A wealthy Utah mother accused of murdering her husband after revealing their affair has complained that the justice system is ruining her life.
Jennifer Gledhill, 41, allegedly shot her husband Matthew Johnson at his million-dollar Cottonwood Heights home in September after a night of sex with whiskey.
The accused murderer He stood next to his lawyer Friday as he angrily accused a judge of trying to “set fire to everything he loves” by refusing to allow him to contact his three children.
“My client has already lost his freedom at this point,” Gledhill’s attorney said.
“It seems like the state and the city, the law enforcement agency that investigated this, are trying to set fire to everything my client loves.”
Jennifer Gledhill, 41, is accused of shooting and killing her husband Matthew Johnson in their million-dollar home. Now he has complained that the legal system has “blown up his life” by refusing to allow him to contact the children whose father he allegedly murdered.
She allegedly buried Johnson in a shallow grave after her parents helped her clean up the scene, and police had yet to discover her body.
Gledhill says he should be allowed to contact his children because they are not victims in the case, Fox13 reported.
The alleged killer, who stared throughout Friday’s hearing, argued that a previous no-contact order was “improperly imposed and permitted.”
Judge Adam Mow agreed and overturned it, but immediately imposed a different order that continues to ban Gledhill from contacting his children, who are 11, 7 and 5.
Jennifer Gledhill has not yet confessed to killing her husband Matthew Johnson
Thomas Gledhill, 71, and Rosalie Christianson Gledhill, 67, have been arrested for claiming they helped their daughter cover up her husband’s murder.
Mow said he may modify the order as the case progresses.
Last week, police revealed that witnesses saw Gledhill’s parents, Thomas and Rosalie Gledhill, cleaning their house for five hours after the alleged murder, and her mother was suspected of buying a new mattress for her daughter.
Detectives believe Johnson was murdered on the old mattress, which subsequently disappeared and has not been found. Blood stains were reportedly found under Gledhill’s bed when a search warrant was executed on September 28.
Thomas and Rosalie had been caring for Gledhill and Johnson’s children, and social services have not yet said where the youngsters are now staying.
Police allege that Gledhill shot her husband, Matthew Johnson, a member of the National Guard, in the head last month while he slept at their spacious property in Cottonwood.
Johnson was reported missing on September 23, and Gledhill was arrested after her unnamed lover told police she had told him about her husband’s murder.
Gledhill was booked into the Salt Lake County Jail last week for murder and obstruction of justice after her husband disappeared.
In a police interview after his arrest on October 3, Gledhill claimed to have separated from Johnson, only to spend the night of September 20 talking and drinking liquor with him.
Gledhill said they had sex that night, and “reported (to the officer) that due to whiskey intoxication she was having difficulty remembering the events that took place after she and Matthew had sex,” the search warrant said.
Gledhill said Johnson “got upset” during their evening together, but he couldn’t remember why.
But she continued to offer conflicting excuses for the bruises found on her body, it is claimed.
Gledhill, 41, allegedly admitted to shooting her husband in the head while he slept in their million-dollar Cottonwood Heights home last month.
Gledhill told police Johnson “punched her several times” with a closed fist, leaving her bruised on her arms, hands, face and legs.
Her secret lover, whose name has not been revealed, says Jennifer told her she got the bruises “from moving Matthew’s body and cleaning up the mess in the house.”
The man contacted police after Gledhill allegedly confessed to the murder, leading to his arrest.
When asked by a police officer why she did not report her husband’s alleged domestic excuse, Gledhill claimed to have “made a deal” with him.
He is said to have had a “long history of calling the police for non-criminal altercations.”
Matthew Johnson is said to have been shot in the head while he slept. His wife allegedly confessed to a friend that she had dumped his body in a shallow grave.
Gledhill told police they had agreed that he would return to work at Camp Williams State Military Reservation the night after they had sex.
The alleged killer says the first she knew about Johnson’s disappearance was a message from her co-workers saying she hadn’t arrived at work.
But his lover offered an alternative version of events.
He claims Gledhill told him he had shot Johnson in the head while he was sleeping.
He is then said to have put her body in a shop bin in the attic, before sliding it down the stairs to the back of his minivan.
Gledhill allegedly smashed Johnson’s phone and drove his truck to another area of his property before driving his body north and burning it in a shallow grave.