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00:05A deadly fall from a desolate mountain trail.
00:09We had received word that a body had been found in Glacier National Park.
00:13A newlywed's life cut short, just days after saying, I do.
00:18This was a case that had everybody gripped.
00:21We're about to start their life together, and one of them has ended up dead.
00:26Was it simply a terrible accident?
00:28She told law enforcement that they had gotten into an argument.
00:33I was able to grab my arm, and I pushed, and it went over.
00:37Or the result of something far more sinister.
00:42It's important that I know that you're telling me the truth on this.
00:46So what I know, what I mean?
00:48And I understand that, okay?
00:50But I think that there's more.
01:10Cody Johnson was born in California in 1988 and grew up in Montana.
01:16Cody loved being outdoors.
01:18He loved sports.
01:19He loved going to his church.
01:21And he also was obsessed with cars.
01:23He loved driving them, fixing them up.
01:26He was a person who loved life and his hobbies.
01:29It was just very popular among his friends.
01:32It was very outgoing.
01:34Cody's hometown of Kalispell was the county seat of Flathead County.
01:38The county is phenomenally large.
01:43It stretches all the way from the Canadian border down to the Bob Marshall wilderness.
01:49The county is a very wide river valley formed by glaciers eons ago.
01:56And there are a number of glaciers in the mountains.
02:01And that's kind of a big reason why people like to come here, is to go to that remote area.
02:09Cody had been single for some time.
02:12In October 2011, he met Jordan Graham.
02:17Jordan and Cody met at a Halloween party.
02:20Jordan was a little bit shy.
02:21She was slightly more introverted.
02:23Cody was larger than life, really out there extroverted.
02:26But they got on really well.
02:28They had so much in common.
02:30Both really active, loved the outdoors, loved hiking.
02:33They both were avid churchgoers as well.
02:35And the relationship progressed quite quickly.
02:39Cody was head over heels with Jordan.
02:42This was infatuated with her.
02:44He once told a friend that if he could wake up next to her every day for the rest of
02:48his life, he would be happy.
02:50The relationship moved fast.
02:53And a little over a year later, in December 2012, Cody proposed.
02:59They were very involved in their church and would often go at least once a week, but sometimes twice in
03:05one day.
03:07Cody and Jordan were both members of the Faith Baptist Church, a very conservative branch of the Christian faith.
03:15Jordan was a particularly devout member.
03:20And her beliefs were very much that sex was something to be reserved for marriage.
03:30On June 29th in 2013, the couple married in a modest celebration surrounded by family and friends.
03:40After the ceremony, the couple had a one-night honeymoon in a place called Big Fork in Montana.
03:45Cody really spoiled Jordan that night.
03:48He decorated the room with flowers to make it a really romantic evening for them.
03:53When they returned from their honeymoon, the newlyweds moved into their first home together.
03:59The couple had time off work booked in to decorate their new place together, and Cody was due back into
04:06work on Monday, the 8th of July.
04:08They got up, went to church.
04:10People were asking Cody what they were planning to do that Sunday.
04:13And Cody said that Jordan had told him that she had a surprise for him, but he didn't know what
04:19the surprise was.
04:21After church, they met some other church members at the Dairy Queen in Kalispell.
04:27After spending time with their friends, Cody and Jordan went home about 8.30 that night.
04:34Later that evening, Jordan made an unexpected phone call to her brother.
04:42On the evening of July 7th, at about 11.15, Jordan calls up her brother, and she tells him that
04:48her and Cody had gotten into a fight.
04:51And he had gotten into a car with some of his car buddies to go joyriding, and she didn't know
04:58where he was.
04:58She didn't want to talk to him or look for him that night, but she just wanted to talk to
05:03him the next day.
05:06Later that night, around 1 a.m.,
05:10Jordan drove to her best friend Kimberly's house.
05:14When she turned up on her doorstep, Kimberly noticed that Jordan seemed nervous.
05:20She told Kimberly that the argument had happened so quickly and that she didn't really want to talk to Cody.
05:26She just wanted to see if he showed up to work the next morning.
05:31On July 8th, Cody was due on the early shift at the local car dealership, where he worked building custom
05:38-made vehicles with his co-worker and close friend, Cameron.
05:45Cameron was expecting him to show up for work that day, but he never showed.
05:52Cody always came to work on time, sometimes early, and was a very dedicated worker.
05:57And so for him to not be at work was very unusual.
06:01Two hours later, there was still no sign of Cody.
06:06Cameron text, he called, but it went to voicemail every time.
06:10At 4.30, he texted Jordan.
06:14Jordan told Cameron that the couple had gotten into a fight and that Cody had taken off with some car
06:20buddies, apparently from Washington.
06:24By July 9th, it had been two days since Cody had last been seen.
06:30Cameron went to Cody and Jordan's house to see if he could find Cody himself.
06:35When he got there, he started looking around the house and found the back door unlocked and went inside, but
06:41could not find Cody.
06:42And Cameron continued to get more and more concerned.
