Woman Who Wrote 'How To Murder Your Husband' To Be Tried For Spouse's Death

An Oregon woman who wrote an essay titled "How To Murder Your Husband" in 2011 is set to face trial for the June 2018 killing of her spouse.

Nancy Crampton Brophy, 70, was charged with the alleged premeditated murder of her husband, Daniel Brophy, a chef at the Oregon Culinary Institute, in September 2018. She was slated to be tried in October that year, but the process got delayed due to the pandemic and various lawsuits, KOIN-TV reported.

Opening arguments were expected to begin at 8:30 a.m. Monday in Multnomah County Circuit Court, according to the outlet.

Students found Daniel shot to death inside the Oregon Culinary Institute located at 1701 SW Jefferson St., just outside of downtown Portland, on June 2, 2018. Detectives said he was shot twice. Two 9-millimeter shell casings were found at the scene.

Multnomah County District Attorney Rod Underhill said during Nancy's bail hearing in 2020 that the woman murdered her husband because she intended to live an independent life and stood to gain $1.5 million from his death.

"Nancy Brophy planned and carried out what she believed was the perfect murder. A murder that she believed would free her from the grips of financial despair and enter a life of financial security and adventure," Underhill said at the time, according to KGW-TV.

Nancy, a self-published author of romantic suspense novels, wrote a now-deleted blog post titled "How To Murder Your Husband" in 2011. In the essay, she reportedly listed five motives for "murdering your husband."

Three days after her husband's death, Nancy asked the detectives to issue a no-objection letter to appeal for Daniel's insurance policies stating that she wasn't a suspect. Nancy initially claimed that Daniel's policy was valued at $40,000, but detectives later learned that the sum was more than $350,000.

While searching Daniel's phone as part of the probe, investigators found that the married couple had a joint iTunes account. One of the bookmarked articles in that joint account read, "10 ways to cover up a murder."

The day after Daniel's death, Nancy even posted an update on Facebook in which she wrote, "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."

A neighbor told Oregon Live at that time that Nancy "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.