Jennifer Gledhill, a 41-year-old woman from Utah, has been charged with nine felonies, including first-degree murder, for allegedly killing her husband, Matthew Johnson, 51, in their home in Cottonwood Heights. According to Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill, Gledhill is accused of shooting Johnson while he slept, following a heated argument about her infidelity. She then reportedly buried him in a shallow grave.
Gledhill reported her husband missing on September 28. However, a man later came forward, claiming to have had an extramarital affair with Gledhill. He told authorities that she had confessed to him about the murder. He alleged that Gledhill had told him that Johnson, a member of the Utah National Guard, had confronted her about her affair on September 20, eight days before he was reported missing.
According to the district attorney’s statement, Gledhill allegedly told the man that she had shot Johnson as he slept, placed his body in a rooftop storage container, and then slid it down the stairs of their home. She then reportedly loaded his body into their minivan and drove north, where she buried him in a shallow grave. Gledhill is also accused of smashing her husband’s phone, moving his truck to a different part of the neighborhood, and thoroughly cleaning her car at a car wash, where she was caught on surveillance cameras.
Despite tracking Gledhill’s phone’s GPS data to the exact location where the truck was later found, police have yet to locate Johnson’s body. The man who came forward with the information about the affair and the alleged confession said he had initially hesitated to do so because he wasn’t sure if Gledhill was telling the truth.
The district attorney’s office said the man provided message screenshots and phone recordings to authorities. He also claimed to have noticed bruises on Gledhill’s body, which she allegedly said were from moving Johnson’s body and cleaning their house. In addition to the murder charge, Gledhill faces five counts of second-degree felony obstruction of justice, as well as felony drug, witness tampering, and desecration of a human body charges.
During a search of the couple’s home, police found a new mattress in the master bedroom and reddish-brown spots on the wall and bed frame. Although a section of carpet near the bed frame tested positive for male human blood, authorities are still unsure who it belongs to. Police also found bleach stains on the wall behind the bed and on the stairs.
A neighbor reported seeing Gledhill’s parents helping her clean the house until almost midnight on September 24. However, her parents gave conflicting accounts of their visit to the authorities. Detectives also searched the parents’ home and found a Glock 19 box wrapped in a child’s onesie near where Gledhill would sleep when she visited. The gun box matched the weapon she allegedly showed her lover before the murder.
Gledhill reportedly stopped trying to contact her husband after September 21, and friends and relatives say they haven’t heard from him since that day. The missing person investigation began on September 25, after the Utah National Guard asked the police to help find Johnson when he failed to show up for work. Gledhill reported her husband missing only after police contacted her. She told authorities that the couple had had a fight, after which he left, saying he’d be gone for a week and told her not to call.
Court records indicate that the couple was in the midst of a contentious divorce and custody battle over their three children. Gledhill had obtained a temporary restraining order against Johnson in late August, but her application for a permanent measure was denied on September 16, just five days before he is believed to have been shot, after a review found no evidence of abuse.