A flurry of court filings Thursday is finishing up the pre-hearing tug of war in a bitter custody fight.

Read Brad Cooper's Affidavit [ .pdf ]
Read Jessica Adam's Affidavit [ .pdf ]
Read Scott Heider's Affidavit [.pdf] 
Full Coverage: Nancy Cooper Murder

Defense attorneys filed dozens of pages of paperwork, attempting to deflect accusations from friends of murdered Cary resident Nancy Cooper.

Attorneys representing the parents and sister of Nancy Cooper filed a slew of affidavits late Wednesday.

Garry and Donna Rentz and Nancy Cooper's twin sister, Krista Lister have temporary custody of Bella and Katie Cooper, and are hoping to gain full custody from Nancy's husband, Brad Cooper.

The 14 affidavits include one from Brad Cooper, one from a forensic psychologist and a dozen from friends of the couple.

In Brad Cooper's affidavit, he admitted cheating on Nancy in 2005.

"I tried to hide it from Nancy because I worried what it would do to our marriage, and I deeply regretted (and still regret) that it happened," he said in the filing. "Nancy suspected and our marriage began to deteriorate, nevertheless."

His statement also explained how Nancy had an affair as well, which he described by saying, "Nancy insisted that she did nothing wrong, that her relationship with the other man only happened once, it wasn't sexual, and that no one even knew his name."

Later, he detailed how he spent the morning of July 12, when Nancy Cooper first went missing.

His affidavit claimed he went shopping twice, at 6:15 a.m. and again at 6:30 a.m., returning in time to see Nancy leave to go running at 7 a.m.

Cooper stated in the filing that his wife did not return from her run on time, but he did not start worrying about her whereabouts until noon, because she often spent time after workouts drinking coffee with friends.

"By 1 p.m., I was very concerned about Nancy not coming home. I fed Bella and Katie lunch, dressed them and put them in the car. We drove around looking for Nancy at the places she usually goes," he said in the filing.

He went on to say that he did not call police to report her missing because he believed that she had to be gone for 24 hours before he could file a missing persons report.

Jessica Adam, one of Nancy Cooper's friends, had a starkly different take on events.

In her affidavit, Adam claimed Brad and Nancy Cooper had a very bad relationship and said, "Nancy walked on eggshells around Brad and did her best to appease him so that she could avoid confrontation with him. If she made him angry, he 'punished' her in calculated, manipulative ways."

Adam's affidavit stated she tried calling Nancy Cooper on July 12, and said, "I immediately knew that something was wrong, because it was very unusual for Nancy to not answer her cell phone, I immediately was concerned that Brad had done something to her."

The filing continued on, directly accusing him: "I believe that Brad murdered Nancy."

Several other friends described a bleak family environment at the Coopers, including a long trend of Brad refusing to care for the children and withholding money from Nancy.

"When Nancy told Brad the marriage was over, he told her he wanted to spend the summer with the girls and then for her to take them and from him to never see them again," said Michelle Simmons in her filing.

Another of Nancy's friends, Clea Morwick, stated in her affidavit that Brad Cooper continually treated Nancy with disrespect.

"In private conversations with Nancy she had shared with me that if anything ever happened to her that she wanted to be sure that her children would be raised by Krista and Jim Lister with the help of her parents," said Morwick in the filing.

One of the affidavits gave a brief description of Nancy's mood the night before she disappeared.

Damia Tabachow stated she was at a dinner party that the Coopers attended on July 11, and that she spent the final hour and a half with Nancy.

"During that time she told me that she and Brad were 'back in hate mode.' That 'playing nice' as advised by his attorney was over," said Tabachow in her affidavit.

At least one more of Nancy Cooper's friends said in the affidavits that they were worried about her safety.

"A few months ago, I remember Nancy saying that she actually feared for herself and the kids and did not trust Brad," said Theresa Hackeling in her filing. "She would sleep with the girls in her room, with the car keys in her pants pocket and the bedroom door locked from Brad."

The final affidavit was filed with statements from Ginger Calloway, PHD, who said she is a clinical and forensic psychologist.

Calloway's statements did not directly say whether the two girls should end up in the care of Brad Cooper or the Rentzs and Lister; however, she suggested that it might not be healthy for the children to be in Brad Cooper's care.

"In my opinion and if the facts are as I believe them to be, a mental health evaluation of the father should precede contact with the children," said Calloway in the affidavit.

Friends of Brad say that Nancy Cooper tended to inflate the severity of the relationship between the two.

Scott Heider's rebuttal affidavit today says, "There's the truth of what happened, and then there's Nancy's story -- which was always very exaggerated."

Meanwhile, Brad Cooper's attorneys are asking that all of the plaintiff's affidavits be thrown out, saying, "The only arguably relevant material in these affidavits is entirely hearsay and opinion."

Also late this afternoon, defense attorney's filed a Memorandum of Law, a 40 page document with pictures of Brad Cooper as evidence of him being a good father and a monster rebuttal, where he takes issue with almost every affidavit filed by Nancy's family.

Full Coverage: Nancy Cooper Murder