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Nancy Grace

Murder Mom Wants Share of Kids` Estate; Wisconsin Couple Charged With Child Abuse

Aired October 09, 2013 - 20:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

NANCY GRACE, HOST: Breaking news tonight. A 27-year-old Mommy methodically drowns all three of her children, then gets off claiming mental illness. Tonight, killer mom demanding her cut of her three dead children`s estate, nearly half a million dollars, after she kills them!

And to Wisconsin, a real-life evil stepmother. Stepmommy ties up her live-in boyfriend`s girls, ages just 5 and 7, with zipties, ties them up with zipties, and she withholds food from them in order to, quote, "teach them a lesson." And Daddy, you`re just as bad for standing by and letting it happen!

And also tonight, live, Missoula. She dreams her whole life about an extravagant storybook wedding. Those dreams come 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 wedding, the 26- year-old groom, Cody Johnson, is dead. In the last hour, the prime suspect pleads not guilty. The alleged perp, the new bride!

Good evening. I`m Nancy Grace. I want to thank you for being with us.

Bombshell tonight. A 27-year-old mom methodically drowns all three of her children to death. Then she gets off, claiming she`s got a mental illness. Well, she`s not that mentally ill. She`s smart enough to demand her cut of the three dead children`s estate, nearly half a million dollars, after she kills them!

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: An 18-month old, a 6-year-old girl, Jewell, and her 5-year-old brother, Michael, their accused killer is their own mother, Leatrice Brewer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The three children were found lying in bed, side by side, in their pajamas as if they were sleeping.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They had been drowned, the oldest, 6-year-old Jewell, repeatedly stabbed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She started using drugs and -- the courts was not listening to me to take my daughter.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now this same mom who killed her own kids wants a cut of the money the dads of the victims received from the state!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: She methodically drowned her three children, one by one by one. Then she gets off the hook, claiming mental defect, that she`s mentally ill? But she`s not so mentally ill that Leatrice Brewer doesn`t have the wherewithal to sue for her cut of the estate.

To Noam Laden, joining me, news anchor, WABC. Noam, thanks for being with us. Nearly a half a million dollars -- that came from a lawsuit against DFACS, right? against child protective services?

NOAM LADEN, WABC (via telephone): That`s right. The two fathers of the -- there were three kids, the 6-year-old, the 5-year-old, the 18-month- old, and the two dads went into court and said, Hey, you know, child protective services didn`t protect our kids. We told them the mother was crazy. And so the -- they -- they -- the child service agency settled for $350,000. And that`s the money that Leatrice is going after.

GRACE: You know, it`s amazing to me -- with me is Noam Laden, news anchor, WABC -- Noam, that she methodically kills them. And the reason I keep using the word "methodically," Noam, is because under the law, premeditation means that you have time to plan. That`s all it means.

However, also under the law, premeditation can be formed in the blink of an eye, in a twink -- twinkling, just like that, in a snap. The time it takes for you to raise the gun and pull the trigger is long enough under the law for premeditation to be formed.

She had the time to slit the 6-year-old`s throat, to drown all three of them, to lay them side by side in the bed. She had plenty of time to think about what she was doing. Under the law, that`s premeditation.

To Clark Goldband. Now, after the dads win the lawsuit against child protective services, Leatrice Brewer is suing for nearly half a million dollars? How is this happening?

CLARK GOLDBAND, NANCY GRACE PRODUCER: Well, Nancy, her attorney says she`s entitled to a cut of the money because she`s the mom of the children. And there seems to be a little bit of a loophole that is being cited here. The Son of Sam laws were...

GRACE: Did you say a little bit of a loophole? A little bit of a loophole?

GOLDBAND: OK, let`s call it a loophole. A loophole...

GRACE: You can kill all three children, you can then get nearly half a million dollars for it? That`s a little loophole to you?

