A Utah woman faces first-degree murder and other felony charges after she allegedly shot her husband to death as he slept in their bed and buried his body.
The district attorney for Salt Lake County announced the charges Tuesday in a news release after police said Jennifer Gledhill, 41, reported her husband – Utah National Guard member Matthew Johnson, 51 – missing late last month.
According to authorities, the accused called Cottonwood Heights Police Department on Sept. 28 to report that her husband was missing. The caller stated she had not seen or heard from him since they fought on Sept. 20, claiming he told her not to contact him and he would be gone for a week.
However, police said they received information from a man who reported having had an extramarital affair with the accused. The informant alleged the woman went to his home on Sept. 22 and told him that her husband “yelled at her because he knew she had been sleeping with someone else.”
The accused then allegedly told the man she shot her husband the day before while he was sleeping in their bed, put the body into a storage container, slid it down the stairs of their home and loaded it into the back of their minivan.
“The defendant said she smashed Mr. Johnson’s phone and hid his truck in a nearby neighbourhood,” authorities allege. “The defendant said she then took her husband’s body north, dug a hole, and buried him in a shallow grave.”
The informant told investigators he noticed bruises all over her body, and when asked about it, the accused responded that they were from moving and transporting the body and cleaning the home.
After a search warrant was obtained, investigators said they noticed the mattress in the master bedroom was new while noticing reddish-brown spots on the wall, bed frame and blinds. Bleach was also detected on the wall behind the bed, and a circular pattern on the carpet tested positive for blood, police said.
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On Sept. 24, a neighbour told police the woman’s parents were at the home cleaning and didn’t leave until 11 p.m.
When confronted by investigators, the mother said they were there for only an hour and had bought a mattress from Amazon at her daughter’s request. The father couldn’t remember details but said they were there for a short time.
When asked if he entered the master bedroom, the father replied, “I did not go in where the incident happened.”
Investigators said they were able to determine the woman’s movements after obtaining GPS information from her cellphone. According to phone records, the accused did not contact her husband after Sept. 21.
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Police said Johnson’s body has not been found and nobody has heard from him since Sept. 21.
Gledhill is charged with first-degree felony murder, five counts of second-degree felony obstruction of justice, second-degree felony possession with intent to distribute, third-degree felony desecration of a human body, and third-degree felony witness tampering.
“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,” said Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill. “Our office will continue to work closely with investigators as we seek justice for Mr. Johnson.”