The Murder of Jared Bridegan: Part Seven: Tired

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[00:02:54] [SPEAKER_01] The styles sell out, so don't sit on it. That's Z-E-N-N-I dot com slash podcast, promo code PODCAST15. I'm Anya, and this is part of our deep dive into a murder conspiracy case full of twists, turns, and upcoming trials. This series will take you inside the murder of Jared Bridegan and make you an expert for the approaching trials. Today, we're going to learn some pretty shocking and upsetting details.

[00:03:20] [SPEAKER_00] Content warning. This episode contains discussion of violence, murder, rape, animal abuse, and the killing of cats.

[00:03:30] [SPEAKER_01] Mario Fernandez Saldana was furious.

[00:03:33] [SPEAKER_00] It was mid-April. By this point, detectives had heard from a lot of people about him.

[00:03:39] [SPEAKER_01] A neighbor who accused him of murdering his pet cat.

[00:03:43] [SPEAKER_00] A friend who said he was capable of plotting Jared's murder.

[00:03:47] [SPEAKER_01] A brother and sister who believed he might be a sexual predator.

[00:03:51] [SPEAKER_00] An ex-girlfriend who said he was a rapist.

[00:03:55] [SPEAKER_01] Investigators knew all of that by the time Fernandez Saldana rang lead detective Christopher Johns on April 15, 2022. But that wasn't why Fernandez Saldana was mad. He told Detective Johns he wanted to talk again. The lead detective told Fernandez Saldana to swing by the Jacksonville Beach police station, and he did. They headed into the soft room with Detective Jason Lamont for an audio and visually recorded talk. Fernandez Saldana told them why he was so angry.

[00:04:26] [SPEAKER_01] My name is Anya Kane. I'm a journalist.

[00:04:29] [SPEAKER_00] And I'm Kevin Greenlee. I'm an attorney. And this is The Murder Sheet. We're a true crime podcast focused on original reporting, interviews, and deep dives into murder cases. We're The Murder Sheet.

[00:04:41] [SPEAKER_01] And this is The Murder of Jared Bridegan, Part 7, Tired.

[00:05:31] [SPEAKER_00] Fernandez Saldana was mad about the media firestorm around Jared Bridegan's case. And he blamed Kirsten Bridegan, Jared's widow, who had just lost her husband in a brutal nighttime ambush murder, while her two-year-old daughter looked on in the SUV.

[00:05:50] [SPEAKER_01] In Fernandez Saldana's view, Kirsten was responsible for the backlash he and his wife, Jared's ex-wife, Shanna Gardner, were experiencing. It was all because Kirsten was talking to the media. It's not clear exactly from the report what the backlash entailed or how Kirsten was responsible for it exactly.

[00:06:09] [SPEAKER_00] But Fernandez Saldana was certain she was behind it. He and Gardner had been responsible, trying to maintain a respectful and amicable relationship for the sake of the twins. But now, that was all over.

[00:06:23] [SPEAKER_01] After all, the twins were suffering from the constant media attention, too. There was so much information online that hurt them. And they weren't the only ones hurting. So was the rest of the family. Finally, online commenters were targeting Stampin' Up, the crafts-oriented multi-level marketing scheme owned by Gardner's parents, Sterling and Shelley. Same with Beach Baked 904, Gardner's home bakery business. Their livelihoods were suffering from these attacks from random locals.

[00:06:52] [SPEAKER_01] Heck, people were starting to out and out accuse Gardner of being the murderer. However, that was Kirsten's fault because she was painting a pretty picture, apparently, according to Fernandez Saldana. He said people were saying Gardner was involved in the murder, and that simply wasn't true. He said someone said Jared and Gardner's marriage broke up because she cheated. That wasn't true. Now, as an aside, I mean, Gardner claimed there was no sexual affair, but she herself did mention that there was emotional infidelity on her part.

[00:07:21] [SPEAKER_01] So, I mean, I don't know exactly what Fernandez Saldana felt Kirsten was doing, but frankly, if you ask me, just as a little aside here, Kirsten would have been justified in her suspicions of Fernandez Saldana and Gardner because they were the people actively feuding with her murdered husband at the time of his murder. And also, the police seemed to share those suspicions.

[00:07:43] [SPEAKER_00] Anyway, Fernandez Saldana outright said, quote, He had a big idea. Gardner had kept him on a leash. That was over. He would stick it to Kirsten. Soon. He'd go on Facebook Live and let her have it. Maybe then she would shut up. Oh, and also, he and Gardner were going to get a lawyer.

[00:08:11] [SPEAKER_00] The thing Kirsten didn't seem to get was that Fernandez Saldana and Gardner didn't really have to deal with her anymore. Jared had a say over his own kids. But the twins were not Kirsten's. If Gardner and Fernandez Saldana wanted to cut them off, they would. And frankly, Kirsten was making things so difficult that they were tempted. Parenting with Jared had been impossible.

[00:08:37] [SPEAKER_00] Now, they had a new normal, and they weren't going to put up with anything like this from Kirsten.

[00:08:43] [SPEAKER_01] Fernandez Saldana had appointed, some might say paranoid, question for the detectives. Were they putting Kirsten up to this? Instructing her to get a backlash going against Fernandez Saldana and Gardner?

[00:08:55] [SPEAKER_00] We presume the detectives denied the charge. We do know they told Fernandez Saldana that he had a right to free speech. But detectives Johns and Lamont hoped that he and Kirsten would not tell lies or slander each other. Defamation is not protected under the First Amendment.

[00:09:14] [SPEAKER_01] Fernandez Saldana bristled. Defamation was already going on, at least as far as he said. Kirsten was going around telling everyone Fernandez Saldana and Gardner were guilty of murder. And that Gardner's wealthy parents had financed the whole thing.

[00:09:30] [SPEAKER_00] Detectives had a pointed question of their own from Fernandez Saldana. Were he and Gardner getting a divorce?

[00:09:37] [SPEAKER_01] He confirmed they were. Now, they got along. They loved each other. But they had been struggling for a while. A year back, they started counseling. But it didn't help. Their chemistry was not compatible. Nor were their views on parenting the twins. The custody sharing had really made that so complicated. They'd only even ever wed so that he could help her with the kids without Jared's interference.

[00:10:01] [SPEAKER_00] He couldn't help getting a dig in on Jared. Remember the whole issue with the therapist? Where Jared did not want the kids in therapy? Fernandez Saldana revealed that that had been a bit of a trap. Set by him and Gardner. They had been hoping he would push the issue because they were, quote, just going to shit on him in court so Shanna could gain more time with the kids, end quote.

[00:10:27] [SPEAKER_01] Detectives asked what would have happened if Gardner had gained more control of the kids. Would that have helped her marriage to Fernandez Saldana?

[00:10:34] [SPEAKER_00] Not necessarily, Fernandez Saldana said. Jared would have freaked out and probably sought retaliation. Fernandez Saldana would have paid to see that, him losing his mind. Jared suffering through supervised visits with his twins.

[00:10:51] [SPEAKER_01] Nobody pointed out that now Jared was gone. Co-parenting with him wasn't a real issue anymore. And Fernandez Saldana had made this out to be a big boon for him and Gardner.

[00:11:01] [SPEAKER_00] Detectives Johns and Lamont asked after the kids, how were they handling everything?

[00:11:07] [SPEAKER_01] Confidently. Fernandez Saldana told the investigators that the children were thriving in the wake of their father's murder. Sure, I mean, they were mourning. Not grieving. Mourning. Whatever that means. I don't really understand that distinction. But... And the news stories about the murder still upset them. But not having to move houses made their lives so much better. When it came time for Fernandez Saldana to leave Gardner, they would all do family therapy together to make the transition better for the twins.

[00:11:36] [SPEAKER_01] After all, no one would be around to stop them.

[00:11:39] [SPEAKER_00] Detectives asked Fernandez Saldana to submit a DNA sample. He did. And they swabbed him.

[00:11:46] [SPEAKER_01] And he wasn't the only member of his household to swing by that day. Gardner was apparently asked if she wanted to come in and share anything. So she showed up too. She sat down with detectives Johns and Lamont in the soft room for an audio and video recorded interview.

[00:11:59] [SPEAKER_00] She told them she was mostly there just to give a DNA sample.

[00:12:04] [SPEAKER_01] But she also had something else to tell the detectives. She was scared.

[00:12:08] [SPEAKER_00] This media frenzy raged around her and her family. She felt that put her safety into jeopardy.

