Opening statements began Monday morning in the first trial related to the killing of St. Johns County father of four, Jared Bridegan.
The first suspect on trial is Mario Fernandez Saldana, who is the estranged husband of Bridegan's ex-wife, Shanna Gardner.
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Last week, lawyers finished the work of screening the jury pool for Fernandez Saldana's trial.
The final panel includes twelve jurors and four alternates.
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Fernandez Saldana is accused of hiring the hitman who killed Bridegan.
You'll also be able to watch the trial by streaming it on the Action News Jax website (click on the link below), mobile and connected TV apps, and on our YouTube channel.
2:08 p.m.: Judge Kite gives the jury a break and said they will come back at 2:30 p.m.
2:06 p.m.: Lawrence is excused and Mizrahi said that he is subject to being recalled. The attorneys have another sidebar with Judge Kite.
2:05 p.m.: Attorney Jesse Dreicer asks Lawrence about the lighting in this area of Jacksonville Beach, and Lawrence says this area is usually very dark while other areas are more well-lit.
2:03 p.m.: State finishes questioning Lawrence and defense begins to cross-examine, the first witness the defense is cross-examining.
2 p.m.: Bridegan's siblings are visibly upset as more photos of the crime scene are shown.
1:57 p.m.: Lawrence was shown a photo of Bridegan on the ground. Said he requested another blanket to cover Bridegan's left hand, as it was exposed.
1:55 p.m.: Lawrence said he noticed the tire: "There was a tire that was mostly in the middle of the road, enough for an obstruction."
1:52 p.m.: Attorneys approach Judge London Kite's bench for a sidebar.
1:51 p.m.: Lawrence said, "When Kirsten started calling, I saw on the infotainment center ... Her name is very close to my wife's name. ... The frequency of those calls came in more and more."
1:50 p.m.: Lawrence said Bridegan's phone was still in the car, his wallet was still attached to his phone.
1:49 p.m.: "I noticed his wedding ring on his left finger. Hit me in an emotional way," Lawrence said of Bridegan.
1:48 p.m.: Lawrence said his initial thought was that Bridegan committed suicide, then found he had been shot multiple times.
1:46 p.m.: Lawrence said he went to Bridegan, checked his carotid artery, did not feel a pulse. Started doing CPR until about a minute later when he heard his partner say "there was a child in the car." Partner took over CPR of Bridegan.
1:43 p.m.: Smith said Bridegan's vehicle flashers were on and said he was lying "face down in a pool of blood." One of Bridegan's cheeks was one the ground and his stomach was on the ground.
1:38 p.m.: Smith recalled the night of the murder that officers started receiving dispatch calls to somewhere in the south of Jacksonville Beach.
1:34 p.m.: Assistant State Attorney Alan Mizrahi takes over questioning. Sgt. Lawrence Smith with the Jacksonville Beach Police Department is the next witness.
1:32 p.m.: Defense said it does not wish to cross-examine Borja and he is excused.
1:30 p.m.: "My only instinct was to grab her. I was trying to comfort her," Borja said of taking Bexley out of her car seat. He said he gave Bexley to Cruz to hold.
1:29 p.m.: "When I saw the blood, that's when I thought there was a car accident," Borja said. He said he started looking to see if there were other cars involved.
1:26 p.m. Borja said he saw Bridegan's vehicle blocking the road. Saw a tire and thought he may need some help. Borja said something felt off because he saw Bridegan laying on the ground.
1:23 p.m.: Shane Borja is sworn in. He is Cruz's boyfriend. They lived in the Jacksonville at the time Bridegan was murdered but no longer live in the area.
1:22 p.m.: Cruz is not cross-examined by the defense and is excused.
1:20 p.m.: Cruz said no one told her that night that Bridegan was pronounced dead. She said police allowed her to care for Bexley.
1:18 p.m.: Cruz said that night, she took a video of Bexley, saying "She was the cutest, bravest, strongest little girl I've ever met."
