Tell Me a True Crime Story
Tell Me a True Crime Story
The Ambush Murder of Jared Bridegan (Pt 1)
On Wednesday, February 16, 2022, Jared Bridegan, a 33-year-old father of four, was murdered in a targeted, ambush-style attack. He was gunned down by multiple shots at close range in a residential area of Jacksonville Beach, Florida. His two-year-old daughter, Bexley, was the only witness to his murder besides his cold-blooded killer.
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Tell me a true crime story.
Speaker 3:It's a murder mystery that shook up the Jacksonville Beach community and gained national attention. Jared Bridegain, the father of four, was gunned down one year ago today in Jacksonville Beach in front of his two-year-old daughter. A murder police said was targeted.
Speaker 2:These are the last images of Microsoft Executive Jared Bridegain doting on his young children before he was viciously shot to death in an ambush. Now mystery surrounds who was behind the assassination on the father of four in this upscale neighborhood in Jacksonville Beach, florida. Jared Bridegain was driving home with his two-year-old daughter strapped in her car seat when police say he stopped his vehicle to remove a tire left in the road. That's when he was gunned down at close range, right in front of his daughter. Police believe the tire was left in the middle of the street to lure him out of his car.
Speaker 3:Whoever did this is just vile and cowardly.
Speaker 2:I spoke to Jared's heartbroken widow, Kirsten. Investigators say it appears this was a hit or an ambush. Yeah, that is how it appears. Kirsten says her husband had just dropped off his twins from a previous marriage at their mother's house.
Speaker 3:He was driving the usual route home that he always drove I actually talked to him on the phone right after he dropped his twins off and he just told me that they had had a good day. They bought ice cream. My daughter in the back told me I got an ice cream, mommy, and then it said okay, see you soon.
Speaker 2:Minutes later he was slain. The sound of gunfire was captured on a neighbor's camera. Now, bexley, your two-year-old daughter was in the car when your husband was killed. What has she told you?
Speaker 3:Mostly it's the sound that she refers to. The boom is how she describes the gunshots. So she'll say boom, boom, boom and then she'll say, daddy, on the ground it's excruciating.
Speaker 2:The shocking ambush happened two months ago. Kirsten is now speaking out in frustration that the killer is still on the loose.
Speaker 3:I want people to know that the murder is out there. The murder is probably watching this and they're living their life and that's not okay.
Speaker 1:Hey there, welcome to episode 25 of Tell Me a True Crime Story. I'm your host, holly. Thank you so much for being here. I hope that you and your family are happy, healthy and together forever. Today we'll cover a tragic, heartbreaking story that's recently been in national headlines and all over social media.
Speaker 1:But before we get started, I have to mention two important things really quickly. First off, I wanted to say that I'm working really hard on getting episodes out consistently. I haven't always been able to get them out on a fixed schedule, but I'm trying to get there, guys. I know you guys get it that I have to prioritize and do the thing that pays the bills first, and after that work. Then I work on podcasting, on top of being a mom and a daughter and a significant other to my fiance and taking care of the pets and the house and the laundry. You know how it is, guys.
Speaker 1:Life just never stops, and I'm in my mid-40s and I've been going through this perimenopause thing for years now, and not to mention all of the crazy physical things it does to your body, like thinning hair and eyebrows, making your boobs itch, hot flashes, sleep problems, stuff like that that comes along with it. But many days I have zero energy and on top of all that it's really really affected my cognitive functioning big time. It makes me have a foggy brain and I can't find the words I want to say. They just won't come to me. I can't concentrate, I'm indecisive. I find it really difficult to focus and stay focused. You could not imagine the rabbit holes that I end up in when conducting research and writing my script for the podcast, because my mind is all over the place and I feel like the research and writing takes me way longer than it should.
