Matthew Johnson, a 51-year-old White man and a respected member of the Utah National Guard, lived in the Salt Lake City suburb of Cottonwood Heights. He and his wife, Jennifer Gledhill, with whom he had three young children, were separated and reportedly considering a divorce in the fall of 2024.
Concerns for Johnson’s safety arose after he was last seen on September 20, 2024.
When he failed to report for duty, which was highly unusual for him, the National Guard requested a wellness check on September 25. Three days later, on September 28, Gledhill officially reported her husband missing to the Cottonwood Heights Police Department. She told officers that they had argued on September 20, and he had told her he would be gone for a week and not to contact him.
The investigation took a sharp turn when an informant, later revealed to be a man with whom Gledhill was having an extramarital affair, came forward. He told police that Gledhill had confessed to him on September 22. She allegedly said that after Johnson confronted her about the affair, she waited until he was asleep on the night of September 21 and shot him in the head with his own 9mm Glock. According to the informant, Gledhill gave a chilling account of the aftermath, claiming she loaded her husband’s body into a rooftop storage container, dragged it down the stairs, and placed it in her minivan. She then allegedly drove north, buried him in a shallow grave, smashed his phone, and hid his truck in a nearby neighborhood.
Detectives executed a search warrant on the couple's home and found evidence that seemed to support the informant’s story. The master bedroom had a new mattress, and investigators discovered reddish-brown spots on the wall, bed frame, and blinds. The wall behind the bed had been cleaned with bleach, and a circular pattern on the carpet underneath the bed tested positive for human blood from a single male source. Despite extensive searches in Davis, Weber, and Box Elder counties, Matthew Johnson’s body has not been recovered.
In early October 2024, police arrested Jennifer Gledhill. She was formally charged with first-degree murder, five counts of obstruction of justice, possession with intent to distribute a controlled substance, desecration of a human body, and witness tampering. A judge ordered her held without bail. Further investigation led to the arrest of Gledhill's parents, Thomas and Rosalie Gledhill, for investigation of obstruction of justice, based on accusations that they helped their daughter clean the house and purchase the new mattress after the killing.
In February 2025, Jennifer Gledhill waived her right to a preliminary hearing and pleaded not guilty to all charges. She was ordered to stand trial. As of a court hearing in May 2026, her trial was scheduled to begin in December 2026.
