Utah
Utah woman killed estranged husband, confessed to new boyfriend, charges say – East Idaho News
COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS, Utah (KSL.com) — A Cottonwood Heights woman was charged Tuesday with murder and accused of shooting her estranged husband in the head as he slept and then disposing his body in a shallow grave.
Jennifer Gledhill, 41, is suspected of killing Matthew Johnson, 51, a member of a Special Operations Unit in the U.S. military, whom she had filed for divorce from in July. Johnson’s body has not yet been found.
Gledhill’s alleged crimes were revealed after she confessed to a man she was having an affair with, according to charging documents. That man then contacted police.
She is charged in 3rd District Court with murder, a first-degree felony; five counts of obstruction of justice and drug possession with intent to distribute, second-degree felonies; plus abuse or desecration of a dead body and witness tampering, third-degree felonies.
The Utah National Guard first contacted police on Sept. 25 to report that Johnson had not returned to work. A few days later on Sept. 28, Gledhill reported her estranged husband as missing while stating that she had not seen or heard from him since Sept. 20 when they had an argument, charging documents state.
“Gledhill stated that Matthew told her that he was going to be gone for a week and not to call him,” the charges allege.
But according to a man who police say was having an affair with Gledhill, she went to his house early on the morning of Sept. 22 “and was visibly distraught,” and told him that “she was likely going away for a long time,” court documents say.
Gledhill told the man that Johnson had arrived home and yelled at her because he knew she was having an affair. Then on the night of the Sept. 21, she used Johnson’s handgun to shoot him in the head as he slept in bed, according to the charges.
“Gledhill stated that she smashed Matthew’s cellphone and hid his vehicle in a neighborhood near their house. Gledhill told (the man) 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 stated that she had taken Matthew’s body north, dug a hole, and buried him in a shallow grave,” the charging documents allege.
Gledhill allegedly told the man to stay quiet “and that it was not a crime to not say anything.”
The man showed police text messages between Gledhill and him that included Gledhill stating, “I washed everything & vacuumed & it’s not an issue anymore,” the charges say. He also provided detectives with recorded phone calls with her “alluding to her actions.”
A neighbor told police she could hear Gledhill and Johnson arguing from the night of Sept. 21 into the early morning of Sept. 22. Then on Sept. 24, the neighbor observed Gledhill’s parents in the home “cleaning,” according to investigators.
When detectives later went into the residence with a search warrant, they found “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. The master bed was pulled away from the wall and the carpet below the bed was forensically tested and flashed positive for human blood in an area with a large circular pattern,” charging documents state. “Detectives noted a strong smell of chlorine in the basement and observed the black carpet on the stairs appeared to have bleach discoloration on several stairs.”
Gledhill’s parents were questioned and they said they were only helping their daughter buy a new mattress, according to police. But when asked if he had gone into the master bedroom, Gledhill’s father said, “I did not go in where the incident happened,” the charges state.
Investigators tracking Gledhill’s cellphone data say on Sept. 22 she traveled north on the I-215 west belt toward the Legacy Parkway and was later recorded on surveillance video at a gas station in Centerville. About five hours later, police say she is recorded on surveillance video “thoroughly cleaning” her vehicle at a gas station on Highland Drive.
“Records searches reveal that (Gledhill) had 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. The state believes that (she) was very calculating in her crimes in that she arranged for the children to stay with her parents during the evening Matthew was killed,” court documents say.
“Investigation further revealed that she asked her parents to keep the children for another day, presumably while she was cleaning up the crime scene and disposing of Matthew’s body.”
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Utah
‘2.5 minutes of terror’: Passengers sue Delta, alleging crew flew into dangerous weather despite warnings, injuring dozens
Twenty passengers allege the airline ignored repeated weather warnings before the flight hit severe turbulence that sent dozens of people to hospitals
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) A Delta airplane travels down the runway at Salt Lake City International Airport in Salt Lake City last March. Passengers on a Delta flight last July are suing the airline over injuries suffered because of violent turbulence.
