Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Statement of Woman Who Pushed Husband off Cliff

The young woman accused of pushing her newlywed husband off a cliff is being said to have blindfolded him first.

The newlyweds were walking along “The Loop” trail the evening of July 7 when Johnson fell to his death. In an interview with police, Graham said her husband boasted about walking the steep ledge without his sight.

"I didn’t want to do that trail because I was afraid that, I mean 

there is a cliff right there,"

 "And you could fall. And he said, ‘I could do this with a blindfold 

on.’ And he said, ‘I could just put 

it on, take a step but I wouldn’t even fall.’ And I was like - and it 

just kept going through my head 

that, um, you are going to fall or something.”

27 comments:

Carnival Barker said...


Peter, you taught us that when someone is telling a story and they slip into present tense it is indicative of deception. Is the converse true whey they are attributing a direct quote to someone? She is quoting her husband, but he is speaking in past tense i.e., "I could just put it on, take a step, but I wouldn't even fall"?

Anonymous said...

I doubt she could FORCE him to put a blindfold on,then push him.women are weaker than men,so she probably didn't do it.

sidewalk super said...


Ah, this woman just keeps on talking, while filing for the life insurance.
I think we can call her a black widow.

Nic said...

"because I was afraid of that, I mean there is a cliff right there,"

broken sentence means missing information. "

"that" is distancing.

"cliff right there"

versus "here", or

versus there is a cliff right beside the trail.

(that and there distancing language)

"you" could fall.

Non-specific. Not he (or husband's name) could fall.

"I could just put it on, take a step, but I wouldn't even fall."

conditional future verb use. The word "just" implies there (might have been) was another alternative. I would ask her what other ways to hike the trail might have been discussed. i.e., walk the trail while feeling for shrubs on the "safe" side?

The word 'but' negates that which comes before it. The sentence is disjointed like there is some information missing. Did she say something to him between "put it on" and "but"? Did he talk about hiking the trail differently? Given the statement the word "and" would be the better word. Do this and XXX wouldn't (or) could happen.

"Wouldn't" even fall

- negation, "even" fall implies there could be another outcome. She is using conditional future when recanting an event in the past. He thinks he wouldn't, she thinks he could.

"And I was like - and it just kept going through my head"

And x 2, change of subject. Lots of mission information. What kept going through her head about his falling off the cliff?

what is "it" = him falling

"um" a pause word, like "well"

"you are going to fall" is framed. Innocent people don't attach themselves to confessions/guilt.

"or something" lessens the severity of the outcome/"accident"

Deception noted.

jmo

Nic said...

As an aside, the impression I got while reading this statement is that they could have been fighting about being there in the first place. She says right off the bat that she didn't want to do the trail. My impression is that she was afraid of it because of the cliff.

The word "bravado" kept coming to mind when I was reading what she said he said. He sounded egocentric, negating her thoughts/fears and provoking her anxiety about the danger.

"I could do this with a blindfold on. I could just put it on, take a step"

(I think this is the last thing he said before she pushed him.)

There is a lot of missing information in her statements (broken sentences,"ands" "but", "um") I think there was a lot of bickering about what could happen and he played with her/provoked her and (worse?) *ignored* her feelings.

I think what happened was a result of a power shift in the relationship. She felt vulnerable and scared. He wouldn't soothe her fear/protect her and made her feel like a "little woman". She got mad, shoved him and he died.

jmo

elf said...

Ok #1 this woman Jordan isn't built like Kate moss, Jordan Graham is a sturdy looking woman. I'm 5 foot tall 127 pds and if I push someone they know I did! #2 Jordan ADMITTED she pushed her husband off the cliff after she had initially lied to police that he, her husband Cody, had left with friends in an unknown car, then Jordan 'finds' her missing husband at the bottom of the cliff saying that the cliff was a place he wanted to see before he died.
Quote from fox news this morning :
"I think I didn't realize that one push would mean for sure you were over,'' Graham said, according to the transcript. "I felt like I shouldn't have gotten married at that time, but not, there were not any issues of being with Cody, no. I feel like he's the person I was going to spend the rest of my life with."

Jen said...

