A Utah woman was formally charged on Tuesday with killing her husband, who vanished last month and remains missing.
According to KUTV, the National Guard deemed Matthew Johnson AWOL when he did not show up for work on September 23. Johnson has never been found, but his wife, Jennifer Gledhill, allegedly told a man she was having an affair with that she fatally shot Johnson as he slept.
READ: Guardsman Missing Since Last Month Was Murdered by Wife as He Slept
Witnesses allegedly told police that they saw Johnson and Gledhill arguing on September 20. Johnson, who was last heard from on September 21, was reported missing by another guardsman on September 25. Cottonwood Heights police interviewed Gledhill three days later. Gledhill said at the time that she also wanted to report Johnson’s disappearance, according to KUTV.
Gledhill filed for divorce in July, and she filed for a protective order in mid-August. A judge dismissed that order less than a week before the fatal shooting. Gledhill and Johnson lived together despite the pending divorce.
Gledhill’s alleged beau went to police on September 28. He explained that he waited to alert authorities because he was not sure Gledhill was being honest, according to KUTV.
KSL reported that Gledhill said she put Johnson’s body in a minivan and buried him in a shallow grave somewhere north of their home. Her beau said she had bruises that were from moving the body.
Detectives said “significant cleanup” was done after the slaying, including carpet cleaning and wall bleaching. Gledhill allegedly told her beau that she removed multiple items from the home and destroyed them to conceal evidence of the slaying.
Johnson’s truck was found blocks from his home five days after he was reported missing. Despite this, his body remains unaccounted for.
“The State believes that defendant was very calculating in her crimes in that she arranged for the children to stay with her parents during the evening Matthew was killed,” charging documents detailed, per KSL. “Investigation further revealed that she asked her parents to keep the children for another day, presumably while she was cleaning up the crime scene and disposing of Matthew’s body.”
Gledhill was arrested on October 2. She is charged with first-degree murder, felony obstruction of justice, desecration of a human body, witness tampering, and drug charges. She remains jailed.
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