1:17 p.m.: Cruz said of Bexley, Bridegan's then-2-year-old daughter, on the night of his murder: "She was shaking, she was panting as if she had been crying, she was very worried about her dad. she was telling us that her dad was hurt on the ground and asked if the police were going to help her daddy."
1:14 p.m.: They played Cruz's 911 call from that night. She told the dispatcher that night that Bridegan was "unconscious."
1:13 p.m.: Cruz recalls her boyfriend, Shane Borja, went to check on the Volkswagen Atlas in the road, telling her to call 911. She said she remembers him telling her, "There's a guy on the ground,"
1:07 p.m.: Court resumes as the state calls its first witness, Jonelle Cruz. Stifler is questioning her.
11:58 a.m.: Investigators only looked where they wanted to look, Hill said, they didn't look at a house that they were given consent to look at (not the Potomac house).
11:55 a.m.: Tenon, a man hired for a homicide apparently couldn't afford to to get his truck fixed, Hill said.
11:50 a.m.: Journal of Tenon's found, Hill said, which shows a that Tenon wanted to start his own business. Hill said Tenon was paid by Fernandez Saldana because he was doing yard work, not murder.
11:48 a.m.: Hill said Fernandez Saldana met up with John Biggerstaff to do what he said he was previously going to do -- help him with wedding preparations.
11:44 a.m.: Hill said there is no physical evidence of Fernandez Saldana at the scene -- no DNA, no fingerprints, no forensic evidence.
11:38 a.m.: Hill read from a T-Mobile disclaimer, as there are several gaps of time when Fernandez Saldana's phone data is not available: "Even if call records are found, there may be times when no timing advance records are available."
11:36 a.m.: There will be no evidence suggesting that Fernandez Saldana was in that truck, Hill said. Fernandez Saldana can know a wrong doer and not be a wrong doer.
11:35 a.m.: Hill said the jury will see video of Bridegan taking the children to the Bearded Pig, going through the drive-thru at Wendy's to get Frostys, and then dropping the twins off. He said the jury will also see videos of the blue Ford F-150.
11:34 a.m.: There will be no evidence that connects Fernandez Saldana to what Tenon did, Hill said.
10:32 a.m.: Hill said there is no evidence that the Biggerstaffs gave Fernandez Saldana the gun.
11:26 a.m.: Hill emphasizes the fact that Juan and John Biggerstaff will say they have no idea where the 10 mm gun is despite the fact that they have full immunity.
11:22 a.m.: John Biggerstaff has a Google search related to a 10 mm. Hill tells the jury they need to pay attention to what he did not search.
11:18 a.m.: Hill told the jury they have to be focused on Fernandez Saldana, not Tenon or Gardner.
11:16 a.m.: Hill said the relationship between Gardner and Fernandez Saldana was not perfect, but they made it work.
11:15 a.m.: Hill said to the jury that they are going to hear that Gardner and Fernandez Saldana's marriage wasn't always perfect. Hill said that once new spouses were in the picture, there was a family text chain.
11:13 a.m.: Hill details the history of those involved in the case:
April 2010: Bridegan and Gardner are married
2015: Gardner and Bridegan get divorced
2017: Bridegan and Kirsten Bridegan get married
2018: Gardner and Fernandez Saldana get married
11:12 a.m.: This case must not be decided because you feel sorry or anger for someone, Hill told the jury, the verdict must be based on evidence with the law.
11:09 a.m.: "To get to the first charge, you have to go through the second charge," Hill said of the second charge, criminal citation, that Fernandez Saldana is facing.
11:08 a.m.: Hill showed a slide that explained how Fernandez could be considered a principal in the crime. It said, in part, If Fernandez Saldana helped Tenon commit a crime and must be treated as if he had done all the things the other person or persons did if the state proved beyond a reasonable doubt:
The defendant intended the crime to occur and
the defendant did some act or said something that was intended to and that did incite, cause, encourage, assist, or advise the other person or persons to actually commit the crime.
