Per your request, I have spent a short period of time watching Brad Cooper talk in the video deposition that has been released online. I also couldn’t help but glance at the affidavits in the case that were listed in the sidebar near the video links. With that, I thought I would share with you my first impressions and thoughts.

Read morePlease know I did not watch any deposition in its entirety. I reviewed at a couple of segments highlighted for me, by you, my readers. Thank you for giving me time markers, it is much appreciated.

1. The first thing I noticed about Brad Cooper is that he is what I call a classic neutral person. Classic neutral people are void of emotional expression.

   [From an earlier post]

   These people are hardest to read, because these people don’t express a lot of emotion. Neutral people tend to lack genuine enthusiasm, and most often come across as someone who is not excitable. They usually come across as mundane and monotone.

   While the majority of people who fall into the neutral category are suspicious, it does not mean that they are lying. And that is where it gets tricky. Some people just lack normal expressive emotions and instead are subdued, even when they are telling the truth.

   With that, I am left to ask, is this normal behavior for Brad, or is this notable and unusual?

   Most people are not this baseline in their emotions especially after something as traumatic as loss of your wife to murder. Most people would be devastated/angry/mad for their children that they have been robbed of a mother, at the very least. Yet I see none of this with Brad. It definitely raises my eyebrows.

   Since Brad does seem to be a reserved type of person who could repress his emotions, and he was going through a divorce, I would need to know from his friends if this is the “typical Brad” or if his behavior is notably different. If his friends told me his emotions were notably void here, it would raise a big red flag.

2. Since we can’t depend on Brad’s emotions and body language to guide us positively or negatively, the next thing we need to look at are his words, and the facts. Is Brad consistent in what he is saying?

   The first video I zoomed into was what Brad says happened the day that Nancy disappeared. Almost immediately, I found a big inconsistency in what Brad is saying when he talks about running to the store the morning Nancy disappeared. In the deposition here (around time marker 25:00), Brad talks about how his wife Nancy was upset that they were out of detergent.
   

   Questioner:
   When you got home from the Harris Teeter, what did you do?

   Cooper:
   When I got home from Harris Teeter, I put the milk back in the fridge. Um..by this time, the washing machine had finished the first load that, um, we had put in earlier, and um, Nancy then indicated that we were out of laundry detergent and was upset that we were out of laundry detergent as well.

   Questioner:
   Was she upset with you about that?

   Cooper:
   Yes, she… well, she was upset that one, we ran low on milk, we ran low on laundry detergent, and um, she was gone the week prior so she kind of felt it was my fault that I hadn’t restocked with milk and laundry detergent. (Time marker 25:18).

   Questioner:
   So what does she say?

   Cooper:
   She indicated that it was kind of my fault and therefore my responsibility and hop back in the car and go to the store and pick up laundry detergent.

3. If you compare that to what Brad said in an affidavit here, Brad’s story has changed.
   

   “I start to get ready for the girls to get up and noticed we were out of laundry detergent and could not do laundry, so Nancy asked me to go back out to get some laundry detergent around 6:30 A.M.”

   I find this odd and perplexing. Why is Brad not able to keep his facts straight? In one version, his wife notices they are out of laundry soap. In the other, he notices. In the deposition, he starts the laundry and does one load. In the affidavit, he says he “could not do laundry”.

   This is a notable red flag. When we are honest, we remember the basic details of what we did and who discovered what. We don’t confuse basic facts such as this.

4. It’s also very notable (above) that Brad talks about getting ready for the girls to “get up” in the affidavit. Yet oddly, in his deposition, he talks about how Katie, his daughter, was up early and fussing because she didn’t have milk, and that he went to get her milk, came home and got a bottle of milk to give to Katie. He wasn’t home a few minutes before the laundry detergent scenario played out, and after returning with the laundry detergent he tells us he takes Katie back upstairs with him to put her down.

   What is the truth here? Was Katie up or not? Clearly, Brad is having a hard time keeping his facts straight and that begs us to question why.

5. It’s odd, too, that when Brad Cooper went to the grocery store the first time, he knew exactly how he got there. He was sure about his route. The second time, however, he couldn’t remember which way he went, yet he said he remembered getting a phone call at a specific intersection. Why did he take a different route? How come he remembers this specific phone call, but he doesn’t remember the different route? It’s perplexing. Notice that Brad is asked why he took a different route, but he doesn’t answer the question.
6. Brad Cooper in this deposition tells us that he cleaned out the garage on June 28th so that one car could fit into their two car garage. He explains that it was summer and hot, and that Nancy needed a cool car for the kids.

   Yet ironically, Gary Beard, of Gary’s Pest Control, says in his affidavit that he entered the garage on July 8 and that there was no way a car could be parked inside the garage due to the toys and things Brad says he supposedly removed. It’s another inconsistency, another oddity, another red flag. Why would Gary Beard lie about this? Why would Brad Cooper lie about this?

At this point, from what little I have reviewed, I think it is clear that Brad is unable to keep his facts straight, and that concerns me.
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Update:  Brad Cooper was sentenced to life in prison May 2011 for the killing of his wife, Nancy.

Brad Cooper, whose wife disappeared after jogging a week ago Saturday, has declared his innocence through his attorney on Friday, but he hasn’t spoken to the media since his wife’s body has been discovered.

Nancy Cooper’s family gained custody of the couple’s children because they believed Brad Cooper was a danger to the children.

The judge found that Brad had recently threatened to commit suicide, that he “has a history of emotional instability,” and that he is under “intense scrutiny . . . as a result of the ongoing criminal investigation of Nancy Cooper’s murder.” (Ottawa Citizen.com)

The only video that has surfaced of Brad speaking to the media at this point is when he briefly spoke out to thank people for their search efforts. This was while the search for Nancy was still underway.

The video doesn’t give me much to go on. All I can say is that he is very nervous and appears to be under notable stress. The nerves and stress can come from speaking in front the news cameras, or it can be due to other reasons, such as foul play or deception. I can’t determine the cause from this video at this point because Brad doesn’t say anything noteworthy. I really need to see him talk about his wife and the crime to see if he is being deceptive or not.

While Brad’s actions are unusual, if he and his wife were truly in the process of separating, this would be an awkward situation for anyone to be in, if he is, in fact, innocent. So it is possible that he might withdraw as we are seeing, if there family tensions prior to the murder.

At this time, I haven’t seen Brad talk about his wife’s murder to make any opinions. What the media says about Brad doesn’t bode well for him and I acknowledge that, but I am not willing to draw anymore conclusions at this time.

If you see Brad talk about his wife’s murder, please let me know and I will glad share my thoughts.