06:44So he started to call friends and call police departments and to see if anyone matching Cody's description showed up.
06:53He called in hospitals from Kalispell all the way to Spokane, Washington to see if they had found Cody.
06:59But there was no sign of him anywhere.
07:04Jordan gathered some friends and began to search around the local area for Cody.
07:10When they were driving back, Jordan received a call from the police asking her to come in for questioning.
07:20She goes to the Kalispell Police Department to talk to a Sergeant Zimmerman and tell him what she knows about
07:25his disappearance.
07:28Jordan said that Cody had received a phone call that evening that upset him and had agitated him.
07:37Jordan speculated that it could have been a call from somebody called Jose, who she said owed Cody money.
07:44Then she left Cody that evening for a little bit because she had forgotten her phone charger at one of
07:49the places where she worked as a nanny.
07:52When she came home, Cody was gone.
07:56I got a message saying that he was going to go for a ride with someone's out of town when
08:00they were visiting.
08:03She also told the law enforcement that she'd seen a dark colored car pick up Cody in the driveway and
08:10drive off.
08:12He always told me this one thing.
08:14When his friends came to visit, he would take them to Glacier Park.
08:19A missing persons report was launched in northwest Montana.
08:23This went out to all of the authorities in the local area who then began a search.
08:33In 2013, I was the Chief of Detectives for the Flathead County Sheriff's Department.
08:42Under Montana law, the elected sheriff is also the elected coroner.
08:49I know Glacier National Park because I was a law enforcement ranger there for about eight years.
08:56Hiking on the trails is not recommended at night.
08:59It's rugged.
09:01It's remote.
09:02A lot of times you're on a narrow rock ledge with mountain to one side of you and a sharp
09:09fall off to the other side.
09:11And if you just trip and fall, you can go downhill a long ways.
09:17And some of those falls, it could be very fatal.
09:22When someone goes missing, they generally do a radio broadcast that can be received by all law enforcement agencies in
09:31the area.
09:32So in the summer months, you get these all the time because of the extreme number of visitors we have
09:41in the area.
09:42Most of these resolve within a few hours.
09:45They just come out way later than they planned on or they overnight somewhere and come out the next day.
09:52Rarely are they actually missing.
09:55The report of Cody Johnson missing was not an unusual event.
10:01The fact that he stayed missing longer than most then made it more intense and more of interest to law
10:11enforcement to be looking with greater diligence.
10:15It's now two days since Cody's last been seen.
10:18His friends and his colleagues were really starting to get worried.
10:30Cody Johnson had been missing from the Kalispell area for over two days.
10:35While local police began their search, his wife of only 10 days, Jordan, continued to be questioned by detectives.
10:44When asked why she didn't immediately report him missing,
10:48Jordan told law enforcement that she didn't know that she could.
10:52She thought she had to wait 48 hours before reporting someone missing.
10:57Jordan also said that she believed if Cody had come home and found out that she had called law enforcement
11:04that he would have gotten upset.
11:06Law enforcement was suspicious of Jordan's story because she'd been telling different people different things throughout the previous few days.
11:14I'm getting some inconsistencies in what you're telling me with other information that I've already gathered, okay?
11:21And I've spoke to a few people, and it's important that I know that you're telling me the truth on
11:26things.
11:27Why do you think what I know?
11:28Well, and I understand that, okay?
11:32But I think that there's more.
11:35The following morning, on July 10th, 2013, Jordan returned to Kalispell Police Department, along with her mother, and some vital
11:45new information.
11:48I got an email this morning from some guy.
11:51All it said was Tony.
11:52In that email, the person wrote, my name's Tony.
11:55There's no bother looking for Cody anymore.
11:58He's gone.
12:00He had come with some buddies, met up with me on Sunday night in Columbia Falls.
12:04He was saying he needed to be with his buddies for a bit and take them for a joy ride.
12:08Three of the guys came back saying that they had gone for a ride in the woods somewhere, and Cody
12:14got out of the car, went for a little hike, and they are positive that he fell, and he is
12:19dead, Jordan.
12:22I don't know who the guys were, but they took off.
12:25So call off the missing persons report.
12:27Cody is gone for sure.
12:29This really turned the investigation on its head.
12:34When she gave this email to law enforcement that essentially said her husband was dead, she was acting very unusual.
12:41She wasn't freaked out.
12:43She wasn't crying.
12:43She wasn't sad.
12:44She seemed to be showing almost no emotion at all.
12:49For a woman who's potentially just found out that her new husband is dead, this reaction is not what you
12:56would expect.
12:58I just want to go.
13:00I just want to go.
13:01I just want to cover all the cradles.
13:03Jordan said that she didn't know who Tony was, but she gave police contact details for somebody called Tony Stolkamp.
13:10Law enforcement immediately thought the email was sketchy, but it was still a lead nonetheless.
13:15So they subpoenaed Google for information about where the IP address of the email had been created, and they also
13:21decided to track down this Tony.
13:27While police tried to trace Tony Stolkamp, Jordan regrouped with her search party.
