CARY - Bradley Cooper will not attend a community memorial for his slain wife today, but his attorneys said Friday that's because he needs to grieve in private and that he was not involved in her death.

Bradley Cooper "is not a suspect, not a person of interest, and he has been very, very clear with the police: He did not kill his wife," lawyer Seth Blum said at a news conference late Friday.

The news conference capped a week of grief and speculation around a homicide making headlines and cable television shows in the United States and the Coopers' native Canada. Nancy Cooper's family has met regularly with the media, and Wednesday persuaded a judge to give them custody of the couple's daughters, Bella, 4, and Katie, who turns 2 next week. They argued that Bradley Cooper was emotionally unstable and posed a threat to the children's safety.

Bradley Cooper had done little to defend himself, staying with a friend while police searched the family's home and cars for clues about his wife's death.

On Friday, Blum stood in the glare of television lights on Raleigh's Nash Square to explain Brad Cooper's absence from the spotlight and to try to dampen rumors about him.

Nancy Cooper was found dead at a construction site near the couple's Cary home Monday, two days after her husband told police she vanished after leaving for a jog. Blum would not discuss details of the case, saying that would jeopardize the investigation. However, he said, "the bizarre and unsupported theories floating around television and the Internet have made it impossible for us to sit quietly and say nothing."

Blum called Cooper a "very private man" who does not want to mourn his wife in front of reporters.

"Attending press briefings has nothing to do with catching a killer," Blum said.

But with investigators close-mouthed, the case continued to play out in public.

Blum's news conference in Raleigh came hours after Nancy Cooper's family held its latest session with reporters. Attended by national and state news media, the Friday morning event at the Cary Police Department included Cooper's parents, Donna and Garry Rentz; her brother, Jeff Rentz; and her brother-in-law Jim Lister.

Garry Rentz called for his daughter's killer to come forward.

"I think this is an act of extreme cowardice by whoever did this, and I think if they had a shred of decency in their body they would come forward and acknowledge their guilt," Rentz said.

Candlelight vigil

Family and close friends attended an invitation-only candlelight vigil Friday evening at Triangle Academy Preschool, where the Coopers' daughters attend classes. Rentz said that after this afternoon's public memorial at Koka Booth Amphitheatre, the family will return to Edmonton, Alberta, on Sunday to attend remembrances there.

The Friday night event was the first time many of Cooper's close friends had been together since mounting a massive search in the days following her disappearance. Nearly 100 people formed a circle under a covered entry of the school, while a pastor offered hope of a reunion in heaven.

Attendees wiped tears as they sang "You Are My Sunshine" and laughed and wept as they shared stories about Nancy. Candles were lit, and the Lord's Prayer was recited. The vigil lasted more than an hour.

The ordeal has left friends exhausted and bereft.

The Coopers' next-door neighbor Diana Duncan said she's lost seven pounds in five days.

Although her neighborhood has banded together, Duncan said that grief is an emotion that isolates.

"In some ways it's so hard to see each other," she said.