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Nancy Grace
Murder Bride Released on Bail
Aired September 18, 2013 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: An argument at the edge of a cliff.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When Cody Johnson said `til death do us part...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She was excited to surprise Cody with a song for their first dance.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Little did he know his death would come just a week later, allegedly at the hands of his brand-new bride.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Later admitting to police soon after they went for a hike at Glacier National Park, they argued.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cody isn`t really the camping, hiking type.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was just a short time ago that the couple appeared happy and in love in their first dance at their wedding. Eight days later, Johnson fell to his death.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They were hiking. The two apparently had gotten into some kind of heated exchange.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Allegedly pushed by the very bride who danced this prophetic song with him.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Prosecutors say she pushed her husband.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Someone who would worship her (INAUDIBLE) he would have given her anything.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NANCY GRACE, HOST: Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us.
Breaking news tonight, live, Missoula. She dreamed all her life about an extravagant storybook wedding, and Jordan Graham`s dream comes true, a twilight garden wedding complete with multiple attendants all dressed in pink head to toe, an over-the-top reception.
But just eight days after that storybook wedding, the 26-year-old groom, Cody Johnson, dead, dead after a night of alleged good times with friends. Police did hone in on not just a friend, but Cody`s very best friend, his brand-new bride!
Bombshell tonight. In the last hours -- I hope you`re sitting down -- the bride walks free from jail, claiming her groom`s death, plunging face first off a cliff at Glacier National Park, is an accident.
Repeat, the bride walks free after luring -- clearly luring her husband up the top of a nearly 7,000-foot peak -- and remember, this is a guy who`s afraid of heights. She even says she pushes him with both hands. His back was to her. He went off face first -- then lied to police about it, trying to implicate others before she finds his body. In the last hours, a judge lets her walk free. She`s on home arrest, guarded by her mother.
We are live and taking your calls. Out to Jon King, talk show host with KGVO Talk Back. Jon, thank you for being with us, joining me from Missoula. Jon, she walks free? What?
JON KING, KGVO (via telephone): Yes. It`s pretty amazing, Nancy. I was there in court watching the whole trial take place. And honestly, I have to say the FBI messed this one up big-time, and that`s the reason she`s walked free.
GRACE: What do you mean, the FBI messed it up big-time?
KING: Well, the case by the FBI was that she was a harm to the community. They basically conceded -- the prosecution basically conceded that she wasn`t a flight risk. So the whole case hinged on whether or not she was a harm to herself and the community. And by getting a sworn statement from her nearly two months ago and letting her stay at home -- I mean, they released her within two hours of giving this testimony -- by letting her go home and stay there, they basically proved, just like the defense is arguing, that she wasn`t a harm to the community.
GRACE: Really. Well, it`s interesting to me that an educated, attractive, white female walks out of the jailhouse, while everybody else sits in jail and waits for their trial date. Very interesting indeed.
The prosecution did not take it laying down. After the first judge allowed her to walk free under house arrest, guarded by her own mommy, they took it to another judge. That federal judge -- remember, federal judges, they`re appointed for life. You can`t fire them. You can`t get rid of them after a move like this. She has walked free.
But interesting. Out to you, Alexis Tereszcuk, senior reporter, Radaronline.com. There are more prongs to a bond hearing other than flight, other than, are you a danger to the community, such as, will you tamper with evidence, will you tamper with witnesses. And we see that this girl has already lied repeatedly to police, even trying to set the scene up to blame some of his friends for his murder.
ALEXIS TERESZCUK, RADARONLINE.COM: You`re exactly right. She did try to set up friends. And the way she did it was she allegedly sent an e-mail that gave an excuse for what happened, but it got traced back to her own stepfather`s account. And her stepfather certainly wasn`t involved in this crime. So she absolutely has a history of deception.
GRACE: Wa-wa-wait, wait, wait!
TERESZCUK: She also...
