Nancy Crampton Brophy, a 71-year-old romance novelist whose works include an essay titled "How to Murder Your Husband", allegedly let it slip that she did kill her own spouse, Oregon Live reports.
The revelation comes as Crampton Brophy is being accused of shooting her husband Daniel Brophy on 2 June 2018 in an Oregon Culinary Institute classroom where he was prepping for work, allegedly in order to collect some $1.5 million in insurance; arrested in September 2018, she has remained in custody at a medium-security jail.
According to the media outlet, Multnomah County Senior Deputy District Attorney Shawn Overstreet said that Crampton Brophy allegedly described the shooting to an inmate she was living with.
"Ms. Brophy held her arms apart, like a wingspan, and said, ‘I was this far away when the shooting happened’", Overstreet said, adding that Crampton Brophy then "corrected herself" and said the shooting happened at close range.
A reference to the cellmate in question came in a "long, partially illegible letter" Brophy received in March, the media outlet adds, citing Overstreet.
In April, the authorities managed to track down the cellmate, whose name turned out to be Andrea Jacobs, and interviewed her about what Crampton Brophy said.
The prosecutors also reportedly mentioned that Jacobs told detectives that Brophy seemed embarrassed after her slip of the tongue.
As Crampton Brophy stands trial, she may be looking at a minimum of 25 years of jail time if convicted by the jury, the media outlet points out.