GOLDBAND: Well, I guess you`re right, Nancy. A loophole is a loophole. And here`s the thing. Since she pled mentally incompetent to stand trial and is in a psychiatric facility, she was never found guilty. And under Son of Sam laws, if you`re found guilty of murder, you cannot profit. Hence, she seems to be entitled to the money, according to her attorney.

And I just want to point out one more thing here, Nancy, which you just alluded to about these three was killed first. The 6-year-old was killed first. The oldest child was killed first, and slashed in the throat multiple times.

GRACE: Joining me right now, special guest Thomas Foley (ph), the lawyer for the father of two of these murdered children. Mr. Foley, thank you for being with us.

THOMAS FOLEY, FATHER`S ATTORNEY (via telephone): Oh, thank you for having me, Nancy.

GRACE: Thomas Foley, tell me about the lawsuit the two fathers filed against child protective services. I frankly have always said child protective services, when you drop the ball on a case, you need to go to jail. But that`s just me. I`m glad to hear they can at least be sued.

What happened this time?

FOLEY: Well, they failed this family because the weekend this happened -- like, this happened on a Sunday. That Friday, my client contacted CPS and said that Brewer, the killer, had threatened to put the kids outside during the winter. It was the February time of year -- threatened to put the kids outside during winter, was hearing voices, people were talking to her through the TV.

And he called CPS and said, Listen, this is what`s going on. You got to do something about this. They went to the house, didn`t find her there and then did nothing. And she killed the kids, as you correctly described that Sunday morning. So they had an opportunity, they were given notice, and they did nothing. And they failed this family.

GRACE: Looking at the baby in the carseat, it`s just breaking my heart. I`ve been putting together photo album after photo album after photo album of the twins, and I had some of them the other day as they were babies. And I took a picture of them in their two carseats.

Look at these children. This is what the case is really all about. Look at them. What would they have grown into? What were the children`s names, Thomas Foley? I want to hear about -- one was Innocent Demesyeux, Michael Demesyeux and Jewell?

FOLEY: Jewell, yes. I handled the matters involving Michael and Innocent, and somebody else handled the other matter with the older girl, Jewell.

GRACE: Jewell. How old was Innocent when she was murdered?

FOLEY: Innocent is actually a boy, and he was...

GRACE: Oh. Thank you.

FOLEY: ... 18 months old.

GRACE: Let me see that photo again, the ones with the three children. Yes, Innocent Demesyeux, Jr. I didn`t see the Jr. on there. Look at that little face. And look at the other two, Michael and Jewell, one 18 months, one 5 years old, Michael, and Jewell, 6.

Mommy kills Jewell first because she obviously is the more mature at age 6 and would put up the biggest fight.

FOLEY: Heartbreaking.

GRACE: Mr. Foley, how did your client find out that his children had been killed by their mother?

FOLEY: He received a call that morning from one of Brewer`s family members informing him of what happened. And he went -- obviously, went to the location right away.

GRACE: Out to the lines. Sarah in Idaho. Hi, Sarah.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, Nancy. Why should this mom be able to get all this money when she`s the one who killed the children?

GRACE: I don`t know. And I`m going to borrow a quote. If this is the law, then the law is an ass. This is not right. I don`t know what judge is going to hear this or how this is going to be determined by some appellate court. Mom wants her share of nearly a half a million dollars from her three children`s estate after she murders them.

What -- the most upsetting thing, other than the irony of her trying to get a paycheck out of this whole deal, is when I look at those children -- the oldest was 6. That`s kindergarten. She hadn`t even got a chance to go to the 1st grade yet. She hadn`t got a chance to learn in school, to make little friends, to play on the playground, no chance at all. Can you imagine their daily life, living with this mother?

To Mr. Foley. Did your client ever try to get the children away from her?

FOLEY: Well, he had been in and out of court based on false allegations being made by Brewer. And right around the time that this happened, the only way he was able to see these children was through court- ordered visitation, again based on her false allegation. So he was trying everything he could to see these children, and unfortunately, he was due in court the Monday -- the following Monday after she had killed the kids.

