The Utah woman who allegedly murdered her husband in his sleep last month did so after a screaming match about her cheating on him — with her lover being the key witness, according to prosecutors.
Jennifer Gledhill, 41, was charged Tuesday with nine felonies — including first-degree murder — for allegedly shooting Matthew Johnson, 51, in their Cottonwood Heights home, then burying him in a shallow grave, Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said in a statement.
Gledhill had reported her husband missing on Sept. 28 — but a man later came forward and told cops he’d had “an extramarital affair” with her and that she confessed to him about the gruesome murder, the prosecutors said.
He claimed Gledhill told him her husband, a Utah National Guard member, had confronted her on Sept. 20 — eight days before he was reported missing — and “yelled at her because he knew she had been sleeping with someone else.
“The defendant told the informant that she shot Mr. Johnson [the next day] as he slept in their bed,” the statement said.
“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.”
Gledhill “then took her husband’s body north, dug a hole, and buried him in a shallow grave,” the DA added of her alleged lover’s info.
She also allegedly smashed her husband’s phone, drove his truck to a different part of the neighborhood and brought her car to a car wash, where surveillance cameras caught her “thoroughly” cleaning it out.
Police — who tracked her phone’s GPS data to the exact spot where the truck was later found — still haven’t found his body.
The man — who told cops he didn’t come forward sooner because he wasn’t sure if Gledhill was telling the truth — also claimed she “assumed he would be like her, and if her friend told her a hypothetical story, she would say, ‘Let me get my shovel!’ and take the information to her grave.”
The DA said he provided message screenshots and phone recordings to authorities.
“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,” the district attorney’s statement said.
Aside from the murder rap, 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 their search of the couple’s home, cops say they 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 aren’t sure who it belonged to just yet.
Police also found bleach stains on the wall behind the bed and on the stairs, Gill said.
A neighbor claimed they saw Gledhill’s parents helping her clean the house until almost midnight on Sept. 24 — although her mom told authorities they were only there for an hour, and her dad said he didn’t remember the details of the day.
Detectives say they searched the parents’ home, and found a Glock 19 box wrapped in a child’s onesie right near where Gledhill would sleep when she visited, the DA said.
The gun box matched the weapon she showed her beau just before the alleged murder, the statement added.
Gledhill also never tried to call her husband after Sept. 21 — and friends and relatives say they haven’t heard from him since that day.
The missing person investigation began Sept. 25, after the Utah National Guard asked the cops to help find Johnson when he never showed up for work.
Gledhill reported her husband missing only after police got in touch with her — and told cops the couple had a fight, after which he took off, said he’d be gone for a week and told her not to call, authorities added.
“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 said.
Court records say the couple was going through a contentious divorce and custody battle over their three children.
Gledhill had gotten a temporary restraining order against Johnson in late August, but the court denied her application for a permanent measure Sept. 16 — just five days before he is thought to have been shot — after a review found he’d committed no abuse.
The commissioner who made that determination said Gledhill was confrontational, and appeared to be seeking the restraining order as a litigation tactic to be used during the divorce proceedings.