13:34Armed with this information from this email, Jordan gathers up her friends, her brother Michael.
13:40They all head to Galatia National Park and begin a search.
13:47At a few points, they would stop and get out of the car and start hiking around looking for Cody,
13:53but it was kind of like finding a needle in a haystack.
13:56Galatia National Park is a million acres.
13:58It's a huge landscape, and so finding a single person in it would be nearly impossible.
14:06One of the spots that Jordan wanted to look at was this location called The Loop.
14:13They parked the car and looked around briefly, but it was getting late, so they went home.
14:18The following day, they went back to the spot.
14:21Jordan was pretty insistent that they search this area again.
14:24And so they started walking, and at one point, Jordan started to climb down the embankment.
14:30It's this very steep embankment that's over this river.
14:38Very dangerous, but Jordan was insistent about going down this embankment.
14:43Her brother tries to say to her, it's not safe over there, but she just says to him,
14:47no, I've just got this feeling that we might find something.
14:51After a few minutes of walking around, she spotted something in the ravine below.
14:58Her brother, Michael, came alongside her, and there he was.
15:07It was Cody's body at the bottom of the steep and rocky ravine.
15:14Michael immediately became emotional and started crying, but Jordan was very cold
15:20and didn't seem to show a lot of emotion at all about what she had just seen.
15:27With no phone signal on the remote hiking trail,
15:31Jordan and her friends drove to the nearest general store to alert the authorities.
15:36From there, a call is made to say that the body has been found.
15:42Park rangers confirmed the presence of a body,
15:45but due to the difficult and dangerous terrain,
15:48recovery teams waited until the following day, July 12th,
15:52to attempt to retrieve it from the ravine.
15:56We had received word that a body had been found in Glacier National Park,
16:01that they suspected that it was, in fact, Cody Johnson.
16:05So I was assigned as a coroner, not as a detective,
16:09but as a coroner to go and investigate the death.
16:17We were taken to a spot where you could look over the edge of the gorge
16:20and you could see the body in the water below.
16:24And then we came up with a game plan of how to get down to it.
16:28Cody's body was almost 200 feet below in a creek at the bottom of the canyon.
16:34The fastest and easiest way would have been to rappel down on ropes.
16:41But because the body was at the bottom of the gorge,
16:43we weren't sure how the cliff faces were involved in what happened.
16:48So we didn't want to disturb anything on the cliff faces.
16:51So we walked down through a wooded area
16:54and followed the creek that he was in
16:58and approached him that way
17:00as not to disrupt any evidence
17:02or forensic findings that might be there.
17:06Possibility would be to do a vertical raise up there
17:09to do a retrieve.
17:11When we came upon the body,
17:13it was in a small pool of water,
17:15which roughly was three foot deep.
17:20Prone, arms hanging down at his side,
17:24legs down underneath him.
17:25As coroners, we're taught everything is a homicide
17:29until the evidence
17:31and the information proves otherwise.
17:35Paul's taking some pictures,
17:37still pictures of the gully he came down.
17:39I'll get over there and take some more in a minute.
17:42I'm down from up there,
17:44around this rock.
17:46We also know people fall and die in the park
17:49with some regularity,
17:50for the most part, almost three a year.
17:52So you try to start with an unbiased mind.
17:56A number of investigators and myself
17:58took a series of photographs
18:00looking at the body from all angles
18:02so you get a good perspective of where they're at.
18:06Then we go into the physical examination of the body.
18:12There was no blood.
18:13You could see some skin defects,
18:16which is coroner terms for tears in skin.
18:18But with his face down,
18:20we couldn't see any trauma
18:23associated with his head or skull
18:26from that position.
18:28In his back pocket was the outline of your wallet.
18:32So I recovered that wallet.
18:34I found a Montana operator's license,
18:37which was issued to Cody.
18:38And the physical description matched the general physical description
18:44that we had in front of us.
18:45So now we were able to say that this, in fact, was Cody Johnson.
18:52We have to put our emotion behind
18:54and look at things from a clinical standpoint.
18:56It was not a pleasant thing to look at by any means,
19:02but it was part of my job.
19:04And I try to do my job
19:05with the greatest efficiency and professionalism I can.
19:11As I panned the area taking photographs,
19:15I noticed two objects that were not naturally occurring.
19:19One was a piece of black cloth or fabric,
19:22and another one was a tennis shoe up on the cliff edge.
19:28So that was the first clue from where he came down
19:32because he could have come down
19:34from either side of that canyon.
19:36But then we knew he came from the south side of it
19:39because of the placement of that shoe.
19:44The plan was made that we would put Cody in a water bag,
19:49which is basically a large mesh bag,
19:52and try and hoist it up the side of a mountain.
19:54In rolling him over to position him in the bag
19:57was the first frontal view of his face
20:00and the frontal lobes of his head.
20:04And he had massive trauma that would be,
20:09the description we use is inconsistent with life.
20:11And that further gave indication
20:13that he fell from altitude.
