Ex-Cisco Engineer Caught On Google Maps Pled Guilty to Wife's Murder
Bradley Graham Cooper, a former engineer for Cisco, pled guilty to second-degree murder in the death of his wife yesterday. Part of the evidence against Cooper was a Google map search to the location of her body. Investigators said Cooper did the search the day before the murder, while his computer was connected to Cisco's network.
Cooper was convicted of strangling his wife in 2011, but appealed the verdict. According to WRAL, the District Attorney argued that Cooper and his wife Nancy were having financial problems, that he was cheating on her with several women including a neighbor, and that his wife "wanted out."
Business Insider dug into some lingering disputes over the Google Map search:
Prosecutors also alleged that Cooper, a communications technology expert, borrowed a piece of network equipment from Cisco and used it to fake a phone call from his wife after she was already dead. The router was never found, reports Network World's Paul McNamara.
Cooper's lawyer wanted to present testimony that the Google map was planted on his computer by someone else. But the judge for the original trial refused to allow those witnesses to testify. The judge even ruled that national security would be comprised if the state's investigators were questioned about how they found the Google Maps file, according to trial documents posted by blogger Brad Reese.
Cooper faces 12 to 15 years in prison, with credit for time served since his arrest in 2008.
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