Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Shocking New Twist in Utah National Guardsman's Murder

Episode Date: October 29, 2024

Jennifer Gledhill is charged with murdering her husband, Matt Johnson, in their Cottonwood Heights home last month but the search continues for his body. Now Gledhill's parents, Tom and Rosalie Gledhill, are being held on obstruction of justice charges in connection to Johnson's murder. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy looks at what Gledhill's parents are accused of doing in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Get 50% off of confidential background reports at https://www.truthfinder.com/lccrimefix and access information about almost anyone!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. The parents of a Utah mother charged with murdering her estranged husband are now in jail, accused of helping her cover up the crime. I'll tell you what police say Jennifer Gladhill's parents did and why they may not be getting out of jail anytime soon. Welcome to Crime Fix, I'm Anjanette Levy. I've been telling you about Jennifer Gledhill, the Utah mom accused of murdering her husband, Matt Johnson, and then hiding his body somewhere in Utah, north of Salt Lake City. Police have still not found Johnson's body.

Jennifer Gledhill appeared in court last week. Good morning, ma'am. Is your name Jennifer Gledhill? Yes, it is. There are some issues we need to discuss. Number one is that the state is requesting a pretrial protective order. The protected parties, in this case, there are three protected parties, ma'am, so I'm going to read their names and then ask if you know them. Do you know all three of those individuals, ma'am? Yes. And Ms. Argyle, can I ask the state, what's the basis for the protective order? They're not listed, those individuals are not listed as alleged victims. Children of the victim and the defendant, and there is some

concern about obstruction that has been alleged to have already occurred and involvement with the children specifically. They will be likely witnesses in this matter. Ms. Gledhill, for now, and until Judge Mao tells you something differently, ma'am, I am going to order that you have no contact with Johnson. So ma'am, that means no in-person, no telephonic, no electronic contact. Ma'am, if you're released, you may not go near their residence school. You may not have anyone else contact them on your behalf, and ma'am, while this order is in effect, you may not possess a weapon or ammunition. Ms. Gledhill, do you understand everything I just told you? Yes. All right, I'm going to sign this

order right now. A copy will be served upon you at the jail. Ma'am, as I mentioned, this is a temporary order and it's subject to review by Judge Mao. Your attorney can certainly bring this up at the next hearing. But until that happens, ma'am, it is the court order that you not have contact with those individuals. Okay. Police said they found out about Jennifer Gledhill murdering Matt Johnson when an informant called them. That informant turned out to be a man Gledhill had been involved with, and he told police that she confessed to shooting and killing Johnson as he slept in their bed. And then she moved his body in a container in her minivan and buried him somewhere in a shallow grave. The informant told police that Gledhill said

she and Johnson had argued after he confronted her about having a relationship with another man. I spoke with Salt Lake County DA Sim Gill about the case. I think that what is interesting about this is that there are multiple threads that overlap. And what's 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, 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 stated 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. 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. Now there's a new twist, and it's not completely unexpected. Jennifer Gledhill's parents, Tom and Rosalie Gledhill, have been charged with several counts of obstruction of justice. Her father, Tom Gledhill, is accused of lying to detectives and he's accused of helping her order a new mattress to replace the bloody one the detectives claim Matt Johnson was shot on as he slept. An affidavit says, on September 26, 2024, the suspect messaged the arrested person that the mattress be delivered to the AP's address. On September 26, 2024, the AP's cell phone data showed the AP

texted the suspect the mattress was delivered. The suspect requested the mattress be delivered to the AP's residence. The suspect's cell phone message showed she would pick up the mattress from the AP. On the outside, the Johnson and Gledhills look like the picture-perfect family, but police say they were not. So I decided to search them on Truthfinder to see what I would find. Truthfinder.com is one of the largest public record search services. I put in Rosalie Gledhill's name and found that she had a speeding ticket and another ticket for driving with an expired license. Her husband, Tom, did not show any criminal or traffic records.

They were just charged with obstruction of justice, so that's not going to show up just yet. What's really great about Truthfinder, it will show you past and current addresses, social media accounts, possible relatives, and phone numbers of the people you search. And also, it's going to show you the sex offenders who live in your neighborhood. You should try it. And right now, I have a great deal for you. You can get 50% off of confidential background reports. Just log on to www.truthfinder.com slash LC crime fix and start accessing information about almost anyone.