She admitted she pushed him. After lying, and saying her husband left with '3' friends, and she had 'no idea' where he was, she told investigators she 'came across his body' at the bottom of the cliff.

Then she admitted to pushing him because she 'knew she didn't want to be married, she just wanted the wedding'. (She texted a friend this the night she killed him, and that she was going to tell him she didn't want to be married...she also texted the friend that if she didn't hear back from her, then that meant something 'for real happened'...so it appears she premeditated her evil act.)

My understanding is she is pleading NG due to insanity, (according to the coverage around the time of her arraignment).
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2501233/Newlywed-Jordan-Graham-pushed-husband-cliff-BLINDFOLDED-fall.html

elf said...

Lmao @ bulky. I am a small force of nature :)
Size doesn't matter if you have gravity working against you.

Sus said...

Jordan, in one of her stories, admitted they were arguing and that she pushed him. I guess the above post alludes to an argument.

In just this small quote, she begins many sentences and phrases with AND, which means missing information.

I would think having a blindfold on would be an easy thing to verify. Was the husband found with a blindfold on?

Nowhere does she say her husband put on a blindfold...only that he boasted he COULD.

Jen said...

From another article:

"Johnson was reported missing July 8 when he failed to show up for work, and Graham was questioned the following day.She originally told investigators that Johnson sent her a text message the night of his death, saying he was going for a drive with a friend from out of town.She said she arrived to see a dark-colored car pulling out of their driveway, and that Johnson was in it.

On July 11, two days after that interview, Graham told a park ranger in Glacier that she had found the body below the popular Loop area, the affidavit said.The park ranger commented that it was unusual that she found it."It was a place he wanted to see before he died," she said, according to the affidavit. "He would come up here with friends to drive fast when his friends were visiting from out of town.

"Five days later, Graham admitted to authorities in a second interview that she had lied, according to the affidavit. She told them she and Johnson had an argument, were upset and decided to go to the Loop Trail.They continued arguing on the trail, and it intensified. At one point, she turned to walk away, but Johnson grabbed her arm, she said.

She turned around, removed his hand from her arm and "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 affidavit said."

-I'm not sure this girl knows what an 'accident' is, but it isn't when you deliberately shove someone with both hands, out of anger, off the edge of a cliff!

-Also her lie makes no sense. According to her, they were fighting...so they decided to go out on a date, and hike up her husbands 'bucket list' trail?

-Also when she describes pushing him, she says their argument escalated and she turned to walk away, he grabbed her and she 'removed his hand', then pushed him IN THE BACK. How did he grab her if his back was turned?

She is a liar, and just ANOTHER twisted sicko who would rather murder than divorce. She foreshadowed her plans to her friend, that she was 'DEAD serious', something was likely going to happen. Which, I believe she said to set up a self defense scenario, (as in, I told him I don't want to be married and he attacked me) which seems to be her basic story.

Jen said...

Link to above quoted article:

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/3903665

Anonymous said...

Lies lies and more lies.evil Jen the viscious hen.

Fig Roll said...

From what I've gleaned from Peter's teaching on Statement Analysis, my observations of the words underlined are:-

"Because" - The need to explain is sensitive (if gives an indication that we know we are likely to be asked a question about what we said, so we give the answer in advance)

"You" - not I or me but "you" meaning she's not taking ownership of the fact that she could fall.

"I could" - he said, he could. could is just that, it doesn't mean he did it or would do it.

"you are going to fall" - embedded confession. she tells us what was going through her head.

Anonymous said...

she tells us how she murdered her husband leh

Jen said...

OT- McNeill mistress Gypsy Willis, reacting to verdict in ABC news interview. (Transcribed from clip)

Gypsy Willis- "It took me a little while to...to pull myself together".

Interviewer- "Why were you shocked, there seemed like there was so much evidence against him".

GW- "The Martin I knew and loved, was not the person that he was portrayed on the stand."

(Note that she doesn't say, 'because he is innocent/didn't commit murder, this death was an accident, etc.)

Interviewer- "So to this day you don't believe that he killed Michelle?"

GW- "I really don't, he could never have done such a thing".

(Weak assertion, qualifiers, and distancing language by calling the accusation 'such a thing'.)

