gets what's coming to him."

"I mean, it's like he's just a different person," McRea told the network. "It would only take, a — I mean it seems like a monster. This don't seem like my friend, it seems like a monster."


"I cared about Leanna too; it just blows my mind. I didn't see him as the cheating type," he added. "As more stuff comes out I just look over at my roommate and I say, 'How did he become this monster? What happened?'"

Infidelity led to a falling out between the buddies in fall 2010. A mutual friend had been cheating on her husband and McRea knew about it. Leanna Harris wanted him to tell the husband, who was also their friend, but he did nothing.


Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/cri...r-dad-monster-article-1.1863471#ixzz37OrwUiWL

 

[gngr~snap]

But now McRea, who was a groomsman in Harris' wedding, says that if his old pal did in fact leave his 22-month-old son, Cooper, in a piping hot SUV on June 18 intentionally, he hopes "he gets what's coming to him."

"I mean, it's like he's just a different person," McRea told the network. "It would only take, a — I mean it seems like a monster. This don't seem like my friend, it seems like a monster."


"I cared about Leanna too; it just blows my mind. I didn't see him as the cheating type," he added. "As more stuff comes out I just look over at my roommate and I say, 'How did he become this monster? What happened?'"

Infidelity led to a falling out between the buddies in fall 2010. A mutual friend had been cheating on her husband and McRea knew about it. Leanna Harris wanted him to tell the husband, who was also their friend, but he did nothing.


Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/cri...r-dad-monster-article-1.1863471#ixzz37OrwUiWL

This just bugs me. LH knew it too. Why is she putting it on someone else to tell him?
She has a voice too.
Slip him an anonymous note! _geez

Why didn't she ask Ross to tell the guy his wife was cheating?

 

[JerseyGirl]

Earlier in the funeral service at University Church of Christ, Harris called from the Cobb County Jail and addressed the crowd by speaker phone:

"Thank you for everything you've done for my boy," he said. "Good life. (Inaudible) No words to say. Just horrible. (Inaudible) I'm just sorry I can't be there."

http://www.cnn.com/2014/06/28/us/georgia-toddler-funeral/

 

[JerseyGirl]

A former co-worker, speaking on the on the condition his name be withheld, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that Harris had confided to him years ago he had no sense of smell, although there was no mention of that during Harris' 7/3 court session.

http://www.news.com.au/world/justin...-died-in-hot-car/story-fndir2ev-1226983059847