The Farmer's Wife

Summary

Dateline NBC – "The Farmer's Wife"

Date: December 16, 2025
Host: Lester Holt
Reporter: Andrea Canning

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Overview

This gripping episode of Dateline NBC investigates the shocking murder of Iowa farmer Ryan Cooper in 2020, and the subsequent unraveling of a murder plot involving his wife, Karina Cooper, and much younger farmhand Houston Danker. Through interviews with investigators, family, friends, and courtroom testimony, the episode unpacks small-town secrets, digital evidence, and the ripple effect on a close-knit rural community.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Tragic Morning

• The crime:
  In the early hours of June 18, 2020, Ryan Cooper, a well-respected fourth-generation farmer, is found dead in his recliner by his wife, Karina.
  • Karina first frantically calls her brother-in-law Aaron instead of 911, then emergency services.
  • Aaron, a volunteer firefighter, arrives quickly—finding a chaotic scene: Karina screaming over Ryan’s bloody body, their children exposed to the horror.
• Initial confusion:
  Early speculation includes accidental death or medical emergency, with friends and relatives struggling to fathom what happened.
  • "Did he have a heart attack? ... Maybe it was a health-related deal." — Jamie Earhart, Ryan’s friend (09:17)

2. The Investigation Unfolds

• Murder, not accident:
  The medical examiner finds Ryan was shot twice in the face—not a suicide or accident.
  • "I crouched down and I'm just taking a look at him. And then I observe what appeared to be a second bullet hole... he's been shot twice." — Det. Trevor Killian (13:59)
• Suspect theories:
  • No sign of forced entry, yet a bloody shoe print and Karina’s purse thrown outside hint at possible staging.
  • Investigators consider robbery, a past business partner (Nolan De Waal), and a bar altercation, but alibis and ballistics clear them (30:01).
• Attention turns to community:
  Detectives note nervousness in the once safe farming community.
  • "I mean, it was terrifying to go home thinking that somebody murdered our friend a mile from our house." — Ashton Wilson (24:39)

3. Spotlight on Karina Cooper

• Rising suspicions:
  Karina’s behavior at the scene and in the following months draws scrutiny.
  • Odd actions: sitting on Ryan’s body, not rendering aid; inconsistent timeline; her dog doesn’t react to the shooting.
  • "It seemed very unusual for her to be sitting on his body, not trying to render any kind of aid, not allowing others to come and render any aid." — Asst. County Attorney Geneva Williams (41:37)
  • "She would not contact us... she never contacted us." — Det. Killian on Karina’s lack of follow-up (43:27)
• Domestic issues revealed:
  Friends discuss Karina’s sometimes volatile drinking personality ("Bad Karen"), public outbursts, and marital tension.
  • "It could be just the smallest thing that would set her off, like... 'Why'd you wear those boots?'" — Jamie Earhart (40:43)
  • Karina’s own threat: "She yelled at him and said that she hated him and would shoot him in the face." — Friend Theresa McBride, jury testimony (70:46)
• Key behaviors:
  Karina insists there are no affairs, no motive, but gossip circulates.

4. The Houston Danker Connection

• "Cougar hunter":
  Houston Danker, 23 at the time, worked on the farm and was rumored to prefer older women. He and Karina messaged frequently via Snapchat.
  • "He liked the older ladies... He even had an affair with his best friend's mom." — Ashton Wilson and Lester Holt (31:25, 31:54)
• First interviews:
  Early talks with Houston yield little—he plays off the Snapchat interactions as platonic or like a "gay best friend" (32:27).
• Cold case period:
  With no hard evidence, the investigation stalls, but detectives remain suspicious of Karina and Houston.

5. Digital Evidence Breakthrough

• Geofencing data:
  Cell phone data indicate no one entered or left the property except household members during the murder window—supporting an "inside job" theory (47:16).
• Recovered messages:
  Months after the murder, a digital forensics specialist recovers deleted Snapchat exchanges: - Explicit messages between Karina and Houston, indicating an affair and discussions of future plans (59:41). - Incriminating chats about shell casings and orchestrating the murder:
  - "Ok babe, seriously. Putting the phone down. Have to get this expletive done. I love you.” (71:55) - Karina responds: "Go." — identified as a "coast is clear" sign (72:06) - "Remember those casings?" — Houston, and "Absolutely. 100%." — Karina (72:19)
  • Friends admit they saw the affair playing out on Snapchat months earlier but held back to protect Karina (58:06).

6. The Arrests and Confessions

• Karina’s arrest (53:50):
  Prosecutors charge Karina Cooper with first-degree murder based on the digital and circumstantial evidence.
• Houston’s second interview and confession:
  Confronted with the recovered evidence, Houston admits in part to the plot (62:58):
  • "Karina wanted me to go over there and do it... I lent her my gun." — Houston Danker (63:02–63:51)
  • He claims Karina did the shooting, he retrieved the weapon, and tried to leave no digital trace.
  • A bloody sneaker print at the scene matches Houston's shoes.

7. The Trials: Clashing Narratives

The Prosecution's Case

• Motive:
  Karina and Houston planned to be together, split insurance money ($500,000 policy), and Karina’s digital messages show malice ("wishing for a rogue semi accident…").
• Method:
  Karina orchestrates the murder, ensures her son isn’t in the room, signals Houston to act, and attempts to stage the scene.
• Physical evidence:
  Movement tracking on Karina’s phone indicates she was up before calling for help—contradicting her timeline (69:13).
• Witnesses:
  Friends describe marital tension and Karina’s temper; eldest son testifies mother made unusual request night of murder (69:35).

The Defense's Story

• Karina as victim of Houston:
  She claims to have been manipulated and coerced by Houston, who was obsessed with her.
  • "[Houston] acted like he was my husband and Ryan was my boyfriend." (76:34)
  • She admits the affair but says she never believed he’d act; she lied out of fear and panic (77:22, 78:21).
• Digital evidence defense:
  Argues some messages ("go") were out of context, blamed on incomplete data recovery ("go to sleep," not "go") (79:44).

Cross-Examination & Verdict

• State’s cross:
  Prosecutors highlight Karina’s own words, suggestive photos, and inconsistency—undermining her defense (81:47–83:12).
• Jury verdict:
  After only 3.5 hours, the jury convicts Karina Cooper of first-degree murder (84:11).
  • "It wasn't relief. It wasn't happiness. I want to say it was sad... we lost another family member." — Aaron Cooper (84:36)

8. Houston Danker’s Guilty Plea

• On the eve of his trial, Houston pleads guilty after prosecutors find web searches for "best gun to kill someone," poisons, and "how do people get caught" (85:47–86:05).
• Both are sentenced to life in prison.

9. Aftermath for the Family

• Ryan’s children go to live with their uncle and his wife; gradual healing on the family farm amid changed relationships and shattered trust.
  • "Life on the family farm churns on... There's usually something going on at all times with somewhat out of control chaos. It's a ride." — Aaron Cooper (87:14)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

(Speaker attribution and timestamps)

• "Somebody came into my house and killed my husband."
  — Karina Cooper, under police pressure (01:26; also 49:39)
• "It was just screaming and frantic... couldn't make out too much besides somebody was in her house."
  — Aaron Cooper on Karina's call (03:06)
• "It just made no sense that somebody would come to a farmhouse and walk in the door and shoot someone in the face for no reason."
  — Det. Killian (26:26)
• "She jumps on Ryan, she puts her face... into the blood... because she's concealing evidence."
  — Prosecutor Michael Ringle (68:02)
• "It was almost laughable... The rumor mill is just flying now."
  — Ashton Wilson on town gossip (35:39)
• "A tough pill to swallow."
  — Ashton Wilson, realizing the murder was a joint plot (65:57)
• "We all called people we love names at times."
  — Karina (82:13)
• "Nobody in their wildest dreams would ever think that you would have a friend that could do this..."
  — Ashton Wilson (84:46)

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Key Timestamps

• 01:17–04:21 — Discovery of the body and frantic early moments
• 09:52–13:54 — Medical examiner rules out accidental death
• 13:45–14:14 — Discovery of second gunshot wound; case declared homicide
• 22:47–23:40 — Crime scene evidence points to possible staging
• 36:50–43:18 — Investigators home in on Karina; odd behaviors and inconsistencies
• 47:01–47:20 — Geofencing evidence suggests no outside intruder
• 59:41–72:19 — Digital forensics uncover affair and murder plot; explicit message discussion
• 63:02–64:05 — Houston confesses to lending gun and implicates Karina
• 66:26–73:13 — The prosecution case and reconstructed timeline at trial
• 77:08–78:14 — Karina’s testimony: shock at discovering the murder
• 84:11 — Jury pronounces Karina guilty
• 85:47–86:05 — Houston’s incriminating web searches; guilty plea

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Conclusion / Impact

In the end, "The Farmer's Wife" tells a chilling story of small-town betrayal and murder, made all the more devastating by the intimacy of the relationships exposed. The case underscores the crucial role of digital forensics—even with deleted messages—and how modern technology can shatter secrets that might otherwise stay buried. The loss of Ryan Cooper is deeply felt, reverberating through both his family and the entire community, with trust and innocence irretrievably altered.

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For those seeking more background or wishing to dig even deeper, the episode concludes with a preview of additional Dateline content and behind-the-scenes commentary available in their podcast feed.

Transcript

[Lester Holt]

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[Lester Holt]

Tonight on Dateline.

[Ashton Wilson]

Oh, my God.

[Lester Holt]

Karina, sit up.

[Ashton Wilson]

She said, I just drove by the Coopers and something's wrong. There's police and ambulances there. My mom said I just got a phone call that Ryan is dead.

[Lester Holt]

I approach Ryan and I observe a bullet hole. He was shot twice.

[Ashton Wilson]

Somebody came into my house and killed my husband.

[Lester Holt]

When you get a case like this, you consider all possible suspects. Houston's known as a ladies man who had a particular affinity for older women.

[Narrator/Reporter]

He was into the cougars, I would say. So Sometimes Karen could drift into bad Karen?

[Ashton Wilson]

Yeah, when she had way too much to drink.

[Lester Holt]

Law enforcement recover Snapchat messages.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Snapchat messages don't actually go away.

[Lester Holt]

It was horrible language, disgust. It's pretty clear evidence of what their plan was.

[Ashton Wilson]

The truth was coming out for everyone to know. That was a tough pill to swallow.

