Trial starting after Microsoft exec's alleged murder-for-hire involving ex-wife
Jared Bridegan was repeatedly shot outside his vehicle while his 2-year-old child was strapped in a car seat.
A Microsoft executive's ex-wife and her husband have been accused of plotting a murder-for-hire to silence their former spouse, according to prosecutors. The fatal shooting of Jared Bridegan, a Microsoft design manager, occurred in Jacksonville Beach in 2022 after years of conflict over religion and raising twin children with his ex-wife, Shanna Gardner.
The prosecutor stated that Gardner and her husband, Mario Fernandez Saldana, planned the killing by placing a tire in the road, hoping it would be seen as an accident. However, Assistant State Attorney Christina Simak Stifler emphasized that the murder was personal and targeted. The defense attorney argued that Fernandez Saldana, an Army veteran, had no motive to kill Bridegan and pointed out his extravagant lifestyle, including access to hundreds of thousands of dollars in his wife's trust fund.
The case took a surprising turn when DNA evidence linked a former tenant of Fernandez Saldana's to the murder. Gardner, who moved to Washington after the death, and Fernandez Saldana, who moved to Orlando, are now on trial in Duval County court.
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