Utah
Utah mom accused of killing National Guard husband enters plea as police search for body
A Utah mom accused of killing her husband in September 2024 pleaded not guilty to nine counts earlier this month as officials continue to search for the Utah National Guardsman’s body, according to local news.
Jennifer Gledhill pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder, five counts of obstruction of justice, possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, abuse of a human body and tampering with a witness, filed in Salt Lake County, in connection with Matthew Johnson’s disappearance and presumed death.
Gledhill appeared in court on Feb. 6, wearing a navy jumpsuit and shackles with her hair tied in a bun. She waived her right to a preliminary hearing, FOX 13 Salt Lake City reported.
Court documents obtained by Fox News Digital last year state that Gledhill was “very calculating in her crimes in that she arranged for the children to stay with her parents during the evening Matthew was killed” around Sept. 20, 2024, when he was last seen.
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Jennifer Gledhill appeared in court on Feb. 6, wearing a navy jumpsuit and shackles with her hair tied in a bun. (FOX 13 Salt Lake City)
Her parents, Thomas and Rosalie Gledhill, face obstruction of justice charges.
Johnson was initially considered missing for days when a member of the Utah National Guard contacted the Cottonwood Heights Police Department on Sept. 25 asking for a wellness check on Johnson, stating he had not come into work, “which was very unusual,” a probable cause affidavit states.
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On Sept. 28, Gledhill reported her husband missing to police, saying she had not heard from him since Sept. 20. She also claimed “Matthew told her that he was going to be gone for a week and not to call him.” She seemed “distracted and at times nervous” during the call, according to court documents.
Jennifer Gledhill pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder, five counts of obstruction of justice, possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, abuse of a human body and tampering with a witness, filed in Salt Lake County, in connection with Matthew Johnson’s murder. (FOX 13 Salt Lake City)
An informant then came forward to police with information about Gledhill, saying he was having an extramarital affair with her. He told Cottonwood Heights police that on Sunday, Sept. 22, Gledhill came over to his house and told him that she was “likely going away for a long time.”
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Gledhill apparently told her lover that she and Johnson had gotten in a fight on Sept. 20 “because he knew she had been sleeping with someone else,” and allegedly went on to admit to the informant that on the evening of Sept. 21, she shot her husband in the head with his 9 mm Glock “as he slept in their shared bed.”
Matthew Johnson’s friends and family last heard from him on Sept. 21, though he is now presumed dead. (Cottonwood Heights PD)
She allegedly further told her lover “that she loaded Matthew’s body into a rooftop storage container, slid him down the stairs by herself, and loaded him into the back of her minivan.” She said she then transported Johnson’s body “north, dug a hole, and buried him in a shallow grave,” court documents state.
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Johnson’s body has yet to be recovered, though detectives found his truck located 0.3 miles from his home with his cellphone inside the vehicle.
In text and WhatsApp messages, Gledhill allegedly told her lover that if she were told a story like the one she told him, “she would take it to the grave,” the probable cause affidavit says.
Jennifer Gledhill apparently told her lover that she shot her husband in the head. (FOX 13 Salt Lake City)
A neighbor told police that on Sept. 24, she saw Gledhill’s parents inside the home “cleaning” the garage and “moving things around.”
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While serving a search warrant at Gledhill’s residence, detectives noticed that the mattress in the master bedroom “appeared to be brand new.”
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“Additionally, the entire wall behind the master bed appeared to have fresh wipe marks from cleaning. Several reddish-brown spots were located on the walls, bed frame, and blinds of the master bedroom. Detectives noted that the wall behind the master bed was covered in bleach,” court documents states.
Gledhill allegedly told her lover “that she loaded Matthew’s body into a rooftop storage container, slid him down the stairs by herself, and loaded him into the back of her minivan.” Gledhill said she transported Johnson’s body “north, dug a hole, and buried him in a shallow grave,” court documents state. (FOX 13 Salt Lake City)
Investigators also noted “a strong smell of chlorine in the basement” and bleach stains on “several stairs” with black carpeting.
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During a search of the suspect’s vehicle, detectives located bags of what appeared to be drugs that were packaged “for individual sale” and about $200 in cash.
Police also served a search warrant at Gledhill’s parents’ home, where they located a tote bag by the room she would sleep in containing “a Glock 19X gun box (green/tan in color) with one of the handles broken,” which was “wrapped in a child’s onesie.”
