Writer of 'How to Murder Your Husband' sentenced to life in prison for killing her husband

Nancy Crampton Brophy, the novelist who wrote “How To Murder Your Husband,” was sentenced to life in prison on Monday for allegedly killing her husband four years ago.

Crampton Brophy, 71, is accused of killing her husband, Daniel Brophy, on June 2, 2018 while he was preparing for work at the Oregon Culinary Institute in Southwest Portland around 7:30 a.m. on June 2, 2018. He was found dead in the institution's kitchen as students began arriving.

Prosecutors claim that Campton Brophy murdered her husband so that she could collect $1.5 million for her husband's life insurance policy.  

"You are a monster and I'm ashamed that I have to admit to my children that people like you walk among us undetected," said Nathaniel Stillwater, Daniel Brophy’s son, who provided an impact statement during the trial. "You lived in the shadow of a great human being."  

During the seven-week trial, Crampton Brophy said that she did not have a reason to kill her husband, despite the couple having financial problems.

However, the evidence presented at the trial showed that she owned the same make and model of gun that killed her husband. Surveillance camera footage also shows Crampton Brophy going to and from the culinary institute.

Despite her novel on how to kill a husband and avoid being caught, Judge Christopher Ramras excluded the novel as evidence in the trial.

"Any minimal probative value of an article written that long ago is substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice and confusion of the issues," Ramras said.

After deliberating for a day and a half, the jury unanimously agreed that Crampton Brophy was guilty of second-degree murder.

Ramras said that Brophy could be considered for parole after spending 25 years in prison.