Latest / NO FILTER / A Bride_s _Secret Surprise__ the murder of Cody Johnson [True Crime documentary]

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A Bride_s _Secret Surprise__ the murder of Cody Johnson [True Crime documentary] · NO FILTER

0:01
Speaker 1: I know well, and I understand that, okay, but I
0:10
Speaker 1: think the more.
0:13
Speaker 2: Hi everyone, I'm Kevin and this is just Thought Lounge.
0:17
Speaker 2: JTIL is the true crime channel that delivers serious, well
0:20
Speaker 2: balanced coverage of the cases that really make you think.
0:23
Speaker 2: The case we're about to look at centers around a
0:25
Speaker 2: young couple in love. In the summer of twenty thirteen,
0:28
Speaker 2: Cody Johnson and Jordan Lynn Graham were celebrating their wedding
0:32
Speaker 2: with friends, family, and their church. What should have been
0:35
Speaker 2: amongst the happiest times of their lives, however, turned bleak
0:38
Speaker 2: only a week later when Cody, usually very reliable, failed
0:43
Speaker 2: to show up to work on Monday morning. He had
0:45
Speaker 2: not been seen since the night before. Friends and family
0:49
Speaker 2: fear of the worst. It was not a lengthy search
0:51
Speaker 2: to find Cody, only a few days, but this short
0:55
Speaker 2: period was confused, riddled with suspicions, contradictory stories, and many
1:00
Speaker 2: unanswered questions. Central among these asked why was Jordan Graham,
1:05
Speaker 2: the blushing young bride, being caught in so many lies?
1:09
Speaker 2: Let's take a look. Kalispell, Montana, is in the northwest
1:23
Speaker 2: of the state and serves as a kind of gateway
1:26
Speaker 2: to Glacier National Park. The area is characterized by mountainous peaks,
1:30
Speaker 2: alpine trails, sparkling lakes, and plenty of wildlife. It was
1:36
Speaker 2: in this picturesque setting that a young, seemingly well intentioned
1:39
Speaker 2: couple met and began dating. In autumn of twenty eleven.
1:44
Speaker 2: Cody Johnson, a twenty three year old self professed carfinatic,
1:48
Speaker 2: had told friends that he wanted nothing more than to
1:51
Speaker 2: meet a good church girl Mary and have a family.
1:54
Speaker 2: The stars seemed to align for Cody when in October,
1:58
Speaker 2: after leaving church on a Sunday night, he laid eyes
2:01
Speaker 2: on nineteen year old Jordan Lynn Graham. Jordan was everything
2:04
Speaker 2: that Cody had hoped to find in a future wife,
2:07
Speaker 2: and he quickly fell head over heels. According to friends,
2:11
Speaker 2: Jordan was far more reserved and socially introverted compared to
2:15
Speaker 2: the popular, talkative, and outgoing Cody. It made for a
2:18
Speaker 2: stark contrast, but as the relationship progressed, gracious friends of
2:23
Speaker 2: theirs remarked that the two made for a balanced pair.
2:26
Speaker 2: The difference in their personalities complimented each other. To many
2:30
Speaker 2: others close to Cody, however, it was just an odd match,
2:34
Speaker 2: one in which Cody appeared to be love struck, while
2:37
Speaker 2: Jordan seemed at times simply indifferent. Despite this, Jordan's stated
2:43
Speaker 2: intentions were clear. She told a close friend that all
2:46
Speaker 2: she wanted was to meet a nice guy get married.
2:49
Speaker 2: I want to be a stay at home mum and
2:51
Speaker 2: just have my family. Cody was working for Nomad Global
2:56
Speaker 2: Communication Services and IT services company. After a short time,
3:01
Speaker 2: he had saved up enough money for an engagement ring.
3:03
Speaker 2: He proposed in December twenty twelve. Jordan joyfully accepted, and
3:08
Speaker 2: they set their wedding date for late June of the
3:10
Speaker 2: next year.
