Woman Finds Husband Murdered in Quiet Farm House

"Hey, McKowney 911, what is the location of your emergency?" "I just got a call from my sister-in-law that somebody's in their house." Aaron Cooper called 911, indicating that he had received a phone call from his sister-in-law, Karina Cooper. So that was the first call to 911. "Hey, McKowney 911." "Hey, McKowney 911." Almost simultaneously, there was a call to 911 that was placed from the scene by one of the children. And then Karina took over the phone. "Help! Help!" "What's going on?" "I think I have a big shot!" "It's flat on over here!" The sun hasn't even come up, and a beloved local farmer is shot dead in his own home. Is this a random shooter on the loose? Is this someone with a personal vendetta? The answer turns out to be so shocking that it will rip a family and a town apart. "I'm going to call 911." "I'm going to call 911." He's still on the phone, so you can hear him go in. And then as he's getting closer to the house, you can start hearing screaming, which is Karina. And then as he goes in the front door, it gets louder and louder. What the? My brother's dead. What's his name? Ryan Cooper. My brother. Cooper? Yes. Yes. Yes. Aaron Cooper walks into an absolutely horrifying scene. You see Ryan Cooper laying prone in that recliner with a gun. Blood pulled down his shirt. And what was most disturbing of all was seeing Karina nestled into Ryan sitting on his deceased body on his lap. It appeared that she was rubbing her face against his face, specifically in the area where the gunshot wounds were later located. So essentially covering her face with Ryan Cooper's blood. When she turned around, like, you could just see her eyeballs sticking out. Her hair was covered in blood. Her face was covered in blood. It looked like something off of Halloween. From the beginning, I think the fact that it was a murder in Tama County, that's not something that you see every day. It's a rural Iowa community. When you think of the Midwest, it's exactly, it's exactly that. Cornfields. Cornfields. Straight roads. Not a lot happening. It was obviously a very big shock that something like this would have happened in Tama County, given even who Ryan Cooper was. Ryan was one of the nicest men you could have ever met. He would drop everything if you needed something. You know, if you were in an emergency and needed help with something, he'd be right there. Ryan Cooper worked with his brother, Aaron Cooper, farming land in the area. His father had a large farming operation. The Coopers were a really typical Iowan family. The kids were in sports, and Ryan's a farmer, Karina cuts hair. It was, it all seemed so very normal. It was normal. Here's the thing. This morning is anything but normal. It's a very normal day. It's not normal. It's not normal. It's not normal. -Come talk to me, please. Ma'am. -You're a sucker! -Come talk to me. -You're a sucker! Wait! -Mom, stop. Mom. Let him go. -Aah! -That body-camera footage, difficult to watch, with the children being present at the scene, obviously able to see the state that their father was in. She was in the background continuing to essentially yell and scream, which certainly could be understandable in a circumstance such as this. -Come talk to me. -Now, where is the ambulance? -They're on their way. -Aah! -Ma'am, what happened? -I don't know! I don't know! -It's like he's taking a deep breath. -Mom, deep breath. -Come with me. -Come with me. -Come with me, please. -Mom, do this for me, okay? -Can you stay in here for me, boys? -Once she had been removed from the house and she was outside, through the continued hysterics, members of law enforcement tried to communicate with her, tried to tell her. They didn't just get a basic outline of what had occurred. -Karina? -What happened? -I need you to tell me what happened. Can you tell me what happened? -A loud noise. I thought something fell. -The information that she provided was that at some point in the night, she had been asleep. Ryan always sleeps in his recliner. That she described as a crash. So she got up from her bedroom, which was on the first floor, not far from where the living room was located. -Could the thing that you thought fell possibly have been a gunshot? -Oh, my God. I don't know. -Okay. -It was loud. -Was it real loud? Okay. Okay. And then what happened? -I got up and I peeked in the living room and then I went to the kitchen. -Okay. -She briefly kind of peeked into that living room. She did see Ryan. She thought he was asleep. The lights were off, according to her. She then went to the kitchen window, looked out the kitchen window. She didn't see or hear anything unusual, didn't see anyone leaving the home or anything like that. And then she went into the living room, she said, essentially, because she was somewhat angry with Ryan because he didn't get up to investigate the noise as he normally would. -I heard him snore. He was breathing. He snored. And I turned on the light. I saw him. -You turned on the light and you saw him? - -And then that's when he was there in the kitchen? -He was everywhere. -Okay. But you didn't see -- you didn't hear or see anyone else? -No. -And it's at that point that she discovered that he had been shot. -Somebody's here. Somebody's here. I'm so scared. I'm not hearing anything. I