GRACE: Back it up. Back it up, Alexis Tereszcuk. You said she sets up a fake e-mail account to send herself a fake e-mail saying what?
TERESZCUK: It talks about what he -- where he was going to be and what he was going to do. So it said he was hiking, he fell and he died and that the search should be discontinued. Absolutely not true at all. That is not what happened. And it shows that she was actually plotting to deceive not only his family but the authorities, as well.
GRACE: Joining me tonight, special guests from Kalispell, Cameron Fredrickson, a very dear friend of the groom, Cody Johnson -- for those of you just joining us, a groom of just eight days found dead at the foot of a cliff, police now honing in on none other than his brand-new bride. Cameron Fredrickson is with us. Also with us in Kalispell, Levi Blasdel, close friend of the groom, as well.
First to you, Cameron. Is it true that you received text messages from the bride immediately after Cody went missing, and the text messages were contradictory, they contradicted themselves?
CAMERON FREDRICKSON, FRIEND OF VICTIM: Yes, that is true. I received text messages from Jordan as the days continued. Her stories changed.
GRACE: OK, Cameron, what was her -- what was the bride`s first story about what happened?
FREDRICKSON: First story was that she was not aware of who Cody was with or who he had left with. And then at a later time, the story was that she was there when he left and that he had left with some friends from Seattle.
GRACE: So she`s trying to frame friends of his from Seattle. Cameron, did he have friends in Seattle?
FREDRICKSON: He did have very few friends from Seattle, which we contacted, and we were not able to get any information from them.
GRACE: Well, I`m sure they`d like to hear Cameron, that she`s tried to frame them for his murder. So immediately, you start seeing that her own explanations contradict each other. You say she changed her story, and then suddenly, she goes out and single-handedly -- there`s over a million acres in Glacier National Park, and she, amazingly, finds his body. What was your reaction to that, Cameron?
FREDRICKSON: I was shocked, to say the least. At the time -- I mean, right then, I felt like she had something to do with Cody not being with us any longer.
GRACE: You know, Cameron, you firmly believe that there was no way the bride was acting in self-defense. Why do you say that?
FREDRICKSON: Cody actually had such a high respect for women that, I mean, even through conversation, he would not lift a hand towards them. He would not laugh at certain jokes that were derogatory towards women. He truly respected them that much.
GRACE: Do you think it`s possible that the bride planned the murder? Because you know, at this hour, she has just walked free. She`s free tonight. A judge let her go. She`s being guarded by her own mommy at home tonight.
Why do you believe it`s possible she preplanned the murder?
FREDRICKSON: After Cody was found, her demeanor and the lack of emotion or connection to Cody at the funeral, in the days following. She had no remorse. It`s like nothing was wrong. It was another day.
GRACE: Now, let me go to you, Levi Blasdel, close friend of the groom. Is it true that at his funeral, she was actually texting or fidgeting with her phone throughout the whole time while one of you two were actually speaking?
LEVI BLASDEL, FRIEND OF VICTIM: Yes, actually, I spoke, and then Cameron spoke. And when I got up and you look over the crowd of people, there was Cody`s mother in front of me, and then Jordan was off to the left. And briefly glancing over to the left, you see her, you know, like you said, fidgeting with her phone.
And it was a great shock to myself...
GRACE: You mean, like, she was surfing the Internet or texting or something on her phone during the eulogy?
BLASDEL: I`m not sure what she was doing, but paying attention and mourning like the rest of us was not first priority for her.
GRACE: You know, reports are, Levi Blasdel, that Jordan actually cried as she walked down the aisle to the wedding -- not at the funeral, but at her own wedding. Is that true?
BLASDEL: Yes, it was a surprise to me. I leaned over to the friend I was there with and asked her, Have you ever seen a bride cry that much before she`d even gotten to the alter? And it was a surprise to me. That was the first time I`ve ever seen that.
GRACE: Unleash the lawyers. Joining me tonight from Tampa, Florida, Joe Episcopo, criminal defense attorney. Also with me out of New York, Alex Sanchez.