GRACE: So he had been going to court repeatedly to get the children away from her. You know, Mr. Foley, again, thank you for being with us. Thomas Foley, the lawyer for one of the fathers that had the two of the three murdered children -- Mr. Foley, would she care for the children? I mean, how did they make it to these ages? I don`t even know how the daughter made it to age 6!

FOLEY: She was -- she was awful. The amount of times that -- see, that was the other part of our case, was the argument that CPS knew that she was a horrible mother. She would leave the kids alone. There were numerous times that they were over there because of her behavior. She was just -- she was uncontrollable. There was no -- under no circumstances should she have ever had children in her custody. They failed them.

GRACE: Joining me right now, Marc Klaas, president and founder of Klaas Kids Foundation. You know, Marc, how many more times do we have to hear about, investigate and publicize DFACS, department and family and children`s services -- sometimes it`s called CPS, Child Protective Services -- dropping the ball and children end up dead?

MARC KLAAS, KLAAS KIDS FOUNDATION: Well, everybody dropped the ball on this. You have three dead children and two distraught fathers who were trying to do everything they could to get custody of these kids. It`s like somebody dropped a massive stink bomb in the courtroom and everybody can smell it. Everybody knows that it`s happened, but nobody seems to want to do anything about it. This is a travesty of justice in the extreme sense.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I bet she planned this, so she should get what she deserves.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The young victims, 6-year-old Jewell Ward, 5- year-old Michael and 1-year-old Innocent Demesyeux.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Three children were drowned in the bathtub, specifically Jewell. She had a laceration across her throat.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What drove their mother, 27-year-old Leatrice Brewer, to kill them is still a mystery.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My sister`s not crazy. She`s not ballistic. This is a shock to all of us.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Something was noticeably wrong with mom Leatrice Brewer.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She did love these children very much until these recent events.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Welcome back. Mom, Leatrice Brewer, kills all three of her little children, slashing the throat of the 6-year-old, drowning all three. But now there`s nearly a half a million dollars at stake over a lawsuit regarding the deaths of the three children. And she`s not so crazy that she`s not going to court get her cut of the money. Essentially, she`s going to get paid off for murdering her three children, and that is wrong.

We are taking your calls. Out to John in Minnesota. Hi, John. What`s your question?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, Nancy. Thanks for taking my call. I`m just wondering how this woman (INAUDIBLE) honestly going to claim mental illness and try to get off that way when she drowned her kids in that bathtub one by one.

GRACE: You know what? She pled not guilty by reason of mental defect, and everybody agreed to the plea. That`s what went down.

So my question is -- to you, to Noam Laden, joining me, news anchor, WABC -- when she goes to court to try to get all this money, this windfall, the money that came about from a lawsuit over the deaths of her three children -- now she wants the money after she killed them -- is she going to take the stand and testify?

LADEN: We don`t know yet, but the judge wants to hear in her own words. The lawyer will be in court, and they want to hear what she has to say, why she thinks she has a stake, a claim at this almost half a million dollars.

GRACE: You know, here`s the thing, Peter Odom, defense attorney joining me tonight. Once you enter a plea, it`s over and done with. You can`t go back and then reopen that case. It`s like a jury conviction. It`s done. You can`t go back and go, Oh, do over! No. That`s why you got to think long and hard before you let somebody plead to not guilty by reason of mental defect. They`re not guilty under the law. And under the law, she can get this nearly half a million dollars!

PETER ODOM, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, I mean, it sounds like a strange result, but let`s take a step back for a minute. Under our laws in this society, we`ve decided that for humanitarian reasons, we are not going to hold people criminally responsible if mental illness is really at the heart of it.

Now, the insanity plea gets a horrible rap because so many people who really aren`t mentally ill try and use it. People use it frivolously. It rarely works. But this is not such a case. In this case, everybody agreed that she should not be held criminally responsible because she really was mentally ill. Now, because she really was mentally ill...