can't -- I can't breathe. -The initial conversation was, you know, some -- a stranger came in. A stranger did this. Somebody broke into the house. -Why? I mean, the question would be why. Why would somebody do this? -Evidence from the crime scene doesn't seem to answer that question. But it does raise some other ones. -There was not a murder weapon located at the scene. What was located was a.22-caliber shell casing that was located on the floor. It was determined through autopsy that Ryan Cooper had suffered two gunshots to the face. So there's one shell casing that's missing. -Was whoever shot Ryan trying to cover their tracks? And if there is a killer on the loose, how soon before they strike again? So detectives bring Carina Cooper to the station. And maybe once she's calmer, she can finally explain what really happened here. ♪♪ -So when you turn on the light, what exactly do you remember seeing? ♪♪ -It just looked like he was sleeping. -Okay. -And then I walked up to him and I just put there blood, like, everywhere. ♪♪ -So you said you thought that maybe somebody was in the house? -That's what I thought. -Did you hear any other sounds or commotions or anything other than the one that woke you up? -No. I looked out the kitchen window. I didn't see anything. -Okay. For police, it just doesn't make sense. Karina Cooper seems convinced there was an intruder, but there is nothing to back up those claims. There was previously cameras at the residence, but none were active. My thoughts are, you have other people that are still in the house. I look at, like, okay, why, where were they at? Why were they not harmed? My eldest son, Cade, generally slept with Ryan Cooper in the living room. Cade would sleep on the couch, and Ryan would sleep on the recliner. Days before, Karina Cooper had moved him back to his bedroom upstairs, so Cade was out of the way and was upstairs. The other kids were younger. They were sleeping with Karina. A lot of the questions were, where was their dog at? This was a 90, 100-pound Rottweiler that was extremely aggressive. She says the dog was inside the house. I don't know that anybody that can sneak into a house and shoot someone and a dog not even hear it or get up or alert to it. So maybe Karina was mistaken about there being an intruder and something else happened. Nothing out of the ordinary with Ryan's behavior yesterday. Nothing. Okay. Perfectly normal day. What about in the last few days or like the last week? Is there anything out of the ordinary with him or maybe between the two of you or anything like that? No. No. Better than we have been in a while. Kids are finally getting older and we can breathe again. Not to be personal, okay, but again, these are things we need to ask. Just try to figure this thing out. No affairs of any kind. No. No. By him or by you. And the only reason I ask is if someone went in and did something to him. And again, I'm just thinking about like the scorned lover type of thing or anything like that. They seem just like the average couple, you know, had their little squabbles here and there, but concentrated on family and raising their kids and working on the family farm and just day-to-day living. Nothing out of the ordinary. Do you know anyone that would have any reason to hurt him? Has he had any issues with anybody? No, nobody. He doesn't hurt anyone. Okay. Everybody loves him. Okay. He just works all the time and comes home. Everybody said the same thing. Ryan had no enemies. He was one of the nicest guys. Would stop doing anything to help anybody. They just really couldn't believe that anybody would hurt him. They didn't want to do this to him. Then detectives get a tip from Aaron Cooper, Ryan's brother. And this puts a different spin on this whole story. Aaron Cooper provided information that there was an individual by the name of Houston Danker, who had essentially been a source of some friction within the marriage. And so law enforcement began to speak to Karina about that. What can you tell me about your relationship with Houston? I'm going to be blunt with you. I'm going to be forward with you. The only reason we ask is Aaron made mention about maybe a couple of things. There was very little information known about Houston Danker. He was a farmhand. His family were farmers as well, or at least owned some farmland. And he was a younger gentleman, maybe a younger 20s at this point. And I'm going to be blunt with you, I'm going to be forward with you. The only reason we ask is Aaron made mention about maybe Ryan seeing something on your Snapchat. Not that that was Houston, but maybe there was something with your Snapchat. Last fall, there was a Snapchat that wasn't even meant for me. Okay, tell me about that. implicitly. Ryan saw it, not me. And he told me about it. It was something about a married woman and naked, seeing her naked or something like that. Okay. And Ryan saw it and confronted me and I confronted Houston, whom we're friends on Snapchat, and that's it. And he swore up and down in front of us that it wasn't intended for me. And that was the end of it. Has Houston seen you naked no god no okay he's 22 years old no to each their own i'm just stupid talent in their rumors no okay i cut his hair okay i watched his kids a couple times when his babysitter flaked okay oh my