Quotes

The media frenzy on this case has emerged with many quotes from various sources which are filled with information. Please put quotes you feel are important, unusual, or otherwise pertinent to the case here. (Include the link back to the source.)

On Friday, Brad Cooper’s attorney defended his client against "wild speculation" and "bizarre and unsupported theories" reported on TV and the Internet. He "has been very, very clear with police: He did not kill his wife," attorney Seth Blum said.

"Mr. Cooper loves his daughters. They are two little girls who have done nothing to deserve what they are going through," he said. "Like any good father, he wants to shield them from all horrors, and this is clearly a horrible, horrible thing."

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/3236095/

Brad Cooper "has been very, very clear with police: He did not kill his wife," attorney Seth Blum told reporters Friday afternoon.

~snip~

"Brad Cooper is a very private man, and he is not accustomed to the hot glare of the media spotlight," the attorney said. "He never dreamed that he would see his face splashed across television news shows or his name in headlines, especially not under these terrible circumstances."

http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/3233693/

I would like to see the transcript of the interview Greta had with Brad shortly after this disappearance, but I don't know how to find it. Anyone?

"I would like to know why," Cooper's mom, Donna Rentz, said.

"I think if they had a shred of decency in their body, they would come forward and acknowledge their guilt," Cooper's father, Gary Rentz, said.

http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/local&id=6272552

(Hope this is the "right spot" for this post.)

After reading the affidavits, I was beginning to form an image of Nancy as a well-meaning, but somewhat immature individual. In looking for new insights I ran across the blogs of someone who is a friend and neighbor of the Cooper’s—Dr. Tony O’Driscoll, Professor of the Practice,
Fuqua School of Business, Duke University. (Theresa O’Driscoll’s husband)

He says in his final blog on Nancy’s death the following:

“How ironic that something as emotionally detached as a computer algorithm can continue to shine a light on the most salient point of this whole story: Parents lost a daughter, A husband lost a wife, Children lost their Mommy, and Friends lost a Friend.” http://wadatripp.wordpress.com/2008/07/28/nancy-cooper-17-days-in/

He puts the spotlight on Nancy and her strengths and her humanity. I needed to read this at this time.

He pointed out in an earlier blog the high regard with which her friends held her:
”Who knows, if this keeps up, I might actually get into the same orbit as Nancy when it comes to being a parent. As we discussed in session today, Nancy was the hub of our community and a role model for what motherhood in its purest and most authentic and loving form looks like. We are all destined to become more like she was around our kids as a result of this and for that we will all experience something more profound and impactful in all of our relationships. Thank you Nancy ; ) “
http://wadatripp.wordpress.com/2008/07/16/vindication-thank-you-all/

And, finally, he relates a wonderful “moment” in which Nancy helped him be his “best self.”
http://wadatripp.wordpress.com/2008/07/18/nancy-cooper-the-gift-of-grief/

There’s another blog about telling their 6-year-old that Nancy has died. Grab a tissue before reading.
http://wadatripp.wordpress.com/2008/07/17/experiential-learning-about-parenting/

There are a few other blogs about Nancy's disappearance, the media, etc. I perceive Dr. O'Driscoll as insightful and grounded. Hope his words resonate with others, also.

Tink56 said:

(Hope this is the "right spot" for this post.)

After reading the affidavits, I was beginning to form an image of Nancy as a well-meaning, but somewhat immature individual. In looking for new insights I ran across the blogs of someone who is a friend and neighbor of the Cooper’s—Dr. Tony O’Driscoll, Professor of the Practice,
Fuqua School of Business, Duke University. (Theresa O’Driscoll’s husband)

He says in his final blog on Nancy’s death the following:

“How ironic that something as emotionally detached as a computer algorithm can continue to shine a light on the most salient point of this whole story: Parents lost a daughter, A husband lost a wife, Children lost their Mommy, and Friends lost a Friend.” http://wadatripp.wordpress.com/2008/07/28/nancy-cooper-17-days-in/

He puts the spotlight on Nancy and her strengths and her humanity. I needed to read this at this time.

He pointed out in an earlier blog the high regard with which her friends held her:
”Who knows, if this keeps up, I might actually get into the same orbit as Nancy when it comes to being a parent. As we discussed in session today, Nancy was the hub of our community and a role model for what motherhood in its purest and most authentic and loving form looks like. We are all destined to become more like she was around our kids as a result of this and for that we will all experience something more profound and impactful in all of our relationships. Thank you Nancy ; ) “
http://wadatripp.wordpress.com/2008/07/16/vindication-thank-you-all/

And, finally, he relates a wonderful “moment” in which Nancy helped him be his “best self.”
http://wadatripp.wordpress.com/2008/07/18/nancy-cooper-the-gift-of-grief/

There’s another blog about telling their 6-year-old that Nancy has died. Grab a tissue before reading.
http://wadatripp.wordpress.com/2008/07/17/experiential-learning-about-parenting/

There are a few other blogs about Nancy's disappearance, the media, etc. I perceive Dr. O'Driscoll as insightful and grounded. Hope his words resonate with others, also.

Click to expand...