[Lester Holt]

A brutal murder on a family farm. A plot hatched on Snapchat. I'm Lester Holt and this is dateline. Here's Andrea Canning with the farmer's wife.

[Narrator/Reporter]

It was June 18, 2020. One night had settled over the cornfields in Trayer, Iowa. The air was still and quiet. Ryan Cooper, a fourth generation farmer, was home with his wife Karina and their three kids in the comfort of their farmhouse. Ryan had fallen asleep on the living room recliner, not unusual after a long day working the land. His younger brother Aaron lived just a mile down the road. And your phone rings about what time is it?

[Lester Holt]

4:30.

[Narrator/Reporter]

It was Ryan's wife, Karina.

[Lester Holt]

She called and screaming that somebody was in her house.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Does she give any more detail?

[Lester Holt]

No, it was just screaming and frantic and couldn't really make out too much of what what she was saying besides somebody who's in her house. Grab my gun and headed towards Ryan's house.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Do you just haul it over there top speed?

[Lester Holt]

Yep.

[Narrator/Reporter]

On the way he called 911.

[Lester Holt]

I just got a call from my sister in law. Somebody's in their house.

[Ashton Wilson]

Okay, someone's in her house.

[Lester Holt]

Yep.

[Ashton Wilson]

We have a female on 911 but can't understand her.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Karina had also called emergency dispatch.

[Lester Holt]

Hello?

[Ashton Wilson]

Hello?

[Narrator/Reporter]

When Aaron arrived at the house, he could hear Karina.

[Lester Holt]

I could hear her screaming still from inside the house in my pickup.

[Narrator/Reporter]

So that's loud.

[Lester Holt]

Yeah, it was very loud.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Aaron saw his 11 year old nephew Cade at the window. He jumped out of the truck. Still on the phone with 91 1.

[Lester Holt]

I am armed. Do you want me to proceed? Yeah, easy. Kid just came out and told me to come out. Okay. She's still screaming. So I went in the house and walked in the living room and that's when I found my brother. What the what? My brother's dead.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Aaron is a volunteer firefighter, so he'd seen death before, but never like this. This was his brother.

[Lester Holt]

A lot of blood all over both of them. Big pool on the floor.

[Narrator/Reporter]

And what's the first thing you do when you see that? And what do you say? What do you do?

[Lester Holt]

I don't really remember what I did. I checked for his pulse and there was no pulse.

[Ashton Wilson]

Do you know if he's been shot? No, he has not. But there's blood coming out of his.

[Lester Holt]

Mouth and all over on the floor. It was horrible. Worst thing I've ever seen.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Minutes later, a sheriff's deputy arrived and spoke with Aaron.

[Lester Holt]

What's going on?

[Narrator/Reporter]

Ryan was in his recliner. Recliner, chair. Karina sitting on top of him, still wailing.

[Lester Holt]

Ma', am, what happened? I don't know.

[Ashton Wilson]

I don't know.

[Narrator/Reporter]

The deputy searched the darkened rooms with a flashlight, making sure an intruder wasn't inside. He called for backup.

[Lester Holt]

1079 is 7 headed this way as well.

[Narrator/Reporter]

They're almost to your location now. Tama County Deputy Travis Foster arrived next.

[Lester Holt]

As I walk towards the house, I could see two individuals, A male and a female. The male was identified as Aaron Cooper and the female was found to be Karina Cooper. What happened?

[Ashton Wilson]

She said.

[Lester Holt]

I asked Aaron where the victim was and he advised that the other deputy and his brother Ryan were inside the residence in the living room. I walked in and Ryan's leaning back in his chair, slumped over. She's hysterical. I'm assuming he's walking. That's the wife. County 7, get a hold of the Emmy's office. Also advise 86 1. We have one deceased male.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Soon the house was swarming with police, paramedics, the medical examiner, everyone trying to figure out what happened.

[Lester Holt]

Does he have any problems, mental health problems or anything? No, we'll be fine.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Aaron got the children out of the house and into his truck. He called his and Ryan's sister, Michelle.

[Ashton Wilson]

Wilson, and he said, ryan's dead. I'm like, what do you mean dead?

[Narrator/Reporter]

Like how?

[Ashton Wilson]

I don't know. And I said, you know, can you tell what happened? He's like, no, I don't. I don't know. In my mind I'm thinking, did he fall and hit his head? You know, something?

[Narrator/Reporter]

At the farm, Karina was still distraught when Deputy Foster brought her to his patrol car.

[Lester Holt]

Can you tell me what happened?

[Ashton Wilson]

Noise. I thought something fell.

[Lester Holt]

Did you see anybody else in the house? So did he do that to himself?

[Ashton Wilson]

No way. No way.

[Lester Holt]

Okay? She's just inconsolable. And that's a typical response from losing a loved one or someone that's very close to you, you know, you kind of. You know, you just don't know what to do. I'm here for you, all right? I'm here for you. All right? We just gotta figure out what happened first. Okay. You wanna stand up?

[Ashton Wilson]

Yeah, I need air.

[Lester Holt]

Okay. Okay. Just take a seat. All right.

[Narrator/Reporter]

In those early morning hours at the crime scene, Karina, now a widow, could barely speak. Speak. But as the mystery of what happened deepened, there would be plenty of talk around this tiny town.

[Ashton Wilson]

Us girls are very inquisitive. The Real Housewives of Tama County. We took his phone and looked at all the messages.

[Narrator/Reporter]

What did you think when you heard.

[Lester Holt]

That I was gossip.

[Ashton Wilson]

To think that everything could have just been a complete lie that whole time. It's hard to swallow.

[Narrator/Reporter]

The sun was just beginning to rise over the cornfields when word spread something terrible had happened to Ryan Cooper. Karina's friend, Ashton Wilson, one of my.

[Ashton Wilson]

Good friends called me and said, I just drove by the Coopers and something's wrong. There's a lot of police and ambulances there. I think you need to check in with Karina.

[Narrator/Reporter]

But before she could get there, her phone rang again. It was her mom.

[Ashton Wilson]

And she said, I don't know what happened, but I just got a phone call that Ryan is dead. Oh, my gosh.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Ryan's close friend, Jamie Earhart rushed over to the farm to try to find out what happened. What are you left to think in those early moments.

[Lester Holt]

No idea. I mean, did he have a. Have a heart attack? Did he have a. Whatever. I mean, maybe it was a health related deal.

[Narrator/Reporter]

There was another thought that this could be a medical issue.

[Lester Holt]

One of the deputies or ambulance crew said could have been a medical thing like a hemorrhage.

[Narrator/Reporter]

In those first chaotic hours, anything was possible. But after taking a closer look, the medical examiner determined Ryan did not die from natural causes. When does that information start coming out about what really happened to him as far as his injuries?

[Ashton Wilson]

By the middle of the day, maybe. By the time we got to her, maybe. I think we probably had heard that there were gunshots.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Investigators wondered if Ryan had taken his own life.

[Ashton Wilson]

Was it suicide? Did he shoot himself? Yeah.

[Narrator/Reporter]

How did that sit with you when you heard that?

[Ashton Wilson]

Oh, not well. You know, I'm like, there's no way, you know, like, I can't imagine him doing that in the first place. And I can't imagine him doing that in his home.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Hard to imagine because at 42 years old, Ryan seemed to have it all. Was it clear that Ryan wanted to have a life on the farm when he grew up?

[Ashton Wilson]

For sure, absolutely. There was never any question that he would be involved. That was his passion, coming home and helping dad and being there to help with harvest and planting.

[Lester Holt]

As soon as he was 18, he went and got his license and started trucking and loved it.

[Narrator/Reporter]

The Cooper farm went back four generations. Across the 2,000 acres of land, there were cattle to haul and fields of soybeans and corn to manage. Michelle, an accountant, did the bookkeeping while brothers Aaron and Ryan managed the crops and the animals.

[Ashton Wilson]

Mom would have been so proud to have seen all of us working together at the farm.

[Narrator/Reporter]

The farm had always been a family affair, and Ryan wanted to keep it.

[Lester Holt]

That way, have some kids and live happily ever after.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Farmer wants a wife.

[Lester Holt]

Yeah.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Ryan was divorced with a young son when he started dating Karina Elpers.

[Lester Holt]

I've known Karina for a long time, and I thought she was pretty fun person and all that kind of stuff, so. And she always had very terrible taste in men. And I told her that forever until she met Ryan.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Where Ryan was quiet and reserved, Karina was outspoken. She was also a hairstylist. If you lived in town, chances were she cut your hair.

[Ashton Wilson]

All three of my kids got their first haircuts from Karina. She did my hair for a decade. I'm sure you two talked a lot. Yeah. Therapy sessions half the time. Yes, exactly. Very much so.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Karina and Ryan married And quickly built a family.

[Ashton Wilson]

They had their first baby and then another one followed.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Another boy.

[Ashton Wilson]

Yes.

[Narrator/Reporter]

And then they had one more.

[Ashton Wilson]

Yep.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Little girl. A girl.

[Ashton Wilson]

A little girl.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Ryan and Karina were part of a tight circle of friends that included Jamie's wife, Carmen.

[Ashton Wilson]

She was, I mean, fun, outspoken, and Kirsty.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Shetta. You even had a name for your friend group that is dear to my heart.

[Ashton Wilson]

You did Tama County Housewives. I mean, I mean, I love that.

[Narrator/Reporter]

The housewives did girls trips, fun runs, and plenty of bar hopping. Ryan and his friends preferred adventure, outdoor.

[Lester Holt]

Stuff, freedom type things. We did snowmobile trips and motorcycle trips and vacations and all kinds of things like that. Boating and camping and fun times.

[Ashton Wilson]

Yeah.

[Lester Holt]

Great times.

[Narrator/Reporter]

But in recent months, Jamie thought Ryan seemed down. Did you feel like Ryan was acting a little differently?

[Lester Holt]

Yeah. The only thing that really comes to mind is we always do a trip to northern Wisconsin. He always goes, no matter what. And he looks forward to it and made every excuse in the world not to go. And then still went. And then when he got there, he just wasn't himself, wasn't his normal self.

[Narrator/Reporter]

But suicide, Not Ryan.

[Lester Holt]

But he's not that kind of person. That's just not. That's not it. No, there's no way.

[Ashton Wilson]

He would never hurt himself and he would never, ever do anything like that in his own home with his wife and kids there.

[Narrator/Reporter]

That home on the farm Ryan loved so much was locked down, the scene of a growing investigation when Tama county detective Trevor Killian arrived a few hours after the first frantic call.

