HELENA, Montana (AP) Investigators twisted the statements of a newlywed bride to make it appear as though she deliberately pushed her husband to his death in Glacier National Park, an attorney for the woman claimed.
FBI investigator Stacey Smiedala also sent a police detective from the room so he could "shape" Jordan Graham's initial 1 -hour interrogation on July 16 without having to record it, as is required in all investigations in the state of Montana, attorney Michael Donahoe said in court filings late Friday.
As a result, Graham's statements that the death of Cody Johnson was an accident, followed by her fear and panic that nobody would believe her, were manipulated and then distorted into an exaggerated version of what happened, Donahoe said.
Federal prosecutors do not respond to media queries about active cases, and they have not filed a response to Donahoe's claims.
Donahoe included a transcript of the recorded portion of the interview in which Graham said she and Johnson argued eight days after their wedding about whether they should have waited longer to get married. She said Johnson suggested driving to Glacier, where they continued to talk at the edge of a cliff.