From WRAL.com

Posted: Oct 27, 2008
Updated: Oct 27, 2008

WAKE COUNTY — The husband of a Cary mother of two who was discovered dead in an undeveloped subdivision more than three months ago has been arrested and charged in his wife's death.

A Wake County grand jury indicted Bradley Graham Cooper, 35, of 104 Wallsburg Court, on first-degree murder Monday. He was in the Wake County jail without bond and was scheduled to make his first appearance before a Wake County District Court judge Tuesday at 2 p.m.

Brad Cooper told police Nancy Cooper went jogging around 7 a.m. on July 12 and never returned. A friend reported her missing later that afternoon after she failed to show up for a planned meeting.

A man walking his dog on July 14 found the body of Nancy Cooper, 34, on the bank of a storm pond near a cul-de-sac near Holly Springs Road and Fielding Drive — less than three miles from the Coopers’ home in the Lochmere subdivision of Cary.

A state medical examiner's autopsy suggested she had been strangled.

"With this arrest, it should now be clear to everyone that Cary citizens have been, and are, safe," Cary police Chief Pat Bazemore said at a news conference Monday evening. "This has really never been the case about a jogger being randomly attacked. It has been a case of domestic violence of the very worst kind."

One of Brad Cooper's attorneys, Seth Blum, declined to comment on his client's arrest but said he would have surrendered to authorities if he had been given the chance.

Brad Cooper, who admitted to police that he and his wife were having marital difficulties after he had an extramarital affair, came under public scrutiny in the days and weeks following her disappearance and death.

Last week, a judge awarded temporary custody of the couple’s two young daughters to Nancy Cooper’s parents and identical twin sister, who alleged Brad Cooper was mentally unstable and emotionally abusive to his wife and children in the months prior to her death.

Wade Smith, an attorney representing Nancy Cooper's family in the custody case, said Monday afternoon that they are relieved an arrest has been made.

"No one can take pleasure or joy in this. It's a tragedy – just a tragedy beyond belief," Smith said. "And on behalf of the family, we are grateful that the police have pursued this (case) to the point where there is an arrest."

"They have felt all along that (an arrest) might happen, and it confirms some of the thoughts and ideas that they have had," Smith continued. "At the same time, they know that the presumption of innocence applies, and they will not be making any comments that interfere with his rights to a fair trial."

Meanwhile, in the Lochmere neighborhood, friends of Nancy Cooper's said they were relieved to hear the news of an arrest, but they reserved further comment until after talking to her family.