All right, Alex Sanchez, now, I could understand getting emotional and crying at your wedding. But when you cry walking down the aisle to your wedding, but you don`t cry walking down the aisle at your new groom`s funeral, there`s a problem, Alex.
ALEX SANCHEZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Yes, maybe there is a problem, but that`s not information that`s going to come before a jury. And by the way...
GRACE: Yes, it will.
SANCHEZ: ... let me tell you something. A judge...
GRACE: Yes, it will!
SANCHEZ: ... two judges...
GRACE: Her demeanor will go in front of this jury!
SANCHEZ: Two federal judges...
GRACE: It absolutely will!
SANCHEZ: ... a magistrate and federal judge determined that she should be released.
GRACE: I`m so not impressed.
SANCHEZ: And one of the factors they take into consideration...
GRACE: Federal judge...
SANCHEZ: ... is the strength of the people`s case. And those judges must have determined that there`s not a very strong case against her because they released her without bail, Nancy. Can you explain that?
GRACE: Joe Episcopo, just FYI, a little note to the defense lawyers. My very first job out of law school was as a clerk to a federal magistrate, a federal judge. So I`m completely underwhelmed at your building up a federal judge, all right, not impressed at all. Episcopo, come on, house arrest with her mommy as the guard?
JOE EPISCOPO, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Yes. She has a constitutional right to that. She`s presumed innocent. That`s why the Constitution...
GRACE: Nobody said...
EPISCOPO: ... protects us...
GRACE: ... she wasn`t presumed innocent.
EPISCOPO: The Constitution protects us...
GRACE: Why can`t she wait in jail, like everybody else with homicide charges?
EPISCOPO: The Constitution protects us from people like you, Nancy. Thank God we have one.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a good day. This is a good day for the family, Perez family. But more importantly, (INAUDIBLE) . She is safe. She is safe. She`s been reunified with her family. We currently have two suspects in custody. We`re looking at some other suspects, and I`ll let the FBI talk about that later. She was recovered at a location in Conyers, Georgia. The investigation is still active. We`re still receiving phone calls as we speak.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: "You`re my safe place to fall." Now when I hear those words, it`s a little creepy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Creepy because eight days later, Johnson fell to his death, pushed, say prosecutors, by the very woman who danced with him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Welcome back. We are live and taking your calls. She has the storybook wedding she dreamed of her entire life, but just eight days later, in the dark of night, her groom falls to his death in Glacier National Park. Then we learn the two had gone hiking as they argued.
Did she lure him to the top of the mountain to go up to those heights -- we all know from all of his friends he was afraid of heights -- only to push him with both hands, as she has related, to his death.
Out to Matt Zarrell, on the story. Matt, I`m stunned that a judge has given her bond. What more have we learned?
MATT ZARRELL, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER (via telephone): Nancy, well, one thing we`ve learned is that the attorney for Graham is starting to give you a preview of his defense. Graham`s attorney says that the couple had an argument that night and that Cody, the victim, pinned Graham down on the bed at one point. The attorney notes that Cody didn`t abuse Graham, but he controlled her movements.
And that is when the argument continued to the hiking trail, which, Nancy, the attorney says was Cody`s idea to go on the trail. And as they go on the trail, the attorney claims that the push was not a separate motion, but was all one motion.
The problem with that, though, Nancy, is that Graham told cops that she could have walked away, but due to her anger, she pushed Cody off the cliff.
GRACE: OK, out to you, Cameron Fredrickson, close friend of the groom. Cameron, when you hear what the defense is saying, I`d like to hear your reaction. She`s already told people she pushed him with both hands.
FREDRICKSON: Shocked. But I mean, in all honesty, after coming forward, and you know, openly admitting what she did, what other play does she have?
GRACE: What is your reaction to a judge letting her out on house arrest, while other people with homicide charges stay in jail until their trial?
