You all may remember a few weeks ago me mentioning how I was obsessed with the Brad Cooper murder trial. For nearly 8 weeks I listened to the testimony either while at work or after work. I followed all the comments on Twitter. I read the affidavits. I read the new articles and the nearly 22,000 comments generated from those news articles.
I'm going to try to make a long story short: Brad and Nancy were married. Nancy went missing in Cary and was found dead in a construction site 3 miles from their home 3-4 days later. All the housewives were accusing Brad from the get-go because Brad and Nancy were contemplating divorce and he had put her on an allowance of $300/week for gas/groceries (I would have been jumping for joy for that kind of spending money, but in Cary $300 cash/wk=poverty apparently). 3 months later Nancy's family got custody of Brad and Nancy's 2 little girls and a few weeks after that Brad was arrested for Nancy's murder.
Here is why I think I was obsessed with the trial:
1. I remember clearly when this happened. I worked right near where Nancy Cooper went missing. I remember seeing the missing person flyers around my work. My best friend worked in the same building at Cisco as Brad Cooper. I went in to this trial thinking he probably did it and I wanted to hear how he did it.
2. I hate Cary, NC. Every time I go to Cary I get lost. My old boss joked that they have a magnetic force field under the city to turn your car around and confuse you. They also have a strict code that forces everything to look the same. People around here joke that Cary stands for Containment Area for Relocated Yankees- most are white, rich, and feel entitled I think. Plus I got laid off in Cary. There is something really wrong about that town. I wanted to see what this crack in their perfect little town was all about.
3. ALL THE DRAMA! This case was filled with nothing but a bunch of gossip from the Lochmere housewives. I hate it but it sucked me in. In fact I went through a lot during this trial internally. All their gossip and Brad bashing just looked so ugly. It made me look at how much I myself gossip and really want to stop but it is easier said than done! I just kept comparing their crazy drama filled lives with my circle of friends (we are no where near that bad, but we have own our drama sometimes). A lot of very personal stuff came out during the trial and it was just sad to watch at some points.
Well on Thursday the jury found him
GUILTY. I was shocked! There was absolutely no hard evidence against this man except a 41 second Google map search that included the site where Nancy's body was found. He had googled his own zip code and Fielding Drive where her body was found is only 3 miles from their house so it was on the map. They said he zoomed in on Fielding Drive. The defense tried to bring in an expert witness to prove those files were planted on Brad's computer because they had invalid timestamps but the totally biased judge would not let him testify because he was not on the orignal list of witnesses.
But really...even if they weren't planted...he was on there for 41 seconds and do you really think a murderer who could get rid of all the physical evidence of the crime would be stupid enough to Google the dump site from his computer?? He was supposedly smart enough to fake a call from his house to his cell phone (the prosecution claims Nancy was dead by then and Brad somehow faked the call using his computer skills) but stupid enough to Google where he was going to dump the body? And not delete it form the computer? Really!?
And during their closing arguments the prosecution made a big deal about Nancy not wearing a ponytail holder when she was found...thus she never went running that morning. Ummm hello- she wasn't wearing shoes or pants for that matter so I highly doubt the lack of a ponytail holder proves anything.
None of the jury members have spoken yet. I hope they do because I would love to know what evidence made them think he was beyond a doubt guilty.
It scares the crap out of me that they can send a man to life in prison based on nothing but gossip and a 41 second map search.
In case you are interested one of my favorite tounge-in-cheek Raleigh bloggers wrote a
great post about it including laying out all the other potential murderers. Here is a chart he made to kind of break down Nancy's other relationships and potential suspects:
There are so many other people who could have done it and they did not really look at any of those people as a suspect. Not to mention several mentions of suspicious vans seen in the area that night/morning suggesting it could have been a stranger.
In case you were wondering, my top 2 supspects were:
1. Jessica Adams- this lady seemed like she was obsessed with Nancy. She is the one who called the cops a mere 4 hours after Nancy didn't show up to paint at her house. Who does that?! I would never call the cops after a few hours of not hearing from my friend. She also organized meetings so all the neighbors could get their stories straight after Nancy was found dead. And she is the one who kept bringing up the necklace they said Nancy never took off (the defense disproved that by showing video of Nancy the day before at the store not wearing said necklace) and those stupid ducks she kept saying were missing from the Cooper's entryway (which the defense brought in to court. Turns out they were packed in a box in the front room and were in no way harmed in a so-called scuffle when Nancy was supposedly murdered according to their theories.)
2. John Pearson- Nancy had a one night stand with this guy. Almost exactly 9 months later Nancy's second child Katie was born. A few months before Nancy was killed, she had got in touch with John after 2-3 years of not talking to him. They met at a bakery and had several phone calls in the months leading up to her death. I think Nancy was trying to get money out of John. Also John was now dating Nancy's ex-BFF who her husband Brad had an affair with. That woman, Heather, was also involved in a lawsuit with John's ex-wife for alienation of affection at the time Nancy was killed (which the ex-wife later won). It just seemed too ironic of a connection. Which also makes me think Heather had motive as well because she didn't want to get sued again for the affair she had with Brad. Maybe John and Heather did it together. Or hired someone to take her out.
We will probably never know the truth. And really I feel bad for Nancy. She wasn't a saint and I think she was money hungry, but she was loved. She seemed full of life and to have that taken away from her and her friends and family so tragically and then have all the skeletons in her closet (along with those of all her friends) exposed to everyone was sad.
I feel bad for Brad. He lost everything and he may not have had anything to do with killing her.
And I really feel bad for the kids. They lost both of their parents and one day they will be old enough to read and listen to all this gossip about their parents.
Getting so invested in this trial has been so emotionally draining. I never want to do it again. But I can't wait to watch the Dateline special on this one day!
Have you ever become obsessed with a trial? Do you love 48 Hours Mysteries and Dateline specials on true crime? Do you read true crime books- if so I am looking for a good one as an introduction to that genre!
At the end of all this...the only thing I know for sure is I will never move to Lochmere...or anywhere in Cary for that matter.
