Alleged Killer Romance Novelist Claims 'Memory Hole' In Murder Of Elderly Husband

A romance novelist who is being accused of murdering her husband struggled to remember what she was doing on the morning of his death, with her testimony on Tuesday being vastly different from the account that she previously gave detectives.

Claiming that she has a “memory hole” on the hour when her husband was killed, Nancy Crampton Brophy said that while she remembers driving around town to write, she does not remember the exact date on which that happened and whether she was driving around the Oregon Culinary Institute when her husband Dan Brophy was killed, according to KOIN 6.

As footage has caught her in the Oregon Culinary Institute during her husband’s death, she claims that she did not enter the building at the time of her husband’s murder, in spite of the fact that she admits to the court that she does not remember the incident and that she is reconstructing her memory based on what she believes happened, the Daily Beast reported.

“Because if I was down there, that’s what I was doing,” Brophy said. “Now having thought about it for awhile, at 7:28 I definitely turned the van and was driving there, we all saw it, but I know I wasn’t parked in front of the building. I’m doing this based on putting this together, not based on actual memory.”

“If you have no memory,” Deputy District Attorney Shawn Overstreet asked, “How do you know you didn’t go in the building?”

“You know, I’m reconstructing this, I’m reconstructing this because I have no memory,” Brophy said. After a bit more questioning, she said, “I know I didn’t go in the building because I know I didn’t kill Dan. I know that for a fact.”

Among the evidence presented to the court on Tuesday was a gun kit that she bought at a gun show and a slide and barrel that she bought online which police officers believe was used to kill her husband. She claims that the gun kit was used primarily for her writing research.

“You have a gun that’s complete, the slide and barrel is intact, you know how to remove it, and in fact you did… but you chose to buy the exact same piece?” Overstreet said. “Why in the world, when you already own this exact piece, would you need to buy another one?”

“It was for writing, it was not to murder my husband,” Brophy replied.