Jared Bridegan's ex, Shanna Gardner, charged in Jacksonville Beach murder plot

Jared Bridegan's ex-wife, Shanna Lee Gardner, has now been indicted in his ambush death in Jacksonville Beach in February 2022.

State Attorney Melissa Nelson held a very brief news conference Thursday announcing the final update to the high-profile case. She said prosecutors will seek the death penalty against her as well as having already advised they are doing with her co-defendant husband, Mario Fernandez Saldana.

Fernandez Saldana, 35, was arrested on March 16 in Orange County on charges of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, solicitation to commit a capital felony and child abuse. Those are the same charges now as Gardner, 36, who was arrested Thursday in the state of Washington where she was living. Fernandez Saldana's arrest came the same day Nelson announced that Henry Arthur Tenon, 62, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the shooting and was the triggerman. He was the first one charged in the case on Jan. 25.

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Tenon agreed to testify against Fernandez Saldana and any others who may have been involved in the 2022 ambush of Bridegan, a 33-year-old Microsoft executive from St. Augustine. Tenon had rented a home from Fernandez Saldana, Nelson said.

Bridegan's widow, Kirsten Bridegan, and family also were present for Thursday's news conference.

"From very, very early on, everything in my body and soul told me she was behind it," Kirsten Bridegan said.

Nelson said her office and law enforcement promised at the outset of this investigation that they would not relent until uncovering the truth. She did not take questions or discuss Gardner's role or what finally led to her arrest. But all along, she said the investigation wasn't over.

A plot to kill in Jacksonville Beach: What do we know about Shanna Gardner, the ex-wife now charged in Jared Bridegan's murder?

“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 premeditated murder of Jared Bridegan,” Nelson said.

In 2018 Fernandez Saldana married Gardner, whose parents recently said they have been estranged for some time. Gardner, who had moved to Washington state with her children after intense media coverage of the case, has not spoken to the Times-Union since June of last year when she said she wanted people to know she wasn't involved considering all of the scrutiny.

Authorities have not discussed motive, but an arrest warrant states "the investigation into Bridegan’s background revealed a highly acrimonious divorce from his ex-wife, Shanna Gardner, and a contentious relationship with both Gardner and Fernandez Saldana."

The indictment also specifies that Gardner and Fernandez Saldana are accused of conspiring between Nov. 1, 2021, and Feb. 16, 2022, to have Bridegan killed. For Gardner it states her involvement may have gone back as far as May 2015, which is a few months after she filed for divorce.

Fernandez Saldana and Tenon are accused of orchestrating the attack on Bridegan, who was shot on Feb. 16, 2022, after dropping his twin children off at Mario and Shanna's Jacksonville Beach home. Bridegan was on his way home to St. Augustine with his 2-year-old daughter when he stopped because of a tire on Sancturay Road.

Early in the case, police made it clear they didn't think the tire being there was an accident. It was a dark, residential road that Bridegan routinely took to get to Butler Boulevard. When he turned his hazard lights on and got out to move it, he was immediately gunned down, police said. The toddler was unharmed in her safety seat and nothing appeared to be stolen.

On Shanna Gardner's behalf

Gardner's attorney, Hank Coxe, said his position remains the same that he does not comment publicly about pending matters.

The Kirton McConkie Law Firm in Salt Lake City, Utah, provided the following statement on behalf of Gardner's parents, Shelli and Sterling Gardner:

“Words cannot accurately express the depth of our sadness. Family is our top priority. We love our daughter and are focused on supporting her and our entire family as we help our grandchildren navigate this difficult and very confusing time. For their sake and all involved, we caution against further speculation and request privacy as the legal process runs its course. In the meantime, we are thankful for the continued support, thoughtfulness and prayers being so generously shared by friends and loved ones.”

Her parents are co-founders of the highly successful Stampin’ Up! arts and crafts company and fixtures in the Mormon community in Utah.

Kirsten Bridegan's response

"For 547 days we hoped and prayed that this day would come," said Bridegan's widow, whose case was featured again on "Dr. Phil" this week.

"Shanna's arrest ends one horrific chapter of our pursuit of justice for Jared and now we open a new one," she said. "This next chapter will be excruciating. But we are confident in the ability of the SAO and law enforcement to bring truth to light. We expect justice to be carried out to the fullest extent of the law."

She said she told her now 4-year-old daughter Baxley who was in the car that day in simple terms that "two bad guys" are in jail in connection with her father's death and the woman "who she refers to as 'the mean mom'" now is too.

As for the twins Abby and Liam, she said they have been "kept away and isolated from us" while living with their mother Gardner, stepfather and maternal grandparents.

"Despite my constant requests to see or speak to them, I have been denied and continuously ignored," she said tearfully. "... I plead with the Gardners to put the emotional and mental well-being of Liam and Abby above all else and allow them to reconnect with us. We are their family, we love them... Let our children be siblings again and put them first and do what's right."

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Shanna Gardner, Microsoft exec Jared Bridegan's ex-wife arrested in murder