FREDRICKSON: You feel betrayed. You feel like the justice system isn`t working the way that it should.
GRACE: You know, another question to you, Cameron. And I talked to Levi Blasdel about this. I want to ask you what, if anything, you observed about her demeanor and her behavior at his funeral.
FREDRICKSON: Complete disconnect. She wasn`t -- she wasn`t there. She wasn`t mourning. You know, she wasn`t sad. She wasn`t -- there was no emotion. It was like another day.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A chilling scene. Prosecutors say 22-year-old Jordan Linn Graham pushed her new husband, Cody Lee Johnson, off this cliff.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jordan, is there anything you want to say?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Say nothing to us, now a defendant leaving court with her parents.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jordan Graham, out of jail, returned home, crouching in her parents` car. Probation officers, papers in hand, spoke with the now infamous bride as she began home confinement as ordered by the judge, a slap in the face to friends of Cody Johnson. But the judge released Graham, ordering her to electronic monitoring in her parents` home before her second degree murder case goes trial, saying she has no criminal history whatsoever and never exhibited tendencies for violence or even anger.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: Well, you can say the same thing about Scott Peterson. He didn`t exhibit any violence before he murdered his wife, Laci Peterson, and their unborn child.
Senior reporter, Radaronline.com, Alexis Tereszcuk, what is that song we keep hearing? What is that?
TERESZCUK: So she actually wrote a song that was performed at the wedding, and she wrote it for him. And at the time of the wedding, everybody was there, said, Oh, it`s so sweet. It`s so nice. But it`s really, really creepy because it talks about climbing and falling and there`s a safe place. So it`s -- it`s everything that ended up happening to him just eight days later, and she`s put it down in words. And there`s video of it and she`s singing it. It`s quite a disturbing foreshadowing piece.
GRACE: I notice, Matt Zarrell, that it talks about a safe place to fall and we`re climbing to greater heights. She actually had this written for the wedding, as Alexis Tereszcuk points out, a song specifically for her groom.
But then within just days, it all goes down the crapper, her husband found dead at the bottom of nearly 7,000-foot peak in Glacier Park. Matt Zarrell, we know he was afraid of heights. What I`m interested in is why she didn`t call 911. Who reported him missing, Matt Zarrell?
ZARRELL: Nancy, it was Cody`s uncle who reported her (sic) missing. The wife never did.
GRACE: Out to Eris Huemer, psychotherapist joining me out of LA. Eris, now, the two defense attorneys go on and on and on about how all of this evidence, behaviorial evidence, as I have always called it, will never go before a jury. Actually, it will go in front of a jury. The defense will have a chance to cross-examine it or poke holes in it, if they want.
But the fact that she cried at her wedding and texted and surfed the Web at the funeral I find highly indicative, the fact that she did not call and report him missing, and in fact, lied and tried to frame friends of his in Seattle for the death.
ERIS HUEMER, PSYCHOTHERAPIST: And I also believe that she`s started to believe her own lies. She`s continuing to say lie after lie and then believing what she says. And it`s very parallel to a lot of even who Jodi Arias is -- you know, saying these big lies, not even telling the truth of anything that happened, and then committing a heinous crime that might have even been premeditated.
So she shows a lack of emotional regard, a lack of any sort of love for this man, and she murdered him.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One week after this beaming couple`s wedding, a killing scene.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Risky area, very treacherous, full of rocks.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Prosecutors say 22-year-old Jordan Linn Graham pushed her new husband, Cody Lee Johnson, off this cliff in the high mountains of Montana.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She didn`t even report him missing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: According to police, on the day of Johnson`s death, Graham texted her friend, "oh, well, I`m about to talk to him."
Her friend replies, "I`ll pray for you guys."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is a complete shock to me what happened.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In an eerie response, she writes, "but dead serious, if you don`t hear from me at all again tonight, something happened."
