JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The widow of a St. Johns County father of four who was killed in 2022 in Jacksonville Beach has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the three people facing charges in his murder.
Kirsten Bridegan filed the suit Friday in Duval County against Shanna Gardner, Mario Fernandez Saldana, and Henry Tenon.
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‘Gunned down in cold blood’
Jared Bridegan was gunned down Feb. 16, 2022, in Jacksonville Beach. He had just taken his twins he shared with ex-wife Gardner, and his then-2-year-old daughter he had with wife Kirsten Bridegan, to dinner.
The software engineer had just dropped off the twins at Gardner’s house when he encountered a tire on Sanctuary Boulevard, a one-way road. He was headed home to his second wife, Kirsten Bridegan, and their youngest child.
Jacksonville Beach Police Chief Gene Paul Smith said during the announcement of the first arrest in January 2023, that “the tire was purposely placed there to make him stop, which he did.”
JUNE 2022 INTERVIEW: ‘Wish it weren’t like this’: Ex-wife of Jared Bridegan, father killed in Jacksonville Beach, speaks
“Tragically he began to exit his vehicle to move the tire and he was gunned down in cold blood,” Smith said.
Bridegan was shot several times while his daughter was still strapped into a car seat in the back seat of Bridegan’s car.
The arrests
Fernandez Saldana, Gardner’s estranged husband, was arrested in March 2023 on charges of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, child abuse, and solicitation to commit a capital felony.
The arrest of Tenon in connection to Bridegan’s murder was announced in January 2023. He was arrested on charges of conspiracy to commit murder, accessory after the fact to a capital felony, child abuse, and second-degree murder
RELATED: ‘False testimony’ statement from alleged gunman in Jared Bridegan murder surprised his attorney
Tenon, who rented a home from Fernandez Saldana, agreed to plead guilty to second-degree murder.
Gardner was arrested in August 2023 in Washington and is facing charges of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, solicitation to commit murder, and child abuse.
Tenon said the words “false testimony” in open court last month. If it is true that any of Tenon’s testimony is false, this could affect the case.
‘Harbored a deep hatred for Jared Bridegan’
The first three counts of Kirsten Bridegan’s lawsuit are battery resulting in wrongful death allegations against Tenon, Gardner, and Fernandez-Saldana, which lays out the following timeline:
“On February 16, 2022, Defendant Tenon intentionally shot Jared Bridegan. Gardner participated in the murder of Jared Bridegan. At all material times, Defendants Gardner and Saldana intentionally conspired and participated in, planned for, and intentionally caused or ordered conduct Gardner knew would result in the injury and death of Jared Bridegan.”
The suit discusses how Gardner “harbored a deep hatred for Jared Bridegan and” how she “resented sharing custody of their children. The suit claims that “Gardner commented to, and approached, multiple people about wanting Jared Bridegan killed.”
RELATED: Shanna Gardner accused of having tattoo gun, ‘cheeking’ medication during time in Duval County Jail
Jared Bridegan and Gardner “litigated various issues” in regards to their children “for years following their divorce” in 2015, court documents claim.
This went on “for several years,” according to the suit. It also alleges that Gardner’s plan “gained momentum” when she met Fernandez Saldana. Gardner apparently told others that Fernandez Saldana “had the training and ability to plan and execute the murder of Jared Bridegan because Saldana had previously served in the Army,” the suit said.
The suit also claims Gardner and Fernandez Saldana’s 2018 marriage was “of convenience and allowed Saldana to help with the twins without raising issues from Jared Bridegan.”
‘Legal entanglements’
Count Four of the lawsuit details alleged “Fraudulent Transfers Against Shanna Gardner and Mario Fernandez Saldana.”
The suit claims that Kirsten Bridegan “is a creditor of Defendants Gardner and Saldana under ... the Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act ... because she has an unliquidated, contingent claim against the debtors.”
Action News Jax told you in December about a document shared by the state showing the agreement between Fernandez-Saldana and Gardner’s parents when they created a trust fund for her in 2019 -- the Shanna Gardner Irrevocable Trust.
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A section of the agreement reads:
“When our daughter, Shanna, shall have no further legal entanglements with her ex-husband, Jared G. Bridegan, she. may elect to serve as the Trustee, by delivering a signed and notarized document to the Trustee then in office.”
That means Gardner wouldn’t be able to manage the money in the trust fund until there weren’t any legal issues between her and Bridegan. The earliest bank statements for the trust fund shared by the state are from Dec. 2021, which said there was $253,447 in the fund at the time. The most recent statements are from Jan. 2023, which said there was $67,041 at the time.
‘Once Jared Bridegan was out of the picture’
The lawsuit states that this was the motivation to kill Bridegan:
“Once Jared Bridegan was out of the picture, Gardner was able to be Trustee of her trust. Once Jared Bridegan was out of the picture, Gardner no longer needed Saldana as a husband or Trustee,” the suit states.
Other assets are detailed in the lawsuit -- a home in Jacksonville Beach that sold for $899,900 in May 2023; the rental property where Tenon lived that sold in October 2022 for $90,000; Navy Federal Checking and Trust Savings accounts closed by both Gardner and Fernandez Saldana, both of which were known to have more than $250,000 the month before Jared Bridegan’s murder; and the Trust, which was closed by Gardner and Fernandez Saldana.
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The two transferred the funds from these sales or these accounts to “unknown accounts, including but not limited to, transfers to insiders, including family,” the lawsuit said.
The suit claims these funds “could have been applied to the payment of any debts owed to creditor Kirsten Bridegan as Personal Representative of the Estate of Jared Bridegan.”
“The transfers of assets were fraudulent because Gardner and Saldana, individually and together, caused and approved the transfers with actual intent to hinder, delay, or defraud creditors. On information and belief, Gardner and Saldana, individually and together, transferred assets to insiders, concealed the transfer of assets, transferred assets in anticipation of civil litigation, transferred substantially all of their assets, and became insolvent due to the transfers.”
The suit is “an action for damages, which exceeds the sum of $50,000, exclusive of costs, interest, and attorney’s fees.” You can read it in its entirety below:
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