Nancy Crampton Brophy: Author of ‘How to Kill Your Husband’ Is Accused of Killing Her Husband

Nancy Brophy wrote an essay titled, “How to Kill Your Husband,” in 2011. In September 2018, she was accused of killing her husband, Daniel Brophy. Daniel Brophy died on June 2 after he was shot dead inside of a kitchen in the Oregon Culinary Institute. He was 63 years old. On June 3, Nancy Brophy posted a message on her Facebook page that 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.”

On September 5, authorities in Oregon announced that Nancy Brophy, 68, had been arrested and accused of shooting dead her husband. Fox Oregon reports that Brophy was taken into custody at her home in Beaverton, Washington County, Oregon.

Brophy is being held at Multnomah County Detention Center. She will appear in court again on September 17, an appeal to have her released on her own recognizance was rejected by a judge. The author had been married to her husband for 27 years.

Here’s what you need to know:

1. Brophy Wrote in ‘How to Kill Your Husband:’ ‘I Don’t Want to Spend Any Time in Jail

Brophy’s “How to Kill Your Husband,” was a 700-word essay that was published on the blog, See Jane Publish, in November 2011. Brophy wrote, “As a romantic suspense writer, I spend a lot of time thinking about murder and, consequently, about police procedure… After all, if the murder is supposed to set me free, I certainly don’t want to spend any time in jail.” The motives for the murder listed in the fictional essay are infidelity, greed and being in an abusive relationship. Brophy wrote, “Divorce is expensive, and do you really want to split your possessions?” The essay goes on, “What if killing didn’t produce the right result? Would they do it again? Could they do it again? What if they liked it?

2. Brophy Says on Her Website That She & Her Husband ‘Had Ups & Downs’

Facebook/Nancy Brophy

On her official website, Brophy wrote that she and her husband “had ups and downs.” Brophy wrote that her husband’s mantra was, “Life is a science project.” Brophy said that she couldn’t recall the moment she fell in love with her husband but remembered the moment she decided to marry him. The couple was taking a bath together, when she asked what was taking him so long to join her in the tub, Brophy says her husband told him, “I’m making hors-d’oeuvres.” Brophy writes, “Can you imagine spending the rest of your life without a man like that?

Brophy says that her first published work was a pamphlet for the University of Houston named, “Between Your navel and Your Knees.” Brophy writes in the conclusion of her bio, “My stories are about pretty men and strong women, about families that don’t always work and about the joy of finding love and the difficulty of making it stay.”

3. Brophy Once Wrote that She Wasn’t ‘Good at Remembering Lies’

According to her LinkedIn page, Brophy also worked as a hair stylist in the Medford, Oregon, area. Prosecutors have not said what the suspected motive for the murder could be. Brophy has also written a novel titled, “The Wrong Husband,” which included mentions of a woman murdering her spouse. The Oregonian reports that Brophy wrote in that book, “I find it easier to wish people dead than to actually kill them. I don’t want to worry about blood and brains splattered on my walls. And really, I’m not good at remembering lies. But the thing about murder is that every one of us have it in him/her when pushed far enough.” The plot of that book involves a woman who escapes from an abusive relationship after being involved in a shipwreck in the Mediterranean.

Brophy has also written an essay titled, “When Marriage Fails Us.” One passage reads:

Love is tough. Riding off into the sunset may blind you temporarily, but sooner or later your sight returns. Everyone’s story includes pain and underneath it all, we share the same story. If I’ve learned one thing about life and love, it is that time is the sponge that soaks up the hurt. Before you hire a divorce attorney, give the relationship time to cool down.

I read somewhere that after being divorced for a couple of years, most people believe they could have made it work, if only they’d tried harder.

Historically women stayed in relationships because they had no choice. Today we have a choice, which makes our decisions more complex. We rarely see all of the ramifications that occur when someone throws a stone into the water.

4. Daniel Brophy Was the Chief Instructor at the Oregon Culinary Institute

A Facebook page, Remembering Daniel Brophy, has been set up by his students at the Oregon Culinary Institute. Eater Portland says that Brophy had worked at the institute since 2006 having previously worked at the In Good Taste culinary school. His profile page on the institute’s website called Daniel Brophy “the resident encyclopedia of knowledge.” In addition to his cooking, Daniel Brophy was known for his gardening, being an outdoorsman and for his mushroom hunting trips.

5. At the Time of Daniel Brophy’s Murder, a Friend Said Nancy Brophy ‘Wasn’t Capable’ of Committing the Crime

Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office

Around the time of Daniel Brophy’s murder, a friend of hers, Tania Medlin, told KGW8, “I’ve known her 30 years. I can’t imagine. I just don’t think she’s capable.” At a vigil that was held for her husband on June 4, Fox Oregon reports that Brophy refused a request for an interview. A neighbor of the couples referred to them as “quiet” and noted that she rarely “saw them together.” During that vigil, the Portland Mercury Tribune Daniel Brophy’s colleagues, Chef Brian Wilkie, as saying, “For all the gruff and all the posturing and all the ‘no smiling,’ he had a heart of gold and everybody here knows that. Wilkie went on to call Daniel Brophy “one of the greatest men I’ve ever met.”

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