Case attracts national attention

The alleged murder of Cody Johnson by his new wife, Jordan Graham, has made headlines and media fodder across the country.

Graham is alleged to have gone July 7 to The Loop area of Going-to-the-Sun Road in Glacier National Park, where she and Johnson reportedly got into an argument.

An affidavit claims Graham told investigators Johnson grabbed her arm, she removed his hand and then, in a fit of rage, she pushed him with both hands in the back, causing him to fall face-first over a cliff to his death. That affidavit has led to a charge of second-degree murder against Graham.

Ever since an FBI investigator filed a criminal complaint alleging Graham murdered her husband just eight days after their wedding, the story has caught the attention of news gatherers of every stripe.

Currently highlighting the story’s reach is that it adorns the front page of this week’s People Magazine, even relegating the magazine’s annual “Best and Worst Dressed” list to a small side teaser.

People’s cover is headlined, “Bride Pushes Groom over Cliff” and “Newlywed murder?” followed by a subheadline, “8-day marriage ends in horror.”

But People is not alone.

The story has been picked up by ABC News, CBS News, CNN, CNN Headline News, Fox News and NBC News. On the print side, it has been run by The Baltimore Sun, The Chicago Tribune, The Las Vegas Review-Journal, The New York Daily News, The Orlando Sentinel and The Seattle Times.

Alternative sources, among them the Drudge Report, The Huffington Post and television show “LoveLine,” have also taken notice of the story. Add to that innumerable blog entries, message board entries and YouTube videos dedicated to the subject.

But the story has not stopped there.

North of the border, Canadian newspapers The Toronto Sun and The Calgary Sun have also covered the case, and it has made headlines across the ocean on the websites of The Daily Mail and the Mirror in Great Britain. Australia’s The Courier Mail, accompanied by its affiliates, and international news agency Reuters also have joined the fray.

While much of the coverage has merely been a rehashing of what is known in the case — largely limited to Graham’s own alleged testimony — some of it has latched on some of the unusual details of the case.

CNN was among the first to come across songwriter Elizabeth Shea, who wrote the words to “You’re Mine,” a special song written for and played at Johnson and Graham’s wedding.

“‘Everyone wants a safe place to fall, and you’re mine,’ Shea wrote in the song for Graham, months before Graham would be accused of shoving her husband, Cody Johnson, off a cliff during an argument,” a CNN story reads.

A cached blog entry from the website for Shea’s company, Our Song Our Story, indicated Graham worked extra hours to afford the songwriting service, and hers is one of the voices on the recording. To be on that recording, Graham had to travel to the business’s Los Angeles studio.

The entry also stated that the title came from words Johnson often said to Graham: “You’re mine.”

Comparisons have been drawn between the Glacier Park case and other murder cases, both real and fictional.

People Magazine included in its story a breakout box titled, “Happily Never After: Other newlyweds have met terrible fates.” It referred to the cases of Estrella Carrera (stabbed to death at 26 while still in her wedding clothes); Gabe Watson (whose wife died while scuba diving on their 2003 honeymoon); and Jesse Crow (who hung himself in jail at 33 after allegedly murdering his new 23-year-old wife, Ryann).

CNN Headline News host and former attorney Nancy Grace compared the case to that of Jodi Arias, who murdered her ex-boyfriend by shooting him in the head, stabbing him more then two dozen times and slitting his throat.

The Mirror drew a comparison between the case and the fictional murder of Barry Evans, pushed off a cliff in the Scottish Moors by new wife Janine Butcher in the British soap opera, “EastEnders.”

Ongoing coverage by national and international news outlets has slowed since little new information has been released since the affidavit containing Graham’s alleged confession was issued. One exception came during a detention hearing at which it was alleged that Graham created an email address to send herself an email claiming Johnson had fallen during a hike, was dead and that the search should be called off.

As a result, much of the actual coverage has been replaced by panel discussions with attorneys, judges, psychologists, and other professional “experts” musing on what Graham’s chances are should she go to trial, what her possible defenses are and what exactly happened in Glacier National Park that midsummer night.

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