State v Bradley Cooper 3.11.2011

[Cheyenne130]

I'm still curious about Nancy's $300 weekly allowance, that was hers free and clear after bills were paid. Did she buy groceries with money other than this? It doesn't sound like they were a family that sat down nightly for dinner together or anything like this does it?

Remember back in 2008 it was said he would follow her to the gas station and pay for her gas (to apparently ensure she was using the $ for gas). Was this ever confirmed?

If the $300 didn't include groceries or gas, that's a lot of money just to hang out with. And her friends said she often ate at their houses because of no money. I don't get it?

I have to say that it doesn't make any difference to me if she spent every dime on stupid stuff or had to scratch to get by on her "allowance". With only one witness so far, they have painted a picture of a very dysfunctional couple. I think of it as "the perfect storm". That doesn't mean he killed her but for the defense to keep pointing out how "terrible" Nancy was, they just seem to be bolstering the motive for murder for Brad. imo

 

[SleuthyGal]

I agree. I think the money is besides the point. Well, not for Brad, obviously, but in terms of the details of the murder itself.

The big picture is that they were headed for divorce and at first he was fine with it (and wanted her gone). But, he was going to pay a lot in alimony, child support, etc. And he and his wife were estranged and in a very dysfunctional and angry dynamic. He was controlling some things, probably just to be passive/aggressive and uncooperative. She likely knew how to press some of his buttons too.

He didn't want her, but he didn't want to have to pay her either. She had rejected him years before and didn't want him either. There was no love there, no respect, really nothing left but anger and mutual unhappiness.

Whether he gave her $300 a week or $100 a week...it doesn't matter. She wasn't happy with him, he wasn't happy with her. What happened is just so sadly stupid. It almost doesn't seem real at times. So many lives ruined. They could have parted ways and gone on to much happier lives in the end. He was an idiot.

 

[jmflu]

He really was. And I'm sure he's thought that a hundred million times, sitting in jail.

I wonder if he snapped after that last night at the party, when she openly quarreled with him in front of other people.

I feel so sorry for the Rentzs. They seem like such good people.

 

[BrownRice]

She had rejected him years before and didn't want him either. There was no love there, no respect, really nothing left but anger and mutual unhappiness.

I thought he had rejected her intimately and in the relationship first?

My feeling is it was not premeditated - he just had it with her rudeness to him and he snapped (but didn't mean to, which doesn't really matter).

 

[LivinginNC]

I finally found a few hours to listen to the opening statements...interesting and it does open up a lot of questions, I am very anxious to see the "real stuff" come out. I sure hope there is a smoking gun, especially with all the implied blotched police work. Is there a link to the actual testimony? I have not been able to find anything on WRAL and would like to catch up with what has happened in more detail then the news snipets report.
Also, one statement made by the defense referred to the garage still being too full of stuff to put a car in it. I personally saw the garage door open up, and Brad drive out of it the day before her body was found. The car had been parked in the right side and the left side was absolutely overflowing with stuff. I am sure that is easy enough to verify.

 

[jmflu]

Wow, so we have at least one lie on the part of the defense! And you were a neighbor of theirs...do you remember if they always parked their cars outside and then suddenly at the time of her disappearance he is parking inside?

 

[SleuthyGal]

They were always known to park their cars outside...at least those last few years that they had kids and 2 cars. Nancy parked on the left and Brad parked on the right.

This was confirmed through DD's testimony the other day. It's also confirmed through a Google street view map from 2006 which shows the cars in their normal positions.

Also, there is custody hearing testimony from the Bug guy/exterminator who treated their house several times over the years and confirmed the placement of cars and the state of the garage as well. He will be called in the murder trial as well.

 

[LivinginNC]

I was not a neighbor but was a part of the search. We had been searching all over the neighborhood, I did not even know it was the Coopers house until the person I was searching with informed me when the garage door opened up and Brad drove out. The police were parked in the street by the house. that should have been my first clue, but I was focused on the search, not the address (at that time).

 

[Cheyenne130]

I finally found a few hours to listen to the opening statements...interesting and it does open up a lot of questions, I am very anxious to see the "real stuff" come out. I sure hope there is a smoking gun, especially with all the implied blotched police work. Is there a link to the actual testimony? I have not been able to find anything on WRAL and would like to catch up with what has happened in more detail then the news snipets report.
Also, one statement made by the defense referred to the garage still being too full of stuff to put a car in it. I personally saw the garage door open up, and Brad drive out of it the day before her body was found. The car had been parked in the right side and the left side was absolutely overflowing with stuff. I am sure that is easy enough to verify.

http://www.wral.com/specialreports/nancycooper/

Scroll down a bit and you will see a section marked "Full Trial Video". They have the first two days of testimony there.

 

[Just the Fax]

They were always known to park their cars outside...at least those last few years that they had kids and 2 cars. Nancy parked on the left and Brad parked on the right.

This was confirmed through DD's testimony the other day. It's also confirmed through a Google street view map from 2006 which shows the cars in their normal positions.

Also, there is custody hearing testimony from the Bug guy/exterminator who treated their house several times over the years and confirmed the placement of cars and the state of the garage as well. He will be called in the murder trial as well.

