WEST RICHLAND, Wa. – Newly released body-worn camera footage shows the moment federal agents arrested a Jacksonville Beach woman accused of killing her husband in a murder-for-hire plot that’s garnered international attention.
News4JAX obtained West Richland Police Department body camera video showing Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) agents serving an arrest warrant on the ex-wife of Jared Bridegan.
Shanna Gardner, 36, is accused of orchestrating an ambush attack that left Bridegan dead in February 2022.
The father of four was gunned down on a dark Jacksonville Beach street after dropping off the children the couple shared at her home. His two-year-old daughter was in the backseat of his SUV at the time, but she wasn’t harmed.
Gardner moved across the country to southwestern Washington State in the months following Jared Bridegan’s murder. She took the twins, now 11-years-old, with her.
That is where she was taken into custody on Aug. 17.
“Police, we have an arrest warrant,” exclaimed investigators as they arrived at the home.
Gardner’s mother, Shelli, is seen crying on a bench on the front porch.
“I’m here Shanna, I’m outside,” she said.
West Richland police recorded the footage as they were backing up Washington Field Office ATF agents and detectives from the Jacksonville Beach Police Department.
Investigators brought Gardner out of the home in handcuffs. Inside, officers can hear the two children she shared with Bridegan. The children help her find jeans to wear before the police take her away.
“I love you, honey,” Gardner said as an officer took her to a police cruiser.
Gardner was calm and polite as officers took her to the police station and then the Benton County jail, where she currently remains on a fugitive from justice warrant. There’s no talk about the bizarre, and complicated, case in this body camera footage.
Hours later, and 2,800 miles away in Jacksonville, State Attorney Melissa Nelson announced a grand jury indicted Gardner for her ex-husband’s murder on charges of first-degree murder, conspiracy, and solicitation for first-degree murder and child abuse.
“This investigation has uncovered the truth of Jared’s murder,” she said. “Henry Tenon did not act alone. Mario Fernandez did not plan alone. And Shanna Gardner’s indictment acknowledges her central and key role in the cold, calculated and pre-meditated murder of Jared Bridegan.”
Gardner’s husband, Mario Fernandez, has been behind bars since March on the same charges. The couple’s tenant, Henry Tenon, confessed to second-degree murder after his arrest in February.
Investigators have not released a motive, but News4JAX reviewed divorce documents showing a contentious relationship between Gardner and Bridegan.
These records from St. Johns County show:
Shanna Gardner and Jared Bridegan, both from Utah, married in April 2010 and filed for divorce Feb 2015. The divorce was finalized in August 2018. Both Jared and Shanna remarried in 2018.
It’s notable that Gardner’s indictment says she plotted to kill Bridegan as far back as May 2015.
These records show custody of the couple’s twins was a big part of the split, Bridegan’s lawyer claimed Gardner locked him out of the master bedroom, installed surveillance cameras in the children’s bedroom and husband’s car, and canceled a June 2015 heart surgery their son had scheduled in New York without Bridegan’s consent.
There was also a considerable amount of money on the table. Gardner’s parents own a multimillion-dollar, international craft company called Stampin’ Up and gave the couple a stipend of $8,500 a month as Bridegan went to school for his Master’s degree.
As part of the breakup, Gardner kept the couple’s Ponte Vedra Beach home, but she agreed to pay Bridegan $390,000 for his stake in it.
A judge temporarily granted alimony and child support payments from Gardner to Bridegan.
The state attorney says her office is seeking the death penalty against Gardner and Fernandez.
Gardner’s attorney, Hank Coxe, said it’s his policy to not comment on pending legal matters.