[Lester Holt]

I drive up the lane and the former sheriff is sitting there. So he walks me inside. The sheriff tells me that he thinks that there's a single gun shot wound.

[Narrator/Reporter]

To the face, thinking it was suicide. They'd been looking for a gun, and.

[Lester Holt]

When they moved the body to the floor, that's when they realized that there was no firearm presentation. And then I crouched down and I'm just taking a look at him. And then I observe what appeared to be a second bullet hole. I looked at the sheriff and I'm like, he's been shot twice.

[Ashton Wilson]

Wow.

[Narrator/Reporter]

So this is very likely not a suicide if he's been shot twice.

[Lester Holt]

Yes.

[Narrator/Reporter]

You have a murder on your hands.

[Lester Holt]

We do. This is 100% an active crime scene. Nobody comes here.

[Narrator/Reporter]

What in Ryan's life had led to this deadly ending. Do you know anyone that was have.

[Lester Holt]

Any reason to hurt him?

[Narrator/Reporter]

No.

[Ashton Wilson]

Nobody doesn't hurt anyone.

[Lester Holt]

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[Narrator/Reporter]

Ryan and Karina Cooper's children had been taken from the crime scene to a relative's house. Ashton rushed over to be with them.

[Ashton Wilson]

They're so little. I mean, that was the first thing is how do we go on? Do they know what happened?

[Narrator/Reporter]

The boys were 11 and 8, the little girl only 4.

[Ashton Wilson]

Obviously there was a lot of shock, crying when I got there, both of the boys had blood on them. Oh my gosh. So I knew that they obviously knew what had happened at that point.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Friends Jamie and Carmen were there too.

[Lester Holt]

I just said, I just, they gotta be strong. I'll stop. That they need to be strong and that mom was hurt really bad right now that we'd be there for her.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Ryan and Karina's son Cade was feeling what seemed like a very adult emotion, guilt.

[Ashton Wilson]

Probably one of the most memorable comments was, you know, Cade just being terribly upset that he didn't sleep on the couch with dad that night. His mom wanted him to sleep in his room that night. She had just done another remodeling, repainting, you know, got his room all fixed up and moved around for him.

[Narrator/Reporter]

The Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation joined What was now a homicide investigation. Is that normal? That in a case like this that DCI comes to help?

[Lester Holt]

We do ask the assistance of the DCI as we're not fully capable of handling a full blown death investigation.

[Narrator/Reporter]

That morning, DCI agents interviewed Karina at the sheriff's office. Hours had passed. Her voice was a little steadier as she recounted the moments before she discovered her husband dead in the living room.

[Ashton Wilson]

There was a. Sounded like something crashed in the kitchen. It sounded like something falling. Scared me. Kind of laid there for a second. Uh huh. See if kids woke up, which they didn't. I got up and I peeked in the living room. He was laying there. And I went to the kitchen and turned the light on in the living room. And then. Okay. It just looked like he was sleeping.

[Lester Holt]

Okay.

[Ashton Wilson]

And then I walked up to him to touch his foot. There's blood, like, everywhere.

[Lester Holt]

She said that she just heard a loud bang, which she got up to investigate, and that's when she found her husband was covered in blood.

[Ashton Wilson]

I always scared the kids because Kate came from McDonald. I thought. I don't know what I thought. I thought somebody was in the house. I put them in my bedroom and told them to lock the door. And he called her.

[Lester Holt]

Do you make any attempt at.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Do you touch him?

[Lester Holt]

Do you? Do you.

[Ashton Wilson]

I crawled on him. I was. I hit him. I think I was shaking him and screaming in his face to wake up.

[Lester Holt]

Okay, you think you were hitting him?

[Ashton Wilson]

I think I kept hitting him, trying to get him to wake up.

[Lester Holt]

Did you hear any other sounds or commotions or anything other than the one that woke you up?

[Ashton Wilson]

Like cars go by all time of the night that I didn't see it. I. I looked out the kitchen window. I didn't see anything.

[Lester Holt]

Okay. No sounds of like the front door slamming shut or.

[Ashton Wilson]

No.

[Lester Holt]

Anyone running down your death or down.

[Ashton Wilson]

Your steps or anything like that? No, nothing.

[Lester Holt]

Do you know anyone that was. Have any reason to hurt him?

[Ashton Wilson]

No.

[Lester Holt]

Has he had any issues with anybody?

[Ashton Wilson]

No, nobody. He doesn't hurt any of us.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Of course, investigators had to ask some difficult questions.

[Lester Holt]

Not to be personal. Okay. But again, these are things we need to ask. Has there been any marital issues between the two of you?

[Ashton Wilson]

We had a rough patch shortly after his mom passed away, where we just weren't. We weren't getting along. There wasn't any real issue. We were just both sad and mad. Communicating.

[Lester Holt]

She said they had their arguments, but they fought and they made up and everything was just fine.

[Narrator/Reporter]

So no trouble in paradise for the Coopers.

[Lester Holt]

Yep. According to her, there was. There was no issues. No issues that nobody else has.

[Narrator/Reporter]

He's been sleeping on the recliner.

[Lester Holt]

Yes. He works a lot of hours, and it's just sometimes easier to come home. He just. He sleeps in the reclining chair. No affairs of any kind?

[Ashton Wilson]

No.

[Lester Holt]

By him or by you? And the only reason I ask is if. If someone went in and did something to him. I'm just thinking about, like, the scorn lover type of thing or anything like that?

[Ashton Wilson]

No.

[Lester Holt]

Okay, so there's no.

[Ashton Wilson]

We don't do anything. He might go to the bar after work with his friend Riley, and he's never home past eight. That's how exciting we are.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Investigators let Karina get back to her children.

[Lester Holt]

Mom brought her back to my mom's house. I met him there.

[Narrator/Reporter]

This is Carina's brother, Kurt Alpers.

[Lester Holt]

If I remember right, Carina took a shower. She was obviously messy. A bunch of her friends came in my mom's house and visited and gave their condolences.

[Ashton Wilson]

It was just a lot of crying, a lot of questions.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Once Ryan's autopsy was complete, family and friends learned he had been murdered. Shot twice in the face. What's going through your mind when this gets out?

[Lester Holt]

Nobody breaks into houses and shoots people in Troyer, Iowa, so it's just not something that happens.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Crime scene techs had swabbed the home for fingerprints, for DNA. They photographed the house room by room, taking careful note of the blood pool and spatter on the walls of the living room. Outside, they photographed a partial bloody shoe print. Did that give any credence to this intruder theory, that maybe that was an intruder running from the house?

[Lester Holt]

It did line up with that. Somebody had come inside and was at least at the scene and stepped in the blood and then left in the driveway.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Another clue.

[Lester Holt]

There was a purse that was thrown outside of a vehicle door. It was Karina's purse.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Is that suggesting that it could be a robbery?

[Lester Holt]

Yeah, that's what it appeared to be, with Karina saying that an intruder had came in and had robbed them and shot her husband.

[Narrator/Reporter]

And while investigators hadn't yet found a gun, they found a shell casing on the living room floor.

[Lester Holt]

It appeared that he was shot with a.22.

[Narrator/Reporter]

And does that tell you anything? A.22 caliber?

[Lester Holt]

I mean, probably every farmer has one. They shoot coyotes, raccoons that are on their property.

[Narrator/Reporter]

This could be anybody in the area.

[Lester Holt]

Yeah, and there's a major highway right there.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Someone could easily jump on that highway and just be gone.

[Lester Holt]

Yeah, you got three different ways that you can go up the gravel, you can go east or west from the residents.

[Narrator/Reporter]

East or west. The road out was open, but a tip would soon pull detectives from right back to the farm.

[Ashton Wilson]

The only one that we've really had any business dealings with that maybe gone. Arai would be Nolan.

[Narrator/Reporter]

One thing that strikes you about this area is just how peaceful it is and it feels so safe.

[Lester Holt]

Yeah.

[Narrator/Reporter]

I can only imagine how this area must have been, like, shattered by something like this. The fear.

[Lester Holt]

Yeah. With. Without knowing what happened. It was sleepless nights for a while, for sure. Not knowing if we were in danger or not.

[Ashton Wilson]

I mean, it was terrifying to go home thinking that somebody murdered our friend a mile from our house. And, I mean, cameras went up on the farm all over. Locks were changed on the house within the week.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Karina and the three kids stayed with her brother Kurt.

[Lester Holt]

Karina said that she was always scared, fearful that whoever had done this was going to come for the family. Every night. I double checked the locks on the house. You know, I bought a motion sensor light.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Kurt and his wife tried their best to distract the kids.

[Lester Holt]

We tried to keep them busy, keep their minds off things. I mean, you can only forget for so long before it comes back.

[Narrator/Reporter]

And everyone had their own theory about what happened.

[Lester Holt]

My first assumption was that somebody stopped on the highway for some reason and was looking to rob the house or something like that and saw that Ryan was sitting in his recliner and freaked out.

[Ashton Wilson]

The town next to us was having their big celebration that weekend. Could it have been somebody that was here with the carnival?

[Lester Holt]

There was a lot of theories, a lot of speculation. It was really anything, anything that people could use to cope with what happened.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Tama county sheriff Casey Schmidt was a deputy at the time.

[Lester Holt]

I've met people in Tama county that will leave their doors unlocked and have for 60, 70 years. That just shows the type of community that we are. It's almost more shocking when it happens in a smaller community because everybody's so close, Everybody wants to know why it happened, what happened.

[Narrator/Reporter]

It was detective Killian's job to find those answers, and he didn't believe a random intruder was responsible.

[Lester Holt]

It just made no sense that somebody would come to a farmhouse and walk in the door and shoot someone in the face for no reason.

[Narrator/Reporter]

You would think if it was an intruder or some type of robbery gone bad, that usually the robber is interrupted in some way. But you're assuming that Ryan was sleeping, right, based on where he was found?

[Lester Holt]

Yeah. It did not appear that he had tried to get up There was no defensive wounds.

[Narrator/Reporter]

And while Karina's purse was in the driveway, there was cash on the kitchen counter untouched. So if not a robbery, the detective thought it had to be personal. They talked to Karina again. Did Karina have any idea who may have wanted to do this to Ryan?

[Lester Holt]

The only name that she brought up was Nolan De Waal.

[Narrator/Reporter]

That was a name Ryan's sister knew well.

