Redacted documents made public earlier this month showed slain Microsoft employee Jared Bridgan and his suspected killer's ex-wife, Shanna Gardner, exchanging contentious emails in 2017 about finances, child psychotherapy and divorce.
Brideghan was shot and killed in front of her car after running into a tire in the middle of a remote road on Feb. 16, 2022. Prosecutors believe it was a trap set by Gardner and her now-husband, Mario Fernandez Saldana. Jacksonville Beach, Florida. Their daughter, who was 2 and a half years old at the time, was in the back seat.
The documents obtained by Fox News Digital through a records request detail several items, including a cellphone, an Apple Watch, multiple laptops and other electronic devices, that police recovered from Gardner's West Richland, Washington, home while executing a warrant in February 2023. Gardner was not arrested until August 2023, six months later.
A child who was in the home at the time of the investigation told police that his mother stored “sensitive” electronic devices in a “bedroom closet” and whispered “upstairs” to the office while pointing to the ceiling, documents state.
Suspect in murder-for-hire case of Microsoft executive wished assailant 'good luck,' witness says
Jared Bridegan (left) was shot and killed in front of his car after running into a tire in the middle of a remote road on Feb. 16, 2022. Prosecutors believe the incident was a trap set by Shanna Gardner (right) and her current husband, Mario Fernandez Saldana, of Jacksonville Beach, Florida. (Handout/Duval County Jail)
The documents also include redacted photographs of heated email exchanges between Mr Bridegan and Mr Gardner between April and May 2017.
In April 2017, Gardner told Bridegan she was sending her children to therapy and was “spirited with living between two homes.” In another email, Gardner accused Bridegan of not prioritizing therapy sessions or providing “financial support for them,” despite agreeing that her two children needed therapy.
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Attorney Jose Baez appears with his client, Shanna Gardner-Fernandez, at the Duval County Courthouse in Jacksonville, Florida, on Friday, Nov. 3, 2023. Gardner-Fernandez is accused of taking part in a plot to kill her ex-husband, Jared Bridegan. (Larry Pasi for Fox News Digital)
Meanwhile, Bridgan said, “I will not pay for anything that you and I have not agreed upon in advance.”
The pair engaged in a fierce email spat, with Gardner telling Bridghan to “move that smug pedestal you have in front of the mirror.” Bridghan told Gardner:[W]”Why are you ashamed of who you are, why are you covering up all your tattoos in court, why aren't you proud of who you are now?” he demanded. He also accused her of mismanaging her money and called her a “fool.”
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Shanna Gardner Fernandez and her husband, Mario Fernandez, were on a family vacation in Hawaii. The now-estranged couple was posted in a photo on the day Fernandez and co-conspirators murdered Jared Bridgan. (So Shelli's blog)
“Oh Satan, be careful. You shouldn't reveal your cards so early. [smiley face]In an email response to Gardner, Ms Bridegan added: “I am astonished that you continue to underestimate me… or did you think no one was around when you were fooling around in the dark on so many nights and in so many places during those months of our divorce… again, best not to give your cards away at this early stage.”
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A screenshot of an email exchange between Jared Bridegan and Shanna Gardner with the subject “Kids' Therapy.” (Dual County)
In May 2017, Mr Bridgan promised his ex-wife that he would “not find happiness in destroying” her family.
“You can't ruin our family.”
“[Redacted] “We can be raised in a Christ-centered home and you cannot interfere with that,” he wrote. “You cannot destroy our family. I know you are living a life without the Holy Ghost, without the priesthood, without the blessings of the temple. Bringing us down will not make us happy and I will not allow you to do so.”
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Shanna Gardner (right) and her husband, Mario Fernandez Saldana (inset), allegedly offered a hit man $150,000 in return for killing Gardner's ex-husband, Microsoft manager Jared Bridgan. (Handout/©Bob Self/The Florida Times Union/USA Today Network)
Fox News Digital has reached out to Gardner's attorney, Jose Baez, and the State Attorney's Office for the Fourth Judicial District for comment.
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Gardner and Fernandez-Saldana are accused of paying Fernandez-Saldana's former tenant and alleged hitman, Henry Tennon, $150,000 to kill Bridegan. Tennon is accused of ambushing and shooting Bridegan to death in Jacksonville Beach on Feb. 16, 2022.
Both Gardner and Fernandez-Saldan have pleaded not guilty in Bridgan's murder, while Tennon has pleaded guilty to pulling the trigger and agreed to testify against the other suspects.