Here's Sergeant Gary Young of the Cottonwood Heights Police Department. And we saw it like over 25 active warrants for cell phone data, for text, for information that we could exploit or find evidence from. And we learned that they were there longer than they admitted. And neighbors observed some cleaning going on. And they were there for many hours. A key piece of evidence was the the mattress and we learned that Mr. Gledhill had purchased a brand new mattress for his daughter. These statements, you know, hindered our investigation initially and had they had some full disclosure at the time or, you know, if they were honest then we would have, you know, had more evidence to start. But now we're playing catch up.

The affidavit goes on to say the AP was asked if he was at his daughter's residence, 7308 South Horizon Circle, cleaning. The AP denied of any cleaning and stated he was there less than an hour. The AP stated when asked about the master bedroom, he stated he did not go in where the incident happened. Witnesses who live nearby stated they had observed the AP in the home cleaning. The witnesses stated the AP was there for over five hours. Now, these are the reasons police say they charged Tom Gledhill with obstruction for destroying evidence and lying about what he did to clean. So what about his wife, Rosalie? An affidavit says the AP was asked if

she was at her daughter's residence. Again, 7308 South Horizon Circle Cleaning. The AP admitted she was there at the home only to pick up clothing, but denied cleaning. The AP stated she was there for less than an hour. Witnesses who live nearby stated they had observed the AP in the home cleaning. The witnesses stated the AP was there for over five hours. Detectives say there's more. They say they seized Rosalie Gledhill's phone and something happened when they tried to look at the data. Detectives turned the cell phone's digital data on.

At that time, the AP's cell phone was remotely reset and information was lost. Through training and experience, the owner of the cell phone can reset slash erase information remotely from the cell phone. This is a tactic used by the suspects to stop and or hinder law enforcement's investigation. Police say Rosalie lied about how long she was at her daughter's home on September 24th. They say she also lied about cleaning and also helped buy that new mattress. Police are asking that both Rosalie and Tom Gledhill be held without bail. Sadly, police have still not found Matt Johnson's body. We have been looking every day, those diligent efforts. I want to thank our partners in law enforcement in Weber County and Davis County, Salt Lake County and the local law enforcement there in Farmington and Farmington Bay and Ogden Bay area.

And the Utah National Guard has been assisting. We have been looking and we are hoping to have some positive outcome. We will continue our efforts in that search until weather prevents us. How frustrating has that been to not be able to locate the body? Extremely. You know, it's a needle in the haystack and we have a general description of north of Salt Lake County and the likely places we're looking, you know, have not been very fruitful. We've had drones and cadaver dogs and searchers on foot looking at the more likely places. And we've been stumped. So it is frustrating for our detectives to go out.

They put on waders. They crawl through culverts. You know, they are looking diligently and we're unable to find his shallow grave. And even more sad, Matt Johnson and Jennifer Gledhill's children are not with family right now. Well, they are in state's custody and they are being well taken care of. Hearts out to the children. They're still attending school, but there's a lot of unknowns in their life with their mother and their father, a victim of the worst case of domestic violence. And their future is uncertain, but they're being cared for

by the state. I want to bring in Skye Lozaro. She's a defense attorney based in the Salt Lake City area. Skye, this case gets more and more interesting. It's very sad. Your thoughts on the parents now of Jennifer Gladhill being charged with obstruction? Well, first of all, they've been arrested. They haven't been charged. I looked this morning and I didn't see any formal charges that had been brought against them as of yet. Really sad, I think, across the board for this entire family, obviously, if what they're alleging is true, although as we all know, murder without a body gets a little bit difficult sometimes. But, you know, given what the neighbors have said about, you know, the parents being over there cleaning,

if everything, you know, lines up the way that they think, I think really tragic for probably a really good family to start with. Jennifer Gladhill, you know, she was arrested, I guess, at first and held on suspicion of murder and abuse of a corpse, things of that nature. She now has been formally charged and police are still looking for Matt Johnson's body. They still, as you mentioned, have not found his body. So how difficult is that in Utah to go forward with a case? I mean, they're still searching, but they're saying they have this informant and that she confessed to the informant, this man that she was having a relationship with, that she did this and that she moved his body and that her cell phone was off for a certain period of time, um, over a time period where they think she was moving the bodies, but how difficult is it going to be if they, if they don't find his body? You know, I don't know in the end, if that really is going to matter. I mean, a lot of this evidence is circumstantial. I find it hard to believe that someone of her size could move a full-grown man's dead body by herself. Just,