I'm sure he didn't really mean that about the computer algorithm shining light.

I just finished re-reading "Journey into darkness" last week. It was written by John Douglas, who founded the behavorial sciences section at the FBI in Quantico, VA. These are the profilers who have interviewed many different types of criminals, and who specialized in determining what type of person might have committed a crime when the suspect might not be obvious. They do this by looking at the situation of the crime, and not only determining the MO, but a specific signiture of the crime that helps to isolate it to someone with specific motivtations to commit a crime, it does not matter if they knew the victim or not, various aspects of the crime suggest why the killer did what they did.

Near the end of the book, as he was talking about a specific crime, but laying out how his section examined a crime when called upon for consultation, I was stricken by the following quote. In this case, he is also discussing someone with a strong control oriented history and narssistic character.

"If a man is truly grieved over the loss of his wife (or even ex-wife), it is absolutely crucial to him to defend her memory and their mutual honor with more than a perfunctory denial of involvement. Being innocent and not being outraged in such a situation, in itself, would be very out of character for a personality of this sort."

In this situation, the cop asking for assistance is asking if someone like this might be a suicide risk when cornered by the situation, and the response:

"When a heavily control-oriented person suddenly loses control, there's always a risk of suicide. But I would think that with this narcissistic a subject, what you might be more likely to see is a feigned suicide attempt, a plea for attention and sympathy. I think he might threaten to kill himself with a knife or a gun, but I don't think you're going to see him slith his own wrists or blow his brains out or anything painful like that."

prior to the quoted sections, it says that someone who is control-oriented would normally act outraged that they were being accused of a crime, and that someone defending them by saying that they were so overtaken by grief and depression that they could not muster this level of reaction does not stand to reason. Earlier in the same section, he alludes to the fact that they are very good at detecting staged crime scenes, where the killer attempts to make the scene look like the crime happened in a different manner. Like a husband killing his wife, and then trying to make it look like a sexual assault gone wrong. I guess these folks have seen more crime scenes, and know what a real one looks like, unlike most amature killers.

To me, this sounded very familiar in light of the Cooper case. We have seen posts and affidavits that strongly suggest that BC was controlling and narcissistic. We have also seen an affidavit from BC that besmirches the memory of NC. While it does strongly seem that the love had long sense departed their relationship, and they were in the process of dissolving the union, the quotation even says that this reaction would be abnormal when speaking of an Ex-wife. You might make a suggestion that some pent-up hostility might have been expressed because they were in the midst of a divorce, but this was not a "caught by suprise" reaction to someone sticking a microphone in his face and blurting out something that can be regretted later. He wrote or dictated this affidavit to someone, and had an opportunity to review and edit his remarks. He did this while ostensibly fighting to retain custody of the children, but it does not speak well of him to soil the memory of the children's mother and his recently deceased wife.

NC might very well have been all the things he said she was, she might have reacted in a passive-aggressive manner to his attempts to control her, and she might have exaggerated what was taking place in her relationship with BC. Nevertheless, it would put forth a better image IMO for him to express contrition for the martial strain that they were under, bemoan the loss of the mother of his children, and vow dedication and devotion to the children, put forth his relationship with them, and describe how he would be able to provide for them financially, emotionally and would achieve a stable and secure home for them, rather than denegrate the memory of their mother.

MOO,

CyberPro

Painting NC in a less than favorable light is paramount to the justification of her murder.
In this case, I believe that BC needs NC to be the real "bad guy". She drove him to this. It was NC that was out of control, NC who pushed him over the edge. He's the victim. She forced this on him.

Sorry, I guess that was off topic for the thread. Just a reaction to CyberPro's post.

EntreNous said:

Painting NC in a less than favorable light is paramount to the justification of her murder.
In this case, I believe that BC needs NC to be the real "bad guy". She drove him to this. It was NC that was out of control, NC who pushed him over the edge. He's the victim. She forced this on him.

Sorry, I guess that was off topic for the thread. Just a reaction to CyberPro's post.

Click to expand...

There is a lot to your post and CyberPro's though. I think the deeper story is in this line of reasoning. Sorry for the diversion.

Cyberpro

Would this be the same John Douglas that thought the Ramsey's were innocent? And didn't think parents would kill there child so brutally?

Interesting John Douglas quote. I happen to disagree w/him regarding the Ramsey's (particularly Patsy). But anyway...

so he's saying what he'd expect to see in a "narcissistic controlling person who is innocent of a crime."

Well that's a whole lot right there. Cause first you need to establish that they are, in fact, narcissistic and controlling.

Then of course you need to establish evidence linking them to a crime.

And what about narcissistic/controlling people who didn't commit the crime but also don't give a damn about the victim, even if it's a loved one? It's possible, right?

The evidence is the thing in the end that will lead to the conviction (or not).

SleuthyGal said:

*snipped* And what about narcissistic/controlling people who didn't commit the crime but also don't give a damn about the victim, even if it's a loved one? It's possible, right?

The evidence is the thing in the end that will lead to the conviction (or not).

Click to expand...

Or even if they come off not appearing to give a damn But yes, evidence would be the thing...