Missing Utah soldier’s wife tells informant she shot husband in his sleep and buried his body, police say

A Utah woman has been arrested for investigation of murder after she told a confidential informant that she shot her estranged husband in his sleep and buried him in a shallow grave but did not disclose the location, police said.

Jennifer Gledhill, 41 of Cottonwood Heights, was arrested Wednesday and is jailed in Salt Lake County without bond, according to court records.

The body of Matthew Johnson, 51, had not been found as of Thursday, police said. The Utah National Guard member was reportedly shot late Sept. 20 or early Sept. 21, the informant told police Sept. 28 – six days after Gledhill “openly admitted” to killing Johnson, police records said.

Gledhill said she shot Johnson on the bed, buried his body and removed items from the house and destroyed them to cover up the crime, the informant said.

A search of the house found a bloodstain on the carpet under the bed and blood on the bed frame. 

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.”

Johnson has had no contact with anyone since Sept. 20, and he did not report to work Sept. 23, officials said. Investigators believe he is dead.

Other court records indicate the couple was going through a contentious divorce and a custody dispute involving their three children. Gledhill had obtained a temporary protective order against Johnson in late August, but a permanent order was denied Sept. 16 – just days before the shooting – after the court commissioner watched videos that Gledhill had taken of arguments and reviewed text message exchanges between the two.

One such video apparently showed Johnson “rather calmly” cleaning up glass from a broken family photo, KUTV reported.

“(Gledhill) presents as eager to record the incident, demonstrating no fear of (Johnson) whatsoever,” Commissioner Russell Minas wrote.

Minas determined that no abuse had occurred. Glehill was equally confrontational, Minas said, and seeking a restraining order appeared to be “a litigation tactic” in their pending divorce, which had been filed in July.

“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.

Gledhill’s attorneys in the restraining order and divorce cases declined to comment Thursday. No attorney is listed for her in court records.

Johnson and Gledhill had been scheduled to appear in court for divorce proceedings at the end of this month, KUTV reported.