Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - 5 Big Updates in Utah Mom's Shocking Murder Case

Episode Date: February 10, 2025

Jennifer Gledhill is accused of murdering her husband, Matt Johnson, at their home in Cottonwood Heights, Utah last September and hiding his body. Gledhill appeared in court this week as the search for Johnson's remains continues. Johnson was a respected member of the Utah National Guard. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy looks at the biggest developments in the case in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW:If you or a loved one have suffered physical or mental health issues due to video games, visit https://vgclaims.com/crimefix to answer less than 10 questions and check your eligibility to file a claim!Host:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5Guest:Skye Lazaro https://x.com/SellawSkyeCRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this law and crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Jennifer Gledhill, the Utah woman accused of murdering her husband and hiding his body, appears in court and enters a plea. Okay, are you thinking clearly today? Yes, I am. It's one of five major updates that I'll break down for you. Welcome to Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. Jennifer Gladhill has been in jail in Salt Lake County, Utah since October of last year. Gladhill is accused of murdering her estranged husband, Utah National Guardsman Matt

Johnson, at their home in Cottonwood Heights and then hiding his body days before her arrest. Police believe that Gledhill hid Johnson's body somewhere north of where they lived. But all of these months later, they are still looking for Matt Johnson's remains. I spoke with Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill last October about prosecuting a case where the victim's body is never found. I think we can talk about the paradigm case that every prosecutor would like to have and the reality of what the work that we have to do. But our burden is still driven by the evidence that we can garner and marshal out, right? And so while having a body in a homicide case is nice to have, it is not essential or critical if you have both the quantity and quality of evidence

that is there to support those elements of the allegations that you've made in your charging document. And we feel comfortable. We would not have filed this if we did not feel like we could not meet our burden of proof in a trial. But that's what our process is all about. So yes, I think there have been incidences where you can get that successful outcome without necessarily having to have the physical body. Now, Jennifer Gladhill isn't the only one possibly in hot water here. Her parents, Tom and Rosalie Gladhill, they were arrested on suspicion of obstruction last year, but later released. But their legal troubles may not be over. More on that in a bit. In case you haven't been following the case, let's take a quick look back at it.

The case started on September 25th of last year when a co-worker of Matt Johnson's called police because he couldn't reach him. The statement of AC with the Utah National Guard that on September 25th, 2024, he contacted Cottonwood Heights Police Department and requested assistance in locating a fellow National Guardsman, Matthew Johnson, AC stated that Matthew had not returned to work, which was very unusual, and he had tried to call Matthew several times, but his phone went straight to voicemail. AC stated that the National Guard was going to list Matthew as AWOL, that's absent without leave. Three days later, Jennifer Gledhill called police to report Matthew Johnson missing. The indictment states, Gledhill stated that Matthew had not been seen or heard from since September 20th, 2024, when they had an argument at their home in Cottonwood Heights in Salt Lake County. Gledhill provided Matthew's telephone numbers and a vehicle description. Gledhill stated that Matthew told her that he was going to be gone for a week

and not to call him. Officer Commagier noticed that during his initial call with Gledhill, she seemed distracted and at times nervous. But police say there was a problem with Jennifer Gledhill's story. A confidential informant told them that Jennifer Gledhill actually confessed

to shooting and killing Matt Johnson in his sleep, the indictment says. Informant stated that on Sunday, September 22nd, 2024, Gledhill asked to come over to his house just before midnight to give him some prints. Informant stated that Gledhill arrived at his house and was visibly distraught. Gledhill then told informant that she was likely going away for a long time and wanted to give the prints to someone who would enjoy them. The indictment claims Jennifer Gledhill told the informant what happened the night that she killed Matt Johnson.

The informant was a romantic partner of hers. Gledhill told informant that Matthew had returned to the home on September 20th and started yelling at her because he knew she had been sleeping with someone else. Gledhill told informant that on the night of September 21st, 2024, she had shot Matthew in the head with Matthew's nine millimeter Glock as he slept in their shared bed. Gledhill stated that she smashed Matthew's cell phone and hid his vehicle in a neighborhood near their house. Gledhill told informant 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. Gledhill stated that she cleaned everything up. This man also told police that Gledhill had bruises on her arms and legs, which she said were caused by moving Matt Johnson's body and cleaning up after the murder. He said Jennifer Gledhill claimed she was very likely going to take her own life if police figured out that she killed Matt Johnson because she would not be willing to spend the rest of her years in prison. The affidavit continued, informants stated that Gledhill had shown him a tan Glock handgun on

September 19th, 2024, and she pulled the slide back showing him it was loaded. Informants stated that he waited to contact police with this information because he wasn't sure Gledhill was telling the truth. Informants stated that Gledhill told him not to say anything and that it was not a crime to not say anything. This is a law and crime legal alert. Recent allegations against the multi-billion dollar video game industry claim that video games are engineered for addiction.

