Shanna Gardner and Jared Bridegan

0:00 Hi, I'm Tina and I'm Rich. And if there's one thing we've learned in over twenty years of marriage, it's that some days you'll feel like killing your wife and some days you'll feel like killing your husband. Welcome to love, Mary Kill, Hey Rich, Hey Tina, How are you? I am fabulous? How are you? You're fabulous. We've had quite a week over here. I love Mary Kills. Two adios. Wait a week. I'm not a great week. No, it's been a rough week. Yeah. Yeah, So about a week ago, I found out really sadly that my best friend passed away, like I have known since I was eleven, twelve years old. Yeah, so it was really sad. I've kept in touch with him over the years and went to his funeral in New Orleans at the end of last week, and it was a it was rough. Yeah, we're both got it. Yeah, you know well and loved him dearly, and yeah, where I can to labor the point we had talked about maybe we owe Kevin a lot. We actually met at his wedding. We did, I think on our next Patrion episode, we were going to talk a little bit about how we met. Our story and Kevin and Cindy and their parts in our relationship, and we're both gonna miss Kevin a lot.

1:22 He was a really special person and someone unlike anyone I've ever known. Absolutely, I wish everyone could know Kevin. I wish everyone could know someone like Kevin, because he was just a lovely, lovely human being. Okay, I think we've gained a lot of new listeners, and you might be wondering why we do a snack. We also don't know why we do a snack. We just do. But I did bring you a snack, and I don't think you're gonna love my snack. But I actually brought you one of my very favorite empty calorie snacks, and it is Chester's Cheese Popcorn. You can find it and pretty much every gas station or a dollar store. Have you even had it before? I don't know. I don't by it often because I have a hard time not eating the whole thing. I like any cheese, like artificially cheese flavored thing. I know it's gross, I just do. But I also brought you a chomps grass fed beef stick. I've been into these lately. They're both ultra processed next very well balanced snack.

2:25 You got your protein. There, you got your carbs. I'm trying to eat more protein and less empty calories, so I keep these actually by my desk, and in the afternoon, when I want like a bowl full of Chester's popcorn, I have a beef stick instead. So anyway, we're gonna take a quick break and you're gonna taste these delicious things I brought you. All right, well, thank you for bringing those delicious gas station type snacks. You're welcome. They were excellent. The chesters were. They were just reminded me of Cheetos. It was so funny because you could not think for cheetos between Cheetos and cheese its, I can't completely but they're sort of like Cheetos, but they're much puffier air. It's like styrit like styrofoam really, but it's really really light and airy and cheesy. And what do you think the beef stick, it was fine. It was just basically generic beef stick.

3:29 I think they're a little I think there's less chemicals in them, so I think they're yeah, okay, not something you would reach for. Probably not what do you reach for? Never mind, I know, I know, all right. Today's case was recommended to us by our good friend Jarna. Jarna is a Patreon member and she is a great member of her community. So thank you so much, Jarna for this recommendation. Today, I'm going to tell you the story of Shana Gardner and Jared Bright again a reminder that the suspects in this case are innocent until proven guilty by a court of law. This case is still making its way through the judicial system. On February sixteenth, twenty twenty two, thirty three year old Jared Bright again was gunned down while his two year old daughter watched in horror from the back seat of their car. Jared took his nine year old twins Abby and Liam to dinner along with his two year old daughter, Bexley. He shared fifty to fifty custody of the twins with his ex wife, Shana Gardner. Wednesday was date night for the non custodial parent. Each week, whether it be Jared or Shanea's week of custody, the other would pick up Abby and Liam for dinner and a fun activity After dinner. On that February night, Jared took the children for ice cream. Jared's that's a nice thing to do. Isn't it. Yeah, the way you get to see your kid halfway during the week for sure. Jared's wife of four years, Kirsten, had stayed home that night at their home in Saint Augustine, Florida, with their six month old daughter, London. It was about a forty minute drive between the two homes. Kirsten had just talked to Jared, Ard and Bexley minutes earlier.

5:01 Bexley had excitedly told her mom about the ice cream she'd just had with her siblings. Kirsten expected Jared home at eight fifteen. When he didn't arrive by eight thirty, she became worried and called his cell phone feverishly. Kirston decided to look for Jared while she continued to call his cell phone. Eventually, to her relief, someone answered Jared's cell phone, but it wasn't Jared. It was a police officer. They calmly told Kirston that her daughter was okay, but she needed to come to the Jacksonville Police Department as soon as possible. They gave no other details. Jarrett had dropped the twins off at their mother's house in Jacksonville Beach in the upscale gated community known as the Sanctuary. At seven forty eight pm, as Jared neared the intersection of Jacksonville Drive and Sanctuary Boulevard, a dimly lit, tree lined single lane road void of any homes, a tire was in the middle of the road. Instead of skirting around the tire, Jared stopped, turned on his flashers, and opened the door of his black Volkswagen Atlas just as an unknown assailant rushed from the woods and ambushed him, shooting him several times at close range, killing him instantly.

