and this is dateline. this doesn t happen in our happy little world. their world shattered, a young mother strangled. we had a homicide and no lso no evidence. but police found a dark side behind that bright suburban facade. she slept with the children and the door locked. and finally a vital clue. what happened to nancy the day she disappeared? welcome to dateline. a young mother disappeared one her husband said she went for a run and never came home. the puzzling case happened in a safe, suburban neighborhood where crime is unexpected. but sometimes there are secrets hidden behind closed. nothing about that morning made any sense. it seems like such a bad nightmare. this doesn t happen our happy little world. it was a saturday morning in july 2008. the happy total world of sweet and leafy suburb of raleigh north carolina, called carry. the sort of place a young family would aspire to. if you are someone like hannah pritchard, for example. there s always l
also no evidence. but police found a dark side behind that bright suburban facade. she slept with the children and the door locked. and finally a vital clue. what happened to nancy the day she disappeared? welcome to dateline. a young mother disappeared one her husband said she went for a run and never came home. the puzzling case happened in a safe, suburban neighborhood where crime is unexpected. but sometimes there are secrets hidden behind closed. it all seemed like such a bad . it. . at reporter: it was a saturday morning in july. the happy little world suburb of raleigh, north carolina, called cary, a place where a young family would aspire to if you were someone like hanna pritchard, for example. there s always lots of friend making going on through someone you meet. lots of cookouts and family functions. reporter: like the one in the neighborhood the night before. so hanna would have heard party stories that saturday morning from her friend nancy co
phone. then, the day after nancy s body was identified, her family went to court to try to get those two little girls away from brad. by 4:00 in the afternoon, we had papers in the judge s hand for temporary custody of nancy s children. the family acted so fast because according to their complaint, brad s behavior was so disturbing before she disappeared, they had seen emotional abuse. and they were sure she never went jogging on july 12. then after she went missing? he was very stunned, aloof with the family and didn t contact anybody and he just didn t want anybody around, didn t want any help, and it was strange enough to be alarming. reporter: and so they fear for bela and katie s safety. did you think they were in danger too? if he was a place to do this, that you ve been hard to those kids, the answer to that was absolutely. at the end of the day you have to live with the fact that if we re wrong, then this is
exclusion of other people. it wasn t just brad who had been unfaithful. implied the defense. could someone else have wanted to silence nancy permanently? someone suggested the defense like john pearson who at first didn t tell the police about an indiscretion with nancy. he said he held back to protect his family. it happened after a very tipsy halloween party back in 2005. she began taking her clothes off, i took my clothes off and we, i believe started to have sex. i believe we stopped and got dressed and decided to never speak about it again. it seemed to observers as if you two were somehow blaming the victim? you were looking for other people she may have had relationships with. why was that important? the reason that people looked to the spouse first, is because affairs of the heart frequently lead to crimes of
three months. bench in a park, the place she reporter: those suspicious once ran, her adopted town s way vans, said the defense. of remembering. it was clear that the police the cooper girls, bela and had focused on brad to the katie, are growing up in canada exclusion of other people. with nancy s twin sister krista reporter: it wasn t just brad who had been unfaithful. and her husband jim. implied the defense. they re doing great. could someone else have wanted it s like every other normal to silence nancy permanently? little toddler and little kid. someone suggested the defense like john pearson who at first reporter: their cousins were didn t tell the police about an indiscretion with nancy. with them the day we came to he said he held back to protect call so seven of the little his family. it happened after a very tipsy halloween party back in 2005. girls scampered about, their pleasure infectious. she began taking her clothes office, i took my clothes off, and we, i b