[00:12:15] [SPEAKER_01] Now, Gardner didn't want to talk to the media. Not without talking to the police first. She didn't want to hurt the investigation in any way. All she wanted was safety, privacy, protection. Not just for her, but for her twins.

[00:12:29] [SPEAKER_00] Gardner presented herself as a woman torn. Divided between doing the right thing by the investigation and in protecting her children from the firestorm. Because she was beginning to feel like much of the public attention was falling on her. And that was bad for her kids.

[00:12:45] [SPEAKER_01] Detectives asked her how the kids were faring. Gardner said they were in a good place. She allowed the kids to watch some interviews. We assume this refers to media interviews about their father's murder case. But only ones that were appropriate. But there were problems. Jared's oldest daughter, the girl twin, missed her two younger sisters. Gardner was trying. Figuring out some way to get her to spend time with her half-sisters. To set up whatever boundaries were necessary for that. But Kirsten wouldn't have it.

[00:13:15] [SPEAKER_01] She was being difficult. Gardner's view was that the past was the past. They all needed to just move on. But all Kirsten wanted to do, seemingly, was attack Gardner on social media. It is, again, unclear what this refers to. But the backlash wasn't just against Gardner. Angry commentators had also left hateful messages on her mother's blog.

[00:13:37] [SPEAKER_00] Detectives asked her, what was this all about? Her and Fernanda Saldana getting a divorce.

[00:13:42] [SPEAKER_01] Gardner indicated that the dissolution of that relationship had been a long time coming. She and Fernanda Saldana had come to terms with it on a trip to Hawaii. But they had decided to delay things. To wait it out until the summer, when the kids were out of school. So they could complete their term without interruptions. They had a whole timeline in place to make things easier for the kids. As it stood, Fernanda Saldana would be living in the house until around July.

[00:14:06] [SPEAKER_00] But why was this happening, though? Had the drama with Jared eroded Gardner's relationship with her new husband?

[00:14:13] [SPEAKER_01] No. Gardner felt that she and Fernanda Saldana had always been so different. They really saw the potential in one another. But they were in different places. With different parenting styles. And different personalities. The pitbull and the people pleaser.

[00:14:27] [SPEAKER_00] Why did they get married so fast then?

[00:14:30] [SPEAKER_01] For the kids. They were working at the same gym, the Black Hive. They connected. Liked each other. Fernanda Saldana could help out with the kids while Gardner worked. By marrying, he could get around the twins. Otherwise, Jared would have said no. Gardner's own mother, Shelley, had suggested they do so on a trip to Utah. It was a very pragmatic call. Now, the... And now, the decision to get divorced was also practical and mutual. A rational choice. Nothing hateful about it. Nothing dramatic.

[00:14:58] [SPEAKER_00] What did Gardner's parents think of her second divorce?

[00:15:01] [SPEAKER_01] They were understanding. Now, they loved Fernanda Saldana. They had learned their lesson, though, from Gardner's first divorce. Shelley had been pestering her daughter just to make it work with Jared. To stick with him. And then when Gardner hesitated, Jared repaid her by emptying their accounts and playing dirty in the divorce. He even dragged the Gardners into it. And got a lot of money from her family. They hated that. The idea he felt entitled to their success. The fact he had gotten accustomed to an affluent lifestyle.

[00:15:32] [SPEAKER_01] That he was scheming to get part of Gardner's inheritance. Despite signing a prenuptial agreement. Eventually, the Gardners urged their daughter to do whatever she could to get away from Jared. Now, Shelley was ashamed that she had pushed her daughter to remain with him. All that being said, there were really no similar issues with Fernanda Saldana. Gardner didn't even have a trust anymore. And she had tweaked the prenuptial agreement. So it protected her more with him. Her sister had done the same thing for her marriage.

[00:16:00] [SPEAKER_01] It helped that Fernanda Saldana was not the kind of guy who was after her wealth. He had money of his own.

[00:16:06] [SPEAKER_00] That was a lot. How had all that drama with Jared affected Gardner's relationship with her parents?

[00:16:12] [SPEAKER_01] Negatively, Gardner said. Now, they had healed. Things were better now. Her parents cared about her. They told her not to stay with Fernanda Saldana out of money concerns. They would take care of her if they had to. That was nice, albeit unnecessary. But Gardner said her relationship with her parents really would never be what it was before Jared. Shelley and Sterling Gardner did not like Jared. He had hurt their little girl. But she emphasized that they would not have wanted him murdered.

[00:16:39] [SPEAKER_01] They even said they would help support Kirsten, of all people.

[00:16:43] [SPEAKER_00] What did Gardner think happened to Jared?

[00:16:46] [SPEAKER_01] She did not know. She did not think about it that often, frankly. It probably wasn't drugs or anything like that. Her gut told her Kirsten had something to do with it.

[00:16:58] [SPEAKER_00] Gardner then submitted to buckle swaps, as had Fernanda Saldana.

[00:17:02] [SPEAKER_01] So did Kirsten, the woman they were both furious at. The woman Gardner was trying to subtly accuse.

[00:17:09] [SPEAKER_00] On Monday, April 18, 2022, she arrived and submitted to buckle swaps. She also had another piece of evidence for detectives. Jared's Fitbit. Just another item that might lead nowhere. Or that could provide insight or data into the murder victim.

[00:17:27] [SPEAKER_01] Kirsten would be back. Many times. This was her life now. Taking care of two young daughters, a baby and a toddler. Without Jared. And going to the police to help out with the investigation in any way she could.

[00:17:40] [SPEAKER_00] Kirsten had filed in the Seventh Judicial Circuit Court for St. Johns County, Florida, regarding Jared's estate. She declared herself a petitioner with an interest in the estate as the decedent's wife. The law has such a cold way of talking about the loss of a spouse.

[00:17:58] [SPEAKER_01] In the document, she listed herself, her two daughters, and the twins as being beneficiaries of the estate, which she said was in excess of $75,000. She also brought an attorney, Brittany Frazier Keith, to help with the process. She listed the medical examiner who examined Jared as Peter Gillespie, and Jared's time of death as 7.59 p.m. on February 16, 2022. She noted that he was cremated, and that she had put in a notice to his creditors

[00:18:24] [SPEAKER_01] in the Jacksonville Daily Record, a weekly newspaper, as required by law.

[00:18:29] [SPEAKER_00] Death sets off all kinds of legal mechanisms. For instance, on May 16, 2022, Detective Sergeant C. David Young and Detective Johns asked Officer Jared Langlaw to photograph the SUV for insurance purposes. He did so, photographing the shot-up vehicle. That must feel bizarre to anyone who's lost someone to a violent crime.

[00:18:54] [SPEAKER_01] Meanwhile, the record indicates Kirsten was keen to be helpful to detectives. On Monday, May 10, 2022, she brought in two of her latest finds, two external hard drives, an Apple MacBook Pro laptop, and an Apple desktop. She thought all of that belonged to Jared, possibly before she even met him. The day before, at 1 p.m., she'd also been in. That afternoon, Kirsten went in to see Officer Keith Mobley, a property officer at the Jacksonville Beach Police Department.

[00:19:24] [SPEAKER_00] That day, he released to her two items, as per Detective Sergeant C. David Young's instructions, Jared's Apple Watch and his wedding ring.

[00:19:35] [SPEAKER_01] On Thursday, April 21, 2022, Detective Stephen Currier got those three pairs of buckle swabs from the property department and passed them on to Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives Special Agent Mark Mutz. Special Agent Mutz then gave them to the ATF's laboratory for comparison.

[00:19:54] [SPEAKER_00] On the person of interest side, detectives spent a lot of time on John Biggerstaff, a former law enforcement officer who was busted for drug and sex trafficking charges. Last episode, you heard that he had a link to Fernandez-Saldana. Investigators wanted to know more. Detective Sergeant Young looked into the man's phone records.

[00:20:16] [SPEAKER_01] On February 17, 2022, the day after the murder, at around 1.52 p.m., Biggerstaff drove to Naval Station Mayport. Naval Station Mayport is a United States Navy base on San Pablo Island in Jacksonville, Florida.

[00:20:32] [SPEAKER_00] Outdoor Adventures is a gear rental shop targeted toward MWR, or Morale, Welfare, and Recreation. It's on base and lets people rent camping gear, kayaks, paddle boards, and stuff like that.

[00:20:47] [SPEAKER_01] And that's exactly where Biggerstaff had apparently gone. On April 21, 2022, at noon, Detective Sergeant Young decided to check in on that himself. Commander Thomas Crumley went with him. They drove to Outdoor Adventures. There, the investigators talked to Wendy, the manager. Wendy looked up the date for them. She pulled up the receipt. Yes, Biggerstaff had been there. He rented 40 chairs, five tables, one canopy, four canopy sides, and a cooler.

