She Threw Her Husband Off a Cliff After 8 Days Off Marriage

Introduction

Jordan Lin Graham and Cody Lee Johnson were married on June 30th, 2013. Many of Cody’s friends thought something wasn’t quite right with Jordan and tried to talk him out of getting married. They believed that he was far more interested in Jordan than she in Cody. Cody ignored the warnings and he and Jordan got married. A week into the marriage Jordan started having doubts and wondered if getting married was the right thing for her. Jordan was scared of the pressures of marriage and thought she might not be ready for the commitment. Many of her friends described her as silly and a “goofball.” Some people believed that she was a different person when she was with Cody. She decided that she would talk to Cody about the marriage…..it did not end well.

The Crime

On July 7th, 2013, literally a week after getting married, the couple decided to go for a hike at Glacier National Park, Montana. This was Jordan’s opportune time to talk with Cody about the marriage. Prior to the hike, Jordan texted her friend this warning,

“But dead serious if u don’t hear from me at all again tonight, something happened.”

An argument on top of a cliff ended with Cody falling 200 feet off of the cliff, and Jordan driving home. She realized that people were going to realize he was missing so she made up a story for the authorities that when she pulled up, she saw a car drive away with Cody and an out-of-town friend. She said he never came home after that. The authorities were questioning Jordan and she became flustered and kept changing her story.

On July 11th, only four days later, she confessed to a park ranger that she found his body at the bottom of the cliff in Glacier National Park. She claimed that she went searching for him because that was his favorite spot. The authorities were more skeptical of Jordan now than ever. The challenge that presented itself was, if she was guilty of pushing him over the cliff, it would be difficult to convict as the only “eye witness”.

On July 16th, Jordan came clean about everything that happened. She confessed after she realized that she was going to get caught. She explained that they got into an argument on top of the cliff. Cody grabbed her arm and as she was simply trying to get away from him, he ended up falling. Some of the investigators find her story hard to believe as Cody’s body didn’t support her story. There would have been evidence of a struggle but there was no such evidence on Jordan or Cody's bodies. Some investigators believed he didn’t grab her instead she just pushed him off of the cliff.

The Court Case

The authorities were going to charge her with murder. Since she changed her story from “not guilty” to the truth, the court case gathered a lot of attention. The district attorney offered her a plea deal, so she agreed to plead guilty to second-degree murder in exchange for three decades in prison. Jordan eventually got cold feet and requested a new trial. She heard that there might be fifty years in prison at stake and wanted a new trial instead of pleaded guilty. The judge denied this request and went along with the three decades in prison deal that was initially agreed upon.

On March 27th, 2014, nine months after getting married to Cody Lee Johnson, she was sentenced to a minimum of 30 years in prison for his murder.

Jordan Linn Graham said the following in court.

"It was a moment of complete shock and panic. I have no other explanation."