Speaker 1:I know that I've told you guys that before, but it's true, and I think there are a couple of reasons for that, one reason being the stuff that I mentioned, with the declining estrogen being in perimenopause, giving me all the foggy brain stuff. And the other reason is because I love details and so I like to bring you guys all of the details that I can to each story. Sometimes I think I go overboard with wanting to include every single morsel of a story that it just becomes mind numbing. Then the indecisiveness comes in and I don't know what the heck to include and what not to include. So at least I'm self-aware. At least I'm self-aware that I'm crazy, because sometimes I have to rein myself in and say, okay, that's enough about that and just move on to another point. So just being detail-oriented in itself is really time-consuming, but then you really have to fact-check everything and make sure to the very, very best of your ability that what you're bringing is the truth. So my point in telling you all of this is that I want you all to know that I'm dedicated to you as my audience and I'm so appreciative of you guys being here listening. So, even though this isn't my full-time gig, I'm trying super hard to get out an episode on time every week. Maybe, instead of shooting for a one episode per week, I'll just plan on doing one episode every two weeks to give myself more time. I hate to do that, but I might have to. For now We'll see.
Speaker 1:Now, on a different note, I have to share an exciting tidbit with you. Last week, me, my mom, who is 79 and lives with us, and my son, who is 15, were in the truck going to meet my daughter she's 20 and her boyfriend at a restaurant like 30 minutes away. Well, I'm always listening to podcasts while I'm on the road, just never my own podcast. That would be kind of weird, but anyway, my mom wanted to hear it so I was going to put on my latest episode for her. Now I don't check very often to see if I have new reviews for the podcast, because I hardly ever get any and it gets discouraging. So I just check it, like every once in a while. Well, I can't see a thing without my reading glasses on, so I accidentally scrolled down too far on the page and I caught just a glimpse like a very blurry glimpse of where it shows the ratings, and I thought it said 13 ratings. Well, I couldn't believe my eyes because I had been stuck at 12 ratings for like two months. So I passed my phone to my son and I was like oh my God, does that say 13 ratings? Oh my gosh, read it out loud to us.
Speaker 1:So I want to take this time to personally thank Paula6693 for leaving me a five star review with such kind words on Apple. This is what Paula said in her review. The title of it says Excellent. Then she goes on to say I have been looking for a new podcast that holds my attention and you have done that 100%. I'm so excited to listen to more. I literally wanted to cry. So, paula, wherever you are, thank you for listening and for taking your valuable time out of your day to write that review for me. I wish I could give you a big hug. So yeah, and my son also pointed out that I have seven five star ratings on Spotify. You guys are probably probably laughing at me for being excited about seven, but I had zero for so long. So, whoever is rating me on Spotify, I want to thank you so much and give you a big hug too. So please help me out. If you like the podcast, you can do that by leaving me a five star review on Apple podcast or a five star rating on Spotify. To leave me a rating and review on Apple, just go to my show page and scroll down till you see ratings and reviews. Select a star rating. Then, below that, click on write a review. Thank you for helping me out with that, and big, big hugs to all of you.
Speaker 1:Now let me tell you a true crime story. I'm going to take you back to the evening of February 16th 2022. We're going to Jacksonville Beach. That's on Florida's Upper East Coast, near the Georgia State Line. The temperature that night was about 63 degrees Fahrenheit. Then, 30 year old Kirsten Bridegine I think it's Kirsten, actually, sorry, kirsten Then, 30 year old Kirsten Bridegine, 33 year old.
Speaker 1:Jared Bridegine's wife stayed home that fateful Wednesday evening with their six month old daughter, london, while Jared and Bexley, their other daughter, who was two years old, went on a daddy date night with Jared's nine year old twins. The twins are named Liam and Abigail. Abigail goes by Abby. Liam and Abby are Jared's children from his first marriage to Shana Gardner Fernandez. Kirsten couldn't have known when Jared walked out the door that evening that she'd never see her husband alive again. Jared and his ex-wife, shana Gardner Fernandez, shared custody of Liam and Abby. Jared and his wife Kirsten would get the twins every other week During their off weeks. When the twins weren't with them, they would still see them midweek on Wednesdays, and they called it date night.
Speaker 1:Jared Galen Bridegine was born on June 29, 1988 in Warrensburg, missouri, to Gaylord and Joanne Bridegine. Jared's the youngest of their four kids. His sister is Ashley and his brothers are Justin and Adam. When Jared was still young, the family moved to Jacksonville, florida, where Jared grew up. He graduated in 2007 from the Douglas Anderson School of the Arts. Jared met his ex-wife, shana Gardner Fernandez in 2009 through his brother, adam's wife, carly, who had been close friends with her since they were in their quote-unquote younger years. According to Adam Bridegine, shana lived in Utah but had been in Florida visiting a friend when she met Jared my friend that she was visiting may have been Carly Adam Bridegine's wife, but I'm not really sure. So a little bit about Shana and her family.