Interviewer- "But he loved you, and the allegation was that he loved you so much that he wanted his wife out of the picture, so he could be with you".

GW- "Martin had me, any time he wanted me. I, I do not believe that I was any kind of incentive".

(She doesn't deny the allegation, and tries to soften and distance herself from the idea that she was the MOTIVE, by changing it to an 'incentive'.)

Interviewer- "There are some who believe you were involved in planning the murder of Michelle McNeill, you didn't know anything?"

GW- "I did not know anything." (Shaking head)

(She does not issue a reliable denial. She also uses reflective language, simply repeating the denial the interviewer provided for her. She states in the negative, that she 'did not KNOW anything', revealing that there was SOMETHING to be known. This is opposite of everything else she has said, and claimed that there was no murder, or plan-but Michelle drowned in an accident. If this was an accident then there would be nothing to know, or for her to deny knowing.)

Carnival Barker said...


I found this quote of hers particularly interesting, "I think I didn't realize that one push would mean for sure you were over."

"Over" as in over the cliff? "Over" as in your life would be over once you hit the ground? or "Over" as in if you pushed your new husband off a cliff and got caught your own life as you know it is over?

John Mc Gowan said...

Hi Nic

What is "it"..That was the first thing that jumped out at me...Them two little letters "IT"..

Jen said...

According to HLN there WAS a piece of cloth found with Cody's body, that investigators believe was used as a blindfold, which has been sent off for DNA testing. Her defense team is trying to have it excluded. That, along with her introduction of the word 'blindfold' within her statement, is beyond coincidence, in my opinion! HLN also refered to other evidence that Prosecutors have uncovered, suggesting that Graham began plotting and premeditating this crime days before it happened, which prompted the addition of a first degree murder charge, to her pending second degree murder charge. (But, they have yet to reveal what that evidence is..I'm thinking computer or phone records?) If true, that would mean she was already plotting her new husbands death 3-4 days after their wedding!

Keep in mind that Jordan Graham, the accused murderer, is the only person who has claimed that they were arguing when the incident happened. According to the charging docs, when asked to produce text messages between she and Cody confirming this, she could not...claiming that they BOTH routinely deleted all of their texts. (Texts which she referenced to investigators to back up her story.)

I do not believe that they were fighting. I think she preferred the idea of being pitied as a tragic widow, to being known as a crazy chick who got married and wanted a divorce barely a week later! Plus, I imagine she felt pressure knowing that her parents, his parents, and likely many of their friends and family, would take issue with her lack of effort toward the marriage after they had invested what I'm sure was a significant amount of money and time, into their wedding.

I don't think there was any fight. I think she likely lured him on to the trail with a false story of a 'surprise', a picnic, or some other kind of 'date' at that location, where she knew he was excited to go. Then when they got there she introduced the blindfold as part of her ruse, and pushed him off the cliff. It's also worth noting, that much like Jodi Arias...Cody's friends reportedly were NOT surprised that Graham was responsible for his death, claiming that she was aloof and bizarre acting.

Tania Cadogan said...

off topic

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) -- A 29-year-old Missouri man whose conviction for the killing of a newspaper sports editor was overturned is free from custody after the state attorney general said he would not hold a new trial.

Ryan Ferguson was released from a state prison in Jefferson City Tuesday afternoon and taken to the Boone County Jail in Columbia, which freed him shortly before 6 p.m. He had been imprisoned since 2005.

Ferguson waved to a crowd of cheering supporters from the back seat of his father’s car on the way to a news conference.

A Missouri appeals court last week overturned Ferguson’s conviction in the 2001 strangling and beating death of Columbia Daily Tribune sports editor Kent Heitholt. Ferguson was 17 at the time of the killing. A high school classmate implicated him.

Ryan Ferguson speaks with "48 Hours" about hope for a new life

The Missouri attorney general said Tuesday that he won’t seek to retry a man whose murder conviction and 40-year prison sentence in the slaying of a newspaper sports editor were recently overturned.

The decision by Attorney General Chris Koster means that Ryan Ferguson could be released from prison as soon as Tuesday evening.