god it's safe to say that nothing is going on between you and you absolutely not She instantly, like, freaked out about it and was trying to really downplay, like, really excitedly, like, yelled his name. And then she's like, he's just a child. And she was, like, appalled that we were even bringing his name up. So obviously it's now time to bring in Houston Danker to see what he has to say about all this. What I'm going to do is I'm going to really cut to the chase because Ryan Cooper died in one of the first, I don't know, in the first hour. Someone said, hey, we heard that Karina signed an affair with Houston. That's why you're here, okay? Yeah. So all I got to do is I got to sort out a few things with you about that. All right, so the rumor that's going around is Ryan, you and Karina were Snapchatting. Did that actually happen at some point? Yeah, probably October, November time frame. I would say that's where the chatting started, you know, the friendship, you know. I don't know you. I've known you for like 10 minutes now. Yeah. But you kind of got a reputation where you're pretty successful with the ladies, right? If you were screwing around with her, it doesn't make you a killer or anything like that, right? It doesn't make you guilty of anything other than you had an affair with her. Right. Well, I'll put it this way. I'll completely dumb it down. So, like, with me and Karina, the hard thing with all that rumor being spread is I was literally sitting there like, I would say, a gay best friend. He described himself as like a gay best friend to Karina, meaning their relationship was platonic in that they weren't involved with each other in anything that you wouldn't expect. Houston Denker was very much not gay. You know how small towns talk, you know. Houston's kids are over at Karina's, he's f***ing on her, you know. And then, yeah. And I guess that's probably where Ryan probably got upset. You know, I appreciate you coming down as quickly as you did. We added several rumors that we've got to track down right now. Yeah. So you're just one of them. I get that. Don't feel too special. Police have their suspicions about Houston Danker, but there's nothing solid to pin on him. So they bring Karina Cooper back in to ask some harder questions. And that is when the fireworks begin. I would never. I got pulled. I just knew he got shot. And so that means I shot him? I think that this is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. Whatever's happening between you and your husband, whatever the issues are, okay? There are no issues. There are no issues. Because my husband sleeps in a chair in the living room? I'm not saying that's not true. Because rumors flew last fall that I was sleeping with some kid that he even said was ridiculous and apologized to me for? Never once did either one of us ever say that we were going to leave. Never once did we doubt our marriage, our kids, our family. We have plans. As police interview Karina Cooper for a second time, they clearly hit a nerve. Karina, listen. Just listen. We're not yelling at you. You're accusing me of killing my husband. Oh, Karina, no one else is in that house. Besides you and the three kids. No. How could you even say this? I don't even know how to fire a gun. Okay. Okay. Why do you have a permit to carry? You know how to fire a gun. I want a lawyer, and I want out of here. I did not shoot my husband. this is insane i'm leaving how do i leave she just gets up and she goes to take off and then goes running past all of us in our offices and then goes out the doors they're gonna let her leave she didn't admit to anything now look at this point police are thinking sure there are some signs that karina cooper could be the killer and the rumors of her having an affair aren't doing her any favors but they can't seem to square that away with her reputation in Traer, where she's built a business and a family. - She was outgoing. She was very much a leader. Something was going on. She was the first to organize something. You know, if there needed to be a benefit or a fundraiser, she was all over it. - Karina Cooper is somebody who really had everything. I mean, she had a wonderful husband who by all accounts was quiet kind hard-working loyal she had three beautiful children and a stepson as well she lived in a beautiful property out in a rural area she had a business she was a community member who had a lot of friends she had a great supportive family I think there was a lot of people that just firmly believed that there's no way that Karina could do something like this and there's just no way but detectives have to do their due diligence here so they start digging deeper you start looking at motive and so that's one of those classic motives money what's the financial situation what they were able to determine was Karina Cooper's business was not particularly successful so law enforcement's recognizing well she needs money is there an insurance policy and they look into it and sure enough over half a million dollars with her as the beneficiary she did attempt to collect and was successful she wanted a little bit more glamorous life than living in the old farmhouse she wanted to build a new house and you know she she wanted nicer things and Ryan was more focused on investing in farming maybe the plan