11:07 a.m.: Hill goes through what the state must prove in count one, murder in the first-degree:
The death was caused by the criminal act of Mario Enrique Fernandez Saldana
There was a premeditated killing of Jared Bridegan.
11:05 a.m.: "Jared Bridegan was murdered. He was murdered by Henry Tenon. There will be no dispute of those facts," Hill said.
11:05 a.m.: Attorney James Hill, part of the defense for Mario Fernandez Saldana, begins opening statements.
10:42 a.m. Stifler said the jury must determine if Fernandez Saldana had the intent to have Bridegan killed and did he hire someone to kill him. The jury must consider if Fernandez Saldana was principal to the death of Bridegan.
10:41 a.m.: Stifler said of Bridegan's murder, "This is not a true crime podcast, this is not a TV show, this is real life."
10:38 a.m.: Fernandez Saldana has no cellular data for the time of the murder. There is data before and after, Stifler said, but not during.
10:32 a.m.: Three checks were in Tenon's truck, Stifler said. Three checks were deposited by Tenon, given by Fernandez Saldana.
10:29 a.m.: Fernandez Saldana spent time with Biggerstaff the day after the murder, Stifler said. Biggerstaff had to surrender guns after he was convicted of a felony and gave them to his son, Juan Biggerstaff. One of those guns was a 10mm.
10:27 a.m.: John Biggerstaff was a former Navy cryptologist and JSO officer before being prosecuted for a felony, Stifler said. Fernandez Saldana was at Biggerstaff's house the night before the murder.
10:25 a.m.: The killer was a stranger to Bridegan, Stifler said. The link between those two is Fernandez Saldana.
10:21 a.m.: Tenon is a convicted felon, a pallet manufacturer, Stifler said, got paid per piece. Tenon was struggling financially. In the majority of 2022, he was essentially homeless, sleeping on the couch at Potomac Avenue. Stifler said the current tenant let him. She said Tenon is only connected to Bridegan from Fernandez Saldana.
10:19 a.m.: Henry Tenon showed up, Stifler said. Police noticed that an old tire was on the side of the house. They took that tire, collected it, and compared it to the tire left at the crime scene. They realized it was the same make and model with the same DOT model.
10:18 a.m.: In July 2022, police went to a home at 5239 Potomac Avenue in Jacksonville, a home owned by Fernandez Saldana and managed by First Choice Rentals LLC, Stifler said.
10:17 a.m.: Every other Wednesday, Bridegan would go pick up the twins and have "date night." Stifler said the killer would have known that Kirsten Bridegan would not be going on the date night because she gave birth to their other child six months prior.
10:14 a.m.: The time and place of Bridegan's death was a clue, as the path that Bridegan took from Marsh Inlet to Sanctuary is winding, Stifler said. The killer had to have known that Bridegan would be in Jacksonville Beach that night, that he would drive a black Volkswagen Atlas, and there are not many people that knew he would be at that place at that time.
10:12 a.m.: The type of gun used in Bridegan's killing is not the most popular handgun, Stifler said.
10:10 a.m.: Stifler said the blue truck was seen with an object in its bed, what appears to be a tire. Jacksonville Beach police sent out pictures of the truck and with no license plate readers, the trail of the truck went cold, she said.
10:08 a.m.: The blue Ford 150 with a tan stripe passed the spot where Bridegan was killed an hour before Bridegan's Volkswagen Atlas was in the area, Stifler said.
10:05 a.m.: Stifler said he lived a quiet life in Nocatee and was devoutly Mormon.
10:04 a.m.: Jacksonville Beach detectives learned Bridegan was a risk adverse person, was not in gambling debt, had no criminal record, no drug records, no evidence he was having an affair, Stifler said.
9:56 a.m.: Before Bridegan's death, Fernandez Saldana and Gardner were about to separate. Fernandez Saldana transferred $50,000 from Gardner's trust into his own personal banking account, Stifler said. Fernandez Saldana sold all of the assets they acquired during the marriage. Gardner got full control over her children and left Florida to go back to Utah and Fernandez Saldana moved to Orlando, Stifler said.
