Jury begins deliberations in the alleged murder-for-hire killing of a Microsoft manager in Florida

Jury Weighs Evidence in Jacksonville Beach Murder Case Tied to Custody Dispute

Earthguardiansonline.com – A Florida jury entered deliberations on Wednesday in a case that has captivated the Jacksonville Beach community: the 2022 shooting death of Jared Bridegan, a design manager at Microsoft, who was fatally wounded while performing the mundane act of pulling a discarded tire off a roadway. Prosecutors have built their case around the theory that the killing was not random but the product of a calculated, months-long plot orchestrated by Bridegan’s ex-wife and her new husband.

The jury’s task now is to determine whether Mario Fernandez Saldana, 38, will be convicted of first-degree murder and solicitation of murder. His trial concluded after weeks of testimony, and the deliberation phase marks the final stage before a verdict is rendered. A separate trial for Shanna Gardner, 39, Bridegan’s former spouse, is scheduled to begin in September.

The Shooting and Its Immediate Aftermath

In February of 2022, Bridegan stopped his Volkswagen Atlas on a stretch of road in Jacksonville Beach after noticing a tire lying in the lane. He stepped out of the vehicle to clear the obstruction. Two shots struck him. His young daughter was seated nearby in her car seat, a detail that prosecutors emphasized to underscore how unguarded and ordinary the moment had been.

At the time of his death, Bridegan was married to Kirsten Bridegan, and the couple had two children. He had just dropped their twins off at Gardner’s residence following what the family described as a “date night” dinner with the children. The juxtaposition of a routine parenting errand and a fatal ambush became a central theme of the prosecution’s narrative.

For months after the shooting, investigators struggled to identify a motive. Bridegan appeared to have no enemies, no known conflicts, and no reason to expect violence. That mystery persisted until the custody dispute with Gardner and broader parenting disagreements over the twins surfaced as the likely trigger.

Prosecution’s Case: An Elaborate Scheme

Assistant State Attorney Christina Stifler framed the shooting as the culmination of a long preparation period. During closing arguments she told the jury:

“He was unarmed, unaware, exposed, vulnerable. He couldn’t have known, on that cold asphalt in February of 2022, the architects of his murder had been making preparations for his death for months.”

The alleged triggerman was Henry Tenon, 65, a man with no apparent personal history with Bridegan. His connection to the case ran through Fernandez Saldana: Tenon had previously rented a property owned by Fernandez Saldana in Jacksonville. After the homicide, three checks totaling $10,000 were written out to Tenon, annotated as compensation for handyman services and a business concept. Police also identified Tenon’s DNA on the rim of the tire that had been deliberately placed in the roadway to lure Bridegan out of his vehicle.

Tenon initially entered a plea deal, agreeing to testify against Fernandez Saldana. He later withdrew from that arrangement and is expected to face his own trial next year.

Defense Argument: No Motive, No Connection

Defense attorney Jesse Dreicer urged jurors to focus on what he characterized as the absence of any rational reason for Fernandez Saldana to want Bridegan dead. He pointed out that no witness testified that Fernandez Saldana ever told anyone Bridegan “deserves to die.” Dreicer also stressed that Fernandez Saldana and Gardner are now estranged; Gardner relocated to Washington state after the killing, and the two have not maintained a close relationship since.

“He certainly gained no benefit from the death of Jared Bridegan,” Dreicer told the jury.

In the defense’s telling, the checks to Tenon could represent ordinary post-incident payments, and the DNA on the tire could be explained without requiring a conspiracy. The jury must weigh that explanation against the prosecution’s timeline of planning, communication, and financial transfers.

Background: The Families and the Custody Conflict

Gardner, now 39, is the daughter of a co-founder of Stampin’ Up!, a well-known arts-and-crafts company headquartered in Utah. That family wealth was noted in court as context for the resources available to plan and execute what prosecutors called an elaborate plot.

Kirsten Bridegan took the stand to describe the post-divorce dynamic between her ex-husband and Gardner. She characterized the relationship as “pretty terrible” and stated there was “absolutely no trust” between the two parents. The twins, caught between households, were at the center of ongoing disputes over custody arrangements and day-to-day parenting decisions.

The case illustrates how a domestic disagreement, left unresolved and escalated over years, can spiral into a criminal conspiracy involving hired hands, staged road hazards, and financial cover stories. For the Jacksonville Beach community, the question now rests with twelve jurors: whether the evidence crosses the threshold from suspicion to proof beyond a reasonable doubt.