20:15He didn't just trip and fall there in that body of water.
20:20Everything that we saw,
20:22the totality of the information suggested
20:25that he came from the south rim of that canyon
20:30up in that loop area
20:32and hit rock objects all the way down.
20:40This sets up some big questions.
20:43What was Cody doing there, and how did he fall?
20:54Cody's body was airlifted out of the ravine
20:57and sent for autopsy.
20:59Later that day, the autopsy results confirmed
21:02he had died from blunt force trauma
21:05consistent with a fall from 200 feet.
21:10Meanwhile, news of Cody's death
21:12spread throughout the local community.
21:14The discovery of Cody's body in Glacier National Park
21:18was a big story locally.
21:20People go missing in the park with some regularity
21:23and occasionally people die,
21:25but this was very mysterious
21:27about how he ended up at the bottom of the ravine.
21:32On July 22nd, 2013,
21:3511 days after Cody's body was found,
21:38friends and family gathered for his funeral.
21:43Cody's mom, Sherry, led the tribute service.
21:46They had a memorial fund there
21:48to pay for some of the expenses,
21:49but the room was full for all of Cody's loved ones,
21:53his friends, his colleagues.
21:54However, the mourners described
21:56that Jordan's demeanor was unusual.
22:00She seemed very disengaged from the entire event.
22:03She wasn't very emotional,
22:05especially considering that she'd just lost her husband
22:07of eight days.
22:08And some people later said
22:09that she spent most of the time looking at her phone.
22:16Concerned about her best friend,
22:18Jordan's maid of honor, Kimberly,
22:20contacted the police
22:21about some worrying text messages
22:23she'd received from Jordan
22:24in the run-up to the wedding.
22:27Jordan had been sending her a lot of texts
22:29about issues that she and Cody had been having.
22:34She kept saying to Kimberly
22:36she wasn't sure if she wanted to go through with it.
22:39Kimberly said,
22:40Jordan seemed more concerned
22:41with being a bride than a wife,
22:43and that also she had some nerves
22:46around the night of the wedding.
22:50Because she was deeply religious,
22:52she was nervous about the prospect
22:54that Cody might want to consummate
22:56the marriage that night.
22:59Jordan's doubts about her relationship with Cody
23:01continued in the days following the wedding.
23:05Kimberly told law enforcement
23:06that a lot of the text messages
23:08she had received from Jordan
23:10were about how she felt like she had made a mistake.
23:13She wished she hadn't gotten married to Cody.
23:15She was really struggling
23:17with settling into married life
23:19and settling into adulthood.
23:20She was also having trouble being intimate with Cody.
23:23She would make up excuses
23:25why they couldn't be intimate together,
23:27and she was just really struggling
23:29with that part of marriage.
23:33These messages are about more than post-wedding blues.
23:37They're not simply a reaction
23:39to the end of the excitement
23:41and the anticipation leading up to the wedding.
23:44These messages imply somebody
23:46who feels frightened,
23:48who feels trapped.
23:49What we have here is somebody
23:51who doesn't really have
23:53the emotional maturity for marriage yet.
23:57There was one text message in particular
24:00sent the night Cody went missing
24:02that raised alarm bells for officers.
24:05Kimberly told law enforcement
24:06that on the night of July 7th,
24:09Jordan had texted Kimberly
24:10and said that she was going to finally
24:12bring up these feelings with Cody
24:14and that they were going to have
24:17that conversation that evening.
24:18She also told Kimberly
24:20that if she didn't hear from her later,
24:22that she should be worried
24:24that something had happened.
24:33As the investigation continued
24:35into the death of Cody Johnson
24:37after a fatal fall in Glacier National Park,
24:40his friends began to question
24:42the behavior of his now-widow,
24:44Jordan Graham, in the aftermath.
24:48In the days after they found Cody's body,
24:52all of Cody and Jordan's friends
24:54started to look at the events
24:56of the previous week or two
24:57in a different light.
25:01They started to remember
25:02that at the wedding,
25:02she was acting very unusual,
25:05that she wasn't really expressing
25:07a lot of emotion
25:08or even excitement about the wedding.
25:10While she had been excited
25:12about the event itself,
25:14she didn't seem to be excited
25:15about getting married to Cody.
25:19When she was walking down the aisle,
25:21Jordan was actually crying.
25:22At the time, her friends thought
25:24that maybe they were tears of joy,
25:26but with the passage of time,
25:29they started to think
25:30that maybe those tears
25:31meant something else.
25:37When people reflected back
25:39on that wedding day,
25:40it seemed even more suspicious
25:42now Cody had gone missing.
25:47Jordan's behavior during the search
25:49for her missing husband
25:50had also taken friends
25:52and family by surprise.
25:54She was giggling,
25:56she was texting on her phone,
25:58and then Motherly eventually
25:59did find her dead husband's body.
26:02She made this comment and say,
26:04oh, well, they can call off
26:05the search now.
26:05The detectives can get off my back
26:07and get out of my business.
26:10Later that day,
26:11they were driving home
26:13in Cody's car.
