RALEIGH, N.C. — Attorneys for a slain Cary woman's husband, who has been the subject of public scrutiny in his wife's death, have posted grocery store surveillance video and receipts on their Web site in an effort to "restore reason to what has become an unreasonable and persecutory situation."
In the eight videos posted Tuesday afternoon on the
Kurtz & Blum Web site, Nancy Cooper's husband, Brad Cooper, can be seen entering, buying what appears to be milk, Tide washing detergent and juice and leaving between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. at a 24-hour Harris Teeter grocery store.
The video and accompanying receipts, his attorneys say, "set the record straight" about when he was at the store and refute speculation that he was buying bleach the morning his wife disappeared.
Calls to the attorneys, Howard Kurtz and Seth Blum, were not returned Tuesday afternoon.
The Web site also criticizes Cary police Chief Pat Bazemore, who has said Nancy Cooper's slaying was not a random crime. She has released little other information about the investigation and has not named any suspects.
"One hopes her statement is based on more than the wish to maintain Cary's reputation as a safe place to live," the Web site states. "Unless she begins supporting her conclusions with evidence, there is no reason to blindly accept Chief Bazemore's naked assertion as true."
In a statement Tuesday afternoon, Bazemore said releasing details of an ongoing investigation could jeopardize the case – "something I'm sure no one wants to see happen," she said.
“Cary citizens know that if there is ever any chance that they are at risk, the Cary Police Department informs them and protects them," she said.
A friend reported Nancy Cooper missing on the afternoon of July 12 after she failed to show up for a planned meeting. Brad Cooper told authorities his wife went jogging around 7 a.m. that morning and never returned.
Two days later, a man walking his dog found her body, wearing little clothing, in an undeveloped subdivision outside Cary's town limit – less than three miles from the Coopers' home.
Brad Cooper is now involved in a high-profile case for custody of the couple's two young daughters, who have temporarily been placed with Nancy Cooper's parents and sister.
Court filings in that case indicate the couple was in the process of separating, and affidavits from Nancy Cooper's friends characterize Brad Cooper as being mentally unstable, emotionally abusive and controlling.
Referring to those friends as the "Cary Clique," the Kurtz & Blum site accuses them of seeing aspects of the marriage through "colored glasses."
"This is fine for people who are simply providing emotional support and comfort to a friend, but it would be a terrible way to run a murder investigation or to decide a legal issue," the Web site states.
The attorneys also posted two photos of Brad Cooper's neck to rebut an investigator's claim in a search warrant affidavit that Cooper had unexplained scratches on the back of his neck.
"The photos reveal that if any marks were present on 7/12/08 when Det. Daniels noted them, that they were so insignificant as to be entirely gone a mere five days later," the site states.
It also says that Brad Cooper did not explain the scratches because he either didn't have any or no one asked him about them.