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Cody Lee Johnson was found dead below the loop going to the Sun Road (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want them to do the right thing. I want justice for Cody.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GRACE: Well, justice for Cody as of tonight, means his alleged killer, his own bride, has just been set free on bond. Actually, ROR, released on your own recognizance. Her guard is her own mommy.
We are taking your calls. You know, a lot of very easy comparisons. Let me know when our satellite gets Alexis Tereszcuk back. But Jon King joining me right now, talk show host with KGVO on Talk Back, Jon, joining me from Missoula there where the incident occurred. The comparison to Jodi Arias, between Jordan Graham and Jodi Arias is overwhelming. Right down to what they say in the memorial scrapbooks. Jodi says, "Travis, you`re beautiful on the inside and out. You always told me that. I never stopped believing in you. I know you believed in me. Thanks for sharing so much, for your generosity. The world is blessed because you`ve been here. I love you."
Here`s Jordan. Who admits she pushed her husband to his death. "Miss you so much, Cody. Not a day will go by where I don`t think about you. You will live on in my heart forever. I know you`re in a better place now looking down on me. You`re my angel. Love you with all my heart and soul. See you again one day."
OK. John King. Thoughts?
KING: Yes, Nancy.
GRACE: Thoughts?
KING: Well, it seems like it`s either manufactured statements or this is someone who`s deceived themselves, frankly. Either she`s planning on, you know, misleading other people or she`s misled herself somewhere along the line.
The case that she`s able to go on with our life so easily after this, at least in public appearances and from what her friends say, is probably the most disturbing thing about this case.
GRACE: Jon, what do you mean she`s able to go on so normally?
KING: Well, I mean the Facebook post that you just read showed a picture of her wedding ring. She has confessed, at least according to the FBI, to FBI agents, that she was the one who pushed him. Now, the defense of course is arguing that it was an accident now and she didn`t mean to. That was just the result of her trying to pull Cody`s hand off hers, but at the same time, even if I did that to my wife, I`d still feel horrible about it.
GRACE: Matt Zarrell, the story that she`s trying to jerk his hand off of her doesn`t make sense, because she earlier said she pushed him with both hands on his back, and he went face forward off the cliff.
ZARRELL: Nancy, it`s not just that. It`s specifically what the wife told cops that she could have walked away. She could have walked away, but due to her anger, is why she pushed Cody with both hands in the back, and he fell face first off the cliff.
GRACE: Unleash the lawyers. Alex Sanchez, Joe Episcopo -- Alex Sanchez, as I recall, anger is not a defense to murder, to homicide. Everybody in town is angry at somebody when they pull the trigger. That doesn`t mean it`s a defense.
SANCHEZ: I don`t you`ve adequately represented what she has told the police, Nancy. I`m sorry to say. She has told the police not that she simply pushed him, but pushed him in response to him grabbing her and twisting her around.
GRACE: We just talked about that.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: That`s what led to the pushing. In addition --
GRACE: Why are you saying that we are misleading? Matt just recounted that.
SANCHEZ: It`s not the same as if he was just standing at the end of the cliff and she went and she pushed him off.
GRACE: Matt Zarrell just explained that.
SANCHEZ: In addition, he allegedly --
GRACE: I don`t think you`re listening.
SANCHEZ: In addition, Nancy, he had allegedly pinned her to a bed earlier in the day, and that means she was afraid. She realized there was something perhaps dangerous about this character, and they`re up in an isolated place near a cliff, they get into some argument, a bad place to get into an argument, and this unfortunate event occurs. Doesn`t mean it`s a crime.
GRACE: OK, Matt Zarrell, let`s go back to you, and Alexis, Alex Sanchez, if you could listen this time, I`m going to have him repeat what he just said in the last two minutes. Matt Zarrell, the story that she was jerking away from his grasp is very different from what she told police.
