The ex-wife of a Microsoft executive from Florida who was gunned down in front of his 2-year-old daughter he was arrested in Washington state last year and charged in connection with the murder, and prosecutors said they plan to seek the death penalty in the case.
Shanna Gardner-Fernandez, the long-time suspect in the brutal Jacksonville Beach murder of father-of-four Jared Bridegan, got a nod after a grand jury handed down an indictment of first-degree murder Thursday morning.
“The indictment of Shanna Gardner acknowledges her central and key role in the cold, calculated and premeditated murder of Jared Bridegan,” State’s Attorney Melissa Nelson said at a news conference after her arrest.
Arrested at her home, Gardner-Fernandez will be extradited to Duval County and also faces charges of conspiracy, solicitation and child abuse.
Prosecutors confirmed they plan to seek the death penalty in the case.
Bridegan, 33, was killed in February last year after dropping off the two children she shared with Gardner-Fernandez at her home in the upmarket suburb.
The couple was in the middle of an increasingly bitter custody battle at the time.
Bridegan, who remarried and has two young children with his new wife, was traveling home with his daughter Bexley when he encountered a flat tire in the middle of the road and stopped his SUV.
With his daughter watching from the back seat, Bridegan was shot and killed after exiting your vehicle to move the tire.
The traumatized boy, who narrowly avoided being hit by the gunshot, was left alone at the scene for a few excruciating minutes until a passerby stopped and called the police.
Gardner-Fernandez’s new husband, Mario Saldana-Fernandez, was arrested in connection with the brutal March murder.
The cops said he conspired with a tenant at one of his rental properties to orchestrate Bridegan’s murder.
Convict Henry Tenon was arrested in January and agreed to cooperate with investigators after admitting to pulling the trigger.
Gardner-Fernandez moved across the country to Washington shortly after her ex-husband’s murder and distanced herself from Fernandez.
Coming from a wealthy Mormon family in Utah, Gardner-Fernandez had her relatives use an LLC to buy a new home in West Richland.
Suspicion about Gardner-Fernandez grew after the tattoo parlor owner came forward and said he once asked about a way to “get rid” of Bridegan.
He admitted making the ominous statement to a local newspaper, but flatly denied any role in the crime.
Bridegan and Gardner-Fernandez divorced in 2015, but their legal battle continued for years until her murder.
The slain father’s heartbroken widow, Kirsten Bridegan, had openly suspected that Gardner-Fernandez was responsible for his murder.
“This was orchestrated, this was planned, and this was specific to Jared,” he said after Tenon’s arrest.
Bexley, she said, continues to absorb the pain of her father’s death, and sometimes flinches at loud noises that remind her of deadly gun blasts.
“She heard the sounds of the gunshots that killed her father, and she was alone wondering what happened to him, and he doesn’t answer her for minutes, and minutes are an eternity to a child,” she said.
The slain father’s widow and several friends and family members were present at Thursday’s press conference for the announcement.
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