Wife pushed man off cliff in row after 8 days of marriage

They were newlyweds, but she was having second thoughts about the eight-day-old marriage, court documents say. The couple drove the short distance from their Kalispell home to Glacier National Park, where they argued. He grabbed her by the arm, but she pulled away and shoved him face-first off a cliff to his death.

Prosecutors have given their version of what happened to Cody Lee Johnson, 25, two months after his body was found in an area of the park so steep and rugged a helicopter was needed to recover it.

Jordan Linn Graham, 22, has appeared in federal court on a second-degree murder charge in Johnson’s July 7 death.

Johnson’s family and friends had called for an investigation since the body was recovered on July 12 below the Loop Trail.

Johnson loved her and was excited about their marriage after a two-year courtship, but his relatives felt Graham didn’t reciprocate, family friend Tracey Maness said, adding that she was aloof.

On the night Johnson died, Graham told a friend she planned to talk with him about “having second thoughts about having been married,” according to an FBI affidavit. Just before 9pm, she texted the friend that she was about to talk to him. “But dead serious if u don’t hear from me at all again tonight, something happened,” Graham wrote, according to the affidavit.

Johnson was reported missing on July 8 when he failed to show up for work, and Graham was questioned the following day. She told investigators that Johnson sent her a text message on the night of his death, saying he was going for a drive with a friend from out of town.

On July 11, Graham told a park ranger in Glacier she had found the body, the affidavit said. The park ranger commented it was unusual that she found it.

Five days later, Graham admitted to authorities she had lied, according to the affidavit. She told them she and Johnson had an argument, and decided to go to the Loop Trail. The dispute intensified. At one point, she turned to walk away, but Johnson grabbed her arm, she said. She turned around, and “due to her anger, she pushed Johnson with both hands in the back, and he fell face first off the cliff,” the affidavit said.