FILE 545 / 14 November 2024 / 174 MIN / full

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Cary, North CarolinaListen

The town

N ↑Public placePublic placePublic placePublic placePublic placePublic placePublic placePublic placePublic placePublic placeTown centre (approximate places)
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"We are going to North Carolina today"; "a suburb of Raleigh here, East Central, North Carolina, about 15 minutes outside of Raleigh"; "This is in Wake County" about 0:04:04

History, in brief

Town note

In the 1750s John Bradford moved here and opened an inn, also called an ordinary, and the town was named Bradford's Ordinary.

about 0:04:44

Town note

Most of the surrounding land stayed in the hands of two different men, both named Nathaniel Jones.

about 0:05:16

1775

In 1775 Jones of White Plains Plantation owned 10,461 acres, while Jones of Crabtree owned most of what is now western Cary.

about 0:05:27

Town note

After the Revolutionary War the community sat on the road between the new capital in Raleigh and the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.

about 0:05:42
All 12 history facts

Town note

In the 1750s John Bradford moved here and opened an inn, also called an ordinary, and the town was named Bradford's Ordinary.

about 0:04:44

Town note

Most of the surrounding land stayed in the hands of two different men, both named Nathaniel Jones.

about 0:05:16

1775

In 1775 Jones of White Plains Plantation owned 10,461 acres, while Jones of Crabtree owned most of what is now western Cary.

about 0:05:27

Town note

After the Revolutionary War the community sat on the road between the new capital in Raleigh and the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.

about 0:05:42

1854

Lumberman Allison Francis Page arrived in 1854 and is credited with founding the town.

about 0:06:12

Town note

Page purchased 300 acres for $2,000 and planned the town.

about 0:06:18

Town note

Page put up a sawmill and a general store and donated acreage for the railroad depot.

about 0:06:50

Town note

The town was known at various times as Page, Page's Siding, Page's Station, Page's Tavern and Page's Turnout.

about 0:06:58

1856

In 1856 Page added a post office and became the town's first postmaster.

about 0:07:13

Town note

Page named the community Cary after Samuel Fenton Cary, head of the Sons of Temperance in North America.

about 0:07:44

1972

Cary formed the Community Appearance Commission in 1972 to regulate the look of things through ordinances.

about 0:08:28

1974

In 1974 the town required developers to set aside one acre of green space for every 35 housing units built.

about 0:08:40

The figures, as told

Religious

43.4%

about 0:13:28

Who lives here

White 64% · Black 7.7% · Asian 16.8% · Hispanic 8.1%

Ethnicity can overlap race.

Crime / national average

Property crime
▼ about one-third below

about 0:21:29

Violent crime
▼ about one-third

about 0:21:36

Money

Median home value$574,400
Two-bedroom rent$1,630
Median household income$113,782

For sale

$465,000

Three-bedroom, three-bath, 1,599-square-foot house

about 0:15:27

For sale

$1,595,000

Six-bedroom, six-bath, 6,028-square-foot house

about 0:16:16

For sale

$7,500,000

Five-bedroom, six-bath, 9,619-square-foot house

about 0:17:03
All figures and comparisons, as told in 2024

Property crime

"about one-third below"

Comparison: "national average". Direction: below.

As told in 2024 about 0:21:29

Violent crime

"about one-third"

Comparison: "national average". Direction: below.

As told in 2024 about 0:21:36

Population in 1960

"about 3,300"

No direction stated.

As told in 2024 about 0:08:03

Population in 1970

"about 7,600"

No direction stated.

As told in 2024 about 0:08:06

Population in 1990

"about 15,000"

No direction stated.

As told in 2024 about 0:35:53

Population in 1995

"about 70,000"

No direction stated.

As told in 2024 about 0:11:57

Population in 2000

"94,000"

No direction stated.

As told in 2024 about 0:11:54

Population now

"171,000"

No direction stated.

As told in 2024 about 0:11:49

Median age

"39"

Comparison: "usually about 37". No direction stated.

As told in 2024 about 0:12:47

Married

"62%"

Comparison: "national average". No direction stated.

As told in 2024 about 0:13:06

Native American

"0.4%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2024 about 0:13:24

Unemployment rate

"3%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2024 about 0:13:59

Median household income

"$113,782"

Comparison: "$69,000 average". No direction stated.