[Ashton Wilson]

The only one that we've really had any business dealings with that maybe gone awry would be Nolan.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Nolan De Wall had been a business partner in the Cooper farm's cattle operation. And he had some trouble with the law. A few years earlier, he was involved in a bank fraud scheme, writing bad checks totaling a quarter of a million dollars.

[Ashton Wilson]

He was good at, like, shifting things from here to there to try and cover. And some of those things kind of started happening in our business too. Like sneaky stuff. Yeah. And so, you know, it just got to the point where I think, you know, we're going to have to terminate this relationship and get out.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Would Ryan have been involved in that?

[Ashton Wilson]

He.

[Narrator/Reporter]

The decision making of. We've. It's time for Nolan to go.

[Ashton Wilson]

Yeah, for sure.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Yep. So Nolan and the Coopers cut ties. He lived and worked a 30 minute drive from the farm, and that's where investigators found him.

[Lester Holt]

Did an interview with him and just kind of asked him about Ryan Cooper. And he has said that he had heard because it was out, that he had been killed.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Nolan denied having anything to do with Ryan's murder. And while he did own a.22 caliber pistol, he told police he didn't have it handy for them to look at because he kept it at his brother in law's house. Detectives wanted to get their hands on that gun for testing and check out Nolan's alibi. And he wasn't the only person they needed to talk to. You find out that there may have been an altercation at a bar with Ryan a few nights before the murder?

[Lester Holt]

Yes. So there was someone at the bar that night that had called us for a tip that says, hey, I think you should go talk to this person. He could be a suspect. So we get ahold of the bar owner. He did make the comment to us that there was this Ronald Behnken and Ryan had gotten to a verbal altercation.

[Narrator/Reporter]

The men knew each other through the farming business.

[Lester Holt]

I don't really think that he liked Ryan Cooper.

[Narrator/Reporter]

What was the altercation about? Or this verbal argument? What was it over?

[Lester Holt]

So nobody really told us what it was about. They just said that they Were having an altercation together.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Detectives went to the bar and asked to see security footage from that night.

[Lester Holt]

There was no audio associated with the video. It was just a picture. It just looked like a couple people having a normal conversation. There was no finger pointing. There was nobody standing up, getting in anybody's face. And there was certainly not a fight as it was put to us.

[Narrator/Reporter]

That lead went nowhere. Same with Nolan de Waal. Investigators did find his.22 caliber pistol. It was at his brother in law's house like he said.

[Lester Holt]

So that firearm was submitted, and it did not match with the shell casing that was at the scene. And we were able to follow up with his alibi that he wasn't even in the area. They cleared him as a suspect.

[Narrator/Reporter]

But investigators weren't out of names yet. Someone else had popped up on their radar. A young man with quite the reputation.

[Ashton Wilson]

He liked the older ladies. Oh, like cougars. Yeah.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Investigators trying to figure out who in this farm town might have hated Ryan Cooper enough to shoot were crossing names off their list, including his former business partner and a man Ryan encountered at a bar. Detectives were also eyeing someone else. A farmhand whose reputation around Treyer preceded him.

[Lester Holt]

Houston Danker is a young man whose.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Name just kind of popped up almost immediately. Assistant Tama county attorney Geneva Williams joined the investigation. At the beginning, he's known as a ladies man.

[Lester Holt]

He was known as someone who had a particular affinity for older women.

[Narrator/Reporter]

He was only 23 years old and friends with Kirsty's son.

[Ashton Wilson]

He liked the older ladies. He likes cougars. Yeah. We'd be working out at the gym in the mornings, and this was. He was still in high school at this time. Then he would drive up to the front window and, like, watch us through the window work out.

[Narrator/Reporter]

And Houston wasn't just ogling. There was one woman in particular that he wrecked their marriage is that this.

[Ashton Wilson]

Is his best friend's best friend's mom.

[Lester Holt]

High school buddies. Moms. Yeah.

[Ashton Wilson]

Yeah.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Okay. That really is Stacey's mom.

[Lester Holt]

Yeah.

[Narrator/Reporter]

So he had an affair with his best friend's mom and her marriage ended.

[Lester Holt]

Oh, yeah.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Houston was a client of Carina's at the salon, and investigators learned that Ryan thought he was interested in more than a haircut. They heard Houston had been messaging with Karina on Snapchat, and Ryan wasn't happy about it. He is also brought in to talk to investigators.

[Lester Holt]

Yeah. Houston showed up at the Tama county sheriff's office. Just grab a seat. Where? Yeah, actually grab a seat here.

[Narrator/Reporter]

It'd be great.

[Lester Holt]

His demeanor was. Was Very relaxed, cooperative. He was very cooperative. He was kind of joking with the DCI agent in the interview. Keep in mind, I don't know you. I known you for what, 10 minutes now? Yeah. But you kind of got a reputation where you're pretty successful with the ladies, right? I won. Better luck than some. Or not as bad as others. Years ago. Years ago. Yeah. I mean, it's bad to say, but I'm young with two kids. The rumor that's going around is Ryan or you and Karina were Snapchatting. Did that actually happen at some point? Yeah. It's not anything spec. You know, just your typical snap. Like I said, Snapchat. Random. You know what I was told, and keep in mind, this is sometimes second and third hand through people. Is that Ryan found out that you're Snapchatting. Did Ryan never know about you two Snapchat? Oh, yeah.

[Narrator/Reporter]

But he said it was no big deal. They were just friends.

[Lester Holt]

There's no point in kind of dance if you were screwing around with her or what. Doesn't make you a killer. Everybody's got weird going on in their life. Right? Okay, y. So I don't want you to get too nervous about it, because if you had an affair with Karina, doesn't make you guilty of anything other than you had an affair with her. Right. Well, and that. That. I'll put it this way.

[Ashton Wilson]

I'll.

[Lester Holt]

I'll completely dumb it down. So, like, right, with me and Karina, I was literally sitting there, like, I would say, a gay best friend. I'm more like a gay best friend.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Only he's not gay.

[Lester Holt]

That's correct.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Karina was 20 years older than Houston. He said she gave him advice and even offered to help him out with his kids.

[Lester Holt]

Me and my baby mama split up. Okay. She loves kids. Whatever. And she. She always told me, you know, if you're ever in a pinch, hey, you know, I don't have a problem watching your kids. And then the Snapchatting, did that kind of coincide with watching the kids or. Yeah, that's. That's where. That's where that picked up. You're the hopeless single dad that needs help every now and then. That's pretty, well, kind of a way. Yeah.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Houston said he was home asleep when the murder happened.

[Lester Holt]

Pretend you think you went to bed. Oh, probably 11. 11:30. So after 11? Yeah, yeah, I'd say 10:30. 11.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Did the investigators believe him?

[Lester Holt]

Yeah, I mean, we would follow up with this alibi to see. So it's a long process for us. We had several Rumors that we gotta track down right now. Yeah. So you're just one of them. I get. Don't. Don't feel too special.

[Narrator/Reporter]

The interview ended with investigators concluding this lead was likely a dead end. Just another red herring.

[Ashton Wilson]

Mm. Mm. I think they kind of explained it as just a friendship that maybe somebody had misinterpreted as being a relationship.

[Narrator/Reporter]

But the idea that some kind of love triangle might be at the center of the murder was juicy gossip for a small town. Ashton was quick to dismiss it as an absurd rumor.

[Ashton Wilson]

It was almost laughable. You know, one of my good friends husband was just murdered. And the rumor mill is just flying now. There was a 20 year age gap. Investigators asked you about Houston?

[Lester Holt]

Yes. They asked if we thought maybe he was involved. And I didn't think so. I didn't think that was his way of doing things. Just not his way of.

[Narrator/Reporter]

He's more into cougars than killing.

[Lester Holt]

Yeah, I don't. I think he's more of a lover than a fighter. So.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Months passed. The fall harvest arrived and still no arrest.

[Ashton Wilson]

Yeah, it was very frustrating.

[Narrator/Reporter]

And we were in touch with Law.

[Ashton Wilson]

Enforcement Weekly and we knew they were working on things, but it just. Everything takes time and we just had to be patient. And then, you know, as it became a cold case, then it was like.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Oh, you know, did they actually call it a cold case?

[Ashton Wilson]

Yes.

[Narrator/Reporter]

The law enforcement.

[Ashton Wilson]

Yep. About six, seven months in.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Wait a minute. It's only been seven months, right?

[Ashton Wilson]

Yeah, it's even been a year.

[Narrator/Reporter]

The trail to Ryan's killer had gone cold. But it was both by no means frozen. The truth about someone in his inner circle could be the key to it all. Enter Karen. Sometimes Karen could drift into bad Karen.

[Ashton Wilson]

Yeah, when she had way too much to drink.

[Lester Holt]

Before the trophy and bragging rights are rightfully yours. Before your sleeper turns. In a season no one saw coming. Before Stephen. Stats and projections turn into points on the board and your lineup falls perfectly into place. You've flipped the lid on a can of on nicotine pouches. And as you make your first pick, you know this is the season where fantasy's going to surpass reality. It's on products for tobacco consumers 21 years of age or older. Warning. This product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical. My name is Andrew Goldman. No story I've encountered in my 30 years as a journalist has gripped me by the throat quite like the murder of Martha Moxley and conviction of Michael Skakel. I thought I understood the case. It was a decades long story about the powerful and the privileged seemingly getting away with murder. But I discovered a much darker, more shocking tale than I ever could have guessed. They put a sign around my neck that said, hi, my name is Michael Skakel and I'm a murderer. He's been talked about a lot, but he's never spoken. Up until now. It was like the worst nightmare ever. Dead certain the Martha Moxley murder. Listen now, wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, guys, Willie Geist here reminding you.

[Narrator/Reporter]

To check out the Sunday Sit down podcast.

[Lester Holt]

On this week's episode, I get together with Josh Brolin to talk about his role in the latest Knives out movie and a career that has taken him from the Goonies to the Avengers. You can get our conversation for free wherever you download your podcasts.

[Narrator/Reporter]

In the months after Ryan Cooper's murder, Ashton Wilson saw her friend Karina doing her best to raise her three children without him. It wasn't easy. She gave up cutting hair and moved with the kids into a different house on the Cooper farm. And Karina's just feeling lonelier as the time goes on. Is that how you saw it?

[Ashton Wilson]

You know, I think so. I think, you know, not as many people were reaching out or checking on her. She was just feeling, you know, lonely.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Truth was, while Ashton had remained close with Karina, other friends like Kirsty and Carmen had drifted away.

