SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Oct. 15, 2024 (Gephardt Daily) — Jennifer Gledhill, wife of Matthew Johnson, now faces murder charges in his apparent death, the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday.
Gledhill faces charges of:
- Murder, a first-degree felony
- Five counts of obstruction of justice, a second-degree felony
- Possession with intent to distribute, a second-degree felony
- Desecration of a human body, a third-degree felony
- Witness tampering, a third-degree felony
Gledhill, 41, called the Cottonwood Heights Police Department on Sept. 28 to report 51-year-old Johnson as missing, saying she had not heard from him since a fight on Sept. 20.
“An informant later told police that he had an extramarital affair with the defendant and that on Sunday, Sept. 22, 2024, the defendant came over to his house. While there, the defendant told the informant that Mr. Johnson had come home on Sept. 20, 2024, and yelled at her because he knew she had been sleeping with someone else. The defendant told the informant that she shot Mr. Johnson on Sept. 21, 2024, as he slept in their bed,” a statement from the DA’s Office says.
“She told the informant that she put Mr. Johnson’s body into a rooftop storage container, slid him down the stairs of their home, and loaded his body into the back of their minivan. The defendant said she smashed Mr. Johnson’s phone and hid his truck in a nearby neighborhood. The defendant said she then took her husband’s body north, dug a hole, and buried him in a shallow grave.
“The informant said that he noticed bruises all over the defendant’s body, and when asked about them, the defendant said they were from moving Mr. Johnson’s body and cleaning their house.”
Detectives obtained a search warrant for the defendant’s home, they noticed the mattress in the master bedroom was new.
“There were several reddish-brown spots on the wall, bed frame, and blinds of the master bedroom. The wall behind the master bedroom bed was covered in bleach. A circular pattern on the carpet below the bed on the right side near the head of the bed tested positive for human blood.”
A neighbor told police that on Sept. 24, 2024, she saw the defendant’s parents in the defendant’s house cleaning; they did not leave the house until 11 p.m. When police confronted the defendants’ parents about them being at the defendant’s home on Sept. 24, 2024, her mother said she was only there for an hour. She also told police she had purchased a mattress from Amazon at the request of the defendant. The defendant’s father said he didn’t remember details of the day except that he had been at the defendant’s house for a short period of time.
“Detectives confronted the defendant’s father about how long he was at the house and if he went into the master bedroom, and he responded, ‘I did not go in where the incident happened.'”
GPS data from the defendant’s phone shows on the day that she told the informant she killed her husband, “the defendant traveled to where her husband’s truck was later found at around 6 a.m. That afternoon, GPS data put her in Davis County until her phone was turned off at around 2:37 p.m.; the phone was turned on around 5 p.m. as she was traveling eastbound on the West Davis Corridor,” the DA’s news release says.
“Later that same day, the defendant’s vehicle was captured on camera at a Holiday Oil on Highland Drive in Salt Lake County. The defendant thoroughly cleaned the car and opened all the doors. The defendant left the car wash at 11:07 p.m. and then went to the informant’s house at 11:47 p.m., consistent with the timing the informant told detectives.
“Call records show the defendant at no point tried to contact Mr. Johnson after Sept. 21, 2024.”
Detectives served a search warrant at the defendant’s parents’ home and found a plastic tote near the bedroom where the defendant would sleep while she stayed there, the statement says.
“In the tote was a Glock 19x gun box that was green and tan in color, wrapped in a child’s onesie. The gun container is consistent with the gun model and color which she had shown to the informant, loaded, on Sept. 19, 2024.
“Blood below the bed was tested and shown to be from a single male source; testing is still underway to compare this single source to Mr. Johnson’s DNA. The body of Mr. Johnson has not been located. No one in Mr. Johnson’s life has heard from him since September 21, which is inconsistent with his pattern of life.”
SLCo DA Sim Gill commented on the newly filed case.
“Our hearts go out to the loved ones of Mr. Matthew Johnson, not only a father and son but a member of the Utah National Guard. Our office will continue to work closely with investigators as we seek justice for Mr. Johnson,” Gill’s statement says.
“We appreciate Cottonwood Heights Police Department detectives working with our prosecutors as they worked to collect the evidence necessary to file these charges. All persons accused of wrongdoing are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.”
