Jury begins deliberations in the alleged murder-for-hire killing of a Microsoft manager in Florida

Jury Weighs Evidence in Jacksonville Beach Murder Case Tied to Custody Dispute

Activelifezero.com – Twelve jurors in Duval County, Florida, entered deliberation Wednesday in a case that has consumed local attention for years: the fatal shooting of a Microsoft design manager pulled from his SUV on a quiet stretch of Jacksonville Beach road. Jared Bridegan was killed in February 2022 after stepping out of his Volkswagen Atlas to clear a tire that had been deliberately placed in his lane. His young daughter was seated in the back of the vehicle, watching her father walk toward the obstacle. He was struck twice and died at the scene.

The case has drawn scrutiny because Bridegan, by all accounts, had no visible enemies. For months after the shooting, investigators struggled to identify a motive. The answer, prosecutors argued, lay not in his professional life at the tech giant but in a bitter, years-long custody battle over their twin children with his ex-wife, Shanna Gardner.

The Alleged Plot

Prosecutors painted what they described as an elaborate, months-long scheme to eliminate Bridegan. At the center of their theory sits Mario Fernandez Saldana, 38, Gardner’s current husband, who faces charges of first-degree murder and solicitation of murder. The alleged triggerman, Henry Tenon, 65, had no personal relationship with Bridegan but had previously rented a property owned by Fernandez Saldana in Jacksonville.

After the homicide, jurors were shown three checks totaling $10,000 made out to Tenon. The checks were annotated as payments for handyman services and a business concept — explanations that prosecutors suggested were cover for a far different arrangement. Police also identified Tenon’s DNA on the rim of the tire that had been positioned in the road to force Bridegan to stop and step out of his vehicle.

Tenon initially entered a plea deal, agreeing to testify against Fernandez Saldana. He later withdrew from that agreement and is scheduled to face his own trial next year.

Closing Arguments and the Question of Motive

Assistant State Attorney Christina Stifler closed the prosecution’s case by describing the scene in vivid, almost cinematic terms.

“He was unarmed, unaware, exposed, vulnerable. He couldn’t have known, on that cold asphalt in February of 2022, the architects of his murder had been making preparations for his death for months.”

On the other side of the courtroom, defense attorney Jesse Dreicer argued that Fernandez Saldana had no reason to want Bridegan dead. Dreicer pointed out that no witness testified that Fernandez Saldana ever told anyone the former father-in-law “deserves to die.” He emphasized that Fernandez Saldana gained nothing from the killing and that the two men had no meaningful interaction.

“He certainly gained no benefit from the death of Jared Bridegan,” Dreicer told the jury.

Dreicer also noted that Fernandez Saldana and Gardner are now estranged. Gardner relocated to Washington state following the shooting, and the couple’s relationship has effectively dissolved. That separation, the defense implied, weakens any narrative that Fernandez Saldana acted at Gardner’s direction.

The Custody Backdrop

The trial placed considerable weight on the fractured relationship between Bridegan and Gardner. The two shared twins, and their post-divorce interactions over parenting schedules and custody arrangements had become, in the words of Bridegan’s current wife, deeply hostile.

Kirsten Bridegan, who was married to Jared at the time of his death and shares two children with him, testified that the post-divorce dynamic between her husband and Gardner was “pretty terrible.” She told the jury there was “absolutely no trust” between the two parents.

On the day of the shooting, Bridegan had just dropped the twins back at Gardner’s home after a “date night” dinner with the children. He was driving home when the tire forced him to stop. The proximity of that routine drop-off to the ambush location became a focal point of the prosecution’s timeline.

Family Ties and Community Context

Gardner, 39, comes from a prominent Utah family. She is the daughter of a co-founder of Stampin’ Up!, a well-known arts-and-crafts company headquartered in the state. That background gave the case a wider audience beyond Jacksonville Beach, where residents still recall the shock of seeing a man shot down in the middle of a residential road on what should have been an ordinary evening.

Gardner’s own trial is expected to begin in September, meaning the jury’s verdict in Fernandez Saldana’s case will arrive before the second phase of proceedings concludes. If Fernandez Saldana is convicted, the outcome will shape how jurors and judges approach Gardner’s case, particularly questions about who conceived the plan and who carried it out.

For the Bridegan family, the deliberation marks the longest stretch of uncertainty since that February night four years ago, when a routine errand — removing an obstruction from the road — ended in gunfire and left a daughter in the back seat of a stopped SUV watching her father fall.