Raleigh, N.C. — A Wake County judge Tuesday prohibited a Cary man accused of murdering his wife from trying to liquidate any of the couple's assets except their house, and any sale proceeds from that go into escrow.

Brad Cooper, 35, is charged with first-degree murder in the July 12 death of his wife, Nancy Cooper, whose body was found in an undeveloped subdivision approximately three miles from their Lochmere home.

In a consent injunction filed Tuesday, Cooper is permitted to sell the house at 104 Wallsburg Court, but net proceeds must be held in escrow pending a further ruling. District Judge Debra Sasser ruled on the matter last month.

For everything else, Cooper and anyone working on his behalf are "enjoined restrained and prohibited from concealing, liquidating, assigning, transferring, selling or otherwise wasting or disposing of any and all of his remaining assets."

Bank accounts, stocks and his retirement money at Cisco Systems, where Cooper was employed at the time of his wife's death, are included.

Nancy Cooper's parents, Garry and Donna Rentz, asked for the ruling out of fear that Cooper would use the assets to get money to pay his legal fees instead of supporting his daughters. The Rentzes, as well as Nancy Cooper's sister, have temporary custody of the girls, who now reside in Canada.

A man walking his dog found Nancy Cooper's body lying on the bank of a storm water pond in an undeveloped subdivision.

The 34-year-old mother of two was likely strangled, according to a medical examiner's report.

Cooper was arrested in October and has been in the Wake County jail without bond. If convicted, he faces life in prison without parole.