Judge seals Cooper search warrants

A Superior Court Judge signed two court affidavits this month that will allow Cary police to keep secret the items seized from the home of Nancy Cooper and from her husband's workplace.

Nancy Cooper, 34, disappeared on July 12. Her husband said he last saw her that morning when she went jogging.

A walker found Nancy Cooper's body two days later, dumped near a storm drain in an unfinished subdivision just outside of Cary, police reported.

In court documents made public today at the Wake County Clerk of Courts Office, Judge Donald Stephens agreed to sign documents allowing Cary investigators to seal search warrants they obtained from the Coopers' home at 104 Wallsburg Court in Cary and from Cooper's office with Cisco Systems at 7100 Kit Creek Road in Morrisville.

In addition to searching his workplace, Bradley Cooper has been court-ordered to submit saliva or blood samples to help police obtain his DNA profile.

Nancy Cooper's death has laid bare a bitter union riddled with infidelity, financial difficulties and a custody battle over the couple's two little girls.

The documents state that the release of information about the items seized will "jeopardize the right of the State to prosecute a defendant or the right of a defendant to a fair trial or will undermine an ongoing or future investigation..."

The court order made public today indicated the search warrants will be sealed for 30 days.

Cary investigators asked Stephens to seal warrants earlier this year when the body of Vanlata Patel was found alongside Interstate 85 in Mecklenburg County, Va. Her husband, Harish Patel, has been charged with her death.

The Wake County Sheriff's Office still has a search warrant sealed in connection with the murder of Michelle Young. A 29-year-old married mother of a toddler daughter, Young was found beaten to death on Nov. 3, 2006 in the bedroom of her home just south of Raleigh. She was five months pregnant.

Sheriff's deputies are still searching for the person responsible for Young's death. Michelle Young's husband, Jason Young, has figured prominently in the sheriff's investigation of the case. Wake Sheriff Donnie Harrison described Jason Young as not cooperating with his office's efforts to find his wife's killer.

Wake investigators obtained a search warrant in the Young case a little over a year ago to look for clues in an undisclosed location, according to a court document made public today at the clerk of courts office. Stephens agreed to seal that warrant for 180 days. Last month, on June 5, Stephens again agreed to seal the warrant for at least 180 more days.

thomasi.mcdonald@newsobserver.com or (919) 829-4533