Jennifer Gledhill waived her right to a preliminary hearing on Feb. 6. (FOX 13 Salt Lake City)
Gledhill’s cellphone records show that “at no point” after Sept. 21, when her husband last communicated with friends and family, “did she ever attempt to contact” Johnson, prosecutors said.
The suspect’s mother told detectives she went to her daughter’s home on Sept. 24 and admitted to purchasing a new mattress from Amazon at Gledhill’s request.
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When police asked the suspect’s father if he entered the master bedroom, he responded, “I did not go in where the incident happened.”
Gledhill previously made “unsuccessful attempts to secure a protective order against Matthew during the course of their marriage and was found by the Court to be an instigator and one to goad Matthew into a response in order to get him in trouble,” according to records obtained by prosecutors.
Gledhill’s attorney, Jeremy Deus, could not immediately be reached for comment.
Jon Anderson will be charged with moving the Orem school forward following the death of conservative commentator Charlie Kirk on campus last year.
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Incoming UVU President Jon Anderson poses for a photo with his family after an event announcing his selection at Utah Valley University in Orem on Friday, July 17, 2026.
BEAVER COUNTY, Utah — A massive community effort is underway as volunteers and Beaver County crews distribute thousands of sandbags to protect homes from the potential path of floodwaters.
After the Cottonwood Fires, residents have been waiting for weeks for relief to come in the form of rain, though officials now warn it may come all at once with an increased risk of flooding and debris flow.
Emergency Service Director Les Whitney believes that the fire has left plenty of debris to bring trouble for residents.
“We got a lot of water. We’re bringing debris with it, so tree branches, tree limbs, logs, lots of different size firewood, and that’s all in the creeks. We’re worried about that plugging up our bridges and stuff, so we have heavy equipment and excavators located in strategic places so that we can keep those bridges open,” said Whitney.
An estimated 140 homes and condominiums were spared from the flames, but remain in the paths of floodwaters.
Residents can also pick up sandbags at the Beaver County Sheriff’s Office or at the Beaver County Rodeo Fairgrounds.
EAGLE MOUNTAIN — An Eagle Mountain man currently on pretrial release in 4th District Court who is accused of abusing his dog has been arrested again for allegedly punching the same animal.
Keith Reaves Davis, 43, was booked into the Utah County Jail on Wednesday for investigation of aggravated cruelty to an animal.
Utah County sheriff’s deputies were called Wednesday afternoon to a grocery store on a report that a man was beating his dog after it had gotten off its leash and was stopped by a bystander, according to a police booking affidavit.
“I reviewed security camera footage from the grocery store, and an individual matching the description of the suspect was seen holding the dog in the air by one paw and repeatedly striking the dog on the right hind leg area. I observed the male strike the dog several times before dropping the dog from approximately 1-2 feet. The strikes appeared to be as hard as the male could hit,” the arresting deputy wrote in the affidavit. “The dog did not cry out or whimper as if the dog was accustomed to the abuse.”
When questioned, Davis “admitted to striking the dog because it was not behaving,” the affidavit states.
An animal control officer who responded to the scene to take custody of the dog noted it was the same dog he had taken from Davis exactly three months earlier during another animal abuse investigation.
In that case, Davis was charged in 4th District Court with aggravated cruelty to an animal, a class A misdemeanor; and public intoxication, a class C misdemeanor, after deputies received a tip from a neighbor that a dog was being abused at Davis’ home, according to charging documents. When questioned, Davis “acknowledged hitting his dog as punishment,” the charges state.
Deputies also reviewed videos that the neighbor had filmed. The neighbor told investigators “there was blood from the dog on the ground of the garage and (the neighbor) can hear the dog screaming as if it’s being hurt. Deputies got the videos from the (neighbor) and you can hear very loudly the dog screaming and crying with a lot of loud banging noises. In one of the videos, you can hear the dog sounding like it is being choked by a collar and is grasping for air,” a police booking affidavit states.
Davis’ next court hearing in the April case is scheduled for July 28.
In their latest booking report, sheriff’s deputies note that they “believe further harm will be inflicted on this dog if it is released back to the male a second time,” and have recommended the dog not be returned to Davis.
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.
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