Shanna Gardner-Fernandez, who was indicted Thursday for the murder of her ex-husband from Microsoft, will try to fight extradition to Florida to avoid the death penalty.
Fernandez, 34, was arrested and is charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy, solicitation and child abuse in connection with the murder of Jared Bridegan, who was shot “execution-style” by a hitman allegedly hired by her new husband.
Her legal team has said they will not waive extradition during her first trial, meaning they plan to prevent her from being returned to Florida from Washington state.
Washington became one of 23 states to abolish the death penalty earlier this year, while Florida still has the death penalty on its agenda.
Florida State Attorney Melissa Nelson made it clear when she announced the arrest of Gardner Fernandez at a news conference Thursday that she will seek the death penalty.
Lawyers for Shanna Gardner Fernandez, 34, said they won’t waive extradition at her first trial, meaning they’re on hand to avoid her being returned to Florida
Jared Bridegan, 33, was killed in February 2022
According to the law, Fernandez is now on the run from justice and is currently being held without bond.
Fernandez’s next court date, which specifically addresses her possible extradition, is scheduled for September 14, she said. Fox news.
Kristen Bridegan, Jared’s widow, told DailyMail.com on Friday that she will support the death penalty for Fernandez if convicted of the brutal murder.
Her arrest came 547 days after the father of four was murdered execution-style just minutes from his ex-wife’s home. And his widow and family counted them all.
He was shot several times at close range in what police described as an “ambush” and a “targeted” attack. Jacksonville Beach Police Chief Gene Paul Smith said at the time that when Bridegan got out of his car, he was “shot in cold blood.”
He worked as a senior design manager for Microsoft and lived in St. Augustine, Florida with his new wife and their two children..
They lived in a $780,000 house, which Jared’s two children visited with Gardner-Fernandez, and he regularly drove north to Jacksonville Beach to spend time with them.
It’s unclear what kind of new evidence led police to finally charge Gardener-Fernandez, who has kept a low profile since the murder.
Jared Bridegan, 33, was killed in February 2022
Shanna Gardner-Fernandez has now been charged with her ex’s murder along with her new husband, Mario
She and her husband, Mario Saldana-Fernandez, who was charged earlier this year, now both face the death penalty.
It is believed that hitman and Saldana-Fernandez former tenant Henry Tenon62,
lured Bridegan onto the street by putting a tire in front of his vehicle as he drove home with his youngest child.
The case went unsolved for months until Tenon confessed to the plot after being arrested for an unrelated crime.
Hitman Henry Tenon confessed to the plot earlier this year
Saldana-Fernandez pleaded not guilty earlier this year and is due to stand trial.
Bridegan and his new bride, Kirsten, were living an idyllic life when he was murdered.
He was thriving at work and loved by colleagues.
The salary for a senior Microsoft UX designer is around $200,000.
On Feb. 16, Jared had just dropped off the twins he shares with Gardner-Fernandez at their mom’s house and was driving home with his two-year-old daughter in the backseat when he ran into a tire in the middle of the road.
He pulled over and got out to move the band, but was shot dead in an execution-style killing spree.
“To be in that area, someone knew what they were doing. There are no cameras, there are no houses there. There is no Ring doorbell.
“It’s trees and a one-way street,” Kirsten, his widow, told DailyMail.com at the time of his murder.
Tenon was arrested earlier this year on unrelated charges, but confessed to his role in the murder under questioning.
He told police that Saldana-Fernandez hired him and is now willing to testify against him at trial. The pair met when he rented a house from him.
Shanna’s new husband, Mario Saldana-Fernandez, was charged earlier this year and awaits trial
Shanna with the couple’s twins Abby and Liam. At the time of Jared’s death, she was pleading for support for them on Facebook and Instagram
It’s unclear how Gardner-Fernandez met her new husband, but those who knew them before their arrests say she got “wilder and wilder” as their romance progressed.
She visited a tattoo parlor in 2015 and requested a genital piercing – a request that shocked the staff who said she looked like a “normal mother.”
“She went from this good girl with two shoes to this wild lady. I just remember thinking, well, this is another woman,” an employee said at the time.
Early in their relationship, friends of the former couple say that Shanna courted Jared with her parents’ promise of wealth.
They married and had twins Abby and Liam, then moved to Bridegan’s native Jacksonville Beach to accommodate Liam’s heart condition that forced him to live at sea level.
They finally broke up in 2015 and spent the next six years fighting over who would raise their children.
Bridegan married Kirsten in 2017, with whom he has two children, while Shanna married Mario in 2018.
Bridegan had just returned the twins to his ex-wife’s house around 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 16 and was taking his regular route home when he stopped to move a tire that had been placed in the road — a trap, police think , to lure him out of his vehicle.
Jared’s widow Kirsten previously told DailyMail.com that he had no enemies other than his ex. Earlier this year, before both his ex-wife and her new husband were charged, she warned them: ‘Enjoy your freedom while you still can’
He was shot several times at close range next to the driver’s door of his Volkswagen Atlas. Bridegan’s two-year-old daughter, Bexley, was in the car, strapped into her child seat.
The brutal crime sent shockwaves through the quiet Florida beach town, with Bridegan’s friends and family deeply shocked that someone should have attacked the man who, they say, had no enemies.
The devout Mormon tech executive was, according to his grieving widow, a devoted and wonderful father to twins Liam and Abbie, daughter Bexley and their youngest daughter London, just seven months old.