АНУ-ын Флорида мужид Microsoft компанийн менежер Жаред Бридеганыг захиалгаар хөнөөсөн хэрэгт холбогдуулан түүний хуучин эхнэрийн нөхөр Марио Фернандес Салданаг шүүх үйл ажиллагаа даваа гарагт эхэллээ.
Прокурорын зүгээс уг хэргийг 33 настай Жаред Бридеганы хуучин эхнэр Шанна Гарднер болон түүний одоогийн нөхөр Марио Фернандес Салдана нар хамтран төлөвлөсөн зохион байгуулалттай аллага гэж үзэж байна. Хэрэг 2015 онд гэрлэлтээ цуцлуулснаас хойш хүүхдийн хүмүүжил болон шашны асуудлаар үргэлжилсэн маргааны улмаас гарсан гэж мөрдөн байцаагчид дүгнэжээ.
Хэргийн нөхцөл байдлыг тодруулбал, Жаред Бридеган 2022 онд бага насны охинтойгоо явж байхдаа зам дээр тавьсан дугуйг холдуулахаар машинаасаа буух үедээ буудуулж амиа алдсан байна. Мөрдөн байцаалтын явцад Марио Фернандес Салдана хөлсний алуурчин болох Хенри Тенонд 10,000 ам.доллар төлсөн нь тогтоогдсон бөгөөд тус мөнгийг цэцэрлэгжүүлэлт болон барилгын засварын ажил гэж тайлбарлаж байжээ.
Шүүгдэгчийн өмгөөлөгч Марио Фернандес Салдана нь армийн ахмад дайчин бөгөөд уг хэрэгт ямар нэгэн холбоогүй гэж мэдэгдсэн байна. Хэргийн гол гүйцэтгэгч гэгдэх 65 настай Хенри Тенон хоёрдугаар зэргийн аллага үйлдсэнээ хүлээн зөвшөөрч байсан ч сүүлд мэдүүлгээ өөрчилсөн тул түүнийг 2027 онд тусдаа шүүхээр болжээ.
Талийгаачийн хуучин эхнэр Шанна Гарднерын шүүх хурал есдүгээр сард болохоор товлогдсон байна. Прокурорын зүгээс Гарднер уг хэргийн дараа хүүхдүүдээ авч Вашингтон муж руу нүүснээр хүссэн үр дүндээ хүрсэн гэж үзэж байгаа юм.
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The murder on a dark Florida road of 33-year-old Jared Bridegan was a “targeted ambush” hatched by his ex-wife and her husband, prosecutors alleged on Monday.
Bridegan, a Microsoft design manager, was driving down a road in Jacksonville Beach with his 2-year-old daughter in the backseat when he got out of his car to move a tire that was in the middle of the road and was killed at point-blank range.
Prosecutors told jurors the murder took place after years of post-marriage arguments over religion and how to raise twins.
“The killer was a stranger to Jared Bridegan. The murder was personal,” Assistant State Attorney Christina Simak Stifler said.
Investigators say the incident was part of a monthslong murder-for-hire plot set in motion by Shanna Gardner, Bridegan’s ex-wife, and her husband, Mario Fernandez Saldana, whose trial began Monday.
More than four years later, Mario Fernandez Saldana, 38, is on trial in Duval County court for first-degree murder and solicitation of murder. He’s accused of arranging Bridegan’s death by hiring a gunman. Shanna Gardner, 39, faces her own trial in September.
But defense attorney James Hill told the jury that Fernandez Saldana, an Army veteran, had no desire to get rid of Bridegan and his actions shortly after the killing — a road trip to Pennsylvania and back — didn’t resemble that of a criminal architect “running from the law.”
“He had access to a lot of money, hundreds of thousands of dollars,” Hill acknowledged, referring to his wife’s trust fund. “He could have fled the country.”
In her opening remarks, Stifler traced the bitter relationship between Bridegan and Gardner, the execution-style killing and the difficulty of trying to solve a shocking homicide with no witnesses. The victim, she said, had no obvious enemies and was a devout member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Bridegan and Gardner were divorced in 2015. The end of the marriage, however, led to years of acrimony about how to jointly raise their twins, from religion to doctor’s appointments and even school conferences, Stifler said.
She said Gardner did not want her children involved with the Mormon church.
“They fought over everything. … It was nasty. It was petty. It was not good on both sides,” the prosecutor said of the relationship.
Bridegan remarried and had two more children. Gardner, meanwhile, married Fernandez Saldana, who was a maintenance man at a gym where she worked out.
Bridegan was attacked shortly after returning 9-year-old twins to Gardner’s home, following a regular “date night” with their children.
He was driving home to St. Augustine with one of two children he had with wife Kirsten when he stopped to remove a tire from the road. The child later recalled hearing “loud booms” and asking, “Are police going to help my daddy?” Stifler said.
A few months later, she said, police discovered a lead “that blew the case open” — a tire at a rental property owned by Fernandez Saldana. Investigators found the tire was similar to another tire that blocked Bridegan’s Volkswagen Atlas on his drive.
Police matched DNA on those tires to Henry Tenon, a former tenant with a criminal record and financial problems. Records revealed that he was paid $10,000 by Fernandez Saldana after the murder, though the checks said the work was for landscaping, roof repair and a business idea.
“Mario Fernandez has hired him to do work, not murder,” Hill told the jury, disputing anything nefarious.
Tenon, 65, was charged as the gunman who shot Bridegan. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and had agreed to testify against Fernandez Saldana. But he withdrew the plea earlier this year and will get his own trial in 2027.
Stifler said Gardner, who was from a wealthy family, relocated to Washington state with her children after Bridegan’s death. Fernandez Saldana, meanwhile, moved to Orlando.
“Ms. Gardner got what she wanted: full control over her children and the freedom to move out of Jacksonville, Florida,” the prosecutor said.
Bridegan was chief technology officer at Utah-based Clean Simple Eats before working at Microsoft, according to his obituary.