As told in 2024 about 0:14:06

Cost of living

"$105,000"

Comparison: "$100,000 is regular". No direction stated.

As told in 2024 about 0:14:15

White-collar workers in 2001

"more than 80%"

Direction: above.

As told in 2024 about 0:36:30

Households of married couples with children in 2001

"90%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2024 about 0:36:37

Share who are religious

"43.4%"

Comparison: "national average". No direction stated.

As told in 2024 about 0:13:28

Largest denomination

"Baptists"

No direction stated.

As told in 2024 about 0:13:33

Median home cost

"$574,400"

No direction stated.

As told in 2024 about 0:14:24

Average two-bedroom rental

"$1,630"

Comparison: "national average". No direction stated.

As told in 2024 about 0:14:55

Three-bedroom, three-bath, 1,599-square-foot house

"$465,000"

No direction stated.

As told in 2024 about 0:15:27

Six-bedroom, six-bath, 6,028-square-foot house

"$1,595,000"

No direction stated.

As told in 2024 about 0:16:16

Five-bedroom, six-bath, 9,619-square-foot house

"$7,500,000"

No direction stated.

As told in 2024 about 0:17:03

The reviews

2.8 / 5 · average of 4

5 stars

“A charming, vibrant downtown with a new downtown park, green lawns, water features and local breweries.”
about 0:09:08

3 stars

“An affluent suburb with low crime and plenty of restaurants, but the people are generally pretentious and entitled.”
about 0:09:58

2 stars

“Could use more good Asian places, not just expensive ones, and is drastically lacking acceptable vegetarian restaurants.”
about 0:10:33

1 star

“The music is way too loud and it bothers the neighbours.”
about 0:11:27

In North Carolina

Closest episodes

  1. Stormy, Deadly NightSelma, North Carolina · 2 October 202655 km / 34 miShow on map
  2. Serial GrannyBurlington, North Carolina · 11 June 202667 km / 42 miShow on map
  3. Two Bodies & One Big CoincidenceRaeford, North Carolina · 23 January 202096 km / 60 miShow on map
  4. What EXACTLY Happened Here?Clinton, North Carolina · 31 December 202098 km / 61 miShow on map
  5. Cousins, Lovers & KillersSummerfield, North Carolina · 27 July 2023107 km / 67 miShow on map

The story

They married in a Calgary restaurant in October 2000 so that she could travel on his work visa, and by January 2001 they owned a 2,800-square-foot house in the Lochmere subdivision. He earned over $100,000 a year; they had two daughters, Bella, born in February 2004, and Katie, born in 2006.

The marriage was not the stable arrangement Nancy had hoped for. She had an affair of her own within the first year, with a man she met in Florida, and told her twin sister Krista she was thinking of leaving Brad after ten months. She was homesick and, because her visa did not allow her to work, bored. By February 2008 he had cut off her access to the bank and credit cards and put her on a weekly allowance; from April he was reading her emails. She hired the Raleigh lawyer Alice Stubbs, who drafted an aggressive separation agreement requiring $2,100 a month in child support, private schooling for the girls and a share of the house and 401k. Brad rejected it, and the couple continued living in the same house, sleeping in separate rooms, while Nancy told friends he had become mentally cruel.

In late June and early July 2008 Nancy and the girls went with her family to Hilton Head, South Carolina. Her parents thought she had faded into a different person, and they hired a lawyer to help her get out. She came back to Cary about 10 July to a filthy house and left her father an angry voicemail about food and ants in the kitchen.

On Friday 11 July 2008 Nancy cooked ribs for a neighbourhood barbecue at Craig and Diana Duncan's house across the street. She arrived about six in a teal sundress with a black floral print, drank four or five glasses of wine and some beer, ate ribs, pita chips and dip, and spent the evening telling anyone who would listen that she hated Brad and wanted a divorce and a move back to Canada. Nancy stayed past midnight.

Brad's account was that he was woken at four by Katie, took her downstairs, and that Nancy joined him; that he made two trips to the Harris Teeter, shortly after six for milk and later for detergent and a green juice, both captured on store video; that Nancy asked him about her shirt, then said never mind; and that he heard the door close about seven as she went for a run. She was due at Jessica Adam's house at eight to help paint a dining room. She never arrived. Jessica called the house at 9.30, spoke to Brad, called 911 in a panic and then had a friend drive her to the Coopers' house, where she screamed in the front yard that Brad had done it. The police treated Nancy as an adult who was late, and Chief Pat Bazemore told the press the disappearance was an isolated incident and joggers had nothing to fear.

