State v. Bradley Cooper 3-29-11

[luckyme]

Especially since her friends, even including Brad, all said she didn't run alone. And they even said 'she didn't run from her house.' She always drove somewhere to run.

Can you tell me how far from her house she was found? I thought it was close.

 

[BrownRice]

Especially since her friends, even including Brad, all said she didn't run alone. And they even said 'she didn't run from her house.' She always drove somewhere to run.

Yes, this is exactly what hangs me up.

 

[Maja]

Obviously the state is wanting us to believe she didn't leave on her own accord, which would have to be Brad harming her first. Unless we are really supposed to assume a white van abducted her in the middle of a subdivision at 7:00 a.m. That is ridiculous.

So the other thing - she did something in the neighborhood. Like what? Was having an affair with a neighbor and the rest is history? I had never thought about that.

Recall websleuth theory close to this during the summer/fall 2008.

 

[less0305]

So on the flip side, if he offered to bring it to her and she said it wasn't necessary, it wasn't that big of a deal to her either. If he offered to leave work to get it and bring it to her he wasn't that "controlling" about the money either.

This along with many other issues can be seen different ways depending on which perspective you choose to take.

HE said she told him it wasn't necessary. There is NO evidence she actually told him it wasn't necessary beyond his word. I believe the sworn testimony of witnesses who stated she was very upset and agitated that he had not given her the allowance outweigh the word of a man whose wife is dead and he is the prime suspect.

 

[johnfear]

Obviously the state is wanting us to believe she didn't leave on her own accord, which would have to be Brad harming her first. Unless we are really supposed to assume a white van abducted her in the middle of a subdivision at 7:00 a.m. That is ridiculous.

So the other thing - she did something in the neighborhood. Like what? Was having an affair with a neighbor and the rest is history? I had never thought about that.

It could be. The person who would have been involved, were it not to be Brad Cooper, while probably NOT a white van full of Hispanic-Hawaii-Papaya-Wifi-Stealing-Hippie-Construction-Gypsies would have no reason to come forward because they DID have something to do with the murder.

Brad is just vague enough to have ignored the fact that one minute his wife was there and one minute she was gone.

 

[mlc2005]

Maybe I should start a separate thread, but not sure, so just putting inline here.

My profile: this is my first post and first trial watching on WS. Married 20 years (happily). Wife is stay at-home-mom for two school-age daughters. Live in Apex. Work at a tech company in RTP.

My interest in the NC trial: Hoping our justice and legal system isn’t making (another) big mistake. Hoping an innocent man’s life isn’t ruined. I don’t know the families, the neighbors, nor any of the friends/colleagues. However, watching the process of this trial unfolding in our county/state, I am currently disheartened by the LE (for an apparent lack of evidence), the media (for always reporting the biased angle), and even a lot of my friends and family (for rushing to pass judgment on BC without knowing the facts).

My current position: I hope he did it. That is the only way this has a logical ending. However, I’m having a hard time believing that is what will happen. From following WS for about a week now (and not getting much real work done! :sigh: ), and trying to read up on some of the past threads, I am currently on the not-guilty side, and leaning toward actual innocence at this point. However, I could easily be swayed with just one piece of solid evidence.

So here is the reason for my post. There seems to be some rather dedicated sleuths out here, however, most of you are looking at all the “evidence” and testimony with the ‘he did it’ mindset. Fair enough, you are entitled to your opinion, and I’m not necessarily trying to change your opinion. What I want to ask, is to suspend everyone’s reality for a short time, and just pretend he didn’t do it? Let’s get everyone’s brainpower focused on trying to find a different course of events that day. Let’s assume (I know this is a stretch for most of you :winko: no offense intended, just a joke), but can we assume that Brad isn’t lying about anything, and that there is some other explanation for what happened to NC that day? Maybe all of you have gone through this exercise in the past, but I just don’t understand how so many people here can be so convinced that he did it. I don’t watch the trial, and actually, have never seen footage of BC talking, so I don’t have the ‘emotional’ reaction to whether he is a good guy, bad guy, whatever. But from what I read, this guy seems not much different from a lot of people I work with, and to a point, myself included…except for the ‘maybe he killed his wife’ part. I get that he is quiet and reserved (as a lot of engineers are); I get that he is messy around the house/yard; I get that he has a clean car that he uses for work; I can see how being in a troubled marriage can shut you down and seem emotionless ; I can see how I would take my children’s passports if my spouse was threatening/planning to leave the country with them; I can see withholding an allowance if my spouse is making her own money (I know I’ll take some heat for this one, so let me explain…this isn’t like a child’s allowance, this is more like a family budget. If my child makes extra money, good for her, she still gets her allowance. But my wife…if she earns money, it goes into the pot like my income does…it doesn’t change the cash outflow…the budget is still $300. Not sure how much she was getting paid for painting…if less than the $300, then she was due some money; if more than $300, then she was obligated to contribute to the other family expenses…IMO); I can certainly understand a man not having a clue what his wife wore last night…….as others on this board, and me without the emotional attachment/detachment of seeing live footage/live responses/facial expressions of those involved, I have been able to reasonably justify most of what Brad did during those days. I have not perceived him as a controlling husband (in terms of the passports and allowance), nor a bad person. I cannot condone his affair, but have not been in a situation of living in separate bedrooms, middle of a divorce…perhaps affairs were tolerable/agreed upon in this marriage.

