Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - 6 Chilling New Details Revealed As Utah Mom Charged in Husband’s Murder

Starting point is 00:00:00 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. A Utah woman is now formally charged with murdering her husband, a National Guardsman whose body still has not been found. I have the new information about the case that includes a lover, text messages, and a confession. Welcome to Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. We have a lot of new information about the investigation into Matthew Johnson's murder now that his estranged wife, Jennifer Gledhill, has been formally charged with the crime.

Starting point is 00:00:36 Johnson's body still has not been found, but the DA in Salt Lake County says that doesn't matter. Sim Gill will actually be here in a bit, but he says they have evidence to convict Jennifer Gledhill of Johnson's murder. The investigation started on September 28th when Gledhill reported Johnson missing, claiming she hadn't seen him since the 20th, eight days earlier. An affidavit stated 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.

Starting point is 00:01:17 Investigators say that missing persons report from Gledhill was a cover because she had murdered Matthew Johnson. They say they know this because of an informant who was in a relationship with Gled Hill. The indictment says informant stated that on Sunday, September 22nd, 2024, Gled Hill asked to come over to his house just before midnight to give him some prints. Informant stated that Gled Hill arrived at his house and was visibly distraught. Gled Hill then told informant that she was likely going away for a long time and wanted to give the prints to someone who would

Starting point is 00:01:50 enjoy them. The indictment reveals what the man told police. He claims Gledhill told him what had happened the night that she killed Matthew Johnson. Gledhill told informant that Matthew had returned to the home on September 20th, 2024 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 the 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.

Starting point is 00:02:46 The man also told police that Gledhill actually had bruises on her arms and on her legs, which she said were caused by moving Johnson's body after cleaning up after the murder. The man also said that Jennifer Gledhill said she was very likely going to take her own life if the police figured out that she killed Matthew Johnson because she would not be willing to spend the rest of her life in prison. The affidavit continued. Informant stated that Gledhill had shown him a tan Glock handgun on September 19th, 2024, and she pulled the slide back showing him that it was loaded. Informant stated that he waited to contact police with this information because he wasn't sure that Gledhill was actually telling the truth. Informant stated that Gledhill told him not to say anything and that it was not a crime

Starting point is 00:03:30 to not say anything. The indictment says the informant provided text and WhatsApp messages to police, along with audio recordings of the phone conversations that he had had with Gledhill. The informant claimed Gledhill told him, I washed everything and vacuumed and it's not an issue anymore. Detectives say they also got a search warrant for Jennifer Gledhill's cell phone and they believe the information is incriminating and shows when Gledhill moved 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.

Starting point is 00:04:08 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 toward Davis County via Legacy Parkway at 1350 and continues northbound until it is powered off at approximately 1437. Gledhill's phone then appears powered back on at approximately 1707. A call is again placed to her father at 1708 as she is

Starting point is 00:04:41 traveling eastbound on the West Davis Corridor. Police say it's not only GPS that shows Jennifer Gladhill was on the move that day. They also have surveillance video and license plate reader technology that shows the same thing. Detectives received a LPR hit on Gladhill's Chrysler Pacifica. Detectives located video footage from a holiday oil on Highland Drive. The footage shows Gladhill's Chrysler Pacifica at the car wash at 2237 on September 22nd, 2024. The Pacifica uses the car wash, then parks near the vacuums.

Starting point is 00:05:14 The single occupant is then seen cleaning thoroughly 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. A neighbor told police she could hear arguing coming from the home in the early morning hours of September 22nd. The statement of identified neighbor's mother that on September 24th, 2024, she observed Gladhill's parents in the home cleaning. The parents were observed cleaning in the garage

Starting point is 00:05:53 and moving things around and all the lights in the house were on and she could see the parents cleaning inside. I want to thank Upside for sponsoring this episode of Crime Fix. Upside is a free app that gets you cash back on things like food and gas. This is not a confusing rewards program. Upside gives you real money back that goes straight into your bank account.

Starting point is 00:06:13 Just download the Upside app, click on it and claim an offer and pay with your debit or credit card as usual. Upside works at places like Shell, Exxon, 7-Eleven, Taco Bell, KFC, and Avon Chipotle. To find out how much you could earn, click the link in the description to download Upside or scan the QR code on your screen and use our promo code PRIMEFIX to get an extra 25 cents back on every gallon on your first tank of gas. That's promo code PRIMEFIX for extra cash back. 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 blood on

Starting point is 00:06:50 the slats of the bed. Police say they confronted Gledhill's parents. Gledhill's mother stated that 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 only 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, quote, 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 faces a long list of felony charges, nine to be exact. Those charges include one count of felony first

Starting point is 00:07:42 degree murder, five counts of second degree felony obstruction of justice, one count of second degree felony possession with intent to distribute, one count of third degree felony desecration of a human body, and one count of third degree felony witness tampering. Police said they also found psychedelic mushrooms in separate packages in Glad Hills minivan, along with $206 in cash. The DA issued a statement saying, our hearts go out to the loved ones of Mr. Matthew Johnson, not only a father and son, but a member of the Utah National Guard. Our office will continue to work closely with investigators as we seek justice for Mr. Johnson. Sim Gill is the district attorney in Salt Lake County, Utah. Thank you so much for coming on. Can you tell us what the latest is in the search for Matthew Johnson's body? Yeah, this continues to be both an active prosecution as well as an ongoing active investigation.

