Jared Bridegan’s ex-wife Shanna Gardner charged over Microsoft executive’s murder plot

A friend of murdered father of four and Microsoft executive Jared Bridegan has spoken out after Shanna Gardner-Fernandez, Mr Bridegan’s ex-wife, was charged with his murder.

He called the revelation “absolutely wild,” in an interview with The Daily Beast.

“I’m relieved for Jared’s family,” Nate Sanders told the outlet, noting he had seen the effect his ex-wife had on his friend. “As I’ve said before, no one who knew how Shanna treated Jared or her character is surprised by this. I’m just thinking about the Bridegans today and how bittersweet this event is.”

News4JAX obtained bodycam footage on Friday from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office showing the man accused of planning Jared Bridegan’s death being arrested in March, just over a year after Bridegan was killed in an ambush shooting in Jacksonville Beach.

Mario Fernandez, a Florida landlord, was arrested in March on suspicion of orchestrating the murder of Jared Bridegan.

Mr Fernandez is married to Shanna Gardner-Fernandez, Mr Bridegan’s ex-wife.

Police believe the landlord hired Henry Tenon, a tenant residing in one of his properties, to kill Mr Bridegan. Mr Tenon has admitted to shooting the executive.

Mr Bridegan was shot and killed while trying to move a tire out of the road that was blocking his vehicle on his way back from his ex-wife’s home.

Authorities have not given a motive for the murder, 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.”

Kristen Bridegan told reporters that Jared’s children with his ex-wife, twins Abby and Liam, had been “kept away and isolated from us” while living with their mother, stepfather and maternal grandparents.

“Despite my constant requests to see or speak to them, I have been denied and continuously ignored,” she said through tears.

“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.”

The ex-wife of slain Microsoft executive Jared Bridegan, who was fatally shot by a gunman as he drove home with his two-year-old daughter, has been arrested and charged with his murder.

Shanna Gardner-Fernandez was arrested in Washington state on Thursday and will be extradited back to Duval County, Florida, where she has been indicted by a grand jury on a charge of first-degree murder and child abuse.

“We promised at the outset of this investigation we would not relent until we uncovered the truth of Jared’s murder, the whole and entire truth,” State Attorney Melissa Nelson told reporters.

Jared Bridegan’s toddler, who was in the car with him on the night of his murder, reportedly narrowly avoided being hit by gunfire.

Mr Bridegan was returning home after dropping two of his children off at his ex-wife, Shanna Gardner-Fernandez’s home, when his path was blocked by a tire in the road. When he exited his car to move the tire, a gunman emerged and shot him.

Though Mr Bridegan’s daughter — a child he had with his second wife — was in the car, she was unharmed. However, investigators found bullets had entered the car’s interior just inches away from where the toddler was seated.

Shanna Gardner-Fernandez, the ex-wife of Jared Bridegan, sat for an interview following her ex-husband’s murder, during which she expressed sadness that he had been killed, stating that he was “still the father of my children.”

“Any time divorce comes into any situation it’s messy,” she told WJAX in July 2022 following his murder.

“Even though we didn’t always get along, he was still the father of my kids,” she said, claiming she “fell to the floor because I was devastated” when she learned he had been killed.

She has now been charged with first degree murder relating to the death of Mr Bridegan.

Ms Gardner-Fernandez insisted at the time she had no idea who carried out the murder.

Jared Bridegan’s ex-wife, Shanna Gardner-Ferenandez, has been charged with his murder.

Though she did not pull the trigger the night he was gunned down outside his car, investigators believe a spiteful divorce led to her orchestrating, along with her new husband and a gunman, the murder of her ex-husband.

Here is everything you need to know about the murder of Jared Bridegan.

“From very, very early on, everything in my body and soul told me she was behind it,” Kristen Bridegan told reporters after it was announced Shanna Garner-Fernandez had been arrested and charged with the murder of Jared Bridegan.