was to kill Ryan collect that money and begin a new life with Houston Danker and that they would just move forward without Ryan but after Ryan's death the two go their separate ways and collecting on life insurance money isn't a crime there's no murder weapon there's no other suspects so basically police have hit a roadblock nothing was giving us any any solid evidence that was going to support an arrest or could point fingers at anybody it was just it just kept getting further and further away I mean we got to the one year mark and the two year mark just kind of fizzled out people were on edge because everybody had questions as to how does this happen in Tama County and how does somebody not get arrested right away for a crime of this magnitude so after more than two years detective Killian has had enough and he makes a bold move he decides to reach out to Iowa's Attorney General Brenna Byrd and her big push was Iowa cold cases and so I I had a conversation with her and uh she said we want to help you with this case and you're going to get a new attorney signed to this case that new attorney is prosecutor Mike Ringel he gets the case moving again and once it's been jump-started what really helps are advances in technology one of the reasons why it took so long is we knew that we had the phones of these um of these two individuals uh there's a software uh that we didn't have for like getting into the snapchat at that point in time that technology did not exist in 2021 when the phones were extracted in 2024 it is it went further into the firewalls and those snapchat messages indicated an affair that seemed very serious and seemed as though it had been fairly lengthy most disturbing on the night of the homicide was communication at about 3 30 in the morning between the two parties where it's pretty clear they're talking about murdering Ryan Cooper at that time efforts were made to delete those messages but they were nonetheless recovered clearly the evidence shows that Houston Danker and Karina Cooper were absolutely working in concert together to murder Ryan Cooper so we did not have a murder weapon at that point but that certainly was a smoking gun finally after almost three years detectives are ready to make their move I'll never forget the day I went to go arrest Karina it was one of my happiest days working here at the sheriff's office and uh kind of held that arrest warrant behind my back and she really hesitantly come down the sidewalk and asked if this was about her husband and I said yes it is and you're under arrest for the murder of first degree Houston Danker is re-interviewed in light of the information that law enforcement had received through those snapchat messages and he essentially when confronted with those messages confessed his involvement in the crime and he was arrested for first-degree murder and one more critical piece of physical evidence comes to light a 22 rifle was used to shoot Ryan Cooper in the face twice they found the rifle after one of Houston's co-workers had taken possession of it so eventually that co-worker turned the firearms over to the police so attorneys spend the next year preparing for these two trials with Karina Cooper scheduled first with Karina Cooper or one of our concerns was just the heinous nature of the crime itself would jurors struggle to understand that someone could actually do something like this and therefore maybe not believe what the evidence established that she in fact did it remember those cases remember those no ease and or thoughts those words thank you that's pretty tight the prosecution opens Cooper's trial with a bank that he died we submit to you ladies and gentlemen that the evidence in this case will prove beyond a reasonable doubt that she is guilty and we will ask you to return that fight I think generally the defense was that Houston Danker was the individual who committed this crime and that it was not Karina Cooper Houston Danker Houston Danker Houston Danker killed Ryan Cooper Houston Danker shot Ryan Cooper in the face Houston Danker solicited Karina Houston Danker manipulated Karina Houston Danker Lord Karina Houston Danker had Karina living in a dream world and then it became real and then she was in too deep she did not want her husband dead please as you hear the evidence in this case keep an open mind don't rush the judgment right from the start prosecutors dive into the digital evidence and there is a lot more than those incriminating Snapchats did you receive some electronic devices associated with this case for examination I did what types of information are you looking for especially considering that we're talking about two potential individuals being involved there were text messages located health data Snapchats search history the Google searches were located on Houston Danker's phone you could just go through a couple of the results that you found yeah how to kill somebody with antifreeze best way to kill somebody with no way for anybody to find out who did it how to save snaps without them knowing he left his digital footprints everywhere and his Google searches you know how to get away with murder how to kill someone where do murderers go in Iowa the black market where can I get cyanide so those are the shocking cold hard facts but then you have the heart-wrenching