3:12
Speaker 3: When Cody told me that he was going to propose
3:14
Speaker 3: to Jordan, I wasn't real supportive of it because I
3:17
Speaker 3: didn't feel like they had a strong relationship. He said, basically,
3:21
Speaker 3: this is what.
3:22
Speaker 4: He wanted to do.
3:23
Speaker 3: He wanted our support, But I did have conversation with
3:26
Speaker 3: him saying that I think he should reconsider.
3:31
Speaker 2: The wedding was held at Woodland Park in Kallispell and
3:34
Speaker 2: well attended by extended family, friends in their church community.
3:38
Speaker 2: At twenty one years old, Jordan was taking the plunge
3:41
Speaker 2: into a new life and emotions were running high. Wedding
3:44
Speaker 2: guests reported that Jordan sobbed her way down the aisle.
3:48
Speaker 2: At the reception, Kimberly Martinez, the maid of honor, toasted
3:51
Speaker 2: the new couple. The best thing possible happened, and I'm
3:55
Speaker 2: so happy for you too, amaze person the Jordan had
4:03
Speaker 2: arranged for a songwriter in California to write a special
4:06
Speaker 2: song for her husband if played for their first dance
4:09
Speaker 2: as a married.
4:10
Speaker 5: Couple, same place.
4:15
Speaker 2: And John, the newlylits had a day long honeymoon break
4:20
Speaker 2: in Bigfok, only about half an hour's drive from Kalispell.
4:24
Speaker 2: They returned to their regular working lives on the Monday.
4:27
Speaker 2: Cody was back at Nomad and Jordan to her work
4:30
Speaker 2: as a babysitter. The young couple were formally starting their
4:33
Speaker 2: lives together and maybe a family. One week later, the
4:39
Speaker 2: eighth of July, Cody's supervisor and friend, Cameron Frederickson, was
4:43
Speaker 2: at work Monday morning and becoming increasingly worried Cody had
4:47
Speaker 2: not yet arrived, and he was not typically late or
4:50
Speaker 2: out of contact. Cameron texted Cody at about eight thirty
4:54
Speaker 2: am that morning, but received no response. Two hours later,
4:58
Speaker 2: he phoned but was connected to directly to Cody's voicemail
5:01
Speaker 2: Over lunch, he began calling around to see if any
5:04
Speaker 2: other friends had heard from Cody, but no one had.
5:07
Speaker 2: Then at four point thirty that afternoon, Cameron received a
5:10
Speaker 2: text from Jordan that left him truly worried. She messaged
5:14
Speaker 2: to ask him if Cody had made it into work
5:16
Speaker 2: that morning. A similar message was received from Jordan to
5:19
Speaker 2: Cody's mother, Sherry, but she hadn't heard from Cody that
5:22
Speaker 2: morning either. Family members had been contacted and concerns were spreading.
5:30
Speaker 2: Surely his wife would know where to look for him,
5:32
Speaker 2: but Jordan had no idea. She told Cameron that she
5:36
Speaker 2: and Cody had fought the night before. Afterwards, Cody had
5:39
Speaker 2: needed to blow off some steam and he had left.
5:42
Speaker 2: She messaged that some out of town car friends came
5:45
Speaker 2: and picked him up. I was not there, but the
5:48
Speaker 2: last thing I heard was he was going to go
5:50
Speaker 2: for a ride with his buddies from out of town.
5:53
Speaker 2: Upon hearing this, Cameron set out to track down Cody.
5:56
Speaker 2: He checked all of the surrounding hospitals in case his
5:59
Speaker 2: friend had been out joy riding and gotten into a wreck.
6:02
Speaker 2: As words spread, friends and family members of Cody's began
6:05
Speaker 2: to congregate at his home with Jordan Kallouspelle. Police were
6:09
Speaker 2: contacted and Cody was formally reported missing at their home.
