Major twist in murder of wealthy Texas realtor Suzanne Simpson
The longtime business partner of a Texas real estate tycoon whose wife went missing has been charged over allegations he helped his friend hide evidence related to her murder.
James 'Val' Cotter, 65, was indicted by a grand jury on Monday on felony charges of tampering with evidence with intent to impair an investigation and possession of prohibited weapons in the case of missing realtor Suzanne Simpson, the San Antonio Express-News reports.
He is accused of entering the mom-of-four's husband Brad's gun room on October 8 and removing an AK-47 that prosecutors say was illegally modified into a 'machine gun' and was not properly registered, according to KSAT.
An arrest warrant obtained by My San Antonio claims Brad, 53, reached out to him that day, asking for help hiding a weapon.
'If you're in Bandera, can you haul a** and meet me at your house,' Brad allegedly wrote.
He later allegedly told Cotter 'make sure to leave all that s*** in the pump house, especially the gun.'
'Sorry for the urgency, but you're all I got especially now... social media is destroying me,' Brad texted his longtime friend, according to the warrant.
When questioned by police, Cotter initially claimed Simpson was referring to a .22 caliber rifle that he ad taken from Simpson's home.
James 'Val' Cotter, 65, was indicted by a grand jury on Monday on felony charges of tampering with evidence with intent to impair an investigation and possession of prohibited weapons in the case of missing mom-of-four Suzanne Simpson
She was last seen walking through her exclusive Texas country club, hours before a neighbor said she got into a physical altercation with her husband
But an anonymous witness later told police Cotter had actually taken an AK47 from the family Brad's walk-in vault that was stocked with weapons, according to the warrant.
Cotter was then arrested on October 22 when police officers found the rifle hidden behind a false wall at his Bandera home.
He posted bond on November 8, after a judge reduced his bail from $1million to $100,000.
Under the conditions of his release, Cotter cannot have any contact with Brad or be in possession of any firearm. He must also wear a GPS monitor, had to surrender his passport to law enforcement and submit to drug and alcohol testing.
Meanwhile, Brad is facing charges of first-degree murder in his wife's disappearance - despite investigators never finding her body.
Suzanne's family has told KABB that authorities told them her DNA was found on a handheld reciprocating saw - a motorized hand saw, which was mentioned in a newly-unsealed indictment.
It claimed that Brad 'knowing that an investigation was in progress, namely a missing persons investigation' hid the saw on October 8 'with the intent to impair its availability as evidence in the investigation,' My San Antonio reports.
The indictment does not specify how he hid the weapon or where it was found.
Prosecutors say he was a longtime friend of real estate tycoon Brad Simpson (right) and helped him hide a weapon following his wife's disappearance
Brad 53, was previously indicted by a grand jury on first-degree murder charges
The real estate tycoon was first arrested on October 9 in Kendall County - three days after the 51-year-old mother-of-four was last seen late out the front of her $1.5million home in San Antonio's ritzy Olmos Park having an altercation with him.
A neighbor had claimed that shortly before 11pm on October 6, they witnessed Brad and Suzanne in the midst of a heated argument in their garage and were 'physically struggling' with each other.
At some point, they said Suzanne 'was attempting to get away from Mr. Simpson's grasp as he tried to pull her downward', and he then chased after her when she ran away, per the affidavit.
The neighbor also allegedly claimed they heard screams from a wooded area, before Brad re-emerged around an hour later and drove off in his truck.
The Simpson's five-year-old child was also questioned by a school counselor, and claimed that his father 'pushed her mother against the wall, hit (physically) her mother on the face and hurt her mother's elbow inside their residence.'
Brad also allegedly 'turned off her mother's phone because they were fighting,' the child reportedly said.
Suzanne's family said that authorities told them her DNA was found on a handheld reciprocating saw - a motorized hand saw, which was mentioned in a newly-unsealed indictment
Police say Brad was seen the following day with bulky garbage bags and ice coolers covered up in a tarp in the flatbed of his truck as he pulled into a Whataburger, according to the New York Post.
He allegedly bought concrete and visited a dump site before spending 13 minutes in nearby Bandera where he seemingly unloaded a large object from the bed of his pickup truck.
It was that day that Brad first reported his wife missing, and the next day he was reportedly seen buying Clorox wipes and cement.
A man said Simpson walked up to him at the Home Depot parking lot and asked him where the nearest dump was, the San Antonio Express-News reports.
Authorities also said that in the first few days of the missing persons investigation, Brad showed 'no emotion.'
They said he appeared 'unconcerned about his wife being missing 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 explained that his chilling behavior was a factor in them believing Brad 'intentionally and knowingly caused the death' of his wife on October 6 in San Antonio.
They noted that Brad was initially cooperative with police, but said he then gave conflicting stories when pressed for details over his wife's disappearance.
At first, he claimed he last saw her at 11pm on October 6, hours after Suzanne was last seen walking through her exclusive Texas country club.
But at another point he claimed he last saw her at around 6:30am on October 7, shortly before he said he dropped one of their children off at school.
He said he 'peeked into a separate room and observed his wife asleep' that morning.
When investigators searched through his phone, they reportedly found he had 'engaged in a series of complete shutdowns' starting at 11:09pm on October 6 and ending the next day.
He was allegedly going further than turning his phone off and instead put it on 'Lock Down' mode, which his arrest affidavit notes is classed 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 at Simpson's Bandera property, where they found a burnt laptop and three cellphones that once belonged to him.
When Brad was then arrested, officers said he 'did not appear surprised at the time of his arrest' nor 'question' why he was apprehended on charges of assault causing bodily injury, family violence and unlawful restraint.
Authorities are continuing to search for her remains, believing she is dead
Brad is now facing charges of second degree tampering with evidence with the intent to impair a human corpse, third degree possession of prohibited weapons and third degree tampering/fabricating physical evidence with the intent to impair.
If found guilty, he could be sentenced anywhere from two to 99 years or life in prison, depending on the charges he is convicted of.
But his lawyer has argued that the prosecutors cannot charge Brad without saying how he may have killed his wife.
Public Defender Steven Gilmore said the indictment is 'vague, indefinite, ambiguous and uncertain,' and argued that if the indictment does not say how Simpson killed his wife or where he hid the body it is impossible to craft a reasonable defense.
He said the state must present more evidence before the prosecution continues.
Brad is now due back in court on Thursday for a bond modification hearing, and will appear in court on April 8 for a custody hearing.
