2023-08-18 20:27:12
The ex-wife of a man who was killed in the middle of the street in front of their 2-year-old daughter has been charged with “cold, calculated and premeditated murder,” according to Florida authorities.
Jared Bridegan, a Microsoft executive and father of four, was found shot to death outside his Volkswagen Atlas on a Jacksonville Beach street last year.
A grand jury on Thursday indicted Bridegan’s ex-wife, Shanna Gardner, on charges including murder, conspiracy and solicitation to commit murder, said Melissa Nelson, state attorney for Florida’s 4th Judicial Circuit.
Nelson said his office intends to seek the death penalty.
Authorities say Gardner conspired with her husband to plan the murder. Her husband and another man were previously arrested in the case.
They did not act alone, Nelson said.
“Shanna Gardner’s indictment acknowledges her central and key role in the cold, calculated and premeditated murder of Jared Bridegan,” Nelson said Thursday at a news conference.
Gardner was arrested in West Richland, Washington, Thursday morning by agents with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Nelson said.
Gardner, 36, was being held without bond at the Benton County, Washington jail on Thursday night, according to jail records.
It was not immediately clear if Gardner had an attorney who could speak on his behalf. Her case was not listed in Florida’s online records as of Thursday night.
Prosecutors will try to have Gardner extradited to Duval County, Florida, to face charges, Nelson said.
Gardner is charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, incitement to commit first-degree murder and child molestation, prosecutors said.
According to the indictment, she and her husband, Mario Fernández-Saldana, conspired to cause Bridegan’s death and solicit another person to kill him.
Bridegan, 33, was fatally shot in front of his 2-year-old daughter, who was uninjured in the back seat of the Volkswagen.
His widow, Kirsten Bridegan, told NBC’s “Dateline” that when he didn’t come home on February 16, 2022, she drove out to look for him and kept calling his phone until a police officer answered.
The officer told her that her daughter was fine, but that she had to go to the police station.
Bridegan had left the 9-year-old twin boys he had with Gardner at Gardner’s home, prosecutors have said.
He was driving a regular route home when he stopped to remove a tire from the middle of the road, the state’s attorney’s office has said. When he got out, they shot him several times.
Henry Tenon is the alleged perpetrator of the murder, and Fernández-Saldana would have participated in its planning, according to Nelson.
Tenon, 62, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder earlier this year and agreed to testify against any accomplice, the state attorney’s office has said.
He has not been convicted, according to court records. He was a tenant of Fernández-Saldana, according to the prosecution.
Fernandez-Saldana, 35, He was charged in March with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first degree murder, incitement to commit a capital offense, and child abuse.
Fernández-Saldana has pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors have stated their intention to seek the death penalty.
The NBC affiliate WTLV Jacksonville has reported that Bridegan was a Microsoft executive and father of four children.
Kirsten Bridegan has said that her family has “hoped and prayed for this day to come”.
“Shanna’s arrest ends a horrific chapter in our search for justice for Jared,” he said.
“We hope that justice will be done to the fullest extent of the law,” he added.
It is article It was originally published in English by Phil Health for our sister network NBCNews.com. For more from NBC News enter here.
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