[00:21:14] [SPEAKER_00] On Monday, May 2, 2022, at 9 a.m., Detective Lamont submitted more subpoenas. The targets of those subpoenas?

[00:21:23] [SPEAKER_01] Jared Bridegan, the murder victim.

[00:21:26] [SPEAKER_00] Kirsten Bridigan, his widow.

[00:21:28] [SPEAKER_01] Shanna Gardner, his ex-wife.

[00:21:30] [SPEAKER_00] Mario Fernandez-Saldana, her new husband.

[00:21:32] [SPEAKER_01] And John Biggerstaff, his friend.

[00:21:35] [SPEAKER_00] Meanwhile, remember how we have heard from some folks who were part of the Black Hive crew, the gym in Jacksonville Beach where Gardner and Fernandez-Saldana met?

[00:21:44] [SPEAKER_01] Well, detectives heard from yet another one of them on March 17, 2022. At 6.30 p.m., a woman we'll call M.T. sat down for an interview with the Jacksonville Beach Police Department in Room 89, audio and visually recorded, with Detectives Johns and Lamont.

[00:22:02] [SPEAKER_00] She had known Fernandez-Saldana since 2015, through a mutual friend. At that point, he was not yet dating Gardner. But she would see them together, at the Black Hive CrossFit gym. She knew them, but did not interact with them a lot when she was at the gym. Like S and C, M.T. had seen Gardner at their mutual friend's wedding in Jacksonville Beach on New Year's Day in 2022. Her twins were there, too.

[00:22:31] [SPEAKER_00] Fernandez-Saldana was not there. That seemed odd.

[00:22:35] [SPEAKER_01] Detectives Johns and Lamont wanted to know more about Fernandez-Saldana and what he was like.

[00:22:40] [SPEAKER_00] For M.T., words that came to mind about Fernandez-Saldana were hyper, intense. She would not have him over at her house. She knew all about what he had done to her friend C. We heard about C.'s ordeal with Fernandez-Saldana in our last episode.

[00:22:58] [SPEAKER_01] One thing we've heard a lot about were the clashes between Gardner and Jared. Epic battles over various aspects of the twins' lives and upbringing. For instance, how Jared wanted them in public schools in St. Johns County, where he lived, and how Gardner wanted them at the Discovery School, a Montessori private school right near her home.

[00:23:18] [SPEAKER_00] Well, detectives decided they wanted to hear from some of the educators at the heart of all that. On Thursday, April 7, 2022, detectives Lamont and Currier sat down with Petra Obritsberger, the head of school at the Discovery School. She could tell them more about the relationship between Gardner and Jared. They talked in interview room 89.

[00:23:41] [SPEAKER_01] Obritsberger had recently been to the memorial for Jared, the one held by Gardner since she wasn't welcome at the real funeral. The whole thing struck Obritsberger as rather odd, because Fernanda Saldana wasn't even there, didn't bother to show up as far as she could tell at least. Then again, she noticed that she had heard they were getting divorced. That was all over the place by now. She'd heard that directly from Gardner herself, that Fernanda Saldana would be gone,

[00:24:09] [SPEAKER_01] moved out of the house after the school term ended.

[00:24:12] [SPEAKER_00] But Obritsberger clarified something that turned out to be interesting. She noted that the Discovery School was small, tiny classes with lots of individualized attention from teachers, that fostered a close-knit community where the school strove to really support its students, like extra engagement or counseling. Accordingly, Obritsberger had been told about the pending divorce all the way back in January. So that was not a new thing.

[00:24:41] [SPEAKER_01] Truth be told, Obritsberger hadn't seen much of Gardner and Fernanda Saldana together at all. When she did, they just seemed like a normal couple. And she didn't see any issues between Gardner and Jared either, not firsthand. Really, Gardner was her typical point of contact for the whole family. That was really all she could tell them. And she couldn't help much about the surveillance issue either, because the school's video surveillance system was on the fritz the night of the murders.

[00:25:10] [SPEAKER_01] She said she would double-check all the security cameras, though, just to see if retrieving anything would be possible.

[00:25:16] [SPEAKER_00] Later in the month, on April 27th, 2022, to be exact, detectives sat down with yet another educator, this time Warren Lee John. She sat down in interview room 89 with detectives Johns and Lamont. It is not super clear from the documents, but she may have been involved with some counseling for the children, maybe through the school. Johns had known the children for four years.

[00:25:44] [SPEAKER_00] She could say that they were in therapy more than most students at the Discovery School. She also told the investigators that Gardner also had them seeing a private therapist.

[00:25:53] [SPEAKER_01] In sessions, John said the twins didn't have much to say about the night of the murder of their father, simply that they had a pleasant date night with their dad. But the media attention on the murder was really stressing out the twins, as well as their mother.

[00:26:08] [SPEAKER_00] Detectives wanted to know about what John knew of the relationship between Gardner and her new husband and her late ex-husband.

[00:26:16] [SPEAKER_01] Well, as far as Gardner and Fernanda Saldana were concerned, John knew what everyone else knew already. That whole relationship was coming to an end. Couples therapy hadn't worked. The divorce was imminent. And Gardner had apparently expressed worries to John about that. How would it affect the children? Perhaps even more importantly, how would it affect her custody of the children?

[00:26:40] [SPEAKER_00] As for the situation with Jared, well, John knew it was tense. Jared tended to run a tighter ship with the kids. Be stricter, in other words. The kids were being told to keep journals to record incidents that occurred at Jared's house for the therapist. This may explain why Jared objected to therapy.

[00:27:01] [SPEAKER_01] As far as John could see, both households, Gardner's and Jared's, wanted the kids, wanted full custody. Neither Gardner nor Jared liked or appreciated the other one's parenting style. They would vent about that, too.

[00:27:16] [SPEAKER_00] John had apparently met three of the four parents in this multi-household arrangement. Gardner, Fernanda Saldana, and Jared.

[00:27:25] [SPEAKER_01] Now, Gardner, she was a total overshare. The police themselves may have seen a bit of that in their interviews with her, in fact. So, John thought there was no way she was involved in the murder.

[00:27:36] [SPEAKER_00] Fernanda Saldana was reserved, not super involved in parent-teacher meetings.

[00:27:43] [SPEAKER_01] Jared came across as quiet and maybe a little condescending.

[00:27:47] [SPEAKER_00] On Friday, May 6, 2022, Gardner's best friend arrived at police headquarters at 1030. She came all the way from St. John's, Florida. That's about halfway between St. Augustine, where Jared lived, and Jacksonville. Her name is Kimberly Jensen. She was there to speak with Detective Johns.

[00:28:07] [SPEAKER_01] Ironically, she knew Jared far longer than she knew Gardner, or at least she knew of him and his family for about 20 years. They had gone to the same church, but they were never really friends, more like acquaintances. As a kid, she said Jared was quiet. He had a type when it came to the girls he dated, too. He liked girls whose families were loaded, and he was a total jerk to them, according to Jensen.

[00:28:31] [SPEAKER_00] After he and Gardner got together, Jensen got to know her. They became friends, really good friends. Jensen would go visit them. Whenever she would come over, Jared would not be around. He'd be in the bedroom. There, he would stay until it was time to eat. He would barely interact with the kids. She thought he was just a jerk who only cared about money.

[00:28:56] [SPEAKER_01] Frankly, she felt that that was why Jared got with Gardner. When he tried to start his own app, he used $150,000 from Gardner's trust as seed money, and another $150,000 from Gardner's parents, Shelly and Sterling. Of course, the app flopped. Money down the drain.

[00:29:15] [SPEAKER_00] After the divorce, Jensen took Gardner's side. She was one of the few who stuck with her. Her opinion of Jared did not improve over time. She claimed that when Gardner wanted child support, Jared would up and quit his job. He wouldn't even talk to the mother of his twins. Everything had to be done via text or email. Jensen even felt Jared wrecked Gardner's spiritual life, that she left the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints because she wanted to get away from anything

[00:29:45] [SPEAKER_00] to do with Jared. She felt Jared was a narcissist who relished in trying to control Gardner, even after the end of the marriage.

[00:29:53] [SPEAKER_01] Jensen didn't think Gardner deserved any of that. She was a great mother to her kids. She worked hard, putting herself through three jobs to support her family after her parents stopped giving her money.

