Cottonwood Heights woman killed estranged husband and confessed to new boyfriend, charges say

COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS – A Cottonwood Heights woman was charged with murder Tuesday, accused of shooting her estranged husband in the head as he slept and then dumping his body in a shallow grave.

Jennifer Gledhill, 41, is suspected of killing Matthew Johnson, 51, a US military special forces member from whom she filed for divorce in July. Johnson's body has not yet been found.

According to charging documents, Gledhill's alleged crimes were discovered after she confessed to a man she was having an affair with. This man then called the police.

She is charged in 3rd District Court with murder, a first-degree felony; five counts of obstruction of justice and drug possession with intent to distribute, second-degree felonies; plus abuse or desecration of a corpse and witness tampering and third-degree felonies.

The Utah National Guard first contacted police on Sept. 25 and told them that Johnson had not returned to work. A few days later, on Sept. 28, Gledhill reported her husband missing and said she had not seen or heard from him since Sept. 20, when they had an argument, charging documents say.

“Gledhill stated that Matthew told her to stay away for a week and not to call him,” the lawsuit says.

But according to a man who police say was having an affair with Gledhill, she went to his house early on the morning of September 22 “and was visibly distraught” and told him that “she was probably going away for a long time.” . ” Court documents say

Gledhill told the man that Johnson came home and yelled at her because he knew she was having an affair. Then on the night of Sept. 21, she shot Johnson in the head with his pistol while he slept in bed, the indictment says.

“Gledhill stated that she smashed Matthew’s cell phone and hid his vehicle in a neighborhood near her home. Gledhill told (the man) that she loaded Matthew's body into a storage container on the roof, let him slide down the stairs alone and stowed him in the back “Gledhill stated that she took Matthew's body north, dug a hole and put him in one “I buried him in a shallow grave,” the charging documents say.

Gledhill allegedly told the man to stay quiet, “and that it wasn't a crime not to say anything.”

The man showed police text messages between Gledhill and him in which Gledhill said, “I washed and vacuumed everything and it's no longer a problem,” the charges say. He also provided investigators with recorded phone conversations in which she “alluded to her actions.”

A neighbor told police she could hear Gledhill and Johnson arguing from the night of Sept. 21 through the early morning of Sept. 22. Then on Sept. 24, the neighbor observed Gledhill's parents “cleaning” the house, according to investigators.

When investigators later went to the apartment with a search warrant, they found that “the entire wall behind the master bed appeared to have fresh wipe marks from cleaning.” There were several reddish-brown stains on the master bed's walls, bed frame, and blinds.” “Investigators found that the wall behind the master bed was covered in bleach and the carpet under the bed tested positive for human blood in an area with a large circular pattern.” Charging Document Status. “Investigators noticed a strong odor of chlorine in the basement and noted that the black carpet on the stairs appeared to have bleach discoloration on several stairs.”

Gledhill's parents were interviewed and said they were only helping their daughter buy a new mattress, police said. But when asked if he went into the master bedroom, Gledhill's father said, “I did not go where the incident occurred,” the lawsuit says.

Investigators tracking Gledhill's cellphone records say she was driving north on I-215 West Belt toward Legacy Parkway on Sept. 22 and was later captured on surveillance video at a Centerville gas station. About five hours later, police say surveillance video captures her “deep cleaning” her vehicle at a gas station on Highland Drive.

“Record searches show that (Gledhill) had previously made unsuccessful attempts to obtain a protective order against Matthew during the course of their marriage and that the court found him to be the instigator and the one who sought to goad Matthew into a response in order to bring him clean.” “State believes she was very calculated in her crimes by ensuring that the children remained with their parents the evening Matthew was killed,” court documents state.

“The investigation further revealed that she asked her parents to keep the children with them for another day, presumably while she cleaned up the crime scene and disposed of Matthew’s body.”