A Utah woman who informed a confidential informant that she had shot her estranged husband while he was sleeping and buried him in a shallow grave without disclosing the location has been taken into custody for a murder investigation, according to the police.
According to court documents, Cottonwood Heights resident Jennifer Gledhill, 41, was taken into custody on Wednesday and held in Salt Lake County without bond.
As of Thursday, Matthew Johnson’s 51st body was still missing, according to the police. Six days after Gledhill “openly admitted” to killing Johnson, according to police records, the informant informed investigators on September 28 that the Utah National Guard soldier was shot either late on September 20 or early on September 21.
The informant indicated that Gledhill shot Johnson on the bed, buried his body, then took things out of the house and destroyed them to hide the murder.
Blood on the bed frame and a stain on the carpet beneath the bed was discovered during a search of the residence.
According to CBS affiliate KUTV, the reporting officer added: “Evidence also supports that significant clean up had taken place after this crime had occurred, including bleaching walls, and using carpet cleaning supplies.”
According to officials, Johnson did not show up for work on September 23 and has not spoken to anybody since September 20. Investigators suspect he is deceased.
The couple was going through a difficult divorce and a custody battle involving their three children, according to other court documents. Gledhill had received a temporary protection order against Johnson in late August. Still, a permanent order was denied Sept. 16 — just days before the shooting — after the court commissioner watched films that Gledhill had taken of arguments and read text message exchanges between the two.
According to KUTV, one such video purportedly showed Johnson “rather calmly” clearing glass from a shattered family photo.
“(Gledhill) presents as eager to record the incident, demonstrating no fear of (Johnson) whatsoever,” Commissioner Russell Minas wrote.
Minas concluded that there had been no abuse. Minas claimed that Glehill was equally combative and that requesting a restraining order seemed “a litigation tactic” in their already-filed July divorce.
“The conduct of the parties over the past several months is representative of a highly dysfunctional marriage bringing out the worst in the parties — clearly suggestive that an action for divorce should have been filed long before reaching the current state of affairs,” Minas wrote.
In the divorce and restraining order suits, Gledhill’s lawyers declined to comment on Thursday. In court documents, there is no attorney listed for her.
According to KUTV, Johnson and Gledhill were supposed to appear in court at the end of this month to begin the divorce process.