[00:30:05] [SPEAKER_00] Detectives asked Jensen if she knew Gardner or Jared were trying to angle for more custody of the twins.

[00:30:11] [SPEAKER_01] Sure, they probably both wanted that, but they were both following the agreed-upon parenting planning arrangement.

[00:30:18] [SPEAKER_00] So, what did she think about Fernanda Saldana, her friend's new man?

[00:30:22] [SPEAKER_01] Well, Jensen had a diplomatic answer. At first, she wondered if her friend needed a man at all at that time. Didn't she want to heal from the divorce and things with Jared? Why go into yet another relationship?

[00:30:35] [SPEAKER_00] And the thing was, for all Jensen had to say about Jared, he at least seemed like a nice guy. She said he wasn't, but he could come across well.

[00:30:44] [SPEAKER_01] Fernanda Saldana couldn't. He didn't seem nice, and he wasn't nice. That was just the reality. He was direct to the point of being rude. Like, she got along with him. Jensen was friendly to him. But he would say stuff questioning why she believed in God or why she went to church. Super personal, argumentative stuff like that. He didn't seem like the marrying kind to her. And she didn't feel he was in love with her friend Gardner, or particularly good for her for that matter.

[00:31:11] [SPEAKER_00] Then again, she wondered if he was just a well-intentioned guy who wasn't good at carrying out those intentions. He was doing things she saw as good, like encouraging the twins to stand up for themselves more with their father. Maybe Gardner felt Fernanda Saldana was everything Jared was not, for good or ill. But there was also another downside to him. She informed detectives that Fernanda Saldana was also super short.

[00:31:39] [SPEAKER_01] Jensen said, you never marry a dude shorter than you. She thought he had Napoleon syndrome, which is a casual, non-scientific term that attributes aggressive behavior to men insecure about their short stature.

[00:31:51] [SPEAKER_00] Did she have a sense of why the couple got married so quickly?

[00:31:55] [SPEAKER_01] It was weird, Jensen acknowledged. Maybe they thought they'd grow the relationship that way. And after all, Jared wouldn't have let Fernanda Saldana around the kids otherwise. So Gardner was kind of forced into giving it the appearance of something stable, something permanent.

[00:32:09] [SPEAKER_00] So how did the custody arrangement affect the twins?

[00:32:13] [SPEAKER_01] In Jensen's view, the kids developed coping mechanisms for switching back and forth. They modified their behavior depending on where they were. She emphasized that Gardner never bad-mouthed Jared in front of the kids. She couldn't say the same about Jared, although it is unclear how she would have known that. She said Jared wanted the twins to hate their mother as much as he did.

[00:32:33] [SPEAKER_00] Notably, detectives pressed her on one issue. Did Fernanda Saldana have any close contacts? Anyone living with him and Gardner in that big home on March Inlet? Well, in Jensen's view, he had a lot of friends floating around, but none stayed very long. He sort of lived like a single guy in that way. But none of his friends stood out to her as being super odd. Jensen sort of backtracked, saying he didn't really hang out with anyone.

[00:33:02] [SPEAKER_00] He was more of a homebody.

[00:33:04] [SPEAKER_01] One time, she said Fernanda Saldana had his brother staying over, but he kicked his own brother out. Why? Because the brother wouldn't make the twins say his name right.

[00:33:14] [SPEAKER_00] Detectives Johns and Lamott asked her what she thought about Jared's murder.

[00:33:18] [SPEAKER_01] Jensen had learned about that the day after, when Gardner called her and said Jared had been shot. Jensen had some theories of her own. She mentioned that Jared loved money. Maybe that was the motive, some money-making scheme that he got wrapped up in. She said he was a Freemason too. Maybe the Freemasons killed him.

[00:33:37] [SPEAKER_00] Interestingly, she also accused the same person of interest cited by her close friend Gardner, Kirsten Gridegan.

[00:33:46] [SPEAKER_01] Jensen's theory was this. Jared didn't really hate Gardner. He was obsessed with his ex-wife. Maybe that ticked Kirsten Bridegan off. Enough to make her want to kill him. And then to top it off, it would set up Kirsten to sue Gardner for a wrongful death lawsuit. The perfect crime. In case it's not apparent all those things that Jensen said are stupid and without evidence, sorry, but Freemasons did it?

[00:34:15] [SPEAKER_01] What century are we in? One thing she forgot to mention also that we now know from pretrial hearings is her BFF was sending her some gruesome texts about Jared, like the following. I'm going to read the parts of Jensen and Kevin will read the part of Gardner in these text messages, which are dated July 17th, 2016, starting at 1.29 p.m. Quote, deep breaths.

[00:34:44] [SPEAKER_01] It's going to be okay. I'll talk to you as soon as you get out. Just breathe. You'll work out all of this frustration at the gym later. He hates him. If not, I know Sue's husband knows people, LOL.

[00:34:59] [SPEAKER_00] Just when I think doing this whole one week off on thing is a good idea, it gives me such great pleasure imagining slitting his throat.

[00:35:16] [SPEAKER_01] Speaking to another friend, Jensen wrote them, quote, Shanna needs a guy, the kind that performs permanent disappearing acts on certain people. Know any magicians? End quote.

[00:35:28] [SPEAKER_00] Detectives Johns and Lamont asked the obvious question. What about Gardner and Fernandez Saldana? Given the bad blood, didn't they have a motive?

[00:35:39] [SPEAKER_01] Jensen didn't see it. While Fernandez Saldana hated Jared, he wouldn't have sacrificed his cushy life in killing him. And Gardner wouldn't stand for Fernandez Saldana putting the kids in harm's way by doing something like that. And again, I just want to note, this woman had been previously texting those things with Gardner, so, I mean, okay.

[00:35:59] [SPEAKER_00] Detectives asked Jensen if Gardner said anything about them after they spoke to her. Jensen said she did call and mentioned that she had met the detectives and gone in to give DNA. That was it.

[00:36:11] [SPEAKER_01] For Detective Johns, Wednesday, May 11, 2022, brought in a parade of relatives, family members of the former couple at the heart of the case.

[00:36:21] [SPEAKER_00] Justin Bridegan, Jared's brother, came in for a buckle swap. Detective Johns did that himself. Then Shelly and Sterling Gardner came in, Gardner's parents. The founders of multi-level marketing scheme Stampin' Up, all the way from Alpine, Utah. They wanted to talk to the detectives themselves. Detectives Johns and Lamott ushered Shelly into the soft room.

[00:36:46] [SPEAKER_01] First, they chatted about the trip from Utah. Oh, and how they bought a home in Jacksonville Beach.

[00:36:51] [SPEAKER_00] Detectives then asked her to tell them about Jared.

[00:36:54] [SPEAKER_01] Shelly said she first met her daughter's then-boyfriend while she was visiting on a business trip. She was, frankly, bewildered by her daughter's choice. Jared was super shy, super quiet, reserved, almost rigid. Her daughter was a free spirit. But then again, she figured perhaps that old chestnut of opposites attract was true. So she dismissed her own concerns and encouraged her daughter and Jared to love and support one another.

[00:37:21] [SPEAKER_00] Detectives Johns and Lamott asked Shelly to describe her daughter's marriage to Jared.

[00:37:25] [SPEAKER_01] Well, Shelly thought Jared was an odd sort, especially after the birth of the twins. He would just be shut away in his room, only coming down to eat. He didn't help much with the babies, only when he had to. He and Gardner would go over to her parents' home for Sunday dinners. The second they were done eating, he would depart. The Gardner family tried to get him to open up, but he just wouldn't. They never really got to know him. He was like a recluse. But Jared also had intense likes and dislikes.

[00:37:54] [SPEAKER_01] He forbid mirrors in the home and even pictures of people's faces. But Gardner always made excuses for him for a long time. So for a while, Shelly didn't realize how bad things were in the marriage.

[00:38:07] [SPEAKER_00] Either way, she soon began to realize. Because Jared was demanding, wanting her daughter to act a certain way, dress a certain way. Now, the Gardners were LDS as well, but Shelly described Jared as the Old Testament type, the kind of man who expected his wife to be subservient to him, the kind who treated women as property. She did not think Jared was ever physically abusive to Gardner,

[00:38:36] [SPEAKER_00] but he would raise his voice at her.