26:15One of Jordan's friends
26:16was driving,
26:17and she was obviously
26:18very emotional.
26:18I mean, they just found
26:19their friend's body.
26:21And they were driving erratically.
26:24And at one point,
26:25Jordan told this friend,
26:26hey, slow down, drive safe,
26:28this isn't my car.
26:29And then she paused and said,
26:31well, actually it is now.
26:33That just seemed very unusual
26:36to be more focused on
26:38the car that you have
26:39instead of the fact
26:41that you just discovered
26:42your dead husband
26:43at the bottom of a ravine.
26:45All of this tells me
26:47that this is someone
26:47who's not surprised
26:48by the discovery of the body,
26:50who's not emotionally impacted
26:52by the discovery of the body,
26:54someone who's unaware
26:56of the world that she's living in,
26:58who hasn't admitted to herself
27:01what's going on.
27:04But what really set
27:05alarm bells ringing
27:06was how quickly Jordan
27:08found Cody's body
27:09in Glacier National Park,
27:11a sprawling wilderness
27:13spanning over one million acres.
27:16The odds of finding a body
27:18in Glacier National Park
27:20are slim.
27:20The odds of finding
27:21your dead husband
27:23in Glacier National Park
27:25is probably one in a billion.
27:29The park has hundreds
27:32of miles of trails,
27:34hundreds of lakes,
27:36several rivers.
27:38If you could look
27:39at an acre a day,
27:40it would exceed
27:41a human lifetime.
27:44It's beyond reasonable imagination
27:47that they just happen
27:49to luck on to the right spot
27:51at the right time.
27:53Just incredibly unusual.
27:57I can't think of another time
27:59in my career
28:00that that has happened.
28:03As suspicions swirled
28:05around Jordan,
28:06detectives continued
28:07to follow up on the lead
28:08she had provided to police
28:10when Cody was reported missing.
28:13Initially,
28:14Jordan had told law enforcement
28:16that Cody had received
28:18a phone call
28:18on the night of July 7th
28:20that had upset him.
28:24The police did investigate
28:26this call,
28:27which Jordan said
28:28Cody had received
28:29from Jose in Washington.
28:31Turns out Jose did call Cody,
28:33but this was just about
28:34a work-related incident,
28:35so the police
28:36quickly cleared him
28:38of any suspicion.
28:40Detectives then began
28:42to investigate the email.
28:43Jordan had said
28:44that this came from a man
28:46called Tony Stolkup.
28:47They made contact
28:48with Tony.
28:49He had nothing to do
28:50with this email.
28:52The police then subpoenaed Google
28:53to find out more information
28:55about the account.
28:58Two key pieces
29:00of information
29:01were found.
29:02This account was set up
29:03on July 10th,
29:04the same day
29:05that the email was sent,
29:06and the IP address
29:08led back
29:08to Jordan's parents' house.
29:11This now strongly suggested
29:14that Jordan had set up
29:15this email account
29:16to send a fake email
29:18to create a fake narrative
29:20about what really happened
29:21to Cody.
29:23Now, if Jordan sent
29:24this email to herself,
29:25this tells me
29:26that we're dealing
29:27with somebody
29:28who's desperately
29:29thrashing about,
29:30who's on the back foot
29:32scrambling,
29:33and who's simply reacting
29:34to events
29:35rather than having
29:36pre-planned them
29:37in any way at all.
29:40Then came another
29:42shocking revelation.
29:43During the course
29:44of law enforcement's
29:45investigation,
29:47they were able
29:47to subpoena
29:48the cell phone data
29:49of Jordan's phone
29:51and where it had been
29:53on the evening
29:53of July 7th.
29:55That information
29:56told them that Jordan
29:57was headed towards
29:59Glacier National Park
30:00and then eventually
30:01entered the park
30:02where she lost
30:03cell phone service
30:04for a while.
30:05And later it showed
30:06her leaving the park,
30:07going back to Kalispell.
30:09This confirmed
30:10that Jordan,
30:11or at least her phone,
30:12had been in the park
30:13on the same night
30:14that Cody fell
30:15to his death.
30:19And then detectives
30:20uncovered another
30:21key piece of evidence
30:22that would change
30:24the course
30:24of the entire investigation.
30:26On the evening
30:27of July 16th,
30:29Jordan was asked
30:30to come in
30:30for further questioning.
30:32Initially she thought
30:33it was just an interview
30:34to kind of wrap things up,
30:36but when she got there,
30:37she wasn't talking
30:38to detectives
30:39with the Kalispell
30:39Police Department anymore.
30:40She was talking
30:41to an FBI agent.
30:44The FBI was involved
30:46because Cody's body
30:48had been discovered
30:49in Glacier National Park,
30:50which is federal jurisdiction.
30:52The agent asked Jordan
30:54to explain the night
30:56of Cody's disappearance.
30:58Jordan told him
31:00about the car buddies,
31:01how they had gotten
31:02into a disagreement.