Last week, a state appeals court overturned Ferguson’s murder and robbery convictions for the 2001 strangling and beating death of Columbia Daily Tribune sports editor Kent Heitholt, a case that drew national attention. The appeals panel said the prosecutor’s office had withheld evidence from defense attorneys and Ferguson did not receive a fair trial.

Koster’s office said in a written statement Tuesday that it had carefully reviewed the remaining evidence and decided not to retry or pursue any further legal action against Ferguson at this time. Koster’s office also filed a court document Tuesday indicating it had no objection to Ferguson’s immediate release.

Ferguson’s case has been the subject of numerous national television news shows, in part because his 2005 conviction came after his high school classmate, Chuck Erickson, testified that he had recalled from dreams several years later that the two of them had been involved in Heitholt’s slaying after a late night of Halloween partying.

Missouri court overturns conviction in killing of sports editor

Erickson received a 25-year sentence as part of a plea agreement for testifying against Ferguson. At that trial, Erickson said Ferguson had suggested they rob someone to get money for alcohol and that Erickson had hit Heitholt with a metal tire tool before Ferguson had strangled him Heitholt’s belt.

But Erickson has since recanted his testimony. During a 2012 court hearing, Erickson said that he had been a heavy drug and alcohol user with hazy memories and had originally been persuaded by police and media accounts into believing he was guilty. But Erickson said he now no longer is sure of that and was adamant that Ferguson did not do it.

Former Tribune janitor Jerry Trump also said during a 2012 hearing that he had falsely testified during Ferguson’s trial when he identified Ferguson and Erickson as the men he saw in the newspaper’s parking lot where Heitholt was killed early Nov. 1, 2001.

Shortly after the attorney general’s announcement Tuesday, Judge Gary Witt, the presiding judge of the Western District of the Missouri Court of Appeals, issued an order directing Ferguson to be immediately released from state prison and into the custody of the Boone County Circuit Court. The judge ordered that court set conditions for Ferguson’s release within 48 hours.

Tania Cadogan said...

Ferguson’s attorney and family went on Tuesday to the Jefferson City prison where he was being held. His father, Bill Ferguson, told reporters that they hoped Ferguson could go before a judge in Columbia later Tuesday so that he could be freed.

Last week’s appeals court ruling said an investigator in the Boone County prosecutor’s office should have shared details about an interview he had with Trump’s wife that could have raised questions about Trump’s account before Ferguson’s trial. The appeals panel cited that as part of a pattern in which prosecutors failed to disclose evidence to Ferguson’s defense attorneys.

“We conclude that Ferguson did not receive a fair trial. His verdict is not worthy of confidence,” the court wrote in its ruling.

After the appeals court ruling, the Boone County prosecutor stepped aside from the case and an assistant attorney general was appointed as a special prosecutor as the state was considering whether to re-try Ferguson.

Ferguson’s attorney, Kathleen Zellner of Chigaco, filed a motion last week with the appeals court seeking Ferguson’s release pending a decision on whether to retry him. The court filing noted that there was no physical evidence linking Ferguson to Heitholt’s slaying and that the only two witnesses to implicate him had since reversed their testimony.

Zellner had said she was confident the appeals court ruling would stand.

“This battle should stop now, and he should be allowed to go home with his family, and they should continue the investigation for the real murdered of Kent Heitholt,” Zellner said last week.

Zellner said in court documents that Ferguson planned to live with his mother in Columbia upon his release and work for his father, a real estate broker. Bill Ferguson said he looked forward to playing basketball with his son.

“We always knew he would be freed eventually,” Bill Ferguson said last week. “We always knew this day would come.”

http://www.kmov.com/news/crime/Missouri-AG-wont-retry-Ryan-Ferguson-for-sports-editors-death-231616961.html

Anonymous said...

:) I was jesting :0(

Anonymous said...

Embeded admission= good point!fig on a ...roll!!!!!

elf said...

I thought you were flirting ;p

FigRoll said...

Anonymous @10.15pm

I have a Spanish Cousin Fiigarooll

Anonymous said...

Stop telling lies"figroll"=biscuit.

Anonymous said...

I WAS/AM!!!! MMMMMMM tie me up and call my elfbtchs toy! Lol yuk yuk mmmmm.mm.

Anonymous said...

Poor Cody...