June 7, 2025 • 45 mins
Police allege Matthew Johnson, whose body has not been founds, was killed by his wife. Now new information, available through unsealed search warrants, show Jennifer Gledhill asked her father for $13,000 just days before the suspected murder. It's not known what the money was for. Thomas Gledhill, according to court documents, used Venmo to transfer $1000 to his daughter the same day as the request.
Matthew Johnson serves in the military as a National Guardsman in the Special Ops Unit. He takes a brief leave of absence as the children return to school. On the day Johnson is set to return to work, his wife, Jennifer Gledhill, reports him missing. She tells police he should have been home from base hours earlier, but his phone is going straight to voicemail. It turns out Johnson never showed up to work that morning. Jennifer says she last saw him driving away from their home.
The last time anyone other than Jennifer saw Johnson was three days before he was reported missing, at a neighborhood gas station. Neighbors recall seeing his truck and hearing him and Gledhill arguing late into the night.
The next day, Johnson’s communication, even with his children, stopped entirely. As police search for him, they find his truck ten days later, parked less than a mile from a million-dollar home.
The truck is locked and has gas in the tank. Nothing appears out of place inside, but none of Johnson’s belongings are found. Investigators begin processing the truck for evidence. Neighbors report last seeing the truck in his driveway the day he disappeared.
During the investigation, police discover that Johnson and Gledhill were in the midst of a contentious divorce after ten years of marriage. Gledhill initiated the split in July, with proceedings set to be finalized by the end of October.
She claims she is afraid of Johnson and says he had been violent toward her in the past. Cottonwood Heights police had visited the family’s home several times for domestic disputes.
A temporary restraining order was issued, but Gledhill needed to prove abuse for a permanent one. She provided video and text messages as evidence in her fight for the permanent order. One video showed Johnson calmly cleaning up broken glass from a family photo.
Court Commissioner Russell Minas denied the permanent order, ruling there was no evidence of abuse. He described the relationship as highly dysfunctional, with both parties equally confrontational, and noted that Gledhill did not seem afraid of Johnson. The commissioner suggested the restraining order request was a litigation tactic in the ongoing divorce.
Five days after Johnson was reported missing, Cottonwood Heights police received a call from one of Gledhill’s friends.
The friend claimed that Gledhill had called them before reporting Johnson missing, offering a very different story. According to the friend, Gledhill said she killed her husband and disposed of his body.
Joining Nancy Grace today:
- Sgt. Gary Young - Cottonwood Heights Police Department
- Ray Guidice - Atlanta Defense Attorney
- Dr. Chloe Carmichael – Clinical Psychologist, Women’s Health Magazine Advisory Board;’ Author: ‘Nervous Energy: Harness The Power of Your Anxiety;’ X: @DrChloe
- Toby Wolson – Forensic Consultant Specializing in DNA, Serology, and Bloodstain Pattern Analysis; Author: "Handbook of Bloodstain Pattern Analysis." out December 13
- Jennifer Dzikowski - CrimeOnline Investigative Reporter
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Remember that gorgeous young mom whose husband goes missing and
then she runs out while her husband is missing and
buys a new bed. I'm talking about the Utah mom
Jennifer Gludhel in the last days another bombshell. I'm Nancy Grace.
This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us.
(00:29):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Not only did.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Utah mom Jennifer Gludhell rush out and buy a brand
new mattress after her husband goes missing, she also demanded
her dad give for thirteen thousand dollars.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Why that's right.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Jennifer Gludhill demands thirteen thousand dollars from her dad just
days before she allegedly murders her National guardsman husband. We
also learned that at this hour there's another courtroom battle
brewing over of course, life insurance. But first let's talk
(01:10):
about the thirteen thousand dollars demand. This is what we're
learning from court documents we've just obtained. A Utah mom
texts her dad claiming she needed thousands of dollars in
the days just before her husband goes missing. Air Quota
air quote quote, I need thirteen thousand dollars by Friday Okay,
(01:35):
now we're learning this from a formerly sealed search warrant
in court documents. Gladhill sends the message to her dad,
Thomas ray Gluedhill, about seventy two hours before investigators think
she murdered her husband, Matthew Johnson, a National Guardsman. They
also think she murdered him in the master bedroom of
(01:59):
their cat Inwood Heights home.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Now where is that?
Speaker 2 (02:02):
That's about ten or twelve miles outside of Salt Lake City.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Hence they buying a new mattress.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Okay, before I get into the life insurance brew Haha,
what do we know about Thomas ray Glaedhill's disappearance?
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Trouble is unfolding in the quiet suburbs of Salt Lake City.
US National Guard soldier Matthew Johnson hasn't shown up for
work and his kids haven't heard from him for days.
Where is Matthew Johnson?
Speaker 4 (02:35):
The day Matthew Johnson is set to return to work,
Jennifer Gledhill reports her husband missing. He should have been
home from base hours ago, and his phone is going
straight to voicemail. As it turns out, Johnson never showed
up to work that morning either. Jennifer says she last
saw her husband pulling out of the driveway.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Neighbors confirm they saw the husband's truck in the driveway.
There's a lot of evidence in this case, but bottom line,
where is this husband?
Speaker 1 (03:06):
A father, a special ops officer?
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Joining me an All Star panel to make sense of
what we know right now he is still missing again
with me an All Star panel. But first I want
to go straight out to Jennifer Tokowski joining us investigative reporter.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Jennifer, thank you for being with us.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
This is some ritzy area where he goes missing. Correct,
tell me about it.
Speaker 5 (03:29):
Cottonwood Heights, Utah, is located just about sixteen miles away
from Salt Lake City. They lived in an extremely wealthy neighborhood,
a million dollar homes. It's very uppity. I mean something
where somewhere that you would never expect something like what
(03:49):
is unfolding to happen.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
There is a massive search for the victim in this case.
Matthew Johnson. Of course, when you've got a dad with
a huge house, note three children, and every picture I
see of them, they're all wearing designer clothes, They're driving
fancy cars, the whole shebang. Joining me, Raymond Judice, high
profile lawyer out of the Atlanta jurisdiction Raymond. Very often
(04:16):
when a guy goes missing like this, you know, they say, well.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
I'm going to go get a loaf of bread, and
they never come back. They just start a new life.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
And this guy is a special ops Okay, he knows
how to disappear.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
Maybe he just got sick of her and paying for
that huge If you've seen the house, it's.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Huge, and they've got that. He's got the wife, the
designer clothes, the fancy cars, the pool, the works, and
you know, sometimes people just take a power and leave Nancy.
Speaker 6 (04:48):
Back in the seventies is a book called Run Rabbit Run,
and that was exactly the premise. Too much pressure, too
many car notes, too much house notes, taxes, insurance, go
to work every day, childwood on the weekend, taking the
kids to soccer. And this guy just says that's enough, Hey.
Speaker 7 (05:04):
I'll be back.
Speaker 6 (05:05):
As you said, I'm going to go to them to
the quickie market and get a loaf of bread.
Speaker 7 (05:09):
And he just keeps running.
Speaker 6 (05:11):
That's not unusual. It's not unusual on you know, post COVID.
I think we all look back on the pressures that
were all under to obtain, you know, the brass ring
of life, when maybe living simply might be better.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
You know. Sergeant Gary Young is joining us special guest
today out of Cottonwood Heights, Utah. He is a sergeant
there in the Cottonwood Heights Police Department.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Sergeant Young, I've got so many questions for you.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
But when we're saying deadbeat dad, I mean I'd be
running a one hundred and fifty person arraignment calendar, all felonies,
of course.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
And there would be a huge throng of people in
the hall. Who were they? They would be the.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Second wave of defendants coming in for deadbeat Dad. There'll
be just as many of them as there were of
criminal defendants, criminals, murders, rapists, child molester's, artists, the works,
drug lords. I'm like, who are those guys? Are they
on the calendar? If so, they need to be in
the courtroom. I'm going to bond forfeit them. And they're like, no, no, no,
(06:16):
they're all the deadbeat dads. So when you get a
dad that goes missing, my first thought would be dead
beat Agree or disagree?
Speaker 8 (06:27):
Sergeant Yeah, I would, I would. I would think that
that would be the easiest explanation. If you know, if
someone just disappeared off the radar, you know, are they
trying to escape something, are they having a stressful life?
Speaker 7 (06:38):
Are they going to go commit suicide?
Speaker 8 (06:39):
You know, who knows what would lead someone to go
off the radar and originally on.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Hold on, Sergeant Gary Young, Wait a minute, suicide, Wait
a minute. I find it much more often that the
deadbeat dad leaves for his younger girlfriend. Okay, he's going
to commit suicide. He's dumping the family and the wife
and the house and the payment and the cars and
(07:07):
the college funds and the braces and the whole shebang
from his thing. That is what I would immediately think.
I would immediately think, oh, he's killed himself. Men leave
home every day, thousands of them a day, and typically, yeah,
I know, women leave too, but typically the woman is
(07:27):
left behind to raise the children, pay the bills, and
somehow cobble it all back together again. So in this case,
when you first hear he's gone, did you immediately think.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Suicide, left the country. What was your immediate thought?
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Did you ever even consider he just got tired of
paying all the bills?
Speaker 8 (07:51):
My original thought was that these has taking a break.
I'm not sure how much stress he's going under. I
thought he was just kind of going off the radar
and we'd find him coming back into few days, you know,
a week at the most that he would.
Speaker 7 (08:02):
Be coming back.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Okay, Sergeant, you do know I'm a crime victim and
a former felony prosecutor and a fed before that, I'm
on your side.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Okay, but here comes the rest of that sentence, taking
a break?
Speaker 2 (08:22):
How what huh? Taking a break from your family? What
does take a break mean? Sergeant Gary Young?
Speaker 8 (08:32):
Well, in your context, I was saying escaping his situation.
That's what I referred to as taking a break. I
assumed that we would find him, you know, returning back
home again. You indicated that he's he's escaping or felony abandonment.
