Cooper's family to keep girls

RALEIGH -- Nancy Cooper's husband reached an agreement today with her family that allows them to keep custody of her two children for 75 days.

The agreement came just before a District Court judge was scheduled to hear the contentious custody issue. Nancy Cooper's parents and her husband, Bradley, have been in a bitter dispute over the two girls, ages 4 and 2.

Under the deal, Cooper's Canadian parents, Garry and Donna Rentz, and sister, Krista Lister, will retain custody of the children until Oct. 13, when the judge will review the custody arrangement.

They will be allowed to take the girls to Edmonton, Alberta, but also must return the children for supervised visits with their father for two weekends during the 75-day span.

Cooper's parents and Bradley Cooper agreed to install Web cameras in their homes. They also promised not to discuss Nancy Cooper's death with the children or to disparage each other.

Nancy Cooper, 34, vanished July 12. Two days later, a walker found her body near a drainage ditch in an unfinished subdivision near her home.

Authorities have not said how she died or named a suspect. But some of her friends have said they are suspicious of Bradley Cooper.

The couple was in the process of separating at the time of her death.

The Coopers' friends have broken into two camps. Nancy Cooper's closest friends and relatives say Bradley Cooper is a selfish cheater who poses a danger to his children. His allies, however, say he's a doting father run into the ground by a wife who spent more than he made.

Nancy Cooper's parents and sister won emergency custody of the girls last week after convincing a judge that their father might not be fit to care for them. In a motion this week, they asked for a psychiatric exam of Bradley Cooper.

Today's agreement forestalled a ruling on the motion, as well as one filed by Bradley Cooper seeking a medical examiner's report on Nancy Cooper's autopsy.