True Crime Thursday – Black Widows

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Before we get into today’s True Crime Thursday post, I received an email from another friend of Joe Hartlaub’s who just learned of Joe’s passing. Justin L. Murphy asked me to include his tribute message to Joe. Justin’s words:

Could you please add these comments to the memorial post for Joe Hartlaub on KillZone blog earlier this month? I was late in learning of his passing — only discovering so last night after no email responses in the last couple of weeks.

As writers, Joe Hartlaub and I became close over the years and exchanged many emails. He not only recommended me for a short story contest (which I didn’t win), but was there for me when my grandmother passed several years ago. This is a tough one.

I last received an email from him May 28th, only to discover he died the next day. It’s sad we didn’t get to talk further. In one of our last emails, he discussed learning how to play “When The Saints Go Marching In” on the piano as well as his past playing guitar in local bands. We both mentioned our love for cooking Zatarain’s and his past trips to New Orleans. As well as his love for music from Memphis and Mississippi. He also called me “an observant fellow” and sent me hilarious articles on women getting too close to Bison at Yellowstone, being mauled and trampled as a result.

One of the last things he told me “You and your family have had more than your fair share of challenges, but reading between the lines of your accounts of daily living, I take the sense that you mom is strong, wonderful person and she has two terrific sons. The three of you help and love each other. That is more than many, many people have. Stay the course and thanks for being my friend.” He sent this to me after checking on us and asking “Are you OK?” when a storm hit a nearby area. My response in the subject line was, “For a tender hearted Catholic lawyer who cares”. To clarify, I’m a disabled adult with Cerebral Palsy who helps care for an Autistic adult brother.

He also relayed having chest pains and that his ex-girlfriend was dying from cancer. Joe remained in touch with her, but was having difficulty. As well as having chest pains and would be getting medical exams. Yet was overjoyed over his granddaughter’s graduation. In his couple of emails, he concluded “Love to you and your family” and “Thx Brother”.

I love you too, Joe. Thanks for all you shared with me and I wish you still were here.

 

Photo credit: Chuck Evans CCA 2.5 generic

by Debbie Burke

In a 1911 poem, Rudyard Kipling wrote:

“The female of the species is more deadly than the male.”

That seems to hold true with the female black widow spider. After she mates with a male, she sometimes eats him. Here’s Wikipedia’s explanation:

The prevalence of sexual cannibalism, a behaviour in which the female eats the male after mating, has inspired the common name “widow spiders”.[11] This behaviour may promote the survival odds of the offspring;[12] however, females of some species only rarely show this behaviour, and much of the documented evidence for sexual cannibalism has been observed in laboratory cages where the males could not escape. Male black widow spiders tend to select their mates by determining if the female has eaten already to avoid being eaten themselves.

The term “black widow” has come to mean a woman who kills her mate.

Praying Mantis – public domain

Although the praying mantis also engages in sexual cannibalism, “black widow” sounds scarier, doesn’t it?

In 2013, a 25-year-old man named Cody Johnson married 22-year-old Jordan Graham in Kalispell, Montana. Eight days later, he disappeared.

As early as the day after the wedding, Graham had second thoughts about the marriage which she expressed to friends.

Johnson’s friends had also been concerned because he was deeply in love with Graham but his devotion didn’t seem to be reciprocated.

When Johnson didn’t show up for work, a search was launched. He was last reported in Glacier National Park, recorded on a security cam in a car with Graham. She claimed they had driven to the Big Bend on Going to the Sun Road where a steep cliff drops off sharply to the valley hundreds of feet below. There, she said, friends of Johnson’s had arrived in a different vehicle, and he had left with them.

Because the park is on federal land, various agencies including the FBI investigated the case. They questioned Graham multiple times. Each time, she offered a different excuse for why Johnson had disappeared.

Going to the Sun Road, Glacier National Park, Montana – public domain

Her behavior was suspicious, sometimes giggling and other times withdrawn. While searchers risked their lives on steep dangerous mountainsides, she exchanged texts with friends about dance moves.

She soon produced an email purportedly written by a friend of Johnson’s who claimed Johnson was dead and to give up the search. It didn’t take long for investigators to trace the email to a computer at the home of Graham’s parents.

Johnson’s battered, broken body was found at the bottom of the cliffs below the Big Bend. Because the terrain was so treacherous, specialized lift equipment was required to recover the body.

Graham was charged with first and second-degree murder.

