More than a year after a Microsoft executive was gunned down in Florida in front of his young daughter, his ex-wife has been charged in connection with his murder, authorities said.
Shanna Gardner is accused of arranging the Feb. 16, 2022 killing of ex-husband Jared Bridegan, prosecutors announced Thursday.
Gardner was arrested in Washington state after a grand jury indicted her on charges of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, solicitation to commit first-degree murder and child abuse, State Attorney Melissa Nelson, who serves Duval, Clay and Nassau counties, told reporters at a Thursday morning news conference.
"We promised at the outset of this investigation that we would not relent until we uncovered the truth of Jared's murder," Nelson said. "Shanna Gardner's indictment acknowledges her central and key role in the cold, calculated and premeditated murder of Jared Bridegan."
Nelson said Gardner was expected to be extradited to Duval to face the charges. She said her office intends to seek the death penalty in the case.
Bridegan, a 33-year-old father of four, was found lying on a Jacksonville Beach roadway with multiple gunshot wounds.
According to an arrest warrant, Bridegan had dropped off his 9-year-old twins at Gardner's Jacksonville Beach home, where she lived with her new husband, Mario Fernandez Saldana.
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Bridegan, who'd also remarried, was driving with his 2-year-old daughter, whom he shared with his wife, Kirsten, when he came across a tire in the road that was blocking his way.
Police said they believe the tire was placed there on purpose to get Bridegan to stop and that he was shot when he got out of his SUV to move the tire.
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His 2-year-old daughter witnessed the fatal shooting and bullets struck the SUV close to where she was strapped into her seat but she was unharmed.
The warrant said Bridegan had been involved in a "highly acrimonious divorce" from Gardner and had a contentious relationship with Gardner and Fernandez Saldana.
Bridegan had been married in 2010 and divorced in 2015, and shared custody of the twins, the warrant said.
Gardner apparently moved across the country to Washington after Bridegan's murder.
After months of investigation, Jacksonville Beach Police announced the arrest of 62-year-old Henry Tenon in January in Bridegan's murder.
Nelson later said Tenon had pleaded guilty to second-degree murder with a weapon and admitted shooting Bridegan, and was cooperating with the investigation.
It turned out Tenon had lived at a property owned by Fernandez Saldana, and investigators discovered Fernandez Saldana had written three checks to Tenon in 2022, the warrant said.
Phone records also showed Tenon and Fernandez Saldana had contacted each other dozens of times between February and June of 2022, the warrant said.
Authorities in March arrested Fernandez Saldana on murder charges in Bridegan's killing. Nelson said they would be seeking the death penalty in his case as well.
