SALT LAKE CITY (Scripps News Salt Lake City) — A judge denied bail for a Utah woman accused of murdering her missing husband, saying there is a “substantial danger” to the community.
Jennifer Gledhill, charged in the death of her missing husband, appears in court Feb. 28, 2025. (Court TV)
During a hearing Friday, the state presented new evidence that they say connects Jennifer Gledhill to the death of Matthew Johnson in the couple’s Cottonwood Heights home in September.
Gledhill was arrested on October 2 for murder and obstruction of justice. Despite ongoing searches for Johnson, officials have yet to locate his body.
Among the evidence shared in Friday’s hearing was phone tracking data that showed Gledhill traveled from the couple’s home on Sept. 21 to a location where Johnson’s truck was found.
A map shared GPS tracking of Gledhill’s phone on Sept. 22, the day after the alleged murder, that showed her traveling north towards Davis County. A search of the area found a vehicle storage container that apparently floated to the water’s surface after a storm. Johnson’s blood was also confirmed to be found inside the storage container.
GPS data also placed Gledhill at a Davis County location where a mattress from the couple’s home, along with pillows that were wrapped up in a rug that further evidence showed was once inside the Cottonwood Heights house.
Photos also showed DNA evidence of Johnson’s blood on a rug and other areas inside the bedroom where he was allegedly sleeping when he was killed.
An evidence photo presented during a Feb. 28, 2205 hearing for Jennifer Gledhill shows the bedroom where prosecutors claim she killed her missing husband in Sept. 2024. (Court TV)
Prosecutors have said a man with whom Gledhill was having an extramarital affair told police that she had shot Johnson in the head while he slept, then put his body in a storage container and loaded it into her minivan.
On Friday, prosecutors also read a transcript of a phone call between Gledhill and her lover. In the call, Gledhill allegedly apologized to the man for telling him what happened and told him to “not think of her as a monster.” She asked the man to “remember her for who she was before she opened her mouth.”
Gledhill also told the man that the fact he was now scared of her broke her heart.
Judge Adam Mow also denied the defense’s request for bail during Friday’s proceedings.
This story was originally published by Scripps News Salt Lake City, an E.W. Scripps Company.
