they were so happy at first, sharing a lovers perched high atop a cliff. but romance turned to danger, she fell from the edge. i would call this an accidental death. but whas it? she said that if anything happens to me, you ll know who did it. a mystery of nearly 20 years heads into court and the husband is on the precipice. did you kill your wife, jody? i did not. what happened on the cliffs edge? hello and welcome to dateline. when police got word that someone had fallen off a cliff, they weren t surprised. the place was known to be dangerous. but even they could not guess that it would take almost 20 years to find out what really happened to a woman out on an evening hike with her husband. here s chris jansen. every couple has it. a shared song, a favorite movie, or maybe a special place. stephen scharf says that for his wife and him jody, this was it. two rocks forming a lover s chair on the edge of a cliff. that was our spot. we would br
atop a cliff. but romance turned to danger. she fell from the edge. i would call this an accidental death. but whas it? she said that if anything happens to me, you ll know who did it. a mystery of nearly 20 years heads into court and the husband is on the precipice. did you kill your wife, jody? i did not. what happened on the cliffs edge? hello and welcome to dateline. when police got word that someone had fallen off a cliff, they weren t surprised. the place was known to be dangerous. but even they could not guess that it would take almost 20 years to find out what really happened to a woman out on an evening hike with her husband. here s chris jansen. every couple has it. a shared song, a favorite movie, or maybe a special place. stephen scharf says that for his wife and him jody, this was it. two rocks forming a lover s chair on the edge of a cliff. that was our spot. we would bring a couple of long chairs, a cooler, and she would bring her work
the subject was not wine and roses on those cliffs. it was divorce. she was going to go through with it. yes. absolutely. jody s lifelong friend marion, told detectives that jody had been determined to take her ten-year-old son jonathan and leave her husband. she was convinced stephen had been cheating on her. she couldn t prove anything, but women called the house. and sometimes they d call and hang up on her. in fact, detective lineman learned jody had served her husband divorced papers on september 8th, 1992. less than two weeks later, she was dead at the base of the palisades. the timing made him even more eager to talk to the widdower. there is a sit down with mr. scharf. he s consented to talk, right? yes. two days after his wife staff, stephen was freely answering detective questions. yes, he told them, he and his wife were talking divorce as they had sometimes done during
but also because of that diary. her sister, donna, knew he kept one. she recalls asking kit about it. and i remember four years she said oh no that s his. his private book. but there was, and temptation one. gregory was out of town. can t read those private pages. and discovered, the man she was married to, had lied to her. whopping lies. about graduating from college. about serving in vietnam. any thought of saving the marriage was done. and cotton s lies, gregory took refuge in his diary. this is what he wrote on september 8th, 1992. all of my deceptions have come to light. no service in vietnam. did not graduate from college. and a few more to have an escape route from the relationship. yeah, it goes back to this
and sometimes they d call and hang up on her. in fact, detective lineman learned jody had served her husband divorced papers on september 8th, 1992. less than two weeks later, she was dead at the base of the palisades. the timing made him even more eager to talk to the widdower. there is a sit down with mr. scharf. he s consented to talk, right? yes. two days after his wife staff, stephen was really answering detective questions. yes, he told them, he and his wife were talking divorce as they had sometimes done during their tempestuous marriage. and it was true. there were other women. he told us they had an open marriage. they were seeing different people. he actually said he had been with like 50 to 60 women. she was okay with, according to him? according to him, yes. but he told detectives he and jody had become unhappy with their free love lifestyle. so they came to this romantic