31:04But at one point,
31:07the agent told Jordan
31:09to stop
31:11and said that
31:13he knew she was lying.
31:14He flips over a photo
31:16from the security cameras
31:18at the west gate
31:18of Glacier National Park.
31:20Right there was Jordan
31:23and Cody and their car
31:24and a time stamp
31:25saying that they were there
31:27the night that Cody died.
31:32The police used
31:33this piece
31:34of irrefutable evidence
31:35of her lying
31:36to break Jordan down.
31:41Faced with this evidence,
31:42she breaks down
31:43and confesses.
31:48Jordan said
31:49that they drove
31:50into the park
31:50and they decided
31:51to go on a hike.
31:57She told law enforcement
31:59that they had gotten
32:01into an argument,
32:02that she had finally
32:03confronted Cody
32:04about her feelings
32:05of not wanting
32:06to be married.
32:08And the argument
32:09got heated quickly.
32:11I grabbed my arm
32:13and my jacket
32:13and said, no,
32:14I'm going to defend myself.
32:16I said, I want to go
32:17and I pushed
32:17and he went over.
32:20There was no planning
32:23on your part
32:23to kill Cody.
32:25No.
32:25Okay.
32:26You hadn't planned that.
32:27This whole thing
32:28just kind of happened
32:29in the heat of,
32:30yeah,
32:30he did the emotion
32:31and the passion
32:32of that situation.
32:35I want to be you
32:35personally.
32:38I just want to be fine.
32:41In that moment,
32:42although I think
32:43she will have been aware
32:44at the back of her mind
32:46of the consequences
32:48of what she's telling,
32:50I think actually
32:51Jordan will have
32:52experienced this
32:53as a relief
32:54to be finally
32:56saying the truth.
32:57Following her confession,
32:59Jordan was released
33:01and placed under house arrest
33:02while detectives
33:04continued to build a case
33:05to prove this wasn't
33:07an accident
33:07but a meticulously
33:09planned murder.
33:13That August,
33:14she was indicted
33:15by a federal grand jury.
33:18Prosecutors managed
33:20to secure
33:20an indictment
33:21against Jordan
33:22for first and second
33:23degree murder
33:24and lying to authorities.
33:26The police department
33:27called Jordan in
33:28asking her to return
33:30some evidence
33:30but when she arrived,
33:32they arrested her
33:33on suspicion
33:34of Cody's murder.
33:40The trial began
33:42on December the 9th,
33:432013
33:44at a federal court
33:45in Missoula, Montana.
33:47Jordan pleaded
33:48not guilty
33:49to charges
33:50of first-degree murder,
33:52second-degree murder,
33:53and making false statements
33:54to authorities.
33:56First-degree murder
33:57suggests that
33:58it was premeditated
34:00and that she had
34:01planned it all out.
34:02Second-degree murder
34:03was that it was
34:04an accident.
34:04The purpose of the trial
34:05was to determine
34:06whether or not
34:07she had killed Cody
34:09on purpose.
34:12If the prosecution
34:13could prove Jordan
34:14was guilty
34:15of first-degree murder,
34:16she could be facing
34:17life in prison.
34:23On December 9th, 2013,
34:27just five months
34:28after Cody Johnson
34:29died after a fatal fall
34:31in Glacier National Park,
34:33his widow,
34:34Jordan Graham,
34:35stood trial
34:36for his murder.
34:37The prosecution
34:38brought various pieces
34:40of evidence.
34:41These included
34:41the fact that Jordan
34:43took Cody
34:44for a surprise
34:45that night
34:45up on the mountain,
34:47the fact that
34:48she sent these text messages
34:49on the night
34:50of his death
34:50to Kimberly,
34:52all of her nerves
34:53before the marriage,
34:54as well as her lies
34:55after Cody
34:56was found dead.
34:57The prosecution
34:58is painting a picture
34:59of Jordan
35:00as somebody
35:01utterly cold,
35:03somebody who was
35:04able to ruthlessly
35:06hold a secret
35:07from her friends
35:08and family,
35:09somebody who strategically
35:10tried to take control
35:12of the narrative.
35:15There was one
35:16further piece
35:17of evidence
35:17that prosecutors
35:18hoped would convince
35:20the jury
35:20that Cody's death
35:22had been planned.
35:24There was a cloth
35:26that was found
35:27near Cody
35:28in the park,
35:29and prosecutors
35:30believe that it might
35:32have been a blindfold.
35:34Jordan had put
35:35a blindfold on Cody
35:37before he had
35:38been pushed off
35:39the cliff.
35:40Prosecutors tried
35:41to introduce
35:42the blindfold
35:42at trial,
35:43but because it
35:45hadn't been put
35:45in a proper evidence
35:47bag,
35:48they were not able
35:49to submit it
35:51as informal evidence
35:52in the trial.
35:53They were looking
35:53for DNA on it,
35:54and it was stored
35:55in a plastic bag,
35:56and it was damp.
35:57Well, things stored
35:58in plastic bags
35:59that are damp
36:00putrefy
36:00and destroy
36:01DNA evidence.
