Florida jury begins deliberations in murder-for-hire case of Microsoft manager

A jury in Jacksonville, Florida, convened Wednesday to deliberate the murder of Microsoft design manager Jared Bridegan, who was fatally shot after stopping his vehicle to remove a tire from a road in February 2022. Prosecutors contend the killing was a murder-for-hire plot tied to a protracted joint-custody battle with his ex-wife, Shanna Gardner, and her husband, Mario Fernandez Saldana, who is charged with first-degree murder and solicitation.

The gunman, Henry Tenon, had no personal link to Bridegan but was a former tenant of Saldana’s rental property; he received three checks totaling $10,000 after the homicide and his DNA was found on the sabotaged tire. Tenon initially pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate but later recanted, delaying his own trial to next year. Gardner, daughter of Stampin’ Up! co-founder, moved to Washington state after the incident and remains estranged from Saldana. Bridegan’s current wife, Kirsten Bridegan, testified that the post-divorce relationship between her husband and Gardner was “pretty terrible” and lacked trust.