A jury in Portland found a self-published romance novelist guilty of fatally shooting her husband four years ago after writing an essay titled “How to Murder Your Husband.”
Nancy Crampton Brophy, 71, was found guilty of second-degree murder by a jury after deliberating for two days in the death of chef Daniel Brophy, according to KOIN-TV.
Brophy, 63, was killed at the Oregon Culinary Institute in Southwest Portland on June 2, 2018.
Inside the crowded Multnomah County courthouse on Wednesday, Crampton Brophy showed no apparent reaction. One of Crampton Brophy’s attorneys, Lisa Maxfield, said the defense team intends to appeal.
Crampton Brophy was allegedly motivated by money troubles and a life insurance policy, according to prosecutors.
During the trial, Crampton Brophy claimed that she had no reason to kill her husband and that their financial issues had been remedied by cashing in a portion of Brophy’s retirement savings plan.
According to court documents and testimony, she owned the same make and model of gun used to murder her husband and was observed driving to and from the culinary institute on surveillance security footage.
Prosecutors say the gun used to kill Brophy was never discovered, claiming that Crampton Brophy swapped out the barrel of the gun used in the shooting and then dumped it.
The gun pieces served as inspiration for Crampton Brophy’s writing, according to defense attorneys, who also indicated that Brophy was killed during a botched robbery.
During the trial, Crampton Brophy claimed that her presence near the culinary school on the day of her husband’s death was purely coincidental and that she had parked in the vicinity to work on her writing.
Crampton Brophy’s how-to guide outlined numerous methods for carrying out an untraceable murder and stressed a desire to avoid being detected.
The essay was eventually removed from the trial by Circuit Judge Christopher Ramras, who noted that it was published in 2011. After Crampton Brophy was on the stand, a prosecutor alluded to the essay’s topics without naming them.
Since her arrest in September 2018, Crampton Brophy has remained in custody. The date of her sentence has been set for June 13th.