6:09 God horrible. A nearby doorbell camera recorded the sounds of the gunshots ringing through the night. Gunshots were also fired into the car, but fortunately missed Bexley. I don't think they were aiming at Bexley, but just it was he was right by the door, and so they kind of just went into the van. So scary. The window next to the car seat shattered. Someone who lived in the nearby neighborhood heard the shots and called nine one one. Bexley sat alone, strapped into her car seat, crying for three minutes until a couple came upon the scene. They unbuckled Bexley, wrapped her in a blanket, and held her until police arrived. The police took Bexley to the police station to await her mom. The tire remained in the middle of the road and was taken as evidence that poor girl, can you I mean, she's just a little beep. She must have been so so scared to sit there by herself, and old enough to know what had happened, but not understand what happened. Jared Galen Brightigan was born on June twenty ninth, nineteen eighty eight, and Warrensburg, Missouri, to Gaylord and Joanne. He had a sister named Bashley and two brothers, Justin and Adam. His family relocated to Jacksonville Beach, Florida in two thousand and seven. Jared graduated from Douglas Anderson's School of the Arts in Jacksonville. The school opened in nineteen twenty two during segregation as a primary school for African American students. The school is named after a local civil rights activist, Douglas Anderson. In nineteen eighty five, the school was renovated into a Magnet high school specializing in performing, visual and language arts. I just think schools like that are really cool and interesting.

7:43 My high school was pretty darn boring. Jared then attended Utah Valley University, where he received a degree in Digital Media with an emphasis and cinema production in twenty fourteen. At the time of his death, Jared worked for Microsoft as a senior design manager. He was really good at his job, he loved his job, and he was excited for his future. Here's an excerpt from his obituary quote. In a recent Facebook post, Jared summed up his priorities in life. First was his relationship with his heavenly father and his son, Jesus Christ. Second was his relationship with his eternal companion, best friend and wife Kirsten, And third was the privilege of being the father to his children. These priorities and his firm belief that one day he would kneel before the Savior to give an accounting of his life on the earth shaped his every decision and what a difference it made. Jared was an awesome father, husband, son, and friend to many. More than anything in life, he enjoyed spending time with his children, building a playhouse in the back yard, creating a laser tagarina in the garage. Jared seemed to have endless energy creating memories with his children. One of his favorite hobbies was home improvement, especially when working alongside his wife. Together they handcrafted wooden beams for the master ceiling, built a custom fireplace and office desk, ship lapped walls, and so much more. Jared was also the guy in the neighborhood who would loan you his tools and then show up to help you with your project. He was funny, happy, go lucky, and even a bit shy, but a powerful presence in the lives of those he loved. He recently served in the

9:18 Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints as a Sunday school teacher to eleven and twelve year old youth who expressed gratitude for the fun he brought to church through his creative object lessons and humorous stories he would share as he taught them about the Savior. He will be deeply missed. End quote. Sounds like a good guy. He was a very good guy. It's so sad that he's gone. Yeah, it's all interesting stuff. With the laser tag arena in the garage, that that one intrigues me. I loved to have seen that. Do you feel like maybe you I should step it? Up the people. You should step it up. Yeah, I mean, our kids are pro. I don't think we could all still enjoy a laser arena in our garage. Shana was born in nineteen eighty seven to parents Shelley and Sterling guard Wardner in Riverton, Utah. Shelley and her sister founded the successful international papercraft company Stampin' Up in the nineteen eighties. Once valued at one hundred million dollars, stampin' Up makes craft products including paper, stamps, markers, and other supplies for cardmaking and scrapbooking. There is a multi level marketing component to the company. In twenty sixteen, the Gardeners appointed their daughter Sarah as CEO.

10:28 Super Successful It sounds like it, yeah, so they The Gardeners were quite wealthy. Shana was introduced to Jared Bride again in two thousand and nine by his sister in law, who was married to Jared's brother Adam. Jared flew to Utah to meet Shana. She claimed that they did not hit it off immediately, but Jared aggressively pursued her funny story. I found both like the account that said the exact opposite, too. M She thought Jared was impressed with her parents' money and the lifestyle they would be able to leave with their support. Shana was largely supported by her parents, who gave her a stipend of eight thousand dollars a month. In twenty ten, after two months, Shana and Jared were married at the Salt Lake City Temple. Soon the twins, Abbey and Liam were born. Liam was born with a heart defect.