6:15
Speaker 2: Later that day, Jordan explained to her younger brother and
6:18
Speaker 2: two of Cody's closest friends that she had discovered his
6:21
Speaker 2: cell phone and his car keys had been left in
6:23
Speaker 2: their garage when he had abruptly left with his friends
6:26
Speaker 2: on Sunday evening. Jordan had observed them pull out of
6:29
Speaker 2: the drive and had heard nothing from him since. In
6:36
Speaker 2: the days after Cody's disappearance, Cameron Frederickson broke into Cody
6:40
Speaker 2: and Jordan's house. The back door had been left unlocked.
6:44
Speaker 2: He was desperate to find any clue as to what
6:46
Speaker 2: had happened to his friend, and he did not trust
6:48
Speaker 2: his friend's new wife. He had never believed that the
6:51
Speaker 2: marriage would work out, but now he feared something much
6:54
Speaker 2: worse than divorce.
6:56
Speaker 4: She actually changed her story and stated that she was
7:00
Speaker 4: at the house when Cody left and that she saw
7:04
Speaker 4: him leave in a dark colored car. So between the
7:09
Speaker 4: two days, two completely different stories. And at that time
7:13
Speaker 4: that's when I became suspicious and then actually went to
7:17
Speaker 4: the authorities.
7:18
Speaker 2: He searched around their things, he searched for blood, a weapon,
7:22
Speaker 2: perhaps even a body, but turned up nothing. Less than
7:27
Speaker 2: two weeks after her wedding day, Jordan Graham sat down
7:30
Speaker 2: with Kalispell police to discuss her missing husband. She told
7:34
Speaker 2: Detective Zimmerman that on Sunday evening, the couple had been
7:37
Speaker 2: out with church friends for dinner. She said they had
7:40
Speaker 2: not been fighting, but that he did want to leave
7:43
Speaker 2: with friends that were in town visiting. They left on
7:45
Speaker 2: a joy ride, and she suggested a few locations where
7:48
Speaker 2: they may have gone, including Hungry Horse Dam or perhaps
7:52
Speaker 2: Glacier National Park.
7:56
Speaker 5: What's going on as far as where he might have
8:00
Speaker 5: gone or who he might be with?
8:02
Speaker 6: Oh, I got a message saying that he was going
8:04
Speaker 6: to go for a ride. Who someone's out of town buddies.
8:07
Speaker 1: That are visiting.
8:08
Speaker 6: But he always told me this one thing.
8:09
Speaker 5: Is when his friends came to visit, he had take
8:12
Speaker 5: them to a glacial park, planes or the honey Horse Stand.
8:18
Speaker 2: Although Jordan's recollection of the last time she had seen
8:20
Speaker 2: her husband was relatively straightforward, it nonetheless contradicted versions of
8:25
Speaker 2: the story that she had told friends over the previous
8:27
Speaker 2: two days. In one version, she and Cody had been
8:31
Speaker 2: fighting and she witnessed him leave but in another no
8:34
Speaker 2: fight had taken place, and she was not even present
8:37
Speaker 2: when he was picked up. And still another version of events,
8:42
Speaker 2: Jordan told a friend that she had in fact followed
8:45
Speaker 2: the dark mystery vehicle with Cody inside and tracked them
8:48
Speaker 2: to Hungry Horse Reservoir, where she had unfortunately lost track
8:52
Speaker 2: of them and returned home.
8:56
Speaker 1: Other information that I've already gathered, Okay, and I just
8:59
Speaker 1: spoke to a few people, and it's important that I
9:04
Speaker 1: know that you're telling me the truth on things I know, well,
9:09
Speaker 1: I mean, and I understand that, Okay, but I think
9:17
Speaker 1: that there's more.
9:19
Speaker 2: Jordan further offered that on that evening, Cody had received
9:22
Speaker 2: a call on his cell phone that had made him
9:25
Speaker 2: quite upset. She guessed, based on his response, that the
9:28
Speaker 2: call must have been from a friend of his called Jose,
9:31
Speaker 2: who apparently owed him quite a bit of money.
9:34
Speaker 3: I don't know anything more.
