Still following the Cooper murder trial as best I can on wral.com. I read the tweets about #coopertrial and the people who care to put their opinions forward are largely in agreement with each other that so far, there is no smoking gun. The prosecution has not finished its case, though. They have given us many bits and pieces and a picture may yet emerge that goes beyond reasonable doubt. Friday ended with a cliffhanger: a police officer who had been to the crime scene and noted that straw had been scattered there, probably over recently planted grass seed, also saw straw in the Cooper house. We do not know yet if that straw became evidence. If it did, can it be convincingly connected to the straw at the crime scene? And can it be proven to have come in on Brad Cooper's shoes and not someone else's?
That will become clearer on Monday, I assume. But when (or will) other parts of the puzzle emerge as the bits and pieces are shifted, added to, and perhaps taken away? The tweeters are impatient, declaring the trial a waste of time. I think they are forgetting that the process of gathering, keeping, testing, accounting for, and interpreting evidence is in fact a piecemeal process. No one person can tell the whole story of a bit of straw, regardless of its importance. Or lack thereof.
The tweeters variously declare the Cary police department to be incompetent, an idea that the defense is getting in by any means possible. I haven't come to that conclusion, at least not yet. The investigation was perfect, but is one ever--except on TV?
The tweeters are declaring Nancy's friends to be gossipy busybodies, desperate housewives, and rushers to judgement. Those closest to Nancy blamed Brad for her disappearance within hours of the time she went missing, and they are the ones who called the police and shared their fears. I'm reading more than a tad of sexism in those tweets. Perhaps the tweeters don't understand how strong women's friendship can be.
It is clear that Nancy told a lot of people about her marital problems. Her unhappiness was deep, that's clear to me. And it seems clear that her two little girls spent the first years of their lives in a deeply unhappy home. Now they've lost their mother and their father...no matter what the verdict.
I'm a little bothered by the way Nancy told so many people her story, but the fact that she did tell the same details to a lot of people helps give them veracity. Or have her friends--as I'm sure the defense will say--influenced each other so much that they can't be relied on?
Okay, for the moment lets believe the friends. This is what we've got: Nancy could not work because she was a Canadian and had no work permit. Brad controlled the money and she had no access to funds. At one point, about 6 months before she died, Brad agreed to a separation and she planned to take the children and go to Canada. He changed his mind because of the expense of maintaining two households and because he wouldn't see the girls. Nancy was paranoid and thought he might be tapping the house telephones so she talked only on her cellphone and she kept it with her all the time, even when she ran or worked out. It was found in her car after she died. She wore a diamond pendant necklace all the time, even when she ran or worked out. It was found in the house after she died. A realtor testified that she called him a few days before she died and told him that she had to find a place for herself and the girls to live. I'm sure it will be argued that Brad was emotionally abusive and that the most dangerous time for an abused woman is when she is ready to leave the situation.
I'm eager to hear more about the bit of straw.
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