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Who killed Nancy Cooper?
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 | 'She's my best friend, and my soul mate' July 17: As new allegations are made about the husband of Nancy Cooper, who was found murdered in North Carolina, Cooper's twin sister talks about her devastating loss. MSNBC |
PROTECTING THE CHILDREN |
Clint Van Zandt offers info to help protect children from predators The former FBI profiler offers a free DVD which discusses the threat to children from birth through college age, as well as the threat posed to children by predators who lurk on the Internet. It can be found at www.livesecure.org. |
Murder investigations demand that the husband must first be eliminated in such cases so investigators can move onto other potential suspects. Evidence shows that the police executed middle-of-the-night search warrants on the Cooper home, their two cars, and the person of Brad Cooper. Obviously police must consider the family home, like the two family cars, potential crime scenes. Luminal will be used to look for blood spatter and other evidence could be found in the home or one of the cars. Police will take hair, fingerprints and DNA from Brad to compare against other evidence they may find at any potential crime scene, including the body disposal site.
They will also look for and photograph any cuts, scratches, or other marks on the hands and body of Mr. Cooper. Remember, the Coopers were married and shared the same home and cars, therefore any linking physical evidence that might be related to a crime must first be explained past the common family setting.
Most recall that in 2007, Ohio police officer Bobby Cutts, Jr. murdered his 9-month pregnant girlfriend, Jessie Davis, in the presence of their young son. Cutts allegedly attempted to destroy forensic evidence at the murder scene by the use of bleach, something that many criminals have used in the past to similarly destroy evidence. In a previous article entitled
"The Real World vs. the CSI syndrome," I discuss how television provides tips for criminals. This was confirmed by Tammy Klein, senior criminalist for the LA County SO, who indicated that because of television shows like CSI, "it is not unusual in a planned homicide for the killer to use bleach to clean up a bloody mess."
Bags of evidence removed
We do not know, of course, if Nancy Cooper’s husband actually bought bleach and if so, whether or not there was any nefarious intent on his part. The police did take boxes and bags of evidence out of the Cooper home, all needing to be processed to see if such evidence has any relevance to Nancy Cooper’s death.
Brad Cooper is now represented by two attorneys who will work to insure that his rights are protected while the search for Nancy Cooper’s killer continues. While parts of this tragedy seem to echo past cases like Bobby Cutts/Jessie Davis, or Mark Hacking and Lori Hacking — the latter of whom was shot to death by her husband who told authorities his believed pregnant wife had went out for a jog and never returned, or Scott Peterson, who was convicted of killing his wife, Lacy, after telling police she had left for a walk and never returned.
While there should be no rush to judgment concerning the possible involvement of Brad Cooper in the murder of his wife, there are enough twists and turns to their relationship and his story to demand that he be considered a potential suspect, this while police ponder the possibility of some other unidentified killer in what police describe as a very safe community. If, like in so many other similar cases, the husband is somehow involved in his wife’s death, such news should come out.
Clint Van Zandt is a former FBI agent, behavioral profiler and hostage negotiator as well as an MSNBC analyst. His Web site, www.LiveSecure.org, provides readers with security-related information.
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