There were no indications that he was that type of
person he would just abandon his family. Now he's missing.
(08:55):
He was reported as missing, and you know, we put
out a press at least asking for the public's helped
identify him, look for his truck.
Speaker 7 (09:04):
You know, if anyone has contact with him.
Speaker 8 (09:06):
To please have him return so we could close out
the missing persons and reunite him with his family. To
tell you the truth, I didn't think about felling abandonment
when we took this call.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
You know, I'm glad to hear what you just said.
Sergeant Gary Young is a special guest with us today.
He is a sergeant in the Cottonwood Heights PD. So
you're telling me he had no history of taking breaks,
as you euphemistically put it, No history of that, no
history of not supporting his children ever, nothing like that
(09:39):
in this guy's history. Matthew Johnson correct, correct, Okay, that
puts things in an entirely different light.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Listen to this.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
As Cottonwood Heids Police continue their exhaustive search for Matthew Johnson,
a call goes out for the public's help in finding
not only Matthew Johnson, but his truck. Matthew is just
I'm just standing five foot nine, weigh one hundred and
seventy eight pounds. He has blue eyes and a shaped head.
Johnson drives a maroon dodged fifteen hundred pickup.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Okay, what does he need a fifteen hundred, Sergeant Young, Well.
Speaker 8 (10:14):
We're in a I have a pickup truck myself. We're
in we're in the West and pickup trucks are a
very good utility vehicle. You can go camping with them,
you can drive in luxury. You know, they seat five
to six people, and they're pretty decent trucks. And when
you think about pickups, the fifteen hundred is the lower
(10:35):
end of the pickup class.
Speaker 7 (10:38):
So I think it's a good family vehicle.
Speaker 8 (10:41):
It's just what a you know, a strapping young man
like Matthew Johnson would drive, would be a pickup truck.
That's my deal truck.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
I was just wondering because I thought a Dodge fifteen
hundred was heavy duty. He is special What exactly does
that mean in this scenario?
Speaker 1 (11:07):
Why was he special ops? What does that entail for him?
Speaker 8 (11:09):
He received training and I guess he was deployed, you know,
several times overseas on the warrant.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Terror Sergeant Young question, what did you put in your
plate to the public.
Speaker 8 (11:18):
I asked our local affiliates in the press if they
would broadcast out that we're looking for a missing person
for Matthew Johnson. I put out his description where he's
lasting at the time frame, and then what you know,
a recent photo and his picture of his truck, and
then asked for the public's assistance. If they've seen him
(11:39):
or his truck, or maybe he has a friend that
is in contact with them, they will be able to
come forward. And we would like to resolve that missing persons,
would like to make it a found person case.
Speaker 7 (11:49):
And so that's the information we put out.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Crime Stories with Nancy Gray. Within seventy two hours before
Jennifer Gluedhill's husband vanishes into thin air, she texts her
dad demanding thirteen thousand dollars. No explanation, just I need
thirteen thousand dollars. Okay, But that's not all. A new
(12:22):
question surfaces in the Jennifer Glaedhill case. What happens to
the husband's life insurance payout? Because Gladhill is the sole
beneficiary of a half a million dollar Prudential life insurance
policy Matthew took out with her under suspicion of her
husband's death. Nobody yet Prudential is asking the court for
(12:47):
guidance on who should get the money. Well, you know,
before we get to the money, can we talk about
the missing husband. When was the last time this loving
husband and father had been seen live?
Speaker 9 (13:00):
Listen the last time Matthew Johnson is seen by someone
other than Jennifer Gledhill is three days before he's reported
missing at a neighborhood gas station. Neighbors say they remember
seeing Johnson's truck in the driveway. The next day, Johnson's communications,
even with his children stop entirely.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
We're hearing a.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
Lot about the truck. Isn't it true, Sergeant Gary Young,
that when you're looking for a missing person, you're also
looking for their vehicle.
Speaker 8 (13:25):
Yes, no, I'm saying, yes, that's how they get to
and from work. They go about their daily lives and
pursuits as they drive their personal vehicle, and so ideally
he would be with his vehicle.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
We just saw the same scenario in the case of
two missing moms on their way to take children to
a birthday party.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
There was an all out search for.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Them until their vehicle was found on a remote country
road with a pool of blood nearby a glass from
the window. Their bodies later found stuffed into an ice
chest and buried in a cow pasture, deep deeply buried
and then covered with dirt and chunks of cement. What
crack that case? The discovery of the car in this case.
Speaker 4 (14:15):
Listen ten days after Matthew Johnson is reported missing. His
truck is finally recovered. It's parked on the street, not
even a mile from his million dollar home. The truck
is locked with gas in the tank. Inside the truck,
nothing appears out of the ordinary, but cops do not
find any more of Matthew's belongings. Investigators begin processing the
(14:35):
truck for any evidence that would explain what happened to Johnson.
Neighbors say they last saw the truck on the day
Johnson went missing.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
Very curious none of his belongings in his truck.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
Wouldn't you expect something?
Speaker 2 (14:49):
I mean, when you look in our minivan, you will
probably find items belonging to the twins. You will find
dog treats, you will find oh cups of tea, and
there are all sorts of indications that somebody has just
driven the truck. So Sergeant Gary Young joining us sergeant
with the Cottonwood Heights PD on the case of a
(15:13):
missing husband and father. When you find a truck about
a mile away from their million dollar home, there's nothing
in there that belongs to him.
Speaker 8 (15:22):
There was nothing in there that and indicat that he'd
been sleeping in his car or living in his car.
Speaker 7 (15:28):
And I have to correct that statement.
Speaker 8 (15:30):
It was about block and a half, almost two blocks
away from his house where the vehicle was located, and
that aroused our suspicion.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
And I'm very curious, Sergeant Young, if it's that close
to the home, why did it take so long to
find it.
Speaker 8 (15:45):
The way it's it's positioned on the roadway. It's a
cul de sac or a dead end street. There's not
a lot of traffic volume in there, and it was
just parked in front of that, you know, in a
residential neighborhood, in a cul de sac or a dead end,
and so we didn't find that vehicle for several days.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
Joining me now is Toby Woolson. He's a forensic biologist.
He's a bloodstained pattern analyst at No Slow Forensic Consultation,
formerly with Miami DADPD. Can I tell you never a
lack of business for a forensics expert at Miami Day Okay.
(16:25):
You can find him at no Slow Forensic dot com.
And he is an author of a book coming out
December thirteen, which is on my must read list.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
I don't say that very often.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Toby called handbook a bloodstained pattern analysis.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
Now that's going to be some good reading.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Toby Handbook a blood stained pattern analysis.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
But what I want to talk to you about right.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
Now, in light of your experience with the Department's Forensic
Services Bureau at Miami Dade, if there had been foul play, Toby,
what would you have expected to.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
Find in that Dodge fifteen hundred.
Speaker 10 (17:05):
Well, it depends where the foul play occurred. If it
occurs in the truck, then we would process the truck
looking for any evidence of biological materials, most likely blood,
because it's not normal to find a lot of blood
or that in a vehicle. You know, if you think
the truck was used for transport, then the bed of
(17:26):
the truck becomes the area of high interest because it's
easier to put a body in the bed of a
pickup truck than it is in the count.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
That's why it's so critical that forensics check out the bed.
I mean, when you're talking about a vehicle to Raymonds,
you to Chay, just the importance of a vehicle cannot
be emphasized enough.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Just let me throw off one example. Top mom Casey Anthony.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
The mom the grandma opens the door, Okay, Sindy Anthony
or daughter top mom Ksey Anthony's car, and she goes
WHOA and she tells nine one one. It smells like
a dead body. Okay, that smell emanating from the trunk
of top Mom's car. And you know, Ray, you and
(18:13):
I've been to a lot of mercies, you never mistake
that smell.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
Ever. So, also in the trunk from which the dead body.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Smell is emanating is found a hair of baby Kelly,
two year old Kelly. Now it's identified through mitochondrial DNA,
which you and I know means DNA of the mother. Specifically,
that means that hair could only belong to three people,
the grandmother Cindy Anthony, the mother, top Mom Casey Anthony,
(18:45):
or the baby Kelly. It was not the grandmother because
her hair had been died blonde. It was not the
mother Top Mom because her hair had also been treated.
This was a pristine hair, no treatment whatsoever, a natural hair,
a child's hair. It was Cally's hair. And the trunk
(19:07):
that smelt like a dead body. Okay. That is why
a vehicle is so important. Agree, disagree, totally agree.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
And also the positioning.
Speaker 7 (19:17):
Of the vehicle in the case at bar.
Speaker 6 (19:20):
That pickup truck is close to the scene of the crime.
That means somebody could have driven it there, hidden it,
quote unquote, and walked back to the scene of the crime.
Speaker 7 (19:31):
I would all try might.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
Just drive it off and burn it, like any self
respecting criminal would do.
Speaker 6 (19:38):
I don't disagree with that, but I also say that
in a million dollar plus neighborhood, I'll bet there's a
whole lot of ring security cameras facing out from all
the homes and the cul de sac that show that
pick them up. Chuck, get in parked, and somebody get
out of the driver's seat.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
Okay, now you just said something very telling, Judicay, you
said leave the truck and walk back.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
So right there, you're saying walk back.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
It's got to be within walking distance. Why would you
leave the truck right there?
Speaker 1 (20:14):
Okay?
Speaker 2 (20:14):
Another issue? Hey, I'm sure you remember this. Like everybody
on the panel, all you League Legal is listening right now.
Tara Grinstead, Oh, my star's beautiful high school teacher just
got her master's, beloved by all of her students, just disappears.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
Okay, how did that happen?
Speaker 2 (20:35):
And the tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny town in South Georgia.
I remember going through her house with her mother and
it looked like a little jewelry box. It was perfectly appointed,
beautifully decorated, all by hand, not some fancy interior designer.
