Hot Car Death: Justin Ross Harris 'Was A Wonderful Father': Ex-Wife

MARIETTA, GA -- The former wife of Justin Ross Harris, who was convicted in the Cobb County parking lot death of the couple's toddler, spoke out publicly this weekend for the first time after more than two years.

Appearing on ABC's "20/20" before a national audience Leanna Taylor said one of her reasons for coming forward now was because, "It has been 2 and half years of heartbreaking silence."

She said that the record needed to be straightened for the sake of 22-month-old Cooper Harris, the son she lost. It was hard "not being able to speak out for myself, not being able to speak out for my son. And it's time for me to do that ... it's time for me to defend his legacy," she said.

Read more: Justin Harris Ross begins life at Valdosta prison

Taylor also spoke locally to WSB-TV, saying that it was time to end people's misconceptions about the case, marriage and her child.

"He's seen as a child who wasn't loved and wasn't wanted, and that just wasn't true," she said in an interview with WSB-TV. "And I don't want people to think of my son that way."

Taylor was never charged in the case, but she said that she feels she was done wrong by law enforcement authorities who scrutinized the couple's life relentlessly over the course of the investigation. The strain of it all caused the couple's 10-year marriage to collapse.

Taylor said that she loved her son and that the boy absolutely adored his father. "When he saw Ross he just lit up," she said.

On June 18, 2014, her life was turned upside down when Ross Harris strapped little Cooper in the carseat in the back seat, something he'd done countless times before.

Harris drove to a Chick-fil-A and ate with his son, but instead of taking him to day care, the father headed on to work at nearby Home Depot. His son was still in the car seat.

Taylor said when her work day had ended she went to the day care to pick up her son.

"Got to the day care and walked in like any other day," she told ABC. "The daycare teacher that was there, she said, 'What are you doing here? I said, 'I'm here to get Cooper,' she said. "I didn't know what to think -- it got my attention immediately."

She said she thought that someone had snatched him from day care, but remembers saying out loud, "Ross must've left him in the car." She said nothing else made sense.

She rushed over to her husband's job, trailed by a day care worker.

While in the lobby, a strange feeling overtook her, she said.

"I noticed that the guy who rode over with me and the security guard were watching something on the TV. It was odd to me that they were so intent on it," she said. Soon her phone rang, it was a detective. She said "It's bad, right? He said, 'Yes, it's bad."

Taylor said despite the verdict she knows that her ex-husband loved his son.

"There was no evidence in our life as a family of him being angry toward Cooper and being aggravated by Cooper."

She said she does not think her ex-husband should be locked up in prison for life.

Reached by WSB-TV, the lead prosecutor in the case said that they will not apologize for "turning over every rock, cross every t and dot every i whatsover in this case."

After being sentenced to life in prison in December, Harris has appealed his conviction.

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