ZARRELL: Yes. I`m going to read you, Nancy, word for word what she told police. At one point in time, during the arguing, Graham turned and began to walk away. She stated Cody grabbed her by the arm. Graham turned and removed Cody`s hand from her arm. After removing Cody`s hand from her arm, Graham stated she could have just walked away, but due to her anger, she pushed Cody with both hands in the back, and as a result, he fell face first off the cliff.
GRACE: I don`t take very kindly to allegations that we mislead the viewers. We are reading directly and quoting from her statement to police. Now, while we`re talking, Matt Zarrell, what can you tell me about the defense claiming that the murder victim pinned his bride to the bed?
ZARRELL: Yes, what the attorney is saying is that the argument happened that night that started at the house, and that the attorney claims that Cody Johnson pinned Graham down on the bed at one point. He didn`t abuse her, but quote/unquote controlled her movements, and the attorney says that Cody Johnson had never behaved towards Graham like that before.
GRACE: Or since. And Matt Zarrell, a couple of quick questions, number one, yes, no. Did he hit her?
ZARRELL: No.
GRACE: Did he strike her?
ZARRELL: No.
GRACE: Did he twist her arms or legs?
ZARRELL: No.
GRACE: Did she have a bruise of any type?
ZARRELL: No.
GRACE: Does she even claim he hit her?
ZARRELL: No.
GRACE: OK, out to the lines. Frankie, in Texas, hi, Frankie, what`s your question?
CALLER: Hi, Nancy. Actually, I have a statement. If he was standing on the edge of the cliff or nearby the edge and he grabbed her and she was facing him and she pulled back to get his hand off of her, which would be a natural reaction, they would be farther from the edge of the cliff than when they started. And secondly, why didn`t she just get a divorce? There are so many of these married couples reverting to caveman styles, just killing them and get rid of them. Well, what`s wrong with divorcing? But I`m not buying her story one bit.
GRACE: To Dr. Bill Manion, medical examiner joining me out of Philly. You have seen so many domestic homicides. But this one, just eight days into this marriage, Dr. Manion, what about divorce? Do you ever think that when you`re working at the autopsy table?
DR. BILL MANION, MEDICAL EXAMINER: Absolutely, and I`d be curious what the toxicology will reveal. Did he have any alcohol in him, did he have any drugs in him that may have made him less aware of what was going to happen to him? In addition, we want to verify her story. That if he went off face first, he should have injuries to his arms and face and head as he fell down the side of this cliff. So there will be some information that the autopsy can help with. But it sounds terrible for her right now. I would agree with you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: Welcome back. Just eight days into the marriage, her groom plunges down the side of a cliff to his death. After first trying to frame friends of his in Seattle as the pusher, she finds his body, and ultimately reveals to police that she is the one who pushed her groom to his death. Out to the lines. Janet in Florida. Hi, Janet, what`s your question?
CALLER: Hi, Nancy. I love you and I watch your show all the time.
GRACE: Thank you.
CALLER: I really disagree with you on this.
GRACE: OK.
CALLER: What if she was really being abused?
GRACE: OK, if she were being abused, Janet, and her own defense lawyers are stating, telling us about the abuse, and the only thing they have is he pinned her to the bed and never struck her, Janet, I mean, this is her camp. That`s their story.
CALLER: The story now. They`re going to wait for trial.
GRACE: OK. So you are just saying they`re going to let it out in little dribbles and bits. Why? Why even state about the pinning to the bed incident? Why go there? If you`re going to say she was beaten and abused, say it. Why say this crazy story about he pinned her to the bed but never hit her?
CALLER: Well, I think she was under domestic abuse for a long time, Nancy, and I --
GRACE: A long time? They were only married eight days?
CALLER: Right, but didn`t the friend say they were dating for a long time, like a year or something?
GRACE: You know what, let`s find out about that. Out to you, Levi Blasdel, they had been dating for a while. Were they living together?
