Cooper's husband went on cleaning binge

Brad Cooper told police that he scrubbed floors, did laundry and vacuumed on the morning his wife, Nancy, disappeared, according to a police affidavit made public today.

Police filed the affidavit to obtain search warrants in their investigation of the death of Nancy Cooper, whose body was discovered July 14 in a subdivision under development not far from the family's home in Cary's Lochmere community. Brad Cooper told police that his wife went jogging July 12 and never returned.

In the affidavit, police detective J.A. Young wrote that Brad Cooper's "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."

Brad Cooper has not been named a suspect in the case, though the documents released today make it clear that police were suspicious about him. The two, both 34, were planning a divorce after he admitted having an extramarital affair.

His lawyer has said that he cooperated with police and told them he did not kill his wife.

A detective who interviewed Brad Cooper on July 12 noticed that he had small red marks or scratches on the left side of the back of his neck, according to Young's affidavit. The detective was unable to determine what caused the marks, and Brad Cooper did not explain them, according to the affidavit.

Earlier that day, another detective investigating Nancy Cooper's disappearance noticed cleaning supplies in a bathroom attached to her bedroom. The detective also noticed a dried stain on a bed sheet but was unable to determine what caused it.

Brad and Nancy Cooper had argued the previous week over the cleanliness of the house on Wallsburg Court when she returned from a vacation, according to the affidavit. They also had argued the day before she disappeared over money that Nancy Cooper had accepted to help a friend paint her house, the affidavit said.

Brad Cooper told police that he had cleaned the trunk of his 2001 BMW while his wife was away on vacation the previous week. The trunk appeared to have been recently vacuumed, but the passenger area of the car had not been cleaned, Young noted.

On the morning that she disappeared, Brad Cooper told police, he and his wife awoke about 4 a.m. to care for their 2-year-old. He said he made two trips to the grocery store to buy milk and laundry detergent and then took the child to the office area of his home. He said Nancy Cooper asked him where a T-shirt was that she usually wore while jogging. Subsequently he heard a door open and close and assumed she had gone for a run.

Police obtained warrants to search the Cooper home, Brad Cooper's office in Research Triangle Park, and the couple's cars. Police also have collected blood and saliva samples from Brad Cooper to obtain DNA information.

According to an inventory made public today, police found and took hair from the interior of the BMW's trunk lid, grass from the front seat, hair from the tire well and seat covers. They took swabs from the interior and exterior door handles.

Police also collected clothing, a bed linen, computers and a camera during their seaches.

Police have had little to say about their work, refusing even to disclose how Cooper died. Last week, Police Chief Pat Bazemore said she was pleased with the progress of the investigation.

Since the killing, Nancy Cooper's Canadian family and Brad Cooper have been engaged in a custody dispute over the couple's two daughters, ages 4 and 2.

In July, Brad Cooper agreed to let his wife's family take the girls to live with them in Canada for 75 days.