JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — For two years, the murder of Jared Bridegan has gripped the headlines of the Jacksonville area and piqued interest nationally.
In what is described as a murder-for-hire plot by authorities, the father of four was gunned down after dropping off his two oldest children.
Around 7:45 p.m. on the evening of Feb. 16, 2022, Jared Bridegan was dropping off his twins at his ex-wife's home in the Sanctuary neighborhood of Jacksonville Beach. As he left her home, his two-year-old daughter Bexley, rode in her car seat behind him. Both unaware of the danger lying ahead of them.
Investigators say as Jared turned right onto Sanctuary Boulevard — a narrow, dimly lit road leading toward JTB — he encountered a tire in the roadway. As he exited his car to move the tire, he was shot multiple times.
Jared Bridegan, a father of four, was dead. His daughter, Bexley, was not physically harmed, but an officer's report states when witnesses tried to ask her what happened "she was only worried about her dad."
From that night, an investigation began that has encompassed local and national investigative agencies as police deemed Jared's death as a "targeted" killing. Recently released discovery documents in the case show authorities immediately began canvassing the neighborhood.
It is there that witnesses mention seeing a blue truck backing up and driving away. Detectives also spoke with Bridegan's ex-wife, Shanna Gardner, and her second husband, Mario Fernandez-Saldana. She told them her divorce with Jared was not amicable and the last text she had received from him was earlier that night saying "Here" to pick up his twins.
As the investigation heightened, authorities released a photo of a blue, Ford-150 truck taken by a nearby surveillance camera and asked for the public's help in identifying it.
"He is not just his photo you see on TV, he was a great dad, the best spouse and I want people to know that," Kirsten Bridegan said in our first interview with her in March of 2022. Kirsten and Jared Bridegan married in 2017 and share two children together, Bexley and London.
As weeks turned into months, reports show investigators chased down various leads, digging deeper into the acrimonious divorce between Jared Bridegan and Shanna Gardner. They also turned their attention to Shanna's second-husband, Mario Fernandez. Gardner and Fernandez sat down for their first formal interviews with police in March of 2022.
Records show Shanna told officers she and Mario were home when Jared dropped off the kids, but she also reportedly told police "good luck with Mario, he is like a pit bull." Fernandez reportedly told officers he felt the twins would be better off if Gardner had control of the custody and described Bridegan as "pestering."
Publicly, with little information released about the crime, questions swirled.
Six months after his murder, we sat down with Sgt. Tonya Tator with Jacksonville Beach PD to get an update. Though she could release few details at the time, she did say a lot of work was still being put into the case.
"Every tip that comes in has to be investigated to the fullest until we have nothing else to go on that tip. So that is time consuming within itself," Sgt. Tator said in August of 2022.
But behind the scenes, a suspect was about to be taken into custody. Henry Tenon was arrested in August of 2022 on charges of possession of a weapon by a felon and driving with a suspended or revoked license, charges unrelated to Bridegan's death. Following up on a tip, officers visited the home of Henry Tenon and his roommate, Jeremy Ordway.
Tenon leased a home from Mario Fernandez. While visiting the home, officers noticed a truck tire leaning up against the house, but no truck in the driveway.
The tire was taken to compare with the tire found in the road on Sanctuary Boulevard. This is taken directly from the officer's report:
"On Tuesday, July 19, 2022, Det. LaMont and I went over to the property room and compared the two tires, noting that the both the DOT numbers AP80 2T11" along with the date of manufacture "4718," which labels the tires being manufactured in the 47th week of 2018 (Nov. 19, 2018 through Nov. 25, 2018). Both tires appear to match each other."
As Tenon remained in custody, detectives continued to build their case. In January of 2023, he was officially charged in the murder of Jared Bridegan.
"This ruthless homicide has pained our community," said Jacksonville Beach Police Chief Gene Smith at a press conference in January of 2023," This was a planned and targeted ambush and murder."
Kirsten Bridegan along with other members of Jared's family stood by the chief as he made the announcement. State Attorney Melissa Nelson said Tenon would be charged with second degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, child abuse and accessory after the fact.
She also added, " We know Henry Tenon did not act alone."
After Tenon's arrest we spoke again with Kirsten Bridegan who told us, "I think it just opened up a whole other book of questions. Who was this person? How did you find this person? What's the connection? I want to know everything about him. I want to know everything about how we got here. We have to be patient and wait, very grateful we got there, but I want to know more."
More information would come to light nearly two months later with the arrest of Mario Fernandez. Taken into custody in Orlando, he was also charged with first-degree murder, solicitation to commit a capital felony and child abuse. State Attorney Melissa Nelson announced Henry Tenon plead guilty to second degree murder and admitted to firing the fatal shots.
"Tenon's cooperation has both corroborated evidence collected during the investigation and provided additional evidence against Mario Fernandez-Saldana for his role in the planning and execution of Jared's murder," said Nelson at a press conference in March of 2023.
According to Fernandez's arrest warrant, three handwritten checks from Fernandez to Tenon were obtained by authorities in October of 2022 and phone records show at least 35 phone contacts between the two in February of 2022.
But there was still one more arrest to come. It was announced in August of 2023 that Shanna Gardner was also taken into custody and charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, solicitation to commit a capital felony and child abuse. Nelson has said she will seek the death penalty for Gardner and Fernandez if found guilty.
"Shanna's arrest ends one horrific chapter in our pursuit in Justice for Jared," said Kirsten Bridegan," For 547 days we hoped and prayed this day would come."
Mario Fernandez and Shanna Gardner both plead not guilty. Their cases are currently working through the court system and a trial date has not yet been set.
In addition to her pursuit of justice for Jared, Kirsten Bridegan has found ways to honor his memory. She petitioned the Jacksonville Beach mayor to add lights to the section of Sanctuary Boulevard where Jared was killed and those were recently added. The HOA for the neighborhood is also working on a memorial tree for Jared as well.
Kirsten also founded The Bridegan Foundation which focuses on providing Bexley Boxes to police departments and sheriff's offices across the country. The Bexley Boxes are filled with comfort items for children going through traumatic events. It was an idea that stemmed from what little Bexley experienced the night of Jared's murder and her time at the Jacksonville Beach Police Department as she waited to be reunited with her mother.
"I think he would be really proud that we are doing something good, that we are helping other people. He really enjoyed helping people, so I think he would be really proud of this and proud that we would have a part in something positive," said Kirsten," That his death wouldn’t just be negative, it wouldn’t just be the tragedy, there would be something good coming from that and that would give him some peace."
For more on the Bridegan Foundation and Bexley Boxes, visit https://www.brideganfoundation.org/
We will continue to follow this case as it moves toward a trial.