Trial begins for man accused of orchestrating fatal ambush of Microsoft manager

Jury selection is set to begin Monday in the trial of a Florida man accused of orchestrating the fatal ambush of a Microsoft design manager, more than four years after the victim was shot multiple times outside his vehicle while his toddler was strapped in a car seat.

Mario Fernandez Saldana, 38, faces a first-degree murder charge in Duval County court in connection with the death of Jared Bridegan, 33. Prosecutors allege the killing was part of a murder-for-hire plot involving Bridegan's ex-wife, Shanna Gardner, 39, who is also charged with murder. Her trial is scheduled to begin in September.

Investigators say a tire was deliberately placed in the road on a Jacksonville Beach street in February 2022 to stop Bridegan's vehicle and set up the attack. Bridegan had just dropped off his 9-year-old twins at Gardner's home following a regular visitation evening and was driving back to St. Augustine with one of the two children he had with his second wife, Kirsten, whom he married in 2017.

Court records from a 2024 bond hearing indicate a long history of acrimony between Bridegan and Gardner following their 2015 divorce, centered on custody of their two children. Judge London Kite summarized evidence showing Gardner "hated Mr. Bridegan, hated having to share custody of the children with him and wanted him dead."

The alleged gunman, Henry Tenon, 65, initially pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in 2023 and agreed to testify against Fernandez Saldana. However, he withdrew that plea earlier this year and is now scheduled for his own trial in 2027. Authorities say Tenon was paid at least $10,000 by Gardner and Fernandez Saldana after the killing, and his DNA was found on the tire used to block Bridegan's path.

Bridegan, who previously served as chief technology officer at Utah-based Clean Simple Eats before joining Microsoft, was remembered by his wife in a social media post on their anniversary in 2024. "I am so sorry that once you had found happiness and fulfillment in life, your life was taken from you," she wrote. "But I am so grateful I got to be part of those short years and that we shared so much happiness before it was too late."