[00:38:39] [SPEAKER_01] I think it's important that we remember that we are hearing this from one side at this point. Obviously, we don't want to shy away from putting out both sides in this podcast, but when we have a murder victim who cannot defend themselves, I think it's important to at least note that. Anyways, Shelly recounted how once she and her husband Sterling went to visit Jared and their daughter. They were at an event in Orlando, and they planned to spend a day or two and Gardner's son got sick, so they all went back

[00:39:08] [SPEAKER_01] to Jacksonville together. At one point, it was just the four of them in the room, the Gardners, their daughter, and their son-in-law. Gardner had recently made an announcement. She wanted a divorce from Jared.

[00:39:21] [SPEAKER_00] Jared got angry. It was as if he forgot Shelly and Sterling were even there. Jared told Gardner, you need to be punished. You get to be married to me.

[00:39:33] [SPEAKER_01] Sterling, Gardner's father, confronted Jared about that, and he backed off, and that was the end of the conversation, the end of the evening. Shelly figured things would get better between Jared and Gardner after the divorce, that maybe they just didn't belong with each other and they could be happier separately and get along co-parenting. But that did not happen. Things actually got worse. Jared stopped communicating verbally. He would only go back and forth with Gardner over text or email. He would never let any of his new girlfriends

[00:40:03] [SPEAKER_01] meet Gardner, the mother of his twins. He told everyone he knew that Gardner had cheated on him and that that was the reason for the divorce.

[00:40:11] [SPEAKER_00] Some judged Gardner for that, but others came up to Shelly to say that they get it now, that Jared perhaps was not the nice guy he pretended to be.

[00:40:22] [SPEAKER_01] Detectives asked Shelly if she felt that Jared didn't want the divorce. She said she didn't understand why he wouldn't, because by the end, it wasn't much of a marriage. But Shelly had another thing to share with detectives. She and her family were suffering from harassment, misleading lies, hateful comments. She had to start actually moderating her blog's comments to ensure nothing bad was slipping through. It seemed to her that people only knew part of the truth, not her family's side of things.

[00:40:48] [SPEAKER_00] Detectives Johns and Lamont wanted to know her truth. Like, were she and the other Gardners upset that Jared got money from them for the house or for his failed app?

[00:41:00] [SPEAKER_01] No, Shelly said there was no contention there, not even after Jared got hundreds of thousands of dollars from her and her husband. They loaned him the app money, never expecting to get it back. That was fine. Then again, there was a consensus that Jared only cared about money and that he got used to a certain lifestyle. That was why he wrangled so much with Gardner in court. He wanted to keep the gravy train running and get more money. But the money wasn't worth any hard feelings as far as Shelly was concerned.

[00:41:29] [SPEAKER_01] She tried to convey that to Gardner too, to just get her daughter to let it go, to take some help from her parents, financially. But she felt her daughter harbored resentment toward Jared about the money.

[00:41:40] [SPEAKER_00] No, it was definitely Jared who cared more about money than anything else. She was convinced they ought to have offered him money in exchange for giving Gardner full custody of the twins. Get rid of that vindictive man with a big payout. It was not like Jared seemed to care for the children. At times, they would come back from his place dirty and underfed.

[00:42:04] [SPEAKER_01] Now, for her part, Shelly said she had barely heard from her former son-in-law since the divorce. He sent her an occasional text telling her to get her daughter under control. As for prenuptial agreements, Shelly knew of no particulars of those. She did have one big regret, though, about that troubled time, around the divorce. Back when the couple was living in Connecticut, Shelly advised her daughter to try to cede Jared's perspective, to treat divorce like the absolute last option, to fight for her marriage.

[00:42:34] [SPEAKER_01] Now, she felt like that had been bad advice.

[00:42:37] [SPEAKER_00] What about Fernandez Saldana? What did she think about him?

[00:42:41] [SPEAKER_01] Well, that relationship had struck Shelly as pretty odd at first. Fernandez Saldana had pursued her daughter, she knew that, but theirs was not the typical marriage. Fernandez Saldana and Gardner were more like good friends. Obviously in love, but not in the obvious, typical way. More like an arrangement of convenience than a typical love story.

[00:43:01] [SPEAKER_00] Detectives asked if she suggested that Gardner married Fernandez Saldana.

[00:43:06] [SPEAKER_01] No, she said, quote, you can't ever tell Shanna what to do. I would say never do this because she would do the opposite, end quote. Then again, she said she had a feeling that they would wed, a mother's intuition. Even though Fernandez Saldana struck her as not wanting the commitment and preferring privacy and keeping to himself.

[00:43:26] [SPEAKER_00] But the Gardners got to know Fernandez Saldana. And you know what? They liked him. Far better than they liked Jared. Fernandez Saldana actually seemed like a good man to them and good for Gardner. He balanced her out and brought her structure. Fernandez Saldana was Johnny on the spot as far as helping out around the house and with the twins. Sure, he was a bit strict, but that might be a good thing for the twins and for a free spirit like Gardner.

[00:43:56] [SPEAKER_01] Even though she knew the marriage was ending, Shelly said she'd always like Fernandez Saldana. She felt he and her daughter would both move on all right and remain dear friends. At least, that's what her daughter thought too. Then again, Shelly noted that her daughter was rather trusting and good-hearted by nature. She did not know who had pushed for that divorce. She confessed to detectives that she saw the divorce as yet another loss for the family.

[00:44:20] [SPEAKER_00] When it came to Jared's death, Shelly admitted the family was unsure of what direction to move in. The detectives asked who would have wanted to kill him.

[00:44:31] [SPEAKER_01] Shelly said she didn't know. He didn't have a lot of friends. She was unsure if he had enemies. She added, I don't like him, but I wouldn't want this for him. End quote.

[00:44:40] [SPEAKER_00] One thing she knew, her daughter had nothing to do with it. She was sick of the media ripping on her daughter, saying she did it, saying the Gardners paid for it with her MLM money. She was sick of all the comments on forums and of the press for depicting Jared like this upstanding man. That was not the person she knew. She did have one fragment of a theory. How had Jared paid off his house? He never had money.

[00:45:10] [SPEAKER_00] Maybe he was up to something sinister. He was a liar after all. Passing work off as his own in school that he didn't actually complete.

[00:45:19] [SPEAKER_01] Detectives asked her if she had similar concerns about her current son-in-law's criminal past. It is unclear to me what they meant by that because I did not see much about Fernandez Saldana having a criminal past. But anyways, Shelly said she was a trusting and forgiving person by nature, but she confessed that maybe she did not know as much about it as she thought she did.

[00:45:42] [SPEAKER_00] Next up was Sterling. He filed into the soft room after his wife. He told detectives Johns and Lamont about his daughter's first date with Jared, the one that went so badly. She did not like him at first. He called her a dog. Later on, Sterling learned that meant he thought she was good-looking. Now, I've never heard that slang term and have only understood it to be an insult.

[00:46:08] [SPEAKER_01] The next thing Sterling knew, his daughter was getting married to this guy she didn't even seem to like at first. They moved out to Utah. Sterling didn't get to know his son-in-law very well, though. The guy didn't talk. When Sterling would ask him questions, his daughter would answer instead.

[00:46:24] [SPEAKER_00] Detectives asked him about the money, the stipends for Jared and Gardner. Sure, Sterling said they had trust for all of their sons-in-law. To be clear, the Gardners have five daughters. Megan, born to Sterling in a previous marriage. Sarah, the current CEO of Stampin' Up, then Shelley, Sage, and Shanna. The idea behind the trust was to help son-in-laws not have to deal with the expenses around living or education.

[00:46:53] [SPEAKER_01] Sterling gave the impression he didn't view Jared as a very upstanding guy. He repeated Shelley's claim about cheating in school and Jared's isolation and sneaking out of family dinners. Sterling would swing by their house to help with some home improvement projects, and Jared wouldn't even come out of his office to say thanks. He once went over to shovel snow from Jared's driveway and porch and said Jared couldn't be bothered to even go out and help his father-in-law. All Jared seemed to care about as far as Sterling was concerned was money.

[00:47:24] [SPEAKER_00] Jared was the kind of guy who would go with the family to Cabo in Mexico and stay in his hotel room the entire time. Only once did Jared open up slightly to Sterling. They were at dinner. Sterling asked his son-in-law about a ring he was wearing. Jared proceeded to talk his ear off for 20 minutes, talking about how he was in the Freemasons. It was a Freemasons ring.