9:55 a.m.: Gardner wanted full custody of the twins and Fernandez Saldana told Bridegan that the kids would be better without him. Gardner's parents set up a trust fund, of which Fernandez Saldana was the trustee, Stifler said.
9:54 a.m. Gardner and Fernandez Saldana met in a gym and got married quick, Stifler said. Fernandez Saldana married Gardner to help her with her situation with Bridegan, as they were in and out of court for years, Stifler said.
9:52 a.m.: It will become apparent quickly that no one wanted Bridegan dead, no one had a motive to kill him except for Gardner and Fernandez, Stifler said. Bridegan and Gardner were Mormons and got married quick, Stifler said. One of their twins had a heart condition and they moved to Jacksonville. Bridegan wanted to raise their children in the church; Gardner questioned that and they got divorced.
9:48 a.m.: Stifler said that four-and-a-half years later, it goes without saying that Bridegan's death was an ambush, and the manner of Bridegan's death was not consistent with a robbery.
9:45 a.m.: Bexley was an articulate child and, Stifler said, told the people who came to help her, 'Something happened to my daddy. I heard loud booms. My daddy is hurt, my daddy is on the ground. Are police going to help my daddy?'
9:44 a.m.: Stifler said the person who shot Bridegan stepped out of the darkness and fired four 10mm bullets, two of which went into the vehicle inches from Bexley, Bridegan's then-2-year-old daughter.
9:41 a.m.: Assistant State Attorney Christina Stifler delivered opening statements on behalf of the prosecution.
Stifler said The Sanctuary neighborhood in Jacksonville Beach is exactly what it sounds like.
"But on the night of Feb. 16, it was anything but that for Jared Bridegan," she said. "Instead, it was the site of his execution.
Jared Bridegan, a St. Johns County father of four, was gunned down Feb. 16, 2022, in Jacksonville Beach. He had just taken his twins, Abby and Liam, whom he shared with ex-wife Shanna Gardner, and his then-2-year-old Bexley, his daughter with wife Kirsten Bridegan, to dinner.
The software engineer had just dropped off the twins at Gardner's house when he encountered a tire on Sanctuary Boulevard, a one-way road in Jacksonville Beach. He was headed home to his second wife, Kirsten Bridegan, with whom he shared children Bexley and London.
Jacksonville Beach Police Chief Gene Paul Smith said during the announcement of the first arrest in January 2023, that "the tire was purposely placed there to make him stop, which he did."
"Tragically he began to exit his vehicle to move the tire and he was gunned down in cold blood," Smith said. Bridegan was shot several times while Bexley was still strapped into a car seat in the back seat of Bridegan's car.
Mario Fernandez Saldana, Gardner's estranged husband, was arrested in March 2023 on charges of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, child abuse, and solicitation to commit a capital felony. He's accused of hiring Henry Tenon to kill Jared Bridegan.
In July 2026, two of the charges Fernandez Saldana was facing, child abuse and conspiracy to commit murder, were dropped. He has pleaded not guilty to the remaining charges he's facing. His trial begins Aug. 10, 2026 with jury selection.
Henry Tenon's arrest in connection to Bridegan's murder was announced in January 2023. He was arrested on charges of conspiracy to commit murder, accessory after the fact to a capital felony, child abuse, and second-degree murder. He's accused of shooting and killing Jared Bridegan.
Tenon, who rented a home from Fernandez Saldana, initially agreed to plead guilty to second-degree murder. In February 2026, Tenon decided to withdraw his guilty plea. He is now set to go to trial in March 2027.
Shanna Gardner was arrested in August 2023 in Washington and is facing charges of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, solicitation to commit murder, and child abuse. She has pleaded not guilty to those charges.
Gardner's trial is set to take place after her estranged husband's trial concludes. Jury selection for her trial is set to begin Aug. 31, 2026.
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