Hundreds of volunteers searched. Sixteen people reported seeing a jogger answering Nancy's description that morning, and four reported a white and maroon van acting suspiciously; a neighbour, Jan Boyer, had seen a white truck with its lights off drive into a cul-de-sac the night before. On the evening of Monday 14 July William Boyer was walking his dog off Fielding Drive when he saw vultures and then a body in a drainage pond at the edge of a new construction site. It was Nancy. She was face down, wearing only a sports bra rolled up under her arms, with dirt on her knees and legs and one diamond earring. Dr John Butts found she had been strangled: a faint linear mark on her neck, the hyoid bone broken, debris in her trachea. There were no signs of sexual assault. Tire tracks and footprints at the scene matched neither of the Coopers' cars and were never cast.

Brad's behaviour drew suspicion. He had been cleaning the house and doing laundry while she was missing, and had washed the teal sundress, saying it had barbecue sauce on it, though deodorant stains remained. He refused a thorough search of the house and asked for a lawyer. Detectives found Nancy's keys and phone at home, though friends said she never went anywhere without them. His work laptop held Google Maps files and a satellite image of the exact remote spot where the body was found, and the state argued that he had faked a call from his home phone to his mobile to make it look as though Nancy was alive while he was on camera at the supermarket. On 16 July a judge gave emergency custody of the girls to Nancy's parents and sister.

The prosecution had no blood, hair, fibre or fingerprint evidence: the Google Maps search was the heart of its case, along with the cleaning, scratches on his neck and the keys left behind. The defence attacked the police for erasing all the data on Nancy's phone, which had sat in a drawer for two weeks before an officer wiped it, and argued that the computer timestamps showed the searches came after the body was found. Witnesses described the affairs on both sides, including Nancy's encounter with John Pearson, a man she brought home from a Halloween party, and the fact that Katie was born eight months and 24 days later.

Nancy's parents agreed to it, and her father said he had only ever wanted the person responsible to admit what he had done. Nancy's sister Jill started a domestic abuse programme for women in Edmonton. A Free Brad Cooper campaign, a blog and a book, Framed by Lynn Blanchard, argued his innocence, but the hosts conclude that he did it.

The case

Murder of Nancy Cooper

Victims

Nancy Lynn Cooper (34). Canadian-born mother of two, marathon runner and former IBM employee, in the middle of a divorce

Accused and outcomes

As told in the episode, on 14 November 2024.

Accused

Outcome

Other people

Gary Rentz. Nancy's father
Donna Rentz. Nancy's mother
Krista. Nancy's identical twin sister
Jill. Nancy's younger sister, later started a domestic abuse programme for women in Edmonton
Jeff. Nancy's brother, an Edmonton police officer
Bella Cooper. daughter, four and a half in 2008
Katie Cooper. younger daughter, two in 2008
Brett Adam. Jessica's husband
Heather Metour. family friend and Brad's mistress
Mike Hiller. Brad's tennis partner
Diana Duncan. neighbour and barbecue host
Craig Duncan. her husband
Hannah. friend at whose pool Nancy spent the day
Carrie Clark. running friend
Alice Stubbs. Raleigh lawyer who drafted the separation agreement
Clea Morwick. neighbour who watched the Cooper children
Michael Morwick. her husband
John Pearson. man Nancy met at a Halloween party
Pat Bazemore. Cary police chief
Detective Daniels. Cary detective
Detective Dismukes. Cary detective
William Boyer. found the body while walking his dog
Jan Boyer. his wife, saw a white truck with no lights
Rosemary Zednick. neighbour who said she saw Nancy jogging
Brenda Shoulders. psychic whose tip sent police to the golf course
Dr John Butts. medical examiner who performed the autopsy
Lynn Blanchard. wrote the Free Brad Cooper blog and the book Framed
Angie Barfield. neighbour
Roy Cooper. North Carolina attorney general

