Microsoft Executive 'Killed in Ambush' Allegedly Planned by Ex-Wife and Her New Husband Over Custody

A Microsoft executive was shot dead in what prosecutors allege was a 'carefully staged ambush' arranged by his ex-wife and her new husband to end a long-running custody dispute, a Florida court has heard.

Jared Bridegan (33) was gunned down on Sanctuary Boulevard South in Jacksonville Beach on 16 February 2022 after being forced to stop his car, allegedly by a tyre placed deliberately in the road.

He had just dropped off his nine-year-old twins at the home of his ex-wife, Shanna Gardner, and was heading back to St Augustine to his second wife, Kirsten, and their baby daughter.

Two passers-by, believing Bridegan had suffered a flat tyre, approached to help and instead found him face down on the road, fatally wounded, with his two-year-old daughter still strapped into her car seat amid shattered glass. The child reportedly told them: 'My daddy's hurt, my daddy's on the ground.'

Opening statements began this week in the trial of Mario Fernandez Saldana, Gardner's husband, who faces charges of first-degree murder and solicitation of murder. Prosecutor Christina Stifler told jurors the leafy, gated community was, that night, 'the site of his execution'.

Custody Fight at Centre of Murder Trial

Prosecutors allege the killing was the culmination of a prolonged custody dispute between Bridegan and Gardner, who reportedly clashed over religion, money and nearly every aspect of raising their children. Stifler described the relationship as 'nasty' and 'petty'.

Kirsten Bridegan told the court she named Gardner and Fernandez Saldana to detectives within hours of learning of her husband's death, saying they were the only people known to have had any grievance against him.

A former colleague of Gardner's told investigators she had once suggested her husband, who has a military background, could deal with Bridegan without anyone finding out.

Prosecutors say the alleged gunman, 65-year-old Henry Tenon, scouted Bridegan's route twice in the weeks before the shooting. Tenon was renting property from Fernandez Saldana at the time, described by police as the only known connection between the two men.

Key Witness's Plea Withdrawal Adds New Twist

Tenon initially pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in 2023 as part of an agreement to testify against Gardner and Fernandez Saldana, but was permitted earlier this year to withdraw that plea and face trial separately, adding further complexity to the case.

Gardner has been indicted on charges including first-degree murder, conspiracy and child abuse, with her own trial due to begin next month. Both she and Fernandez Saldana deny all wrongdoing.

Court records cited by prosecutors show Fernandez Saldana wrote three cheques to Tenon eight months after the killing and remained in regular contact with him. He was arrested in March 2023; Gardner was detained five months later.

Stifler told the court the marriage between Gardner and Fernandez Saldana was 'one of convenience', noting that a trust established for Gardner by her parents was placed under his control, and that he transferred $50,000 from it into his own account a week after the murder.

Gardner later relocated with the twins to Washington state, which prosecutors say secured her full custody, the outcome they allege she had sought.

Prosecutors have set out to rule out other explanations for the killing, telling jurors Bridegan had no criminal history, addictions or affairs, and led a quiet, churchgoing life.

'Nobody else had a motive,' Stifler said. Whether the jury accepts that account, with one alleged accomplice now contesting his own case separately, remains to be seen.