BLASDEL: No, they actually were not living together. And this caller just suggested that Cody was continuously abusing her -- Cody was not that type of person. He was actually a gentle and a kind person. I understand that you don`t understand, that you haven`t been there, you weren`t part of his family, you didn`t see how he reacted. He was a very loving and family oriented person, so again, these are the stories that we are getting from somebody who has already lied to cover her own stories, to cover herself. If she, you know, pushed Cody out of anger and then for her a few weeks later, to say but he had held me down and he was abusive to me, seems like --
GRACE: Here`s the thing, Levi. They didn`t even live together, so it`s kind of hard to claim that he`s beating her and she`s a victim of domestic abuse, when she`s the one that wanted the wedding, the big wedding. He did not live with her so he couldn`t beat her in secret. Just -- it`s not fitting together. And then the best they`ve got is he pinned her to the bed and he never struck her?
Come on. You`ve got to give me a little more than that. I want to go back out to the lines. That was Janet in Florida. Now to Lisa in Ohio. Hi, Lisa, what is your question?
CALLER: Hi, Nancy. I have two questions. First, did this girl admit to pushing her husband at first?
GRACE: Yes. Hold on and what`s your second question?
CALLER: OK. Now, how is she out of jail? Since she admitted to this?
GRACE: Lisa, that`s what I said when I heard that this morning, I`m like, what, she`s what? How is she out of jail? You can ask the two federal judges that let her go. All right. They`re appointed for life. You can`t fire them if you want to. They`re in forever like the U.S. Supreme Court. OK, out to you, Alexis Teresczuk, senior reporter, radaronline.com. She admitted she pushed him over.
TERESCZUK: You`re exactly right. She did say that. She told police that. However, that wasn`t what she admitted in the beginning. She had a bunch of stories, a bunch of tales. She covered it up. She wasn`t even the one who reported he was missing. She said, oh, he was out with some friends. He sent me a text. He`s fine. Then some friends sent me a note that he had died.
So, her admitting that she killed him was like her third story, it wasn`t her first or her second. And she still was like, prosecutors are shocked by this because they feel that she has a history of lying to authorities, her family and her friends in this case, and she should be behind bars. They desperately tried to keep her behind bars. But as you said, both judges let her go.
They do have a few restrictions on her. She has an ankle monitor on. She`s not allowed to leave her home. She is only allowed to leave to go to a religious service, to a medical appointment, or to her lawyer`s office, a legal appointment. That`s it. Those are the only things, but that means she`s at home, she can watch television, she can order pizza, she can basically live a pretty carefree lifestyle.
GRACE: Out to Levi Blasdel again, joining me with Cameron Fredrickson. Levi, what can you tell me? We`ve been told he was actually afraid of heights.
BLASDEL: Yes, Cody tried to get him to go rock climbing with me a few times, actually got him to go once, and he was very uncomfortable with anything over 20 feet. Which is pretty normal for people who are afraid of heights. While we were down south, I tried to get him to get a picture with me up on a ledge, and he wouldn`t come within five feet of the ledge. And for him to be walking out in Glacier Part along an edge in the dark is very unlikely. And not conducive to a lifestyle that Cody would purposely choose for himself.
GRACE: It just doesn`t make sense, Levi. Cameron Fredrickson, I have hiked many, many times, including up in the Rockies, very, very rugged and high terrain, but not at night. No hiker in their right mind walks trails like these at night. Why?
FREDRICKSON: You can`t see. You don`t know where you`re going. Especially in the wilderness. It`s pitch-black. Nothing makes sense.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He mentioned to us that she made him happy and that`s where he wanted to be.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 25-year-old Cody Lee Johnson found dead.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She admitted to pushing her spouse to his death.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: At the top of the mountain, at the edge of a cliff.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Very steep area, very treacherous. Full of rocks.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don`t feel like Cody would have gone someplace like that willingly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: In fact, many court watchers believe that the bride lured him to the top of that mountain, up that steep trail. Out to Cameron Fredrickson and Levi Blasdel, friends of the groom. No. 1, out to you, Cameron. I believe she lured him, because he was afraid of heights. It`s at night. Why -- how do you get someone, afraid of heights, up a trail, thousands of feet, and then at the edge, where he`s in a position where he can fall. He had to be lured.
