A tire in the road, then a father shot dead. Now a man accused of planning it goes on trial
The trial has begun for Mario Fernandez Saldana, who is accused of conspiring with his wife, Shanna Gardner, to murder her ex-husband, Jared Bridegan. Prosecutors allege the victim was lured out of his car by a tire placed in the road as part of a targeted ambush.
Why it matters
This high-profile murder case highlights the complexities of domestic disputes and the legal proceedings surrounding murder-for-hire allegations.
The young Microsoft executive had just dropped off his twins at his ex-wife’s home in Jacksonville Beach on a warm, late-winter Florida evening. Towering live oaks draped with Spanish moss lined the neighborhood, casting long shadows across the pavement as the sun began to set. He started driving home with his 2-year-old daughter in the backseat when he came upon a tire in the middle of the road. He stopped his car and got out to move it. But before he could get back behind the wheel, someone shot him dead in the street and fled. Jared Bridegan, 33, had made the drive from Jacksonville Beach to his home in nearby St. Augustine countless times before.
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