36:07Jordan's defense
36:08team continued
36:09to claim
36:10that Cody's fatal
36:11fall had been
36:12a tragic accident.
36:14Jordan's attorneys
36:15argued that
36:17Jordan was
36:18an immature person
36:19and that she
36:19wasn't ready
36:20for the responsibilities
36:21of marriage,
36:22but that she
36:23didn't purposely
36:23kill Cody.
36:25Their argument
36:27was that Cody
36:28and Jordan
36:29had gotten
36:29into a fight
36:30that night
36:31in Glacier National Park
36:32and that she
36:33had pushed him
36:34off the cliff
36:35by accident.
36:36And that everything
36:38that she had done
36:38in the days
36:39after his death,
36:41all the lies
36:43she told,
36:43was because
36:44she didn't think
36:45anyone would believe
36:46her version of events.
36:47There's no doubt
36:48this is a plausible
36:50explanation.
36:51I'm just not sure
36:52it's consistent
36:54with somebody
36:55who is also able
36:56the next day
36:57to create
36:59an email alibi
37:01deflecting blame
37:02on somebody else.
37:05During the course
37:07of the trial,
37:08dozens of witnesses
37:09were called
37:09to testify,
37:10including then
37:11Chief of Detectives
37:13and County Coroner
37:14Dick Sign.
37:15I was brought
37:16into the courtroom
37:17and the questioning
37:18involved was
37:20about the location.
37:23How did I take
37:25the remains
37:26into my care
37:27and how was
37:27the integrity
37:28of them going forward
37:29to the crime lab?
37:31Those,
37:32those mechanical
37:33sorts of things
37:34which one cannot
37:36take for granted
37:37at trial.
37:40They also put
37:41his mother
37:41on the stand
37:42for a very
37:43emotional testimony.
37:45She told the court
37:46that Cody
37:47was super happy
37:48to have been
37:49getting married,
37:50that he'd always
37:50wanted to buy a home
37:52and start a family
37:53and that she'd always
37:54wanted to become
37:54a grandmother.
37:55mother and so
37:56she was kind
37:58of on cloud nine
37:59in the days
38:00after Cody
38:01and Jordan's wedding
38:01but unfortunately
38:03those dreams
38:03were quickly dashed.
38:07There was a lot
38:08of emotional testimony
38:09throughout the course
38:10of that week
38:11but the entire time
38:12Jordan showed
38:13very little emotion.
38:19It's almost as if
38:20her reactions
38:20are the reactions
38:22of somebody
38:22who doesn't
38:22actually think
38:23that she's done
38:24anything wrong.
38:25It's as if
38:25she's the victim
38:26somehow.
38:28As the trial
38:29progressed
38:30more shocking
38:31evidence came
38:32to light.
38:33One of the
38:34investigators
38:34happened to live
38:35in Cody
38:36and Jordan's
38:37neighborhood
38:37and he was
38:39out for a jog
38:40when he discovered
38:41that someone
38:42at Cody
38:42and Jordan's
38:43house had taken
38:43out the trash.
38:44Once the trash
38:45can's on the curb
38:46it's kind
38:46of fair game
38:47and so he
38:48took the trash
38:48can,
38:49brought it home
38:49and dumped
38:50out everything
38:51that was inside.
38:53He found cards
38:55and teddy bears
38:55and other gifts
38:57that Cody
38:57had given Jordan
38:59and he also found
39:00part of Jordan's
39:01wedding dress.
39:04and it was
39:05kind of unusual
39:06that Jordan
39:06just decided
39:07to throw them
39:07out,
39:08especially
39:08immediately
39:09after his
39:10disappearance.
39:11This is not
39:12somebody
39:13sentimentally
39:14holding on
39:14to the loss
39:16of a loved
39:17bereaved
39:18partner.
39:18This is somebody
39:19cold and calculating.
39:25As the trial
39:26was nearing
39:26its conclusion,
39:27Jordan's defense
39:28were faced
39:29with lots
39:30of evidence
39:30mounting up
39:31against her.
39:32They had
39:32her confession,
39:34they had
39:34the falsified
39:35email that
39:35she'd sent,
39:36witness testimony
39:37and the trash
39:38can discovery.
39:39It was not
39:40looking good
39:41for Jordan.
39:45Day four
39:46of the trial
39:46and we
39:47are anticipating
39:49closing arguments
39:50from both sides.
39:51but after
39:53lunch break
39:54everyone got
39:54back into
39:55the courtroom
39:55and there
39:56was a surprise.
39:59Jordan had
40:00decided to
40:01plead guilty
40:02to second
40:03degree murder.
40:06It was a
40:07very shocking
40:09moment.
40:09The defense
40:10realized that
40:11there was no
40:12way a jury
40:13was going to
40:13find her
40:14innocent of
40:14these charges.
40:15She accepted
40:16the charge
40:17of second
40:17degree murder
40:18in agreement
40:19that the charge
40:19of first
40:20degree murder
40:21and her
40:21line to
40:22authorities
40:22would be
40:22dropped.