But I noticed that her bed in her bedroom was askew.
(20:58):
Have you ever met one.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Of those people?
Speaker 2 (20:59):
What do you call, doctor Chlobe Carmichael that everything has
to be exactly in the right place?
Speaker 1 (21:06):
What is that? Anal compulsive? What is that?
Speaker 11 (21:08):
It's an obsessive pass person and they are often considered
anal retentive as well. You just combined the terms though.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
I did that. Okay, hey, you're the shrink. I'm just
a trial lawyer.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
That's why I have you to correct me. So obsessive compulsive, yes,
So in a case like that, when you see something
totally out of the ordinary, here is this obsessive compulsive
perfectly neat. Every thing had to be in place, and
her bed was like pushed over, crooked in the room.
(21:41):
And I looked at her mother and I said, why
is her bed crooked? And she said, I don't know,
I've never seen it like that before. Then I found
out this Sergeant Gary Young. I found out that Terra
Grin said also her coulion, she's an eat nick. She's
(22:02):
not crazy. Extended to her car. Have you ever met
those people? Their car still smells new after like three years,
it's still perfect.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
She was like that with her car.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Her car, I believe it was white. There was mud
all up both sides of her car. I'm like, whoa, Okay,
that's not right, that's not right. The seat, the driver's
seat was way back. There's no way she could have
even reached the gas pedal.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
If with a seat back that far.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
In this guy's car, Matthew Johnson, Special Ops hebby.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
Where was his seat when the vehicle.
Speaker 8 (22:43):
Was located and towed to our evidence processing? It was
It was left in the same position as founded and
they haven't adjusted it.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
A Dodge fifteen hundred pickup truck hidden in plain sight.
A Special Ops dad goes missing. Then we find out
Mommy makes a huge where is the missing dad?
Speaker 1 (23:04):
Who are these people? Listen?
Speaker 9 (23:06):
Matthew Johnson fifty one and Jennifer Gludhill, forty one, welcome
three children, now eleven, seven, and five. During more than
a decade of marriage. The family settles in Cottonwood Heights,
a suburb of Salt Lake City, living in a home
worth nearly a million dollars. Matthew Johnson is still active military,
serving as a National Guardsman. In the Special Option, in
Johnson takes a brief leave of absence while the children
(23:27):
return to school.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
In the last hours, we discover you Tah Mom, Jennifer
Gladhill not only demanded thousands of dollars from her dad
via text just before her husband disappears, that a battle
is brewing over her husband's half a million dollar life
insurance policy. Right now, Prudential is saying, we're just going
(23:50):
to give the money to the court and let you
figure it all out. They don't want any part of
this dogfight. After reading court document, Silarm Prudential agrees that
money's got to go somewhere, either Gledhill or the couple's
minor children who were not listed as beneficiaries.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
The company's problem.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
Is if they pay the wrong party, they could face
legal problems later. Like then they have to pay the
right party after the wrong party. He's already spent the
half a mill They don't want to pay half a
million dollars two or three times?
Speaker 1 (24:23):
Do you blame them?
Speaker 2 (24:24):
But back to the facts of Thomas's disappearance.
Speaker 12 (24:28):
Cottonwood Heights pded search for Matthew Johnson, aware of the
fact that the couple is in the midst of a
contentious divorce. Jennifer Gledhill initiated the split in July, with
proceedings set to be finalized by the end of October.
Gledhill says she is afraid of Johnson, claiming Johnson has
been violent with her in the past.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
Really so, she claims he's been violent toward her in
the past, But that is not what a judge said.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
Listen.
Speaker 12 (24:55):
Seven weeks after Jennifer Gledhill files for divorce, Gledhill files
for a protective order against t Johnson. A temporary order
is granted, but Gledhill must prove abuse at the hands
of her husband for anything more permanent. After reviewing text
messages and footage Gledhill taped of several altercations, a judge
dismisses the order. The judge says the evidence shows Gledhill
(25:15):
is equally confrontational and belittling and demeaning to her husband.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
Okay, let's go through a lawyer that has handled plenty
of similar disputes, Raymond Judice. What does all of that mean?
That is in civil court, not my arena. But I
know this. She goes for a tro temporary restraining order,
and the judge won't do it.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
He will not extend that.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
He says, the evidence shows that she is confrontational, not him, Nancy.
Speaker 6 (25:45):
The standard procedure is that when as someone who feels
they were abused goes to the courthouse, in a civil
court clerk's office, they apply for a temporary protective order,
temporary restraining order, same thing that is all atomatically granted
right then and there with an emergency hearing set in
front of a judge as quickly as possible, generally within
(26:07):
a few days. That is the hearing that we're referencing
where the judge took evidence from both sides, allegedly reviewed
text messages and some videotape and testimony, and that judge
found that there wasn't enough evidence to grant a permanent
protective order restraining order, and he dismissed the temporary restraining
(26:28):
protective order against.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
Matthew Johnson you today, have you ever been in court
and the lawyer for the other side introduced to something
and you're sitting there going, oh, mustars, that helps.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
Me, and it totally backfires.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
And that is why you better practice every in court demonstration,
have every prop have every poster or every piece of evidence.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
I mean, do I have to say it doesn't fit?
Speaker 2 (26:56):
Oh, dear Lord in heaven talking about the SIPs and glove,
he put it over two.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
Singers and went, Okay, it won't fit. And what were
they gonna do?
Speaker 2 (27:03):
Chris Darden russell them in court and make it go
down over his hand that said, never ever play anything
or bring in evidence that you haven't tested yourself. Because
when this wife, Jennifer Gladhiel brings in the video to
show the judge why she should get the house and
(27:27):
the money and the children in this tro like kick
Kim out of the house, he goes, Lady, that doesn't
really help you.
Speaker 4 (27:35):
Listen to this video and text messages are gathered as
proof in Gldhill's fight for a permanent order. One video
shows Johnson cleaning up glass from a broken family photo.
His demeanor calm. Court Commissioner Russell Minus denied the permanent order,
determining there was no abuse. He describes the couple's relationship
(27:56):
as highly dysfunctional, adding both parties were equally confrontational and
that Gluhill did not exhibit any fear of Johnson The
commissioner said, the request for a restraining order appears to
be a litigation tactic in the pending divorce.
Speaker 9 (28:11):
Matthew Johnson has been missing five days when Coinwood Hides
PD gets a call from a friend of Jennifer Gludhill's.
The friend claims Gluhill called before reporting Matthew missing, giving
a very different version of events, a.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
Very different version of events. What she changes her story?
Speaker 1 (28:29):
Oh, yes, she changes the story.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
And based on that very different version of events, the
dominoes start falling, yacking, talking, gossiping. Why did she call
her friend and give a different version of events?
Speaker 1 (28:49):
What happens next? Listen?
Speaker 9 (28:50):
Conwood Hights PD execute a search for in at the
couple's home. Cops confirmed the suspicion that Gludhill replaced the
mattress in their master bedroom, the new one arriving three
days after her husband's disappearance.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
Uh oh, your husband goes missing, a new order, a
new mattress. Doctor Chloe Carmichael, I find that very unusual
at a time when you need to be scouring the
whole county trying to find your husband, pouring out her
credit cards and ATM transactions to try to find him.
She goes, Wow, I've got a lumpy mattress. That doesn't
(29:25):
make sense, doctor Chloe.
Speaker 11 (29:26):
No, I would agree, Nancy. And moreover, if they had
a pending divorce, then you know, people are usually thinking
more about trying to kind of get rid of things,
not you know, buy new things when there's likely going
to be a move happening. Also, it sounds like maybe
what psychologists call impression management, when a person you know,
goes out of their way to try to frame the
(29:48):
other person as as a victim, or rather frame the
other person as the aggressor and frame themselves as the victim. So,
you know, she's producing these videos and whatnot, but they
don't actually show anything incriminating, and there's a lack of
any real evidence on her part of you know, injuries
or bruising or anything like that. I also find it
(30:10):
unusual that she would not tell the police proactively if
there had been some sort of a conflict. You know,
if she was calling to make a second report about
a conflict, why would she not have just told him
everything she knew to say, Look, we had a fight,
maybe he ran away, Please go try to find him.
So the fact that she's withholding information and then changing
(30:32):
her story and then possibly making you know, private statements
to somebody else. She's not appearing like a consistent witness here.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
Sergeant Gary Young joining US, Cottonwood Heights PD. Sergeant Young,
I remember the horrible moment, and it only lasted about
five minutes. Max I was in a giant babies or
us and I turned around and I had my daughter
was still standing there, but my son was gone. He's
(31:03):
only two and a half three. I picked her up
like football and started running, screaming bloody murder to lock
the front doors and the back doors because my son
was missing. I didn't think about ordering any mattress in
that moment. I didn't gather my things that I had
(31:24):
already put in the cart for them and casually stroll
up front and start check out. Doctor Chloe was really
calm in her answer. But I find that crazy odd
that she, while her husband is missing, orders an nee mattress.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
That doesn't bother.
Speaker 8 (31:39):
You, No, that doesn't bother me because UH been married
for thirty years, and if we make a purchase like
a mattress, that's a husband and wife decision, and that
may take a couple of days or visits because You're
going to be a couple thousand dollars in a mattress,
So that would that's not a normal every day or
for the moment, you know, President's Day mattressself kind of thing.
Speaker 7 (32:00):
I would think that they had have spoken about her.
Speaker 8 (32:02):
It wouldn't take place during a crisis such as your
missing husband.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
When you and your coworkers execute a search warrant, Sergeant
Gary Young, what if anything did you find in the home.
Speaker 8 (32:17):
Ideally we're going to find physical executing a warrant, we
would like to have any evidence of the crime, hopefully
blood or other bodily fluids.
Speaker 7 (32:27):
That would be the ideal situation that we would be
able to find.