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or mental health issues because of video games, visit vgclaims.com slash lawandcrime to answer less than 10 questions and check your eligibility to file a claim. The indictment says the informant provided texts and WhatsApp messages to police along with audio recordings of their phone conversations. The informant claimed Gledhill told him, I washed everything and vacuumed and it's not an issue anymore.

The informant also quoted Gledhill as saying she drove Johnson's truck to a neighborhood nearby where police later found it and she smashed his phone. Detectives say information from a search warrant for Jennifer Gladhill's cell phone is pretty incriminating and shows when she moved Matt Johnson's body. The affidavit says GPS mapping of the phone showed that on September 22nd, 2024, around 6 a.m., it traveled near the area where Matthew's truck was ultimately discovered. At 1344, the phone begins moving northbound on the I-215 West Belt. At 1346, a phone call is placed to Gledhill's father, which lasts for approximately four minutes. The phone then continues north towards Davis County via Legacy Parkway at 1350 and continues northbound until it is powered off at approximately 1437. That's 237 p.m. Gledhill's phone then appears powered back on at approximately 1707.

A call is again placed to her father at 1708 as she is traveling eastbound on the West Davis Corridor. Now, police say it's not only GPS that shows Jennifer Gledhill was on the move. They say they also have surveillance video and license plate reader technology that shows the same thing. Detectives received an LPR hit on Gledhill's Chrysler Pacifica. Detectives located video footage from a holiday oil on Highland Drive. The footage shows Gledhill's Chrysler Pacifica at the car wash at 2237 on September 22nd, 2024. The Pacifica uses the car wash, then parks near the vacuums. The single occupant is then seen thoroughly cleaning the Pacifica on all sides and opening

all doors. This was also corroborated by cell phone data. The Pacifica then leaves at 23.07 p.m. Shortly thereafter, Gledhill's phone shows presence at informant's residence at 23.47 hours, consistent with his report. Now, a neighbor told police she could hear arguing from the home in the early morning hours of September 22nd. And then, on September 24th, 2024, she observed Gledhill's parents in the early morning hours of September 22nd. And then, on September 24th, 2024, she observed Gledhill's parents in the home cleaning. The parents were observed cleaning in the garage

and moving things around, and all the lights in the house were on and she could see the parents cleaning inside. Police say Gledhill admitted to shooting Matthew Johnson as he slept in their bed and that she ordered a new mattress. Police said they found evidence of a cleanup in the bedroom and that she ordered a new mattress. Police said they found evidence of a cleanup in the bedroom and blood on the slats of the bed. Police say

they confronted Gledhill's parents and Gledhill's mother stated she was only at the house for less than an hour. Gledhill's mother admitted to purchasing a mattress from Amazon at the request of Gledhill on September 24th, 2024. Gledhill's father stated that he could not remember the details of that day, but was there for a short period of time. Detectives confronted him concerning other evidence suggesting otherwise, and he said he was helping with a leak in the garage. Gledhill's father was asked if he went into the master bedroom, to which he responded, I did not go in where the incident happened. Gledhill's father admitted to sending a text to Gledhill on September 26, 2024, that the mattress had been delivered to their house.

Jennifer Gledhill had been scheduled to appear in court last month, but that appearance was postponed. Then this week, she appeared in court for a preliminary hearing. Is everyone ready to proceed with the preliminary hearing? I have no doubt the state's ready. I've had an opportunity to speak with my client. We've talked about the nature of preliminary hearings, that it is a probable cause hearing. We've talked about case law related to probable cause hearings and that all inferences are made in favor of the state. We've discussed the evidence and the witnesses that the state would call at trial.