[00:47:49] [SPEAKER_01] He repeated the story Shelley told about Jared's comments to Gardner about being punished. In Sterling's view, Jared was belligerent, motivated, but money obsessed, set on making his daughter's life totally miserable just because he was vindictive. But then again, while Jared could be fiery during the divorce, Sterling conceded that Gardner could be as well. In total, Sterling said he paid $400,000 to buy out Jared's half of the marital home. Then Jared tried to sue them. It was like he couldn't

[00:48:18] [SPEAKER_01] let go of being rich or connected to his wife's rich parents. Sterling hated that Jared would continue to needle and control Gardner with disputes over child support and education. According to him, during the mediation phase of the divorce, the mediator offered Gardner full custody in exchange for payment. He also clarified that in addition to trusts, he maintained life insurance policies on all his sons-in-law for $100,000, but Jared's had lapsed the previous year.

[00:48:47] [SPEAKER_00] Now that Jared was dead, Sterling revealed he and Shelly had tried to go visit Kirsten and take her a care package. They brought the twins seemingly. They were en route when she got in touch and asked them not to come. They begged to be allowed to stop by briefly, so Shelly and Sterling remained in their truck while the kids all played in the yard.

[00:49:10] [SPEAKER_01] Kirsten's mother came by and they exchanged a few words. At some point, Kirsten requested that they not speak to the media. They agreed to that and continued to be silent. So that was where Sterling stood with Jared and Kirsten. Detectives wanted to know what he thought of his new son-in-law though, Fernanda Saldana.

[00:49:27] [SPEAKER_00] He's an interesting guy, Sterling said. He's more talk than anything else.

[00:49:32] [SPEAKER_01] What did that mean? Well,

[00:49:34] [SPEAKER_00] he was a military type with an answer for everything. Raised strict, unlike Gardner. Strong personality, just like Gardner. But good with Gardner and the kids. And of course, Gardner always had the last word on her twins.

[00:49:48] [SPEAKER_01] What about the people who stayed over from time to time with Gardner and Fernanda Saldana?

[00:49:54] [SPEAKER_00] Sterling shrugged that off. They were just folks Fernanda Saldana was helping after all.

[00:49:59] [SPEAKER_01] From there, it was time for Detective Johns to take a crack at some of the digital evidence he had helped from the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office Digital Forensics Unit. He checked out Jared's Apple desktop, Apple MacBook Pro, and two external hard drives and sent them to JSO.

[00:50:14] [SPEAKER_00] He then revisited another witness, Brent Parrish, the owner of Black Hive Gym. He'd been talked to briefly in March. Now, he got more into depth. Detective Courier was there too.

[00:50:28] [SPEAKER_01] Parrish said he met his old employee Fernanda Saldana through another employee, a guy named Hector. Hector and Fernanda Saldana weren't really friends, but that was the connection. And from there, Fernanda Saldana was hired to do maintenance at the gym.

[00:50:43] [SPEAKER_00] Detectives asked him about a specific name, someone Fernanda Saldana was supposedly friends with. Didn't ring a bell. Then again, Parrish owned a roofing company on top of the gym, so he simply did not remember all his workers. He rang up his bookkeeper to ask about the name. The bookkeeper said yes and gave over that guy's phone number and last known address.

[00:51:07] [SPEAKER_01] Fernanda Saldana would Parrish as a hard-working guy. He also held down a job in a Miami security firm, some kind of private security outfit dealing with rich people flying into the city.

[00:51:22] [SPEAKER_00] At the Black Hive, Fernanda Saldana met Gardner. They were both working at the gym at the time. After that, they stopped coming around the gym altogether.

[00:51:32] [SPEAKER_01] Parrish confessed that he didn't even make any sort of connection between his former employee and the murder until he was working out with his friend Jacob at the gym recently.

[00:51:41] [SPEAKER_00] Parish was taken aback at that moment. Detectives asked him if he found it odd a guy juggling several jobs could afford a Porsche.

[00:51:52] [SPEAKER_01] Not really, Parrish said. Fernanda Saldana had made a big deal about getting disability from the military. He was trying to get that up to 100% disability. That meant Fernanda Saldana had to be a bit careful about working for anyone. But he still had an angle, trying to make Gardner his caretaker so she could get money from the military too.

[00:52:11] [SPEAKER_00] So detectives again had an obvious follow-up. Was the marriage real? Did it seem real to Parrish or more like a business relationship?

[00:52:22] [SPEAKER_01] Parrish said he felt it was legitimate just from what he saw, but he wouldn't really know. His last communication with Fernanda Saldana had been all the way back in August 2021 via text.

[00:52:32] [SPEAKER_00] That same day, Detective Johns noted that Capital One, Regions Bank, ViStar Credit O. and Navy FCU were served with subpoenas for John Biggerstaff, Fernanda Saldana's criminal friend. Capital One could not find any records. He got something from Regions Bank On

[00:52:52] [SPEAKER_01] Thursday, May 19, 2022, Google gave Detective Johns the search history and Chrome activity for Biggerstaff. Detective Johns saw that he searched for a 10mm Glock pistol and a 9mm Smith & Wesson pistol on January 26, 2022, at a quarter past one in the morning. Remember, Jared was murdered with a 10mm firearm. From there, Detective Johns noted that Biggerstaff jumped onto Guns.com

[00:53:22] [SPEAKER_01] and looked at a Glock 20 Gen 4, which was again a 10mm pistol. Detective Johns sent a subpoena to Guns.com. He wanted to know more about why a convicted criminal was searching for firearms that he was not allowed to possess.

[00:53:39] [SPEAKER_00] Detective Johns had to look at a whole lot more than just guns. And what he got back as far as digital evidence for Biggerstaff he got an eyeful. He

[00:54:01] [SPEAKER_01] also went to court programs of North Florida LLC for a man named Michael Swapsey, a name that's come up before in this case. Apparently Swapsey wore a court-ordered ankle monitor. Detective Johns wanted GPS information for that.

[00:54:17] [SPEAKER_00] On June 16, 2022, a parlor owner came forward with a disturbing story. He went to the Jacksonville Beach Police bright and early at 8. 5 a.m. and went to talk with detectives Johns and Lamont in interview room 89.

[00:54:33] [SPEAKER_01] His name was Brad Bird, probably not the director. He knew Gardner though. She went to his tattoo parlor to get tattoos and he had a great recall of specific dates because all their appointments at his Jacksonville Beach tattoo parlor were documented through paperwork at the parlor.

[00:54:49] [SPEAKER_00] Bird had lived in Utah years ago so he could relate to Gardner because she grew up LDS. Her story stuck out to him. He described it as the downfall of a Mormon girl. They got to know each other pretty well. She knew his employees too. Bird was there when Gardner first began to drink alcohol.

[00:55:08] [SPEAKER_01] After one tattoo session Gardner invited the parlor employees out for drinks. Back then she was always talking way too much about her divorce more than anyone frankly wanted to up drinking buddies that her life would be so much easier if only someone would help her if only someone would shut Jared up.

[00:55:39] [SPEAKER_01] Gardner scrutinized the group. Did any of them know somebody who shuts people up? She was totally emotionless as she spoke.

[00:55:48] [SPEAKER_00] Bird did not take it too seriously at the time. He fell out of contact with her in August 2015 since shortly after that incident really. When the murder happened Bird did not know much about the details but when he saw an article about the case he recognized a picture of Gardner. The article talked about her being accused of placing cameras in her home. He said that was something she would talk about at the tattoo place.

[00:56:14] [SPEAKER_01] On June 28, 2022, Detectives Johns Lamont went and met with Duval County Assistant State's Attorney Christina Stifler at the Fourth Circuit State Attorney's office. ASA Stifler had someone they needed to talk to. Someone who had previously anonymously sent in some statements through an ATF special agent who was her family friend. This woman was now coming forward. We will call her E.

[00:56:37] [SPEAKER_00] E. and Gardner worked together at a school in 2015, formed a woman. A nude woman. Oh, and she had also walked in on him getting erotic massages.

[00:57:01] [SPEAKER_01] Gardner told E. she only married Fernanda Saldana because it would look good in court for her custody dispute. Plus being married would allow her to get more money from her parents. That was not all. When their families went out to dinner together, E. and Fernanda Saldana got

[00:57:22] [SPEAKER_00] One

[00:57:24] [SPEAKER_01] day at the school, Gardner told E. that Fernanda Saldana made a special offer to her. He would get four guys in the middle of the night, they would break into a home, Jared's home, and take care of him. Nobody would ever know.

[00:57:43] [SPEAKER_00] On July 7, 2022, detectives made an odd discovery. One of their top suspects in the murder of Jared Breidegan, Mario Fernandez had fled, only they hadn't realized it because he came back.

[00:57:59] [SPEAKER_01] They found that out while going through search warrants and subpoenas. That paperwork allowed them to piece together his movements.