Speaker 2 (32:30):
That. Isn't it true that blood was found on the
slats beneath the knee mattress and a large bloodstain on
the carpet below the bed. The room looked as if
it had been meticulously clean.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace Jennifer Gladhill.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
You toll mom whose husband suddenly vanishes into thin air,
demanding thousands of dollars thirteen thousand dollars to be exact
from her father within seventy two hours or her husband
disappearing This is seventy two hours before her husband disappears.
Now we learn a life insurance policy battle is brewing.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
This is the deal.
Speaker 2 (33:18):
If the money's paid to Gledhill and she's convicted, her
children would be able to make a legal claim to
get that money themselves, and she would have already spent
it on legal fees.
Speaker 1 (33:28):
On the other side, if.
Speaker 2 (33:29):
It's paid to the children and she's acquitted, then she
can sue for the money to be returned to her.
So they're looking right down the wrong end of a
barrel to the tune of about at one point five
million dollars. But that's Prudential's problem. My concern is what
happened to Gledhill's husband. Matthew help me, Toby, explain what
(33:52):
we're saying.
Speaker 10 (33:53):
Well, when there's signs of a cleanup, which is the
bleach and the cleaners, it should be curiosity. Especially in
a bedroom. You know there's so many things in there
that will retain evidence. The mattress is nothing more than
a big sponge, so cleaning in that is virtually impossible.
(34:13):
In my opinion, I've never seen anyone successfully clean a
mattress because you may get it most of it off
the surface, but there's going to be plenty inside, and
then if there's enough blood, sufficient blood that it bleeds
through the mattress and ends up down on the slats
supporting it and the carpet underneath. Again, you're working trying
to clean away something that's very porous, So the slats
(34:36):
usually are wood. They're going to absorb the blood, so
it's going to be difficult to get it out of
the wood. But the carpet is a bigger factor. I've
found in many of the cases where I've gone looking
for a cleanup, carpeting is where we find it because
they may clean the surface so that you can't see
the blood, but there's this pad under the carpet that
actsually a sponge also, and you can just peel a
(34:59):
carpet back fine blood frequently weeks if there's a large
volume weeks after the event that's still wet. So there's
many places in this setting that would be potentially harboring
blood clean up. The other thing is is that when
people clean up crime scenes, they're not blood experts, and
they clean up what they visually see. They miss the
(35:20):
small stuff. So when I go into process a crime
scene and look for blood. I'm using whatever methodology usually
visual to lead me to the areas they've missed. So
there's a lot of things here that would have applied.
And the replacement of the mattress would be a key
piece of interest, because you know, knowing that you're not
going to get the blood out of that mattress, you
(35:43):
know you've got to replace it. It's just, especially with
the volumes of blood you're talking about here, If there
was enough blood to bleed through and get to the
areas under the mattress, that mattress had to be very.
Speaker 12 (35:55):
Saturated Bloodhill's friend recounts to police what Bloohill openly admitted
the before reporting her husband missing. Gledhill shot Johnson in
the head while he slept, then buried his body in
a shallow grave. Gledhill revealed the approximate location of the grave,
telling her friend she's trying to determine next steps.
Speaker 1 (36:12):
Next steps? Is that what it's called?
Speaker 2 (36:14):
Okay, So, Ray, how does her gossiping to her friend
fit into your scenario? Why does she have to call
the friend and tell the whole thing and now she's
trying to figure out next steps?
Speaker 6 (36:25):
Well, that certainly shows after death behavior But what the
defensive battered women's syndrome is is everything that leads.
Speaker 7 (36:34):
Up to the homicide is a homicide.
Speaker 6 (36:37):
But why why is there enough evidence of abuse sufficient
that a judging jury would say, we understand what she
did her behavior after that. Okay, that's a different argument.
I don't think it's helpful, Don't get me wrong. You
would rather not have as a defense lawyer that kind
of a text message, and that friend who's going to
testify for the state obviously come into evidence. But you've
(37:00):
got to come up with a defense unless you argue
it was a third party, a burglar, somebody else, or
a lover. And I don't see anything right now that
would support that as your primary defense.
Speaker 1 (37:10):
Okay, So bottom line, you got to go somewhere. What
are you going to do.
Speaker 2 (37:16):
You've managed to get your husband's blood all over the
slats under the bed.
Speaker 1 (37:21):
You're basically busted, unless you.
Speaker 2 (37:23):
Want to blame it on the five year old for
trying to do a cleanup.
Speaker 1 (37:27):
Of the carpet.
Speaker 2 (37:28):
You heard what Toby Wilson said, when they go under
that carpet.
Speaker 1 (37:32):
The lord only knows what they're going to find under there.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
But this is not the first time we would see
a wife meticulously planning a murder. Does the name Corey
Richins ring a bell also known as moscow mule? Mom?
Speaker 1 (37:49):
Listen?
Speaker 13 (37:50):
Police find Eric Richins dead on his bedroom floor. According
to court documents, Richings and his wife, Corey, we're celebrating
a business accomplishment. The night he died, Police say Corey
claimed she made him Eric a moscow mule, which he
drank in the bedroom. They say Corey told authorities that
she left to help one of their children and returned
(38:12):
to the bed several hours later. It was then, they say,
that she noticed Eric was called to the touch and
called nine to one one.
Speaker 2 (38:19):
And then there's Emily U, the so called draino wife.
Speaker 1 (38:26):
Listen.
Speaker 9 (38:26):
Radiologist Jack Chin says he noticed a chemical taste in
his drinks, so he set up a hidden camera in
their kitchen, capturing video evidence of his wife you you
allegedly taking dreno from under the sink and pouring it
into his lemonade. On three separate instances. A doctor diagnoses
Chin with two stomach alsters, gastritis and esophagus inflammation. Hidden
(38:47):
video is enough for cops and the forty five year
old dermatologists is placed under arrest for trying to poison
her husband.
Speaker 2 (38:53):
And what's so interesting about that case is this woman, who,
as I recall, was a doctor herself. As caught on
the the husband gets suspicious when his stomach becomes inflamed,
and he posts video cams all around the kitchen and
the home. You see her on video going over to
(39:14):
the kitchen cabinet and reaching in. He wisely set up
a camera inside the kitchen cabinet and you see her
hand reach in and get the draino and pull it out,
and then she doctors his morning drink. Okay, Doctor Chloe Carmichael,
joining us clinical psychologist, explain what's happening in these scenarios.
Speaker 11 (39:34):
Yeah, Well, especially with our current situation, I look at
what psychologists call grandiosity. So you had ask how it
could be that she could think that she could just
literally clean this up out of the carpet, and if
it is true that indeed she took it into her
own hands to just murder her husband, right there, we
(39:55):
have an element of grandiosity.
Speaker 1 (39:57):
And once you've.
Speaker 11 (39:58):
Done an act like that, or even are preparing to
do an act like that, more than likely, unless you're
a total psychopath, you would have what psychologists call hot cognition,
so you know, your mind is kind of supercharged, and
maybe you're not even thinking super clearly, and so that
might be why you know, she could do something like
that without really thinking it through. But again, I'm looking
(40:23):
at the grandiosity possibility, the idea that she would think
that she could just you know, make these videos and
paint him a certain way and paint herself a certain
way and then maybe potentially go murder him and confide
in a friend and think it would never come back
upon her. There's there's a real egoism there if all
of that is true.
Speaker 2 (40:43):
Yeah, Jennifer Scotski joining me, investigative reporter, Jennifer. I'm always
amazed that killers will speak to their compadres, their cohorts,
not even co defendants, and expect them to keep quiet.
Speaker 1 (40:59):
That's always been so bizarre to me.
Speaker 2 (41:01):
That you murder someone, in this case, murdering him in
his sleep, so that's not self defense, telling friends about it,
expecting them to be in on your secret.
Speaker 11 (41:14):
Yes, Nancy, it's definitely a case of that would be
a great example of grandiosity, that she could do something
like murder and then confide in a friend and as
you said, expect that the friend would just obey her instructions,
you know, to keep this, you know, murder confession quiet Essentially,
that would definitely speak to a grandiosity or kind of
(41:36):
a fuzzy connection with reality and social norms and what
she could expect from people.
Speaker 1 (41:41):
What about it, dinnerfer Skouski.
Speaker 5 (41:43):
Now, just to me, just looking at all of this,
who it sounds like your classic dumb killer. I mean,
it seems that she just didn't think at all. I mean,
who buys a new mattress after who goes to their
friend and says I did this? Or confidential informant as
they're calling this person?
Speaker 1 (42:04):
Who does that?
Speaker 5 (42:05):
Nobody with the same normal mind is ever going to
think they're going to get away with Mark the way
that miss Jennifer has tried to do thus far.
Speaker 2 (42:18):
And of course I want you to take a look
at the classic black widow. Dahlia Dippolito offers a hitman
seven thousand dollars to kill her husband. She sets up
an alibi for herself in their early morning hours, where
she says she's going to the gym. The hitman would
go in the home and kill her husband. Unbeknownst to her,
(42:40):
of course, she has done a deal with an undercover
surveillance officer. This is her when Ellie law enforcement come
to tell her her husband is dead. Little do they
does she know this is all part of a sting.
Speaker 1 (42:58):
So watch Dahlia Dipoleted. Watch out, Meryl Street, She's coming
for you.
Speaker 7 (43:04):
Is your husband Michael? Okay, I'm sorry to tell you man,
he's been chilled. He's been killed, Tod.
Speaker 1 (43:16):
Right now, we need to get you to state.
Speaker 7 (43:19):
We need to get.
Speaker 1 (43:21):
I can't look man. We have to do our job.
Speaker 8 (43:23):
If you want the finest pillera we need you to
calm down.
Speaker 7 (43:28):
I need you to do with thes okay.
Speaker 2 (43:30):
Sergeant Gary Young joining us from Cottonwood p D. Where
is the search? Where did she allegedly stay she buried
her husband?
