Ex-rangers recall '83 murder in Glacier

As a criminal case unfolds against a Kalispell woman for allegedly killing her husband in Glacier National Park, former rangers remember a murder that took place in almost the exact same spot 30 years ago.

Jordan Linn Graham is accused of murdering her husband, Cody Lee Johnson, on July 7 by pushing him off a cliff in The Loop area in Glacier.

His body was removed on July 12, a date that marked the 30-year anniversary of the only known homicide in the park since record-keeping began in 1913.

On July 12, 1983, a 23-year-old drifter from Twin Falls, Idaho, named Scott David Steel stabbed Frederick Pongrace four times and shoved him out of a van and over a 186-foot cliff at a parking area on Going-to-the-Sun Road above The Loop.

The lead investigator on the case was then-park ranger Jerry Bell, who worked at the park from 1958 to 1988. He remembers the case well.

“He [Pongrace] was dropped off at Crystal Point, the first pull-off above the loop,” the now-87-year-old Bell said. “Tourists pulled up to view Heaven’s Peak, and when they looked down they saw his body down there. That’s when I got the call.”

Despite the difficult terrain, Bell was able to climb down to the body, which was “banged up pretty bad” since Pongrace had hit rocks throughout his fall.

“I had been on a police department for four or five years and had a little experience in investigation, and I noticed that he had four wounds in his abdominal area that I didn’t think was a result of the fall,” Bell said.

That observation would later prove to be the first brick in the case he would build against Steel.

The investigation slowed from there, however, as there was no other evidence at the scene — the vehicle involved had been driven away and an inch and a half of rain fell during the night before Pongrace’s body was discovered.

In an unfortunate development, Pongrace’s clothes were thrown away and it was initially believed that he had fallen from the cliff on his own. All investigators had was his wallet, which didn’t even contain a driver’s license, so he remained at the time unidentified.

What the wallet did contain, Bell said, was the registration for a 1968 Volkswagen bus, which listed Pongrace’s name and that of his sister.

Bell contacted the sister and she was able to give him information that allowed Bell to identify Pongrace. He was also able to determine that Pongrace was a lieutenant in the Coast Guard awaiting an honorable discharge.

“He was on his way from New York to Seattle for a job and had everything he owned in the Volkswagen,” Bell said. “He was organized and he had a plan, he was going to Minneapolis to a Volkswagen show then up Highway 2 to Seattle, and his folks knew his plan.”

Bell immediately put out an all-points bulletin for the vehicle. By the next morning, he had his first hit.

Apparently, Pongrace had Steel with him when they stopped at a campground on U.S. 2.

“The vehicle was involved in an incident there, but it wasn’t the driver, it was a passenger that had a big black dog,” Bell said. “The dog had jumped at some guy and given him a little bite.”

The campground owner then forced the pair to leave.

Bell had obtained his first description of Steel, but still didn’t know who the man was.

He caught a break when he received a call from Wolf Point saying a man matching the second man’s description with a big black dog had stayed there overnight and had been in Canada, at which point he was finally able to put a name to the suspect.

“I got a call a day later or so from a truck driver with a towing service from Ronan. He said, ‘Hey, that license plate you gave me, I pulled it out of the mud out here a mile or so off the road. There was a guy in there who had this big black dog. He said he didn’t have any money but he’d give me a camera.’”

 Bell told the man to lock the camera up so he could pick it up as evidence. The pictures on the film it contained would later help support the case that now had legs. The tow truck driver was also able to provide Steel’s driver’s license information, which led Bell to California.

However, California had roughly 50 different residents named Scott David Steel, with some slight spelling variations, but another break was coming Bell’s way.

“I got a call a week or so later from the Los Angeles Police Department dispatch, and a gal said, ‘We have your van under surveillance, there are two guys trying to break into it,’” Bell said. “I told them to forget the two people and get the FBI over there.”

When the FBI got to the scene, they found the van empty except for a few blood stains and a small crumpled-up piece of paper — with a phone number scrawled on it.

“The agents from L.A. called the number and asked if Scott was there, and a woman said ‘No, he’s not here right now, he went uptown for a while,” Bell said.

Bell ended up traveling to California, and after obtaining a warrant he and other law enforcement officers went to the house, where they discovered the residents were a woman and her boyfriend who were going through the police academy in Los Angeles. They also found all the contents of the van in the garage.

But that was the last lead Bell would get for some time.

As Bell continued his search for Steel, Pongrace’s parents spoke out about their son’s murder to the Grosse Pointe News in their hometown of Grosse Pointe, Mich.

“We believe my son discovered the hitchhiker was wanted for a robber in Canada and tried to call police. The next thing you know, his body was found at the bottom of a cliff. His car and money were gone. There was no sign of a scuffle,” Otto Pongrace said in July 1983. “His keys weren’t on his body and he wasn’t dressed for hiking. My son was very meticulous and wouldn’t walk off and leave the van unlocked. We know it was foul play.”

The final break in the case came several months later.

“I got a call from the sheriff’s department in St. George [Utah] and they said there was a guy hitchhiking with a dog on the freeway — which is illegal there — and when they stopped he took off running, so they picked him up,” Bell said.

He had finally caught up with Steel.

At trial in August 1984, Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Zimmerman introduced 43 exhibits of evidence and called 27 witnesses, and after four hours of deliberation, they returned guilty verdicts on charges of murder, theft, and interstate transportation of a stolen vehicle.

Steel was eventually sentenced to life in prison, but was paroled after serving 16 years.

Bell did have some help in the beginning of the investigation from his supervisor and fellow park ranger Oakley Blair, 24 years Bell’s junior.

“I think that day I was on leave, I was coming back from Kalispell from shopping when I arrived back at my residence inside the park,” Blair said. “I heard on the park radio what was going on, and they were recovering Mr. Pongrace’s body at the time when I got back.”

Blair said his main involvement was helping Bell make “many, many phone calls.”

Mostly, he remembers Bell’s sharp instincts and skill in investigation.

“Jerry, he’s a true professional and he left no stone unturned,” Blair said. “I learned more about how to be a ranger and how to investigate and how to be a good person from Jerry. He’s just a champ of a person.”

Reporter Jesse Davis may be reached at 758-4441 or by email at jdavis@dailyinterlake.com.