A romance novelist who wrote a popular 2011 essay, "How to Murder Your Husband," was convicted by a jury of killing her husband four years ago.
According to local news outlets present at the trial, the jury of seven women and five men found 71-year-old Nancy Crampton Brophy guilty of second-degree murder in the killing of her husband, Daniel Brophy.
Nancy Crampton Brophy Owned Same Gun Used To Kill Husband
Officials say that Daniel Brophy, 63, was killed on June 2, 2018, as he got ready for work at the Oregon Culinary Institute in southwest Portland.
According to court exhibits, Nancy Crampton Brophy owned the same make and model of the gun used to kill Daniel Brophy. Shee was seen on surveillance camera footage driving to and from the culinary institute. Police never found the weapon used to kill Brophy.
Prosecutors Say The Couple Was Deep In Debt
Prosecutors said that Nancy Crampton Brophy was motivated by money problems and a life insurance policy. The said had also bought a "ghost gun" assembly kit that investigators later found at a storage facility, which would mean the gun is an unregistered and untraceable firearm.
Nancy Crampton Brophy said that she had no reason to kill her husband and that their financial problems were solved by cashing some of her husband's retirement savings plan. She claimed she purchased the "ghost gun" kit as part of research for an essay she was working on.
Nancy Crampton Brophy Denies Murdering Her Husband
Circuit Judge Christopher Ramras ultimately excluded the "How to Murder Your Husband" essay from the trial. Still, prosecutors alluded to some of the themes of the essay in their presentation of the case.
The essay details various options for committing an untraceable killing and professes a desire to avoid getting caught.
Nancy Crampton Brophy's attorney's suggested someone else might have killed Daniel Brophy during a robbery gone wrong and that the gun was simply a coincidence.
She testified during the trial that her presence near the culinary school on the day of her husband's murder was also a coincidence. She claimed that she had parked there to work on her writing.
Nancy Crampton Brophy Found Guilty, Remains In Jail
All of Nancy Crampton Brophy's books were tales of attempted murder, lust, crime, and infidelity.
"My stories are about pretty men and strong women, about families that don't always work, and about the joy of finding love and the difficulty of making it stay," she wrote on her website.
Nancy Crampton Brophy has remained in custody since her arrest in September of 2018.
Attorney Lisa Maxfield said the defense team plans to appeal. Sentencing is scheduled for June 13. The charges carry a life sentence.
]]>The Inquisitr