Speaker 1:Shana Lee Gardner was born on March 18, 1987 into a wealthy Mormon family in Utah and she has four sisters. Her parents are Shelly and Sterling Gardner. Shelly and Sterling own a very lucrative multi-level marketing company called Stampin' Up. Shana's mom, shelly Gardner, is a co-founder of Stampin' Up and started the company with her sister, levon Crosby, in 1988. Back then the sisters were neighbors living in Las Vegas. They were both stay-at-home moms and their husbands worked in construction.
Speaker 1:The sisters were interested in becoming demonstrators for a rubber stamp company, but couldn't find one that met all of their expectations. Shelly Gardner had planned on using savings to build their first home, but instead used the money to start Stampin' Up. They quickly outgrew the living room where they first started the business, then outgrew a warehouse, then another, and soon purchased their own property in the state Knaab, utah, and I hope I'm saying that right. I looked it up and couldn't really find the pronunciation, but it's K-A-N-A-B. Knaab, kanab, utah.
Speaker 1:Sometime around the year 2000, levan who Shelley refers to her as Vana Sold her ownership in the business to focus on her kids and family, and Shelley became the sole owner of Stampin' Up. I'm not sure how many kids her sister Levan had at the time that she sold her part in the business, but she now has nine children and lives in Knaab, utah. She and her husband, sean, have a 3.4 million dollar home there. Shelley Gardner is the former CEO of Stampin' Up and now serves actively as the chair of the board of directors of the company. In 2016, she appointed her daughter, sarah Douglas, to be CEO. The company is headquartered in Riverton, utah. It operates in 11 countries, has nearly 350 full-time employees and has an estimated annual revenue of over $100 million per year.
Speaker 1:So that's a little about Shanna, jared's ex-wife, her family and her background. So now we're going to get back to Jared and Shanna. They met in 2009 and married the next year. In April of 2010 at the Magnificent Salt Lake City Temple. They bought a house in Utah near Shanna's parents worth about $800,000. I'm not sure when it was during their marriage or whether it was supposedly during their whole marriage, but reportedly, shanna's parents gave the couple a monthly stipend of about $8,500 and access to credit cards, and it's also been widely reported that her parents gave Jared $100,000 to start a business.
Speaker 1:Jared and Shanna's twins, liam and Abby, were born on April 20th 2012. Liam was born with a congenital heart condition. The couple were told by doctors that for their son's heart to function properly, he needed to live at sea level. Jared's brother and wife lived in Connecticut at the time, which was close to Liam's doctor in New York. So Jared, shanna and the twins moved to Connecticut.
Speaker 1:There, it seems, the marriage started to break down. Reportedly, shanna stopped going to church, while Jared remained a devout Mormon. Shanna started to work out fervently and got upset with Jared for gaining weight. However, it was said that at the time, he was trying to focus on start. He was focused on trying to start businesses. So you know how that is. You're you know if you're trying to really start a business, you ain't worried about what you're eating. You're probably stressed out and you're eating more, whatever. He wasn't thinking about that. It's been reported that at this point, jared wanted a fresh start for he and Shanna's marriage. He was originally from Jacksonville, so he talked Shanna into moving there. They bought a home on Piazada Circle in Ponte Vider Beach, which is south of Jacksonville, for around eight hundred thousand dollars.
Speaker 1:In 2014, jared graduated from Utah Valley University with a bachelor's degree in digital media. Then he started working on a master's degree online. For Christmas in 2014, jared gave Shanna personal training sessions. Reportedly, just weeks later, shanna and the personal trainer began having an affair with one another. Shanna has denied having the affair, but the personal trainer has confirmed that he and Shanna did have a romantic relationship. He said that Shanna had told him that she and Jared had been separated for months. She said they weren't really speaking to one another and were living on opposite ends of the house. The trainer said that he and Shanna dated for a few months before breaking it off.
