A rich Utah mom of three — accused of capturing her husband useless whereas he slept following a screaming match over an alleged affair she was having — appeared in court docket this month as police nonetheless seek for a physique.
Jennifer Gledhill, 42, pleaded not responsible to homicide and waived her proper to a preliminary listening to on the Matheson Courthouse in Salt Lake Metropolis on Feb. 6, Fox 13 reported.
Gledhill, wearing a blue jail jumpsuit, donning black framed glasses and her hair tied again, confirmed that waving her rights to the listening to was her determination when requested by Choose Adam Mow.
The cold-blooded killing allegedly got here after an evening of drunken intercourse throughout which Gledhill admitted to sleeping with one other man, based on investigators.
The mother is accused of fatally capturing her 51-year-old husband, Matthew Johnson, of their Cottonwood Heights house in late September after they acquired into an argument when he confronted her about her alleged affair.
The mother of three then allegedly disposed of his physique and reported him lacking on Sept. 28 — eight days after the alleged killing.
Nonetheless, the alleged killing was dropped at mild after a person got here ahead and instructed cops he’d had “an extramarital affair” with Gledhill and that she confessed to him in regards to the grotesque homicide, Salt Lake County District Legal professional Sim Gill stated in an announcement in October.
Her alleged lover — who has not been named — claimed Gledhill instructed him her husband, a Utah Nationwide Guard member, had confronted her on Sept. 20 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 assertion stated.
“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 information.
Prosecutors then consider the alleged assassin smashed Johnson’s cellphone, drove his truck to a special a part of the neighborhood, and introduced her automobile to a automobile wash.
She was caught on surveillance cameras “thoroughly” cleansing out the automobile after the alleged killing and police tracked her cellphone’s GPS information to the precise spot the place the truck was later discovered.
Investigators have nonetheless not discovered his physique.
The DA stated Gledhill’s lover supplied message screenshots and cellphone 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 legal professional’s assertion stated.
Gledhill can also be dealing with 5 counts of second-degree felony obstruction of justice, in addition to felony drug, witness tampering, and desecration of a human physique prices.
Whereas looking the couple’s house, cops say they discovered a brand new mattress in the main bedroom, “reddish-brown spots” on the wall and mattress body, and bleach stains on the wall behind the mattress and on the steps.
Detectives say they searched the couple’s house and located a Glock 19 field wrapped in a toddler’s onesie close to the place Gledhill would sleep.
A neighbor additionally claimed to see Gledhill’s dad and mom serving to her clear the home till virtually midnight on Sept. 24.
Her mother instructed authorities they had been solely there for an hour, and her dad stated he didn’t keep in mind the small print of the day.
Court docket information revealed the couple was going via a contentious divorce and custody battle over their three youngsters, who’re 11, 7, and 5 years previous.
Gledhill had gotten a short lived restraining order in opposition to Johnson in late August.
The court docket denied her software for a everlasting measure on Sept. 16 after a evaluate discovered he’d dedicated no abuse.
The alleged killer’s subsequent court docket look is scheduled for Feb. 28.