testimony about the Coopers and their marriage and that comes from the people who knew the victim and the defendant how do you know Ryan um we started farming together how would you describe your relationship he is my best friend fair enough to say it's very difficult for you to testify here today yes is that because of the nature of relationship that you had with Ryan and Karina Cooper correct can you briefly tell us what your relationship with Karina Cooper was like um we had a very good relationship she's like my sister will Karina be mean to Ryan Cooper she would get upset and be upset with him at times yes do you recall some threats that you were presents that she made when you were there there was times in general relationships I hate you I wish you were dead obviously the big one you're thinking of is we were in his shop one night and she said I could shoot you in the face which was surprising did you ever see her or hear her make any threats towards Ryan yes I did how many times 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 It was just like, oh, it's Karina turning into Karen, which was, you know, that was a common theory with her, you know, and everybody called her Karen when she got that way. When, in fact, later he is shot in the face twice, what initially appeared to perhaps be an innocuous statement becomes far more important and far more sinister. Things are not looking great for Karina Cooper, so she decides to risk it all, speak for herself, and take the stand. How would you characterize the nature of your relationship with Ryan in general? I guess, was it good? Was it bad? Generally speaking, I would call it good, normal. We've seen some evidence that you guys had a couple, a few toys at the property. What did you guys have? It depended on the year, but we, both Ryan and I kind of went through phases. Where one year, we'd say, oh, we want to go camping, and we did camping for quite a while, we bought a couple of different campers, then he would go through a motorcycle phase, and he bought and rebuilt a motorcycle, and then we were golfing the next year, and so we recycled a lot of toys and a lot of hobbies. I feel that when the defense was questioning Karina, she really helped herself, and she appeared to be that normal person to everyone before June 18th. Before June 18th, 2021, knew Karina as this normal mom-of-three who's cutting your hair and talking to you at sporting events, playing golf, going camping. Based on your drunken behaviors of being a Karen, did any of your friends abandon you because of that prior to Ryan's passing? No, they made t-shirts when we would go out with jokes about Karen on it. It was a running joke. I don't handle alcohol the greatest, and yes, I can get ornery or loud, depending on, but it seemed to be more of a joke. But then, the line of questioning turned serious. We do also want to touch on the affair with Houston. At one point, did it become physical? There was one physical encounter, yes. That was the last time that I cut his hair. We had sex. And then, then you stopped cutting his hair? What was the purpose? Why did you stop cutting his hair? It was an online fantasy thing, and when it became a physical in-person thing, I was disgusted and scared of losing my husband. When she took the stent to testify, under direct, she appeared to be very composed. And so the goal, or my goal, was to make sure that when I start the cross-examination, that I don't let her control the narrative. You state you loved Ryan Cooper? Yes. You loved him? Yes. You had a lover? That's what you call him, yes. What do you call him? I called him an online inappropriate relationship. Our strategy was to first present her Our strategy was to first present her Our strategy was to first present her with things that she cannot deny. Then after that, I started slamming her with the Snapchat messages that she had deleted to her paramour. And made her read those messages to the jury. You don't deny you sent that first text on March 8th of 2021? I did not deny that, no. Cable wants to get back to wrestling. He loves it. He just got his ass kicked at a tournament and is scared to compete now. And you know what the sperm donor said to him after he got his ass handed to him? Not a f***ing word other than, "It happens." Not a f***ing word other than, "It happens." Not a f***ing word other than, "It happens." The person you just referred to as a sperm donor, that's your husband. Ryan Cooper, who you tell this jury you loved so dearly. That's how you showed your love to Ryan Cooper, correct? I think we all call the people that we love names at times. I feel like Karina's ego led to her testifying in the same way that she thought she could get away with murder. She thought that she could talk her way out of this, that she could explain away her actions and her behavior. - The 17th of June, 10:19 a.m. A day later, Ryan Cooper will be dead. You're talking to Houston Denker, correct? - Correct. You got to see me in my underwear this morning and I haven't gotten to see you. - You got to see him in his underwear that morning. He sent a Snapchat of it, yes. It was just little bits and pieces of her being upset that turned into her demeanor changing to being that upset Karen-type figure for the rest of the time she was on the stand. Then he says, remember those casings. F***ing remember those. No ifs, ands, or buts. that's what he said there's no ignorance on your part when he tells you to remember those casings you know what those casings are because you say absolutely a hundred percent you can read what's in front of you this reads The defense attorney's argument was that it was an incomplete message. Karina Cooper testified that what she had sent to Houston Danker was go to sleep. 