Speaker 1:Shanna and Jared separated when Jared found sexually explicit messages between Shanna and her personal trainer lover, but reportedly Jared was willing to forgive Shanna her indiscretions. For the sake of their children, however, she wanted a divorce. Sources told Fox News Digital that when Jared confronted Shanna about the affair, she told him she didn't love him anymore. Shanna filed for a divorce in February of 2015, yet they continued to live under the same roof.
Speaker 1:The next day after filing for divorce, shanna went to a tattoo shop to get a Clitoris piercing. According to a waiver she signed at the tattoo shop, obtained by Fox News Digital, shanna listed her trainer boyfriend as her emergency contact. By this point they'd probably been dating for about a month or so since sometime in January. In the span of a few months, shanna went to the tattoo shop three times all together for piercings. The other two times were for a piercing in her ear and for a navel piercing. She started talking to the people who worked there about her divorce from Jared. She told them her life could be better if he could just quote unquote, shut up. Then she asked them if they knew anyone who could quote unquote shut him up. Shanna ended up admitting that she made the statement, but said she didn't intend on doing Jared any harm. She stopped by the tattoo shop often too, just to hang out with a guy that worked there that she'd struck up a friendship with. He said she often complained about Jared and said that he was Quote unquote, trying to take all of her money. Shanna said in court documents that she and Jared didn't love any love each other anymore.
Speaker 1:The Florida Times Union has reported that in the divorce filing, shanna accused Jared of quote unquote disturbing and abusive behavior toward their kids. Jared accused Shanna of treating him in a disparaging manner in front of the kids and also of spying on him. As, as proof of the spying, jared emailed his divorce divorce lawyer photos of hidden baby monitors, one under Abby's dresser and one under Liam's bed. Also, he said that Shanna put a voice activated recorder in the home, put a tracking device on his car and she put a lock on the master bedroom door. Furthermore, jared said Shanna lied when she said she had no income. Reportedly, shanna's parents financially Supported her and Jared claimed that Shanna made thousands of dollars working under the table for her mom's business.
Speaker 1:An article written by Scott Butler for the Florida Times Union stated that in Jared and Shanna's extensive divorce court file. It says about a motion for relief. Quote the husband is a stay-at-home father while being a full-time student throughout the marriage, completing his Bachelor of Arts degree, and is presently engaged in an online master of arts program. The wife has provided the sole support to the family through regular and recurring gifts from her family to the parties, as Well as from trust and or other family related funds. The parties have regularly received a stipend from the wife's family exceeding 8,500 per month, which has enabled the husband to further his degree programs, and quote Jared also said that Shanna canceled a heart surgery that three-year-old Liam was supposed to have in June of 2015 in New York and they'd waited for months for that appointment.
Speaker 1:She allegedly canceled it on her own, without consulting Jared. Shanna wanted the home and primary custody. She accused Jared of threatening to withdraw cash from their twins trust fund for his own use. Jared wanted the home too. He contended that Shanna had the means to live somewhere else. He was also asking for primary custody, alimony and child support.
Speaker 1:Their contentious divorce was not finalized until months later, but reportedly they still ended up back in court for many years for custody and child support issues and concerns about where the twins would attend school. The Florida Times Union reported that a document in the court file states quote the parenting plan is clearly an issue and the parents are unable to agree. The disagreement of the parents at this point now extends well beyond mere time sharing and goes to issues of the mental health and well-being of the children and, reportedly, the bulk of the court actions were initiated by Shanna, kirsten told Fox News. Quote it was difficult to watch Jared go through constant court battles when all he wanted was to focus on being the best husband and father he could be. End. Quote.
Speaker 1:Reportedly, shanna met her current husband, maria Fernandez-Saldana, at a CrossFit gym in 2018 where she worked out and he worked there as a maintenance man. They married that same year. Despite trying, I couldn't find much on Mario Fernandez-Saldana. The only thing I could really find was an incident he was involved in where he was accused of intimidating his female neighbor with his pit bull. The neighbor would feed stray cats and he didn't like the cats. I guess the police were called in an officer-advised Mario Fernandez-Saldana about the laws concerning dangerous dogs and suggested that if he had a problem with the feral cats, he could contact animal control. Reportedly, this was not the only incident involving him over the cats.
Speaker 1:The Duval County Florida Tax Collector's website shows a home in the names of Shanna Gardner and Mario Enrique Fernandez, located at 1511 Marsh Inlet Court in Jacksonville Beach. They paid over $8,200 for their property taxes in 2021 and in 2022. Zillow says that the home was built in 2014. A document on the Duval County, florida Property Appraisers Office shows that Shanna and Mario bought the home in 2018 for $575,000. Another document on the site shows that they sold the home for $899,900 in May of 2023. So that's this year, may of 23.
Speaker 1:Shanna ran a baking business out of that home called Beach Baked 904, which she started in 2020. In a video on YouTube, shanna is interviewed by a woman named Jean Pickett about her baking business. Shanna explained that the business allows her more time with her children because of the flexible hours. She said she does custom baking jobs. In the video, shanna said that it's a home-based bakery covered under Florida's Cottage Law. This means that the foods made in the home-based kitchen are not subject to state food safety regulations. Only certain foods are allowed to be made and gross sales cannot exceed $250,000 in a year. Shanna said that she baked when she was young with her grandma and that the font in her logo was modeled after her grandmother's handwriting.
Speaker 1:Jared and Kirsten met each other on a dating app. They married in 2017. Kirsten Bridegain was born Kirsten Elizabeth Fock in 1991 and grew up in Maple Valley, washington. Kirsten and Jared had their daughter Bexley in August of 2019. Two years later, in August of 2021, london came. At the time of Jared's murder, he was working as a manager of user experience at Microsoft. Kirsten had also worked for Microsoft as an account manager and had worked there since 2016. She stopped working at Microsoft in January of 2022 to become a full-time mom.
Speaker 1:Now we're back to Wednesday, february 16th 2022. A little before 8 pm, kirsten got a call from Jared saying he'd just dropped off Liam and Abby at Shanna's house. He told Kirsten he loved her and that he and Bexley would be home shortly. There was nothing unusual about their conversation. The drive from Jacksonville Beach, where Shanna lived, to St Augustine, where he and Kirsten lived, should have taken Jared and Bexley about 30 minutes.
Speaker 1:When they didn't get home when they should have, kirsten began to get worried and immediately she felt that something was not right. She went out looking for them. She called Jared's cell phone, but Jared didn't answer it. A police officer did. The officer told Kirsten that her daughter, bexley was okay, but that she needed to come by the police station to hear about her husband. What the police told Kirsten that night forever changed her life. A ruthless killer had ambushed her husband, jared, and cold-bloodily murdered him, making her a widow and his four children. As you know, jared dropped off Liam and Abby at Shanna's house just before 8 pm, probably around 7 45 or so.
Speaker 1:At about 8.03 pm, jacksonville Beach police officers were dispatched in response to a shooting in the area of Jacksonville Drive and Sanctuary Boulevard. The male victim was pronounced dead at the scene from multiple gunshot wounds. He'd been shot at close range and his body was lying on the ground outside of his black Volkswagen Atlas SUV. He was identified as 33 year old Jared Bridegain. There was a two-year-old little girl there too, being comforted by witnesses. Those brave Good Samaritans that were holding the baby girl had happened upon the scene just after Jared was shot. Police learned that the witnesses found her crying and still strapped into her car seat in the back on the passenger side of the vehicle. They'd pulled her out of the car, gave her a blanket and held her until help arrived.
Speaker 1:Jacksonville Beach police immediately secured the scene and began a homicide investigation. They canvassed the area seeking witnesses and surveillance video. Handgun shell casings were found at the scene. Also at the scene was a wheel with a damaged tire on it. It was identified as belonging to a 2004 Ford F-150 Lariat. The shell casings and wheel and tire were tested for DNA evidence.
Speaker 1:Investigators deduced that immediately after dropping off his nine-year-old twins at home with their mom, his ex-wife Shanna Jared started for home, taking his usual route From Shanna's house, he would have driven for about two and a half miles through a residential area before getting back out onto the main road, j Turner Butler Boulevard, on the last little stretch of road to exit the sanctuary neighborhood. It's called Sanctuary Boulevard and it's a little over a tenth of a mile. It's dark at night, with woods on either side. The wheel with the damaged tire on it had been deliberately placed in the road. When Jared came upon it in the road and saw that it blocked his path because it was too big to drive over, he stopped his car, turned on his hazard lights and opened his door. Upon exiting his vehicle, he was shot almost immediately multiple times. His two-year-old daughter, bexley, strapped into her car seat just feet away, was the only witness to her father's brutal murder. Bexley had not been physically harmed, but trajectory rods and ballistics evidence showed that projectiles struck the interior of the vehicle, including metal and glass, within mere feet of where Bexley was strapped into her car seat. Investigators further concluded that the placement of the wheel must have been planned and orchestrated with precision timing, because motion-activated surveillance videos around the homicide scene suggest that the wheel was not in the roadway shortly before the shooting, because no vehicles driving on Sanctuary Boulevard were seen swerving to avoid the wheel. Jared Bridegain was not armed and there was no evidence of a struggle at the scene. He was not robbed of any of his personal items, such as his watch, wedding ring, cell phone, money or wallet. His car was not stolen. After looking into Jared Bridegain's background, investigators learned of the highly acrimonious divorce from his ex-wife, shanna Gardner Fernandez, and of the existence of a contentious relationship between the Bridegains and Shanna and her husband, maria Fernandez-Saldana. The day after Jared was murdered, police issued a press release asking for anyone in the area with home security footage between the hours of 6 pm and 8.30 pm involving a black SUV to come forward. Jared had been driving a black SUV.
Speaker 1:On February 22, 2022, first Coast Crime Stoppers announced a $3,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the person who murdered Jared. The reward amount quickly grew to $8,000. On February 23, 2022, around 9 am, officers conducted a search in a wooded area west of Sanctuary Boulevard between Sanctuary Parkway and Jacksonville Drive. I'm not sure what, or if anything, was found during that search. Atf began assisting the Jacksonville Beach Police Department and Jared's murder became a joint investigation between Jacksonville Beach PD and ATF. On February 24, 2022, the ATF offered a separate $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the suspect or suspects responsible for Jared's murder. The next day, via their Facebook page, the Jacksonville Beach Police Department clarified that the rewards being offered by the two separate agencies First Coast Crime Stoppers and ATF were not stackable. Both agencies were simply offering different avenues for people to report tips about Jared's murder.
Speaker 1:On the evening of February 24, kirsten got an alert on her watch from her Nest camera about someone being in her driveway. She was scared. Her husband had just been murdered the week before and his killer or killers were still out there. Kirsten called her neighbor, who was ex-military. Together they looked in the yard but found nothing. Kirsten also notified the local police of the incident. Twelve days after Jared's murder, on February 28, kirsten received a CURT request via email from Shanna asking for a copy of Jared's death certificate. It read, quote my attorney has requested a copy of Jared's death certificate for the family court. You can send it to me or to him and his paralegal directly, whichever you prefer, end quote. Then, sometime after that email, shanna asked Kirsten to return library books the twins had taken out Reportedly. This request was made before they'd even had Jared's funeral.
Speaker 1:On March 7, 2022, the First Coast Crime Stoppers reward increased to $13,000 for information leading to the arrest of the person responsible for Jared's murder. The investigation revealed that a pickup truck was picked up on three security cameras the night Jared was killed on Shedder Avenue, which is near the murder scene. On March 9, 2022, the Jacksonville Beach Police Department issued a press release seeking information from the public about a vehicle of interest related to the homicide investigation of Jared Bridegain. The press release contains pictures of the truck police were trying to locate and reads the truck is believed to be a dark colored, likely blue, 2004-2008 Ford F-150, four doors with running boards possibly silver, brown trim and a silver toolbox. If you saw this vehicle the night of 2, 1622 between the hours of 5.30pm and 8.30pm, or know of its current whereabouts, we ask that you call the Jacksonville Beach Police Department immediately at 904-270-1667.
