Utah Wife Accused of Shooting Guardsman Husband While He Slept, as Prosecutors Reveal Alleged Motive

A Utah wife accused of fatally shooting her husband while he slept last month allegedly committed the killing after he learned she was having an extramarital affair, prosecutors have alleged.

Jennifer Gledhill is facing multiple felony charges, including first-degree murder, obstruction of justice, possession with intent to distribute, desecration of a human body and witness tampering in connection with the disappearance and death of her husband, Matthew Johnson, the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office said in a press release shared on Tuesday, Oct. 15.

It’s unclear if she has entered a plea or retained an attorney to speak on her behalf.

Prosecutors allege Gledhill fatally shot her husband in his sleep after a fight on Sept. 20. She’s accused of cleaning up the crime scene and burying his body in a shallow grave before reporting him missing to police about a week later, according to the release. Johnson’s body still hasn’t been found.

She was arrested in early October after an informant who claimed he was having an affair with Gledhill told police she allegedly confessed to killing Johnson after he “yelled at her because he knew she had been sleeping with someone else,” the release states. 

On Sept 28, Gledhill reported Johnson missing to the Cottonwood Heights Police Department, prosecutors said. She allegedly told investigators that her husband had not been seen or heard from since they fought on Sept. 20, claiming that he told her he would be gone for a week and not to call him. According to prosecutors, call records allegedly show Gledhill did not try to contact Johnson after Sept 21.

Prosecutors said Johnson was a member of the Utah National Guard. KTUV reported that Johnson’s children had stopped hearing from their father on Sept. 21 and that his phone would go directly to voicemail. 

Court records indicate that Gledhill had filed for divorce in July and filed for a protective order in August, which was dismissed in September after a court ruled that she did not prove that abuse had occurred, KUTV reported.

According to the Salt Lake County District Attorney’s Office, Gledhill allegedly went to the informant’s house on Sept. 22 and confessed to the crime.

“The defendant told the informant that she shot Mr. Johnson on September 21, 2024, as he slept in their bed,” prosecutors claimed in the release. “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.”

Prosecutors alleged that Gledhill also admitted to the informant to smashing Johnson’s phone and hiding his truck in a nearby neighborhood. She also allegedly told the informant she then took her husband’s body north, dug a hole, and buried him in a shallow grave, the release claims. 

“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 release states.

GPS data from Gledhill’s phone allegedly shows that on the day she told the informant she’d killed her husband, she traveled to where her husband’s truck was later found, prosecutors claimed. Authorities added that Gledhill was allegedly seen in video footage cleaning her vehicle and visiting a car wash. 

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After authorities obtained a warrant to search Gledhill’s home, they allegedly found a blood-stained spot on the carpet under the bed in the main bedroom, and noted the wall behind the bed was covered in bleach and that the mattress was new, according to the release. Prosecutors said Gledhill’s mother allegedly told investigators that she bought the mattress for Gledhill after she asked her to. 

Investigators questioned Gledhill’s mother and father after a neighbor claimed to police that she saw Gledhill’s parents at the couple’s home on Sept. 24, prosecutors said in the release. Gledhill’s mother claimed she was only at the home for an hour that day while Gledhill’s father allegedly said he didn’t remember much about the day, per the release.

“Detectives confronted the defendant’s father about how long he was at the house and if he went into the master bedroom, and he responded, ‘I did not go in where the incident happened,'” prosecutors alleged in the release.

Authorities also executed a search warrant at Gledhill’s parents’ home and claimed they found a plastic tote with a loaded gun similar to what she had allegedly shown to the informant on Sept. 19, according to the release.

As for the bloodstain found under the bed in Gledhill’s home, testing shows it was from a “single male source,” but prosecutors said further testing is still underway to confirm whether it’s a match for Johnson’s DNA.

“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,” Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said in the release. “Our office will continue to work closely with investigators as we seek justice for Mr. Johnson.”

If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.