40:25On March
40:2627th,
40:272014,
40:28Jordan Graham
40:29was sentenced
40:30to 30 years
40:31in federal
40:32prison with
40:33five years
40:34of supervised
40:34release following
40:36her term.
40:37She also
40:38had to pay
40:39restitution
40:39to law
40:41enforcement
40:41of about
40:42$17,000
40:43to cover
40:44the cost
40:45of recovering
40:46Cody's body.
40:47It's reassuring
40:48that something
40:50horrible
40:51that happened
40:52to another
40:52human being
40:53is not
40:54without its
40:56penalty.
40:58And there's
40:59remorse
41:00because a
41:01young lady
41:01lost any
41:03semblance
41:04of a future
41:05she was going
41:05to have
41:06for a momentary
41:08occurrence
41:09where she ruined
41:11multiple lives.
41:12She obviously
41:13took the life
41:13of her husband.
41:14She condemned
41:15herself to
41:16the bulk
41:16of her adult
41:17life in jail.
41:18She had
41:19family and
41:20friends that
41:22lost respect
41:23for her.
41:23She had
41:24other people
41:25and other
41:26family members
41:27that lost
41:29a son,
41:31lost a good
41:32friend,
41:33lost a
41:33co-worker.
41:37Cody Johnson
41:38left behind
41:39a family and
41:40friends who
41:40loved him
41:41dearly,
41:42dying in his
41:43mid-twenties
41:44when he was
41:44just at the
41:45start of his
41:46life.
41:46This was such
41:47a tragic
41:47case.
41:49I don't think
41:50anyone doubts
41:51that Jordan
41:52did it,
41:53but I
41:54certainly do
41:55think that
41:55even a decade
41:56later,
41:57there's a lot
41:57of questions
41:58that linger
41:58about the
41:59entire episode.
42:02Whether she
42:03planned it out
42:04and lured him
42:05to some cliff
42:06with a blindfold
42:07on, or
42:08whether it was
42:09just an accident
42:10and she pushed
42:11him off the
42:12cliff in a
42:12moment of
42:13passion.
42:13The only person
42:14who knows
42:15for certain
42:16what happened
42:16that night
42:17is Jordan.
42:21I don't think
42:22she was really
42:23ready to be
42:23married.
42:24She wasn't
42:25ready for that
42:25type of
42:25commitment.
42:27And I do
42:27have to wonder,
42:28you know,
42:31logically you
42:31would think,
42:32well, if you
42:33get married and
42:34you're immediately
42:35unhappy, we'll
42:35just file for
42:36divorce.
42:37But I don't
42:37really know if
42:37that was an
42:38option for her,
42:40you know,
42:41considering her
42:42very religious
42:44background, you
42:45know, that
42:45might have
42:46been tough for
42:48her.
42:48And so I do
42:50think she maybe
42:50felt she was
42:51trapped in that
42:52marriage and that
42:53there was no way
42:54to get out of
42:54it.
42:56We are all
42:57products of our
42:59upbringing and
43:00the culture we
43:01live in.
43:01You have to ask
43:02yourself, are
43:03any of the other
43:04people that had
43:05those constraints
43:06killing their
43:07spouses?
43:14Following the
43:15trial, friends
43:17and family held
43:18a memorial
43:18service for
43:19Cody.
43:21And it was
43:22very well
43:23attended.
43:23There were a
43:24few hundred
43:25people, lots
43:26of Cody's
43:27friends and
43:27family, and
43:28you know, just
43:29a lot of
43:30memories about
43:31the type of
43:31person Cody
43:32was.
43:32I think, you
43:33know, while
43:34there was a
43:34lot of
43:34emotion at
43:36that event,
43:37I think
43:38there was
43:38also a
43:38lot of
43:39relief that
43:39they finally
43:40knew what
43:41had happened,
43:42or at least
43:43as much as
43:44they're ever
43:44going to know
43:44about what
43:45had happened.
43:46But it was
43:47very emotional
43:48event.
43:48Cody was a
43:49beloved person
43:49and that
43:52event reflected
43:53that.
43:53This was a
43:54real tragedy
43:55where two
43:56lives were
43:56ruined.
43:57Jordan found
43:58herself in
43:59this situation
44:00where she got
44:00herself 30
44:01years in
44:02prison and
44:03then Cody's
44:04family and
44:04friends who
44:05loved him
44:06daily have
44:07been left
44:08with that
44:08loss and
44:09that grief
44:09of a young
44:10man who
44:11was just
44:11starting out
44:12his life.
44:12With the
44:13guilty verdict,
44:14the family
44:15and friends
44:15of Cody
44:16have got
44:17justice,
44:18but they
44:19forever
44:20lost the
44:22bubbly,
44:22vivacious
44:23character that
44:24was their
44:25son, their
44:26brother,
44:26their friend.
44:27husband.
44:39He
44:47and
44:51he
44:55has
44:56been
44:56his
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