GRACE: Not according to the neighbor.

ODOM: And not -- well, the neighbor really doesn`t have anything to do with this.

GRACE: I know you`re going somewhere with this, and I`d like to figure out where.

ODOM: I`m trying to -- I`m trying to -- I`m trying to explain, Nancy. You say that the law is an ass. I`m trying to explain how the law works in this case. Because she`s...

GRACE: Well, Peter, I don`t think you understand my argument. My argument is I don`t want her to be mistreated, and if she is mentally ill, thrown in with general population. But I don`t think she should get a half a million dollar paycheck after she murders her children! You point to me where in the Constitution it says a mom can murder her three children, claim mental illness, and then get a half a million dollars to boot! I don`t think they wrote that!

ODOM: A judge might agree with you. And a judge might agree with you. But because she`s not covered by the Son of Sam law, because she`s never been found guilty of these crimes, she`s entitled to ask.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After calling police, admitting she killed her children, Brewer jumped out of a second floor window.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Before this incident, there had been signs of trouble. Leatrice Brewer had been arrested six times on charges including assault and weapons possession.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: CPS had been at the home several times in the past. Brewer had fallen on hard times and was battling drug problems.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now the same mom who killed her own kids wants a cut of the money!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: We are back and taking your calls. The insult to injury, three children murdered in the bathtub, and now Mommy, who pleads mental incompetency, is going to have a nearly half a million dollar payday because of her own actions.

You know, Marc Klaas, have you ever seen the law so turned upside down?

KLAAS: Yes, sure, I have, Nancy. And here`s the problem. The Constitution of the United States gives right after right after right after right to perpetrators of crime, but the victims of crime have nothing in the Constitution! The word victim does not exist in the Constitution! And things will continue this way until we have a victims` rights amendment to the United States Constitution!

GRACE: So Noam Laden, WABC, covering the story, when is this back in court? Because I want to be there. I want a camera in that courtroom when Mommy takes the stand.

LADEN: It is three weeks away. They`ll bring Leatrice from the mental institution where she is now to the courtroom, and hopefully, we`ll get a chance...

GRACE: Where she`s filing...

LADEN: ... to hear her in her own words.

GRACE: ... her legal arguments that she should get half a million dollars. Go ahead.

LADEN: So she`ll be hauled in from the mental institution and she`ll get a chance in her own words to say why she thinks she deserves that payday, the almost half a million dollars.

GRACE: Everyone, when we come back, a real, life evil stepmother. Stepmommy ties up her live-in boyfriend`s girls repeatedly -- they`re only 5 and 7, all right -- to teach them a lesson. She even withholds food to teach them a lesson. And Daddy, you`re just as bad for standing by and letting it happen!

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRACE: Live tonight to Wisconsin. A real-life evil stepmother. Stepmommy ties up her live-in boyfriend`s little girls with zipties. The little girls are only 5 and 7. She tries to starve them, withholding food in order to, quote, "teach them a lesson." And Daddy`s just as bad for letting all of this happen!

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shawn Paholke and his wife, Jennifer Fendryk, face 23 felony count between the two of them ranging from neglecting a child to reckless injury and false imprisonment.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Accused of withholding food and abusing Paholke`s 5-year-old daughter at their home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The complaint says the girl weighed 24 pounds. Forty is considered normal.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Criminal complaints say the couple locked up the little girl in her room with no toys, little furniture and a boarded-up window.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: This is the live-in, all right? Talk about an evil stepmommy. This woman charged with withholding food, trying to starve her boyfriend`s two little girls, ages 5 and 7, keeping them in dark room, only allowing them out of a dark room to scrub the floors, tying them up with zip cords, withholding food, trying to starve them in order to teach them a lesson. Talk about an evil stepmother!

