Latest / Bless This Mess: A Southern True Crime Podcast / A Little Less Mess [North Carolina] Nancy Cooper

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A Little Less Mess [North Carolina] Nancy Cooper · Bless This Mess: A Southern True Crime Podcast

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Hey everyone, and welcome to Bless This Mess on the truck Rum Podcast.
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I'm Kara, Jess Kara, Welcome to a little less Mess. It is
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our regular episodes minus all the banter and jokes and cussing. It's just me
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telling the story. Nothing added our normal episodes. If you're new here on
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normal episodes are numbered each week. It's me and my husband Stewart, and
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they're a little bit more. They have a lot of our opinions and we
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say inappropriate things and all that stuff. But just for all of our regular
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listeners this there is no new episode this week, so I'm out of town,
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so I'm just going to record these because I can do it on my
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own and put I'm hoping to put two of these out this week. So
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sorry, there's no new episode. Just work stuff and travel. But anyway,
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so if like I said, if you're new here and you like to
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anything. So check that out and all right, let's get into this week's
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episode. Name Nancy Lynn Cooper nay Rintz was born August twenty fifth, nineteen
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seventy three to Gary and Donna Rintz. Nancy grew up in Edmonton, Canada
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with her three siblings, an older brother Jeff, a twin sister, Christa,
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and a younger sister, Jill. Nancy was described as sporty and fun
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loving. She was a great athlete growing up. As she reached adulthood,
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she broadened her interest into fashion, art and jewelry, eventually running her own
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clothing store as a side business to her I T job. In nineteen ninety
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nine, Nancy was working at IBM in Calgary when she met twenty six year
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old Bradley Cooper, not the famous Bradley Cooper. Bradley was very quiet and
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reserved, not like the typical men that Nancy usually dated. She decided to
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give Brad a chance. She was ready to settle down and start a family,
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and Braden Hurd just hit it off. Now he fit right in with
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her life and her family. Brad was very intelligent and was offered an I
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T job at Cisco in North Carolina. Now, for Nancy to go with
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Brad to the United States, they would need to be married. They had
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already planned on getting married in a big ceremony, but this made them have
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to change their plans. In October of two thousand, at a restaurant with
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family and friends, the couple wed and soon were headed off to Carrie,
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North Carolina as newlywits. Now within a few years of relocating to Carry,
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which is a suburb of Raleigh, North Carolina, Nancy was already making friends
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and settling into her new life. In two thousand and four, Brad and
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Nancy welcomed their first child, a daughter named Bella, and just two years
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later they welcomed another daughter named Katie. Now, Brad was very successful at
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Cisco, and Nancy took care of the girls. She loved spending time with
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her daughters. Now. During this time, Nancy did not let her passion
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for athletics fade. She began training for a half marathon. She would run
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on the trails near her home. Now Brad was also an athlete and was
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training for a triathlon. They were a young, good looking couple and very
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successful with two beautiful daughters. They were living the American dream. Now.
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On July eleventh, two thousand and eight, Nancy attended a neighborhood barbecue with
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plans to meet her friend Hannah the next morning after her daily runt. Now,
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on July twelfth, Hannah had not heard from Nancy by ten am and
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found this odd. Nancy should have stopped by at that point, She decides
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to call Nancy's home to see if something happened. Brad picks up and he
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says that she went for a runt. Now the friend asked what time she
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left, and Brad said, I don't know, around six thirty or seven.
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Well, Hannah thought she should have been back by now, but Brad
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did not seem concerned, so she dropped it. Later that day, around
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one pm, Hannah received a phone call from the Cooper house. Now when
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she picked up, she assumed it would be Nancy finally calling. However,
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she heard Brad on the other line. Nancy had still not shown up and
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he was growing concerned. Hannah began getting in contact with other friends and found
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out no one had seen her. They start to call hospitals with no luck.
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They reached out to her family in Canada, they have not from her.
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From her either now, they contacted the Carry police, who started investigating
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where Nancy could be. They reached out to the media to get Nancy's picture
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out there. Brad was at the forefront pleading for help finding his wife.
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They searched the trails where Nancy rhen with no luck. Everyone was beginning to
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fear the worst. Her family traveled down from Canada to assist with the search
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and pass out flyers. Nancy had gone missing on a Saturday, Well.
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They searched all day, Sunday and Monday with no luck. Finally, on
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Monday night, a call came in from nine one one, just outside of
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Carry, several miles from the Cooper home. A man was walking his dog
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in an undeveloped subdivision. He noticed some vultures swarming in an area near a
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storm drain. He approached the area and saw a woman floating in some water.
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The nine one one operator asked if she was beyond help, and the
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man said, I think she's dead. Please arrive at the scene to find
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thirty four year old Nancy Cooper wearing only a sports braw and one diamond earring.
