Newlywed wanted to keep cops at bay

Documents unsealed in Glacier Park murder case

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Documents in the murder case against Jordan Graham allege the 22-year-old fabricated information in order to stop a search for her newlywed husband and to cover up the incident.

Graham has admitted that she pushed Cody Johnson, 25, off a cliff along the Loop Trail in Glacier National Park on July 7, eight days after they were married, but her federal public defender, Michael Donahoe, maintains Johnson’s death was an accident.

The documents were unsealed by a federal judge’s order on Oct. 30 over the objections of Assistant U.S. Attorney Zeno Baucus, who said their release could taint a potential jury pool.

The unsealed statements by National Park Service Special Agent Justin Ivary were made in support of search warrants seeking evidence from Graham’s Facebook and Twitter pages, her iPhone and an e-mail account.

The unsealed documents include a text message by Graham made on July 7 after Johnson died, an e-mail sent three days later from someone named “Tony” claiming Johnson was with some friends when he accidentally fell off the cliff, and eyewitness accounts by people who accompanied Graham to The Loop area on two occasions before she told a Park ranger where her husband’s body could be found.

A friend of the couple told investigators that on July 7, prior to Johnson’s death, Graham said she planned to confront Johnson about her doubts about their marriage. The friend also received a text from Graham later that night that said she had talked to her husband and “all it did was cause me to get scratched and him to leave.”

According to the court documents, one of the texts said, “Dude I’m freaking out. I’m about to go for a walk or something. Jump off a fricking bridge. Idk I’ve lost it.”

On July 10, Graham and her mother contacted the Kalispell Police Department and said Graham had received an e-mail on her iPhone from a person named “Tony.” The e-mail said “Tony” met Johnson in Columbia Falls and then traveled to Glacier Park with some other friends.

According to the unsealed documents, the e-mail said, “Cody got out of the car and went for a little hike and they are positive he fell and he is dead Jordan. I don’t know who the guys were but they took off. So call off the missing person report. Cody is gone for sure — Tony.”

Kalispell police, however, discovered the account for the e-mail was created July 10 — the same day Graham brought the message to police. In addition, the account’s Internet address was issued to Graham’s father, Steve Rutledge.

Later that same day, Graham drove to The Loop with three other people. According to one of them, Graham said that if the body was found, the investigation would be called off.

“I don’t care if they question me. I want the body found and the cops out of it,” Graham said, the person told investigators.

Once at the big switchback on the Going-to-the-Sun Road, Graham reportedly said she wanted to check a spot where Johnson liked to hike, but the others talked her out of climbing down the large retaining wall below the alpine highway.

The next day, July 11, Graham returned to The Loop with her mother and said she spotted Johnson’s body, a person who accompanied them told investigators. Graham then told a Park ranger where her husband’s body could be found.

On the way home, according to the person traveling with them, Graham said, “Now that we have the body we can have the funeral and the cops will be out of it.”

FBI agents subsequently reviewed GPS coordinates from Graham and Johnson’s phones and found both were in Glacier Park on the night Johnson died. Surveillance video from the Park’s west entrance also showed a man and a woman riding in a car matching the description of Johnson’s car.

The unsealed documents also said that when Graham voluntarily spoke to Kalispell police and an FBI agent on July 16, she said she and Johnson had argued on July 7, that she told her husband they had married too young, and that she was unhappy.

The couple then went to The Loop and continued the argument on the trail, she reportedly told the police and FBI agent. At one point, Johnson grabbed her arm when she began to walk away. She removed his arm, pushed him in the back, and he went off the cliff.

National Park Service Special Agent Justin Ivary noted that Graham had said she was reluctant to report the incident because she was afraid of being accused of pushing her newlywed husband off a cliff without having a chance to explain what happened.

Graham faces charges of first degree murder or second degree murder and making false statements. The penalty for premeditated murder is a mandatory life sentence. U.S. District Court Judge Donald Molloy has ordered Graham’s trial to begin Dec. 9 and for any plea agreements to be submitted by Nov. 27.