To Kent Tempus, the editor of "The Oconto County Reporter." Kent, thank you for being with us. First of all, the two little girls miraculously lived They are alive. That`s the headline here, that they managed to live through the abuse that this woman and her live-in boyfriend have heaped upon his children. And interestingly, Kent Tempus, they didn`t abuse the woman`s 8-year-old boy. They didn`t abuse her children. She only would abuse her boyfriend`s children, the two little girls, right?

KENT TEMPUS, "OCONTO COUNTY REPORTER" (via telephone): They -- yes. Apparently, he was not affected in this.

GRACE: What happened, Kent Tempus?

TEMPUS: Well, the younger girl was apparently nutritionally starved. She was isolated, locked in her room almost constantly, only allowed out to eat, apparently wasn`t allowed to eat what the family members were -- the other family members were allowed to eat. Her room was very sparse. No toys. Apparently there was a boombox, but there was also a motion detector. There was allegedly cardboard screwed to the window to not let any light in.

GRACE: You know, I`m just stunned. I wonder neighbors knew anything was wrong. The miracle tonight is the 5-year-old and a 7-year-old little girl, they`re alive. Now, stepmommy`s own children were not touched. They were not abused. This is her live-in boyfriend. Take a look at him. To Bret Larson, what`s he doing all this time?

LARSON: He`s standing there idly by while this woman is abusing his two children, while keeping her hands off her own child. But he does admit to the police after the daughter says she was ziptied, that he does occasionally zip-tie the older daughter too, as you said, to teach her a lesson. But in doing so, leaves her on the back porch where she passes out from dehydration.

GRACE: I only thank God tonight, Bret Larson, that the girls were saved, that they didn`t die at the hands -- look at her -- look at her face. Can you see her monitor? How would you like to have that as your stepmom?

LARSON: She`s the epitome of wicked stepmother from every movie we saw growing up as a child, only taken to the -- ten and 20 times worse for what she did to these children.

GRACE: Kent Tempus, the editor of the Ocanto County Reporter with us tonight. Kent, what was the lesson she was trying to teach this 5-year-old and 7-year-old little girl?

TEMPUS: Well, I think what we know is that she was trying to get them to exercise by doing jumping jacks. The younger daughter, gets out of chores like scrub the floors, and then locks her back in the room. Is what the little girl told the investigators.

GRACE: Where are they tonight? Kent Tempus, where are the little girls?

TEMPUS: They`re in the hands of child protective services.

GRACE: Well, that is scary in itself, but better than these two. Everyone, we are taking your calls. To Dr. William Morrone, medical examiner, pathologist, toxicologist, joining me out of Madison Heights. This little 5-year-old girl weighed 24 pounds, 24 pounds. How much should a 5-year-old weigh?

DR. WILLIAM MORRONE, MEDICAL EXAMINER: She should weigh anywhere from 50 to 60 pounds, depending on parents` genetics. This is a half, half of what she should weigh. And that doesn`t include the soft bone, the tissue damage, the brain damage, and the social skills she`s been denied. This is a crime.

GRACE: Out to the lines, to Stephanie. Hi, Stephanie. What`s your question?

CALLER: Nancy, tell me this couple is going to get life in prison for this, because no child should be abused like that.

GRACE: I can only pray. Let me find out what they are facing. Kent Tempus, number one, I guess it`s just a matter of time before they roll over on each other and rat each other out. But what are they facing? I agree with Stephanie. Hold Stephanie for me one moment, please. What time, what conviction, what are the charges they`re looking at?

TEMPUS: The father has 12 counts ahead of him that would, if he got the maximum of everything, would be 153 years. The stepmom now, 134 years, on 11 counts is the maximum she could face.

GRACE: Her sister was hospitalized with second and third degree burns after her father allegedly tethered her to a pole on the 4th of July last year. Kent Tempus, you mean kept her outside on the 4th of July? Did she get the burns from the sun?

TEMPUS: Yes. That`s how it explains in the criminal complaint, that she was out there for so long that she suffered third degree burns on part of her arm, and second degree burns on another part of her arm.

