Chris's Crime Forum

This news article is now in the latest post in Who Killed Theresa?
WRAL is one of the best news sources for this area.

When a married woman is killed, the husband is almost always a suspect. This is not always the case, of course.
I am willing to give Brad Cooper the benefit of the doubt, but not Jason Young.

Does everyone know I was writing up Nancy's story at the same time her body was found? Just want to make sure. (Lord, that was creepy for me!)

I can't help but wonder why some seem to think it is easier to kill your spouse than to get a divorce. I often hear the term, "messy divorce," but is a murder any less messy?
I also wonder how a person can kill someone they once loved enough to marry.
Maybe I'm just lucky I've never been through that.

Hey Friends - I got a link here for you.
http://www.ncwanted.com/ncwanted_home/s ... re_story=1

This one's from NC Wanted.
I have tried, from the beginning of the story, to give the husband the benefit of the doubt. But that doesn't mean I'm not gonna pay attention to info like this.

well well!.. look who is guilty!
Great find Bill..

Documents unsealed in Cooper murder case
EDMONTON - Police discovered that Brad Cooper had "small red marks or scratches" on his neck the day his wife disappeared and say he had spent the morning scrubbing their house clean, according to a police affidavit made public from court records today.

In the police affidavit to obtain a search warrant, investigators revealed that Cooper did not provide an explanation for the scratches.

Additionally, his "extensive cleaning of the residence ... is not consistent with information gathered from multiple interviews with individuals who knew Brad and Nancy extensively during their marriage," the court documents say
The body of Cooper's wife, Nancy, was discovered in a storm sewer drain two days after her July 12 disappearance. She had moved to Cary, N.C., eight years ago from Edmonton.

Brad Cooper told police that his wife had gone jogging the morning she disappeared. Police interviewed Cooper in their house and discovered a "dried stain" on the couple's bed and various cleaning supplies on the bedroom's bathroom countertop.

Cooper told the officer that he had also recently cleaned the trunk of their BMW, says the affidavit.

The couple had planned to separate and had an argument a week before she disappeared over the cleanliness of their house, the affidavit says. A second argument erupted July 12.

Police did not reveal how Cooper, 34, died in the affidavit, saying only that her death is consistent with a homicide.

Search warrants were obtained by police for Brad Cooper's office, the couple's two cars, and his DNA.

Brad Cooper has said through his lawyer that he had no role in his wife's death. No one has been charged in relation to the homicide.

The town of Cary's police chief, Pat Bazemore, released a statement on the search warrants becoming public today:

"Everyone must remember that investigations are as much about ruling things out as ruling things in and that it's the evidence that comes from a search warrant - not the warrant itself - that makes a difference in a case."

Nancy's father, Garry Rentz, said he has great confidence that police will find her killer.

"A resolution of this case would indeed be a wonderful gift to all of us," he said in a prepared statement. "We implore all the agencies engaged in this case to expedite a resolution."

The couple's daughters, ages two and four, are in the custody of Nancy Cooper's family in Edmonton.

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A woman whose body was found this summer in a partially developed subdivision near her North Carolina home probably died of strangulation, an autopsy report has found.
Nancy Cooper, a 34-year-old mother of two, died of "homicidal violence," the report, released late Monday, says. Medical examiners found a faint mark near her throat.

No arrests have been made in the case, although the police investigation has apparently focused on Cooper's husband, Brad Cooper. Days after Cooper's body was found, according to court records, police searched Brad Cooper's computers to see whether he had looked up how to dispose of a dead body.

His lawyers have said he is innocent and earlier this month released evidence in an effort to prove that Cooper was not involved in his wife's murder. Cooper has said that his wife went running July 12 and never came home.

Nancy Cooper's body, clothed only in a sports bra, was found two days later in a drainage ditch a few miles from her Cary, N.C., home. Medical examiners tested her body for evidence of sexual assault, although the autopsy report did not include the results of their examination. ABC News affiliate WTVD reported that police said there was no evidence of sexual assault.

Garry Rentz, Cooper's father, said in a statement late Monday, "The journey to truth and justice can be long and arduous. Today's news marks a point that is particularly poignant and painful but necessary to further the evidentiary process leading to a conviction of the person or persons responsible for Nancy's murder."

Rentz and Brad Cooper are fighting over permanent custody of the couple's two daughters. A judge awarded Rentz and his wife temporary custody of the children and is scheduled to decide next month who will have permanent custody.