9:39
Speaker 2: Kallaspell Police detective Zimmerman promptly tracked down Cody's buddy Jose
9:43
Speaker 2: and eliminated him as a suspect. Meanwhile, a detective Clark,
9:48
Speaker 2: who had also taken part in Jordan's interview, was out
9:52
Speaker 2: walking his dog. Clark was a neighbor of the newlyweds,
9:55
Speaker 2: and his route often took him past their house. He
9:58
Speaker 2: was walking past when he reportedly noticed something odd in
10:01
Speaker 2: the trash can sitting outside. He subsequently took the full
10:05
Speaker 2: cand back to his garage and dumped out the contents.
10:09
Speaker 2: What he found was unsettling love letters, teddy bears, Valentines,
10:13
Speaker 2: and parts of a wedding dress spilled out onto the floor.
10:17
Speaker 2: The wedding shawl that Jordan had worn to Mary Cody
10:20
Speaker 2: only days before also spilled out with the rest of
10:23
Speaker 2: the rubbish. Clark took photos of the contents and then
10:26
Speaker 2: packed it all back up and dragged it back to
10:29
Speaker 2: where he had found it. The next day, July tenth,
10:35
Speaker 2: Jordan visited a friend and told her about an email
10:38
Speaker 2: she had received the night before. It had been sent
10:40
Speaker 2: by a friend of Cody's, a friend named Tony. This
10:44
Speaker 2: car buddy of her husband, wrote, there is no bother
10:47
Speaker 2: in looking for Cody anymore. He is gone. He wrote
10:51
Speaker 2: that Cody got out of the car and went for
10:54
Speaker 2: a little hike, and they her husband's other out of
10:57
Speaker 2: town friends are positive he fell and he is dead.
11:01
Speaker 2: At Jordan, I don't know who the guys were, but
11:04
Speaker 2: they took off, So call off the missing person report.
11:07
Speaker 2: Cody is gone for sure to a different friend. Jordan
11:11
Speaker 2: claimed that this email stated generally that if the authorities
11:14
Speaker 2: were no longer involved, Cody would return home. After prompting,
11:19
Speaker 2: Jordan was convinced to bring a copy of this email
11:21
Speaker 2: to the police. She arrived at the station with her
11:24
Speaker 2: mother for support. In response to the email, the detective said,
11:28
Speaker 2: it's a bit sketchy. I got an email this morning
11:31
Speaker 2: from some guy all outsaide who's Tony.
11:36
Speaker 6: Yeah, made a call or something. I don't know if
11:39
Speaker 6: you knew the call. He was in the garage and
11:40
Speaker 6: I got a text saying who's going?
11:42
Speaker 7: And he looked who just want to go?
11:46
Speaker 6: To try to cover all the crowns.
11:50
Speaker 2: After speaking with the police, Jordan turned proactive. She gathered
11:54
Speaker 2: friends and family members, her maid of honor Kimberly, Cody's
11:58
Speaker 2: good friend Hannah, her little brother, and his mother Sherry,
12:01
Speaker 2: along with others, and they formed a search party, choosing
12:06
Speaker 2: Glacier National Park as the location of interest. Jordan explained
12:10
Speaker 2: that she just had a feeling that Cody had gone there.
12:13
Speaker 2: They arrived at an area called the Loop, an extremely
12:17
Speaker 2: steep narrow and rocky hiking trail that overlooked a three
12:21
Speaker 2: hundred foot drop and offered a spectacular view. A few
12:25
Speaker 2: of the participants felt too unsafe to navigate the area,
12:29
Speaker 2: including Sherry, who stayed behind handing out missing Persons posters
12:33
Speaker 2: to park visitors. Jordan and her brother hiked the area
12:38
Speaker 2: over two days. The groups wandered the park looking for
12:40
Speaker 2: any signs of Cody. Then, on day two, climbing down
12:44
Speaker 2: the steep slope from the road and onto a cliff,
12:48
Speaker 2: Jordan looked down towards a stream hundreds of feet below.