911 because my husband is dead. - The Snapchat stuff came out and it was like, everybody said, "Oh, it's over." - And then it's time for closing arguments and it starts off with the prosecution. say hi. I hate you. I wish you were dead. I can shoot you in the face. The prosecution again uses Karina Cooper's own words against her. She's guilty of murder in the first degree. beyond a reasonable doubt. She's guilty because she shot him. SNAP's established that. Her own statements establish that. We're asking that you find her guilty. Karina did not have any specific intent to kill her husband. She did engage in reckless behavior and talking to Houston and not cutting it off and having all these conversations. It was reckless. But she didn't have any intent to kill him or for him to actually wind up dead. She wasn't even actually going to leave him. She's getting attention from some knucklehead on Snapchat, and she likes it. And she's living in a fantasy and a dream world until he does it. She may be an idiot in her relationship with Houston, but she didn't participate in the murder of her husband. Please think it through. Find her not guilty. And I'll tell you what, the jury really doesn't have to think long. They deliberate for just over three hours before they come back with a verdict. Would counsel and parties please stand? All right, I have a form of verdict. verdict. We, the jury, find the defendant, Karina Cooper, guilty of the offense of murder in the first degree, dated this 11th day of July, 2025. I was not surprised on that final day that the jury barely took three hours, and they came back with a guilty verdict. When it's time for the victim impact statements, Heather Cooper speaks out. She is the wife of Ryan's brother, Aaron, who called 911. - I watched my husband live in fear those first few nights, unable to sleep in our home, being first on scene, left horror images in his head. Then the children, I will never forget those faces, pure terror that morning. hugging them fiercely, their aunt. Nothing but pure love and fear inside. Our lives that day were forever changed, but nothing prepared me for this. When they came to live with us, we would have to check the doors. They didn't like the nighttime. These are things that we still live with today. They've lost both of their parents, but Aaron and Heather, they are giving them a life that is definitely going to be full of memories. They're living the best life that they can live, considering all that they've been through. Ryan was my little brother, 10 years younger than myself. From the time he was old enough to walk, he was kicking around in cowboy boots and farming from the living room floor. That kid was no doubt going to be a farmer. Even more than being a farmer, he wanted to be a dad. Nothing made him prouder and more overjoyed than having a family of his own. On June 18th, 2021, all of this was taken from Ryan, and Ryan was taken from us. Ryan was sentenced to death by this murderer. Those of us left on earth were sentenced to life without Ryan. But at this time, Ms. Cooper is sentenced to life in prison, without the power to do anything. There's no possibility of parole. In Iowa, it's a mandatory minimum of life in prison for first-degree murder. No chance of parole. Breonna Cooper will be in prison for the rest of her life. I'm just thankful that Ryan's family can finally have some closure. Like Michelle said in her statement, we've been served with a life sentence without Ryan. Houston Danker is scheduled to go to trial next, but at the 11th hour, he makes a very unusual decision. Houston pled guilty to first-degree murder. I did not see that coming. I think that Houston saw the way that the jury found Karina guilty after three hours of deliberation and realized that it wasn't going to work out any better for him. I was not expecting somebody to put me in jail. I was expecting somebody to plead guilty to first-degree murder when they know that the only sentence is life without the possibility of parole. Mr. Danker is sentenced to be confined for the remainder of his natural life without the possibility of parole. I don't think Trey will ever be the same. One of the kindest, most outgoing, hardworking, compassionate men was taken from us for selfish reasons. Money and an affair. Ryan was the moral center of this case. His nice, decent demeanor stands in sharp contrast to the storm that eventually engulfed his life in the form of Karina Cooper and her paramour, Houston Danker. We're just glad that justice was done for Ryan Cooper. In this tragic story of a deadly love triangle, you could say Karina Cooper somehow crossed the line from a Karen to a killer. And if it's hard for us to understand, it is almost impossible to fathom how her children could ever forgive her and how they could move on from the nightmare that she created. you