Who Is Nancy Crampton-Brophy? Author Who Allegedly Murdered Husband

Image Credit: Courtesy of Multnomah County Sheriff's Office

Write what you know. Nancy Crampton-Brophy, 68, was arrested on suspicion of murdering her husband, Daniel Brophy, 63, in June at the Oregon Culinary Institute. Crampton-Brophy, the author of a series of self-published romance novels, coincidentally wrote a post on her blog in November 2011 titled, “How To Murder Your Husband”, which has now caught the world’s attention because… you know. There’s little known about the case at this point, including why she was named as a suspect, as court documents are sealed. But Crampton-Brophy is due in court on September 17 for a hearing. Until then, here’s what you should know about the case and Cramton-Brophy herself:

1. Chef Daniel Brophy died in his own kitchen. Brophy was a chef, who taught at the Oregon Culinary Institute in Portland, Oregon. Students were just beginning to arrive for class on June 2 when they found him bleeding on the floor of his kitchen from a gunshot wound. Officers arrived at the scene around 8:30am PT, and attempted to revive him. Unfortunately, he died at the scene. His death was ruled a homicide by police. The school later held a candlelight vigil attended by hundreds of students in his memory.

2. On ‘How To Murder Your Husband’: The blog post, which has now been made private, was written in 2011. In the post, she describes the motives and possible murder weapons she’d use if she wrote novels about her characters killing their husbands. She has written novels about that; see #5 below. She told her readers that they shouldn’t use a hitman or poison if they wanted to commit murder!

3. Neighbors said that Crampton-Brophy seemed “unconcerned.” The Brophys’ neighbor of six years, Dan McConnell, told Oregon Live that Crampton-Brophy “never showed any signs of being upset or sad. I would say she had an air of relief, like it was almost a godsend.” He said that she showed “no emotion” when she revealed to him that the police had named her as a suspect.

4. Crampton-Brophy penned a series of romance novels — sometimes about murder. Her novels were mostly about rugged men and sexy women falling in love and having incredible adventures. They also dealt with murder. In The Wrong Husband, a woman leaves an abusive spouse by faking her own death. Trouble ensues. In The Wrong Cop, a woman spends “every day of her marriage fantasizing about killing” her husband.

5. She posted a Facebook status about her husband following his death. The post came before her arrest, and read:

“For my facebook friends and family, I have sad news to relate. My husband and best friend, Chef Dan Brophy was killed yesterday morning. For those of you who are close to me and feel this deserved a phone call, you are right, but I’m struggling to make sense of everything right now. There is a candle-light vigil at Oregon Culinary Institute tomorrow, Monday, June 4th at 7 pm. While I appreciate all of your loving responses, I am overwhelmed. Please save phone calls for a few days until I can function.”