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The way the body positioned, there was no blood or signs of sexual
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assault or anything. She still had one diamond earring, so the police assumed
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that robbery was an unlikely motive. Now, an autopsy would later revealed that
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the cause of death for Nancy was a strangulation. She'd actually been strangled so
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hard that the killer had broken one of her neckbones. Now that they knew
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the fate of Nancy, they began asking around the area to see if anyone
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had seen her that morning. A few people recall seeing a woman matching her
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description jogging, but nothing concrete or pointing to who might have done this.
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They speak to Brad to see where he had been the day of Nancy's disappearance.
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He tells police that him and Nancy were up around four am, calming
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their two year old daughter, who had woken up crying. Now around six
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am, Brad said he went to the store twice to pick up items.
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When he returned home, Nancy had left for her run, and that was
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the last time he had seen his wife. They also discussed with Brad the
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state of his marriage. He finally admits a police that him and Nancy had
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been struggling in their marriage, but he said they were improving. The reason
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for the struggle was that Brad had cheated on Nancy, but they were working
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on it. Please speak to family and friends about their relationship, and they
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told a very different story. They said that Brad and Nancy had been having
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problems for a very long time, almost from the start of their marriage.
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Brad was a driven, smart man, nearing genius with his eye que.
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He was very dedicated to his job. He focused much more on his career
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than his marriage. Nancy did not like this, but they continued on building
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their family, trying to work through it. Until the spring of two thousand
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seven, Nancy was out with one of her good friends, Heather, who
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told Nancy that she had slept with Brad. Nancy was in shock. She
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immediately confronted Brad about this affair, and he denied it. Things were very
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strained at this time. Nancy knew Brad was lying to her. She wanted
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him to confess they could start to rebuild their relationship, but he kept making
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her feel bad for even accusing him. Finally, on New Year's Eve,
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Brad admitted to the affair, but told her it was only a one night
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stand. Nancy agreed to remain with Brad, but only if they went to
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counseling. During the counseling sessions, Nancy learned the real story. Brad admitted
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the one night stand was actually a long term affair and that he was in
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love with Heather. With this information, Nancy was done. They began discussing
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how to split up their assets and custody of their two daughters. Brad and
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Nancy decided it was best if they sold their home and then split the money
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from the cell of that home, and Nancy would move back to Canada with
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the two girls. This way, she could be close to family during this
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difficult time and have support with raising her girls. Brad initially seemed on board
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with this plan, but then something in him changed. He canceled all of
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Nancy's credit cards and put her on a cash allowance. He used the money
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to control her, barely giving her enough to care for her two children.
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Now, Nancy, unable to work due to not having a green card,
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starting started picking up odd jobs on the side in cash to try to supplement
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what Brad was giving her. When he found out about this, he lowered
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the amount of cash he was giving her. He was intentionally trying to make
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her life hard. Nancy growing paranoid about Brad and what he was capable of.
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She began keeping all important papers and the girls passports with her or locked
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in her car. She was afraid he would take them from her. Now,
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Nancy's family told police that it's the time approach for Nancy and the girls
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to move to Canada. They began drafting up divorce papers outlining visitation, child
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support, and alimony. As soon as Brad saw the divorce papers, he
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immediately called off the deal and said the girls could not go. He managed
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to get ahold of their passports, which stopped Nancy from being able to leave
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the country with them. It looked like this was going to be a nasty
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divorce and child custody battle, but Nancy wanted out. She was miserable with
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Brad. Now police look into Brad's actions that morning. They were able to
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find the video footage of him going to the store around six am, but
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during the time Nancy disappeared, he was just at home. The family,
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growing concerned that Brad was involved with Nancy's murder, filed for an emergency custody
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hearing to have the girl's place with Christa, Nancy's twin sister, temporarily.
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Now. In the documents they filed, they talked about the emotional abuse Nancy
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had undergone with Brad, and that ever since the murder, Brad had been
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isolating himself. With the girls, they were worried for their safety and were
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afraid Brad might hurt them. The judge agreed and the girls went to live
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with Krista and her husband in Canada. Now, Brad was very upset about
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the decision and began working to get his daughter's back. During the process to
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get his daughter's back, Brad had to go under oath for a deposition to
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answer questions about his marriage. Now. During this deposition, he had to
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explain why he had taken Nancy's credit cards away Nancy's family said it was a
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way to control and punish Nancy. Brad said it was to rein in excessive
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spending that Nancy did. They were in massive amounts of debt, both racking
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up tens of thousands of dollars in credit card debt. He said he would
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give Nancy three hundred dollars per week to manage what she was spending. When
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asked about the affair, he said it only happened one time, back in
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two thousand and five. He said him and Heather had sex in the master
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bedroom closet of his home, and then he lied about it to Nancy for
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a year before confessing. When asked about what happened to the agreement for them
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to sell the home and Nancy to move to Canada, he said when he
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added up all of the items she wanted each month, insurance, private school,
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extracurricular activities, plus more, it would be about five thousand to six
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thousand dollars per month. He did not feel this was fair, along with
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his daughter's moving to Canada, so he would hardly see them now. During
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the deposition, he said he spoke to Nancy at six forty am. She
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called why he was coming home from the store. When he arrived home,
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he worked on his computer well holding his two year old daughter, and around
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seven am, Nancy left for her run and that was the last time he
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saw her alive. Now police went back to talk to the people who attended
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the neighborhood party the night before Nancy was murdered. They believed that Nancy was
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not murdered the morning of July twelfth when she went for that run. They
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believed she was murdered sometime in the early morning hours before Brad went to the
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store, so they discussed with friends about what happened at that party. Friends
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said that they openly argued at the party and it was tense between the two.
