A Portland jury has found a romance novelist who wrote a piece on how to murder one’s husband guilty of murdering her husband.
On May 25, Circuit Judge Christopher Ramras announced the guilty verdict of romance novelist Nancy Crampton Brophy, who also happened to author a blog post titled “How to Murder Your Husband.”
After a nearly two-month trial, a Multnomah County jury found Crampton Brophy guilty of murdering her husband of 27 years, chef Daniel Brophy, who was found dead on the floor at the Oregon Culinary Institute after being shot twice in the heart on June 2, 2018.
“We’ve all been waiting [four] years to start grieving this loss,” Nathaniel Stillwater, Daniel Brophy’s son, told KOIN 6. “To finally have some closure has been very important and meaningful for our family so we can start to move on and always remember my father, but begin that process of trying to grieve.”
“As a romantic suspense writer, I spend a lot of time thinking about murder and, consequently, about police procedure,” the blog post reads. “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 blog post, published in 2011, included a few “options to consider” for committing the crime. Among them are knives, poison, and the very thing that prosecution says Nancy Crampton Brophy used to kill Daniel Brophy: a gun.
It also details motivations for committing the crime, including a cheating husband, falling in love with another, and a “big” motive—financial.
“Divorce is expensive, and do you really want to split your possessions? Or if you married for money, aren’t you entitled to all of it?” the blog reads. “The draw back is the police aren’t stupid.”
Although the judge did not allow the blog post as evidence in the trial because it was written a long time ago, the prosecution did allude to the money theme in its argument.
What motivated Nancy Brophy to kill her husband, according to the prosecution, was the $1 million of insurance money that came with the husband’s death.
“The bottom line is, Nancy Brophy was far better off with Dan Brophy in her life,” disputed defense attorney Lisa Maxfield on May 23. “Even if you look at pure economic terms, ignoring the love, she was better off with Dan alive.”
Additional incriminating evidence includes surveillance footage from a pizza restaurant close to the culinary school, showing a Toyota minivan driving to and from the culinary institute on the morning of Daniel Brophy’s murder. The prosecution said Nancy Brophy drove the van.
On the stand, Nancy Brophy testified that she and her husband “chose happiness over anything else.”
“And so if he’s happy … and he’s not making enough money, that didn’t bother us,” Nancy testified on May 16.
The jury was not convinced. They found Nancy guilty of one count of second-degree murder.
Karen Brophy, Daniel’s mother, said the closure was somewhat comforting.
“Through this trial, Portland has learned that our son was a great guy,” Karen told KGW8 outside of the courtroom. “It’s been a heartwarming experience in that way.”
Nancy Crampton Brophy will be sentenced on June 13.
