COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS, UT — A search warrant unsealed Aug. 6 says investigators tried to use Oura Ring data in the case of Matthew Johnson, a Utah National Guardsman who has been missing since Sept. 20, 2024. Detectives were looking for evidence that could help them locate his body, which still has not been found nearly two years later.
The warrant was filed in February and sought data tied to both Jennifer Gledhill and Johnson’s fitness ring accounts. Investigators said the ring could provide GPS information with time and date stamps, along with activity, sleep, heart rate and body temperature data. Court documents say police hoped the information would help fill gaps in other geolocation evidence.
Johnson was last seen on Sept. 20, 2024, and Gledhill was arrested on murder charges on Oct. 2, about two weeks later. The case is headed to trial Dec. 7 in a proceeding expected to last eight days, including one day for jury selection.
How Detectives Built The Case
According to the warrant, Gledhill first contacted police four days after Johnson disappeared and reported a domestic violence incident from the night he was last seen. She said both had been drinking and that Johnson hit her several times. Officers noted bruises on her body after that report.
She also told police she and Johnson had made a deal that if he returned to Camp Williams she would not report the incident. When he did not show up for work, she then reported him missing. Eight days after he was last seen, she told investigators he had been suicidal in the past, according to the warrant.
Detectives began treating the missing-person case as a possible homicide after a man who said he had been in a relationship with Gledhill gave them a tip. Documents say he told police Gledhill admitted shooting Johnson while he slept and burying him in a shallow grave. Officers later searched the home and found items they described as consistent with homicide.
What The Ring Could Show
Investigators wrote that the Oura Ring may have helped them track movement at the time Johnson’s body was allegedly disposed of. One detective said in the warrant that if Gledhill was wearing the ring during that period, it could contain location information that other devices did not capture because the phone or device had been turned off.
The ring tracks sleep and activity scores, heart rate, body temperature and GPS locations, all with time and date stamps. Police asked for records from both accounts in hopes of finding additional evidence, including possible location clues tied to the missing man’s remains.
It is not yet clear whether the search turned up significant data. That question may be answered when the case goes to trial in December, when the digital evidence could become part of the public record.
Searches At The Home
After receiving the tip, investigators searched Gledhill’s home and said they found signs that suggested a cleanup effort. The warrant says officers noticed a strong bleach smell, and evidence technicians believed the walls and carpet had been wiped with bleach.
Crime technicians also found blood in areas that had recently been cleaned, according to the documents. The warrant says officers recovered several items they considered consistent with a homicide investigation, though the filing does not identify all of those items in the publicly released material.
Those findings became part of the broader case that led to the murder charge filed against Gledhill. The search warrant remained sealed until Aug. 6, when it was unsealed and those details became public.
Court Dates Ahead
The trial had originally been set for June, but both the defense and the prosecution asked for more time, and the court granted a delay. Johnson’s disappearance, the missing body and the digital-search evidence are all part of the case now moving toward trial.
Gledhill is scheduled to return to court for a preliminary hearing on Nov. 5 before the Dec. 7 trial date. The jury trial is expected to take eight days total, with one day set aside for jury selection.
For now, Johnson’s remains have not been found, and investigators are still relying on witness statements, search warrants and physical evidence as they prepare for court.
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