Speaker 8 (43:40):
Are still looking for the deceased and we weren't given
a specific location. We have put out about twenty five
warrants now for cell phones, computer history. We're still following
up on all our leads, trying to get the best
known location. I mean, be a needle haystack to just
randomly go drive around and look for a place. We're
(44:03):
still trying to narrow that down, and several leads we've
looked into that haven't been very fruitful, and so we're
still exploding that electronic information trying to gain a better
location on where we should focus our search.
Speaker 1 (44:16):
And where is Jennifer Gledhill. Now listen.
Speaker 12 (44:19):
Jennifer Gledhill is arrested outside her home nine days into
the search for Matthew Johnson on suspicion of murder and
tampering with evidence. The couple's three children have been placed
in the care of a relative, as Gledhill has been
denied bail. Gledhill will remain in the Salt Lake County
Jail due to fears she will further tamper with evidence
or flee based on the comments she made to her friend.
Speaker 2 (44:40):
If you know or think you know anything regarding the
disappearance of this husband and father, Special Ops Hubby Matthew Johnson,
please dial eight zero one eight four zero four thousand,
repeat eight zero.
Speaker 1 (44:58):
One eight four z zero four thousand.
Speaker 2 (45:02):
Nancy Gray signing off, goodbye friend,
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 2 (00:07):
Remember that gorgeous young mom whose husband goes missing and
then she runs out while her husband is missing and
buys a new bed. I'm talking about the Utah mom
Jennifer Gludhel in the last days another bombshell. I'm Nancy Grace.
This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us.
(00:29):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Not only did.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Utah mom Jennifer Gludhell rush out and buy a brand
new mattress after her husband goes missing, she also demanded
her dad give for thirteen thousand dollars.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Why that's right.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Jennifer Gludhill demands thirteen thousand dollars from her dad just
days before she allegedly murders her National guardsman husband. We
also learned that at this hour there's another courtroom battle
brewing over of course, life insurance. But first let's talk
(01:10):
about the thirteen thousand dollars demand. This is what we're
learning from court documents we've just obtained. A Utah mom
texts her dad claiming she needed thousands of dollars in
the days just before her husband goes missing. Air Quota
air quote quote, I need thirteen thousand dollars by Friday Okay,
(01:35):
now we're learning this from a formerly sealed search warrant
in court documents. Gladhill sends the message to her dad,
Thomas ray Gluedhill, about seventy two hours before investigators think
she murdered her husband, Matthew Johnson, a National Guardsman. They
also think she murdered him in the master bedroom of
(01:59):
their cat Inwood Heights home.
Speaker 1 (02:01):
Now where is that?
Speaker 2 (02:02):
That's about ten or twelve miles outside of Salt Lake City.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Hence they buying a new mattress.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Okay, before I get into the life insurance brew Haha,
what do we know about Thomas ray Glaedhill's disappearance?
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Trouble is unfolding in the quiet suburbs of Salt Lake City.
US National Guard soldier Matthew Johnson hasn't shown up for
work and his kids haven't heard from him for days.
Where is Matthew Johnson?
Speaker 4 (02:35):
The day Matthew Johnson is set to return to work,
Jennifer Gledhill reports her husband missing. He should have been
home from base hours ago, and his phone is going
straight to voicemail. As it turns out, Johnson never showed
up to work that morning either. Jennifer says she last
saw her husband pulling out of the driveway.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Neighbors confirm they saw the husband's truck in the driveway.
There's a lot of evidence in this case, but bottom line,
where is this husband?
Speaker 1 (03:06):
A father, a special ops officer?
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Joining me an All Star panel to make sense of
what we know right now he is still missing again
with me an All Star panel. But first I want
to go straight out to Jennifer Tokowski joining us investigative reporter.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Jennifer, thank you for being with us.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
This is some ritzy area where he goes missing. Correct,
tell me about it.
Speaker 5 (03:29):
Cottonwood Heights, Utah, is located just about sixteen miles away
from Salt Lake City. They lived in an extremely wealthy neighborhood,
a million dollar homes. It's very uppity. I mean something
where somewhere that you would never expect something like what
(03:49):
is unfolding to happen.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
There is a massive search for the victim in this case.
Matthew Johnson. Of course, when you've got a dad with
a huge house, note three children, and every picture I
see of them, they're all wearing designer clothes, They're driving
fancy cars, the whole shebang. Joining me, Raymond Judice, high
profile lawyer out of the Atlanta jurisdiction Raymond. Very often
(04:16):
when a guy goes missing like this, you know, they say, well.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
I'm going to go get a loaf of bread, and
they never come back. They just start a new life.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
And this guy is a special ops Okay, he knows
how to disappear.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
Maybe he just got sick of her and paying for
that huge If you've seen the house, it's.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Huge, and they've got that. He's got the wife, the
designer clothes, the fancy cars, the pool, the works, and
you know, sometimes people just take a power and leave Nancy.
Speaker 6 (04:48):
Back in the seventies is a book called Run Rabbit Run,
and that was exactly the premise. Too much pressure, too
many car notes, too much house notes, taxes, insurance, go
to work every day, childwood on the weekend, taking the
kids to soccer. And this guy just says that's enough, Hey.
Speaker 7 (05:04):
I'll be back.
Speaker 6 (05:05):
As you said, I'm going to go to them to
the quickie market and get a loaf of bread.
Speaker 7 (05:09):
And he just keeps running.
Speaker 6 (05:11):
That's not unusual. It's not unusual on you know, post COVID.
I think we all look back on the pressures that
were all under to obtain, you know, the brass ring
of life, when maybe living simply might be better.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
You know. Sergeant Gary Young is joining us special guest
today out of Cottonwood Heights, Utah. He is a sergeant
there in the Cottonwood Heights Police Department.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
Sergeant Young, I've got so many questions for you.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
But when we're saying deadbeat dad, I mean I'd be
running a one hundred and fifty person arraignment calendar, all felonies,
of course.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
And there would be a huge throng of people in
the hall. Who were they? They would be the.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Second wave of defendants coming in for deadbeat Dad. There'll
be just as many of them as there were of
criminal defendants, criminals, murders, rapists, child molester's, artists, the works,
drug lords. I'm like, who are those guys? Are they
on the calendar? If so, they need to be in
the courtroom. I'm going to bond forfeit them. And they're like, no, no, no,
(06:16):
they're all the deadbeat dads. So when you get a
dad that goes missing, my first thought would be dead
beat Agree or disagree?
Speaker 8 (06:27):
Sergeant Yeah, I would, I would. I would think that
that would be the easiest explanation. If you know, if
someone just disappeared off the radar, you know, are they
trying to escape something, are they having a stressful life?
Speaker 7 (06:38):
Are they going to go commit suicide?
Speaker 8 (06:39):
You know, who knows what would lead someone to go
off the radar and originally on.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Hold on, Sergeant Gary Young, Wait a minute, suicide, Wait
a minute. I find it much more often that the
deadbeat dad leaves for his younger girlfriend. Okay, he's going
to commit suicide. He's dumping the family and the wife
and the house and the payment and the cars and
(07:07):
the college funds and the braces and the whole shebang
from his thing. That is what I would immediately think.
I would immediately think, oh, he's killed himself. Men leave
home every day, thousands of them a day, and typically, yeah,
I know, women leave too, but typically the woman is
(07:27):
left behind to raise the children, pay the bills, and
somehow cobble it all back together again. So in this case,
when you first hear he's gone, did you immediately think.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
Suicide, left the country. What was your immediate thought?
Speaker 2 (07:47):
Did you ever even consider he just got tired of
paying all the bills?
Speaker 8 (07:51):
My original thought was that these has taking a break.
I'm not sure how much stress he's going under. I
thought he was just kind of going off the radar
and we'd find him coming back into few days, you know,
a week at the most that he would.
Speaker 7 (08:02):
Be coming back.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Okay, Sergeant, you do know I'm a crime victim and
a former felony prosecutor and a fed before that, I'm
on your side.
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Okay, but here comes the rest of that sentence, taking
a break?
Speaker 2 (08:22):
How what huh? Taking a break from your family? What
does take a break mean? Sergeant Gary Young?
Speaker 8 (08:32):
Well, in your context, I was saying escaping his situation.
That's what I referred to as taking a break. I
assumed that we would find him, you know, returning back
home again. You indicated that he's he's escaping or felony abandonment.
There were no indications that he was that type of
person he would just abandon his family. Now he's missing.
(08:55):
He was reported as missing, and you know, we put
out a press at least asking for the public's helped
identify him, look for his truck.
Speaker 7 (09:04):
You know, if anyone has contact with him.
Speaker 8 (09:06):
To please have him return so we could close out
the missing persons and reunite him with his family. To
tell you the truth, I didn't think about felling abandonment
when we took this call.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
You know, I'm glad to hear what you just said.
Sergeant Gary Young is a special guest with us today.
He is a sergeant in the Cottonwood Heights PD. So
you're telling me he had no history of taking breaks,
as you euphemistically put it, No history of that, no
history of not supporting his children ever, nothing like that
(09:39):
in this guy's history. Matthew Johnson correct, correct, Okay, that
puts things in an entirely different light.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
Listen to this.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
As Cottonwood Heids Police continue their exhaustive search for Matthew Johnson,
a call goes out for the public's help in finding
not only Matthew Johnson, but his truck. Matthew is just
I'm just standing five foot nine, weigh one hundred and
seventy eight pounds. He has blue eyes and a shaped head.
Johnson drives a maroon dodged fifteen hundred pickup.
Speaker 2 (10:10):
Okay, what does he need a fifteen hundred, Sergeant Young, Well.
Speaker 8 (10:14):
We're in a I have a pickup truck myself. We're
in we're in the West and pickup trucks are a
very good utility vehicle. You can go camping with them,
you can drive in luxury. You know, they seat five
to six people, and they're pretty decent trucks. And when
you think about pickups, the fifteen hundred is the lower
(10:35):
end of the pickup class.
