Published 19th May, 2022

By Tola Owoyele

Nancy Crampton Brophy, a romance novelist and author of ‘How to Murder Your Husband’, is standing trial in a circuit court in Portland, Oregon, United States, for allegedly killing her husband.

According to New York Times, Daniel, Brophy’s husband, was shot twice inside the kitchen of a culinary institute where he worked as an instructor in June 2018.

Following her husband’s death, prosecutors are trying to build a follow-the-string criminal case to prove that Brophy killed him.

The 71-year-old author wrote in her book that a wife “must be organised, ruthless and very clever” while killing her husband.

“After all, if the murder is supposed to set me free, I certainly don’t want to spend any time in jail,” Brophy wrote.

“And let me say clearly for the record, I don’t like jumpsuits and orange isn’t my colour.”

Brophy had advised leaving no trace, attacking when no cameras or witnesses were present and moving to collect a series of life insurance policies within days of husband’s death.

In a footage obtained from a nearby Pizza restaurant, detectives saw Brophy drive by the culinary institute in a Toyota minivan on the morning of her husband’s murder.

The detectives also checked footage from other houses in the neighbourhood and confirmed that the driver of the van was indeed Brophy.

The van was later sighted next to the institute around 7.08 am the same day and period Daniel is believed to have been murdered.

Brophy once testified that she was still in bed at the time of the murder. Later, she said she had no recollection of whether she was indeed in the neighbourhood during the said hour as she was ‘processing the shock of learning that her husband was dead’.

Brophy was also said to have purchased gun parts at different times and ‘later assembled them for perpetrating the crime’.

The author, however, countered the claim by saying she bought the gun parts for the research of a new book she was working on.

In the wake of her husband’s death, prosecutors said Brophy moved to claim policies worth $1.4 million.

In a recorded conversation, Brophy spoke with one of the investigators in the murder case, asking if she could obtain a letter from him that she was not a suspect in her husband’s murder case.

When the detective, who was surprised by the request, demanded to know why, Brophy disclosed that her insurance company was making her provide verification for a $40,000 life insurance claim.

“They don’t want to pay if it turns out that I secretly went down to the school and shot my husband because I thought, ‘Hey, going into old age without Dan after 25 years is really what I’m looking for'”, Brophy says in the recording.

The writer was charged with her huband’s murder three months later.

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