THE ex-wife of slain Microsoft executive Jared Bridegan has been arrested in connection with her former husband's murder in February 2022.
Shanna Gardner-Fernandez, 35, was arrested in Washington on Thursday, five months after her new husband, Mario Fernandez Saldana, was arrested on March 16 as part of the investigation into Bridegan's killing.
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Gardner-Fernandez was charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, and child endangerment.
"We promised at the outset of this investigation we would not relent until we uncovered the truth of Jared’s murder, the whole and entire truth," Melissa Nelson, the state attorney for Jacksonville's Fourth Judicial District, said after announcing the charges.
Gardner-Fernandez will be extradited to Duval County, Florida, for trial.
Her arrest marks the third person investigators have detained in connection with Bridegan's murder last year.
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Saldana, 34, was arrested on March 16 and charged with first-degree murder with a weapon, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, solicitation to commit a capital felony, and child abuse.
The 34-year-old is accused wrote three checks to confessed gunman Henry Tenon, 61 - a tenant at one of Saldana's properties in Florida.
Phone records obtained by investigators revealed the men exchanged more than 70 calls before and after Bridegan's murder.
Tenon, who was arrested for Bridegan's murder on January 25, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in March and confessed to authorities that he fired the fatal shots.
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"Henry Tenon has admitted he was, in fact, the shooter," Nelson revealed in a press conference at the time.
The state attorney said Tenon reached a plea deal with authorities and will assist investigators in the case.
In exchange, Tenon was promised a prison sentence of 15 years to life but not the death penalty.
'TARGETED AMBUSH'
Bridegan, a father of four, was found shot to death on a Florida road on February 16, 2022, after dropping off his twins at his ex-wife's house in Jacksonville Beach.
The case had long left investigators stumped after it was revealed the Microsoft executive had stopped when he saw a tire in the middle of a secluded stretch of road.
After Bridegan, 33, stopped his car to remove the tire from the road, Tenon opened fire and killed the father in cold blood.
The software engineer's then-two-year-old daughter, Bexley, was inside the vehicle and watched from the back seat.
The traumatized toddler sat in the car near her father's dead body for three minutes until someone passed by and noticed.
Investigators suspected the father was lured out of his car by his killer.
At the time, his wife, Kirsten, was home with their then-seven-month-old daughter, London.
Authorities described the killing as a "planned, targeted ambush and murder."
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Bridegan and Gardner-Fernandez divorced in 2016, but the relationship was in turmoil over finances and custody of their twins.
After Bridegan's killing, Gardner-Fernandez moved 2,800 miles from Florida to West Richland, Washington, about three hours east of Seattle.
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