‘Know anyone who shuts people up:’ Docs reveal threatening comments before Jared Bridegan’s murder

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Action News Jax is digging deeper into hundreds of pages of newly released documents looking at the 2022 murder of St. Johns County father of four Jared Bridegan.

We first told you about the documents on Monday on CBS47 and FOX30 Action News Jax at 5.

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Since then, we found threatening comments witnesses say his ex-wife Shanna Gardner made years before their divorce and his murder.

It claims Gardner went to a tattoo parlor, befriended the owner, and found a group of drinking buddies.

The owner would later tell police sometime around August 2015, Gardner asked a group of acquaintances at a bar, “if they know anyone who shuts people up.”

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We also told you Monday night about how the documents offered a look at the failed marriages at the heart of the “murder-for-hire” plot -- Gardner’s and Bridegan’s and Gardner’s and Fernandez Saldana’s.

Gardner described their divorce as “messy.” She told investigators she got Jared accustomed to a certain lifestyle, and that he was not going to get any more money from her.

She claims he emptied bank accounts while they were still trying to work it out. She also said he was fighting for part of her inheritance.

RELATED: New documents released describe failed marriages at center of Bridegan murder-for-hire plot

Gardner’s new husband was also interviewed by police before his arrest. Mario Fernandez Saldana said that he and Gardner were getting a divorce as well. He said it was because of a difference in parenting styles. He went on to tell investigators that the twins Gardner and Bridegan shared were thriving after his death.

Bridegan was shot and killed in Jacksonville Beach nearly two years ago on Feb. 16, 2022.

Gardner was arrested, as well as her estranged husband, and his former tenant have all been arrested in Bridegan’s murder. Both Gardner and Saldana are due back in court on Wednesday.

SEE THE DOCUMENTS BELOW:

The crime

Jared Bridegan was gunned down Feb. 16, 2022, in Jacksonville Beach. He had just taken his twins he shared with Gardner, and his then-2-year-old Bexley, his daughter with wife Kirsten Bridegan, to dinner.

The software engineer had just dropped off the twins at Gardner’s house when he encountered a tire on Sanctuary Boulevard, a one-way road. He was headed home to his second wife, Kirsten Bridegan, with whom he shared children Bexley and London.

Jacksonville Beach Police Chief Gene Paul Smith said during the announcement of the first arrest in January, that “the tire was purposely placed there to make him stop, which he did.”

JUNE 2022 INTERVIEW: ‘Wish it weren’t like this’: Ex-wife of Jared Bridegan, father killed in Jacksonville Beach, speaks

“Tragically he began to exit his vehicle to move the tire and he was gunned down in cold blood,” Smith said.

Bridegan was shot several times while Bexley was still strapped into a car seat in the back seat of Bridegan’s car.

The arrests

Fernandez Saldana was arrested in March on charges of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, child abuse, and solicitation to commit a capital felony.

The arrest of Henry Tenon, 61, in connection to Bridegan’s murder was announced in January 2023. He was arrested on charges of conspiracy to commit murder, accessory after the fact to a capital felony, child abuse, and second-degree murder

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Tenon, who rented a home from Fernandez Saldana, agreed to plead guilty to second-degree murder. That means Tenon faces 15 years to life in prison, but not the death penalty.

Gardner was arrested in August in Washington and is facing charges of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, solicitation to commit murder, and child abuse.

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