JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (Court TV) — New filings ahead of a murder trial show the confessed hitman at the center of a murder-for-hire plot has threatened to change his testimony.
Jared Bridegan, right, was gunned down Feb. 16, 2022, after taking his two older children to the home of his ex-wife, Shanna Gardner-Fernandez, in Jacksonville, Fla. Gardner-Fernandez, left, is accused of plotting the murder with her second husband and an alleged hitman.
Microsoft executive Jared Bridegan, 33, was shot and killed on Feb. 16, 2022, after getting out of his vehicle to remove a tire from the road. At the time, Bridegan was driving home with his 2-year-old daughter after dropping his 9-year-old twins off with their mother. Investigators determined Bridegan was the victim of a murder-for-hire, which was allegedly masterminded by his ex-wife, Shanna Gardner, and her current husband, Mario Fernandez Saldana.
Henry Tenon, the man who allegedly pulled the trigger, was the first to be arrested; prosecutors said he pleaded guilty and agreed to testify that he was hired by Fernandez to commit the murder. But at a hearing on Jan. 13, 2025, Tenon suddenly changed his story, telling the Court that he had previously given “false testimony” in his sworn statement accusing Fernandez.
MORE | Suspects in Jared Bridegan’s murder fight to get prosecution off case
Mario Fernandez Saldana and Henry Tenon are accused in the murder of Jared Bridegan. (Duval County Sheriff’s Office)
In an interview the next day, January 14, Tenon spoke with prosecutors and told them that, “Tenon said he told the State about Fernandez so that the State would interview Fernandez and learn that Tenon was not guilty. [The prosecutor] told Tenon that it did not make sense for Tenon to confess to a crime he did not commit in order to prove he did not commit the crime.”
After speaking with prosecutors, Tenon admitted that he had told the truth in his sworn statement, but now he was second-guessing his decision to cooperate, believing he would be serving a life sentence either way. He repeatedly denied that anyone was asking him to change his statement or had threatened him; ultimately, Tenon told prosecutors that what he had said in his initial sworn statement, implicating Fernandez, was true.
Fernandez and Gardner face a potential death sentence if they are convicted of murdering Bridegan.