Speaker 7 (10:38):
So I think it's a good family vehicle.
Speaker 8 (10:41):
It's just what a you know, a strapping young man
like Matthew Johnson would drive, would be a pickup truck.
That's my deal truck.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
I was just wondering because I thought a Dodge fifteen
hundred was heavy duty. He is special What exactly does
that mean in this scenario?
Speaker 1 (11:07):
Why was he special ops? What does that entail for him?
Speaker 8 (11:09):
He received training and I guess he was deployed, you know,
several times overseas on the warrant.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Terror Sergeant Young question, what did you put in your
plate to the public.
Speaker 8 (11:18):
I asked our local affiliates in the press if they
would broadcast out that we're looking for a missing person
for Matthew Johnson. I put out his description where he's
lasting at the time frame, and then what you know,
a recent photo and his picture of his truck, and
then asked for the public's assistance. If they've seen him
(11:39):
or his truck, or maybe he has a friend that
is in contact with them, they will be able to
come forward. And we would like to resolve that missing persons,
would like to make it a found person case.
Speaker 7 (11:49):
And so that's the information we put out.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
Crime Stories with Nancy Gray. Within seventy two hours before
Jennifer Gluedhill's husband vanishes into thin air, she texts her
dad demanding thirteen thousand dollars. No explanation, just I need
thirteen thousand dollars. Okay, But that's not all. A new
(12:22):
question surfaces in the Jennifer Glaedhill case. What happens to
the husband's life insurance payout? Because Gladhill is the sole
beneficiary of a half a million dollar Prudential life insurance
policy Matthew took out with her under suspicion of her
husband's death. Nobody yet Prudential is asking the court for
(12:47):
guidance on who should get the money. Well, you know,
before we get to the money, can we talk about
the missing husband. When was the last time this loving
husband and father had been seen live?
Speaker 9 (13:00):
Listen the last time Matthew Johnson is seen by someone
other than Jennifer Gledhill is three days before he's reported
missing at a neighborhood gas station. Neighbors say they remember
seeing Johnson's truck in the driveway. The next day, Johnson's communications,
even with his children stop entirely.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
We're hearing a.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
Lot about the truck. Isn't it true, Sergeant Gary Young,
that when you're looking for a missing person, you're also
looking for their vehicle.
Speaker 8 (13:25):
Yes, no, I'm saying, yes, that's how they get to
and from work. They go about their daily lives and
pursuits as they drive their personal vehicle, and so ideally
he would be with his vehicle.
Speaker 2 (13:37):
We just saw the same scenario in the case of
two missing moms on their way to take children to
a birthday party.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
There was an all out search for.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Them until their vehicle was found on a remote country
road with a pool of blood nearby a glass from
the window. Their bodies later found stuffed into an ice
chest and buried in a cow pasture, deep deeply buried
and then covered with dirt and chunks of cement. What
crack that case? The discovery of the car in this case.
Speaker 4 (14:15):
Listen ten days after Matthew Johnson is reported missing. His
truck is finally recovered. It's parked on the street, not
even a mile from his million dollar home. The truck
is locked with gas in the tank. Inside the truck,
nothing appears out of the ordinary, but cops do not
find any more of Matthew's belongings. Investigators begin processing the
(14:35):
truck for any evidence that would explain what happened to Johnson.
Neighbors say they last saw the truck on the day
Johnson went missing.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
Very curious none of his belongings in his truck.
Speaker 1 (14:47):
Wouldn't you expect something?
Speaker 2 (14:49):
I mean, when you look in our minivan, you will
probably find items belonging to the twins. You will find
dog treats, you will find oh cups of tea, and
there are all sorts of indications that somebody has just
driven the truck. So Sergeant Gary Young joining us sergeant
with the Cottonwood Heights PD on the case of a
(15:13):
missing husband and father. When you find a truck about
a mile away from their million dollar home, there's nothing
in there that belongs to him.
Speaker 8 (15:22):
There was nothing in there that and indicat that he'd
been sleeping in his car or living in his car.
Speaker 7 (15:28):
And I have to correct that statement.
Speaker 8 (15:30):
It was about block and a half, almost two blocks
away from his house where the vehicle was located, and
that aroused our suspicion.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
And I'm very curious, Sergeant Young, if it's that close
to the home, why did it take so long to
find it.
Speaker 8 (15:45):
The way it's it's positioned on the roadway. It's a
cul de sac or a dead end street. There's not
a lot of traffic volume in there, and it was
just parked in front of that, you know, in a
residential neighborhood, in a cul de sac or a dead end,
and so we didn't find that vehicle for several days.
Speaker 2 (16:03):
Joining me now is Toby Woolson. He's a forensic biologist.
He's a bloodstained pattern analyst at No Slow Forensic Consultation,
formerly with Miami DADPD. Can I tell you never a
lack of business for a forensics expert at Miami Day Okay.
(16:25):
You can find him at no Slow Forensic dot com.
And he is an author of a book coming out
December thirteen, which is on my must read list.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
I don't say that very often.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
Toby called handbook a bloodstained pattern analysis.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
Now that's going to be some good reading.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Toby Handbook a blood stained pattern analysis.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
But what I want to talk to you about right.
Speaker 2 (16:52):
Now, in light of your experience with the Department's Forensic
Services Bureau at Miami Dade, if there had been foul play, Toby,
what would you have expected to.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
Find in that Dodge fifteen hundred.
Speaker 10 (17:05):
Well, it depends where the foul play occurred. If it
occurs in the truck, then we would process the truck
looking for any evidence of biological materials, most likely blood,
because it's not normal to find a lot of blood
or that in a vehicle. You know, if you think
the truck was used for transport, then the bed of
(17:26):
the truck becomes the area of high interest because it's
easier to put a body in the bed of a
pickup truck than it is in the count.
Speaker 2 (17:35):
That's why it's so critical that forensics check out the bed.
I mean, when you're talking about a vehicle to Raymonds,
you to Chay, just the importance of a vehicle cannot
be emphasized enough.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Just let me throw off one example. Top mom Casey Anthony.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
The mom the grandma opens the door, Okay, Sindy Anthony
or daughter top mom Ksey Anthony's car, and she goes
WHOA and she tells nine one one. It smells like
a dead body. Okay, that smell emanating from the trunk
of top Mom's car. And you know, Ray, you and
(18:13):
I've been to a lot of mercies, you never mistake
that smell.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
Ever. So, also in the trunk from which the dead body.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
Smell is emanating is found a hair of baby Kelly,
two year old Kelly. Now it's identified through mitochondrial DNA,
which you and I know means DNA of the mother. Specifically,
that means that hair could only belong to three people,
the grandmother Cindy Anthony, the mother, top Mom Casey Anthony,
(18:45):
or the baby Kelly. It was not the grandmother because
her hair had been died blonde. It was not the
mother Top Mom because her hair had also been treated.
This was a pristine hair, no treatment whatsoever, a natural hair,
a child's hair. It was Cally's hair. And the trunk
(19:07):
that smelt like a dead body. Okay. That is why
a vehicle is so important. Agree, disagree, totally agree.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
And also the positioning.
Speaker 7 (19:17):
Of the vehicle in the case at bar.
Speaker 6 (19:20):
That pickup truck is close to the scene of the crime.
That means somebody could have driven it there, hidden it,
quote unquote, and walked back to the scene of the crime.
Speaker 7 (19:31):
I would all try might.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
Just drive it off and burn it, like any self
respecting criminal would do.
Speaker 6 (19:38):
I don't disagree with that, but I also say that
in a million dollar plus neighborhood, I'll bet there's a
whole lot of ring security cameras facing out from all
the homes and the cul de sac that show that
pick them up. Chuck, get in parked, and somebody get
out of the driver's seat.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
Okay, now you just said something very telling, Judicay, you
said leave the truck and walk back.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
So right there, you're saying walk back.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
It's got to be within walking distance. Why would you
leave the truck right there?
Speaker 1 (20:14):
Okay?
Speaker 2 (20:14):
Another issue? Hey, I'm sure you remember this. Like everybody
on the panel, all you League Legal is listening right now.
Tara Grinstead, Oh, my star's beautiful high school teacher just
got her master's, beloved by all of her students, just disappears.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
Okay, how did that happen?
Speaker 2 (20:35):
And the tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny town in South Georgia.
I remember going through her house with her mother and
it looked like a little jewelry box. It was perfectly appointed,
beautifully decorated, all by hand, not some fancy interior designer.
But I noticed that her bed in her bedroom was askew.
(20:58):
Have you ever met one.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Of those people?
Speaker 2 (20:59):
What do you call, doctor Chlobe Carmichael that everything has
to be exactly in the right place?
Speaker 1 (21:06):
What is that? Anal compulsive? What is that?
Speaker 11 (21:08):
It's an obsessive pass person and they are often considered
anal retentive as well. You just combined the terms though.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
I did that. Okay, hey, you're the shrink. I'm just
a trial lawyer.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
That's why I have you to correct me. So obsessive compulsive, yes,
So in a case like that, when you see something
totally out of the ordinary, here is this obsessive compulsive
perfectly neat. Every thing had to be in place, and
her bed was like pushed over, crooked in the room.
(21:41):
And I looked at her mother and I said, why
is her bed crooked? And she said, I don't know,
I've never seen it like that before. Then I found
out this Sergeant Gary Young. I found out that Terra
Grin said also her coulion, she's an eat nick. She's
(22:02):
not crazy. Extended to her car. Have you ever met
those people? Their car still smells new after like three years,
it's still perfect.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
She was like that with her car.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Her car, I believe it was white. There was mud
all up both sides of her car. I'm like, whoa, Okay,
that's not right, that's not right. The seat, the driver's
seat was way back. There's no way she could have
even reached the gas pedal.
Speaker 1 (22:33):
If with a seat back that far.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
In this guy's car, Matthew Johnson, Special Ops hebby.