you know, in my experience in this line of work, you know, this case is going to pivot on circumstantial evidence. They do have an informant. We don't know a lot about him. You know, there's some suspicious behavior. If I remember right in the probable cause statement, I think they ping her phone or they put her car up north where she said that she put the body. So, you know, I think there's, there's a lot of bad facts for her here in this. And, you know, if it's one of those cases that doesn't look like it's one you can beat some, you know, maybe, maybe you cooperate and tell them where it is because that may get you some goodwill with the state. Let's go back to the parents. Um, as you pointed out, yes, the parents they're being held on these obstruction

charges, um, they haven't been formally charged, um, we believe the DA will move forward with that, but they're asking that the parents not be released on bail because they believe the police believe they may further obstruct the investigation. Do you believe maybe that's a way for the parents to maybe pressure the parents to give up what they know? We already have, as you say, some bad facts regarding the parents. We have dad telling the police allegedly, well, I didn't go in the room where the incident happened. We have the neighbors, as you mentioned, saying, look, I saw them over there cleaning for like five hours, but the parents say they were there for an hour. There are apparently phone records

showing them talking about the new mattress. There's blood underneath the bed, on the slats of the bed. I mean, there's a lot there to work with so do you think this is a way to get the parents to maybe tell what they know I think so when I read that they'd been arrested just when it came across on the news ticker that was my first thought is they're gonna put these really nice people you know in. I lived in Cottonwood Heights. I raised my son up there. So this isn't too far from, you know, my old neighborhood. It's a very nice neighborhood. You know, for the most part, these aren't people who are used to having brushes with the law. They're now being held in jail with no bail. My first thought was when I saw that they'd been

arrested, that this is a way to leverage them to cooperate in the investigation, especially where they're holding them without the possibility of bail at this point, which they can do in Utah. I mean, we see this over and over. We reformed our bail statute to get away from monetary bail. And the outcome of that was, well, now we can hold your client with substantial evidence and give them no bail so so on obstruction charges they can hold people without bail i mean that's that seems really

that that seems extreme to me uh to be able to hold somebody without bail on an obstruction charge i mean maybe it's not in a homicide case, but, you know, we're talking about buying a mattress, doing some cleaning. I mean, these are all serious, serious things, but the homicide charge is really obviously the most serious charge. Right. I agree with you. The fallout of the change in the bail statute, unfortunately, has been this. You know, you have a constitutional right to bail except for in certain circumstances. And, you know, they have to show that there's either substantial evidence to support the charges, felony charges, or that you're a flight risk or a danger to flee. Now, you know, I don't know if there's further

obstruction that can go on. I think that argument falls a little bit flat unless they, you know, what are going to dig the body up and move it again. They're going to have people following them. So I don't think there's a risk that that's going to happen. But, you know, my guess is, is there, you know, and I read the affidavit to hold them. You know, they're relying on there being substantial evidence that they helped her clean up after this homicide, which I agree with you, I think is extremely punitive and problematic. But unfortunately, it's the world we're stuck in out here what's the reaction to this case been out there we know that matt johnson was a well-respected highly regarded member of the utah national guard and we have his wife they were estranged at the

time now accused and charged with murdering him they had children obviously the children now are in the custody of the state so i mean this is a really awful sad case and as you mentioned you know this is in a a nice neighborhood you know bad things can happen in nice neighborhoods though we all know that being in the business that you and i are in so what's what's the general reaction been to this out there in the Salt Lake area? Yeah, I think it's like any of these cases when these happen to, you know, good families or nice neighborhoods, it's a little bit of shock. You run into people, oh, I went to school with her. I can't believe this happened. This is crazy. I think it's a lot of shock and disbelief

as far as kind of what I hear, kind of the reaction on the street. And even from the people that knew them, you know, I've run into a few people just in passing who want to talk to me because I, you know, talk to you guys a lot and things like that about it. And, you know, they're really, I don't think anyone ever saw this coming. You know, there's certain cases where you read about it and you're like, well, okay, I can see that happening. I don't think this was one of them. So I think it's a lot of sadness for the family and a lot of shock and kind of disbelief that, you know, this actually happened. It's a really sad case and we'll be continuing to keep an eye on it. Skyla Zorro, thank you so much for coming on. I appreciate it.

Yeah, thanks for having me as always. 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.