Cooper warrants sealed till Sept. 2

RALEIGH -- Cary police have until Sept. 2 to continue their investigation in private to solve the murder of Nancy Cooper, a judge ruled Monday.

Three search warrants have been sealed since Cooper, a 34-year-old mother from Cary, vanished after her husband, Bradley Cooper, said she went out for a run on July 12. Police have not named or arrested her killer.

Despite the media's request to unseal the documents, Wake County Superior Court Judge Donald W. Stephens granted two more weeks of secrecy. He said it would take an extraordinary or unusual event before then to persuade him to extend his order to seal. If not, he'll make the records available Sept. 2.

Wake County District Attorney Colon Willoughby said after a hearing Monday that agents at the State Bureau of Investigation's laboratory are examining some items seized in the Cooper investigation. He declined to be more specific but said he hopes the conclusions will help propel the investigation.

Lawyers for The News & Observer and WRAL-TV appealed to Stephens last month and again on Monday to make the records available. The records detail why police wanted to search the home Nancy Cooper shared with her husband, Bradley Cooper; their cars; and Bradley Cooper's office at Research Triangle Park. Police have collected blood or saliva to help capture a DNA profile from Bradley Cooper; they have also searched another location they have not disclosed. The search warrants would also contain a list of the items they seized.

Amanda Martin, a Raleigh attorney representing the media, urged the court to show what was peculiar about this case to require such secrecy. "This is happening without any specific articulation as to why this case is different," Martin said.