An adulterous husband has admitted killing his wife six years after he dumped her body dressed only in a bra into a drainage ditch before telling police she had just never returned from a jog.

Brad Cooper said 'yes' when a judge asked him if he had killed mother-of-two Nancy and hid her body on a construction site in Cary, North Carolina in 2008.

According to prosecutors Cooper, now 40, was having an affair with several women, including a neighbor, at the time while his wife was 'trying to get out of the marriage' and return to her native Canada.

Brad Cooper (pictured in court today) said 'yes' when a judge asked him if he had killed mother-of-two Nancy (pictured left with two daughters Katie and Bella, and tried to hide her body in Cary, North Carolina

Cooper, who previously worked for international corporation Cisco Systems, was in the Wake County Justice Center as part of a deal which saw a life sentence without parole cut after he pleaded guilty to second degree murder.

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After successfully appealing the first-degree murder conviction he was given in 2011, his term has now been reduced to at least 12 years. 

With time served it means he could be released in less than seven.

However, it is the first time that he has confessed to the crimes in court.  

Nancy Cooper disappeared from her suburban home on July 12, 2008. At the time, her husband said the 34-year-old had gone for a run and never returned. 

The pair (pictured with their two daughters) married in 2001 but their relationship deteriorated when Cooper was having an affair and Nancy said she wanted to go back to her native Canada 

After the hearing, the victim's father Garry Rentz told Raleigh's News Observer: 'When we started this process years ago, I said I wished the person responsible for this crime would come forward and acknowledge guilt and own up to their behavior. That's happened today.'

As part of the agreement, Cooper also relinquished his parenting rights of daughters  Katie, now eight, and Bella, 10, so they can be adopted by Nancy's twin sister Krista Lister. 

'It's total relief,' Lister told the paper. 'He doesn't deserve them. He doesn't deserve to know them, and I'm very happy about it.' 

Nancy and Brad Cooper moved to Cary in 2001 after getting married in Canada. However their relationship soon began to deteriorate.

During the trial the social scene in Cary was exposed. Neighbors were involved in numerous extra-marital affairs that would begin at 'board-game nights', barbecues and Halloween parties.

Cooper eventually cut his wife off from their joint bank accounts while Mrs Cooper said she wanted to go back to Canada with her two children.

He initially agreed with the plan, but changed his mind, realizing it would cost too much money.  

The father-of-two (pictured being escorted out of his home by police in 2008) finally admitted to killing his wife during a plea agreement, six years after he dumped her body

He was charged with murdering his wife on October 27, 2008. He has now pleaded guilty to second degree murder with his sentence reduced to at least 12 years

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