Speaker 1 (22:41):
Where was his seat when the vehicle.
Speaker 8 (22:43):
Was located and towed to our evidence processing? It was
It was left in the same position as founded and
they haven't adjusted it.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
A Dodge fifteen hundred pickup truck hidden in plain sight.
A Special Ops dad goes missing. Then we find out
Mommy makes a huge where is the missing dad?
Speaker 1 (23:04):
Who are these people? Listen?
Speaker 9 (23:06):
Matthew Johnson fifty one and Jennifer Gludhill, forty one, welcome
three children, now eleven, seven, and five. During more than
a decade of marriage. The family settles in Cottonwood Heights,
a suburb of Salt Lake City, living in a home
worth nearly a million dollars. Matthew Johnson is still active military,
serving as a National Guardsman. In the Special Option, in
Johnson takes a brief leave of absence while the children
(23:27):
return to school.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
In the last hours, we discover you Tah Mom, Jennifer
Gladhill not only demanded thousands of dollars from her dad
via text just before her husband disappears, that a battle
is brewing over her husband's half a million dollar life
insurance policy. Right now, Prudential is saying, we're just going
(23:50):
to give the money to the court and let you
figure it all out. They don't want any part of
this dogfight. After reading court document, Silarm Prudential agrees that
money's got to go somewhere, either Gledhill or the couple's
minor children who were not listed as beneficiaries.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
The company's problem.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
Is if they pay the wrong party, they could face
legal problems later. Like then they have to pay the
right party after the wrong party. He's already spent the
half a mill They don't want to pay half a
million dollars two or three times?
Speaker 1 (24:23):
Do you blame them?
Speaker 2 (24:24):
But back to the facts of Thomas's disappearance.
Speaker 12 (24:28):
Cottonwood Heights pded search for Matthew Johnson, aware of the
fact that the couple is in the midst of a
contentious divorce. Jennifer Gledhill initiated the split in July, with
proceedings set to be finalized by the end of October.
Gledhill says she is afraid of Johnson, claiming Johnson has
been violent with her in the past.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
Really so, she claims he's been violent toward her in
the past, But that is not what a judge said.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
Listen.
Speaker 12 (24:55):
Seven weeks after Jennifer Gledhill files for divorce, Gledhill files
for a protective order against t Johnson. A temporary order
is granted, but Gledhill must prove abuse at the hands
of her husband for anything more permanent. After reviewing text
messages and footage Gledhill taped of several altercations, a judge
dismisses the order. The judge says the evidence shows Gledhill
(25:15):
is equally confrontational and belittling and demeaning to her husband.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
Okay, let's go through a lawyer that has handled plenty
of similar disputes, Raymond Judice. What does all of that mean?
That is in civil court, not my arena. But I
know this. She goes for a tro temporary restraining order,
and the judge won't do it.
Speaker 1 (25:39):
He will not extend that.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
He says, the evidence shows that she is confrontational, not him, Nancy.
Speaker 6 (25:45):
The standard procedure is that when as someone who feels
they were abused goes to the courthouse, in a civil
court clerk's office, they apply for a temporary protective order,
temporary restraining order, same thing that is all atomatically granted
right then and there with an emergency hearing set in
front of a judge as quickly as possible, generally within
(26:07):
a few days. That is the hearing that we're referencing
where the judge took evidence from both sides, allegedly reviewed
text messages and some videotape and testimony, and that judge
found that there wasn't enough evidence to grant a permanent
protective order restraining order, and he dismissed the temporary restraining
(26:28):
protective order against.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
Matthew Johnson you today, have you ever been in court
and the lawyer for the other side introduced to something
and you're sitting there going, oh, mustars, that helps.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
Me, and it totally backfires.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
And that is why you better practice every in court demonstration,
have every prop have every poster or every piece of evidence.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
I mean, do I have to say it doesn't fit?
Speaker 2 (26:56):
Oh, dear Lord in heaven talking about the SIPs and glove,
he put it over two.
Speaker 1 (27:01):
Singers and went, Okay, it won't fit. And what were
they gonna do?
Speaker 2 (27:03):
Chris Darden russell them in court and make it go
down over his hand that said, never ever play anything
or bring in evidence that you haven't tested yourself. Because
when this wife, Jennifer Gladhiel brings in the video to
show the judge why she should get the house and
(27:27):
the money and the children in this tro like kick
Kim out of the house, he goes, Lady, that doesn't
really help you.
Speaker 4 (27:35):
Listen to this video and text messages are gathered as
proof in Gldhill's fight for a permanent order. One video
shows Johnson cleaning up glass from a broken family photo.
His demeanor calm. Court Commissioner Russell Minus denied the permanent order,
determining there was no abuse. He describes the couple's relationship
(27:56):
as highly dysfunctional, adding both parties were equally confrontational and
that Gluhill did not exhibit any fear of Johnson The
commissioner said, the request for a restraining order appears to
be a litigation tactic in the pending divorce.
Speaker 9 (28:11):
Matthew Johnson has been missing five days when Coinwood Hides
PD gets a call from a friend of Jennifer Gludhill's.
The friend claims Gluhill called before reporting Matthew missing, giving
a very different version of events, a.
Speaker 2 (28:24):
Very different version of events. What she changes her story?
Speaker 1 (28:29):
Oh, yes, she changes the story.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
And based on that very different version of events, the
dominoes start falling, yacking, talking, gossiping. Why did she call
her friend and give a different version of events?
Speaker 1 (28:49):
What happens next? Listen?
Speaker 9 (28:50):
Conwood Hights PD execute a search for in at the
couple's home. Cops confirmed the suspicion that Gludhill replaced the
mattress in their master bedroom, the new one arriving three
days after her husband's disappearance.
Speaker 2 (29:02):
Uh oh, your husband goes missing, a new order, a
new mattress. Doctor Chloe Carmichael, I find that very unusual
at a time when you need to be scouring the
whole county trying to find your husband, pouring out her
credit cards and ATM transactions to try to find him.
She goes, Wow, I've got a lumpy mattress. That doesn't
(29:25):
make sense, doctor Chloe.
Speaker 11 (29:26):
No, I would agree, Nancy. And moreover, if they had
a pending divorce, then you know, people are usually thinking
more about trying to kind of get rid of things,
not you know, buy new things when there's likely going
to be a move happening. Also, it sounds like maybe
what psychologists call impression management, when a person you know,
goes out of their way to try to frame the
(29:48):
other person as as a victim, or rather frame the
other person as the aggressor and frame themselves as the victim. So,
you know, she's producing these videos and whatnot, but they
don't actually show anything incriminating, and there's a lack of
any real evidence on her part of you know, injuries
or bruising or anything like that. I also find it
(30:10):
unusual that she would not tell the police proactively if
there had been some sort of a conflict. You know,
if she was calling to make a second report about
a conflict, why would she not have just told him
everything she knew to say, Look, we had a fight,
maybe he ran away, Please go try to find him.
So the fact that she's withholding information and then changing
(30:32):
her story and then possibly making you know, private statements
to somebody else. She's not appearing like a consistent witness here.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
Sergeant Gary Young joining US, Cottonwood Heights PD. Sergeant Young,
I remember the horrible moment, and it only lasted about
five minutes. Max I was in a giant babies or
us and I turned around and I had my daughter
was still standing there, but my son was gone. He's
(31:03):
only two and a half three. I picked her up
like football and started running, screaming bloody murder to lock
the front doors and the back doors because my son
was missing. I didn't think about ordering any mattress in
that moment. I didn't gather my things that I had
(31:24):
already put in the cart for them and casually stroll
up front and start check out. Doctor Chloe was really
calm in her answer. But I find that crazy odd
that she, while her husband is missing, orders an nee mattress.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
That doesn't bother.
Speaker 8 (31:39):
You, No, that doesn't bother me because UH been married
for thirty years, and if we make a purchase like
a mattress, that's a husband and wife decision, and that
may take a couple of days or visits because You're
going to be a couple thousand dollars in a mattress,
So that would that's not a normal every day or
for the moment, you know, President's Day mattressself kind of thing.
Speaker 7 (32:00):
I would think that they had have spoken about her.
Speaker 8 (32:02):
It wouldn't take place during a crisis such as your
missing husband.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
When you and your coworkers execute a search warrant, Sergeant
Gary Young, what if anything did you find in the home.
Speaker 8 (32:17):
Ideally we're going to find physical executing a warrant, we
would like to have any evidence of the crime, hopefully
blood or other bodily fluids.
Speaker 7 (32:27):
That would be the ideal situation that we would be
able to find.
Speaker 2 (32:30):
That. Isn't it true that blood was found on the
slats beneath the knee mattress and a large bloodstain on
the carpet below the bed. The room looked as if
it had been meticulously clean.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace Jennifer Gladhill.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
You toll mom whose husband suddenly vanishes into thin air,
demanding thousands of dollars thirteen thousand dollars to be exact
from her father within seventy two hours or her husband
disappearing This is seventy two hours before her husband disappears.
Now we learn a life insurance policy battle is brewing.
Speaker 1 (33:16):
This is the deal.
Speaker 2 (33:18):
If the money's paid to Gledhill and she's convicted, her
children would be able to make a legal claim to
get that money themselves, and she would have already spent
it on legal fees.
Speaker 1 (33:28):
On the other side, if.
Speaker 2 (33:29):
It's paid to the children and she's acquitted, then she
can sue for the money to be returned to her.
So they're looking right down the wrong end of a
barrel to the tune of about at one point five
million dollars. But that's Prudential's problem. My concern is what
happened to Gledhill's husband. Matthew help me, Toby, explain what
(33:52):
we're saying.
Speaker 10 (33:53):
Well, when there's signs of a cleanup, which is the
bleach and the cleaners, it should be curiosity. Especially in
a bedroom. You know there's so many things in there
that will retain evidence. The mattress is nothing more than
a big sponge, so cleaning in that is virtually impossible.
