NAPA, Calif. — In the months that followed the Halloween night stabbing deaths of two Napa women last year, the man now charged with the double murder often was among the small circle of friends who comforted the victims' grieving families.
Eric Matthew Copple, a reserved 26-year-old Napa surveyor, attended the funeral of Adriane Insogna, a Napa County civil engineer. Insogna and roommate Leslie Mazzara, a former South Carolina beauty queen, died of multiple stab wounds early in the morning of Nov. 1 after the pair spent the evening passing out trick-or-treat candy in their quiet, middle-class neighborhood.
Both women were single, 26 years old and popular in the Northern California wine country, where violent crimes are rare.
"What people said could never happen here, happened here," Napa Police Chief Richard Melton said.
Weeks after the killings, Copple sat across from Insogna's mother, Arlene Allen, at a banquet hosted by the Napa Sanitation District, where Insogna and Copple's then-fiancee, Lily Prudhomme, worked. Allen described their conversation that night as "social chitchat."
In February, Allen read Scripture from the Song of Solomon at the couple's wedding ceremony in Napa.
So when Allen received a phone call from Napa police Tuesday night informing her of Copple's arrest, no one was more shocked. Allen, like her daughter, counted Prudhomme among her closest friends and was fond of Copple.
"I totally assumed it would be someone I did not know," said Allen, who lives in Calistoga. "My first thoughts were: 'Oh my God, Lily.' "
Melton said he did not think Prudhomme suspected her husband of the crime until he was contacted by police this week. At the time of the killings, police said they believed that the killer had been injured in the attacks and asked residents to be on the lookout for someone with recent cuts or who exhibited unusual behavior.
In the end, police said, it was Copple's penchant for the Turkish Gold brand of Camel cigarettes found at the murder scene that finally led them to his door.
Copple, looking fit and trim at about 5 feet 9 and 170 pounds, appeared Thursday before Napa County Superior Court Judge Stephen Kroyer.
After consulting through a bulletproof glass wall with attorney Mervin Lernhart, the shackled suspect, head slightly bowed and stealing occasional glances at the packed courtroom, waived his right to arraignment and agreed to a bail hearing on five charges against him, including two counts of murder, next month.
