a shocking development made in the search of a missing Texas mom who disappeared 3 weeks ago we've previously reported on the case of 51-year-old Suzanne Simpson who was last seen on the morning of October 7th by her neighbor the last known photo of her before she went missing shows the Texas realter in a dark colored dress and heels the case would take another turn when Suzanne's husband Brad was arrested and charge with assault causing bodily injury Family Violence as well as unlawful restraint according to police a neighbor witnessed a couple physically fighting and Brad allegedly
grabbed his wife by her upper torso area to gain control of her body that same neighbor later heard screaming coming from a nearby wooded area by The Simpsons home then Brad got into his pickup truck and left their home only to return about an hour or two later loved once began to notice something was off because the following day the couple's child school called Brad to tell them their child hadn't been picked up which is something Suzanne normally did then the following day after police interviewed staffers at the school where one of their children attended
the 5-year-old child reportedly told staff her parents were fighting and that her dad assaulted her mom and took her phone away the child also said Suzanne had a bruise on her elbow but then another twist in the case Brad's business associate was arrested this week accused of tampering with evidence according to court documents Brad allegedly texted his business partner James Valley Cotter a date after his wife disappeared asking him to hide in AK-47 Brad allegedly texted cter saying quote if you're in Bandera can you call to meet me at your house I don't have much
time then another text allegedly sent by Brad said sorry for the urgency but you're all I got especially now social media is destroying me according to police cter agreed to hide the weapon at his San Antonio home but not in a gun safe instead in the wall of his home ATF searched Carter's home this week and the K9 team helps locate where exactly the AK-47 was and it was retrieved out of a void in the wall the gun reportedly was captured on provided by someone working with the investigation showing the same gun in a vault
in The Simpsons house Brad Simpson in turn now faces an additional State charge of prohibited weapons and tampering SL fabricating evidence after the discovery of the AK-47 the father of four also faces a federal gun charge after he was found to be illegally in possession of a short barreled rifle cter was arrested Monday for allegedly hiding the gun and is also accused of tampering with evidence and not being truthful with law enforcement but at this time neither men have officially been charged in connection to The Disappearance of Suzanne Simpson now 3 weeks after she vanished
Without a Trace her family is holding on to hope for more answers and while the search for Suzanne Simpson continues let's bring on former FBI and CIA agent Tracy Walder to break down this case even further Tracy it's so great to see you you know Suzanne Simpson has been missing for three weeks now what's your reaction and where does the search go from here well thank you so much for having me Elizabeth it's really difficult because there the husband is being uncooperative in this case he's refusing to show up for interviews and those kinds of
things I think right now the search where it's going to go from here is unfortunately probably starting the use of kaver dogs at some point if they haven't already although I know the scent may be gone after about 3 weeks but at least beginning a trail of where things started and where things ended also in terms of a really deep dive of her cell phone I'm not certain yet you can correct me if I am wrong if they have received a warrant to go through her husband's but that takes some time as well because he's
not a willing participant you would have to get a warrant from the phone company to be able to do that and that's going to take some time but I would imagine that's a focus of something they're doing right now and I think a lot of times when we see these types of cases first investigators look to anyone who's close to the person who's missing including a boyfriend or in this case the husband and making it clear you know at this time Brad Simpson hasn't been charged in her disappearance but why do you think he's been
so uncooperative in the investigation that's a really good question and you're right obviously he's not been named a suspect you're you're correct in making that very clear I think part of why he has not been Cooperative is because information has come out through the press and through other means that she was screaming in that evening before she was was missing that he had pushed her up against a wall allegations again of abuse we don't don't again have confirmation but allegations of abuse and so I think right there makes him a suspect and he probably knows
that and that is why he is being uncooperative although it's incredibly frustrating because she is a mother of children he is a father of children and I would think you would want to know um what happened to their mother and then we have this whole added twist now of Brad's business associate associate also being arrested for tampering with evidence though what do you make of this added twist as authorities alleged James cter helped Brad hide an AK-47 I think that that's interesting and I think in my opinion again this is just my opinion they are
probably doing that to apply pressure to Mr Simpson in that if this individual talks right he can then reduce his sentence reduce the charges against him whatever plea deal it is that they're thinking of offering him to get information on her whereabouts that's what I think now I am not certain of this individual's role in an actual crime itself but what that tells me is that they are assuming again it's all alleged at this point that perhaps that gun was used in the commission of a crime or was obtained illegally and if that's the case
then yes he is a participant in that although the charge of that is not obviously nearly as large um as murderers or concealing a body or anything like that but I do think that they are using that as I hate to use this but as a bargaining chip quite frankly uh to get information from the husbands and the text messages Brad Simpson sent to cter are pretty damning if you interpret them kind of in a nefarious way um Brad Simpson allegedly wrote if you're in Bandera Can You Haul butt to meet me at your house
I don't have much time and he sent that a day after Suzanne was reported missing I mean what do you make of just those text messages that came out in the affidavit what do you make of those so the text messages that were sent between the two are obviously very incriminating and in my opinion may go towards adding premeditation to a charge or adding concealment of a body um and so we're tampering uh with a body and so I think that is very critical in this case obviously those text messages are not you know coming
out as a confession um but I do see those text messages if he is ultimately charged um in terms of going towards a first deegree murder situation rather than a second degree and it was interesting too because Cotter didn't just hide the AK-47 at his house he hid it in the wall of his home that's not a typical hiding spot especially for a large weapon like an AK-47 what do you kind of make of just where the placement of that weapon was within his home so obviously that's critical too um you know it's one thing
to say hey would you mind storing my weapon I have kids in my home or I'm doing Home Remodeling and I I don't want anyone getting it someone would either probably put it in a gun safe um or a gun cabinet right that that seems to be a logical explanation for concealing or taking a weapon that someone has given you by putting it into a wall first of all that takes a lot of effort and work and I also think to they're trying to circumvent in my opinion a potential search warrant right if the police
come into his home um and are you know tearing it up they are less likely to go into a wall uh to look for an AK-47 if they're looking for flash drives things that are really small they will go into walls to do that and so this is very purposeful um in my opinion to to hide it in a wall to try to get around um a search one I think that's what they're thinking about and um you know just for our viewers again we just want to emphasize that they have not been um charged
at this point in connection to Suzanne Simpson's disappearance but Tracy I want to ask you do you have any hope for Suzanne Simpson and what do you think her family is feeling right now as she's still missing and then now Brad is behind bars you know I hate to say this I'm a mom myself and she has children so I always try to be careful about that but as you mentioned earlier it has been 3 weeks you have an uncooperative husband you have a complice right because that individual has been in charged and so I
I think at this point in my opinion it's not looking as though she will be found alive um which is probably incredibly difficult for her family I just have a hard time believing that she wouldn't have tried to contact someone um at this point Tracy again thank you so much for your time I always appreciate it thank you at this time James cter is being held on a $500,000 Bond and is reportedly requesting a reduction of his bond saying the amount is excessive for him and his family meanwhile Brad Simpson is being held on a
$3 million Bond his next court date is stated for November 13th reporting for law crime I'm Elizabeth Milner