During her 2014 trial, she pleaded not guilty. The evidence against her was significant but not beyond a reasonable doubt. Her attorney characterized her as “child-like” apparently a bid to convince the judge she didn’t understand consequences of actions.

For several days, Graham continued to protest her innocence. Then right after the defense rested, Graham stunned the court and changed her plea to guilty.

She admitted driving with Johnson to the Big Bend where they got out of the car and argued at the edge of the cliff. She said she didn’t think people would believe her about an accidental fall so she gave various excuses for his disappearance.

Under questioning by the judge, she finally admitted that, when Johnson had turned his back on her to look out at the view, she used both hands to push him over the side.

The judge doubted her remorse and sentenced her to 30 years in prison.

TKZers: Kipling seemed to be correct in this case. What do you think of his opinion?

~~~

 

My new book The Villain’s Journey – How to Create Villains Readers Love to Hate features stories about dangerous Black Widows and Femme Fatales from fiction and real life. To learn more, please click on the book cover.

29 thoughts on “True Crime Thursday – Black Widows”

  2. Debbie, I appreciate you posting the last email exchanges between Joe and myself. As I recently learned of his passing, I’m still processing it and spent half of yesterday crying like hell. Trying not to shed more tears even right now typing this.

  3. We men tend to romanticize women and assume they are innocent. But women can kill. Aileen Wuornos proved that. The judge likely got it right

  4. Evidently the wife was a nut, but that doesn’t mean she didn’t know the difference between right and wrong. I actually had a friend whose daughter was killed in much the same way in the same area. The husband unfortunately got away with it, saying she slipped and fell. With no witnesses…

    • That’s eerie, Pat. The most common cause of death in Glacier is drowning, followed by falls.

      During more than one hike in the past, I turned back b/c the risk of slipping and falling was too great.

  5. Women can certainly be deadly, though statistically the vast majority of violent crimes are committed by men. Your post led me down the rabbit hole, for a bit, and quite the rabbit hole it is.

    This Psychology Today article from 2008 is one example: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-scientific-fundamentalist/200807/why-are-almost-all-criminals-men-part-i

    The article discusses why men both commit most crimes and most acts of violence.

    That said, women certainly can commit violence, just less often than men.

    Thanks for a thought-provoking start to the day, Debbie!

    • Dale, thanks for that link. That backs up all the research I did for The Villain’s Journey. B/c the expectation is women are generally less violent, their crimes surprise people and make the headlines.

      That also makes women who kill fascinating subjects to study.

  6. I discovered that a high school classmate was good friends of Betsy Faria, one of the victims of Pamela Hupp. Women can kill.

  7. Women can and do kill. Lizzie Borden is a famous example. Here are a few from Wikipedia.
    Nannie Doss: Known as “The Giggling Granny,” she confessed to poisoning multiple family members, including four husbands, for insurance money.
    Belle Gunness: A Norwegian-American serial killer known for murdering multiple husbands and children for life insurance payouts.
    Mary Ann Cotton: A British serial killer who poisoned at least 21 people, including her husbands and children, often for insurance money.
    Judias Buenoano: Executed in Florida, she poisoned her husband and son for insurance money.
    Chisako Kakehi: Japan’s “Black Widow” killer, she murdered multiple partners with cyanide, primarily for financial gain.
    Stacey Castor: Known for using antifreeze to murder her two husbands and attempt to kill her daughter.
    HOWEVER, married men who are not wed to Black Widows tend to live longer because their loving wives take care of them.

    • Those are some wicked women, Elaine.

      Remember Raymond Chandler’s line from his short story “Red Wind”: “Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands’ necks.”

      Your last sentence reassures nervous husbands. 😉

  8. Local serial killer Blanche Taylor Moore whose victims were family members or romantic partners used poison. She’s still awaiting execution, and she still looks like a kindly Baptist granny.

  9. Fascinating stuff, Debbie. Pushing someone off a cliff where there are no witnesses is pure evil. Maybe they could put her in a cell that’s infested with black widow spiders.

  10. Chilling stuff here, Debbie.

    Decades ago in my county there was a case, not of a “black widow”, but of a woman who’d murdered her mother and put her body in a barrel filled with some kind of chemical. Then collected & cashed her social security checks for months.

    When I hear someone say, “Oh, she couldn’t do something like that…it’s just not who she is”, I want to say that anyone is capable of anything given the proper motivation.

  11. Another beautiful tribute to Joe. Thanks for adding it to your post, Debbie. He was loved by so many of us. 💕

    It’s far too easy to push a man off a cliff. Much harder to cover it up. Glad his family received justice.

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