Nancy Crampton-Brophy, the Romance novelist who wrote a fictional work titled “How To Murder Your Husband”, has been convicted of second-degree murder — for killing her chef husband Daniel Brophy. The quantum of the sentence will be pronounced on 13 June, The Independent reported. The body of Daniel Brophy, 63, was found inside the Oregon Culinary Institute, where he worked, on June 2, 2018. He had two gunshot wounds — one in his back and the other in his chest, the report said.
The couple had been married for 26 years and they lived in Portland.
Crampton-Brophy, who is now 71 years old, was arrested and charged with the murder three months after the crime, and has been in prison since.
According to The Independent report, the trial in the case began in Portland on April 4. While prosecutors had argued that money and a life insurance policy were possible motives behind the murder, defence attorneys had said the prosecution’s case was solely based on circumstantial evidence.
Crampton-Brophy told the jury that she had no reason to kill her husband, and that though they had financial problems, a retirement savings plan had taken care of that.
Surveillance Camera Nailed Her
On May 18, the report said, a prison cellmate of Crampton-Brophy told prosecutors that she had inadvertently disclosed certain details related to her husband’s death.
“She told me that he was shot two times to the heart and that … she showed me the distance,” the cellmate was quoted as saying in a New York Post report.
The prosecutors also argued that Crompton-Brophy owned a gun that was of the same make and model that was used to kill Daniel Brophy. Besides, surveillance camera footage showed her driving around the culinary institute on the day of the crime.
In her 2011 essay, “How to Murder Your Husband”, for the See Jane Publish blog, the prolific novelist 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. And let me say clearly for the record, I don’t like jumpsuits and orange isn’t my color.”
Circuit Judge Christopher Ramras, however, excluded the essay from the trial, noting it was published much before the crime, The Independent report said.