Based on that, based on the low standard of prelim, and again the case law associated with preliminary hearings, it's my client's desire to waive a right to a preliminary hearing today and go forward with the initial appearance and then set it for further pretrial. Does the state have any objection to that? No, Your Honor. So Jennifer Gledhill waived her right to this hearing, meaning it didn't happen. A preliminary hearing has a low burden, with the prosecution just having to show the judge

they have probable cause that Jennifer Gledhill murdered Matt Johnson and hit his body. Really, all they'd have to do is call a detective to the stand to offer brief testimony. Okay. So Ms. Galadiel, I understand that you'd like to waive your right to a preliminary hearing today. Is that correct? Okay. Are you thinking clearly today? Yes, I am. Okay. Now, Mr. Diaz has explained that he's already talked with you about a preliminary hearing. I will perhaps reiterate some of the things he's already said. So with a preliminary hearing, state has to put on enough evidence to show probable cause that you committed each of the crimes that you've been charged with. So you could hear that evidence. Mr. Diaz could cross-examine any witnesses. You could present

your own evidence. So do you understand that right you're giving up today? Yes, I do, Your Honor. Okay, and do you make that decision freely and voluntarily? Yes, I do, Your Honor. Okay, so I accept your waiver of the preliminary hearing. I find that it's made knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily. Then Gladhill's attorney entered a plea to the charges on her behalf. Mr. Diaz, you want to do the arraignment today as well? Yes, Your Honor. I would ask the court to enter not guilty pleas on my client's behalf. And I guess, given the audience, I'd also just say that, obviously, this is just a waiver of the preliminary hearing. Obviously, there are still facts that are alleged that we would contest, but I would just simply say that. So you heard Gledhill's attorney say that there are facts that they are contesting and he entered not guilty pleas on her behalf.

And remember, Tom and Rosalie Gledhill, Jennifer's parents, they were arrested last fall on a suspicion of obstruction, but not formally charged. They were later released. I'm told the investigation into the Gledhills is ongoing. I want to bring in Sky Lazaro. She is a defense attorney in Salt Lake City. Talk to me a little bit, Skye, about the parents of Jennifer Gledhill in this case. The last time

you and I talked about this case, Tom and Rosalie Gledhill had been arrested on suspicion of obstruction. They were released from jail and they still haven't been charged all these months later. So I talked to the police department yesterday. They said they're meeting with the DA about the case next week about the parents. And then the DA says it's still under investigation. So why haven't they been charged yet with obstruction? You know, the cops are saying they helped her buy a new mattress and they helped her clean up the crime scene.

Either they don't have enough evidence to prove obstruction. And part of it was perhaps a ploy to try to get them to give information. You know, sometimes when you when you put people like when we talked last time, these are people who have never been in trouble. You know, they live in a nice neighborhood, you know, things like that. When you when you put some pressure on them like that, sometimes people will give information in exchange for, you know, not getting charged or being released from jail or something along those lines. If they're saying it's still under investigation, I think this case is probably the investigation is going to be ongoing in this case, especially where they still haven't found a body. In this case with the parents, I don't know how much there is to know, right? You know, they have some testimony from neighbors and some cell phone communication. So my guess is there's some ongoing talks

between the parents and or the parents attorney and probably the DA's office. Interesting. Okay. So potentially, maybe, maybe there's number one, they don't have enough evidence against Tom and Rosalie Gledhill to prove obstruction or number two, maybe they're going to somehow cooperate. Right. Or, you know, at some point, Jennifer is going to take a deal and they're not going to have to go down that road. So I'm guessing that they're kind of keeping all options on the table at this point. You know, there's no statute of limitations. Well, on murder, there is on obstruction. But as it pertains to a murder, you know, they've got some time to play with. So let's talk now about what happened in court this week. And, you know, we were expecting a preliminary hearing and this hearing has been delayed a couple of times now.

And so what's interesting about a preliminary hearing is, you know, it's a it's a low burden. It's all the prosecution has to do is show the judge that there's probable cause, very low standard, that the defendant committed this crime. You know, it's very, very low bar and that the defendant will be bound over for trial. It gives the defense oftentimes a chance to poke around, to question some of the witnesses. And sometimes we get some nuggets there. You get some information and it's pretty interesting. But Jennifer Gledhill's attorney walked in and said, you know what? We're going to waive this hearing. We don't need to have this hearing. So what are your thoughts on that? Were you surprised that she waived?

I was surprised. Like you said, you know, probable cause is a low burden. In Utah, at prelims, they take everything in a light most favorable to the state. Really, the state only has to put on one witness and they can use 1102 statements and different things. That being said, in a case like this where your client's charged with murder, we're not in those communications. So who knows what really was going on. There are reasons to waiver preliminary hearing. sometimes you get an agreement with the prosecutor that they will consider, you know, allowing your clients plead to a lesser charge or something along those lines. And if you have a prelim, they would draw the offer. If you waive your prelim, you can hold on to that offer, you know, as you work through. That being said, like in a case like this where we're talking about murder,

I don't know why you wouldn't take at least the opportunity to question at least the lead detective about all these other parts of the investigation that went on, because so much of this evidence is just purely circumstantial. Seems to me you may be able to gain a lot of headway, especially into kind of what their theories are and where they're going with it. And pin them down, you know, now not just to a report, but to sworn testimony. You know, they said they have a confidential informant in this case who has audio recordings, WhatsApp messages. I mean, these are all things that Jennifer Gledhill apparently said to him that she confessed to this. So if there are actually WhatsApp messages and audio recordings of this, I mean, that could be pretty damning evidence. It could. And at some point, they're going to have to disclose who this person is.