12:52
Speaker 2: She called to her brother, it's him. She had, miraculously
12:55
Speaker 2: within the one million acres of land that make up
12:58
Speaker 2: Glacier National Park discovered her husband's body. Cody was recovered
13:05
Speaker 2: by park rangers, who climbed down to his location. With
13:08
Speaker 2: the assistance of climbing ropes and gear. A specially commissioned
13:12
Speaker 2: helicopter lifted him from the area. Cody had been faced
13:16
Speaker 2: down in a stream with an eight inch skull fracture
13:19
Speaker 2: to his forehead. His positioning suggested that he had fallen
13:22
Speaker 2: face first from the cliff above, the same one on
13:26
Speaker 2: which his new wife had stood and peered over to
13:28
Speaker 2: find him four days later. There was one strange item
13:32
Speaker 2: found with him and one or two Notably missing. Less
13:36
Speaker 2: than one hundred yards upstream was a strip of black cloth.
13:40
Speaker 2: This cloth was in closer proximity to his body than
13:43
Speaker 2: one of his shoes, which was located one hundred and
13:46
Speaker 2: fifty yards downstream from his position. No car keys were
13:51
Speaker 2: found with Cody's body, nor was his wedding ring. Jordan
13:56
Speaker 2: had known that she was likely to find her husband
13:58
Speaker 2: in that location. She told park rangers that he always
14:02
Speaker 2: said he liked to go off trails and wanted to
14:04
Speaker 2: make his own off the beaten path. When someone visited,
14:08
Speaker 2: he would want to take them on crazy roads or
14:10
Speaker 2: crazy hikes. He would often try to find trails on
14:13
Speaker 2: his own, be it in an off road car or
14:16
Speaker 2: on foot. But what of her fortuitous intuition that led
14:20
Speaker 2: directly to that exact peak on the loop. She told
14:24
Speaker 2: the ranger it was somewhere he wanted to see before
14:28
Speaker 2: he died. This statement was not ominous enough. Friends and
14:32
Speaker 2: family felt chills upon hearing this explanation. The story just
14:35
Speaker 2: did not make sense. Everyone who knew Cody knew that
14:39
Speaker 2: he was deathly scared of heights. Suspicions towards Jordan only
14:45
Speaker 2: deepened at Cody's funeral. There's no playbook for grief, but
14:50
Speaker 2: no one expected to see the young widow cheerful or chatty,
14:53
Speaker 2: or openly texting on her phone throughout the service. To
14:57
Speaker 2: almost everyone who observed her behavior, the White of nine
15:00
Speaker 2: Days did not appear to be grieving.
15:04
Speaker 6: She's the widow, and she's upfront texting her little friend
15:07
Speaker 6: that she's sitting next to, and her mom and dad
15:09
Speaker 6: are in tears. I was upset about Cody's funeral, but
15:13
Speaker 6: I was furious at her. I couldn't even think about
15:18
Speaker 6: anything else but what was going on with her.
15:21
Speaker 2: Kimberly was shocked by her friend's behavior, but even worse,
15:25
Speaker 2: she believed that more had gone down leading up to
15:28
Speaker 2: Cody's death than Jordan was letting on. Jordan's text messages
15:31
Speaker 2: to her maid of honor only days after the wedding
15:34
Speaker 2: showed a marriage already at risk of falling apart. She wrote,
15:38
Speaker 2: I cannot freaking pull myself together. I haven't stopped crying
15:42
Speaker 2: since I was there, meaning at her wedding. I wish
15:46
Speaker 2: someone would have just straight up asked me if this
15:48
Speaker 2: is what I wanted. I can't go back and change anything.
15:52
Speaker 2: I should be happy, and I'm just not. Then she
15:55
Speaker 2: revealed the central reason for her unhappiness. After attending a
15:59
Speaker 2: baseball game, she wrote to Kimberly, still not sure about
16:03
Speaker 2: going home after. I just know he's gonna wanna do
16:06
Speaker 2: stuff and I'm really not really, I'm really not wanting to.