[Ashton Wilson]

We did something together at least once a week, and we'd talk almost every day until our relationship really kind of went south.

[Narrator/Reporter]

The breakdown started before the murder because being a real housewife of Tama county alongside Karina meant real drama sometimes followed.

[Ashton Wilson]

Carina had a nickname when she was drinking. Yep, we called her Karen. Karen.

[Lester Holt]

Yeah, Karen. But it was Karen before there was all the Karens of the world. So we should have copyrighted that.

[Ashton Wilson]

Actually, it started off as a very fun, just general nickname for her.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Turns out Karina's alter ego wasn't always so funny. Sometimes Karen could drift into bad Karen.

[Ashton Wilson]

Yeah, when she had way too much to drink and she would use that as the excuse.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Kirsty remembers one particular incident after a golf tournament.

[Ashton Wilson]

There was many drinks to be had and she just kind of turned. She would go outside the clubhouse and scream like people could hear her from everywhere.

[Narrator/Reporter]

What is everyone thinking when this is happening?

[Ashton Wilson]

Everybody thought, what is going on? Like, Ryan, do you think it's time to take her home? And he's like, she ain't going to listen to me.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Jamie and Carmen say those drunken outbursts were often directed at Ryan.

[Ashton Wilson]

It could be just the smallest thing that would just set her off, like.

[Lester Holt]

Why'D you wear those boots? Why don't you wear these other boots tonight or something? I mean, just something like that.

[Ashton Wilson]

How did Ryan take it?

[Lester Holt]

He just kind of water on a duck's back.

[Narrator/Reporter]

The friends hadn't told police about Karina's belligerent side, but investigators had their own concerns about her behavior. Despite that cold case designation, detectives were still following up on leads. And they couldn't shake the idea that some of the things Karina did seem, seemed off. Starting the morning of the murder, Karina, Instead of calling 91 1, calls Aaron, her brother in law.

[Lester Holt]

Yeah, that, that to me seems very odd in, in this case. And call 911 if someone's hurt. If you need the police, you need the ambulance, you need to fire you, call 91 1.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Assistant County Attorney Geneva Williams says investigators were also scrutinizing how Karina acted when the first, first responders did arrive.

[Lester Holt]

It seemed very unusual for her to be sitting on his body, not trying to render any kind of aid, not allowing others to come and render any aid. Everyone understands that people have different trauma responses, but it just seemed overboard.

[Narrator/Reporter]

She also thought it was odd that Karina wasn't more attentive to her children in that moment.

[Lester Holt]

I'm always looking from the vantage point of a mother and I just could not understand and I could not wrap my mind around why she wasn't initially running to protect her children. And she seemed to be too wrapped up in her own emotional display.

[Narrator/Reporter]

And there were things about Karina's story that didn't add up. Like when she told one of the deputies, she tried to get a gun to protect herself but couldn't open her safe.

[Ashton Wilson]

I couldn't get my gun out of the safe.

[Lester Holt]

You couldn't get your gun out of.

[Narrator/Reporter]

His safe because when the deputy tried to do it himself, he was able.

[Lester Holt]

To open up the safe, which then he goes, well, this is really weird. She said she couldn't get her safe open, but I just walked over and opened it.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Detective Killian also thought it was strange that Karina's £100 Rottweiler Ransom had somehow slept through the attack.

[Lester Holt]

Even Karina told us that the dog patrols the house at night, goes and checks on the kids in their bedrooms and makes sure that everybody's safe.

[Narrator/Reporter]

But the dog was asleep at the foot of the bed.

[Lester Holt]

It was in her bedroom at the foot of the bed. Never got up, never woke up.

[Narrator/Reporter]

But for all the things about that first day that raised red flags, it was what Karina didn't do. In the months that followed, that really struck Detective Killian.

[Lester Holt]

So Karina Cooper never contacted us and asked where the investigation stood.

[Narrator/Reporter]

That would be something that you would think someone would be interested in, you know, who's taken your husband.

[Lester Holt]

Yeah. You would think that she would want to know. Like, she would be demanding, like, why is this taking so long? And she never contacted us.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Karina didn't call them, and investigators had not talked to her since about a month after the murder. Her brother Kurt said she had good reason to keep her distance.

[Lester Holt]

Kreena would get upset when she was asked questions. She felt like she was being accused. She felt like they thought she had something to do with it.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Investigators certainly had their suspicions, and the people of Trayer, Iowa, had some as well. That's a hot potato right there that you now have in the palm of your hand.

[Ashton Wilson]

I sat on that for quite some time.

[Lester Holt]

One of the DCI agents slides the Snapchat conversation forward up on the dash. And there's just this pause.

[Narrator/Reporter]

There was another twist in all of this that you did not see coming. Right.

[Ashton Wilson]

We thought that the book was closed. And then they uncovered another chapter.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Ryan Cooper's family was not surprised to learn investigators suspected Karina was involved in his murder. They wondered at themselves. Sister Michelle agreed that something about Karina's reaction seemed off from the start.

[Ashton Wilson]

You don't know how anyone's going to respond in those kinds of situations. But just something didn't seem to mesh with the events of the day.

[Lester Holt]

You want to stand up?

[Ashton Wilson]

Yeah, I need air.

[Lester Holt]

Okay.

[Ashton Wilson]

Like, she was very broken up and very emotional, but just not as genuine as you would think.

[Narrator/Reporter]

You felt like she was acting Maybe. Maybe a little. And as time went on, they could see she wasn't hounding police for answers.

[Ashton Wilson]

Like she never had contact with law enforcement again.

[Narrator/Reporter]

She did talk to Aaron about the investigation.

[Lester Holt]

One morning she called, and I think she saw they had found a shell casing. And she wanted to know what that meant, which seemed odd to me just because I would think she would know what a shell casing is because we've shotguns.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Erin thought she was playing dumb. While neither sibling wanted to believe Karina was capable of killing their brother, they were growing more and more suspicious.

[Ashton Wilson]

She's not behaving in a way of someone who's innocent and wants their husband's.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Murderer to be found. But authorities urged them to keep Carina and the kids in their lives. So they celebrated holidays together and invited them on family vacations. If you think that this woman killed your brother and Then you have to be nice to her. I. Is the strategy just to keep her sort of, you know, off her guard?

[Lester Holt]

Yeah. So it was, don't shun her out of the family, and maybe something will come about that. That she'll let her guard down and let something slip.

[Narrator/Reporter]

She never did. More months passed. Detectives kept working and collected digital evidence using an investigative tool called geofencing. They analyzed the cell phone and GPS data from traffic around the Cooper farmhouse in the hours before and after the murder.

[Lester Holt]

It's an imaginary fence that would go over the property. We were looking for devices to. Did anybody come there and did anybody leave?

[Narrator/Reporter]

The geofencing data led to a major discovery. What they didn't see.

[Lester Holt]

So we had no devices or anything coming and going from the residents.

[Narrator/Reporter]

What was a possibility based on that?

[Lester Holt]

That potentially Karina had murdered her husband.

[Narrator/Reporter]

That the killer was inside the house?

[Lester Holt]

She was.

[Narrator/Reporter]

That was the theory, anyway. They were eager to confront Karina with this new evidence, but it had been almost two years since she last spoke with investigators, and they were worried she wouldn't agree to a meeting. That's when the family keeping Karina close paid off. She'd always trusted Ryan's brother Aaron, and he asked her to sit down with the detectives again.

[Lester Holt]

I'm like, all right, here's your time to talk to them and settle anything that they have to talk about.

[Ashton Wilson]

She said, yes.

[Lester Holt]

And she said, yeah.

[Narrator/Reporter]

It was May 2023. A DCI special agent met Karina at the firm.

[Lester Holt]

This will be an interview with Karina Cooper.

[Narrator/Reporter]

He asked her to take him back to that June morning when she found her husband Ryan, shot in his recliner.

[Ashton Wilson]

I got up and kind of just to look and find that noise and find Ryan.

[Lester Holt]

Why.

[Ashton Wilson]

Why didn't he wake up to that?

[Lester Holt]

Yeah.

[Ashton Wilson]

When I went in the living room, I said his name a couple of times because it looked like he was sleeping.

[Narrator/Reporter]

She again described the chaotic scene when Aaron and first responders arrived and found her wailing on Ryan's lap.

[Ashton Wilson]

I remember Aaron over my shoulder, took his pulse, and he was on the phone with 91 1, because I remember him saying, no, there's no pulse. Or something to that effect. Screamed and screamed. I know that. And I'm embarrassed that I did everything wrong. I just remember screaming. I thought somebody was here.

[Narrator/Reporter]

The investigator drilled down on the details from that morning.

[Lester Holt]

And was Ransom in the bed or is he sleeping?

[Ashton Wilson]

He was at the foot of the bed.

[Lester Holt]

Because you said you almost tripped over him.

[Ashton Wilson]

I did. Triple.

[Lester Holt]

You did.

[Narrator/Reporter]

But Karina grew impatient with the interview.

[Ashton Wilson]

I need to be finishing up soon, so if there's something you have to do yet.

[Lester Holt]

Yeah, yeah. I appreciate your time. Thank you so much.

[Narrator/Reporter]

The investigator had one more thing to ask her about.

[Lester Holt]

So, Karina, I mean, at this point, the case fact shows that. That. That nobody did come into the house that night.

[Ashton Wilson]

Somebody did. Somebody obviously came in here. My husband's dead.

[Lester Holt]

He is, Karina. And we. We both know at this point why that is. Karina, we know that it wasn't someone coming inside the house.

[Ashton Wilson]

You're leaving my property now. Somebody came into my house and killed my husband. Go figure out who killed my husband.

[Lester Holt]

Yeah, well, we did. We did.

[Ashton Wilson]

No, you obviously did.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Karina stormed outside. The investigator followed.

[Lester Holt]

Let's talk about. No.

[Ashton Wilson]

Get off my property. You want to talk, talk to my lawyer.

[Lester Holt]

Well, I don't want to talk to you. I just want to talk to you because you're the one that knows what happened to Ryan that night.

[Ashton Wilson]

No, I don't. If I knew what happened to my husband, I'd be in jail because the would be dead.

[Lester Holt]

Karina.

[Ashton Wilson]

Get off my property.

[Lester Holt]

I talked to the investigator right after that. He said it didn't end well and he got kicked off their property and she was not going to talk to them again.