You can't hide behind anonymity forever, even when you have evidence in a case. And so, like I said, I don't know. this might have been an agreement between her counsel and the DA's office as they work towards something more. It could be, you know, at some point my client's going to take responsibility and maybe I don't want the judge to hear all the bad facts where, you know, we can kind of pick and choose and argue some different mitigating facts in the future. Then we have, we get to her entering a plea in this case. And of course she pleaded not guilty. That is not a surprise at all at this stage in the game. That's how this works. So it sounds like after the delays in the case, delaying the preliminary hearing, they waive the prelim. She enters the not guilty plea.

Not a shock. So now they can start kind of moving this thing along. That's correct. The preliminary hearing is really the hurdle that the state has to get to so that she can actually enter a plea and then they can work the case towards trial. So, you know, this kind of starts now. You know, what we might see coming is some more pretrial litigation as it relates to different things in the case, suppression of different evidence, things along those lines. So I fully expected her to enter a not guilty plea. I think everybody would at this juncture, no matter what they're charged with. So we shouldn't be surprised by that. Matt Johnson's body still has not been found.

I mean, the police are still searching. They're searching all over the place. I mean, it's been since late September, early October. They still can't find his body. But that doesn't, you know, the DA had said, told us last year, it didn't matter. They feel they still have enough evidence for a conviction. You know, in Utah, I mean, we see these cases all over the country where they call them no body cases. In Utah, though, I mean, is that a tough sell, do you think, to a jury in Utah? Because Jennifer Gladhill at one point had told police, you know, he said he was going to go out of town and he just never came back. And his truck was found, you know, however far it was from the house. But then we've got all this other stuff with the confidential informant and her saying, you know, she killed him and moved his body.

Utah juries, how's that going to play with no body in the case if they can't find the victim? You know, I think it's always better if you have a body because you can then tie it to how did this, you know, how did this person die? You know, what caused their death and kind of walk that backwards towards the defendant and what they're accused of doing and maybe what they admitted to doing to kind of package it backwards towards the defendant and what they're accused of doing and maybe what they admitted to doing to kind of package it up and a nice little bow to sell to a jury. In a case where there's no body, if they didn't have these text messages and perhaps these admissions now, depending on what they actually say and the credibility of this person and kind of all of those things that play into it, I think they're still capable of getting a conviction in this case. It seems to me there's, you know, some evidence, you know, at least forensically that point towards this happening.

And then, you know, the the the evidence of the mattress and, and things that are, the timing is just a little suspect on. I think they could get a, could very well get a conviction in this case. If the messages in that informant are as good as they say, I mean, I'll tell you in most cases, the worst evidence are your client's own words. You know, in every case I've ever had, where you look at the evidence objectively, and you're like, this is winnable. And then you look at all the things your client did and said after the fact and,

you know, cast things in a different light sometimes. Yeah, most certainly. It is never helpful, I'm sure, as a defense attorney when your client has made statements either to the police or to somebody else. Yeah, it's a very sad case. I mean, are people in Salt Lake City, are people talking about this case? They are because, you know, her parents had lived up in this neighborhood for a long time. And I've gone, you know, I was at my, I think my esthetician the other day getting a facial and she was talking about it. And I was talking to a school teacher the other day who was best friends with the parents, just people I'd randomly ran into.

And so I think when you, as big as, you know, Salt Lake City, but these communities are really small and people don't generally stray very far from them. And so they're pretty tight knit up in up in like the area where she lived and her parents lived. And so people are talking about this. And I think it's, you know, it's real life effect on them, not just, oh, it happened here in Utah. But, you know, I know them or I went to school with her, things like that. So it's extremely sad. And I think, you know, hopefully one day there'll be some sort of closure for his family as well. It's a very sad case. And we have children now who are without both of their parents. Sky Lazaro, thank you so much

for coming on to talk with me. I appreciate it. Thanks for having me. And that's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Ann Jeanette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time.