Bodycam shows arrest of woman charged with orchestrating Microsoft exec ex Jared Bridegan’s murder
Newly released police body camera footage shows the arrest of a Florida woman accused of masterminding the murder of her Microsoft executive ex-husband in Jacksonville Beach last year.
The footage, first reported by Fox News, shows officers entering Shanna Gardner-Fernandez’s West Richland, Washington, home as her tearful mother and the two twin children she shared with the victim look on.
Jared Bridegan was gunned down in February 2022 after dropping the kids off at the home of Gardner-Fernandez and her new husband, Mario Fernandez.
The police video shows her mother, papercraft company executive Shelli Gardner, seated and weeping just outside the handsome hillside home’s front door as officers place her daughter into custody.
“Can I be with the kids or can you at least bring the kids out to me?” Gardner asks an officer, who initially turns down the request before allowing her inside.
Appearing haggard and dazed, Gardner-Fernandez complies with the officers’ instructions as she exits the home barefoot in handcuffs, boxers and a T-shirt.
Authorities blurred the interior of the home, where her two children can be heard speaking in the background.
Her son asks his mother where her jeans are, while Gardner-Fernandez calmly asks agents to gather her medications, including an asthma inhaler.
She also reminds one of the children about an item related to their Instagram account.
“I love you, honey,” Gardner-Fernandez says while being led to a squad car in jeans.
Subsequent footage taken at a local precinct shows her offering to clean up items of trash she left on a table and asking to have her handcuffs loosened.
Her composed demeanor cracks at one point as she twists her face in anguish.
Gardner-Fernandez is fighting extradition to Florida and is slated to appear in a Washington court next month.
Despite divorcing in 2015, she remained in an increasingly bitter child custody battle with Bridegan, who had remarried and had two children with his new wife, Kirsten.
He was driving home to his spouse after dropping off the twins at Gardner-Fernandez’s former Florida home when he came upon a tire in the road that blocked his path.
With his 2-year-old daughter, Bexley, looking on from the back seat, Bridegan was gunned down after exiting his SUV.
Bexley — who was nearly hit by several bullets — remained alone at the scene for several minutes until a passerby called police.
While suspicion immediately fell on Gardner-Fernandez, she staunchly denied any involvement in the crime and moved across the country to West Richland.
But the investigative vise slowly tightened around the ex-wife, beginning with the arrest of her new husband’s tenant, Henry Tenon.
Officials said Fernandez paid Tenon to kill Bridegan, and the laborer agreed to cooperate with authorities.
Fernandez was arrested in March and charged with first-degree murder before Gardner-Fernandez was ultimately collared last week.
Her parents, Shelli and Sterling Gardner, are prominent members of their Mormon community and founded the successful Stampin’ Up paper company.
The couple have supported their daughter since Bridegan’s death, taking her, Fernandez and the twins on a Florida vacation weeks after the homicide.
Kirsten Bridegan asserts that the Gardners have “isolated” the children from their half-siblings and paternal relatives.
