Sunday 8 May 2022 02:44 PM Romance novelist who 'murdered her chef spouse' accidentally ADMITTED to ... trends now
A romance novelist who once wrote an essay entitled 'How to Murder Your Husband' allegedly admitted to shooting dead her chef spouse, prosecutors alleged on Tuesday.
Nancy Crampton Brophy, 71, is accused of shooting dead her 63-year-old husband Daniel Brophy as he prepared for work inside an Oregon Culinary Institute classroom in June 2018 for his $1.4 million life insurance policy.
She is facing life behind bars with a minimum of 25 years in prison if she is found guilty of second-degree murder, to which she has pleaded not guilty.
But prosecutors claimed Tuesday that Crampton Brophy has already admitted to shooting her late husband of 21 years to her former cellmate at the low-security Inverness Jail in Northeast Portland following her arrest in September 2018.
'Ms. Brophy held her arms apart, like a wingspan, and said "I was this far away when the shooting happened," Multnomah County Senior Deputy District Attorney Shawn Overstreet said of the alleged conversation.
'She then corrected herself,' Overstreet continued, and said the shooting happened at close range.
Nancy Crampton Brophy, 71, is facing trial for allegedly murdering her husband of 21 years
Daniel Brophy, 63, was killed in June 2018 as he prepared for work inside an Oregon Culinary Institute classroom
A reference to the cellmate came in a long, partially illegible letter that Crampton Brophy received in March, Overstreet explained, according to Oregon Live.
He said authorities did not immediately understand the significance of the letter, but were able to track down the cellmate - Anndrea B. Jacobs - and interviewed her about what Crampton Brophy allegedly said.
In the interview, Overstreet said, Jacobs appeared embarrassed after telling authorities of Crampton Brophy's alleged confession.
'Ms. Jacobs reported that it became very awkward' afterward, Overstreet said, noting that Jacobs later told her attorneys she 'didn't want to go and be a snitch.'
But defense attorney Kristen Winemiller argued that Jacob cannot be brought in as a witness in the trial because the defense has already rested its case.
'To respond to this would require a significant investigation,' Winemiller told Circuit Court Judge Christopher Ramras, adding: 'It's just simply too late, after they've rested to bring in another witness of this magnitude.'
Winemiller said she only learned of the audio recording from the detectives' interview with Jacobs this past Monday, adding that Jacobs is suspected of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars in Medicaid fraud - though Overstreet said he wasn't aware of an active investigation.
In the end, Ramras declined to rule on the matter immediately, Oregon Live reports, and instead asked for written arguments to be submitted by May 11.
Crampton Brophy, left, was arrested for his murder in September 2018, and later allegedly told her cellmate inside the Inverness Jail in Northeast Portland, Anndrea B Jones, right, that the shooting occurred at close range - apparently admitting to the shooting
Circuit Court Judge Christopher Ramras has previously ruled that prosecutors cannot introduce into evidence an essay titled 'How to Murder Your Husband' that Crampton Brophy wrote in 2011 while applying to a writer's group
The accusations of a confession came as testimony resumed in Crampton Brody's murder trial following an 11-day delay when Overstreet came down with COVID-19. The jury has also lost one of its members due to illness, Oregon Live reports.
Previously in the trial, Judge Ramras ruled that prosecutors cannot introduce as evidence an essay titled 'How to Murder Your Husband' that Crampton Brophy wrote in 2011 while applying to a writer's group.
'As a romantic suspense writer, I spend a lot of time thinking about murder and, consequently, about police procedure,' Crampton Brophy wrote in the essay.
'After all, if the murder is supposed to set me free, I certainly don't want to spend any time in jail. And let me say clearly for the record, I don't like jumpsuits and orange isn't my color.'
The essay also weighed valid motives for murder, including infidelity and the costs of a divorce, and methods; knives are 'really personal' while guns are 'loud, messy (and) require some skill.'
But Ramras deemed the post too old to be relevant - and said that any value it may provide the trial is outweighed by the prejudice it may spark.
He ruled that 'any minimal probative value of an article written that long ago is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice and confusion of the issues.'
Crampton Brophy also wrote in an online biography about the struggles of being
