According to authorities, on the night of September 22, 2024, in Cottonwood Heights, Utah, 42-year-old Jennifer Gledhill showed up at the home of the man she was having an affair with and made a shocking admission: she had killed her husband, Utah National Guardsman Matthew Johnson.

Two nights earlier, prosecutors say, Johnson confronted his wife about the affair. Later that same night, after he had gone to bed, Gledhill allegedly took his 9-mm handgun and shot him in the head. Investigators say she then packed his body into a rooftop cargo carrier, loaded it into her minivan, and buried him in a shallow grave north of their home.

At first, her lover didn’t know what to believe. But when he called her days later, rattled by what she’d told him, he recorded her response. On the tape, she can be heard saying, almost casually: “Wow, if you think I could even hurt a fly. Like he just, he is, he’s not a person. He wasn’t a person anymore. He wasn’t Matt.”

Disturbed by her words, the man went to police. He handed over screenshots of texts and the recordings of their calls. On October 2, police arrested Gledhill on suspicion of first-degree murder. Matthew Johnson’s body has never been recovered. But during a February 28 court hearing, Salt Lake County Deputy District Attorney Emily Paulos told the judge that the absence of remains does not mean Johnson is missing. “Matthew Johnson was murdered by the defendant,” she said.

Gledhill, who has pleaded not guilty, is being held without bail in the Salt Lake County Jail. Her trial is scheduled for December 2025.

The couple’s marriage had been unraveling for some time. Friends describe Johnson as a devoted father of three children, all under the age of 13. But they also recall how difficult his relationship with Gledhill had become. She had sought multiple protective orders against him, though courts repeatedly denied her petitions. In at least one instance, a judge determined she was the “instigator” of their conflict.

Friends of Johnson say the strain was wearing him down. In the weeks before his death, he often slept at a National Guard facility, telling confidants he was worried about his safety. Retired Guardsman Kevin Thompson, one of Johnson’s closest friends, said Johnson had recently resolved to move forward with a divorce. “He had really come to the conclusion that it needs to happen, and it is time to move on,” Thompson recalled.

When investigators searched the couple’s home through blood on the carpet under the bed as well as signs that a wall had been scrubbed with bleach. Gledhill’s parents, Thomas and Rosalie, were later arrested on suspicion of obstruction of justice, accused of helping clean up the scene.

More than a hundred soldiers from Johnson’s unit have joined the search for his remains, scouring areas where GPS data reportedly placed Gledhill in the hours after the killing. He said, “We’re all combat veterans. We’ve seen a lot. But we don’t want to leave a friend behind.”