Ross Harris' ex-wife Leanna Taylor appeared to become emotional when she was officially told her son Cooper was dead and told detectives she needed "for this day to not have happened."
The jury in the hot-car murder trial heard a recording of Taylor being informed by police about her son's death on June 18, 2014. In testimony earlier this week, Taylor said she already knew what had happened because a security guard had recently told her that he'd just seen a news report of the incident on TV.
Harris is on trial for intentionally leaving his son Cooper to die in his overheated SUV. His attorneys contend what happened was a terrible accident. The recording of Taylor being told of her son’s death was introduced into evidence through the testimony of Cobb County Police Det. Edward Stockinger, the last witness of the trial.
Taylor was initially branded a suspect in the case at least partly because police said she showed no emotion when told about her 22-month-old son’s death. But in the recorded interview, Taylor sounds as if she was in shock and did sound emotional, with her voice breaking, after Stockinger explained to her what had happened.
“He left work … and realized he never dropped Cooper off,” Stockinger said, referring to Harris. “So Cooper was in the car all day.”
Shortly after that, Taylor’s mother called her on her cellphone and the detectives allowed her to answer.
“Cooper is not with us anymore,” Taylor can be heard telling her mother. “Ross forgot to drop him off at daycare and he was left in the car.”
Stockinger said he could hear Taylor’s mom becoming hysterical on the other end of the call. She apparently asked her daughter why she was not as emotional.
“I’m not processing this right now,” Taylor told her mom. “That’s why I don’t have a reaction. I don’t know what my reaction will be.”
Because Taylor’s mother was apparently driving during the phone call, Taylor tells her to “please pull over.”
After Taylor ends the call with her mother, she told detectives: “This does not feel like it’s happening. This can’t be happening right now. I need for this day to not have happened.”
Stockinger told Taylor, “I know you’re still in shock.” He then asked her if she wanted a ride back to her home.
“I can’t drive,” Taylor said.
During the recorded interview, in a conference room at Harris’ workplace at Home Depot, Taylor said she hoped the day was a bad dream.
As for what just happened to her son, Taylor said, the prospect of leaving her child in her car had been a fear and that she’d seen warnings about it on TV.
“We talk about it a lot,” Taylor said, referring to conversations she had with Harris. “It’s always been a big fear of mine. Always.”
Under cross-examination, Stockinger refused to acknowledge Taylor was in anyway emotional during the interview.
Lead defense attorney Maddox Kilgore told him that Taylor could be heard whispering, sighing and sniffling during the interview.
“She was actually quite emotional when she was talking to you?” Kilgore asked.
“No, she was not,” Stockinger said. “I can tell you 100 percent she was not emotional.
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