Jennifer Gledhill: Judge denies bail after prosecution presents evidence alleging she shot husband in his sleep
An informant came forward to reveal her confession to him, and the prosecution claims it has evidence to back up the information
New evidence presented at a detention hearing for a woman accused of murdering her husband reveals a phone call in which she allegedly confessed the crime to someone who later became an informant to police.
KSL reported that a judge denied bail to 42-year-old Jennifer Gledhill on Feb. 28, 2025 after prosecutors gave evidence that the Salt Lake City, Utah woman could be a danger to the public, and in specific, the informant who talked.
Police arrested Gledhill on Oct. 2, 2024 after an informant told investigators that she had admitted to shooting her husband as he slept, according court documents cited by KUTV.
Matthew Johnson, 51, failed to report to work at the base of the Utah National Guard on Sept. 25, 2024 and was reported missing. On Sept. 28, Gledhill went to the Cottonwood Heights Police Department (CHPD) to “report an incident that occurred on or about September 20, 2024 to September 21, 2024 between her, and her estranged husband Matthew Johnson.”
“Matthew Johnson is not missing. Matthew Johnson was murdered by the defendant,” said Salt Lake County prosecutor Emily Paulos at the detention hearing.
The prosecution showed the courtroom photos of the alleged crime scene which they believe is where Johnson was shot in his sleep, KSL says. Blood stains tainted what once was a marital bedroom; on the carpet and on the slats of the bed frame.
Arrest documents also claimed that police found evidence of a clean up at the scene, which included “bleaching walls, and using carpet cleaning supplies.”
Paulos revealed that they have a video recording of the couple arguing on the night of the alleged murder, KLS reports, and information from the informant.
Fox News previously reported that the informant was a man with whom Gledhill was having an affair. Johnson found out about it, causing the argument the night he died.
“On Sept. 22, the defendant confessed to the informant that she shot Matthew in the master bedroom with a gun as he slept,” Paulos said at the hearing. “She also confessed that she loaded Matthew’s body into a rooftop storage container, slid him down the stairs, and loaded him into her minivan. She buried him in a shallow grave and cleaned everything up.”
She added that forensic evidence supports much of what the informant has told them, KSL reports.
Prosecutors showed a map they have which they say reveals Gledhill’s activity on Sept. 22, 2024, tracking her activity between Cottonwood Heights to Kaysville. A rooftop storage container, like the one Gledhill described to the informant, was located later on and contained traces of Johnson’s blood. Paulos said it was located after a storm.
Additional pictures, Paulos said, pinpointed Gledhill at a specific location where she allegedly discarded the bloody mattress, pillows, and rug. Paulos presented another photo from 2023 in court taken from Gledhill’s phone of the rug.
“That is the same rug, and that is Matthew Johnson next to the same rug,” Paulos remarked.
Details of a phone call between Gledhill and the informant were revealed to the courtroom, as well. Paulos said Gledhill apparently apologized to the informant for telling him what happened.
“She tells him to not think of her as a monster,” Paulos explained. “And the informant tells the defendant that he was frightened by what she had told him.”
Paulos added that Gledhill referred to her husband in the past tense despite the fact he hadn’t even been reported missing yet.
“He wasn’t a person anymore. He wasn’t Matt anymore,” Gledhill allegedly said, according to the prosecutor.
Defense attorney Jeremy Deus simply said, “There are often two sides to every story.”
Johnson and Gledhill were navigating the fallout of their marriage and going through the process of a divorce, with the premarital home the center of fixation for the conflict.
A judge issued a protective order in the last week of October 2024, barring Jennifer from contacting her children during pretrial hearings, ABC4 reports. The children, aged 11, 7, and 5, are staying with family.
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Fox News