GRACE: Back to our caller, Stephanie in New York. You know, Stephanie, I`ve noticed, and I prosecuted felony, nothing but felonies for ten years. Right? I noticed that in many courtrooms, if the victims were children, the case would somehow get pled down. They would end up with a lesser charge and get off with a very light sentence, and I believe that`s because the victim was not an adult that could speak out for themselves. They knew how to drive down to the courthouse and drive down to the police station and pick up the phone and make a call and say, what are you doing with my case? They don`t have the wherewithal to complain and be heard, and so, they end up being mistreated.

Stephanie, what do you think is the appropriate sentence? Sadly, child abusers cannot get the death penalty.

CALLER: I truly believe it should be the death penalty.

GRACE: I agree with you. All right, Peter Odom, let`s hear your defense. I expect you`re going to say that one of them was the mastermind?

ODOM: Look, Nancy, I don`t have to tell you, (inaudible) attorney for 10 years, and I was one for 16 years and still am one. I can tell you that from a defense perspective--

GRACE: You`re a defense lawyer.

ODOM: Very, very difficult cases to defend. You`ve got what looks to me to be strong evidence from the state. You`ve got credible allegations from the kids, supported by physical evidence, medical evidence, so the defense is probably not going to be nothing ever happened. These aren`t the kinds of injuries that kids inflict on themselves or that get inflicted accidentally, so the defense is probably not going to be accident.

As a defense attorney, the first thing you`re going to do is look at all the facts and circumstances and then damage control. Damage control.

GRACE: I think you`re right. That`s the only thing they can do. Damage control. To Kent Tempus, with the Ocante County Reporter, he`s the editor there. Kent, did this finally come to light when the children were treated, the one girl was treated for those burns, for the sunburns?

TEMPUS: No, that didn`t actually come out until later. It was actually discovered after the younger girl was seen by a physician for some ailment, and her poor condition at that point pushed the physician at that point to--

GRACE: Is it true, Kent, that when she went into the doctor, she asked the nurse, can I have some Cheerios? I promise I won`t eat them until tomorrow morning.

TEMPUS: She did say that. That was after she was taken into custody by the deputy and a child protection worker and was taken to an area hospital before she was taken to a children`s hospital in Milwaukee.

GRACE: When we come back, her dream comes true, an extravagant, storybook wedding, but just eight days after that wedding unfolds, the 26- year-old groom, Cody Johnson, is dead. In the last hours, the prime suspect pleads not guilty. The alleged perp, the new bride.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRACE: Live, Missoula. She dreams all her life about an extravagant, storybook wedding. Those dreams come true. A twilight garden wedding, complete with multiple attendants, all dressed in pink head to toe, an over the top reception. But then just eight days after that storybook wedding, the 26-year-old groom, Cody Johnson, is found dead. In the last hours, the prime suspect pleads not guilty. The alleged perpetrator, the new bride.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you kill Cody? Did you mean to push your husband off a cliff, Jordan? Are you going to get a plea deal?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The charge of premeditated first degree murder.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Admitting she pushed Cody Johnson, her husband of just eight days, off the sheer cliff, face first.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The newlywed pleaded not guilty.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But the judge released Graham, ordering her to electronic monitoring in her parent`s home.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She remains free for now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: That`s right. She is out on bond. In the last hours, she is in court, pleading not guilty. What do we know of the evidence? Joining me, Michael Christian, investigative reporter. Michael, I know bits and pieces of the evidence. What have we learned?

CHRISTIAN: This is such an interesting case, Nancy. It took place only eight days after this couple was married. Jordan Graham, the defendant here, she`s 22, has told varying stories to police since this happened. First, she claimed she saw her husband going away in a car on July 7th with a friend. Didn`t see him again for a couple of days. He was eventually reported as a missing person. Then she said later, no, they were having an argument --

GRACE: Can you see the monitor? I just want you to look at the monitor right now of these wedding photos. This is just eight days before his body is found dead at the foot of a cliff. Now, when you look at these pictures, these photos, it`s kind of hard to take in that police believe she lured him to the top of the cliff. He was afraid of heights, pushing him over the side there at Glacier national park, where he fell to his death. Michael, why is she the prime suspect?