16:12
Speaker 2: Kimberly said that she understood that the stuff that Jordan
16:15
Speaker 2: was texting about was a reference to consummating the marriage.
16:19
Speaker 2: Jordan told her friend that she planned to confront Cody
16:22
Speaker 2: with her feelings and suggests that they get an annulment.
16:25
Speaker 2: Her last message that day read, oh, well, I'm about
16:29
Speaker 2: to talk to him. He gets a temper fast, so
16:32
Speaker 2: I'll be freaking out, but dead serious. If you don't
16:36
Speaker 2: hear from me at all again tonight, something happened. After
16:41
Speaker 2: Cody was airlifted from the park, Jordan was invited to
16:44
Speaker 2: the police station once more. When she walked in, she
16:48
Speaker 2: expected to speak with the same police detectives that had
16:50
Speaker 2: conducted her previous interviews. Instead, she was met with the FBI.
16:55
Speaker 2: Glacier National Park is in federal jurisdiction, and the suspicions
17:00
Speaker 2: nature of Cody's death had sparked a full scale investigation.
17:04
Speaker 2: Jordan initially reiterated a version of the same story that
17:08
Speaker 2: she had previously told local detectives in the time between
17:11
Speaker 2: her first and third visit. However, investigators had an opportunity
17:15
Speaker 2: to check her story. At nine seventeen pm on that
17:19
Speaker 2: Sunday night, July seventh, a surveillance camera at the entrance
17:23
Speaker 2: to Glacier National Park photographed Jordan and Cody entering the
17:28
Speaker 2: park in Cody's dark blue Audie. A higher resolution copy
17:32
Speaker 2: of this photo clearly depicted the two inside of the car.
17:36
Speaker 2: Upon being presented with this photo, her story yet again changed.
17:42
Speaker 2: They were fighting at home when the two jointly decided
17:44
Speaker 2: to take a walk in Glacier Park, despite the darkness
17:48
Speaker 2: and the treacherous hiking trail. They parked at the loop
17:51
Speaker 2: and continued their dispute as they walked out into the park.
17:56
Speaker 7: I didn't want to do that.
17:58
Speaker 8: That was afraid.
18:00
Speaker 7: He said I could do this, so the bland hold on,
18:01
Speaker 7: And he said I could just put it on, take
18:04
Speaker 7: a step, but I wouldn't even fall.
18:05
Speaker 1: And I kept go into my head.
18:06
Speaker 3: That even you are going to fall.
18:09
Speaker 2: She described the argument as they walked along a trail
18:12
Speaker 2: which led to a very dangerous cliff, where they paused
18:16
Speaker 2: and continued.
18:16
Speaker 7: Arguing, feeling I should have we waited a little bit
18:21
Speaker 7: longer and then got married. I wasn't feeling like.
18:24
Speaker 5: I saw glad night. We were arguing somewhere.
18:28
Speaker 7: To grab my arm and my jacket, and I said, no,
18:31
Speaker 7: I'm going.
18:31
Speaker 4: To defend myself.
18:32
Speaker 7: I kin, I want to go on.
18:33
Speaker 6: I pushed and went over.
18:37
Speaker 7: There was no planning on your part to kill Cody's Now, okay,
18:42
Speaker 7: you hadn't planned that until this whole thing just kind
18:46
Speaker 7: of happened, and they heated, heated the emotion as the
18:49
Speaker 7: passion of that situation.
18:53
Speaker 2: Cody's fall from the cliff had been a horrible accident.
18:56
Speaker 2: In one fluid motion, he had grabbed that Jordan's arm,
18:59
Speaker 2: at which point she had turned and pushed him. Somehow,
19:03
Speaker 2: according to her admission, she managed to push him with
19:06
Speaker 2: both hands on his back over the.
19:08
Speaker 7: Cliff, so he would have fallen face first down the hill.
19:13
Speaker 7: Why did you continue to turn around and then push
19:15
Speaker 7: him off?
