Portland, Oregon — In a chilling real-life story reminiscent of her suspense novels, Oregon-based writer Nancy Crampton Brophy, who once penned an essay titled “How to Murder Your Husband,” was found guilty of doing just that. The case, which has gripped the nation, unveils a stark contrast between the personable and lively character friends and readers knew and the calculated murderer prosecutors presented in court.
Heidi Joy Tretheway, a fellow writer who shared a writing circle with Crampton Brophy, expressed her disbelief upon seeing the news of her arrest. “It was surreal, seeing her mugshot and knowing her personally,” Tretheway said. This instance led her to host a podcast, “Happily Never After: Dan & Nancy,” which delves into the unsettling journey from a seemingly loving marriage to a premeditated murder.
Years prior, Tretheway and Crampton Brophy were part of the Rose City Romance Writers group. Crampton Brophy was a dominant presence, often steering conversations and critiques. “She thrived on the attention and was always the first to offer advice, solicited or not,” Tretheway recalled.
Despite her commanding presence in the writing group, Crampton Brophy rarely spoke of her husband, Daniel Brophy, an instructor at the Oregon Culinary Institute. Their relationship appeared stable to outsiders. Friends and acquaintances described them as opposites who complemented each other well, with Dan often spending time on his hobbies like foraging for mushrooms and organic gardening.
Financial struggles lingered beneath the surface, however. The couple had reportedly drained $35,000 from Dan’s retirement account to manage mortgage and credit card debts, a testament to their growing financial desperation. Unbeknownst to Dan, his wife had taken out life insurance policies worth over $1.5 million on him but none on herself, a detail that later played a significant role in the investigation.
Crampton Brophy continued her writing career, producing works with ominous titles such as “The Wrong Husband,” hinting at her dark interests. These literary pursuits never fulfilled her financially or creatively, according to Tretheway. “She wasn’t just struggling as a writer; she seemed to be reaching a breaking point.”
On June 2, 2018, the fiction Crampton Brophy fancied writing about crossed into grim reality when she fatally shot her husband at his workplace. Using a ghost gun she had assembled from online purchases and a Glock handgun bought at a gun show, she carried out her plan with chilling precision.
Evidence gradually mounted against her, from gun purchase records to footage of her minivan near the culinary institute around the time of the murder. In a stunning display of premeditated malice, investigators revealed Crampton Brophy’s internet search history, which included queries about ghost guns and financial gain from a spouse’s death.
During her trial, Crampton Brophy maintained her innocence, suggesting alternative theories for her husband’s death and claiming memory gaps on the day of the murder. The court, however, found the evidence overwhelming. In 2022, she was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole.
This case underscores a profound tragedy masked by a facade of normalcy and intensified by financial stress and hidden motives. It also raises questions about the boundaries between fiction and reality—a line Nancy Crampton Brophy horrifically blurred. As Tretheway puts it, “It’s a heart-wrenching betrayal. You think you know someone, but the capabilities of the human heart are profound and sometimes, deeply disturbing.”
“Happily Never After: Dan & Nancy” thus serves not only as a recount of a shocking crime but as a cautionary tale on the unpredictabilities of human nature and the dark turns that desperation can take.