Hopefully the exterminator will be a good witness.
He was there 3 days before the murder and apparently will say the garage was a total mess then and cars could not be parked inside.

Brad said he cleaned out the garage on June 28th... vacuumed, organized and took old toys, ect. up to the 2nd floor storage room. He said he cleared out enough so Nancy could then start parking her car in the garage so she and the girls would have a cool car for the summer.

Of course, the state says he cleared out the garage in the very early morning after he killed Nancy so he could load her corpse undetected by neighbors.

 

[johnfear]

Hopefully the exterminator will be a good witness.
He was there 3 days before the murder and apparently will say the garage was a total mess then and cars could not be parked inside.

Brad said he cleaned out the garage on June 28th... vacuumed, organized and took old toys, ect. up to the 2nd floor storage room. He said he cleared out enough so Nancy could then start parking her car in the garage so she and the girls would have a cool car for the summer.

Of course, the state says he cleared out the garage in the very early morning after he killed Nancy so he could load her corpse undetected by neighbors.

They could use this to show pre-med if they can use the caffeine in her system as her having woken up and been killed AFTER the garage was cleaned.

 

[Cheyenne130]

They could use this to show pre-med if they can use the caffeine in her system as her having woken up and been killed AFTER the garage was cleaned.

I was thinking that it is still a possibility that she had coffee or some other caffeinated beverage after she got home from the BBQ. Four glasses of wine and two beers (the minimum estimate of her consumption) would have me concerned about a possible morning hangover. I might do a little preventative intervention if I was her.

 

[johnfear]

I was thinking that it is still a possibility that she had coffee or some other caffeinated beverage after she got home from the BBQ. Four glasses of wine and two beers (the minimum estimate of her consumption) would have me concerned about a possible morning hangover. I might do a little preventative intervention if I was her.

I just got a lecture on the variables in the half-life of caffeine as well, and apparently some OTC painkillers have caffeine in them. So, nevermind...I had always been under the impression it had one of the shortest half lifes and left the body after just a few hours.

 

[otto]

Hopefully the exterminator will be a good witness.
He was there 3 days before the murder and apparently will say the garage was a total mess then and cars could not be parked inside.

Brad said he cleaned out the garage on June 28th... vacuumed, organized and took old toys, ect. up to the 2nd floor storage room. He said he cleared out enough so Nancy could then start parking her car in the garage so she and the girls would have a cool car for the summer.

Of course, the state says he cleared out the garage in the very early morning after he killed Nancy so he could load her corpse undetected by neighbors.

How common is it to regularly hire an exterminator in NC? The house looks to be rather solid, and if the house is clean there really shouldn't be too much in the way of bugs ... yet it sounds like the exterminator was there often.

Brad didn't clean out Nancy's side of the garage:

 

[Just the Fax]

I bet Brad might well be a free man today if he had kept his mouth shut and not sat for 8 hours of sworn depositions.

It will be very powerful for the jury to show a video clip of his accounts and then use witnesses to totally contradict his many inconstant statements.
Very rare opportunity for the state to have such powerful evidence w/o the defendant actually taking the stand.


.

 

[otto]

I just got a lecture on the variables in the half-life of caffeine as well, and apparently some OTC painkillers have caffeine in them. So, nevermind...I had always been under the impression it had one of the shortest half lifes and left the body after just a few hours.

Laci Peterson had caffeine in her system even though she did not drink caffeine products when she was pregnant. Pizza has caffeine ... so I suppose the caffeine could have come from something other than coffee.

 

[Just the Fax]

How common is it to regularly hire an exterminator in NC? The house looks to be rather solid, and if the house is clean there really shouldn't be too much in the way of bugs ... yet it sounds like the exterminator was there often.

Brad didn't clean out Nancy's side of the garage:

The exterminator was on a regular contract where he would spray at regular intervals. Not uncommon.

Good point about which side he cleared the garage. Totally contradicts what he said in the deposition.....he obviously pulled the BMW in his side that am and loaded her body in the trunk.

 

[Cheyenne130]

How common is it to regularly hire an exterminator in NC? The house looks to be rather solid, and if the house is clean there really shouldn't be too much in the way of bugs ... yet it sounds like the exterminator was there often.

Brad didn't clean out Nancy's side of the garage:

This picture also contradicts the defense statement in their opening that there still was not room to pull a car into the garage.

 

[otto]

The exterminator was on a regular contract where he would spray at regular intervals. Not uncommon.

Good point about which side he cleared the garage. Totally contradicts what he said in the deposition.....he obviously pulled the BMW in his side that am and loaded her body in the trunk.

If he did go to the trouble of cleaning out part of the garage to put Nancy in the back of the car, then two possibiities come to mind. Either it was not the middle of the night (where he could move around in the dark while people were sleeping), or he was making decisions that were not really necessary.

 

[carolinalady]

How common is it to regularly hire an exterminator in NC? The house looks to be rather solid, and if the house is clean there really shouldn't be too much in the way of bugs ... yet it sounds like the exterminator was there often.

Very common to be under an exterminator contract in NC. Many offer quarterly service, plus additional service calls between regular visits, if needed.