(34:13):
In my opinion, I've never seen anyone successfully clean a
mattress because you may get it most of it off
the surface, but there's going to be plenty inside, and
then if there's enough blood, sufficient blood that it bleeds
through the mattress and ends up down on the slats
supporting it and the carpet underneath. Again, you're working trying
to clean away something that's very porous, So the slats
(34:36):
usually are wood. They're going to absorb the blood, so
it's going to be difficult to get it out of
the wood. But the carpet is a bigger factor. I've
found in many of the cases where I've gone looking
for a cleanup, carpeting is where we find it because
they may clean the surface so that you can't see
the blood, but there's this pad under the carpet that
actsually a sponge also, and you can just peel a
(34:59):
carpet back fine blood frequently weeks if there's a large
volume weeks after the event that's still wet. So there's
many places in this setting that would be potentially harboring
blood clean up. The other thing is is that when
people clean up crime scenes, they're not blood experts, and
they clean up what they visually see. They miss the
(35:20):
small stuff. So when I go into process a crime
scene and look for blood. I'm using whatever methodology usually
visual to lead me to the areas they've missed. So
there's a lot of things here that would have applied.
And the replacement of the mattress would be a key
piece of interest, because you know, knowing that you're not
going to get the blood out of that mattress, you
(35:43):
know you've got to replace it. It's just, especially with
the volumes of blood you're talking about here, If there
was enough blood to bleed through and get to the
areas under the mattress, that mattress had to be very.
Speaker 12 (35:55):
Saturated Bloodhill's friend recounts to police what Bloohill openly admitted
the before reporting her husband missing. Gledhill shot Johnson in
the head while he slept, then buried his body in
a shallow grave. Gledhill revealed the approximate location of the grave,
telling her friend she's trying to determine next steps.
Speaker 1 (36:12):
Next steps? Is that what it's called?
Speaker 2 (36:14):
Okay, So, Ray, how does her gossiping to her friend
fit into your scenario? Why does she have to call
the friend and tell the whole thing and now she's
trying to figure out next steps?
Speaker 6 (36:25):
Well, that certainly shows after death behavior But what the
defensive battered women's syndrome is is everything that leads.
Speaker 7 (36:34):
Up to the homicide is a homicide.
Speaker 6 (36:37):
But why why is there enough evidence of abuse sufficient
that a judging jury would say, we understand what she
did her behavior after that. Okay, that's a different argument.
I don't think it's helpful, Don't get me wrong. You
would rather not have as a defense lawyer that kind
of a text message, and that friend who's going to
testify for the state obviously come into evidence. But you've
(37:00):
got to come up with a defense unless you argue
it was a third party, a burglar, somebody else, or
a lover. And I don't see anything right now that
would support that as your primary defense.
Speaker 1 (37:10):
Okay, So bottom line, you got to go somewhere. What
are you going to do.
Speaker 2 (37:16):
You've managed to get your husband's blood all over the
slats under the bed.
Speaker 1 (37:21):
You're basically busted, unless you.
Speaker 2 (37:23):
Want to blame it on the five year old for
trying to do a cleanup.
Speaker 1 (37:27):
Of the carpet.
Speaker 2 (37:28):
You heard what Toby Wilson said, when they go under
that carpet.
Speaker 1 (37:32):
The lord only knows what they're going to find under there.
Speaker 2 (37:36):
But this is not the first time we would see
a wife meticulously planning a murder. Does the name Corey
Richins ring a bell also known as moscow mule? Mom?
Speaker 1 (37:49):
Listen?
Speaker 13 (37:50):
Police find Eric Richins dead on his bedroom floor. According
to court documents, Richings and his wife, Corey, we're celebrating
a business accomplishment. The night he died, Police say Corey
claimed she made him Eric a moscow mule, which he
drank in the bedroom. They say Corey told authorities that
she left to help one of their children and returned
(38:12):
to the bed several hours later. It was then, they say,
that she noticed Eric was called to the touch and
called nine to one one.
Speaker 2 (38:19):
And then there's Emily U, the so called draino wife.
Speaker 1 (38:26):
Listen.
Speaker 9 (38:26):
Radiologist Jack Chin says he noticed a chemical taste in
his drinks, so he set up a hidden camera in
their kitchen, capturing video evidence of his wife you you
allegedly taking dreno from under the sink and pouring it
into his lemonade. On three separate instances. A doctor diagnoses
Chin with two stomach alsters, gastritis and esophagus inflammation. Hidden
(38:47):
video is enough for cops and the forty five year
old dermatologists is placed under arrest for trying to poison
her husband.
Speaker 2 (38:53):
And what's so interesting about that case is this woman, who,
as I recall, was a doctor herself. As caught on
the the husband gets suspicious when his stomach becomes inflamed,
and he posts video cams all around the kitchen and
the home. You see her on video going over to
(39:14):
the kitchen cabinet and reaching in. He wisely set up
a camera inside the kitchen cabinet and you see her
hand reach in and get the draino and pull it out,
and then she doctors his morning drink. Okay, Doctor Chloe Carmichael,
joining us clinical psychologist, explain what's happening in these scenarios.
Speaker 11 (39:34):
Yeah, Well, especially with our current situation, I look at
what psychologists call grandiosity. So you had ask how it
could be that she could think that she could just
literally clean this up out of the carpet, and if
it is true that indeed she took it into her
own hands to just murder her husband, right there, we
(39:55):
have an element of grandiosity.
Speaker 1 (39:57):
And once you've.
Speaker 11 (39:58):
Done an act like that, or even are preparing to
do an act like that, more than likely, unless you're
a total psychopath, you would have what psychologists call hot cognition,
so you know, your mind is kind of supercharged, and
maybe you're not even thinking super clearly, and so that
might be why you know, she could do something like
that without really thinking it through. But again, I'm looking
(40:23):
at the grandiosity possibility, the idea that she would think
that she could just you know, make these videos and
paint him a certain way and paint herself a certain
way and then maybe potentially go murder him and confide
in a friend and think it would never come back
upon her. There's there's a real egoism there if all
of that is true.
Speaker 2 (40:43):
Yeah, Jennifer Scotski joining me, investigative reporter, Jennifer. I'm always
amazed that killers will speak to their compadres, their cohorts,
not even co defendants, and expect them to keep quiet.
Speaker 1 (40:59):
That's always been so bizarre to me.
Speaker 2 (41:01):
That you murder someone, in this case, murdering him in
his sleep, so that's not self defense, telling friends about it,
expecting them to be in on your secret.
Speaker 11 (41:14):
Yes, Nancy, it's definitely a case of that would be
a great example of grandiosity, that she could do something
like murder and then confide in a friend and as
you said, expect that the friend would just obey her instructions,
you know, to keep this, you know, murder confession quiet Essentially,
that would definitely speak to a grandiosity or kind of
(41:36):
a fuzzy connection with reality and social norms and what
she could expect from people.
Speaker 1 (41:41):
What about it, dinnerfer Skouski.
Speaker 5 (41:43):
Now, just to me, just looking at all of this,
who it sounds like your classic dumb killer. I mean,
it seems that she just didn't think at all. I mean,
who buys a new mattress after who goes to their
friend and says I did this? Or confidential informant as
they're calling this person?
Speaker 1 (42:04):
Who does that?
Speaker 5 (42:05):
Nobody with the same normal mind is ever going to
think they're going to get away with Mark the way
that miss Jennifer has tried to do thus far.
Speaker 2 (42:18):
And of course I want you to take a look
at the classic black widow. Dahlia Dippolito offers a hitman
seven thousand dollars to kill her husband. She sets up
an alibi for herself in their early morning hours, where
she says she's going to the gym. The hitman would
go in the home and kill her husband. Unbeknownst to her,
(42:40):
of course, she has done a deal with an undercover
surveillance officer. This is her when Ellie law enforcement come
to tell her her husband is dead. Little do they
does she know this is all part of a sting.
Speaker 1 (42:58):
So watch Dahlia Dipoleted. Watch out, Meryl Street, She's coming
for you.
Speaker 7 (43:04):
Is your husband Michael? Okay, I'm sorry to tell you man,
he's been chilled. He's been killed, Tod.
Speaker 1 (43:16):
Right now, we need to get you to state.
Speaker 7 (43:19):
We need to get.
Speaker 1 (43:21):
I can't look man. We have to do our job.
Speaker 8 (43:23):
If you want the finest pillera we need you to
calm down.
Speaker 7 (43:28):
I need you to do with thes okay.
Speaker 2 (43:30):
Sergeant Gary Young joining us from Cottonwood p D. Where
is the search? Where did she allegedly stay she buried
her husband?
Speaker 8 (43:40):
Are still looking for the deceased and we weren't given
a specific location. We have put out about twenty five
warrants now for cell phones, computer history. We're still following
up on all our leads, trying to get the best
known location. I mean, be a needle haystack to just
randomly go drive around and look for a place. We're
(44:03):
still trying to narrow that down, and several leads we've
looked into that haven't been very fruitful, and so we're
still exploding that electronic information trying to gain a better
location on where we should focus our search.
Speaker 1 (44:16):
And where is Jennifer Gledhill. Now listen.
Speaker 12 (44:19):
Jennifer Gledhill is arrested outside her home nine days into
the search for Matthew Johnson on suspicion of murder and
tampering with evidence. The couple's three children have been placed
in the care of a relative, as Gledhill has been
denied bail. Gledhill will remain in the Salt Lake County
Jail due to fears she will further tamper with evidence
or flee based on the comments she made to her friend.
Speaker 2 (44:40):
If you know or think you know anything regarding the
disappearance of this husband and father, Special Ops Hubby Matthew Johnson,
please dial eight zero one eight four zero four thousand,
repeat eight zero.
Speaker 1 (44:58):
One eight four z zero four thousand.
Speaker 2 (45:02):
Nancy Gray signing off, goodbye friend,
Host
Nancy Grace
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