Jordan Linn Graham, a 22-year-old newlywed from Montana, was charged with second-degree murder Monday after allegedly pushing her husband off a cliff just eight days after their wedding.
Graham, of Kalispell, Mont., could face life in prison if found guilty of shoving 25-year-old Cody Lee Johnson face first off a steep bluff in Glacier National Park when the couple went hiking after an argument July 7.
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Johnson family friend Tracey Maness said that Cody Lee Johnson's family always had doubts about Graham, who dated Johnson for two years before they got married in late June.
"Nobody is shocked at all" that Graham is suspected in her husband’s murder, according to Maness.
"She’d been telling people she knew she never wanted to be married, she just wanted to have a wedding, and that’s apparently
what they were arguing about," she told The Missoulian.
According to a criminal complaint, Graham said she was arguing with Johnson atop the cliff when he grabbed her arm.
"Graham stated she could have just walked away, but due to her anger, she pushed Johnson with both hands in the back and as a result, he fell face first off the cliff," the complaint read.
Johnson was reported missing the next day. When initially questioned by police, Graham said he had left their house late on July 7 with a group of unidentified friends in a
dark-colored car with Washington state license plates, according to Fox News.
Police uncovered text messages between Graham and a friend, identified only as K.M., from the night of Johnson's death in which Graham wrote, "I'm going to talk to him."
"I'll pray for you guys," the friend responded.
"But dead serious if u [sic] don't hear from me at all again tonight, something happened," Graham texted back, according to the complaint.
A few days later, Graham reportedly told park officials she had seen Johnson's body at the bottom of the cliff.
"She kept continuing to lie, she kept changing her story," Maness told The Missoulian. "She showed no grief and she would not speak to Cody’s mother."
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