Ok, (I know, long post, sorry)…so if I am Brad, and I’m telling the truth (in my alternate reality here)…you all know the story – come home early from party, put kids to bed, NC comes home around midnight, wake up at ~4:15 (or whatever) to take care of daughter, go to store twice during the 6:00 hour. No funny stuff with the phones…just normal usage, checking VM, surfing the web, wife calling me, etc. Come home with HT items. NC tells me she’s going jogging that morning…maybe she is, maybe she isn’t – I don’t really care anyway. Few hours go by, I’m pretty upset she didn’t come home to watch the kids, and now people are questioning where she’s at. I have no idea. Better start helping to look. Cops are getting involved. This is where I can’t continue thinking like BC. I’ve never been in a failed marriage, and my wife has never gone missing, but I can believe he is freaking out about now, and probably not acting like himself…can’t think straight, total brain shutdown or maybe brain overdrive, complete panic once he realizes that something terrible may have happened and that he may be the primary suspect. He knows the odds that everyone assumes it is the husband, he knows NC has been trashing him to all their neighbors, he knows they will find out about the divorce papers. From what I can tell, he cooperated pretty good in his situation…I’m sure he could tell LE had a negative attitude towards him. He was in a very difficult situation. So, again, if you consider he is telling the truth, how would you act at this point? I am sure I would struggle to remember every minute detail of the past several days. I’m sure that kind of interrogation is extremely stressful, and I would be upset that LE is not believing me.

I should go back and listen to the defense opening statements. What theories did they share? I’d really like everyone’s opinion on what else may have happened, and if you think any of the defense theories could be possible/accurate. Can we all seriously, not snarky, try to theorize other possibilities? Who are the alternatives? Who is the owner of the vehicle that created the short wheelbase tracks? What kind of vehicle was that? Do we even know if those tracks were from the right timing? Could there have been a construction vehicle/van trolling that area (remembering that white van that was reported as trolling Apex a few years ago)? Why was Nancy undressed…instead of jogging, maybe she went for a quickie, took all her clothes off, and her lover went overboard? If BC knew, or suspected, she was having an affair, he would definitely resent her even more now that she went and got herself killed, and he’s being blamed for it. I’m guessing no possibility of a suicide, so (if it’s not Brad) it would have to be random, lover, or lover’s jealous significant other. What other evidence is unexplained? What about the daughter saying that she saw the mother that morning? I know it’s hearsay, but I sure wish LE would have questioned the daughter. I’ve even considered everything is true up to she went jogging (including daughter seeing her that morning), BC followed her, and murdered her out there…then, there would be no evidence in the car, no struggle at the house, etc. Why didn’t the prosecution go down that path? Too risky to kill her in broad daylight?

IMO, I haven’t seen any facts (phone records/towers, shopping receipts, pictures of the house), enough circumstantial evidence (missing ducks, laundered (or not) dress, 2 left shoes, old love letters), or coincidences (cleaning the house, dump site near the neighborhood, different shoes in the 2 HT trips) that are that condemning. And I’m having a hard time believing that he was so perfect in his non-premeditated murder, dump, and clean-up. I can just imagine that we’re inspecting a couple days worth of a man whose life was falling apart, he’s trying his best to stumble onward through each day, and this terrible thing happens that completely turns him upside down. Until some real evidence, I definitely think that this scenario is possible.

Sorry for all the built up comments! Really enjoy reading everyone’s opinions, and thought it was about time to start contributing my own. Thanks!

I completely agree with your logic here. Nothing, so far, has been in any way even slightly compelling in terms of showing that BC was involved in NC's murder.

I'm guessing that there has to be SOMETHING, at least one bit of evidence that is compelling, since the grand jury sent this to trial. Perhaps I am wrong.

I think that defendant's are notoriously seen as guilty before proven innocent in most cases, b/c people believe they wouldn't be on trial in the first place if there wasn't some reason for them to be.

 

[SleuthinNC]

That was quite a battle over whether to allow testimony regarding this affidavit.

 

[BrownRice]

Recall websleuth theory close to this during the summer/fall 2008.

My memory is only slightly better than BCs. I don't recall this, but it's interesting.

 

[SleuthinNC]

This is simply not looking good for the prosecution.

 

[kar]

Can you tell me how far from her house she was found? I thought it was close.

Maybe 2 miles, probably a little less.

 

[RTPEngineer]

Because sworn testimony is that Nancy was VERY upset about not receiving the allowance money and that she was extremely agitated, and animated that she "Hated" Brad on that particular Friday (day before she went missing). There was sworn testimony that she had words with him when he arrived at the dinner (without the cash, I might add) at the neighbors and it was an "I hate Brad Day." She told several people about not receiving the allowance. The only testimony that he forgot and offered to bring it to her was from him - the last person to see and speak to Nancy - the person who didn't give her the cash - the person who had the most opportunity and motive for NC's death. Who do I believe? You guess right if you think I believe someone other than BC.

