Everyone, from prosecutors to the defense, knows Justin Ross Harris caused the death of his toddler son, Cooper, last month by leaving him in a hot car for seven hours.

The question is why.

In testimony on July 3, Cobb County prosecutors used tidbits culled from Harris’ electronic devices — sexting, viewing troubling websites — to shock an international audience. When the trial opens, their task will be harder: to convince a jury he didn’t simply forget his son was in the car. Key tools, they made clear, will be Ross Harris’ own half-dozen devices, from his iPhone to laptops and a video streaming device.

In stories on myajc.com and in the AJC Sunday, the AJC takes the closest look yet at the digital side of the Harris case: what digital evidence police have found, what they might find, and the way investigators go about it. To read the story, click here.

Accompanying that is a riveting tale of computer investigations elsewhere (to read, click here), showing the stakes of getting it right — or wrong. And only on myajc.com, delve into the world of digital forensics by clicking here.

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Fulton DA Fani Willis (center) with Nathan J. Wade (right), the special prosecutor she hired to manage the Trump case and had a romantic relationship with, at a news conference announcing charges against President-elect Donald Trump and others in Atlanta, Aug. 14, 2023. Georgia’s Supreme Court on Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2025, upheld an appeals court's decision to disqualify Willis from the election interference case against Trump and his allies. (Kenny Holston/New York Times)

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