19:16
Speaker 9: I think it's because emotions were running so high, pressure
19:19
Speaker 9: and angry.
19:20
Speaker 7: Of every emotion I could ever think of all at once,
19:24
Speaker 7: and I never felt.
19:25
Speaker 3: Like that before.
19:26
Speaker 5: I've never.
19:30
Speaker 2: After seeing him fall, she did not call for help.
19:33
Speaker 2: She went back to her vehicle and sent a series
19:35
Speaker 2: of text messages to a seventeen year old friend. They
19:38
Speaker 2: discussed dance moves at the wedding. She messaged kimberly vague
19:42
Speaker 2: and distress messages, but she did not mention what had occurred.
19:47
Speaker 2: The FBI did not buy into Jordan's new narrative. On
19:50
Speaker 2: the morning of July tenth, only a few days after
19:53
Speaker 2: the fatal trail hike, someone at Jordan's parents' house logged
19:57
Speaker 2: into the email account that sent the mystery measage from Tony,
20:01
Speaker 2: the out of town unknown friend of Cody's. Investigators subsequently
20:06
Speaker 2: traced the email to Jordan via the IP address at
20:09
Speaker 2: her parents' home. With this discovery was further proof that
20:14
Speaker 2: Jordan had intentionally sought to divert the investigation into her
20:17
Speaker 2: husband's disappearance. The FBI believed this was an extremely poorly
20:22
Speaker 2: executed attempt to cover up the murder of her husband.
20:27
Speaker 2: In December twenty thirteen, at twenty two years old, Jordan
20:31
Speaker 2: Graham faced trial for first degree murder.
20:34
Speaker 10: There was originally charged Montana newlywed Jordan Graham with second
20:38
Speaker 10: degree murder for pushing her husband, Cody Johnson, off this
20:41
Speaker 10: cliff in Glacier National Park, but now a grand jury
20:44
Speaker 10: has added a charge of premeditated first degree murder, which
20:48
Speaker 10: carries a minimum sentence of life in prison.
20:52
Speaker 2: Jordan's defense was that she pushed Cody during the argument,
20:55
Speaker 2: but insisted it was self defense. She also claimed no premeditator.
21:00
Speaker 2: It happened in the heat of the moment. Her defense
21:03
Speaker 2: team painted the young bride as naive, socially awkward, overly religious,
21:08
Speaker 2: and sheltered. She was overwhelmed with the expectations of marriage,
21:12
Speaker 2: but she did not intend to harm her husband. Jordan
21:16
Speaker 2: had further laid the foundation of a defense in her
21:18
Speaker 2: messages to Kimberly in the days leading up to the
21:21
Speaker 2: murder by noting Cody's supposed temper. Despite no physical evidence
21:26
Speaker 2: that Cody had ever been abusive towards her, Jordan claimed
21:29
Speaker 2: this was the case. She attempted to paint him as
21:32
Speaker 2: controlling and she feared him touching her. The prosecution disputed
21:37
Speaker 2: Jordan's claims. Furthermore, they layered on a case that Jordan
21:41
Speaker 2: had planned the murder staged as a kind of special
21:45
Speaker 2: surprise for her husband. They pointed first to the ominous
21:49
Speaker 2: text messages sent to her friend Kimberly, which suggests that
21:52
Speaker 2: she wanted out of the marriage and was building up
21:55
Speaker 2: to the confrontation throughout that week. The black piece of
21:58
Speaker 2: cloth found just the downstream of his body was likely
22:02
Speaker 2: used as a blindfold. In this theory, Cody was blindfolded
22:07
Speaker 2: by the cloth, led to the ledge of the cliff
22:09
Speaker 2: by the woman he had just married, and then pushed
22:12
Speaker 2: off of it. Bizarrely, Jordan herself had introduced the blindfold
22:18
Speaker 2: in her interview with the police, when she told them
22:21
Speaker 2: that Cody bragged to her about being capable of navigating
22:24
Speaker 2: the narrow path on the steep cliff blindfolded. This suggestion
22:29
Speaker 2: provided an explanation for the piece of black cloth found
22:33
Speaker 2: near to Cody's body. In chilling testimony that was closed
22:36
Speaker 2: to the public, three witnesses, a family member and two
22:40
Speaker 2: friends told the jury that they had spoken with Cody
22:43
Speaker 2: about plans for that weekend. He had told each of
22:46
Speaker 2: them that he was unavailable that Sunday because his new
22:50
Speaker 2: wife had planned a special surprise for him.
