Florida Jury Deliberates in Alleged Murder-for-Hire Killing of Microsoft Manager Jared Bridegan

A Florida jury is deliberating in the alleged murder-for-hire killing of Jared Bridegan, a Microsoft design manager who was gunned down four years ago. The attack stumped police for months as they struggled to understand why someone with no apparent enemies would be killed while his daughter sat nearby in her car seat.

Prosecutors believe he was killed over a longstanding joint custody dispute with his ex-wife, Shanna Gardner, and other parenting issues involving their twins. 'He was unarmed, unaware, exposed, vulnerable. He couldn’t have known, on that cold asphalt in February 2022, the architects of his murder had been making preparations for his death for months,' Assistant State Attorney Christina Stifler said during closing arguments.

Mario Fernandez Saldana, Gardner's husband, is charged with first-degree murder and solicitation of murder. The alleged gunman, Henry Tenon, had no personal connection to Bridegan but was a former tenant at Fernandez Saldana’s rental property in Jacksonville. Jurors saw three checks totaling $10,000 written to Tenon after the homicide, marked as payments for handyman work and a business idea.