Telling BC not to worry about bringing the money, and then complaining to all her friends, sounds like something a scorn spouse might do. Maybe she was testing him to see if he was really trying to improve in the marriage. I can hear him now rebutting her anger..."But honey, you told me not to worry about it!" :winko: Joking aside, I honestly don't think he pre-meditated the murder, so thought there was no sense in getting her the money.

 

[LyndyLoo]

Hey Peeps//Phewwww finally got back here...just caught the tail end of Kurtz arguing sumptin about a S/W affidavit...It sounds like the Judge inferred Defense may very well open the door to everyhting in that affidavit??

Guess, they will have to rethink that line of questioning..we'll see!!

BTW..Good to see ya all and I see there are a few newcomers...WELCOME!!:seeya:

 

[NCEast]

Maybe 2 miles, probably a little less.

I think it was closer to 3 miles, IIRC.

 

[kar]

I think it was closer to 3 miles, IIRC.

Could be, I just googled directions but it might only go to the entrance of the subdivision. I am not good at judging distances LOL.

 

[gracielee]

Did she offer to go home without the kids? Maybe that would have been fine. I would guess his motive (in taking the passports) is to work out custody regarding the kids before she takes them with her. I don't know anything about a parent wanting to take kids out of the country as it regards to custody. Is a mother allowed to do that? What rights does the father have? Personally, I would be crushed if my wife took my kids away from me to another country. Maybe that's why he killed her, or maybe that's why he was being nice to her (cleaning, running errands) - so that she would be nice back and stay here with the kids.

It wasn't like it was a 'foreign' country, it was their country of origin. They are both Canadian citizens. That said, the fact that Nancy was trapped here, unable to work, is what bothers me the most. She had no way of making any money to leave him with the girls, like most of us U.S. citizens/mothers could. From everything I've read and heard, it was said the hold-up was on Brad's end, not filing the proper paperwork at Cisco Systems, to move her green card along. Had Nancy been allowed to find a job, work, earn money, she would have been able to find an apartment, move out with the girls, and continue on with her life as a separated/eventually divorced woman. JMO I'd feel horribly trapped if I couldn't find a way to earn money to support myself and my children. As it stands, we don't have any proof/evidence, that it was Nancy alone who was doing all the over-spending. We only have Brad's word, such as 'nancy wanting a diamond necklace'. Maybe Brad told her 'because I'm sorry I cheated with your best friend and I want to get this for you to show how sorry I am......' That would be far more believable IMO then any other. MOO's

 

[ohiogirl]

I would love to hear anyone's theory as to what really happened. No arguments here. This prosecution is not doing it for me, and I was one of the ones who thought he was guilty at first. My goodness, they do have to prove it. I hope they will have something by the time they rest.
I have never heard any alternative theories with any facts to back them up. Let the floodgates open.

 

[SleuthinNC]

Defense pointing out testimony regarding "love letter" being initially stated as being found on the kitchen table and then being pointed out that it was instead found in the closet of the home office

 

[NCEast]

Hey Peeps//Phewwww finally got back here...just caught the tail end of Kurtz arguing sumptin about a S/W affidavit...It sounds like the Judge inferred Defense may very well open the door to everyhting in that affidavit??

Guess, they will have to rethink that line of questioning..we'll see!!

BTW..Good to see ya all and I see there are a few newcomers...WELCOME!!:seeya:

Welcome back! You haven't missed a lot. This morning was the same old, same old. This afternoon Kurtz has scored a couple of points with objections from the prosecution....and a few not. Kurtz is making statements, or declarations to the detective that continue to mix me up, as well as detective Young. That may be his SMO.

 

[Cheyenne130]

This is simply not looking good for the prosecution.

Interesting. I think that Kurtz is looking somewhat inept at this point. I agree with an earlier characterization that he seems a bit desperate. He seems to be focusing on minor points that really don't have anything to do with JY's role in this case. MOO

 

[cityslick]

It wasn't like it was a 'foreign' country, it was their country of origin. They are both Canadian citizens. That said, the fact that Nancy was trapped here, unable to work, is what bothers me the most. She had no way of making any money to leave him with the girls, like most of us U.S. citizens/mothers could. From everything I've read and heard, it was said the hold-up was on Brad's end, not filing the proper paperwork at Cisco Systems, to move her green card along. Had Nancy been allowed to find a job, work, earn money, she would have been able to find an apartment, move out with the girls, and continue on with her life as a separated/eventually divorced woman. JMO I'd feel horribly trapped if I couldn't find a way to earn money to support myself and my children. As it stands, we don't have any proof/evidence, that it was Nancy alone who was doing all the over-spending. We only have Brad's word, such as 'nancy wanting a diamond necklace'. Maybe Brad told her 'because I'm sorry I cheated with your best friend and I want to get this for you to show how sorry I am......' That would be far more believable IMO then any other. MOO's

I was thinking, but I wonder if it was really bad if staying with one of her friends was an option? She seemed to have more than one willing to help her.