Oregon novelist charged with killing husband for $1.1M insurance seeks prison release over fear of coronavirus
A 69-year-old romance novelist from Oregon has been charged with her chef husband's murder after she was set to gain $1.1 million from his death, court papers have revealed. Prosecutors reportedly filed papers on Monday, April 27, in opposition to the motion of bail filed by Nancy Crampton-Brophy because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Crampton-Brophy, a self-published author, was arrested and charged with murder in September 2018, nearly three months after 63-year-old Daniel Brophy was found dead in his office at the Oregon Culinary Institute in Portland on June 2, 2018. Daniel was a popular instructor there. The couple was reportedly living month-to-month, but Daniel's wife sought a more exciting life, reports stated. The medical examiner in the case concluded that Daniel was shot twice, and two 9 mm shell casings were found at the scene of the crime. Detectives determined that the shots were possibly fired from a Glock.
Authorities said Daniel was having a routine morning at work and was filling water and ice buckets when he was shot in the back. Police believe that the first shot paralyzed him and left him lying on his back, and that is when the second shot was fired in his chest.
Multnomah County District Attorney Rod Underhill, in the court papers, said: "Nancy Brophy planned and carried out what she believed was the perfect murder. A murder that she believed would free her from the grips of financial despair and enter a life of financial security and adventure," according to KGW-TV reports.
Daniel, at the time of the incident, had a pocketknife with him which was found clipped to his pants and it “didn’t appear as if he had tried to access it for defensive reasons," Underhill said. Police concluded that there was no struggle, and robbery did not appear to be a motive in Daniel's death. Although there was no video surveillance inside the building, cameras from nearby businesses showed a minivan, which appeared to be the same one as Crampton-Brophy's, drive by the morning of the incident.
Underhill added that the detectives reached the conclusion after they learned that Crampton-Brophy was the beneficiary of numerous life insurance policies taken out on her husband. The policies and a workman’s compensation accident death benefit reportedly meant that she would receive a payout of $1.15 million if her husband died, the court papers stated.
The prosecutor also said that the 69-year-old in addition "sold herself all the life insurance policies on Dan Brophy." Underhill, in the documents, stressed that Crampton-Brophy should not be issued bail because the prosecution has gathered overwhelming evidence of her guilt.
Reports state that the woman's lawyers have asked a judge to release her to home detention, arguing that she is " at risk of imminent death in jail" because she comes under a high-risk category for serious complications from the coronavirus, the outlet reported.
Prosecutors, previously, had alleged that Crampton-Brophy had an article titled "10 ways to cover up a murder" bookmarked on an iTunes account she had shared with her husband.
The 69-year-old has not pled guilty to her husband's murder.