Starting point is 00:08:37 You know, we filed some charges just recently, but we have not yet been able to locate the body. So that part of the work continues. And I'm sure, as you know, that by the virtue of simply filing criminal charges, our work doesn't stop. And there's still work that we continue to be engaged in. So there are elements that are related to this, where this is an ongoing active investigation working with our law enforcement partners, as well as a active prosecution in the charges that we have filed. You know, it sounds like she, according to the statement that you all released, that Jennifer Gladhill turned off her phone at some point the day that she's accused of moving

Starting point is 00:09:20 Matthew Johnson's body. And this is all according to the information you were given from the man she had the relationship with, the informant in this case. So her phone was off for a time there. So you weren't able to possibly track the phone through GPS. So how much of a challenge is that posing to locating this shallow grave where she's believed to have buried the body. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, there are elements from that data that we're still working through as part of the investigation, but that gives us certainly a range of movement. So you can think about the timelines that you have, when the phone is turned off, and

Starting point is 00:10:01 you can look at those aspects. So people are searching. We're trying to determine where that is going to be. But yeah, it does create a challenge. But there are also many in the community who may have seen her. So that continues to be an ongoing part of the investigation as well. You know, this is a very interesting case in the sense we laid out in our probable cause statement. You know, this starts out as an issue really with his military service that he's involved in. He was supposed to be going out there with the reserve, and he doesn't show up.

Starting point is 00:10:36 And his fellow soldiers are looking for him, and that's the first reach-in that we have. Then there is a missing person report that's generated as a result as well, subsequent to that. And as law enforcement start to work this together, simultaneously within that, there is a reach-in that occurs from this alleged informant, who also is having an alleged affair with the defendant in this matter, and that critical bits of information then start to be put together. And one of those was that, as we state in our charging document, that she says that she had removed the body, put it onto a cargo storage container, which she, one of those plastic ones that we see on the vehicles, and taken the body out of the house with that

Starting point is 00:11:26 and allegedly buried it up north, as you said. And so we were able to certainly follow those movements. And we have an area consistent with that that the law enforcement is looking at and working through, but that effort continues as we speak. And that could be a very large area, though. I mean, yeah, it is. You know, our geography is such that, you know, the Great Salt Lake is there and it is moving in that north direction there. There are sort of like wetlands area there.

Starting point is 00:11:55 So there it is kind of remote. But then similarly, within those time frames, we have access to our mountain ranges with lots of canyons as well. So, so, you know, we continue to hope for the recovery of their body. How important is that informant in this case? Because I just can't even imagine if that person had not called law enforcement and reported this where this case might stand, because there's, there's an alleged cleanup here. I mean, it sounds like as well that you believe that her parents participated in the cleanup. Well, you know, I think that what is interesting about this is that there are multiple threads that overlap. And what's

Starting point is 00:12:40 important about that is how they complement each other and corroborate each other. And that was really important as part of both the decision to file as well as through the investigative process. And certainly, the alleged informant there is very important in terms of the information that he was able to bring. And then subsequently, police investigations and prosecution efforts confirmed and corroborated, right? So it's an important piece, but it is a piece that is then complemented by the law enforcement effort. And as you start to weave these different threads together, you end up with a very strong strand that you can rely upon. And so that's really been what's been interesting about this. That is the information from law enforcement's efforts,

Starting point is 00:13:32 the on-site review of the alleged scene where that happened, the physical evidence that was gathered there, the statements that were made by the informant, the neighbors who were there, the other forensic evidence that was gathered as we stayed in our public statement that we saw that there was an allegation that he was shot in the head while he was asleep. The mattress was missing.

Starting point is 00:13:55 There was a brand new mattress. The initial forensic work that was done there saw that it was consistent with the corroboration of having cleaned the site with the bleach materials and the cleaning materials that were found and the state of the scene was found. Then the removal of the carpet there, which allowed us to find physical evidence, which was tested to corroborate that it was human blood that was down there. So these elements all sort of overlap and corroborated, as we state in our probable cause statement, to justify the filing of the charges that we did. Are you looking at the possibility of charging her parents? So, you know, as I've said, this continues to be an open and active investigation. Our initial documents that we filed identify the principal that we've identified and charged with

Starting point is 00:14:55 murder. But everyone and anyone who may be connected to that, we haven't yet finished all those reviews. So it's part of our ongoing active investigation. Do you feel if you don't find Matthew Johnson's body, do you feel that that will pose a challenge? Obviously, we have seen cases. I've covered cases where a conviction was won without a body. Right. And again, 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. 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.

Starting point is 00:15:57 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. You know, this is an incredibly sad case. This couple had children. Now their father is gone. Their mother is behind bars. And Matthew Johnson also had other family members who loved him. I know you had offered some words of sympathy and condolences for the Johnson family. So whenever this kind of an incident happens, which is a tragic loss of life, there are huge collateral consequences from these actions, whether we're talking about this case or any other similarly constituted case. It does. There's a ripple effect. There are many people who are impacted by it. Family members are impacted by it. Immediate family members, friends are impacted by it, and our community is impacted by it. Whenever there's a loss of life that happens, it impacts the fabric of our community. It impacts our sense of safety.

Starting point is 00:17:13 It impacts, it jars us. And there's a desire for a sense of accountability and justice that's there. So whenever crime happens, I have a saying, whenever crime happens, it impacts victims, offenders, and the communities in which crime occurs. And justice is trying to discover and address all those needs. And that's the challenge that we have in any crime. And it is even more pronounced when you have loss of life and you have children and that dependency that's there. And that's sort of the tragic wake of such conduct in our community. Well, it's a terribly sad case. D.A. Simgil, thank you so much for joining me. I appreciate it. It's my pleasure. Thank you. And that's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Ann Janette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time.

Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - 6 Chilling New Details Revealed As Utah Mom Charged in Husband’s Murder

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