[00:58:06] [SPEAKER_00] Fernandez Saldana had left Florida on an unexplained trip, gone to Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, then drove straight over to Pennsylvania and spent a little over a day there, then returned to Florida. That took him from March 2nd, 2022, to March 6th, 2022.

[00:58:25] [SPEAKER_01] Notably, Detective Johns realized that his departure came the day after his first interview with him and Detective Lamont.

[00:58:32] [SPEAKER_00] Here is where Fernandez Saldana went.

[00:58:35] [SPEAKER_01] On March 2nd, 2022, he was in Brunswick, Georgia.

[00:58:39] [SPEAKER_00] On March 3rd, 2022, he was in an in-market store in Pooler, Georgia, then Florence, South Carolina, and finally Clinton, North Carolina.

[00:58:49] [SPEAKER_01] On March 4th, 2022, he was in a Wawa in Shesterfield, Virginia, then a Shell Oil in Fredericksburg, Virginia, then

[00:59:02] [SPEAKER_00] a pilot in Morgantown, West Virginia.

[00:59:04] [SPEAKER_01] On March 6th, 2022, he was in a 7-11 in Columbia, South Carolina.

[00:59:09] [SPEAKER_00] A Crime Stoppers tip had already come in about a truck in Gaffney, South Carolina, one that looked like the vehicle of interest in Jared's murder. Could Fernandez Saldana have gone north to hide that vehicle?

[00:59:22] [SPEAKER_01] Detective Johns and Detective Brett Burrell decided to find out themselves. They went to South Carolina, went to the End Market gas station on United States Route 80 in Pooler, Georgia, talked to the manager, Carissa. They found the storage for the surveillance system was full. They didn't get any video from that.

[00:59:41] [SPEAKER_00] They got in touch with the Gaffney Police Department and the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office, and the detectives figured out that the sheriff's office was keeping the truck at Bonnie's auto sales. Detectives Johns and Burrell arrived there, but there were no employees present. They could see a blue Ford F-150, except it did not have a toolbox. It looked so much like their suspect vehicle, but they could not get to it. They tried calling the auto shop's owner, Derek.

[01:00:10] [SPEAKER_00] They left a bunch of messages. Finally, Derek showed up and showed them documentation that the truck had been bought at an insurance auction in Greenville, South Carolina The

[01:00:36] [SPEAKER_01] Detectives continued their investigative road trip, though. At 7 p.m., they arrived in Clinton, North Carolina. While there, Fernandez Saldana went to Walmart, McDonald's, and Ruby Tuesdays.

[01:00:48] [SPEAKER_00] They talked to loss prevention representative Douglas Hearns, presumably at Walmart. He pulled a receipt of Fernandez Saldana's purchase, but there was a problem. The store's video storage system had an error that accidentally corrupted a lot of the cameras. They did manage to scrounge video of Fernandez Saldana buying body wash and other toiletries. Hearns tried to get the detectives footage from the Walmart in Tarentum, Pennsylvania, too, but found it was no

[01:01:18] [SPEAKER_00] longer available.

[01:01:19] [SPEAKER_01] The two detectives worked late that night. At 8. 15 p.m., they went to the Murphy's gas station on the property of the Walmart in Clinton. That is where Fernandez Saldana bought fuel, but they had no video left either.

[01:01:33] [SPEAKER_00] Remember, this is why investigators treat surveillance footage as somewhat ephemeral. Wait too long to get it and is often gone.

[01:01:41] [SPEAKER_01] At 8. 30 p.m., the investigators went to the Ruby Tuesdays in Clinton, not to enjoy a meal there to investigate. Caleb, the manager, pulled Fernandez Saldana's receipts. He apparently purchased three different meals there for a total of $74.54.

[01:01:59] [SPEAKER_00] Bright and early the next morning at 8.30 a.m., Detectives Burrell and Johns got in touch with Lieutenant Robbie King of the Clinton Police Department. Clinton is the county seat of Sampson County in the middle of the state. It's got a little over 8,000 people. He assigned one of his investigators, Detective Nomi Seabert to help the out-of-town Florida guys. It was Wednesday, July 8, 2022.

[01:02:24] [SPEAKER_01] Detective Seabert took a look at the spots in town where Fernandez Saldana's phone was active. She noted there was a high-traffic Tropicana supermarket in the general vicinity of that. They contacted the managers there, but no footage was available. None of the employees there recognized a photograph of County Sheriff's Office. They had just one more idea. Fernandez Saldana had a contact in North Carolina,

[01:02:54] [SPEAKER_01] Jorge Cruz. Turns out Cruz had a Clinton connection of his own. A guy named Angel Gerardo Raffalo Amador. He was supposed to live on a place called Turkey Highway in Clinton.

[01:03:06] [SPEAKER_00] Detectives arrived. The place was a dump. In disrepair, they said diplomatically in their report, Amador's vehicle appeared to be in the driveway. The sheriff's office swooped in and checked nearby properties for him. They could hear and see residents inside, but no one would speak to the detectives.

[01:03:25] [SPEAKER_01] The Turkey Highway residents are reclusive people, apparently. Next, it was time to check in on Cruz. He lived in Bula of North Carolina, about a 45-minute drive to the east of Clinton. The Duplin County Sheriff's Office helped the detectives find him. They headed to his residence.

[01:03:41] [SPEAKER_00] Cruz opened the solid front door of his home, but that was as far as he went. He refused to open the glass door of his home for the police. For that reason, they did not record it. He seemed agitated, nervous. He only spoke to them through the glass. The interaction was fleeting.

[01:04:00] [SPEAKER_01] First of all, Cruz said something untrue. He denied even knowing Fernandez Saldana. Detectives pressed him. They knew he was calling Fernandez Saldana. He denied that. They showed him a picture of Fernandez Saldana. Cruz clarified that he just knew him as Mario Fernandez. He met the guy online through video games and he didn't really remember when. Fernandez Saldana had actually helped him purchase his vehicle, a white 2008 Toyota Tundra, somewhere either in South Georgia or North

[01:04:29] [SPEAKER_01] Florida.

[01:04:30] [SPEAKER_00] Detectives Johns and Burrell asked Cruz about Fernandez Saldana's abrupt March visit. Cruz said he did not see him then because he had to work. What about the phone records that showed Cruz and Fernandez Saldana talking on March 3rd, 2022? Cruz said that wasn't important. Why, he didn't even remember what they talked about. So why exactly was Fernandez Saldana even in Clinton? Cruz said something that I don't really understand, that Fernandez Saldana left town

[01:05:00] [SPEAKER_00] to do a send-off for Jared's children because their family had not been invited to his funeral. Again, not sure what that really means.

[01:05:08] [SPEAKER_01] The investigators pressed Cruz. did he know anything else about the murder of Jared Bridegan? Cruz said he heard something. Fernandez Saldana and he had been playing video games online. He overheard Fernandez Saldana and Gardner talking. They were talking about how the police had come to the home to talk about Gardner's ex's murder. Cruz didn't remember when exactly that was though. Maybe a day after the murder? Maybe a week? According to Cruz, he didn't have the kind of relationship with Fernandez

[01:05:38] [SPEAKER_01] Saldana where he was hearing about all the drama with Jared. They pretty much played video games together and shared memes. He said he didn't know anything else about the murders. It

[01:05:48] [SPEAKER_00] was time to move on to the next stop in North Carolina, Cumberland County, Fayetteville. The Cumberland County Sheriff's office helped the detectives track down another witness, a woman named Taylor. Detectives drove to her residence and recorded their talk with a mobile iRecord device.

[01:06:07] [SPEAKER_01] Taylor explained that she and Fernandez Saldana met when she was in the Reserve Officers Training Corps or ROTC. She was attending Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, but the way ROTC works there is that it actually goes through Vanderbilt University. Anyways, Taylor and Fernandez Saldana dated briefly in college, but remained friends afterwards, or at least they still talked. We have heard a bit about Fernandez Saldana's military background. Taylor thought that he left because he was kicked out, but she was not certain.

[01:06:36] [SPEAKER_00] According to Taylor, Fernandez Saldana was funny, interesting, good at seeming more educated than he actually was. I don't want to say manipulative, she said in describing him, but the implication was clear. Frankly, she thought he was a bit of a narcissist. He thought very highly of himself. He was not a violent guy, though. She had never seen him lose his cool and get aggressive or violent in public, just brash. That was probably because

[01:07:06] [SPEAKER_00] he had once literally been a drill sergeant.

