Brad Cooper charged with murdering wife

The Cary man is arrested soon after a Wake County grand jury indicts him in the July killing

More than three months after a Cary mother's body was found on an undeveloped cul-de-sac, her husband was charged with murder.

Brad Cooper was arrested Monday in the killing of his wife of nearly nine years, Nancy Cooper. He was being held without bail in the Wake County jail and was to make his first appearance before a judge today.

Cary police arrested Cooper at his home shortly after a Wake grand jury indicted him Monday afternoon. He appeared before a magistrate still wearing his wedding band.

The magistrate asked whether Cooper had any questions, and he spoke a single word: "No."

Nancy Cooper, 34, was found dead by a man walking his dog on July 14, two days after her husband told police she never returned from a morning jog. A friend had reported her missing, and about100 volunteers had been searching for her.

The case has received intense media attention in both the Triangle and Canada, from where the couple moved eight years ago.

Brad Cooper, 35, has said he played no role in his wife's death. Until Monday, Cary police had not called him a suspect.

"It has been a case of domestic violence of the very worst kind," Chief Pat Bazemore said in a brief news conference Monday night.

In the weeks before Cooper's indictment, his daughters -- Bella, 4, and Katie, 2 -- were the subjects of intense custody fight between the father and the family 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.

After the arrest, Nancy Cooper's father, Garry Rentz, thanked Sasser and the Cary detectives who gathered enough evidence to arrest his son-in-law.

"Their investigation has been tireless and thorough," said Rentz, adding that he has "every confidence" the Wake District Attorney's Office can win a conviction.

If found guilty of first-degree murder, Cooper would be sentenced either to death or to life without the possibility of parole.

District Attorney Colon Willoughby declined to comment about the case Monday night. Efforts to reach Brad Cooper's lawyers failed.

A troubled marriage

In the months since Nancy Cooper was killed, details about the couple's deeply troubled marriage have tumbled out.

Nancy's family and friends said she was planning to divorce Brad, whom they described as unfaithful, controlling and cruel. Brad admitted the couple argued about what he called Nancy's out-of-control spending. But he has said that he was not ready to give up the marriage and that he was devastated by losing his wife.

The couple moved to North Carolina in 2000 after Brad's job with Cisco Systems was transferred from Calgary, Alberta, to Research Triangle Park.

Cooper, who earned more than $100,000 last year, has been on paid leave since shortly after his wife died. In a deposition earlier this month, he said he planned to start working part time from home this month.

Nancy Cooper's family members have said they are convinced her husband killed her. One after another, the slain woman's relatives and friends took the witness stand at the custody hearing Oct. 16 and told the judge that Brad Cooper was the only one with a motive to kill her and the opportunity to do so.

In the months since his wife's body was found, Cary police scrutinized Brad Cooper. They collected saliva to capture his DNA. In the first week of the investigation, they asked a judge for permission to search his computers for signs that he might have researched how to dispose of a body.