Brad Cooper entered a guilty plea on a second-degree murder charge Monday in the 2008 murder in Cary of his wife Nancy.
Cooper, 40, was originally sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of first-degree murder, but that conviction was overturned.
Back on July 12, 2008, Nancy Cooper, 34, disappeared in Cary, North Carolina. At the time, her husband said she had gone for a jog and never returned.
Her body was found in a drainage ditch at the end of a cul-de-sac in an unfinished subdivision near the couple’s home – she was wearing only a sports bra.
During his trial, prosecutors said Brad killed Nancy because he was angry she planned to divorce him and move with their two daughters to Canada.
Witnesses testified the couple argued at a party the night before she disappeared and that both had affairs outside their marriage.
In the appeal of the first-degree murder conviction, Cooper's lawyer claimed the trial judge wrongly denied two witnesses who would have testified someone could have remotely tampered with Cooper's computer. Cooper's lawyers also said someone planted a map onto the Canada native's computer showing where Nancy's body was found.
Cooper's second-degree murder plea includes a deal on the custody of Brad and Nancy's two children. He has agreed to let the daughters be adopted by Nancy's sister.
With files from ABC WTVD
