JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Exactly two years ago Friday, a St. Johns County father of four stopped on a dark stretch of road in Jacksonville Beach after dropping off his twins with his ex-wife.
There was a tire in the road, blocking Jared Bridegan’s way.
But when the 33-year-old got out of his SUV to move it, he was ambushed -- shot multiple times at close range. His then-2-year-old daughter was inside the SUV, and bullets that missed her father came inches from the toddler’s car seat.
New evidence released in the case this week shows grainy images captured that fateful night. Investigators said one video screenshot shows Henry Tenon, the man who later pleaded guilty to pulling the trigger, walking from the scene of the murder minutes after the shooting.
As part of his plea deal, Tenon has agreed to testify against the others involved in what investigators say was a murder-for-hire plot. The newly released 800 pages of evidence show that investigators identified four other suspects -- with Bridegan’s ex-wife Shanna Gardner and her estranged husband Mario Fernandez at the top of the list.
“As I learned more details of what happened to Jared. You know, that there’s a tire, it’s pretty clear that someone knew his route, his schedule. I have felt since the beginning that this was planned, this was thought out and this was specific to Jared,” Kirsten Bridegan, Jared’s widow, said in January 2023.
Gardner and Fernandez both face charges of first-degree murder with a weapon, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, solicitation to commit a capital felony and child abuse (because Bridegan’s daughter was present during the murder). Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for both.
Fiery status hearing
Kirsten Bridegan was in the courtroom Friday, sitting in the gallery with State Attorney Melissa Nelson, as Gardner and Fernandez appeared for a status hearing on the somber anniversary of Jared Bridegan’s murder.
What they witnessed were some unexpected fireworks between defense attorneys and the prosecutor.
The defense attorneys are pushing for the state attorney’s office to be kicked off the case because of a privacy breach that the state says was inadvertent. The arguments led to some testy moments in court on Friday.
Much of the back and forth centered on the accidental uploading of communications — like text messages and emails — that were protected by attorney-client privilege. The prosecutor argued her team was only focused on two documents. But the defense fired back, saying the damage was done.
“The spillage of her attorney-client information throughout the law enforcement teams, which are category A witnesses expected to testify in this trial, will amount to sufficient prejudice that we can never put the genie back in the bottle. And Miss Gardner can never get a fair trial,” her attorney said.
The prosecutor argued her team never looked at the communications.
“We removed them, we deleted them,” she said. “We tried with good faith never to purposely or intentionally read anything. Any disclosures or any possessions were inadvertent, and we took immediate steps to remediate our possession of these when we realized we had things we were not supposed to have.”
Judge London Kite said she would file a request for another judge to review whether the contested communications were, in fact, privileged and how best to move forward.
In the meantime, Gardner’s attorneys are still pushing for their client to be released on bond. There’s no word yet on when that motion will be taken up.
In court on Friday, they said they would be seeking to have the indictments dismissed.
Gardner and Fernandez will be back in court for a follow-up status conference on March 4.
2 more suspects
According to documents released this week, Gardner and Fernandez were not the only ones on investigators’ radar.
The names of the two other people believed to have been somehow involved in Bridegan’s death were redacted in the recently released evidence. Neither has been charged in the case.
A warrant states that one of the unnamed conspirators was a former reserve police officer who is also a convicted felon. That man was known to own a 10mm handgun and Bridegan was killed with a 10mm handgun, but the murder weapon was never recovered, according to the evidence.
When investigators interviewed the former reserve officer and asked to see his gun, he said he didn’t know where it was.
The warrant also said a relative of Bridegan told investigators that Gardner had commented about “hiring a hitman to take Bridegan out” back in 2017. The relative said Gardner “hated” Bridegan and was “frustrated by their custody arrangement and their differences in parenting choice.”
Fernandez was quoted as saying “the kids were better off with Bridegan out of the picture.”
The warrant explains how investigators hoped the announcement of the arrest of Tenon would “trigger communications” among the other suspects that would allow investigators to “discern the role each played in the conspiracy,” and “capture communications of evidentiary value.”
“If you knew Jared, you know he would not give up. He would not give up until our family gets justice,” Adam Bridegan, Jared’s brother, said in August 2023.
MORE: Wiretap, phone searches among key evidence in Jared Bridegan murder investigation
Investigators noted that the remaining targets were trying to obstruct the investigation with false and misleading statements. They noted that both Fernandez and Gardner quickly requested attorneys. The warrant says there was both electronic and undercover surveillance on them.
