BENTON COUNTY, Wash. – A Jacksonville Beach woman accused of orchestrating a murder-for-hire plot to kill her ex-husband is on her way back to Florida from Washington state.
Benton County jail records in Washington show Shanna Gardner, 36, was removed from their facility at 6:30 a.m. ET Friday.
That means Gardner is headed back to Duval County, where she’s charged with first-degree murder in the ambush shooting death of her ex-husband, 33-year-old Jared Bridegan.
After fighting her extradition from Washington to Florida since her arrest in August, Gardner ultimately waived extradition Thursday.
READ: News4JAX coverage of the Jared Bridegan case
For security reasons, when Gardner will arrive back in Jacksonville is not being released. Prosecutors said they will send an update when she’s in Jacksonville and set for her first appearance in Duval County.
Returning Gardner to Jacksonville is a key step in the case, which has essentially been on hold awaiting her extradition.
“The judge wants both co-defendants together. In this case, husband and wife, the judge wants them to be tracking at the same time which is why his case has been in limbo for a while now,” said attorney Gene Nichols, who is not affiliated with the case.
After Gadner’s public defender announced Thursday he would not contest an extradition warrant from the governor of Washington, the judge asked Gardner if she had any questions, and she said, “I do not, your honor, thank you.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis also signed a warrant for Gardner to be extradited to Duval County.
Gardner moved to her parents’ property in West Richland, Washington, with the two children she shared with ex-husband Jared Bridegan months after the murder.
Prosecutors say Gardner played a “key and central role” in the conspiracy to kill Bridegan, who was shot several times at close range on a dark, wooded stretch of road around 8 p.m. Feb. 16, 2022. His then-2-year-old-year-old daughter was in the backseat of his SUV near the Sanctuary neighborhood in south Jacksonville Beach. The toddler was not injured, but her presence prompted felony child abuse charges against the suspects.
Gardner is charged with first-degree murder, solicitation to commit first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and child abuse.
Her husband, 34-year-old Mario Fernandez, who was arrested in March, is facing the same charges. Prosecutors said they will seek the death penalty for both if they are convicted.
Fernandez, who police say paid the triggerman with checks, pleaded not guilty to the charges against him when he was arraigned in July.
Fernandez’s indictment said he plotted the murder within the four months leading to Bridegan’s death, but Gardner’s indictment said she may have been scheming to kill Bridegan as early as May 2015, a few months before their divorce was finalized.
Henry Tenon, who was a tenant at Fernandez’s property, confessed to being the gunman. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for fatally shooting Bridegan and has agreed to testify against the couple.
“Henry Tenon is either the entire cake or is the icing. Presumably, he’s just the icing on the cake. Presumably, the State Attorney’s Office has more evidence other than Henry Tenon,” Nichols said. “If all they have is Henry Tenon, we are going to see a battle royale with the lawyer from the state and defense as to what evidence is actually out there other than Henry Tenon.”
Investigators say phone records revealed more than 70 calls between the men before and after Bridegan’s murder.
“Henry Tenon did not act alone. Mario Fernandez did not plan alone. And Shanna Gardner’s indictment acknowledges her central and key role in the cold, calculated and premeditated murder of Jared Bridegan,” State Attorney Melissa Nelson said when she announced Gardner’s arrest.
The murder received national attention in 2022 when Bridegan was gunned down while trying to move a tire blocking the road on his way home from his ex-wife’s house after dropping off their twins. The shooting took place two miles from Gardner’s home. Police said it was a targeted, cold-blooded attack.
Bridegan’s loved ones declined to comment on the ongoing case after Gardner’s extradition was announced.
Copyright 2023 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.
