Father's Roadside Killing Returns to Court Four Years Later

Four Years Later, a Jury Hears the Case

More than four years after Jared Bridegan was killed after stopping to move a tire from a Florida road, prosecutors are asking a jury to find that the obstacle was part of a carefully arranged ambush.

Mario Fernandez Saldana, 38, is on trial in Duval County on charges of first-degree murder and solicitation of murder in Bridegan’s 2022 death. He has denied involvement through his defense.

Bridegan, a 33-year-old technology executive and father, had his 2-year-old daughter strapped into his vehicle nearby when he stopped on the road in Jacksonville Beach.

That ordinary act - getting out to move something blocking his way - now sits at the center of a complicated murder case involving people from his former family circle.

Prosecutors Call It a Targeted Ambush

The state alleges Fernandez Saldana helped arrange Bridegan’s killing and paid another man, Henry Tenon, $10,000 after the murder.

Assistant State Attorney Christina Simak Stifler told jurors prosecutors believe the attack was deliberately planned to leave little evidence connecting it to those responsible.

Bridegan had just returned older children to the home of his former wife, Shanna Gardner, and was driving toward St. Augustine when he encountered the tire.

Gardner, who later married Fernandez Saldana, has also been charged in connection with Bridegan’s death. She faces a separate trial and has pleaded not guilty.

Those accusations remain allegations unless proven in court.

A Young Daughter Was Waiting Nearby

The human center of the story has always been painfully simple: Bridegan was a father whose toddler was in the vehicle when he was killed.

A motorist who arrived afterward testified that the little girl appeared frightened and worried about her father, according to the Associated Press.

Bridegan’s widow, Kirsten Bridegan, also testified as the trial opened.

She described years of difficult interactions between Bridegan and Gardner following their divorce, particularly over parenting their older children. Prosecutors have cited that history while presenting their theory of the case.

The defense disputes the idea that Fernandez Saldana had a motive to kill Bridegan.

Investigators Say Another Tire Changed the Case

For months, investigators faced a killing with no obvious eyewitness to the attack.

Then police found what prosecutors now describe as a major break: another tire at a rental property owned by Fernandez Saldana that was similar to the tire used to block Bridegan’s vehicle.

Authorities said DNA evidence linked the tires to Tenon, who had previously rented property from Fernandez Saldana.

Financial records also showed Fernandez Saldana paid Tenon after the killing. Prosecutors say the money was payment for murder; the defense says Tenon had been hired for legitimate work.

Tenon originally pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and agreed to testify, but later withdrew that plea. He is now expected to face his own trial.

The Defense Rejects the Murder-Plot Theory

Defense attorney James Hill told jurors Fernandez Saldana’s actions after the killing were not those of a man trying to escape responsibility.

He also argued that the prosecution had failed to establish a convincing motive for his client.

That leaves jurors with sharply different explanations for the same evidence.

The prosecution sees an ambush designed around a tire on a dark road. The defense says the state is trying to turn connections and circumstantial evidence into a murder conspiracy.

Four years after Bridegan stopped his vehicle with his young daughter close by, a jury is finally being asked to decide whether prosecutors can prove who was behind the trap.

References: Florida trial starts in the ambush killing of a Microsoft manager. A tire ‘blew the case open’ | Florida trial underway in Microsoft executive’s murder allegedly hatched by his ex-wife and her husband

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