Major twist in murder of wealthy Texas real estate agent Suzanne Simpson

The longtime business partner of a Texas real estate mogul whose wife disappeared has been indicted over allegations he helped his friend hide evidence linked to her murder.

James ‘Val’ Cotter, 65, was indicted Monday by a grand jury on charges of tampering with evidence with intent to interfere with an investigation and possession of prohibited weapons in the disappearance of real estate agent Suzanne Simpson, reports the San Antonio Express-News. .

He is accused of entering the gun room of Brad, the mother of four’s husband, on October 8 and removing an AK-47 that prosecutors say was illegally modified into ” machine gun” and was not properly recorded, according to KSAT.

An arrest warrant obtained by My San Antonio claims Brad, 53, contacted him that day asking for help hiding a gun.

“If you are in Bandera can you carry a** and meet me at your house,” Brad allegedly wrote.

He then allegedly told Cotter “make sure you leave all that crap in the pump house, especially the gun.”

“Sorry for the rush but you are all I have especially now…social media is destroying me,” Brad texted his longtime friend, according to the warrant.

When questioned by police, Cotter initially claimed that Simpson was referring to a .22 caliber rifle he had taken from Simpson’s home.

But an anonymous witness later told police that Cotter actually took an AK47 from the Brad family safe that was filled with weapons, according to the warrant.

Cotter was then arrested on October 22 when officers found the rifle hidden behind a false wall at his Bandera home.

He posted bond on Nov. 8, after a judge reduced his bond from $1 million to $100,000.

Under the conditions of his release, Cotter cannot have any contact with Brad or possess a firearm. He must also wear a GPS monitor, surrender his passport to law enforcement and submit to drug and alcohol testing.

Meanwhile, Brad faces first-degree murder charges following his wife’s disappearance – although investigators never found her body.

Suzanne’s family told KABB that authorities told them her DNA was found on a portable reciprocating saw – a motorized handsaw, which was mentioned in a recently unsealed indictment.

He claimed that Brad “knowing that an investigation was underway, namely a missing persons investigation”, hid the saw on October 8 “with the intention of prejudicing its availability as evidence in the investigation”, reports My San Antonio.

The indictment does not specify how he hid the gun or where it was found.

The real estate mogul was first arrested Oct. 9 in Kendall County — three days after the 51-year-old mother of four was last seen late outside her 1 .5 million dollars in San Antonio’s posh Olmos Park, having an altercation with him.

A neighbor had claimed that shortly before 11 p.m. on October 6, they saw Brad and Suzanne in the middle of a heated argument in their garage and that they were “physically fighting” against each other.

At one point, they said Suzanne was “trying to escape from Mr. Simpson’s grip as he tried to pull her down,” and he then chased her when she fled, according to the affidavit.

The neighbor also allegedly claimed to have heard screams coming from a wooded area, before Brad reappeared about an hour later and left in his truck.

The Simpsons’ five-year-old child was also interviewed by a school counselor and claimed his father “pushed his mother against the wall, punched her (physically) in the face and hurt her elbow internally.” of their residence.

Brad also allegedly “turned off his mom’s phone because they were arguing,” the child reportedly said.

Police said Brad was seen the next day with large trash bags and tarp-covered coolers in the bed of his truck as he got into a Whataburger, according to the New York Post.

He reportedly purchased concrete and visited a landfill before spending 13 minutes in nearby Bandera, where he apparently unloaded a large item from the bed of his pickup truck.

It was that day that Brad first reported his wife missing, and the next day he was allegedly seen buying Clorox wipes and cement.

One man said Simpson approached him in the Home Depot parking lot and asked where the nearest landfill was, the San Antonio Express-News reported.

Authorities also said that during the first few days of the missing persons investigation, Brad showed “no emotion.”

They said he appeared “unconcerned about his wife’s disappearance and showed little to no emotion,” with a Texas ranger also observing that Brad had several scratches and lacerations on his hands and arms.

Detectives later said his frightening behavior was a factor that made them believe Brad “intentionally and knowingly caused the death” of his wife on Oct. 6 in San Antonio.

They noted that Brad initially cooperated with police, but said he later told conflicting stories when asked for details about his wife’s disappearance.

At first, he claimed to have last seen her at 11 p.m. on October 6, a few hours after Suzanne was last seen walking at her exclusive Texas country club.

But at another point, he claimed he last saw her around 6:30 a.m. on Oct. 7, shortly before dropping one of their children off at school.

He said he “peeked into a separate room and observed his wife sleeping” that morning.

When investigators searched his phone, they allegedly discovered he had “engaged in a series of complete shutdowns” beginning at 11:09 p.m. on October 6 and ending the next day.

He allegedly went further than turning off his phone and putting it in “Lock” mode, which his arrest affidavit says is classified by the FBI as “done by a person who wants to avoid detection.” .

But on October 9, police reportedly had a breakthrough when Texas Rangers located a ground-level burn site on Simpson’s Bandera property, where they found a burned laptop and three cellphones that once belonged to him.

When Brad was subsequently arrested, officers said he “did not appear surprised at the time of his arrest” and “did not question” why he was apprehended on assault charges causing bodily harm, domestic violence and unlawful restraint.

Brad now faces charges of second-degree tampering with evidence with intent to tamper with a human corpse, third-degree possession of prohibited weapons and third-degree tampering/fabrication of physical evidence with intent to ‘alter.

If convicted, he could be sentenced to two to 99 years in prison, or up to life in prison, depending on the charges he is convicted of.

But his lawyer argued that prosecutors cannot charge Brad without saying how he was able to kill his wife.

Public Defender Steven Gilmore said the indictment was “vague, undefined, ambiguous and uncertain” and argued that while the indictment does not say how Simpson killed his wife or where he hid the body, it is impossible to develop a reasonable defense.

He said the state needs to present more evidence before prosecution can proceed.

Brad is now due back in court on Thursday for a bail modification hearing, and will appear in court on April 8 for a custody hearing.