CHRISTIAN: In her second story, she finally admitted to police they had been having an argument and she said he was being abusive and was holding her and grabbing her, and he grabbed her by the arm while they were at the top of this cliff, admiring the view, apparently. She said that he finally let her go. She was angry. She was trying to get away. She pushed him and he went over the cliff at that point. So she does at least at this point acknowledge she pushed him, but claimed it was an accident.

GRACE: Isn`t it true, Matt Zarrell, that she said he was walking away from her and she pushed him with both hands and he fell off the cliff? So, they had to be having this argument near the edge of the cliff, and she pushed him over with both hands, Matt. That`s not an accident.

ZARRELL: Yes, Nancy, and one important aspect here, actually, there`s two. One is that she admitted to cops that she pushed Cody due to her anger. That was the first thing. The other thing was that Cody Johnson was deathly terrified of heights, and there is no way, at least what friends tell us, would have wanted to go up there and be put in that situation to begin with.

GRACE: Speaking of friends, she tried to basically frame his friends in Seattle, claiming they had come into town and he had taken off with them to go have a good time. That they often went to this particular spot to hike. Then, she claims that she was contacted by e-mail and told that he was at the bottom of the cliff, dead, to call off the search, but what do we find out about that e-mail?

ZARRELL: We have gotten new details about the e-mail. Prosecutors say that Graham created a fake e-mail account and wrote fake e-mails from a made-up friend and that e-mail account was traced back to her stepfather`s home, where Graham was living at this time.

GRACE: That`s what you call an IP address. And every computer has an IP address intrinsic to that computer. It`s like a fingerprint, and when you get an e-mail, you can tell the IP address, from where it comes. Straight back to a particular computer. I guess she didn`t figure that out before she created a fake, I guess it was a Yahoo! account, and sent herself an e-mail from a friend saying that hey, your husband is dead at the bottom of the cliff, you should call off the search.

OK. Everybody, we are taking your calls. But there are also issues regarding cell phone calls made to her from his phone. But isn`t it true, Michael Christian, that his cell phone was left at their home? He didn`t take the cell phone with him.

CHRISTIAN: That`s correct. Nancy, there are just so many inconsistencies in her story, so many things she told friends that didn`t pan out. She said for example at one point that she had taken a lie detector test and passed it. And yet police say she was never given a lie detector test. She`s just told so many stories, it`s really hard to sort them all out.

GRACE: You know, all of his friends warned him not to marry her. Now, I don`t know if that`s foreboding, are they clairvoyant? I don`t know. Take a listen to what the friends had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Could always light a room and he was always a joy to have around. Received a text from Jordan asking if Cody came into work, which I thought was odd.

When I first met Jordan, she was very closed off, very quiet. Not a lot of interaction with anyone.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fredrickson says even at their wedding, something just didn`t seem right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was standing up there and I noticed that when they were exchanging their vows, that Jordan wasn`t -- never once looked at Cody. It was a relief knowing that there`s going to be justice one way or another.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not guilty plea to first-degree murder charges for alleged newlywed killer, Jordan Graham.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They were married one week.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They had been married eight days.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And now this newlywed wife is charged with the murder of her husband.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One week after this beaming couple`s wedding.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They had just gotten married.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Montana`s Glacier National Park, they were hiking, the two apparently got into some kind of a heated exchange. Prosecutors say she pushed her husband face first off that cliff.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRACE: Can you imagine that free fall he endured before ending up at the bottom of a cliff? Falling to his death. This just eight days after a gorgeous twilight wedding. Now, remember, he was deathly afraid of heights, but somehow she lures him up a trail, a mountain trail in Glacier National Park at night. This occurred at night. But what the real giveaway is, isn`t this so often true, to Sergeant Scott Haynes, joining me out of Pensacola, was the cover-up. The cover-up always seems to be the most damning evidence.

