A tire in the road was bait. The man who funded the ambush will die in prison
A Florida judge sentenced Mario Fernandez Saldana to life plus 30 years for arranging the 2022 roadside murder of Jared Bridegan.
- Development
- 12 November 2026
- Coverage
- Sentencing
- Current status
- Sentence imposed
- Source record
- 4 verified sources
Life plus 30 years for a murder-for-hire plot
Circuit Judge London Kite sentenced Mario Fernandez Saldana to life in Florida State Prison for first-degree murder and a concurrent 30-year term for solicitation to commit a capital felony. A Duval County jury convicted Fernandez Saldana in August of arranging and financing the February 2022 killing of Jared Bridegan. The State Attorney’s Office announced the sentence on November 12. Because prosecutors had withdrawn their request for the death penalty, Florida law required a life sentence on the murder count. The additional term records the separate solicitation conviction rather than extending a sentence that already lasts for life. [1] [2] [3]
A staged obstruction on a dark road
Prosecutors said Bridegan had just dropped off two of his children at the home of his former wife, Shanna Gardner, and was driving away with his two-year-old daughter when he encountered a tire placed in the roadway. He stopped and was shot at close range while the child remained strapped inside his vehicle. The state argued that the tire was deliberately positioned as bait. Trial evidence linked Fernandez Saldana to Henry Tenon, the admitted gunman, through payments, communications and testimony. The jury’s verdict accepted that Fernandez Saldana helped plan the ambush; Gardner still faces a separate prosecution and is presumed innocent. [1] [3] [4]
The admitted gunman became a prosecution witness
Tenon pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and agreed to cooperate. At Fernandez Saldana’s trial, he described receiving money and carrying out the shooting. A cooperating witness has an obvious incentive to assist prosecutors, so the state also presented phone records, financial evidence and testimony about contacts among the defendants. The defense challenged Tenon’s reliability and argued that Fernandez Saldana had not ordered Bridegan’s death. Jurors nevertheless returned guilty verdicts on both counts. Tenon’s sentence and Gardner’s unresolved case remain legally separate from the judgment entered against Fernandez Saldana. [2] [3] [4]
Family members confront the convicted defendant
Bridegan’s relatives addressed the court before sentence was imposed. His widow, Kirsten Bridegan, described the continuing impact on their children and rejected the defense request for leniency on the solicitation count. The judge imposed the statutory life term and the maximum 30 years requested by prosecutors for solicitation. Victim-impact statements are part of sentencing, not new proof of guilt; the jury had already resolved that question after trial. Their role was to describe the harm caused by the crime and inform the court’s exercise of discretion on the count that allowed a sentencing range. [1] [2] [3]
One case ends while another remains pending
The judgment closes the trial-level guilt and sentencing phase for Fernandez Saldana, although post-trial motions and appeals may follow. It does not resolve the prosecution of Gardner, who has pleaded not guilty to charges alleging that she participated in the plot. Reporting should keep the verdicts distinct: Fernandez Saldana has been convicted and sentenced; Gardner has not been tried; Tenon entered a plea and testified. The verified development is the life-plus-30-year sentence entered on November 12, not a final resolution of every allegation arising from Bridegan’s death. [1] [2] [4]
Sources & further reading
- Mario Fernandez Saldana sentenced to life plus 30 years for murder of Jared Bridegan ↗State Attorney’s Office, Fourth Judicial Circuit · 2026-11-12 · Primary source
- Widow speaks as Fernandez Saldana gets life for Bridegan murder ↗Action News Jax · 2026-11-12
- Widow calls Microsoft executive’s killer a yappy little dog ↗Court TV · 2026-11-12
- Man convicted in murder-for-hire killing of Microsoft manager ↗WUSF · 2026-08-26
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