[01:07:09] [SPEAKER_01] Taylor said said she typically communicated with her friend via text and phone and had last spoken with Fernandez Saldana in March. And before that, in 2021, she reached out to him about dealing with her stepchild. Fernandez Saldana was strict and she respected his experience in dealing with such things.

[01:07:27] [SPEAKER_00] Detectives wanted to know if Taylor knew anything about Fernandez Saldana's issues with Jared Bright again. Oh yes, Taylor knew that was tough, not easy, lots of arguing and fighting, at least as far as Fernandez Saldana described it. So many issues around the health of the twins and other parenting disagreements. As far as Taylor was concerned, Jared sounded like a frustrating piece of work.

[01:07:54] [SPEAKER_01] So what was this weird trip to North Carolina all about? Did she know?

[01:07:59] [SPEAKER_00] No, she didn't contact her and she couldn't figure out who else he'd be going up there to meet. Maybe a guy named Pedro? She didn't know his full name but gave detectives his Instagram handle.

[01:08:14] [SPEAKER_01] What exactly did Taylor know about Fernandez Saldana's relationship with Gardner?

[01:08:19] [SPEAKER_00] Well, it was pretty much over for one. Fernandez Saldana kept saying it had run its course and implied the divorce was his idea because he'd done his time. And the whole thing was pretty transactional. Fernandez Saldana claimed to Taylor that he had worked out a contract with Gardner's family to marry her. He brought that up in early 2021, although he wouldn't explain exactly what that contract entailed in detail. Frankly, Taylor kind

[01:08:49] [SPEAKER_00] of got the impression he was feeling her out to see if she wanted to embark on a relationship with him once again.

[01:08:55] [SPEAKER_01] So did Taylor know anything about the murder of Jared Bridegan? Well,

[01:08:59] [SPEAKER_00] she certainly did not think Fernandez Saldana had done the crime. He talked a big game, but that was it. He was all bluster. He didn't really follow through. He didn't act on things. And she had never heard him threaten Jared, despite all his complaints about the guy. All in all, Taylor didn't know much about the killing. She did not even remember exactly when it happened. But the day after the murder, Fernandez Saldana called her. That was kind of random, him calling her about

[01:09:29] [SPEAKER_00] that. He described it as a hit and run, and he told her he knew who did it. But he did not say more. So, the investigative road trip turned up a few items of interest, but nothing earth-shattering. That would come a little later, on a day in July. We've mentioned the name of Jeremy Ordway. Detectives had pulled records around him. We told you in episode 6 that you would hear more about him. Well,

[01:09:59] [SPEAKER_00] now's the time for that. You see, Jeremy Ordway had a connection to Fernandez Saldana. You know how Fernandez Saldana seemed to be doing pretty well financially? Well, like many people in that position, he owned a rental property in Jacksonville, and this was through his limited liability company, First Choice Home Rentals LLC. An LLC he had actually set up with Gardner. Ordway rented that house.

[01:10:30] [SPEAKER_01] On Monday, July 19, 2022, Detective Burrell and Detective Lamont arrived on Potomac Avenue in Jacksonville. They went to the house that Fernandez Saldana owned. They wanted to talk with Ordway. Frankly, they needed to talk with everyone with a connection to Fernandez Saldana.

[01:10:47] [SPEAKER_00] The investigators must have felt a little disappointed upon arriving. Outside, they found no blue truck, only an older model, red Toyota with Florida plates.

[01:10:59] [SPEAKER_01] Ordway stepped outside of his rental home. He said he'd be good talking with the detectives outside. They stood around in front of the little off-white ranch with a dark roof and a yard doubly hemmed in with a wooden fence and a chain-link fence around that. The detectives had an audio recorder running and they told Ordway of that. They told him they were investigating the case of Jared Bridegan and the people connected to Fernandez Saldana.

[01:11:22] [SPEAKER_00] Detective Lamont interviewed Ordway near the home's front door. Detective Burrell stood nearby in the driveway listening in.

[01:11:30] [SPEAKER_01] Ordway explained that he had moved into the residence in February. Previously, he had lived at the house next door for two and a half years. And through that, he got to know Fernandez Saldana, the landlord for the guy next door, a guy named Henry Tenen. Tenen had lived in that place for many years and apparently he had a bunch of issues with the police.

[01:11:48] [SPEAKER_00] So, when Ordway had to leave his residence, he reached out to Fernandez Saldana to see if the rental property next door was free. It was. Ordway moved in. He didn't have anyone else living there with him aside from friends who stayed over occasionally. Ordway said he did his own repairs around the house to supplement his rent payments. He did not see or talk to Fernandez Saldana much, only to pay the rent.

[01:12:16] [SPEAKER_01] Now, detectives knew that was a lie. Phone records showed Fernandez Saldana and Ordway were in touch a lot at some pretty crucial moments in this investigation. Still, Ordway claimed they were not friends. His landlord didn't get personal with him, only talked to him about the rent. And whenever Ordway needed building supplies for the home, that was it. Five minutes into the talk with Ordway, Detectives Lamont and Burrell heard something. Detective Burrell watched as a white, older model,

[01:12:45] [SPEAKER_01] four-door Ford Crown Victoria with Florida plates backed up into the driveway right in front of them. A man got out. Ordway greeted him as Henry. It was Tenen.

[01:13:00] [SPEAKER_00] Detective Burrell watched Tenen. He was an older Black man. He walked to the trunk of his vehicle, got out a metal bowl, filled that up with water, and went over to the corner of the home and set it down.

[01:13:14] [SPEAKER_01] Detective Burrell saw something. Something leaned up against the corner of the house. Something rather notable. And we'll get more into that later. In the meantime, he chatted with Tenen about random things, kept him talking because he figured Detective Lamont would definitely want to talk with him.

[01:13:32] [SPEAKER_00] Detective Lamont finished up with Ordway. He asked Tenen to talk with them next. Apparently, he was either living there or right nearby on Potomac Avenue. Detectives Lamont and Burrell asked Tenen about his landlord. Tenen said he had known Fernandez-Saudanio for years. The guy was not violent or aggressive as far as he knew, just always in a big rush.

[01:13:54] [SPEAKER_01] He said he had been the only tenant, again, despite Ordway's presence. It's not really clear for me from these documents if they were living together at this time or if Tenen had moved into another Potomac Avenue residence. We may have missed something, so that may be my bad. Either way, Tenen said he first came to the rental property because a woman there rented her room to him. He paid in cash directly to Fernandez-Saudanio. Sometimes a woman came with his landlord, but he didn't really know her name. Fernandez-Saudanio

[01:14:24] [SPEAKER_01] didn't come by much, though, just for rent or when there was a problem with the house. The maintenance guy was a guy named John, Joseph, something like that. No, it was John, a chunky, bald, white guy with a mustache and a bum knee, drove a Chevrolet Sierra. He'd been by a total of three times.

[01:14:42] [SPEAKER_00] According to Tenen, he was no longer in communication with Fernandez-Saudanio. He'd last spoken with him in May. That was when Tenen briefly swung by to visit Ordway and saw Fernandez-Saudanio briefly then. It is unclear from the report whether or not Tenen admitted to still living there or if he acted like he was just visiting his pal Ordway.

[01:15:05] [SPEAKER_01] When the conversation was done, Detective Burrell's eyes turned back to the corner of the home and the dark shape leaning there. It was a BF Goodrich tire. Specifically, a BF Goodrich Advantage TA Sport LT size 265 slash 60R18, exactly like the one that had stopped Jared in that lonely intersection back in February. It was just propped up there out in the open. There was no truck

[01:15:35] [SPEAKER_01] in the driveway and no tires anywhere else. Detective Burrell casually asked Ordway about it. Ordway didn't know much about it. He just found it in front of the house by the grassy curb one day. He didn't explain when. Detective Burrell asked Ordway if he wanted to keep the tire or if he wanted the investigators to get rid of it for him.

[01:15:54] [SPEAKER_00] What a kind offer. Ordway said the investigators could definitely take the thing for him.

[01:16:00] [SPEAKER_01] The detectives were more than happy to do that.

[01:16:04] [SPEAKER_00] Thanks so much for listening to the Murder Sheet. If you have a tip concerning one of the cases we cover, please email us at murdersheet at gmail dot com. If you have actionable information about an unsolved crime, please report it to the appropriate authorities.

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[01:16:49] [SPEAKER_00] Special thanks to Kevin Tyler Greenlee, who composed the music for the Murder Sheet and who you can find on the web at kevintg.com.

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