Nancy Cooper's husband indicted

RALEIGH — Brad Cooper, the Cary man whose wife’s body was found in an undeveloped subdivision near their home in July, was charged with murder Monday.

He is being held without bail in the Wake County Jail.

Cary police arrested Cooper at his home shortly after a Wake grand jury indicted him this afternoon. He appeared before a Wake County magistrate wearing a dark sweater and white shirt.

Cooper spoke just one word — “No” — when asked if he had any questions.

He will appear before a judge at 2 p.m. Tuesday.

Nancy Cooper's family expressed relief on news of an arrest.

"The Rentz and Lister families are grateful that an arrest has been made. The Cary Police Department has done an outstanding job with the investigation and Bella and Katie are safe with their family in Canada," according to a statement issued by the families' attorney, Alice Stubbs.

Nancy Cooper was found dead at a construction site near the couple’s Cary home July 14, two days after her husband told police she vanished after leaving for a jog. The case, and a resulting custody battle over the couple’s two children between Brad Cooper and his dead wife’s family, has received intense media attention.

Brad Cooper has said publicly he played no role in his wife’s death and Cary police had, until today, refused to call him a suspect.

In the weeks leading up to Cooper’s indictment, his two daughters -- 4-year-old Bella and 2-year-old Katie -- have been the subjects of an intense custody battle with the family and parents of his slain wife.

Last week, Wake County District Court Judge Debra Sasser granted another temporary custody order allowing the girls to live in Canada with their mother’s twin, Krista, and her husband, Jim Lister.

The final order is incomplete, and specifics of the arrangement were unclear last week. Brad Cooper’s attorney, Seth Blum, said the decision will allow Cooper to maintain contact with his daughters, though it will be limited.

Sasser listened to both sides’ claims for the girls during an eight-hour hearing Oct. 16.

Since July, Brad Cooper has been allowed to spend a portion of four days with his daughters and visit with them via weekly video conferences. He was fighting to have his daughters returned to his care.

Nancy Cooper’s family is convinced Brad Cooper killed his wife. One after another, the slain woman’s family members and friends climbed into a witness stand during the Oct. 16 hearing and told the judge that Brad Cooper was the only one with a motivation to kill her or access to do so.

For months, Cary police have scrutinized Brad Cooper, who has routinely maintained his innocence. They collected saliva to capture his DNA. Police were so suspicious in the first week of the investigation that they asked a judge for permission to search his computers for signs that he might have researched how to dispose of a body.

Earlier this month, the Cary detective heading the investigation said in an affidavit filed for Nancy Cooper’s family that Brad Cooper had made inconsistent statements in his video deposition compared with interviews with police. He said he’d been uncooperative and inaccessible.

Earlier, Sasser blocked Brad Cooper’s request for Cary police to turn over their files so he could review the accusations.

Brad Cooper never took the stand during the Oct. 16 hearing before Sasser. Coming to his defense were a psychologist who said he’s behaving normally for circumstances such as these, a stranger who swears she saw Nancy Cooper jogging the day she disappeared, and a friend who was supposed to play tennis with Brad Cooper the day Nancy disappeared. His attorneys insisted there is no evidence to link him to his wife’s killing.

Jessica Adam, a friend of Nancy Cooper's, said she was relieved at news of Monday's indictment.

"This matter obviously desperately needs some closure," she said. "I'm grateful for where we are today."

Staff writer Mandy Locke contributed to this story.