SAN ANTONIO — More than two weeks after Suzanne Simpson disappeared from her Olmos Park neighborhood, her jailed husband is newly accused of asking a longtime business associate to hide an unregistered AK-47 as law enforcement zeroed in on him, according to an arrest affidavit.
"If you're in Bandera, can you haul a** to meet me at your house?" Brad allegedly texted his partner, James Vallee Cotter, on Oct. 8, just one day after he reported his wife missing. "I don't have much time."
The next message Brad allegedly sent Cotter underscored what might have been his desperation: "Sorry for the urgency but you're all I got especially now... social media is destroying me."
The affidavit says Cotter agreed to hide the machine gun at his San Antonio home, concealing it in the wall of his home. When authorities searched Cotter's home Monday, records say, an ATF K-9 team helped locate where exactly the gun was.
The firearm had a string attached to its sight that would allow it to be retrieved "out of the void" in the wall, according to the documents.
Video provided by someone working with the investigation appeared to show the same gun in a vault in the Simpsons' home. But when authorities searched the home on Oct. 9, the gun was "missing from the same location that it was observed in the video."
Brad Simpson, 53, now faces charges of prohibited weapons and tampering/fabricating evidence following the discovery of the AK-47, which records say came from China. He was already jailed for accusations of unlawful restraint and assault after a neighbor saw him and Suzanne arguing the night of Oct. 6.
Cotter was arrested Monday for allegedly hiding the gun, having been accused of tampering with evidence and not being truthful with law enforcement. Brad also faces a federal gun charge after he was found to be illegally in possession of a short-barreled rifle, documents said.
Despite the slew of alleged crimes, law enforcement hasn't officially connected Brad to the disappearance of his wife. Meanwhile, large-scale search efforts at multiple sites in Bexar and Kendall counties haven't turned up any evidence as to Suzanne's whereabouts.
Brad Simpson is being held on a combined $1 million in bonds for his two new charges, upping his total bonds to $3 million. Records indicate he's due in court next on Nov. 13.
Looking for clues
A contingent of San Antonio police cadets, Olmos Park police officers and Texas Rangers spent four days scouring a Bexar County landfill last week, saying information they gathered over the course of the investigation narrowed their focus on the site. Olmos Park police officials had said they were "confident" evidence could be found there, but none was discovered.
Instead, searches again returned to the wooded areas of Olmos Park last weekend, where Suzanne's sister spoke to media for the first time.
"Suzanne was a beloved mother. She was an incredible person," Teresa Clark said. "We want everyone to know that we are devastated by the loss of my sister. I am here to be a voice for my sister."