Day care employees describe Ross Harris as 'loving, engaged' dad

GLYNN COUNTY, Ga. — The Ross Harris hot car death trial continued Thursday with testimony from four employees from a Cobb County day care.

Harris is accused of intentionally leaving his 22-month-old son, Cooper, in a hot car for more than seven hours in June 2014 to kill him. He is facing eight charges, including malice murder.

• 4 day care workers from Little Apron Academy testified
• All 4 described Ross Harris as a loving and engaged dad
• Prosecutors insinuated it was all an act
• Worker says Harris took photos of Cooper every morning, but stopped 2 weeks before his death
• Worker says Leanna Harris "confused" and "frantic" when she came to pick up Cooper that day

Melony Gibson, Keyatta Patrick, Azure Hawkins and Michelle Gray, who all took the stand Thursday morning, worked at Little Apron Academy, where Cooper attended day care.

[Minute-by-minute: Day 5 of the Ross Harris hot car death trial]

Many described Harris as a loving and engaged father who was very present. The defense showed photos of Harris dressed up in costumes visiting his son during the day. %

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"We definitely knew when Ross was in the building," Gibson said about his gregarious personality.

Day care workers say Cooper was an active, talkative boy

Gibson is the executive director of the day care, and Patrick, Hawkins and Gray were Cooper’s teachers at the time of his death.

"Cooper was an affable child. He was a talker. Calm-natured, very easy to get along, just a normal soon-to-be 2-year-old," Gibson said of Cooper.

Patrick said Cooper had just started talking at the end of May and was beginning to really grow and develop before his death.

Gray said Cooper had just learned to say her name. She says the night before his death, he said, "Bye Chel" on his way out the door.

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Patrick said Harris used to take a photo of Cooper every morning after he got settled in at day care, but two weeks before Cooper’s death, Harris stopped taking the photos. Patrick said it seemed odd so she asked him why he stopped and he told her, “Because he’s getting older.”

Workers say they knew Harris based on how he interacted with Cooper

Hawkins said that learning Harris was sexting other women would have been surprising to her because that's not how he portrayed himself.

"How he portrayed himself to you was, in fact, what you saw over the period of more than a year with Cooper, which was, you knew he loved that little boy. Is that true?" defense attorney Maddox Kilgore asked.

"Did he also act like he loved his wife?" prosecutor Chuck Boring responded.

Leanna Harris described as confused, upset when arriving to pick up her son

Patrick was the one who spoke with Leanna Harris when she arrived to pick up her son on the afternoon of June 18, 2014. Patrick said they tried to call Ross Harris several times but he never answered. She said Leanna Harris was upset, at times crying.

Gray said she remembers asking Leanna, "What are you doing here? Cooper's not here." She said Leanna acted confused and frantic.

Gray did not testify about Leanna's response. In previous testimony, detectives said Leanna muttered that her then husband must have left Cooper in his car, and later, at police headquarters, acted odd.

Patrick said after Cooper’s death, she called to check on Leanna and see how she was doing. She said Leanna was having a tough time.

The defense said during an interview, detectives asked Gray over and over again about whether or not she had talked to Ross Harris that day. Gray said no, but the detectives continued to ask.

Records show Harris did not call 911 but did call Little Apron Academy after his son's death.

Gray said she never spoke with Ross Harris that day. She said she was scared during the interview because she did nothing wrong.

The final witness of the day was Home Depot IT security engineer Jeffrey Jackson. Jackson pulled phone records from Little Apron Academy the day that Cooper Harris died.

The day ended early as the judge said they are still dealing with the impacts of Hurricane Matthew. Court will resume at 9 a.m. Friday.

You can watch the entire trial LIVE on WSBTV.com/Ross-Harris-Trial. We will have minute-by-minute coverage as well as a daily summary from the courtroom each day. Like Ross Harris Updates on Facebook and follow @RossHarrisTrial on Twitter for updates throughout the trial.

Cox Media Group