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Woman Accused in Microsoft Executive Ex-Husband’s Murder Plot Extradited to Florida, First Mugshot Released
Shanna Gardner-Fernandez was booked into Duval County Jail in Jacksonville, Florida on October 20 following her extradition from Washington, according to online jail records.
Authorities have released the first mugshot of a woman who’s accused of orchestrating the murder of her Microsoft executive ex-husband in Florida last year.
Shanna Gardner-Fernandez’s booking image was made public by the Jacksonville County Sheriff’s Office following her extradition from the state of Washington earlier this month. She was booked into Duval County Jail on October 20, according to a booking report obtained by Oxygen.com.
Gardner-Fernandez was indicted in August in last year’s roadway murder of her ex-husband, Jared Bridegan.
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The 36-year-old entrepreneur is accused of enlisting her second husband, Mario Fernandez-Saldana, to carry out the execution-style murder of her ex-husband.
How was Jared Bridegan killed?
Bridegan was gunned down in February 2022 on a Jacksonville Beach, Florida, street after he’d stopped his vehicle and got out of it, reportedly to investigate a tire that was in the middle of the road. His 2-year-old daughter from his current marriage was sitting in her carseat in his Volkswagen Atlas, footsteps away from where he was shot. Prosecutors previously described the suspected targeted killing as “cold, calculated, and premeditated."
What is Shanna Gardner-Fernandez charged with?
Gardner-Fernandez appeared before a Duval County judge on October 21, according to online records, where she faced charges of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, solicitation to commit a capital felony, and child abuse. She’s pleaded not guilty in her former spouse’s alleged targeted killing.
Fernandez-Saldana is also charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, solicitation to commit a capital felony, and child abuse in connection with Bridegan’s murder. He’s pleaded not guilty as well.
A third suspect, Henry Tenon, is implicated in the case as well. Tenon was charged with second-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, accessory after the fact to a capital felony, and child abuse in connection with Bridegan’s killing. Tenon, who pleaded guilty to the charges, is expected to testify against Gardner-Fernandez and Fernandez-Saldana at trial.
Bridegan and Gardner-Fernandez divorced in 2015, according to the New York Post, however, they’d been embroiled in court proceedings up until the Microsoft executive’s murder. In the aftermath of Fernandez-Saldana’s arrest, Gardner-Fernandez tried distancing herself from her second husband, insisting they’d been separated for “an extended period of time.”
Bridegan was employed as a senior design manager at Microsoft, according to CNN. He’d remarried to Kirsten Bridegan prior to his death.
At the time of her arrest in August, Gardner-Fernandez was living in a $1-million home in Washington, according to Kennewick, Washington daily newspaper, the Tri-City Herald. Her arrest came five months after Fernandez-Saldana was jailed on murder charges.
RELATED: Ex-Wife’s Husband Arrested In Microsoft Executive Jared Bridegan’s Targeted 2022 Killing
Gardner-Fernandez had previously sought to delay her extradition to Florida, and specifically Duval County Jail, whose dilapidated facilities are notorious for their cramped and inhumane conditions. At least a dozen inmates have died at Duval County Jail in 2023 alone, according to News4JAX. The spiraling fatalities have prompted Florida lawmakers to push the Department of Justice to investigate the facility.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against both Gardner-Fernandez and Fernandez-Soldana. Gardner-Fernandez’s next court date is scheduled for November 3, according to online records. Oxygen.com has reached out to her defense attorney, Henry M. Coxe III, for further comment.
