A Utah woman was arrested after unknowingly telling an informant she had fatally shot her estranged husband in the head in bed, then buried him in a shallow grave.
Jennifer Gledhill, 41, was arrested Wednesday for investigation of murder and obstruction of justice, according to KSL-TV, but would not tell police where she’d hid the body. National guardsman Matthew Johnson, 51, has not been heard from since Sept. 20, did not show up at work three days later, and is presumed dead by authorities. Gledhill remained jailed Thursday without bond.
The couple were in the middle of a contentious divorce and custody battle, according to court records — exiting a marriage that court commissioner Russell Minas said should have ended much sooner. Gledhill had obtained a temporary restraining order against Johnson, but Minas turned down her request for a permanent order one day before the shooting, citing their mutual dysfunction and finding that no abuse had occurred.
“The conduct of the parties over the past several months is representative of a highly dysfunctional marriage bringing out the worst in the parties — clearly suggestive that an action for divorce should have been filed long before reaching the current state of affairs,” Minas wrote in rejecting Gledhill’s petition for a permanent restraining order.
After she allegedly shot Johnson, Gledhill bought a new mattress, cleaned up the scene and reported her husband missing. After the informant’s report, investigators found a bloodstain on the carpet under the master bed and blood on the frame, along with evidence that “significant cleanup had taken place after this crime had occurred, including bleaching walls, and using carpet cleaning supplies,” stated an affidavit obtained by Utah news outlet the Gephardt Daily.
With News Wire Services
