Cottonwood Heights mom accused of murdering husband ordered again not to contact children

Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Jennifer Gledhill, accused of murdering her husband, was ordered again to not contact her children.
• Her attorney said the no-contact order and her parents' arrests make it feel like prosecutors are trying to take everything away from her.
• Prosecutors asked for the order, citing the ongoing investigation and that the children may be witnesses or victims in the case.

SALT LAKE CITY — The attorney for Jennifer Gledhill claimed in a hearing on Friday that her parents' arrests seem like prosecutors trying to take everything away from her.

He said prosecutors are trying to "set everything that my client loves on fire," saying there was no new information leading to the parents' arrests.

Gledhill, 41, is accused of murdering her husband, whose body has not been found. She was charged on Oct. 15 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.

Thomas Gledhill, 71, and Rosalie Gledhill, 67, were arrested Thursday for investigation of obstruction of justice in the case of Matthew Johnson's death, accused of aiding their daughter in cleaning up the crime.

Jennifer Gledhill's attorney, Jeremy Deus, asked the judge overseeing Gledhill's case to reconsider a protective order preventing her from contacting her children. He said their father is "missing" and their mom has been taken away, and not hearing from her could be damaging.

"In a situation where kids deserve to hear that their mother is thinking about them and she loves them ... she can't do that," he said.

He said contact should be considered in the juvenile court, where the children would have an attorney representing their interests.

Third District Judge Adam Mow said he would take away the protective order, saying he did not think this was what that law was designed for, but he issued a no-contact order. This means essentially the same thing for Gledhill, but now there is no criminal penalty attached to the order.

He told Gledhill he would consider exceptions to the order in the future, especially if attorneys agree to certain terms.

"I do recognize … that is a limitation not only on Ms. Gledhill, but also on the children," he said.

Deputy Salt Lake County attorney Emily Paulos argued in favor of no contact, saying it is an ongoing investigation and Gledhill is charged with multiple counts of obstructing justice. She said the children are potential victims and witnesses.

Paulos said the children are placed with family and under the custody of the Department of Children and Family Services.

This story may be updated.

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 an award-winning reporter for KSL.com. She covers state courts and legal affairs as well as health and religion news. In her spare time, Emily enjoys crafting, cycling and raising chickens.