Jogger Found Dead Just Miles From Home

July 15, 2008 — -- Nancy Cooper, the 34-year-old married mother of two who disappeared after going for a jog Saturday morning, has been found dead, police said in a press conference today.

"The search for our Nancy is over," said Cary Police Chief Pat Bazemore. "Early today the state medical examiner told us that it was Nancy who was found last night just miles from her home."

Cooper's body was found on the bank of a storm water retention pond by a local Cary, N.C., man who was walking his dog at 7:30 p.m. Monday, according to authorities.

"Nancy was murdered and our investigation is now a homicide," said Bazemore, who added that authorities have not named a suspect or a person of interest in the case.

"We do not believe this was a random act of violence," said Bazemore.

Bazemore declined to give details on the specific cause of death.

While Cooper's parents, brother and identical sister were all present at the press conference, her husband, Brad Cooper, was not.

"Brad Cooper was supposed to be here and he is not," said Bazemore. "At the last minute he did decline and chose not to come this evening."

When asked what Brad Cooper's reaction was to the news of his wife's death, Bazemore said, "He's devastated."

Authorities declined to comment on reports that Brad Cooper had allegedly purchased bleach the night before his wife's disappearance.

Earlier today, Deanna Boone, interim deputy public information officer for the town of Cary, N.C., told ABCNews.com that the area in which the body was found is within a "five-mile radius" of where the stay-at-home-mom lived in an upscale community.

Cooper, 34, was last seen by her husband before she left to go for a jog early Saturday morning. Friends told local reporters that Cooper, who had attended a dinner party Friday evening, was training for a half-marathon.

But it wasn't Cooper's husband who first reported the jogger missing. Authorities said that a friend who had planned to meet Cooper later in the day on Saturday became concerned when she failed to show up.

"Her friend Jessica Adams called 9-1-1 on Saturday at 2:51 p.m.," said Boone.

Brad Cooper has not been named as a suspect in his wife's disappearance, said Boone, who added that no person of interest or suspect has been named in the case.

Boone told ABCNews.com that Cooper had been cooperating with authorities. She said that she didn't know the state of his marriage, but added that "that would all be part of the investigation."

Cooper's husband, who works at Cisco Systems, spoke to reporters from the News & Observer just after police finished searching his two BMWs and seizing a Louis Vuitton purse.