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They said. Brad left around eight pm and Nancy stayed complaining at about
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Brad the whole time. She headed home around midnight. Brad said in his
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deposition that he had gone to bed at nine pm, so he had never
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seen Nancy that night. Nancy's friend said that they had a bad feeling about
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the Cooper marriage. They could tell tensions were running high and Nancy felt trapped
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with nothing to go on but a bad marriage and a husband acting odd.
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They need to confirm Brad's account of the events that night, They turned to
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his computer, which had been submitted to the FBI for their forensic lap.
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What they found was that Brad was active on his computer after nine pm,
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when he said he had gone to sleep the night leading up to the murder.
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He was active all the way up until eleven forty nine PM, around
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the time that Nancy returned home. They also found that the day before Nancy's
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murder, Brad had searched the Carried North Carolina area and had zoomed in on
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Google Maps the exact location where Nancy's body was found. When police were trying
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to figure out how he had made the call at six forty am from the
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house to his cell phone, they turned to people in Brad's own field of
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work. Brad specialized in internet connections and phone lines. This was a specialized
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type of it. Now experts testified that a call could be programmed to be
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made on a delay if you had a certain type of router. It just
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so happened that Brad had borrowed that exact router from work a few months before
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Nancy was murdered. Now that router was missing and Brad had no explanation.
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With all of this evidence, please believe they have their guide. In October
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of two thousand and eight, Brad was arrested and charged with Nancy's murder.
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The prosecution argued that Brad did not want to deal with Nancy anymore, that
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divorcing her would be expensive and drawn out. They argued that when Nancy came
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home that evening, after they had already been fighting all day, that they
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got into another big fight and Brad began choking her. Once she was dead,
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he loaded her into the back of his car and drove her to the
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location that he had searched the day before. When it came time for the
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defense, they argued that the prosecution had no real evidence. They brought forward
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witnesses stating that they saw Nancy jogging that morning, which would contradict the prosecution's
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argument that Brad killed her and she never went jogging. They also brought forward
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other friends who said they had never witnessed Brad get angry or be abusive.
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They argued that the three hundred dollars weekly allowance was only because the couple was
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in severe debt. The final bombshell was when they brought forward a witness saying
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that he had sex with Nancy back into the five. He said it was
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at a Halloween party and they were both drunk. They had sex, then
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never spoke of it again. He did not want to come forward as it
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would hurt his family, but he finally did. They argued that others might
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have wanted her to hurt Nancy, including the man she slept with. The
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problem with this argument is that the man had an air tight alibi. He
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had been with Heather, the woman and Brad had cheated with. They also
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argued the police were gunning for Brad from the very start, even accidentally erasing
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all the content on Nancy's phone. The defense argued that his computer was hacked
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and that is where the Google Map search came from. They were unable to
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bring in the experts to argue this, as the judge ruled against it.
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The first expert was not qualified in the second they did not get them in
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time. The FBI said that they saw no signs of tampering with the computer.
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After a two month trial and dozens of witnesses, jurors came back with
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a unanimous verdict guilty of first green murder. Brad Cooper was sentenced to life
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in prison. Brad's attorne He did appeal his murder conviction and he was granted
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a new trial in September of twenty thirteen, but instead of going on trial,
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he accepted a plea deal. He ended up pleading guilty to second degree
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murder and was sentenced to twelve to fifteen years in prison. He also agreed
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to give up the rights to his children. The two girls would live with
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Nancy's twin sister, Krista and be raised by her. Brad did finish out
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his sentence and he was released from prison in November of twenty twenty and was
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sent back to Canada. And that concludes this episode of A Little Less Mess.
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I hope you enjoyed this week's story. And again, if he wants
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some more of our opinions or anything, go back and check out this episode
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with me and my husband Stewart, and we joke and laugh and all sorts
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of things. So check out our Patreon. You can see that in the
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show notes. And I guess we will see you next time. Biberone,
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You'll be superstitious. My nothing else. It's working, and my hand is
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pretty hurting and sick on and it's working. By by Cambridge,