Chapter 1: What happened on the night of Ryan Cooper's murder?
Tonight on Dateline.
Oh, my God.
Karina, sit up.
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.
I approach Ryan and I observe a bullet hole. He was shot twice.
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Chapter 2: How did the community react to the news of Ryan's death?
Somebody came into my house and killed my husband.
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. He was into the Cougars. I would say so. Sometimes Karen could drift into bad Karen. Yeah, when she had way too much to drink. Law enforcement recovered Snapchat messages.
Chapter 3: What evidence did investigators find at the crime scene?
Snapchat messages don't actually go away. They don't go away. It was horrible language. Disgusting. It's pretty clear evidence of what their plan was. The truth was coming out for everyone to know. That was a tough pill to swallow. 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.
It was June 18th, 2021. Night had settled over the cornfields in Traer, 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.
Chapter 4: What were the initial theories about Ryan's death?
His younger brother Aaron lived just a mile down the road. And your phone rings. About what time is it?
4.30.
It was Ryan's wife, Karina.
She called and screaming that somebody was in her house.
Does she give any more detail?
No. It was just screaming and frantic and couldn't really make out too much of what she was saying besides somebody who's in her house. Grabbed my gun and headed towards Ryan's house.
Do you just haul it over there at top speed?
Yep.
On the way, he called 911.
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Chapter 5: How did the investigation evolve over time?
Aaron saw his 11-year-old nephew, Cade, at the window. He jumped out of the truck, still on the phone with 911.
I am armed. Do you want me to proceed? Yeah. These three kids 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 f***? What the f***? My brother's dead. Aaron is a volunteer firefighter, so he'd seen death before. But never like this. This was his brother. A lot of blood all over both of them. Big pool on the floor. And what's the first thing you do when you see that? What do you say? What do you do?
Chapter 6: What role did social media play in the investigation?
I don't really remember what I did. I checked for his pulse, and there was no pulse.
Do you know if he's been shot?
No. he has not but there's blood coming out of his mouth and all over on the floor it was horrible worst thing i've ever seen minutes later a sheriff's deputy arrived and spoke with aaron what's going on ryan was in his recliner chair karina sitting on top of him still wailing ma'am what happened
The deputy searched the darkened rooms with a flashlight, making sure an intruder wasn't inside. He called for backup. Tama County Deputy Travis Foster arrived next. As I walked 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?
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. That's the wife. County 7. Get a hold of the ME's office. Also, Advise 86-1, we have one deceased male.
Soon, the house was swarming with police, paramedics, the medical examiner, everyone trying to figure out what happened. Does he have any problems, mental health problems or anything?
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Chapter 7: What led to the arrests of Karina Cooper and Houston Danker?
No. Well, you're fine. Aaron got the children out of the house and into his truck. He called his and Ryan's sister, Michelle Wilson. And he said, Ryan's dead. I'm like, what do you mean dead? Like, how? 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 at the farm.
Karina was still distraught when Deputy Foster brought her to his patrol car. Can you tell me what happened?
A loud noise. I thought something fell.
Did you see anybody else in the house? So did he do that to himself?
No way. No way.
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 got to figure out what happened first. Okay. You want to stand up?
Yeah. I need air. Okay. Okay.
Just take a seat. All right. In those early morning hours at the crime scene, Karina, now a widow, could barely speak. But as the mystery of what happened deepened, there would be plenty of talk around this tiny town.
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Chapter 8: What were the outcomes of the trials for Karina and Houston?
Us girls are very inquisitive. The Real Housewives of Tama County. We took his phone and looked at all the messages. What did you think when you heard that?
It was gossip.
To think that everything could have just been a complete lie that whole time, it's hard to swallow. 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 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. But before she could get there, her phone rang again. It was her mom.
And she said, I don't know what happened, but I just got a phone call that Ryan is dead. Oh, my God.
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?
No idea. I mean, did he have a heart attack? Did he have a whatever? I mean, maybe it was a health-related deal.
There was another thought that this could be a medical issue.
One of the deputies, their ambulance crew said it could have been a medical thing, like a hemorrhage.
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