[Narrator/Reporter]

The sit down didn't yield anything useful, except maybe a glimpse at Karina's famous temper. Detective Killian felt they had a strong enough case against her, but it was up to the Iowa Attorney General's office to file charges. And he says the assistant AG assigned to the case wasn't receptive. More months passed until a chance encounter with the AG Herself allowed the detective to make his case.

[Lester Holt]

I had a conversation with her that I feel she's got this big momentum of really pursuing Iowa cold cases. This is a cold case. I felt like your office maybe wasn't given the assistance that we needed. And she said that she was not aware of that.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Soon after that meeting, a new prosecutor from the Attorney General's office was assigned to the case. But it wasn't just a fresh set of eyes that would finally break it open. There would also be a fresh set of revelations.

[Ashton Wilson]

We took his phone and looked at all the messages. And it was. Was just tons of messages of I love you and messages. Oh, my gosh.

[Narrator/Reporter]

So it was like, this is on his phone.

[Ashton Wilson]

Clearly unfair.

[Lester Holt]

Before the trophy and bragging rights are rightfully yours. Before your sleeper turns in a season no one saw coming, before stats and projections turn into points on the board and your line of up falls perfectly into place. You flip the lid on a can of on nicotine pouches. And as you make your first pick, you know this is the season where fantasy's going to surpass reality. It's on products for tobacco consumers 21 years of age or older. Warning. This product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical.

[Narrator/Reporter]

I'm Julio Vaquero, anchor of Noticias Telemundo. You can watch Dateline, the hit true.

[Lester Holt]

Crime series on Telemundo.

[Narrator/Reporter]

And now you can listen to Daedline as a podcast. Stories of love and betrayal, of secrets revealed of the men and women who stand between evil and justice. Every twist and turn can now be heard in Spanish. With new mysteries arriving every week. Just search Dateline en Espanol wherever you get your podcasts and start listening.

[Lester Holt]

Where was she? The disappearance of Carrie Farver was quite unlike any other. Beyond diabolical, beyond the macabre. A story straight out of left field. I'm Keith Morrison and this is Something About Carrie, an all new podcast from Dateline. Listen for free each week or unlock new episodes early and enjoy ad free listening by subscribing to Dateline Premium on Apple podcasts.

[Narrator/Reporter]

It was fall 2023. A new prosecutor was assigned to review the Ryan Cooper case. Assistant Attorney General Michael Ringle.

[Lester Holt]

It's one of those cases where I look at it and we're not at a standstill. We're not dead in the water. There's things that we can do.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Ringle spent three months with investigators and the local prosecutor looking at the case from every angle, reviewing witness statements and eliminating all other possibilities before coming to the same conclusion as Detective Killian.

[Lester Holt]

We thought there was enough evidence to proceed.

[Ashton Wilson]

Mike comes in and says, I think.

[Lester Holt]

We have enough for the arrest.

[Narrator/Reporter]

On February 16, 2024, Detective Killian rolled onto the Cooper farm with a team of deputies. Karina walked outside to greet them.

[Lester Holt]

All right, we got some paperwork for you.

[Ashton Wilson]

Do you have usable?

[Lester Holt]

Remember? Well, you're under arrest.

[Ashton Wilson]

What?

[Lester Holt]

Yep. So we're placing you under arrest. There's going to be some people at the sheriff's office that are going to be talking to you.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Why am I under arrest?

[Ashton Wilson]

If you'll let me. My children. You guys, my children. What is happening here? What is happening?

[Lester Holt]

So we have a copy of your warrant for you.

[Ashton Wilson]

I don't understand what.

[Lester Holt]

This is insane.

[Ashton Wilson]

My stands are going to be so scared. How is this happening?

[Lester Holt]

I got a call from Trevor Killian in the morning and said, we just arrested Trina. Can you come over and get the kids.

[Narrator/Reporter]

What's that like?

[Lester Holt]

It was a lot of emotion. 60 year stomach type of feeling. It wasn't a good feeling.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Ashton got a frantic phone call from one of Karina's sons.

[Ashton Wilson]

The cops are here arresting mom. And so it goes through your mind when you hear that. Unbelievable. You know what is happening? Guys just did not believe it. They're out of leads and this is their next one.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Ashton was sure Karina was innocent. So was Karina's brother Karl, who visited her in jail soon after the arrest.

[Lester Holt]

I do remember she saying to me, you don't believe any of this, do you? But I told her, absolutely not. No, he didn't do it. They're mistaken.

[Narrator/Reporter]

He found his sister. Two defense attorneys, Erin Hawbaker and Nicole Watt. And what were your first impressions? My first impression was that she was.

[Ashton Wilson]

Possibly a victim here of a wrongful prosecution.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Why did you think that?

[Ashton Wilson]

Because it didn't sound like there was.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Any evidence against her at all. They're looking at Karina as the sole killer in this, and yet you have this shoe print coming out of the house.

[Ashton Wilson]

Right.

[Lester Holt]

The physical evidence did not line up with her being responsible for this.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Like the fact that no murder weapon had been found and another gaping hole, no proof of any motive. Investigators were working on that. And right after the arrest, they reached out to Carina's close circle of girlfriends, including Kirsty.

[Ashton Wilson]

And they called and said, I don't know if you know, but Karina's being arrested and we would like you to come down and for us to talk to you.

[Narrator/Reporter]

I mean, you must have been just shaking.

[Ashton Wilson]

I still am.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Like, you're shaking now. I mean, I can only imagine in the moment. What are they hoping that you can offer?

[Ashton Wilson]

I think just what kind of person she was, if there was anything going on.

[Narrator/Reporter]

It was the first time Kirsty spoke with investigators. They had questions about Houston Danker, the young womanizer who jokingly called himself Karina's gay best friend. Rumors of an affair between the two had not died down, and detectives wanted to see what Kirsty knew. Turned out a lot.

[Ashton Wilson]

I had heard some things that really started to kind of concern me.

[Narrator/Reporter]

It was several months before the murder. Kirsty was hanging out with some other moms.

[Ashton Wilson]

Another friend came and said that she was with Houston Danker all day. There was just like hundreds of messages coming through between him and Karina.

[Narrator/Reporter]

What kind of messages?

[Ashton Wilson]

And that's where we were like, what do you mean? He was only a couple years older than my son.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Then Houston Himself showed up at the house.

[Ashton Wilson]

Us girls are very inquisitive. So we took his phone.

[Narrator/Reporter]

The Real Housewives of Tama County.

[Ashton Wilson]

Yeah, we took his phone and looked at all the messages, and it was just tons of messages of I love you send messages. Oh, my gosh.

[Narrator/Reporter]

So it was like, this is on his phone.

[Ashton Wilson]

Clearly an affair.

[Narrator/Reporter]

I mean, here she is. She has this great husband, children, business, farm friends. And then now she's with this guy half her age.

[Ashton Wilson]

Oh, I just couldn't even wrap my head around and understand them.

[Narrator/Reporter]

I mean, that's. That's a hot potato right there that you're. That you now have in the palm of your hand.

[Ashton Wilson]

I sat on that for quite some time, and I regret that probably to this day.

[Narrator/Reporter]

But now she told investigators everything. Did that feel at all cathartic to you, that you'd held this in for. For so long, and then now it's.

[Ashton Wilson]

Finally out in the open? Yes and no. Like, I want to help bring justice to Ryan. But also there's those years of friendship.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Did you feel like you were, in a way, betraying Karina?

[Ashton Wilson]

Yeah.

[Narrator/Reporter]

But Kirstie's story wasn't hard evidence. The messages she saw were on Snapchat and long gone. That's because Snapchat is designed to Delete most communications 24 hours after they're seen. Authorities had been in possession of Karina's phone since the day of the murder and found no evidence of an affair with Houston. Now, the new prosecutor wanted a second look. Did you sort of feel like it was a bit of a Hail Mary since it had already been looked at to some degree?

[Lester Holt]

Yes.

[Narrator/Reporter]

He reached out to a forensic investigator at the University of Iowa and asked her to try to extract additional evidence from the phone. She hit paydirt. Turns out deleted Snapchats sometimes don't completely disappear. The expert was able to recover a trove of messages between Karina and Houston Danker. What exactly are you reading on these messages?

[Lester Holt]

The Snapchat messages made clear that Karina Cooper and Houston Danker were engaged in some sort of an affair.

[Narrator/Reporter]

The gay best friend is having sex with his female. Yes, it was all there on Karina's phone. Messages like this one from Houston. You got to see me in my underwear this morning, and I haven't gotten to see you in another. Karina tells Houston just fell even harder for you. They even discussed having a baby through ivf.

[Lester Holt]

There were discussions of essentially Houston Danker assuming Ryan Cooper's role in Karina's life, conversations about having their own Children together. Essentially plans for the future.

[Narrator/Reporter]

It was time to talk to Houston Danker again. What would the young man have to say now?

[Lester Holt]

Are you guys telling me that I'm the one that did it?

[Narrator/Reporter]

Investigators wanted another interview with Houston Danker. The young man they just confirmed was having an affair with Karina when her husband was murdered.

[Lester Holt]

He ended up being in Cedar Rapids and agrees to meet the DCI agents in Menards parking lot. Thanks for taking time out of your busy work day. Obviously at this point, Karina's been arrested, you know.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Yeah.

[Lester Holt]

As things have moved along, there's still a few gaps in our knowledge.

[Narrator/Reporter]

They told Houston they knew all about the affair and now he readily admitted to it.

[Lester Holt]

You become romantically attracted to her? Y. Right. And things had progressed. Yep.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Houston told them Ryan had confronted him and he lied his way out of it.

[Lester Holt]

Did he basically ask you if there was something going on between you and Kurt? Pretty much. And you just straight up said no? Yeah, when he got a hold of me about that, I mean, that made me feel pretty low as a. I mean it to call a spade of spade. I felt bad for kind of pissing in his Cheerio. Okay. Did you guys ever talk about a plan to relocate together or live together at some point in the future? No. No. One of the DCI agents slides the Snapchat conversation forward up on the dash and there's just this pause and they.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Up the pressure even more. It wasn't true, but they told Houston that Karina was cooperating from jail and was pointing the finger at him.

[Lester Holt]

Karina has a way of. Of explaining this. And it's Houston who is the love crazed person who just hated Ryan. And that will be the story that gets told. And that's not true. No, it's not true. Tell me about that night. So, I mean, just to be honest with you, Karina wanted me to go over there and do it. Let's start over and talk about these early morning hours. Right. I guess what I'm going to ask you guys right now. Are you guys telling me that I'm the one that did it?

