JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Authorities in Florida have arrested a man’s ex-wife on charges connected with his death in February 2022.
Jared Bridegan’s ex-wife, Shanna Gardner-Fernandez, was arrested in Washington, Florida State Attorney Melissa Nelson announced Thursday, according to WJAX. She is facing first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, solicitation to commit murder and child abuse charges, the state attorney’s office said, per the news outlet.
She is expected to be extradited to Duval County to face charges.
At a news conference Thursday, Nelson announced that her office will be filing a notice of intent to seek the death penalty in this case, WJAX reported.
Bridegan was shot and killed on Feb. 16, 2022, after he took his children — twins he shared with Gardner-Fernandez and the daughter he shared with his wife, Kirsten Bridegan — to dinner, according to WJAX.
After Jared Bridegan dropped the twins off at Gardner-Fernandez’s house, he came across a tire while driving on a one-way road. Jacksonville Beach Police Chief Gene Paul Smith said that the tire was put there to make him stop.
“Tragically he began to exit his vehicle to move the tire and he was gunned down in cold blood,” Smith said, according to WJAX.
Jared Bridegan was shot multiple times while his then-2-year-old daughter was in the back seat of his car, the news outlet reported.
Gardner-Fernandez’s husband, Mario Fernandez Saldana, was arrested in March and charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, solicitation to commit a capital felony and child abuse in connection with Jared Bridegan’s death, according to police.
In January, authorities arrested Henry Tenon, 61, on conspiracy to commit murder, accessory after the fact to a capital felony, child abuse and second-degree murder charges in connection with the killing, according to WJAX.
Tenon had rented a house from Fernandez Saldana, the news station reported. He agreed to plead guilty to second-degree murder and is facing a sentence of 15 years to life in prison.
