I guess you can say, "She stuck to her guns."
https://pdx.eater.com/2022/5/25/231...niel-brophy-how-to-murder-your-husband-author
https://pdx.eater.com/2022/5/25/231...niel-brophy-how-to-murder-your-husband-author
https://archive.ph/D1s2XNancy Crampton Brophy Found Guilty for the Murder of Chef-Instructor Husband Daniel Brophy
A Multnomah County jury delivered its verdict today, declaring Crampton Brophy — the author of the 2011 essay “How to Murder Your Husband” — guilty of second-degree murder
by Brooke Jackson-Glidden May 25, 2022, 1:16pm PDTShare this on Facebook (opens in new window)
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It’s official: The woman who wrote the 2011 essay “How to Murder Your Husband” has been convicted of murdering her husband. Nancy Crampton Brophy, the wife of Oregon Culinary Institute Instructor Daniel Brophy, was found guilty of second-degree murder when a Multnomah County jury delivered its verdict Wednesday, May 25.
Brophy was found dead at the cooking school in 2018, shot twice in the chest. Months later, Crampton Brophy was arrested for her husband’s murder; a 2019 affidavit noted that surveillance cameras placed Crampton Brophy near the school around the time of Brophy’s death, as well as the significant life insurance payout Crampton Brophy would receive.
During the trial, which took place over the last two months, the prosecution provided more details about the circumstances surrounding Brophy’s death. Crampton Brophy had purchased the same make and model of gun that was used to kill her husband; police believe she had swapped out the barrel of the gun to make it harder to trace. The confirmed murder weapon was never found. Crampton Brophy was the listed beneficiary on numerous life insurance policies and would have been eligible to collect $815,000 in life insurance after her husband’s death, according to court testimony and exhibits.
The defense argued that Crampton Brophy didn’t have a strong enough motive to justify killing her husband — the couple’s finances were not as dire as the prosecution had indicated, thanks to an influx of cash from Brophy’s retirement payout. The defense also indicated that most of the circumstantial evidence supplied by the prosecution was related to Crampton Brophy’s career as a writer: The team attributed the purchase of the gun to research and argued she had been out driving to work on her writing. The defense attributed the inconsistent alibi supplied by Crampton Brophy — she had previously stated she was home all morning — to shock-induced retrograde amnesia.
Crampton Brophy has yet to be sentenced.
How to Murder Your Husband by Nancy Brophy
NOV 4
Posted by SeeJanePublish
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.
Motives:
1) Financial (this is big): 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 draw back is the police aren’t stupid. They are looking at you first. So you have to be organized, ruthless and very clever. Husbands have disappeared from cruise ships before. Why not yours?
2) Lying, cheating bastard (deception of any sort): This is a crime of passion. In anger, you bash his head in or stab him with a kitchen knife. Most of the time there is a trail that leads directly to you. Each type of murder leaves clues. A crime of passion does not look like a stranger was involved. And who is left to clean the blood from your carpeting?
3) Fell in love with someone else (usually financial is also involved here): Let’s say your Church frowns on divorce. You need to be a widow so you won’t fall out of favor with your religion. At this point, I should mention that it helps if you aren’t too burdened by the 10 commandments.
4) Abuser: This one is tough. Anybody can claim abuse. What is abuse? To a teenager, it might look different than to a spouse. As a motivation, this reason usually comes up after you’ve been arrested. Not a lot of abused wives dial 911 upon burning down the house with their husband in it.
5) It’s your profession: Now we’re talking. You already possess both skill and knowledge. You have the moral ambiguity necessary to carry it off. Quick hit and you fade from the scene. Get your payment upfront from someone else, because life insurance probably won’t send a check.
Options to consider:
Guns – loud, messy, require some skill. If it takes 10 shots for the sucker to die, either you have terrible aim or he’s on drugs.
Knives – really personal and close up. Blood everywhere. Eww.
Garrote – how much upper body strength does it require to strangle a person?
Random heavy piece of equipment – usually this involves hitting someone hard with the baseball bat or the pipe wrench you just happen to have in your hand.
Poison – considered a woman’s weapon. Arsenic is easy to obtain, worse, easy to trace. It takes a month or two to kill someone. Plus, they are sick the entire time. Who wants to hang out with a sick husband? Knowledge of pharmaceuticals would be handy. Availability would be even better. A word of caution, watch out for poisons found in nature. They are not a sure thing. Too little? Too much? Your mother always told you to marry a doctor. Now you know why.
Hiring a hit man – Do you know a hit man? Neither do I. And an amazing number of hit men rat you out to the police. Orblackmail you later.
Hiring a lover – Never a good idea. The husband dies, and the wife gets the money. The lover doesn’t always win in this scenario. Sometimes he, too, finds himself facing a loaded gun.
I find it is easier to wish people dead than to actually kill them. I don’t want to worry about blood and brains splattered on my walls. And really, I’m not good at remembering lies. But the thing I know about murder is that every one of us have it in him/her when pushed far enough.
What constitutes a good romantic suspense is the whys? What happened that forced a person into this situation? How will they justify this action? (By the way, he needed killing is not a legal defense.) Can they keep a secret? A confidence whispered in the dark is no longer secret.
What if killing didn’t produce the right results? Would they do it again? Could they do it again? What if they liked it?
Whoa, there’s an idea for a new story.
