by WRAL.COM

Posted: Oct 22, 2008
Updated: Oct 22, 2008

WAKE COUNTY — Cary, N.C. — A Wake County judge has awarded temporary custody of Brad and Nancy Cooper's children to their slain mother's family, lawyers for the family said Wednesday.

More than a dozen witnesses testified last Thursday in an eight-hour hearing before District Judge Debra Sasser, including Nancy Cooper's family, some of the couple's friends, two psychologists and a woman who says she saw Nancy Cooper jogging the morning she disappeared.

Sasser delayed her ruling until she had more time to review evidence, including a seven-hour videotaped deposition and Web chats between Brad Cooper and his daughter.

“This is a very good day for Nancy, her children, and our entire family," Nancy Cooper's father, Garry Rentz, said in a statement released through Cary officials. "We are extremely grateful to Judge Sasser for her careful and thorough attention to our case. We could not have asked for a more fair or deliberate process and are confident that she acted in the best interest of not just our grandchildren but all children who may be in a similar circumstance."

Wednesday's ruling comes more than three months after Nancy Cooper, 34, was found dead in an undeveloped subdivision about three miles from her Cary home. An autopsy determined she likely had been strangled.

Rentz, his wife, Donna Rentz, and their daughter, Krista Lister, filed for temporary custody of the girls, saying Brad Cooper is an unfit father who is mentally unstable and was emotionally abusive to and financially controlling of his wife in the months prior to her death.

Police have made no arrests and have not named any suspects in the slaying, but Nancy Cooper's family said during a hearing last week that they believe Brad Cooper was involved.

His attorneys have said that the plaintiffs have not offered any evidence that proves he is an unfit parent or that he killed his wife.

Sasser said during the court hearing that, if no one were charged in Nancy Cooper's death prior to her ruling, she would have to consider the allegations – a critical factor in deciding whether the children would be safe – in her decision.

"We are thankful that Bella and Katie will remain in Canada with their mother's family," Alice Stubbs, an attorney for Nancy Cooper's family, said in an e-mail to WRAL News. "They are in a safe and nurturing environment. It is not appropriate for us to release further details until the court order is signed by Judge Sasser."

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