The former wife of Ross Harris fought back tears as she remembered not being able to cry when told her 22-month-old son Cooper had died.
» Hot car death trial live stream: Watch Leanna Taylor take the stand
“I didn’t even recognize myself,” Leanna Taylor testified Monday. “It was like another person had taken over my body. It was like I wasn’t even there.
“It wasn’t real,” she said. “Sometimes it still doesn’t feel real.”
Before receiving confirmation that Cooper was dead, Taylor said, “I kept thinking we’re going to get Ross on the phone any minute and everything would be fine.”
Taylor's lack of outward emotion led Cobb County police to consider whether she might have been involved in her son's death. She was never charged. Monday's testimony marked the first time Taylor has discussed the events of June 18, 2014, when her son died after being left in her husband's SUV for seven hours.
Harris rarely made eye contact with his former wife. He is charged with intentionally killing their 22-month-old son Cooper, leaving him strapped in his car seat for roughly seven hours.
Credit: John Bazemore
Credit: John Bazemore
“The only thing that made sense to me, based on everything I knew that day, was Ross must’ve left him in the car,” Taylor said. “It’s the only thing that flipped in my mind as a remote possibility.”
Taylor has said she believes it was a mistake.
She testified Monday that Harris was a loving father but also absent-minded and overconfident whenever placed in an uncomfortable situation.
“I would say he’s easily distracted,” said Taylor, who divorced Harris earlier this year after more than nine years of marriage. “Getting a paycheck and forgetting to cash it, those kind of things caused tension at the time.”
Father and son were a lot alike, she said.
(Cooper) would talk to or smile at anybody doesn’t matter whether it was a stranger or not,” said Taylor, fighting back tears. “He was just amazing. I miss him so much.”
Harris first confessed a problem with pornography in 2008, adding she discovered he was sexting two years later, Taylor said.
They sought counseling. They shared their problems with friends from church. Harris even got an accountability partner who was notified any time he visited a pornographic website. But the problem persisted.
Finally, in the fall of 2013, Taylor said she offered him an out.
“I very bluntly one night said, “You want a divorce? If you want a divorce you can have it. I’ll give it to you,” Taylor testified.
Her then-husband responded, “That’s the last thing I want.”
Taylor’s testimony will continue following a morning break. Return for updates.
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