Nancy Crampton-Brophy, 71, once published a blog post titled “How To Murder Your Husband.”
A steamy romance author who once published a blog titled “How To Murder Your Husband” is on trial for… murdering her husband.
Nancy Crampton-Brophy, 71, pleads not guilty in the case. She and her husband, Daniel Brophy, had been married for nearly 20 years in what appeared to be a loving relationship. On her author’s website, Crampton-Brophy pinpointed the moment she knew Daniel was the one, describing him making her hors d’oeuvres while she was in a bath. “Can you imagine spending the rest of your life without a man like that?” she wrote.
Daniel Brophy, 63, was a chef at a culinary school in Portland, Oregon, until his death. He was discovered by students on the morning of June 2, 2018. They found him bleeding on the kitchen floor after being shot twice. There was no sign of forced entry, and Brophy’s wallet and credit cards were still on his person. Three months later, Portland police arrested Nancy Crampton-Brophy and charged her with Daniel’s murder.
According to CNN, prosecutors allege that Crampton-Brophy killed her husband in an attempt to rescue herself from financial difficulties. “Dan Brophy was content in his simplistic lifestyle, but Nancy Brophy wanted something more,” court documents read. “As Nancy Brophy became more financially desperate and her writing career was floundering, she was left with few options ….”
“Dan Brophy was worth almost $1.5 million to Nancy Brophy if he was dead and he was worth a life of financial hardship if he stayed alive. Nancy Brophy planned and carried out what she believed was the perfect murder.”
The couple apparently shared an iTunes account, on which an article titled “10 Ways to Cover Up a Murder” was bookmarked.
Crampton-Brophy’s defense attorney Lisa Maxfield argues that she was still deeply in love with her husband at the time of his death.
“The state will present a circumstantial case that begs you to cast a blind eye to the most important circumstance … love,” Maxfield said in her opening statement on Monday. “Nancy Crampton-Brophy has always been thoroughly, madly, crazy in love with Daniel Brophy, and she still is to this day. For Nancy Brophy, he was perfect.”
The day after her husband’s body was found, Crampton-Brophy reportedly posted this message to Facebook: “My husband and best friend, Chef Dan Brophy was killed yesterday morning. For those of you who are close to me and feel this deserved a phone call, you are right, but I’m struggling to make sense of everything right now.”
In her How To Murder Your Husband blog, she wrote: “As a romantic suspense writer, I spend a lot of time thinking about murder and, consequently, about police procedure. After all, if the murder is supposed to set me free, I certainly don’t want to spend any time in jail.”
“It is easier to wish people dead than to actually kill them. But the thing I know about murder is that every one of us have it in him/her when pushed far enough.”
Crampton-Brophy’s website features an odd subhead on the landing page, reading: “Virgin Pages, Schizophrenia, and the Wastebasket, A Writer’s Life,” and a bio.
Her bio begins: “Writers are liars. I don’t remember who said that but it’s not true. In writing fiction, you dig deep and unearth portions of your own life that you’ve long forgotten or had purposely buried deep.”