SGT SCOTT HAYNES: That`s absolutely right. She was trying to make something up, to make this seem like it was some type of an accident, but there were way too many present to show her story didn`t make any sense. And that`s very easy to figure out. It`s time-consuming to track down different things such as IP addresses, cell phones, things like that, but it always ends up coming out, and that just will absolutely crucify her when she does go to trial.

GRACE: You know, the cover-up is always the killer. Peter Odom, this will be in federal court. Is that because it happened in a federal park?

ODOM: Exactly. You know, this case is going to come down -- all the stuff about the wedding and the eight days of marriage aside, and all her personality quirks aside, this case is going to boil down to those moments before he fell off that cliff, and how much his conduct towards her might have contributed to it.

GRACE: She said she pushed him.

ODOM: Yes, I know that.

GRACE: He didn`t fall, he did not fall off.

ODOM: And she suggested it was because he was attacking her. Whatever you believe about it, that is what the case is going to boil down to, what the jury believes was her motivation in pushing him over.

GRACE: You know, Peter, I appreciate that. All I asked you was why it was in federal court, but thanks. To Matt Zarrell, what more do we know about the cover-up?

ZARRELL: (inaudible) I think the biggest news we haven`t gotten to is she was the one who just happened to find the body. Remember, Cody was missing for a couple of days. Nobody knows where he is. As far as everyone knows, it`s her story that he`s out with friends. A couple of days later, she calls the park rangers and says I found his body. They ask her why she was even there looking, she said, well, I thought that was the place he wanted to see before he died.

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GRACE: Straight back to Matt Zarrell. You know, when you think about it, Matt, the fact that she let his body lay there in the wild to decompose in the elements, knowing that animals could tear it apart, probably hoping that animals could tear it apart. So it couldn`t be identified. But in my mind, it speaks to her motive, because the jury can hear about her behavior after the fact, if it goes to course of conduct, to motive, to frame of mind. What kind of mind does it take to allow your husband, the one you`re supposed to love the most in the world, I guess, with your children, to have his body decompose in the elements and animals tear it apart?

ZARRELL: Nancy, speaking to the emotion afterwards. We talked about this a lot with Jodi Arias previously, but on Facebook, Graham posted after Cody`s death a number of messages to Cody, including, I know you`re in a better place now looking down on me.

GRACE: Whoa, and that was before his body was found?

ZARRELL: Yes.

GRACE: OK, there you go. To Dr. William Morrone, medical examiner, forensic pathologist and toxicologist, Dr. Morrone, what if they get the body. Will they be able to tell for instance, could there have been some other cause of death. Like, could they tell at this point if he was stabbed, if he had been shot? If he had been poisoned?

MORRONE: The beauty of the forensic science behind this case is in Glacier National Park in Montana, decomposition is so much slower than someplace like Orlando or Miami. The five stages of decomposition, he`s only going to be in stage 1, maybe stage 2. And that will be wonderful forensic evidence. That will -- X-rays, tissue samples, bruises, it`s all going to be fresh as if this was a fresh homicide. This is a gift to the prosecutor. I hope they use it to put her away.

GRACE: Well put, Dr. Morrone. Because, you know, we have all just accepted that he died from his fall off the cliff. How do we know he didn`t die of poisoning, stabbing, shooting, asphyxiation. We don`t know. What a cover-up that would be.

Let`s pause and remember American hero, Army Specialist Chad Coleman, just 20. Morland (ph), Georgia, Bronze Star, Purple Heart, National Defense Service Medal, parents Brian and Shannon. Chad Coleman, American hero.

Dr. Drew is up next, everyone. I`ll see you tomorrow night, 8:00 sharp Eastern. And until then, good night, friends.

END