The ongoing murder investigation complicates the custody case. Wake Court District Court Judge Debra Sasser will have to decide whether Cooper is a danger to his children and may have to consider whether he killed his wife.

According to the Raleigh News & Observer, Sasser said during a court hearing Monday, "I am not going to avoid the elephant in the room: Did Brad Cooper kill his wife?"

That's what I have to determine in this custody case if no one is charged and convicted in Nancy Cooper's death before the custody hearing."
Earlier this month, his lawyers released store surveillance footage, receipts and photographs, which they said showed that Cooper was not involved in his wife's death.
It is our goal to restore reason to what has become an unreasonable and persecutory situation," Cooper's lawyers, Howard Kurtz and Seth Blum, said in a statement on their Web site.


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Thanks Doreen, for finding and posting this article.
This case has become personal to me, as it happened close to home, and one of my readers asked me to help with the search by writing about it.
Stat Counter shows me I have a lot of visitors from Cary, NC. I always want to hear from my readers and respond to them.
I was very impressed to learn how many people showed up to search for Nancy before her body was found, and it inspired me to join in the effort. Now I really want to see this case through.

I felt really bad when I found out her body was found right after I hit the publish button. I felt I was too late to help spread the word to help with the search. I keep telling myself it's not my fault.
It's funny how a writer can get so involved in his story.

Slain Jogger's Parents Win Custody Ruling

The family of Nancy Cooper, who was found murdered more than three months ago near her home in North Carolina, won temporary custody today of her two daughters.

The daughters, 2-year-old Katie and 4-year-old Bella, have been living in Canada with Nancy Cooper's twin sister, Krista, and her parents, Garry and Donna Rentz, since their mother went missing July 12.

The girls will remain there until a subsequent hearing is held to determine permanent custody. A copy of the judge's ruling wasn't immediately available.

"We could not have asked for a more fair or deliberate process and are confident that she acted in the best interest of not just our grandchildren but all children who may be in a similar circumstance," the Rentzes said in a statement released by the police department in Cary, N.C.

Calls that ABCNews.com made to lawyers for Cooper's husband, Brad Cooper, were not immediately returned.

Seth Blum, one of Cooper's attorneys, told ABC News affiliate WDTV reporter Ed Crump that his client is innocent is still deciding whether to appeal the custody decision.

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It's not always that I agree with the judge's decision, but in this case I do.
In the case of Michelle Young, whose husband is the prime suspect, the little girl who was present when her mommy was murdered, is in custody of her daddy.
This disturbs me.
I think it's good that the grandparents have the kids, whether the daddy is guilty or not.

A bit of trivia
Michelle Young and Theresa Allore were both murdered on November 3, but in different years.
Anniversary coming up, ya'll!

I just now got an email alert from NC Wanted (I subscribe) saying that Brad Cooper has been indicted.
http://www.ncwanted.com/ncwanted_home/s ... re_story=1

Wow this is GREAT news..But the pd's new one way or another it was him..what did they finally have to arrest him?

Husband of slain NC woman charged with murder .
RALEIGH, N.C. — A North Carolina man was charged Monday with killing his wife, who authorities have said wanted to leave her husband and return to her native Canada with the couple's children.

A grand jury indicted Bradley Cooper on a first-degree murder charge in the July death of 34-year-old Nancy Cooper, whose body was found at a construction site about three miles from their home in the Raleigh suburb of Cary. Cooper, also 34, has repeatedly insisted he had no part in his wife's death through his lawyers.

Nancy Cooper was reported missing the afternoon of July 12 by a friend who told police the Coopers were in the middle of a divorce, and her body was found two days later. An autopsy report said she had been strangled.

Search warrants released last month indicated Nancy Cooper was working on a plan to return to her childhood home in Canada and take the couple's two children with her. From the beginning, Bradley Cooper has said his wife had gone out for a jog with a friend the morning of July 12.

She never returned.

Cary officials never called him a suspect in the case, though he was compelled to provide hair and saliva, as well as photos of his body for inspection for any injuries.

Last week, while in court over custody of the couples' two young daughters, Nancy Cooper's family members said they believe Bradley Cooper was responsible for Nancy's death.

The judge granted a second temporary custody order allowing the girls to live with Nancy Cooper's twin, Krista, and her husband, Jim Lister, at their home in Canada.

Cooper is being held without bond at the Wake County jail. Messages left with his attorneys for both Bradley Cooper and Nancy Cooper's family were not immediately returned. Police in Cary planned a news conference for later Monday night to discuss the case.

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