A wealthy Utah mother of three — accused of shooting her husband dead while he slept following a screaming match over an alleged affair she was having — appeared in court this month as police still search for a body.
Jennifer Gledhill, 42, pleaded not guilty to murder and waived her right to a preliminary hearing at the Matheson Courthouse in Salt Lake City on Feb. 6, Fox 13 reported.
Gledhill, dressed in a blue jail jumpsuit, donning black framed glasses and her hair tied back, confirmed that waving her rights to the hearing was her decision when asked by Judge Adam Mow.
The cold-blooded killing allegedly came after a night of drunken sex during which Gledhill admitted to sleeping with another man, according to investigators.
The mom is accused of fatally shooting her 51-year-old husband, Matthew Johnson, in their Cottonwood Heights home in late September after they got into an argument when he confronted her about her alleged affair.
The mom of three then allegedly disposed of his body and reported him missing on Sept. 28 — eight days after the alleged killing.
However, the alleged killing was brought to light after a man came forward and told cops he’d had “an extramarital affair” with Gledhill and that she confessed to him about the gruesome murder, Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said in a statement in October.
Her alleged lover — who has not been named — claimed Gledhill told him her husband, a Utah National 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 statement said.
“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 info.
Prosecutors then believe the alleged murderer smashed Johnson’s phone, drove his truck to a different part of the neighborhood, and brought her car to a car wash.
She was caught on surveillance cameras “thoroughly” cleaning out the car after the alleged killing and police tracked her phone’s GPS data to the exact spot where the truck was later found.
Investigators have still not found his body.
The DA said Gledhill’s lover provided message screenshots and phone 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 attorney’s statement said.
Gledhill is also facing five counts of second-degree felony obstruction of justice, as well as felony drug, witness tampering, and desecration of a human body charges.
While searching the couple’s home, cops say they found a new mattress in the master bedroom, “reddish-brown spots” on the wall and bed frame, and bleach stains on the wall behind the bed and on the stairs.
Detectives say they searched the couple’s home and found a Glock 19 box wrapped in a child’s onesie near where Gledhill would sleep.
A neighbor also claimed to see Gledhill’s parents helping her clean the house until almost midnight on Sept. 24.
Her mom told authorities they were only there for an hour, and her dad said he didn’t remember the details of the day.
Court records revealed the couple was going through a contentious divorce and custody battle over their three children, who are 11, 7, and 5 years old.
Gledhill had gotten a temporary restraining order against Johnson in late August.
The court denied her application for a permanent measure on Sept. 16 after a review found he’d committed no abuse.
The alleged killer’s next court appearance is scheduled for Feb. 28.
