Bio

Raffi Kodikian was born in 1974. He grew up in a comfortable, middle-class home located in Buckingham Township near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As a teenager, he attended Central Bucks High School - East, where he was raised as an avid sports fan. Described by friends and peers as a fine, clean-cut, and articulate young man, Kodikian possessed a deeply creative and poetic spirit. 

He eventually moved to Boston, Massachusetts, to pursue higher education at Northeastern University.During his time at Northeastern University, Kodikian studied journalism, earning his Bachelor of Arts degree with honors in June 1997. While in college, he began building a career in media by working as an editorial assistant for the Boston Globe. It was during these college years, specifically in 1994, that Kodikian met David Coughlin. 

The two men were introduced through their respective girlfriends at the time, who were best friends. They formed an immediate and intense bond, essentially becoming each other's alter egos, while Coughlin was structured and pragmatic, Kodikian was a free spirit who yearned for travel and adventure. Following his graduation, Kodikian found himself deeply inspired by the works of beat generation novelist Jack Kerouac. Bored by standard office work, he gassed up his Jeep and embarked on a ten-week solo road trip to California and back to chase the sunset. 

He successfully sold a two-part travelogue detailing his journey to the Boston Globe, which notably included a segment about briefly getting lost in a desert. By 1999, Coughlin was preparing to move to California to attend graduate school at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Eager for one last boyhood adventure before transitioning into the next phase of their adult lives, Kodikian joined his best friend for the cross-country drive a trip that ultimately led them to their tragic detour in New Mexico.

Murder Story

On August 4, 1999, Raffi Kodikian and David Coughlin arrived at Rattlesnake Canyon in Carlsbad Caverns National Park. They planned a short camping stop, but they became lost after failing to find the trail out of the canyon. They had brought only three pints of water and one pint of Gatorade, and some of the water had already been used during their first night.

Over the next several days, the two men became dehydrated and desperate. According to Kodikian, they tried to survive by licking rocks, eating cactus fruit, and considering drinking urine. Coughlin later became sick and began vomiting. Prosecutors later argued that the vomiting was likely caused by unripe cactus fruit rather than fatal dehydration.

On August 8, 1999, Kodikian stabbed Coughlin twice in the chest with a knife. Kodikian later said Coughlin had begged him to end his suffering and that the killing was a mercy killing. Kodikian wrote in his journal that he had killed and buried his best friend that day. He placed Coughlin’s body under a pile of rocks.

Park ranger Lance Mattson found Kodikian alive and badly dehydrated while searching for the missing campers. When asked where Coughlin was, Kodikian pointed toward the rocks and said, “I killed him.” Authorities questioned whether Coughlin was truly near death, and an autopsy found that although he was dehydrated, the condition did not appear fatal.

Kodikian was charged with second-degree murder. His defense described the killing as an act of mercy and part of a suicide pact between the two friends. Prosecutors argued that Coughlin would likely have survived if he had not been stabbed. During sentencing, the prosecutor told the court that the law does not allow a person to kill another person simply because he believes it is in that person’s best interest.

In May 2000, Kodikian pleaded no contest to second-degree murder. State District Judge Jay Forbes sentenced him to 15 years in prison but suspended all except two years, followed by five years of probation. The judge said Kodikian deserved punishment for taking Coughlin’s life, but also found that a long prison sentence was not necessary.

Kodikian served about 16 months and was released in November 2001. The case later became the subject of public discussion, books, and media coverage because it raised difficult questions about survival, panic, mercy killing, and criminal responsibility in extreme conditions.