JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — New documents released in the Jared Bridegan murder case reveal how witnesses described eye-opening personality traits of the two people accused in the murder-for-hire plot.
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Hundreds of pages reveal what friends, family, and co-workers told police after officers said the father of four was ambushed in Jacksonville Beach.
Shanna Gardner’s tattoo artist “...stated Gardner asked the group if they know anyone who shuts people up” during a night out.
Someone who worked out at the same Jacksonville Beach gym said, “Shanna hated sharing custody with her ex, so she could see her hiring someone to ‘do this’,” referring to the murder.
Related Story: New documents released describe failed marriages at center of Bridegan murder-for-hire plot
That’s the same gym where Gardner met Mario Fernandez Saldana. “‘Everyone’ around the gym thinks Mario did it, only because he was creepy,” one woman told police.
Gardner and Fernandez Saldana are both accused in the murder-for-hire plot and police said they hired Fernandez Saldana’s former tenant Henry Tenon to pull the trigger.
Action News Jax’s Law and Safety Expert Dale Carson, a criminal defense attorney, said he does not believe any of the new details are a smoking gun.
Related Story: Jacksonville Beach Police identify father of 4 shot, killed in front of his 2-year-old
“All of this is background information about the players connected with the homicide. Who knew what? Who was there,” he said. But Carson said he does think some of the info has a role in court. “They do lead you down the path of understanding the overall dynamics that led to the murder and you have to have that to effectively prosecute a case like this.”
The interviews with police also dove into Garnder’s contentious divorce with Bridegan and her two-month relationship with Fernandez Saldana before they got married. Gardner told police they moved fast for the kids.
Gardner’s friend told detectives Fernandez Saldana, “offered to get four guys and break into Bridegan’s residence in the middle of the night and ‘take care of him and nobody would ever know’.”
Related Story: Family and neighbors speak out after man arrested in Jared Bridegan’s murder
The new documents also revealed details about the victim. In an interview with police, before she was arrested, Gardner said she “wonders if Jared did not have ulterior motives, knowing she came from money,” and further stated “Jared ‘drained’ their accounts. She stated the divorce was traumatic since Jared refused to move out of their house.”
Gardner used phrases like “very bipolar” and “deficits in his personality” to describe Bridegan to the police.
Carson said it’s unlikely those character attacks will appear in court. “It’s unlikely to be used. Those are things that tend to be used to describe the way an individual is perceived in the community. There are very strong restrictions on the presentation of that evidence,” he said. “It takes skill to present that evidence in a way that is not objected to.
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