A Reddit account has surfaced believed to belong to Justin Ross Harris, the man who allegedly left his toddler son in a hot car to die. Harris has pleaded not guilty in the charges of felony murder and second-degree child cruelty in the death of his 22-month-old son, Cooper Harris.
Last week, Cobb County Police Department Phil Stoddard testified that Harris had a Reddit account, according to HLNTV . The Reddit account matches an account name on Instagram believed to belong to Harris as well. Authorities believe the Reddit account belongs to Harris because the account activity includes specific details about Justin Ross Harris’ life.
Many of the Reddit posts under the screen name RoscoeUA mention a wife, son, and Harris’ alma mater. His job at the Home Depot, place of residence, and church are also mentioned in several Reddit posts.
Reddit is a social networking site where users can explore several different topics of discussion through interacting with other users. Content is organized under subreddits, or certain areas of interest within the Reddit website. Reddit boasts around 3 million users , according to DMR .
If the Reddit posts indeed belong to Harris, they show that Harris has talked about his hearing loss due to the explosion of a bottle rocket prior to the death of his son in a Reddit post. According to WIAT , this is important because his defense attorney mentioned that Harris was completely deaf in his right ear , a fact that Stoddard was unaware of prior to Harris’ probable cause hearing. It is expected that Maddox Kilgore, Harris’ defense attorney, will revisit this issue later in trial.
The Reddit account also sheds light on the user because of four articles viewed under a Reddit page entitled “ child-free ” and how to survive in prison, according to CNN .
Police have said that Harris “stated that he recently researched, through the internet and on Reddit, child deaths inside vehicles and what temperature it needs to be for that to occur.” Harris reportedly told police investigators that “he was fearful that this could happen.”
Reddit user RoscoeUA once advised another Reddit user how to avoid arrested during a DUI stop, and another post advised not to “get the police involved in your business” involving a bank withholding money.
Not all of Harris’ alleged internet activity on Reddit was suspicious. The account spanned three years, and the user once posted, “I am now in my dream job, have a beautiful 6-month-old son, and love going to work every day. I couldn’t be happier.”
The Reddit user was also against abortion “because abortion in my mind is killing a child… if you can’t suport [sic] children, don’t have sex, don’t have abortions.”
Reddit user RoscoeUA later added, “Killing a person (in the sense of abortion) is selfish and malicious with the intent of only satisfying you’re own personal agenda.”
It is not clear when the research done on the internet was made in relation to the death of Harris’ son , but a post by RoscoeUA on Reddit was made just hours prior to Harris’ arrest.