Florida prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for a man accused of a ‘calculated’ plot to kill Microsoft’s ex-husband, Jared Bridegan
- Jared Bridegan, 33, was shot execution-style in February 2022 after dropping two of his children off at his ex-wife’s Florida home
- His ex-wife’s new husband was charged with orchestrating his murder and now faces prosecutors seeking the death penalty
- Mario Saldana-Fernandez is said to have planned the deadly shooting in a ‘cold, calculated and premeditated’ manner
Florida prosecutors will seek the death penalty for the man accused of masterminding the brutal murder of Microsoft CEO Jared Bridegan last year in front of his two-year-old daughter.
Mario Saldana-Fernandez allegedly orchestrated the deadly Bridegan shooting in a “cold, calculated and premeditated manner without any pretense of moral or legal justification,” prosecutors said in court Wednesday.
Bridegan was shot last year after dropping two of his children off at the Jacksonville Beach home of his ex-wife, Shanna Gardner-Fernandez, who had married Saldana-Fernandez.
Father-of-four, 33, was shot execution-style after he got out of his car to move the tire, while his toddler daughter watched from the backseat
Saldana-Fernandez appeared in Florida court in March 2023
Jared Bridegan was shot in the middle of the road in front of his daughter last summer
Bridegan and his ex were dividing custody of their two children at the time, but the settlement had become increasingly controversial.
Henry Tenon, a former tenant of one of Saldana-Fernandez’s rental properties, was also arrested in connection with Bridegan’s untimely death.
Authorities said they eventually discovered several payments from Saldana-Fernandez to Tenon and that the pair communicated regularly in the months leading up to Bridegan’s murder.
Saldana-Fernandez was charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, solicitation to commit a capital offense and child abuse.
In March, Tenon — who was allegedly the shooter — entered a plea to a second-degree murder charge, requiring him to testify truthfully about any co-defendants in the case.
He told police that Fernandez hired him and is now willing to testify against him at trial.
Shanna Gardner-Fernandez remains a suspect in the case, but has not been charged. After the murder, she moved to Washington, without her current husband.
Shanna comes from a wealthy Mormon family in Utah, where her relatives run the successful Stampin’ Up paper company. She has denied any involvement in her ex-husband’s murder and announced that she had separated from Saldana-Fernandez.
After her ex’s murder, Shanna told the Florida Times-Union that she once asked a tattoo parlor clerk if he knew anyone who could make Bridegan “disappear,” but the request was made in jest.
Shanna Gardner-Fernandez photo with her husband she now claims to be divorced from, and the two children she shared with Bridegan
Henry Tenon, 61, confessed to working with Saldana – his old landlord – to carry out the murder
Bridegan had since remarried and had two more children with Kristen Bridegan
Bridegan, a father of four, was driving an SUV with his then 2-year-old daughter Bexley in the car in February 2022 when he stopped because a tire blocked his path.
According to the police, the tape was placed there on purpose. After Bridegan got out of the vehicle to move the band, he was fatally shot with his toddler watching. She remained at the scene with her father’s lifeless body for several minutes until a passerby called the police.
In addition to the twins he shared with his ex-wife, Bridegan had two more daughters with his new wife, Kristen Bridegan.