Danker

IOWA CITY — On what would have been the first day of his murder trial in the death of Ryan Cooper, defendant Huston William Danker, 27, pleaded out to the single charge of murder in the first degree.

According to Keith Greenberg, a producer with Dateline NBC who was present during jury selection in Johnson County District Court on Tuesday, Aug. 12 as the only member of the press, Danker pleaded guilty to first-degree murder.

Later in the morning, the newspaper also reached out to Danker’s defense attorney Leon F. Spies, who confirmed his client’s plea.

“I can confirm that Mr. Danker pleaded guilty this morning to aiding Karina Cooper in her killing of Ryan Cooper. There was no plea agreement. Mr. Danker wanted to accept responsibility for his role, and at the same time spare his family, the Cooper family, and the community the ordeal of a trial,” Spies said.

Back on April 29, 2024, Danker, who was living in Shellsburg at the time but formerly hailed from Traer, was arrested and charged with first-degree murder for allegedly acting in concert with his lover Karina Cooper, now 48, to kill her husband Ryan Cooper, 42, at their rural Traer residence. Ryan Cooper, a farmer and father of four, was murdered as a result of two gunshot wounds to the face on June 18, 2021. Danker pleaded not guilty in May 2024 and plans to use an alibi defense that he was elsewhere at the time of the murder – specifically at 2798 Hwy 8, Traer, his parents’ home.

Meanwhile, Karina Cooper, who was convicted of first-degree murder on July 11, remains behind bars awaiting sentencing on Sept. 5 at 1 p.m. in Tama County District Court.

In Iowa, a first-degree murder charge carries a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole.