The 'murder was personal': Trial underway in Florida in ambush of Microsoft manager

The fatal shooting of a Microsoft design manager on a dark Florida road was a “targeted ambush” hatched by his ex-wife and her husband, following years of post-marriage strife over religion and how to raise twin children, a prosecutor told jurors Monday.Jared Bridegan, 33, was killed in Jacksonville Beach in 2022 when he got out of his vehicle to remove a tire that was placed in the road while his 2-year-old daughter from a second marriage was strapped in her car seat.More than four years later, Mario Fernandez Saldana, 38, is on trial in Duval County court for first-degree murder and solicitation of murder. He’s accused of arranging Bridegan’s death by hiring a gunman. Shanna Gardner, 39, faces her own trial in September.“The killer was a stranger to Jared Bridegan.

The murder was personal,” Assistant State Attorney Christina Simak Stifler said.Defense says Fernandez Saldana didn't act like mastermindBut defense attorney James Hill told the jury that Fernandez Saldana, an Army veteran, had no desire to get rid of Bridegan and his actions shortly after the killing — a road trip to Pennsylvania and back — didn’t resemble that of a criminal architect “running from the law.”“He had access to a lot of money, hundreds of thousands of dollars,” Hill acknowledged, referring to his wife's trust fund. “He could have fled the country.”In her opening remarks, Stifler traced the bitter relationship between Bridegan and Gardner, the execution-style killing and the difficulty of trying to solve a shocking homicide with no witnesses. The victim, she said, had no obvious enemies and was a devout member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.Bridegan and Gardner were divorced in 2015.

The end of the marriage, however, led to years of acrimony about how to jointly raise their twins, from religion to doctor's appointments and even school conferences, Stifler said.She said Gardner did not want her children involved with the Mormon church.“They fought over everything. It was not good on both sides,” the prosecutor said of the relationship.Victim's daughter heard the gunshotsBridegan remarried and had two more children. Gardner, meanwhile, married Fernandez Saldana, who was a maintenance man at a gym where she worked out.Bridegan was attacked shortly after returning 9-year-old twins to Gardner’s home, following a regular “date night” w…