IOWA WOMAN AND HER LOVER SHOT HER HUSBAND TO DEATH. NOW, SHE WILL SPEND THE REST OF HER LIFE BEHIND BARS.

An Iowa woman who conspired with her lover to kill her husband will never walk free again.

Sixth Judicial District Chief Judge Lars Anderson handed 48-year-old Karina Cooper a life term in prison without the possibility of parole for the shooting death of her husband, Ryan Cooper. After a week-long trial, Karina Cooper was found guilty and convicted of first-degree murder.

In the early morning hours on June 18, 2021, officers responded to the couple’s home west of Traer, where they found Ryan Cooper’s body with two gunshot wounds to his face. After two and a half years of investigation, authorities arrested Karina Cooper’s lover and co-defendant, 28-year-old Huston William Danker, on a charge of first-degree murder.

“Mr. Cooper was, by what I heard at trial and from the State today, a hardworking, kind, generous man who loved his children and his many friends. Ms Cooper, your actions – whether you were the one who shot Mr. Cooper, or whether as a result of aiding and abetting Huston Danker resulted in his death – they deprived your children of not only a father, but of a mother. And I can’t really state any more eloquently than was stated in the victim impact statements, the broader impact it’s had on Mr. Cooper’s many friends and family,” said Anderson during the sentencing hearing, according to the Times-Republican.

On the first day, which was meant for Danker’s jury selection ahead of his trial, the co-defendant pleaded guilty and admitted to the court that he and Karina Cooper were lovers. Furthermore, Danker told the court that both he and Karina Cooper had planned the murder for a period of four to five months.

During the trial, prosecutors had submitted messages between the two defendants the night and morning of the murder that incriminated Karina Cooper.  

Karina Cooper’s defense team requested that the court grant her a new trial, but the judge declined.

“The heinous crime was committed in their home while three of the children slept upstairs. No efforts were made by the person responsible to protect his children," said Ryan Cooper’s older sister.  Michelle Wilson, during the victim’s impact statement, reported Iowa’s News Now.

Karina Cooper was ordered to pay court costs and a victim restitution of $150,000 to Ryan Cooper’s Estate, in addition to $14,944.76 to the Crime Victim Compensation Program.