Jared Bridegan’s ex-wife makes surprising legal move after being charged with his murder

Ms Gardner-Fernandez is currently in the custody of the Benton County Corrections Department in Washington.

During a court appearance on Friday, Ms Gardner-Fernandez refused to waive extradition to Florida, where she faces charges of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and child endangerment.

She is being held without bond and is expected to reappear in court on 14 September.

Mr Bridegan, 33, was born in Missouri but moved to Florida with his family at a young age, going on to study digital media and building a career in UX design, according to his obituary. He met Shanna Gardner while she was visiting Florida; she grew up in a wealthy Mormon family from Utah that founded Stampin’ Up!, a multi-million dollar paper craft company.

They married in 2010 and initially lived in Utah but later moved to Connecticut and then to Florida after welcoming twins, a boy and a girl, as their son had a heart condition requiring he live at sea level, according to The Florida Times-Union.

The couple’s relationship fell apart in 2014 and 2015, according to Fox News Digital, citing court documents from their divorce filings. Ms Gardner-Fernandez filed for divorce on 23 February, 2015, according to court records. The couple remained in near constant litigation over the divorce and their children’s custody until his death in 2022.

The court file for the couple’s divorce contains approximately 300 entries, according to The Florida Times-Union.

Ms Gardner-Fernandez told the paper that her ex-husband allegedly engaged in “disturbing and abusive behaviour” such as “regularly interrogating” and recording her children after “actively coaching” them on what to say. She claimed he threatened to use the recordings against her.

He claimed that his ex-wife treated him “in a disparaging manner in front of the children,” and installed surveillance devices in his car and the children’s bedrooms.

She declined to comment on the claims, telling the paper “I don’t see any good in airing our dirty laundry.”

The murder was as brazen as it was horrifying, a father of four shot dead in broad daylight in front of his toddler – but revelations in the 18 months since Jared Bridegan’s killing have added only new layers of ghastliness to the already vicious crime.

One man was arrested in January in connection with the Florida man’s death, prosecutors alleging that he’d pulled the trigger but likely hadn’t acted alone.

Two months later, a second suspect was arrested: This time the new husband of Mr Bridegan’s first wife, the mother of two of the 33-year-old victim’s children.

And now that woman, Shanna Gardner-Fernandez, has been arrested herself, indicted on a charge of first-degree murder and accused of conspiring to have her former spouse killed after a messy divorce and custody battle.

It’s a case replete with allegations of abuse and deception playing out against the backdrop of what had seemed, for a time, like an idyllic life. Mr Bridegan worked as a Microsoft corporate executive, while Ms Gardner-Fernandez hailed from a prominent Utah family; both had remarried and were raising their families in the Florida sunshine.

Jared Bridegan’s widow, Kristen Bridegan, welcomed news of the arrest of his ex-wife.

“Shanna’s arrest ends one horrific chapter of our pursuit for justice for Jared and now we opened a new one. This next chapter will be excruciating. We are confident in the ability of the State’s Attorney’s Office and law enforcement to bring truth to light we expect to see justice carried out to the fullest extent of the law.”

Shanna Gardner-Fernandez was arrested in Washington state on Thursday and will be extradited back to Duval County, Florida, where she has been indicted by a grand jury on a charge of first-degree murder and child abuse.

Shanna Gardner-Fernandez, the ex-wife of Jared Bridegan, sat for an interview following her ex-husband’s murder, during which she expressed sadness that he had been killed, stating that he was “still the father of my children.”

“Any time divorce comes into any situation it’s messy,” she told WJAX in July 2022 following his murder.

“Even though we didn’t always get along, he was still the father of my kids,” she said, claiming she “fell to the floor because I was devastated” when she learned he had been killed.

She has now been charged with first degree murder relating to the death of Mr Bridegan.

Ms Gardner-Fernandez insisted at the time she had no idea who carried out the murder.

Jared Bridegan’s ex-wife, Shanna Gardner-Ferenandez, has been charged with his murder.

Though she did not pull the trigger the night he was gunned down outside his car, investigators believe a spiteful divorce led to her orchestrating, along with her new husband and a gunman, the murder of her ex-husband.

Here is everything you need to know about the murder of Jared Bridegan.

On 16 February 2022, around 8pm, Jared Bridegan was in the Sanctuary neighbourhood in south Jacksonville Beach, where he had just dropped his twin 10-year-old daughters off at his ex-wife’s house after taking them to dinner.

A third daughter, a two-year-old he had with his second wife, was still in his car when Mr Bridegan encountered a tire blocking the one-way road he was travelling on.

He was still approximately two miles away from his ex-wife’s house when he encountered the roadblock. Mr Bridegan stepped out of his vehicle to move the tire, and when he did, he was shot numerous times from close range.

Jacksonville Beach Police Sargent Tonya Tator said officers believed the tire was planted at the site to stop Mr Bridegan’s vehicle.

“When officers got on the scene, they found the vehicle with the flashers on, and there was a tire up in front of his vehicle in the roadway,” she told PEOPLE. “From there we are just trying to put the pieces together. There were no problems with his vehicle.”

She said the detective in charge of the investigation believed the shooting was likely targeted.

Security footage captured an image of a blue Ford F-150 made between 2004 and 2008 leaving the area around the time of the shooting, police said. Law enforcement asked for the public’s assistance in identifying and locating the vehicle.

“From very, very early on, everything in my body and soul told me she was behind it,” Kristen Bridegan, widow of Jared Bridegan, told reporters after it was announced Shanna Garner-Fernandez had been arrested and charged with the murder of her husband.