[Narrator/Reporter]

Then it all came spilling out. His version of events anyway.

[Lester Holt]

Who first put the idea forward to. To end his life? What would be the next thing then that would happen in the plan was to, I guess be together and live life together. We're doubting her.

[Ashton Wilson]

Happened.

[Lester Holt]

This is 5050 would you say? I would feel like I was forced into a lot of that stuff.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Houston said the plan was for him to be the shooter, but then he changed his Mind.

[Lester Holt]

How did she receive that? When you're like, I kind of want to do this, not very good. Call me a. You know, thought you were going to take care of us. Things like that.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Houston said he did agree to help. He lent Karina his gun.

[Lester Holt]

Okay. Ryan got shot with a.22 that I own. Who shot it? Karina, where were you at? At home.

[Narrator/Reporter]

He said that after Karina killed Ryan, he drove to the farm to retrieve the weapon. He was careful to look, leave his phone at home.

[Lester Holt]

Where was it at when you picked it up in the driveway? What vehicle did you drive over there to pick the gun up? A four wheeler. Kind of be under the radar, I suppose.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Houston Danker is denying having anything to do with the shooting.

[Lester Holt]

Correct.

[Narrator/Reporter]

But he's implicating himself.

[Lester Holt]

He thinks that he did nothing wrong.

[Narrator/Reporter]

He said it was all Karina, an older woman who manipulated him.

[Lester Holt]

She's a pretty dominant person. It was so forced upon me with. And like I said, once again, should have just been a bigger person. Said Karina, you. This is stupid. This is dumb. What are we doing?

[Narrator/Reporter]

Investigators didn't believe all of Houston's story. They suspected he was in the house when Ryan was killed. That bloody shoe print found at the crime scene turned out to be from a van sneaker which matched his shoes.

[Lester Holt]

Are you guys arresting me? Just be honest with me. At this point, based on what you just shared with me, we do need to place you under arrest.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Like Karina, Houston Denker was charged with first degree murder.

[Lester Holt]

That was a big shock because we were told early on that they talked to him several times and he wasn't a suspect anymore, that he had an alibi and there's nothing they had on him.

[Ashton Wilson]

So turns out that was not the case.

[Lester Holt]

Yeah, that was not the case, Ashton.

[Narrator/Reporter]

At first thought Houston's arrest meant Carina was innocent.

[Ashton Wilson]

I felt relief because I thought I told you guys, I told you she didn't do this. I knew she couldn't do this. And then it took about five minutes for it to kind of hit me that they did this together.

[Narrator/Reporter]

That's a tough pill to swallow.

[Lester Holt]

Yeah.

[Narrator/Reporter]

But was that the whole story? A jury was about to hear two very different versions of events.

[Lester Holt]

She tells Houston Danker, go.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Now's the time she's wrapped up in something.

[Ashton Wilson]

Doesn't think this is actually going to happen.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Karina Cooper and her much younger lover, Houston Danker, were each facing life behind bars for killing Karina's husband, Ryan. There would be two separate trials. Karina's would come first. The Prosecutor knew there were challenges. I mean, this is a farmer's wife, her children are in the house. She's a hairdresser. She's, you know, a member of this tight knit community. Did you worry that jurors would have a hard time seeing her as a cold blooded killer?

[Lester Holt]

Yes, I think it's something that's really hard for people to understand. We had a concern that jurors maybe wouldn't allow themselves to believe it.

[Narrator/Reporter]

The prosecution team was a trio. Joining Michael Ringle and Geneva Williams was Assistant Attorney General Israel Kodiaga.

[Lester Holt]

The evidence has shown that she is a moderate.

[Ashton Wilson]

Evidence in this case will prove beyond.

[Narrator/Reporter]

A reasonable doubt that she is guilty. They told the jury that Carina and Houston planned the murder together, executing Ryan while he slept. And the state said the two had a plan for financing their future together. There was also a lot of money involved in this as far as life insurance that Carina was set to collect.

[Lester Holt]

Correct. We were able to find out that there was an insurance policy in the amount of $500,000 of which Karina was the beneficiary.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Prosecutors show jurors footage of the chaotic scene at the farmhouse, including Karina sitting on her husband's bloody body. They said she did that for a reason.

[Lester Holt]

She jumps on Ryan, she puts her face, forehead hair into the blood coming from Ryan's face. Why is her face on the left side where the bullet holes are? Because she's concealing evidence. I believe that she pulled the trigger and that caused back spatter or blood to spray onto her face, which explains why she was sitting on Ryan Cooper when law enforcement arrives, rubbing her face, essentially on the wound, covering her own face and blood.

[Narrator/Reporter]

That's what Ryan's brother Aaron walked into that morning. Aaron has first responder training and testified that he noticed something odd about the.

[Lester Holt]

Blood at that point. It looked like it was darkening. It wasn't bright red. What did that mean to you? That it wasn't immediately fresh.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Prosecutors argued that meant Ryan had been shot earlier than Karina claimed. And they said her phone backed that up. You extracted some health data from Carina's phone that showed something suspicious to you about her movements?

[Lester Holt]

Yes. It showed that she was up and was moving around the house during a period of time that she said she.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Was asleep a full 10 minutes before she called for help.

[Ashton Wilson]

The phone shows that she was walking between 4:23 and 433, 170 steps.

[Narrator/Reporter]

The state called the Cooper's eldest son, Cade, to the stand. With cameras barred for his testimony. The now 15 year old, told the jury that on the night of the murder, his mother instructed him to sleep in his own bed instead of his usual spot on the couch near his dad.

[Lester Holt]

It was a critical piece of information that shows the level of planning and calculation on her part.

[Ashton Wilson]

Is it possible that she's just a.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Mom, you know, saying, hey, you're not getting a good night sleep, I want you to start sleeping in your own bed?

[Lester Holt]

It's absolutely possible in isolation. But when you look at the full constellation of evidence, every piece together, is it probable or likely that this was an innocent act? It's not.

[Narrator/Reporter]

The state also called friends, including Carmen Earhart, who told the jury about four fights she saw between Ryan and Karina.

[Ashton Wilson]

She was arguing with Ryan. Another friend tried to step in and kind of like to solve the situation. She even grabbed that person by the hair and ripped them back out of the argument so you could physically tell that she was very upset.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Another friend, Theresa McBride, testified she heard this threat directed at Ryan.

[Ashton Wilson]

Well, the one that stands out in my mind is the night that she yelled at him and said that she hated him and would shoot him in the face.

[Narrator/Reporter]

But the state's strongest evidence appeared to be Karina and Houston's own words. Those Snapchat messages recovered by the prosecution's expert. And those messages revealed a lot more than just pillow talk. In one, she belittled Ryan as just her sperm donor. In another, she seemed to wish he was dead. You found one of her Snapchat messages to Houston. Danker said. I'm wishing for a rogue semi accident. No survivors. And Ryan drove a truck.

[Lester Holt]

He did. He drove a semi with some regularity for his farm duties. And yes, she sent that message to Houston Danker, which clearly indicates from the state's perspective, malice.

[Narrator/Reporter]

But the most damning were messages about the murder itself.

[Lester Holt]

They certainly think they've done a good job of deleting the murder. Most incriminating snaps. And a lot of what they did was pretty stupid, pretty easily discovered.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Roughly an hour before the 911 call, Houston messaged Karina. Okay, babe, seriously. Putting the phone down. Have to get this expletive done. I love you. Karina replied.

[Lester Holt]

Go. She tells Houston Danker, go. Which was the sign that the coast was clear for him to come into the house and for the two of them to commit this murder.

[Narrator/Reporter]

And the state said if there was any doubt about what they were discussing, look at what else Houston said. Remember those casings? Corrina's reply? Absolutely, 100%.

[Lester Holt]

They shoot Ryan. The plan is For Houston to get out of there as fast as possible, possible out that door. Which is exactly what happened. Karina's job is to find shell casings. She uses her cell phone flashlight to search around. She finds one, she doesn't find the other.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Karina's brother, Kurt, had stood by her side since her arrest. Now, as he sat in court, the full weight of the evidence sunk in.

[Lester Holt]

I was disgusted. It was just disgusting, coming home from the truck that my mom muttered something like, where did I go wrong? I mean, it's a. It's not something she did, obviously.

[Narrator/Reporter]

How could Karina possibly recover from this? She was about to try by telling her story directly to the jury.

[Ashton Wilson]

I was disgusted and scared of losing my husband.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Over and over, Karina Cooper told friends and family she did not kill her husband, Ryan. Now, her defense was about to explain what really happened.

[Ashton Wilson]

Houston Danker killed Ryan Cooper.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Houston Danker shot. Shot Ryan Cooper in the face. The strategy was point the finger at Houston Danker. That he's your guy that you want to be focusing on. Here he is. And that it's like she's wrapped up in something.

[Ashton Wilson]

Doesn't think this is actually going to happen.

[Narrator/Reporter]

And then it does. Karina's story was the opposite of what Houston told police. In her version, the younger man coerced her into taking part in the murder. Houston Danker solicited Karina. Houston Danker manipulated Karina. Karina Cooper was in a dream world. And then it became real. And then she was in too deep. And no one could explain that better than Karina.

[Lester Holt]

You swear or affirm that the testimony you'll be giving in these proceedings will be the truth?

[Ashton Wilson]

I do, you, Honor.

[Narrator/Reporter]

You decided to put Karina on the stand? Yes. Why? Because it's, you know, that's something that we don't see very often. Because the jury needed to hear that she's a regular person, a good mother, somebody who loves her children and who would not do this. And so she had to take the stand so the jury could see more than just her. Sitting next to us at the table, silently from the witness chair, Carina described how, as a married mother of three, she ended up in a relationship with a man 20 years younger. How did you meet him?

[Ashton Wilson]

I knew of him for years, but I started cutting his hair is how I met him. And I was being showered with attention by him, being told I was beautiful and funny. Why can't I find a woman like that? And it became very flattering to me.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Karina testified that the romance was mostly a Fantasy that played out on Snapchat.

[Ashton Wilson]

It's odd because when I would cut his hair, we would talk about the same things that I would talk about with any other customers. It wasn't lewd. It wasn't flirtatious. That was when we Snapchatted at night, that. That. It was like we were shy in person but became other people. When we were texting each other at one point, did it become physical? There was one physical encounter, yes. The last time I cut his hair before he killed Ryan, it would have been in February. I cut his hair and we had sex.

