Tuesday 17 May 2022 08:58 PM How to Murder Your Husband author tells trial she woke up AFTER receiving call ... trends now
A novelist who wrote an essay entitled How To Murder Your Husband before allegedly murdering her own husband suggested she was too senile to remember being at the murder scene around the time her spouse was killed.
Nancy Crampton Brophy, 71, made the bizarre assertion at a court in Portland, Oregon, Monday when asked about a photo of her driving her car around the time her late husband Daniel Brophy was murdered in 2018.
Brophy, who was 68 at the time, agreed that it looked just like her in the car, but insists she couldn't remember being there.
She then added: 'You know what they say, old age isn't for sissies.
'I turn 65, I'm starting to lose my eyesight, I'm looking at this thinking "Oh man, I'm starting to lose my mind. How can this have happened and me not remember this" ..
'Even now, my mind kind of goes blank with the horror of it.'
Daniel Brophy, a chef and teacher, was shot dead at the Oregon Culinary Institute in 2018.
His widow has insisted he fell victim to a mystery assailant.
No other suspects have ever been named or sought by police, and Crampton Brophy is the only person arrested over the crime.
Despite not remembering being in the vicinity at the time, she claims she recalled seeing a mysterious man in a van in the area the same day.
Crampton Brophy said: 'I am seeing myself sitting at this park, writing.
Nancy Crampton Brophy, pictured in court Monday, said a woman photographed close to the scene of her husband's 2018 murder looked just like her - but suggested she was too senile to remember whether she was actually there
'The reason why this sticks out, it was a parking lot, it looks empty, but there was a white van there. But there was some guy that kept walking back and forth, walking back and forth. It was just enough to throw me out of there that I moved.'
When asked by her attorney if it is in fact a real memory, Brophy says it is and she described what she was doing in the car.
'I have a pad of paper, I'm jotting things down. It's a pleasant day, I can remember that because it wasn't raining. It's shady, I'm sitting here pulling it together. It would be a place I would have felt very comfortable writing, so I'm sure it's a true memory,' Brophy said.
No murder weapon was ever found. Crampton Brophy was found to be in possession of a ghost gun kit and a Glock after her husband's murder, but neither fired the bullets that killed him.
She also denied claims she killed Daniel Brophy for an expensive life insurance policy that paid out $1.4 million following his death.
Daniel Brophy was killed at the Oregon Culinary Institute in Portland, where the former chef taught students who wanted to learn how to cook
When recalling her husband's death Brophy got emotional, saying she lost a huge part of her life.
'It's like you've lost an arm. You know?' Brophy said. 'Like, you're just not as good as you were when
