A screenshot of Karina Cooper during a case management conference held in June 2024 by videoconference. Cooper was appearing by Zoom from the Tama County Jail.

TOLEDO – Karina Sue Cooper’s first degree murder trial has been reset to this July.

This is the second reset in the case. After being arrested in February 2024 in connection with her husband Ryan Cooper’s murder, the trial was originally set to begin on Oct. 1, 2024, before being moved for the first time to Feb. 25, 2025.

On Feb. 7, defense attorney Nichole Watt with the Waterloo Public Defender’s Office filed a motion on behalf of Karina Cooper, now 47, to continue the jury trial, citing a need for “additional time to prepare in light of the State’s recently listed witness as well as continued investigation into phone records.”

Also on Feb. 7, Karina Cooper waived her right to be tried within one year of her arraignment which took place on March 14, 2024; she entered a plea of not guilty to the single charge of first degree murder, a Class A felony.

On Feb. 12, a hearing on the motion to continue was held in Tama County District Court during which Chief Judge Lars G. Anderson granted the request.

“Through no apparent fault of either party,” Anderson’s filing states, “Defendant still has not received and been able to review all of the cell phone data collected by the State in connection with this case. The State acknowledged the importance of the cell phone data and agreed at the hearing that it was very unlikely that the cell phone discovery issues (including a review of the cell phone data by an expert for the Defendant) could be accomplished before the currently scheduled trial.”

Anderson further ordered both parties file a joint status report on or before March 14 “outlining where things stand with the deposition of a recently added State’s witness and with receipt and review of all cell phone data.”

On Feb. 25, Anderson reset the trial for this July 1, beginning at 9 a.m. at the Linn County Courthouse in Cedar Rapids. A case management conference was also scheduled for May 2 at 1:30 p.m. When contacted by the newspaper about the trial falling over the Independence Day federal holiday, Tama County Attorney Brent Heeren said it was “very unlikely” the trial would proceed on Friday, July 4.

Karina Cooper, a longtime rural Traer resident and mother, was arrested a year ago this past February following a more than two-and-a-half year investigation by both the Tama County Sheriff’s Office and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation into the death of her husband Ryan Cooper, 42, who was found deceased in their shared home in the early morning hours of June 18, 2021, following a 911 call from the residence.

According to the criminal complaint in the case, a deputy found Ryan Cooper lying in a recliner with what appeared to be a gunshot wound to the front of his face, while Karina Cooper was allegedly observed to be sitting on top of him.

In late April 2024, former Traer resident Huston William Danker, now 27, was also arrested and charged with first degree murder for allegedly acting in concert with Karina Cooper to kill Ryan Cooper. Danker has also pleaded not guilty. His trial is currently scheduled to begin on Aug. 12, 2025, at 9 a.m. in Johnson County.

As of press time, both Karina Cooper and Danker remain behind bars in the Tama County Jail on $1 million bonds.

A conviction of first degree murder in Iowa carries a mandatory life sentence without the possibility for parole or probation.