COBB COUNTY, Georgia - Authorities investigating the June death of a toddler locked in his father's SUV for seven hours have requested all medical records for the boy and his father, who is charged with murder in the case.
The Cobb County Magistrate's Office today released 16 additional search warrants in ongoing investigation into the June 18 death of 22-month-old Cooper Harris. Today's release of warrants brings the total number made public to 56 warrants over the past 10 days. Officials told AL.com Monday all search warrants have now been made public.
The latest batch shows investigators have requested medical records from health insurance company Kaiser Permanente for both Cooper and his father, Tuscaloosa native Justin Ross Harris.
In the request for Ross Harris' records, investigators asked for any documents pertaining to "evidence of the subject's health, medications, medical problems and any medical information." Testimony during a three-hour probable cause hearing last week revealed Ross Harris is deaf in his right ear.
As for Cooper's records, detectives sought information on his health, medical conditions, medications and any growth or developmental issues.
Today's warrants also show detectives are studying electronic devices found inside Harris's Hyundai Tuscan. A thumb drive, an external hard drive, a SD card, and a DVD-R were all taken into police custody.
One of the new search warrants released focused on a search of the couples' home "to include the inspection of the lights in and around the residence, if there are a sufficient amount of light bulbs in storage to determine if there was a need to purchase light bulbs the afternoon of the incident."
During the investigation, the surveillance video from Home Depot was reviewed. On the video Harris is seen pulling into the parking lot of his work the morning of the incident.
Harris passes a parking space, backs the vehicle up several feet and then pulls into a parking space near the back of the lot. Harris then exits the vehicle and walks into his office building. At lunch time, Harris left with several co-workers to go eat.
When he returns, the co-worker drops Harris off at his vehicle. Harris is seen on the video approaching the vehicle; he opens the driver side door and puts a bag into the driver compartment of the vehicle. He is then seen on the video walking back to the building. During that time, he pulls his cell phone out and begins using the phone.
At last week's hearing, investigators said Harris was able to remember in detail his actions of that day. However, he failed to tell the investigators he returned to the vehicle at lunch time to place an item into the vehicle.
Authorities said it was the package of light bulbs that he was putting in his vehicle during his lunch break. They testified they found three burned-out light bulbs in the couples' bathroom.
The warrants and accompanying affidavits say all are being examined for "information pertaining to finances, credit card debt, business information, life insurance, emails/communication regarding child, wife, and family issues, photos/videos of the child to show development, information about car seat searches, searches regarding car deaths, communications with other people on the days leading up to and the incident date, information on life insurance policies."
Warrants released Friday showed investigators were looking for evidence and information into the finances of Ross and Leanna Harris, and into any marital problems they might be having. Those warrants also showed Harris has made comments to family members regarding a life insurance policy that he has on Cooper and what they need to do to file for it, according to one of the search warrant affidavits.
According to affidavits, police searched the couple's home, car, computers, phones for information "pertaining to credit card debt, business information, life insurance, emails/communication regarding the child, wife and family issues, photos/videos of the child to show development, information about car set searches, searches regarding in-car deaths and communications with other people on the day leading up to and the incident date."
Harris told investigators he recently took over the finances for the family, according to the warrants. He said he had acquired about $4,000 in credit card debt in order to acquire airline miles. Harris also told them he had outstanding student loans and car loans for him and his wife.
At Thursday's hearing, lead investigator Cobb County police Detective Phil Stoddard told the court investigators found two life insurance policies totaling $27,000. One of them was a standard policy from Home Depot where Harris worked, and the other was a $25,000 policy taken out separately.
Both Harris and his wife, Leanna, have told authorities that leaving their son in a hot car was their biggest fear. They both also told investigators they researched the issue on the internet.
Ross Harris is being held without bond on the charges of murder and child cruelty. Leanna Harris has not been charged with any crime.