SALT LAKE CITY — The Environmental Protection Agency awarded Utah and Salt Lake County a total of $3.5 million in grants to assess potentially polluted properties for eventual cleanup and redevelopment.
The agency announced a $2 million grant to Utah’s Department of Environmental Quality and $1.5 million to Salt Lake County to conduct environmental assessments and inventory brownfield sites for cleanup. Brownfields are sites that may be difficult to redevelop or expand because of “the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant or contaminant,” according to the agency.
“These brownfields grants will help Utah communities clean up contaminated sites and unlock opportunities for redevelopment and investment,” EPA Regional Administrator Cyrus Western said in a news release announcing the grants earlier this week. “By transforming underused properties into community assets, EPA is helping create healthier neighborhoods and stronger local economies.”
The two grants awarded to Utah and Salt Lake County are among more than $248 million awarded to nearly 200 communities nationwide for brownfield assessment and cleanup. Utah’s Department of Environmental Quality plans to focus the resources on several areas in Ogden, Heber City and Fillmore, among others, according to Bill Rees, who leads Utah’s brownfield cleanup program.
“What we do is work to secure the funding and then begin to reach out to our communities across the state, say, ‘Listen, there’s opportunity to do some assessment work in your community if you’re interested,’ and then work with our rural partners, work with our urban partners to see if there are sites that will fit that bill,” he told KSL.
The state has received similar grants in the past, and Rees said the money can help local governments determine what to do with ailing properties such as old schools, hospitals or private property that have gone to waste.
“Is there asbestos in it, or is there hazardous material in it? Or could there be something that’s impacting the soil or the groundwater, and a policymaker needs to make a decision?” asked Rees. “Knowledge allows you to make good decisions.”
The $1.5 million awarded to Salt Lake County is the largest brownfields assessment grant the county has ever received, according to a county press release.
“This grant is a real win for our communities,” said Mayor Jenny Wilson. “This funding will let us do vital environmental work on a larger scale and in more neighborhoods. It reflects exactly the kind of partnership between local and federal government that gets results for residents.”
The county grant funds will be used to help create cleanup plans in three areas, including a vehicle storage yard in Salt Lake City’s Ballpark Neighborhood, a 4.26-acre vacant lot in Millcreek and a small commercial building in Magna that was damaged during an earthquake in March 2020, according to the EPA.
Contributing: Don Brinkherhoff
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.
The National Weather Service in Salt Lake City issued red flag warning Friday morning as emergency workers continued to battle one of the state’s largest wildfires in its history.
The red flag warning, issued when critical fire warnings are occurring or imminent, was to be in place through midnight Saturday.
“This is the FIRST Particularly Dangerous Situation Red Flag Warning issued in NWS Salt Lake City history. This is an exceptionally rare event,” the federal agency said in its warning.
A map of the area under the warning covered much of central and southwest Utah, with an area of the southwest, central and southern mountains also outlined as “particularly dangerous red flag.”
The particularly dangerous area includes the Cottonwood Fire, near the town of Beaver, which started Monday and had grown to covering almost nearly 71,000 acres by Thursday, 15 News reported. The fire forced evacuations.
The NWS warned that gusty winds and dry conditions would lead to rapid fire growth.
Utah also was dealing with the Iron Fire, which started June 19, and nearly destroyed the town of Eureka. The fire was about 27% contained Friday morning.
The fire danger led Utah Gov. Spencer Cox to issue executive order restricting fireworks statewide during the July 4 holiday, which marks the nation’s 250th birthday this year. The ban is in effect through July 5.
“Nothing about this decision was easy,” Cox said in a statement issued by his office Thursday.
“This is unlike anything we’ve seen in recent memory. We’re seeing fires spread farther and faster under conditions that defy historical expectations” Jamie Barnes, Utah state forester and director of the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands, added in the statement.
Cox allowed cities and local communities to set aside areas where fireworks could be safely used. The city of Provo announced it would enforce a citywide prohibition on fireworks and would not designate a safe area for fireworks.
“This year is different,” Provo Mayor Marsha Judkins said in a statement. “The wildfire danger facing our community is real, and protecting lives, homes, and our natural spaces must come first.”
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