Brad Cooper's attorneys post video

Web site says rumor of bleach purchase is 'persecutory'

Attorneys for Brad Cooper have posted online video of his trip to a grocery store to challenge rumors that he bought bleach on the morning his wife, Nancy, disappeared from their home in Cary.

A journalist's question to the Cary police chief about whether Cooper bought bleach that morning has resulted in "volumes of suspicion," the law firm Kurtz & Blum said in a posting on the firm's Web site.

The attorneys posted copies of two grocery receipts, which they said show that Cooper did not buy bleach. They also posted photos of Brad Cooper's neck to counter an investigator's statement that he had unexplained scratches on his neck when he was questioned about his wife's disappearance.

"It is our goal to restore reason to what has become an unreasonable and persecutory situation," the attorneys wrote on the Web site. "We hope that Brad will be afforded the same dignity and presumption of innocence that each of us would demand for ourselves. We pray that the distorted focus on Brad Cooper will not allow the guilty to escape detection."

Shortly before 5 p.m., Cary Police Chief Pat Bazemore released a statement declining to comment on the investigation or the online video.

"Cary citizens know that if there is ever any chance that they are at risk, the Cary Police Department informs them and protects them," Bazemore's statement said. "Releasing the details of ongoing investigations can jeopardize our ability to find the truth and arrest the person or persons responsible for crimes, something I'm sure no one wants to see happen."

Brad Cooper has not been named a suspect in the killing of his wife, whose body was found in a subdivision under development. Police have not talked publicly about the investigation.

However, in applications for search warrants, police made it clear that they were suspicious of Cooper. Investigators obtained DNA evidence from him and searched the couple's home and cars, as well as Brad Cooper's office.

"Since Nancy Cooper's body was found on July 14, 2008, persistent and pernicious rumors have circulated in the media, on the Internet and in the community," the attorneys wrote. "Once misinformation spreads, it can be almost impossible to rebut so-called 'facts' people confidently claim to know. Suspicion, once raised, is hard to erase while truth becomes cloudier and harder to discern."

The video of Brad Cooper was taken by a surveillance camera at a Harris Teeter store. Brad Cooper went to the store at 6:22 a.m. and 6:41 a.m. on the morning of July 12 to buy milk, detergent and juice, the attorneys said.

The attorneys said they were posting the video "to set the record straight and diminish the mounting, baseless prejudice" against Brad Cooper.