22:54
Speaker 8: Eddy Coloone said he saw his friend Cody Johnson the
22:57
Speaker 8: day he died and asked him to go golfing and
23:00
Speaker 8: said he couldn't because Jordan said she has a surprise
23:04
Speaker 8: for me. Three witnesses testified the same thing, including Stephen Rutledge,
23:08
Speaker 8: Graham's own stepfather, who said his new son in law
23:11
Speaker 8: also mentioned the surprise to him.
23:14
Speaker 2: After four days of testimony, closing arguments were set to commence,
23:18
Speaker 2: but at this stage the trial was cut short. Jordan
23:22
Speaker 2: had decided to accept a plea deal, and she admitted
23:25
Speaker 2: to second degree murder. Judge Molloy was reportedly taken aback
23:29
Speaker 2: by the decision. He asked if she comprehended what she
23:33
Speaker 2: was doing in the next fifteen minutes, you may be
23:36
Speaker 2: committing yourself to prison for the balance of your life.
23:40
Speaker 2: Jordan responded with one word guilty. In her confession to
23:45
Speaker 2: the court, she continued to insist that it was all
23:47
Speaker 2: an accident. She had lost track of her surroundings and
23:51
Speaker 2: not thinking, she pushed Cody in anger, sending him off
23:55
Speaker 2: the cliff.
23:56
Speaker 7: What do you hope for going in for the Portland today?
24:00
Speaker 5: Go to prison for the rest of her life. Cody
24:02
Speaker 5: was one of my best friends. He helped me build
24:04
Speaker 5: all my cars. And having one of your best friends
24:08
Speaker 5: get killed by someone that we all thought cared about him.
24:19
Speaker 9: Yeah, she is a little off plan.
24:20
Speaker 5: She never really came around. I know they said before
24:26
Speaker 5: that she was sad at the funeral and all that,
24:29
Speaker 5: But I went up and I was talking at the funeral,
24:31
Speaker 5: and she was straight faced, and I saw her texting on.
24:34
Speaker 3: Her phone the whole time.
24:35
Speaker 2: And the sentence was thirty years in prison with no
24:40
Speaker 2: possibility of early parole.
24:42
Speaker 3: The sentence day is going to send a message, if
24:45
Speaker 3: you kill someone in her subject to federal jurisdiction, you
24:48
Speaker 3: will be prosecuted swiftly and severely punished for.
24:52
Speaker 2: Your current Jordan appealed to her thirty year sentence, arguing,
24:55
Speaker 2: amongst other things, that her plea deal meant that she
24:58
Speaker 2: should have received greater lenia see for the term of
25:01
Speaker 2: her incarceration. In February twenty sixteen, her appeal process came
25:06
Speaker 2: to an end, with the final court upholding the original
25:09
Speaker 2: sentencing decision. Jordan is currently serving her sentence in a
25:14
Speaker 2: federal prison in Alabama.
25:16
Speaker 9: Why did she do it if she didn't love him?
25:19
Speaker 9: Why does she get married? Why did she say yes?
25:21
Speaker 6: To the proposal.
25:24
Speaker 9: That's still the question in my mind to this day
25:27
Speaker 9: is why.
25:30
Speaker 2: And that was the sad story of Cody Johnson and
25:33
Speaker 2: the case against his new bride, Jordan Lynn Graham. Thanks
25:38
Speaker 2: for watching. I'm Kevin. This is just thought Lounge and
25:41
Speaker 2: I'll see in the next one.