Speaker 1:Shelley Shanna's mom wrote in a blog post in March of 2022 about a memorial that Shanna and her family held for Liam and Abby in honor of their father, jared Quote. It was so sweet to see Liam and Abby surrounded by family and friends as they recalled happy memories of their dad. Just before sunset, everyone cut flowers from beautiful arrangements, walked over the dune together and tossed them into the ocean. As a farewell, the guests received heart-shaped cookies made by Liam and Abby, with their mom's help, of course, to thank them for their support. The event was filled with good food, lots of visiting and enormous amounts of love. There were lots of pictures attached to this blog post showing the twins, shanna Mario, shanna's sisters, her parents and other guests. The thing that struck me the most about the pictures was that everyone seemed very smiley and happy Way too happy considering that they were at a memorial for the twins' father, who had just been brutally murdered, like weeks prior, the joy reflected in the pictures is very inappropriate, to say the least. According to my research, that memorial was held at a home that had just been purchased by Shelley and Sterling Gardner in Jacksonville Beach. The home was purchased in March of 2022 for about $3.6 million in the name of Arabian Meadows LLC. It was built in 1990 and has four bedrooms, four bathrooms and is 3,127 square feet. It is just steps literally steps from the Atlantic Ocean Probably 200-something feet, which is about 100 or so foot steps for a human to walk, so it's like the Atlantic Ocean is right in their backyard.
Speaker 1:Just weeks after Jared's funeral in March of 2022, shanna Gardner Fernandez, mario Fernandez Saldana, the twins, and Shannon's parents, shelley and Sterling Gardner, went on vacation together during spring break. They went to an all-inclusive resort called Club Med Sandpiper Bay in Port St Lucie, florida. Shelley posted pictures on her blog showing them jet skiing, paddle boarding, kayaking and building sand castles together. Kirsten said that seeing Shanna and Mario making those memories with the twins so soon after Jared's murder and feeling so strongly that Shanna and Mario were involved in his murder was like quote-unquote salt in the wound. In early April of 2022, shanna's sister posted on social media a picture of herself with Shanna and their other three sisters for National Siblings Day. Shanna is in the middle of her four sisters with a huge, gleeful smile on her face. Now, this picture that her sister chose to use in her post was taken during the memorial that Shanna and her family held for the twins to honor their murdered father. Shanna's sister very distastefully captioned the picture quote happy moments like these are my favorite Red Heart Emoji hashtag. National Siblings Day end quote.
Speaker 1:On April 11, 2022, the reward through First Coast Crime Stoppers increased to $25,000 for information leading to the arrest of the person who murdered Jared, and another month later, on May 9, 2022, the reward increased to $50,000. So a month later, it doubled from $25,000 to $50,000 within a month. Most of the reward money came from private donations. According to Adam Bridegain, jared Bridegain's brother, who has been with Kirsten Jared's widow at the forefront of finding justice for Jared, said that Shanna's family did not contribute to the reward fund. About four months after Jared's murder in June of 2022, shanna and Mario Fernandez Saldana hired criminal defense attorney Henry Cox III. He is the former president of both the Florida Bar Association and the Jacksonville Bar Association, although his bio on bedelfirmcom states that he specializes in serious federal and state criminal matters. Henry Cox III said that he was retained by Shanna and Mario quote for the purpose of seeing if steps could be taken to protect her young twins from any publicity surrounding this tragic event. And quote During Jared's homicide investigation, many witnesses were interviewed, more than 77 subpoenas were served and more than 30 search warrants were obtained. Eventually, investigators were led to the identification of a suspect, and that's where we're going to stop for part one of this case. Part two will be released tomorrow.
Speaker 1:Now that I've been doing this for a year, I'm going to slowly roll out different ways for fans of the podcast to support the show if they'd like to. So if you would like to support my podcast, I have two ways for you to do so. The first way is you can buy me a coffee by going to buy me a coffeecom slash true crime story pod. I'll have a patron eventually too, but that will be a little bit down the road. The other way you can support this show for free is by writing a short but sweet review for the podcast on Apple podcast or give it a five star rating on Spotify.
Speaker 1:I have not made any money from podcasting in the year that I've been doing this so far. That's not been my goal nor my focus. What I have been focused on is always improving something about my show, whether it be the story writing, the sound quality, how I deliver it all of that. I want to become a better podcaster with each episode and continue to grow my audience. Thank you, guys a ton for being here. I truly, truly appreciate you. Please join me in episode 26 when I'll tell you another true crime story. Big hugs to all of you, bye, bye.
