Trial delayed again for Cottonwood Heights woman accused of killing husband

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Jennifer Gledhill's trial on charges accusing her of killing her husband is delayed to December 2026.
• The trial for a man accused of killing his girlfriend's ex-boyfriend is moving forward, and was scheduled first with the same judge and prosecutor.
• The body of Gledhill's husband, Matthew Johnson, has not been found.

SALT LAKE CITY — Jennifer Gledhill arrived in a Salt Lake courtroom Thursday in an orange jumpsuit and stood with her attorney while her trial was delayed again.

Now the woman is scheduled for a seven-day trial beginning Dec. 7.

Gledhill is accused of killing her husband, Matthew Johnson, 51, whose body has not been found. Johnson was a member of the U.S. military Special Operations Unit. The Utah National Guard contacted police on Sept. 25, 2024, to report that Johnson had not shown up to work. Gledhill reported her husband missing three days later and said she had not seen him in a week.

A man with whom she was having an affair contacted police after she told him she had shot and killed her husband in his sleep, charging documents allege.

When detectives obtained a warrant and searched the home, they reported that the wall behind the master bed had been recently cleaned with bleach and there were several reddish-brown spots on the walls, bedframe and blinds, according to court documents. The carpet below the bed tested positive for blood.

Gledhill filed for divorce in July and asked for a protective order on Aug. 21, 2024.

The 43-year-old Cottonwood Heights woman is charged with murder, a first-degree felony; five counts of obstruction of justice and drug possession with intent to distribute, second-degree felonies; plus abuse or desecration of a dead body and witness tampering, third-degree felonies.

After waiving her right to a preliminary hearing, Gledhill pleaded not guilty and a trial was scheduled about a month later for December 2025. In a hearing on Nov. 6, 2025, attorneys said they were not ready for the trial and it was moved to June.

On Thursday, the attorneys who agreed to delay the trial did not say it was because they weren't prepared, but instead that another scheduled trial was moving forward and took priority.

Attorneys said the trial for Jayton Trevor Merrill, the man scheduled first for those June trial dates before 3rd District Judge Adam Mow, was moving forward. Gledhill's trial was scheduled as a second-place setting and could have proceeded if the other case had been resolved or had to be delayed.

The prosecutor, Jamie Whiteway, is assigned to both cases and the attorneys said she would not be able to prepare for two murder trials in case Merrill's trial is canceled with later notice.

Merrill is charged with killing his girlfriend's former boyfriend and is also in custody.

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.

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Emily Ashcraft

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Emily Ashcraft is a reporter for KSL. She covers issues in state courts, health and religion. In her spare time, Emily enjoys crafting, cycling and raising chickens.