The timeline

  1. 1973 is born in Alberta, Canadaabout 0:22:33
  2. 1973 Nancy Lynn Rentz is born in Edmonton, seven weeks after Bradabout 0:22:49
  3. 1996 Brad graduates from the University of Calgary with a computer science degree (University of Calgary)about 0:27:05
  4. 1998 Brad and Nancy meet while working for IBM in Calgary, both aged 26 (IBM Calgary office)about 0:33:53
  5. October 2000 They marry in a small ceremony at a Calgary restaurant so that Nancy can move on his work visa (Calgary wedding restaurant)about 0:35:07
  6. January 2001 They settle into a 2,800-square-foot home in the Lochmere subdivision in Cary (Cooper house)about 0:36:47
  7. August 2001 At her twin sister's wedding in Canada Nancy takes up with a man she met in Florida and talks of leaving Bradabout 0:39:30
  8. Christmas 2002 Nancy goes to Edmonton for Christmas and tells her family she does not want to return to North Carolinaabout 0:40:32
  9. February 2004 Daughter Bella is bornabout 0:42:50
  10. 2006 Daughter Katie is bornabout 0:43:12
  11. December 2007 Brad admits a string of affairs, including one with her friend Heather Metourabout 0:43:21
  12. February 2008 Brad cuts Nancy off from the bank and credit card accounts and puts her on a weekly allowanceabout 0:46:22
  13. April 2008 Brad begins monitoring Nancy's emails to lawyers and friends without her knowledgeabout 0:46:41
  14. 2008 Nancy hires Raleigh lawyer Alice Stubbs, who drafts a separation and custody agreementabout 0:48:03
  15. April 19, 2008 Nancy plans a going-away party, but Brad rejects the separation proposal and she cannot leaveabout 0:53:25
  16. Spring 2008 Brad starts a blog, The Adventures of Brad, listing his goals completedabout 0:54:05
  17. late June to early July 2008 The Rentz family takes Nancy and the girls to Hilton Head, South Carolina, where she says she is through with the marriage (Hilton Head)about 1:04:47
  18. July 11, 2008 Nancy cooks ribs and arrives at the neighbourhood barbecue at the Duncans' house about 6 p.m. in a teal sundress with a black floral print (Duncan house)about 1:09:25
  19. July 11, 2008 Brad arrives about 6.30 p.m. with the girls, agrees to play tennis with Mike Hiller at nine the next morning and leaves about 8 p.m. (Duncan house)about 1:09:56
  20. July 12, 2008 After midnight Nancy walks home from the party; the lights are off at the Cooper house (Cooper house)about 1:13:10
  21. July 12, 2008 Brad says he was woken by Katie crying at 4 a.m. and took her downstairs (Cooper house)about 1:13:44
  22. July 12, 2008 Brad makes a trip to Harris Teeter shortly after 6 a.m. for milk and a second trip for detergent, both caught on store video (Harris Teeter)about 1:57:51
  23. July 12, 2008 Brad says Nancy left to jog about 7 a.m. in a white T-shirt over a sports bra (Cooper house)about 1:13:53
  24. July 12, 2008 Nancy fails to arrive at Jessica Adam's house to paint a dining room at 8 a.m.about 1:14:52
  25. July 12, 2008 Jessica Adam calls 911 in a panic and then has Mary Anderson drive her to the Cooper house (Cooper house)about 1:14:27
  26. July 12, 2008 Jessica screams in the front yard that Brad did it as police and neighbours gather (Cooper house)about 1:17:37
  27. July 12, 2008 Nancy's parents, at a funeral in Edmonton, are told she is missingabout 1:17:58
  28. July 13, 2008 Acting on a tip from a friend's psychic, Brenda Shoulders, police search the Lockmere golf course culverts (Lockmere Golf Course)about 1:42:32
  29. July 13 and 14, 2008 Missing flyers go up and coordinated searches run through the woods, lakes and jogging routesabout 1:30:29
  30. July 14, 2008 William Boyer, walking his dog about 7 p.m., sees vultures and finds Nancy's body in a drainage pond at a cul-de-sac off Fielding Drive (Fielding Drive body site)about 1:43:29

Last meals

  • Nancy Cooper. ribs, pita chips and dip, four or five glasses of wine and some beer at the neighbours' barbecue the night before she died, July 11, 2008about 1:12:54

Places and phrases

N ↑Public placePublic placePublic placePublic placePublic placePublic placePublic placePublic placePublic placePublic placeTown centre (approximate places)
Static locations; no street basemap. Places and details. OpenFreeMap © OpenMapTiles Data from OpenStreetMap.

Places in the story

Public places are marked on the map.

Heard in this episode