FREDRICKSON: Yes, that is very true. Cody was so head over heels for this girl and so gullible and happy and trusting with his close friends and family that it would have been very easy for her to persuade him to do something that he`s not--
(CROSSTALK)
GRACE: Can I ask you a question? I don`t mean this, any offense, she`s a very attractive young lady, but Levi, what did she have? What was so special about her that made him fall so in love with her?
BLASDEL: I think the introduction at first was she had the same moral ideals as he did. And he was looking for a family, and he was looking to settle down. And once they had actually made that introduction and they had hung out for a little bit, from that point on, she had his heart. And she could do whatever she wanted.
GRACE: Is it true you guys told him not to marry her?
BLASDEL: Yes. We had --
GRACE: Why?
BLASDEL: Because the relationship between the two were not equal. They were not both giving equal parts into the relationship. And Cody was doing everything he could to go out of his way to make sure that --
GRACE: What do you mean by that, they don`t do equal parts. What do you mean by that?
BLASDEL: Cody would do everything in his power to make her happy. He would go out of his way to do something she wanted --
GRACE: Like what?!
BLASDEL: He would go hang out with her friends or take her things or, you know, just the little things. He was a great boyfriend in that respect -- but nothing actually returned back to him. He would say good morning and good night and text her every morning, before and after he went to work, and he was very open with communication and how he felt about her. And he never got anything in return from that. He`d get a text every now and again, but there was always Cody pushing forward and keeping up the relationship and keeping it strong, and she just would not return that vested interest in their relationship.
GRACE: You know what, I think I had deciphered yet another lie. Matt Zarrell, did she actually tell people she passed a polygraph?
ZARRELL: Nancy, after she told cops that she pushed her husband over the cliff, she then proceed to tell friends and family that she passed a polygraph exam. The problem was, they never gave her one.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRACE: We remember American hero, Marine Lance Corporal Phillip Vinnedge, 19. St. Charles, Missouri. Purple Heart, Combat Action Ribbon, National Defense Service Medal, parents, Dave and Julie. Brothers, Cory and Jason. Phillip Vinnedge, American hero.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This tune that has everyone talking.
(MUSIC)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The now-infamous bride, finally confessing to pushing her husband in the back, face-first off the cliff. Self-defense or calculated crime? A still-unwinding tale that began with a wedding and will end in a court of law.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRACE: To Jon King, talk show host, Talk Back KGVO, joining us from Missoula, what`s the reaction to the fact that a federal judge lets her out on bond, on house arrest?
KING: I think a lot of people would be surprised about hearing that, but if you were in the courts that day, it was no surprise that Judge Lynch basically made the arguments for the defense.
GRACE: You mean the judge made the arguments for the defense? Is that what you just said?
KING: It appeared that way, while I was in court. The defense would get up and say, basically, the judge just communicated our position very clearly. I mean, if you were in court and got to see the judge, the judge would make arguments about how, for example, how they could use a mental assessment to prevent her from hurting herself when she got home. One of the things that hasn`t been really covered is that they thought she might be risk to herself, because she had texted and e-mailed tweets about wanting to kill herself or perhaps wanting to be dead.
GRACE: I thought those texts were before she pushed him over the cliff.
KING: It`s possible. But the prosecution is using those to show that she was in an unsteady state. At least they did during the trial. And that --
GRACE: Everyone, she still stands charged with second-degree murder and we await the trial.
Congratulations, tonight, to Florida newlyweds, Theodosia and Vernon. The beautiful couple love going to church together and spending time with their 20-plus grandchildren. They are on their honeymoon right now. Congratulations.
Everyone, Dr. Drew up next. I`ll see you tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp, Eastern. Until then, good night, friend.
END
