【Epoch Times, August 18, 2026】On a warm evening at the end of winter in Florida over four years ago, a young Microsoft executive dropped off his twin children at his ex-wife’s house in Jacksonville Beach. The community roads were lined with towering oak trees covered in Spanish moss, casting long shadows on the road as the sun set.
Later, as he drove home with his two-year-old daughter, he noticed a tire lying across the middle of the road. He parked the car and got out to move it. Before he could return to his car, he was shot dead in broad daylight, with the perpetrator fleeing the scene.
Jared Bridegan, 33, a Microsoft executive, had been shuttling between Jacksonville Beach and his home in nearby St. Augustine after his divorce from his ex-wife. Everything seemed routine on a Wednesday evening in February 2022: having dinner with his young daughter and 9-year-old twins, dropping off the twins at their mother’s house, and then driving home to see his current wife.
Prosecutors stated that the killer targeted Bridegan deliberately, setting up the tire to lure him out of the car. Jacksonville Beach Police Chief Paul Smith described it as a “premeditated targeted ambush murder.”
According to investigators, Bridegan’s body was left on the street, and his car, wallet, watch, and other personal items were untouched. There was no evidence of robbery at the scene. Authorities reported that the incident was part of a several-month-long conspiracy to hire a hitman, orchestrated by Bridegan’s ex-wife Shanna Gardner and her current husband, Mario Fernandez Saldana.
Saldana’s trial began on Monday, facing charges of first-degree murder and solicitation of murder, accused of hiring a gunman to plan Bridegan’s death.
Gardner, Bridegan’s ex-wife, was arrested in Washington state in August 2023, facing charges of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, solicitation of murder, and child abuse. She has pleaded not guilty, and her trial is set to begin in September.
“The killer had no connection to Jared Bridegan. Yet, this murder case is filled with personal vendettas,” Assistant State Prosecutor Christina Simak Stifler said on Monday.
Stifler stated, “This isn’t a true crime podcast or a TV show. This is real life.”
Defense lawyer James Hill told the jury that Saldana had no motive or intent to harm Bridegan.
In her opening statement on Monday, Stifler reviewed the tumultuous relationship between Bridegan and Gardner, the execution-style murder, and the challenges in solving the high-profile homicide without any eyewitnesses.
She mentioned that the victim had no clear enemies and was a devout member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Bridegan and Gardner had twin children together before divorcing in 2015. Stifler indicated that the marital breakdown led to years of intense disputes, ranging from religious beliefs to medical treatments, even including school PTA matters, all of which sparked conflicts.
“They fought about everything…It was pretty bad, petty, and bad for both of them,” Stifler said.
Bridegan remarried and had two more children. Gardner married Saldana, a former military veteran who worked as a repairman at a gym where Gardner frequented.
On the night of the incident, Gardner told authorities that her divorce from Bridegan was “not amicable,” and they only communicated via text messages. Court documents revealed that on the same night, authorities spoke to Bridegan’s widow, Kirsten, who mentioned Gardner and Saldana as the only people who held “malice towards him (Bridegan).”
In early 2023, nearly a year after the shooting, investigators arrested Henry Tenon, a 62-year-old man who was renting a room from Saldana. Tenon admitted to second-degree murder in 2023 and agreed to testify against Saldana. However, he recanted his plea earlier this year and is set to stand trial in 2027.
Stifler stated that Gardner, coming from a wealthy background, moved with her children to Washington state after Bridegan’s death, while Saldana moved to Orlando. “Gardner got what she wanted: full custody of the children and the freedom to leave Jacksonville, Florida,” the prosecutor said.
Saldana, 38, was the first defendant to face trial in the case. He was arrested in Orlando in March 2023, facing multiple charges, including first-degree murder and solicitation to commit murder. He has pleaded not guilty.
According to Bridegan’s obituary, before joining Microsoft, he served as the Chief Technology Officer of Clean Simple Eats, a Utah-based company.
*This article references reporting from CNN.