A woman is facing accusations of murdering her husband after details of an affair came to light.
Jennifer Gledhill, a mother of three, allegedly arrived at her lover’s residence shortly before midnight on September 22, 2024, according to authorities.
She reportedly informed her affair partner about her husband’s anger upon discovering her infidelity, which led to an intense argument.
Gledhill recounted that her husband, Utah National Guardsman Matthew Johnson, had confronted her about the affair. She then allegedly made a chilling confession about the events that followed.
The man swiftly alerted the police to her confession. Subsequently, on October 2, Gledhill, 41, was taken into custody. Authorities claim she fatally shot Johnson, 51, while he was asleep, and then disposed of his remains, which have not been recovered.
“Matthew Johnson is not missing,” stated Salt Lake County Deputy District Attorney Emily Paulos during a February hearing. “Matthew Johnson was murdered by the defendant.”
Gledhill has entered a plea of not guilty and is awaiting her trial in December, held without bail.
Prosecutors allege that Gledhill’s shocked lover recounted her confession, where she claimed to have shot Johnson during a nighttime argument using his 9mm handgun. She purportedly placed his body in a vehicle rooftop storage container, transported it in her minivan, and buried him in a shallow grave near their Cottonwood Heights home.
The lover provided police with text messages and audio recordings of their conversations about her confession, resulting in Gledhill’s arrest on suspicion of first-degree murder amidst a contentious divorce.
During a phone call where her lover expressed fear of her, Gledhill allegedly responded: “Wow, if you think I could even hurt a fly. Like he just, he is, he’s not a person. He wasn’t a person anymore. He wasn’t Matt.”
Prosecutors also shared a transcript of a call between Gledhill and her lover, in which she urged him not to view her as a monster and asked him to remember her as she was before her confession.
In a hearing on Friday, phone tracking data was presented, revealing Gledhill’s movements to a location where Johnson’s truck was discovered on September 21, along with a GPS map of her phone’s journey on September 22. This data led investigators to conduct a search in the area.
During the search, a vehicle storage container was found floating and contained Johnson’s blood.
Additionally, GPS data placed Gledhill in Davis County, where items such as a mattress and pillows from the couple’s home were located wrapped in a rug.
Blood from Johnson was also detected on the rug and other areas in the bedroom, and there were indications that Gledhill might have cleaned a nearby wall.
Her parents, Thomas and Rosalie, aged 71 and 68 respectively, were arrested on suspicion of obstructing justice by allegedly assisting in cleaning the crime scene.