A self-published romance novelist who once wrote an essay titled "How to Murder Your Husband" has been found guilty of murdering her husband.
A jury in Portland, Oregon found Nancy Crampton Brophy, 71, guilty of second-degree murder in the July 2018 shooting death of 63-year-old Daniel Brophy, KOIN-TV reported.
Crampton Brophy, who self-published romance novels with titles like "The Wrong Husband" and "The Wrong Lover," was arrested three months after her husband was found dead inside a kitchen at the Oregon Culinary Institute where he was an instructor.
Prosecutors said Crampton Brophy shot her husband using an untraceable "ghost gun" made from parts she purchased online and discarded after the murder, People reported. They argued she was motivated by money, pointing to $1.5 million in life insurance and other policies that she stood to collect upon her husband's death.
Crampton Brophy claimed that the gun purchases were done as "research" for a novel she was working on about a woman who assembled a gun piece by piece to fend off a threatening ex-lover, The Oregonian reported. In 2011, years before her husband's death, she penned an essay on her website titled "How To Murder Your Husband" where she discussed various murder tactics such as poison, knives, guns, or hiring a hitman.
"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," she wrote, according to People. "The drawback is the police aren't stupid. They are looking at you first. So you have to be organized, ruthless and very clever."
Crampton Brophy concluded the essay by saying it's easier to wish people dead than to actually kill them.
"But the thing I know about murder," she added, "is that every one of us have it in him/her when pushed far enough."
Crampton Brophy took the stand and admitted that she and her husband were having money troubles, but she denied having any reason to kill him. She also denied having anything to do with his murder in all interviews by police. However, cellmate Andrea Jacobs testified that Crampton Brophy admitted to the murder, KGW-TV reported.
"She told me that he was shot two times to the heart, and she showed me the distance," Jacobs said.
A jury deliberated for two days before returning a guilty verdict.
Crampton Brophy's defense team plans to appeal her conviction, according to the Associated Press. Sentencing is set for June 13.
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