A real estate mogul called in a favor from a former business partner just two days after his wife disappeared screaming from their San Antonio mansion.
Brad Simpson, 53, sent frantic text messages to his friend and business partner, James Valle Cotter, on Tuesday, October 8, telling him: “I don’t have much time.”
Simpson’s wife, Suzanne, 51, was last seen on Sunday, October 6, outside their $1.5 million home in the city’s luxurious Olmos Park, having an altercation with her husband.
The couple walked to a nearby bush, where a neighbor heard screams. She has not been seen since. Police believe she is dead and a search for her body is underway.
Now, Cotter has been charged with tampering with evidence after police discovered an AK-47 inside the wall of his home.
Police allege Cotter helped Simpson hide a gun that could be connected to his wife’s disappearance. KSAT reported.
Suzanne Clark Simpson, 51, disappeared from her million-dollar home around 11 p.m. on Sunday, October 6, after an alleged dispute with her wealthy real estate agent husband, Brad Simpson, 53. .
An extensive investigation has already been carried out on the family’s four-bedroom, five-bathroom Olmos Park home (pictured), worth an estimated $1.5 million.
Cotter has been charged with tampering with evidence after police discovered an AK-47 inside the wall of his home.
According to an arrest affidavit, Simpson texted Cotter the day after formally reporting Suzanne missing, writing, “If you’re in Bandera, can you pick me up at your house?”
“I don’t have much time,” said the initial text, according to KENS5.
A secondary text allegedly read: “Sorry for the urgency but you’re all I have, especially now… social media is destroying me.”
Simpson has not been charged in connection with his wife’s disappearance. But he is being held on $2 million bail for two misdemeanor counts of domestic violence and unlawful restraint.
When police and specially trained K-9 dogs searched Cotter’s home, they found an AK-47 inside a wall behind a mounted television.
An orange rope was apparently tied to the gun, allowing it to be pulled out of hiding.
Brad Chandler Simpson, 53, of Olmos Park, four miles north of San Antonio, was arrested just three days after his wife Suzanne Clark Simpson, 51, disappeared.
Suzanne was photographed alone at the exclusive members-only club, wearing a dark knee-length dress with her hair loose over her shoulders.
Police allege they have images of a vault inside Simpson’s home where he kept his weapons, in which an AK-47 was previously visible. When they ran a search of the vault after Suzanne disappeared, the AK-47 was missing.
Cotter and Simpson have known each other for 25 years and are long-time business partners.
Meanwhile, widespread and large-scale search efforts have been underway to locate Suzanne. Police have confirmed they are searching for a body.
The missing mother-of-four’s own mother, Barbara Clark, revealed the disturbing phone call she had with Suzanne just an hour before she was last seen.
Speaking at a vigil organized to honor Suzanne at Lourdes Grotto, Clark said: “She called me and told me things that Brad had physically done to her.”
A neighbor told police he heard the couple arguing from his window and saw the two engaged in a physical fight, with Brad ‘grabbing her upper torso to gain control of her body,’ according to a police report.
Brad allegedly did not cooperate during the investigation and did not show up for a follow-up interview. Authorities said the real estate agent, who worked for Nix Realty Company, disappeared after attending a party at The Argyle in the Alamo Heights neighborhood.
Bexar County sheriff’s deputies were seen wearing protective suits and bright orange boots while digging at the waste disposal site near San Antonio.
Clark said Suzanne confided in her that around 9:00 pm that night, October 6, Simpson had hurt her arm and back.
‘I came up with an alternative plan for her: she would move in with me and I would take her little boy to my neighborhood elementary school.
“I never got to tell him the plan.”
Police released a disturbing photo of Suzanne on the day she disappeared, showing her walking through The Argyle in Alamo Heights.
Suzanne was photographed alone at the exclusive members-only club, wearing a dark knee-length dress with her hair loose over her shoulders.
Several hours after this photo was taken, a neighbor claimed to have heard an aggressive fight between Suzanne and her husband.
That neighbor claims he saw Simpson hitting and holding his wife, before the two walked away into a nearby wooded area.
Shortly after that interaction, the neighbor alleges he heard screaming in the woods.
Olmos Park Police Chief Fidel Villegas has since confirmed: “That night we believe he was in danger.”