[Narrator/Reporter]

After that, she told Houston to stop coming to the salon. Why did you stop cutting his hair?

[Ashton Wilson]

Because I didn't want that chance of that happening ever again. It was an online fantasy thing. And when it became a physical in person thing, I was disgusted and scared of losing my husband.

[Narrator/Reporter]

But Karina said Houston refused to back off.

[Ashton Wilson]

Houston acted like he was my husband and Ryan was my boyfriend.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Karina told the court that Houston was the one who wanted Ryan dead. Did Houston talk about killing Ryan?

[Ashton Wilson]

Several times.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Did you ever take him seriously?

[Ashton Wilson]

No. I thought he was full of crap. He's got quite a reputation around town with women and telling tall tales.

[Narrator/Reporter]

She insisted she had no idea what Houston was planning to do until the worst had already happened. You get to the living room, you turn on the lamp. What happens?

[Ashton Wilson]

I see Ryan. And then I see a large pool of blood. I shook his foot. Okay. And then I just started screaming.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Can you tell us why you called Aaron instead of 911?

[Ashton Wilson]

First, Aaron lives less than a mile from us. Aaron is a first responder. Aaron is the person closest to us that I would trust in a time of emergency. I called him because I was panicking. Ryan was killed with your three children home, would you ever orchestrate the murder.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Of your husband with your three kids home?

[Ashton Wilson]

Never.

[Narrator/Reporter]

One of the points that you wanted to make for the jury was that what kind of mother would kill her husband in this small farmhouse with the children home?

[Ashton Wilson]

That was one of the reasons I believe that.

[Narrator/Reporter]

That she was innocent, because for all intents and purposes, she seemed like a very good mother. Karina said although she never saw Houston in the house, she knew no one else could have killed Ryan.

[Ashton Wilson]

Then when the police get there, why.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Didn'T you tell them Houston shot my husband?

[Ashton Wilson]

I was so scared. I instantly thought I was being set up in some one of his plots that he laid out all the time through Snapchat. I panicked.

[Narrator/Reporter]

And then. Did you continue to lie to law.

[Ashton Wilson]

Enforcement for years I did.

[Lester Holt]

Once she committed to a path which wasn't coming clean about her relationship with Houston Danker. It was too late, you know, if she would have come forward and said this is what was going on, this might have been a different result.

[Narrator/Reporter]

From the beginning, the defense understood the importance of addressing some of the most damaging evidence. The elephant in the room, which is the Snapchat. The Snapchat. There's a message about a rogue semi.

[Ashton Wilson]

Accident that we saw on the Snapchat.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Did you want your husband dead?

[Ashton Wilson]

No.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Why would you say that?

[Ashton Wilson]

Because I have a really sick sense of humor, sometimes inappropriate humor. And I was probably angry, like people have said, especially when I drink. I can say I have a sharp tongue sometimes and can say nasty things.

[Narrator/Reporter]

And what about that message she sent just before Ryan was killed? The one prosecutor said simply read go. She testified there was more to it.

[Ashton Wilson]

I know I said more. I sent three messages in a row. What did they say? Go to sleep. Three messages. Like putting periods in between the words to emphasize go to sleep.

[Narrator/Reporter]

In other words, she was telling Houston, good night, not come over and help me kill my husband. The defense said the prosecution's expert had essentially hacked into Karina's phone and didn't recover everything. She claims she said, go to sleep. That there were three messages and the.

[Ashton Wilson]

Data didn't retrieve completely.

[Narrator/Reporter]

And we fought a lot about data loss from phone information and phone dumps.

[Ashton Wilson]

It's essentially a hack.

[Narrator/Reporter]

The software is them kind of getting through the back door and being able to expose some information, but they can't answer.

[Ashton Wilson]

They can't figure everything out.

[Narrator/Reporter]

But one thing was clear in those digital conversations. According to the defense, once Ryan was killed, killed, communication between the lovers abruptly ended. Nobody testified to any indication of a continued relationship between Karina and Houston. So why does it end?

[Ashton Wilson]

It ends because it became real and.

[Narrator/Reporter]

He actually killed her husband. Houston Danker on this evening went rogue and he actually did it. Among those listening in court was Ashton, still struggling to make sense of it all. You watched her up there. How did that feel?

[Ashton Wilson]

I mean, There was parts of her story that became believable. Maybe she was manipulated into this.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Would the jury feel the same way.

[Lester Holt]

Testimony will be giving in these proceedings?

[Narrator/Reporter]

Karina Cooper had just told the jury she was manipulated by Houston Danker and he was the one who shot her husband.

[Ashton Wilson]

You state you loved Ryan Cooper. Yes.

[Lester Holt]

You loved him?

[Ashton Wilson]

Yes. Very much? Yes.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Now, prosecutor Israel Kodiaga made it his mission to poke holes in her story.

[Lester Holt]

You are the lover.

[Ashton Wilson]

That's what you call him. Yes. What do you call him? I called him an online inappropriate relationship.

[Lester Holt]

We felt confident that even if people did have sympathy for her, we could remind them of the evidence that they'd seen. The person you just referred to as a sperm donor.

[Ashton Wilson]

That's your husband, Brian Cooper, who you tell this jury you loved so dearly. I think we all called people that we love names at times.

[Narrator/Reporter]

He then asked Carina to read her own loving words to Houston.

[Ashton Wilson]

I swear, heart emoji. And just felt even harder for you, which I don't think I could have been any more crazy over you than I already was.

[Narrator/Reporter]

And the exchanges got more explicit. The prosecutor wanted the jury to hear it all.

[Ashton Wilson]

Good morning, baby. You would have woke up to your horny wife's hand wrapped around your. This morning.

[Narrator/Reporter]

He asked about suggestive photos. The pair swapped.

[Ashton Wilson]

He wrote, you got to see me in my underwear this morning and I haven't gotten to see you.

[Lester Holt]

You got to see him in his underwear that morning.

[Ashton Wilson]

I've seen a Snapchat of it. Yes.

[Narrator/Reporter]

The prosecution also wanted to know this. If Karina was so innocent, how could she possibly explain that text exchange about picking up the shell casings?

[Lester Holt]

Then he says, remember those casings? Remember those.

[Ashton Wilson]

No ifs, ands, or buts. That's what he said. You say absolutely, a hundred percent. That was the Snapchat I sent. Yes.

[Narrator/Reporter]

You watched Karina testify.

[Lester Holt]

Yep.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Your thoughts on what you were seeing and hearing?

[Lester Holt]

Lies. All lies. It actually made me go back and think about everything. Every conversation I'd ever had with her, how much I thought she probably lied during all of those.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Also, even her own attorneys had to admit Carina's cross examination did not go well.

[Ashton Wilson]

Cross examination was pretty brutal, but it was more just a shock effect of embarrassing her.

[Narrator/Reporter]

And that's what the state did.

[Ashton Wilson]

They succeeded.

[Narrator/Reporter]

After that, the case went to the jury. It was not a long wait. Three and a half hours later, has.

[Lester Holt]

The jury in fact reached a verdict? We, the jury, find the defendant, Karina Cooper, guilty of the offense of murder in the first degree. I felt a lot different than I thought I would feel. It wasn't. It wasn't relief. It wasn't happiness. It was just. I want to say it was sad how it went down. And I mean, we lost another family member.

[Narrator/Reporter]

And it doesn't bring back Ryan, and.

[Lester Holt]

It doesn't bring Ryan back.

[Narrator/Reporter]

The women who once considered Karina a close friend felt the same sense of emptiness.

[Ashton Wilson]

Nobody in their wildest dreams would ever think that you would have a friend that could do this and gives you a lot of trust issues with people from now on.

[Narrator/Reporter]

But few felt as wounded as Karina's own brother.

[Lester Holt]

This is hard for me to say. I don't. I think as Karina age, she wasn't mentally stable. I guess I think she believed she was smarter than she actually was. Now don't get me wrong, she was a smart woman, but I believe she thought she could actually get away with this.

[Narrator/Reporter]

As excruciating as it was to sit through the trial, Ryan's family prepared to go through it all again. With Houston Danker set to go on trial a month later after his last interview with police, prosecutors accept expected Danker to blame Karina for the murder scheme. But by now they'd also done a deep dive into his electronics. And it turned out he wasn't the most clever criminal when it came to searching the web. Talk about some of the things he was searching for.

[Lester Holt]

Considering different potential poisons, the best gun to use to kill someone.

[Narrator/Reporter]

The questions included how do people get caught for shooting? And the best way to kill somebody with no evidence. Maybe that's why he changed his mind. As the trial was beginning that morning.

[Lester Holt]

Of jury selection, I got called from Mike Ringle, the prosecutor, and hey, about five minutes ago, he pled guilty.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Everything came to a screeching halt.

[Lester Holt]

It did, and that was a good feeling. Just not having to go through that again was good.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Both Karina and Houston Danker were automatically sentenced to life behind bars. Ryan's children now live with their uncle Aaron and his wife. And their uncle Kurt has found a way to stay in their lives despite the horrible things his sister did.

[Lester Holt]

I wouldn't say it's awkward anymore. It was in the beginning, you know, but it's just not anymore because they're so great. They're another good family.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Life on the family farm churns on through seasons of planting and harvests. Erin built a new, bigger house on the land where the kids can grow up with their cousins who are really like siblings now. What's life like on the farm now that you've doubled your children three to six?

[Lester Holt]

Yeah, it's busy. There's usually something going on at all times with somewhat out of control chaos. It's a ride.

[Narrator/Reporter]

A ride just like Ryan a man who loved farm and family would have wanted.

[Lester Holt]

That's all for this edition of Dateline. And don't forget to check out our talking Dateline podcast, in which we'll go behind the scenes of tonight's episode, available Wednesday in the Dateline feed. Wherever you get your your podcasts. We'll see you again next Friday at 9, 8 Central. I'm Lester Holt. For all of us at NBC News, good night. This time of year, many are checking off their holiday gift lists. But identity thieves have lists, too, and your personal information might be on them. Protect your identity with Lifelock. Lifelock monitors millions of data points every second and alerts you to threats you could miss. If your identity is stolen, Lifelock will fix it, guaranteed, or your money back. Save up to 40% your first year. @lifelock.com Dateline terms apply.