11:18 The young family moved to Connecticut to be closer to Liam's cardiac specialist in New York. Liam's doctor suggested to reduce the strain on his heart, he should live at sea level. They moved again to Jacksonville Beach, Florida. Jared's family lived there and was able to help with the children. In twenty fourteen, Shana and Jared began having difficulties in their marriage. Liam's illness in part, put a strain on the marriage. Friends and families saw changes in Shana. In twenty fourteen, she left the Mormon church, cut her hair, became obsessed with working out, and got several tattoos and piercings. Her transformation was abrupt. In Shocking said that almost overnight she had like a sleeve of tattoos. I can see why that would be shocking for she was, you know, just doing the very conservative church, like the LDS Church.

12:11 I did look this up that piercings in tattoos used to kind of be like you could not get them. But I think it's changed a little bit where it's not like they're encouraged, but they're not forbidden. Okay. While Shana focused on herself and her working out, Jared focused on starting his career and the twins. He had gained weight and Shana chastised him for it. For Christmas, Jared purchased some sessions for Shana with a personal trainer. Shana and the personal trainer began an affair. Shana denied the affair, but Jared found provocative emails between her and the trainer. Jared was willing to forgive Shana and work on their marriage to save the family, but Shana filed for divorce in February of twenty fifteen. She told Jared that she didn't love him anymore.

12:58 The divorce quickly became contentious. Shana and Jared both wanted full custody of the twins and possession of their family home. The divorce brought out the worst in both of them. The divorce proceedings involved over three hundred filings and motions, resulting in a file exceeding eight hundred pages. Shana filed most of the motions, many were ruled groundless and thrown out. Shana and Jared weren't able to communicate at all in person. They communicated through court filings. The divorce was financially draining, especially for Jared. Shana's parents had deep pockets and they were able to help her. They fought over the family home, custody, and finances, as well as where the kids would go to school. Jared wanted alimony and child support, but Shana claimed she couldn't make ends meet. She requested alimony and child support from Jared, although her parents likely supported her.

13:52 Shana claims that Jared drained their joint bank accounts and refused to move out of their family home. She accused Jared of disturb and abusive behavior and regularly interrogating, recording, and actively coaching the children as to what to say against her in court. She was allegedly working three jobs. Jared had a hard time finding a job in Florida, and for a span of time he moved to Utah for a job, and traveled back to Florida on weekends to see his children. Doesn't this all sound so exactly? It sounds like a nightmare and yet completely exhausting, the hard on everyone. Yeah, not good for the kids, not good for anybody. Their divorce was drawn out for five long years. For much of that time, Shana and Jared still lived together.

14:39 Jared accused Shana of hiding baby monitors and voice activated recording devices around the house to spy on him when she wasn't there. He claimed that she put a tracking device on his car. Shana installed a lock on the door to the primary bedroom. Jared also accused Shana of hiding money. Shana accused Jared of being aggressive and abusive toward the twins. I have to say these are ground A lot of these claims against Jared are completely grounded. Yes. She also accused him of withdrawing money from the children's trust funds and turning the children against her. However, eventually Shana and Jared did come to an agreement and they shared custody of the children fifty to fifty. Unfortunately, that did not stop the lawsuits. In twenty twenty one, Shana was again infuriated when Jared wouldn't allow her to borrow a breathing machine for Liam for a vacation when on an airplane, and only when he's on an airplane, Liam requires a breathing machine to reduce the strain on his heart. Shana owned a machine, but she claimed it was broken and wanted to borrow the newer machine that Jared had to buy when Shana wouldn't allow him to borrow the one that she had at her house. So she went before a judge accusing Jared of withholding medical equipment, and the judge ruled in her favor and Jared was forced to relinquish the machine for the trip. So this is just to point out that there's just a lot of these, you know, relatively small details that most divorced parents would probably be able to work out. Just everything became a huge fight with them.

16:11 Yeah, it's really unfortunate for the kids. Jared began dating when the divorce was being finalized. He had I mean, it took so long for that divorce to be violent. Oh yeah, yeah, Actually I think the divorce was finalized, but the custody arrangements, that's what took that's what took so long. Jared began dating when the divorce was being finalized. He had difficulty finding anyone he wanted to date seriously until he met Kirsten Votch in early twenty seventeen. Kirsten lived in Charlotte, North Carolina, and worked for Microsoft. Jared drove six hours to Charlotte for their first date. Hey, that's kind of like, yeah, five howers. It wasn't really their first day, but yeah. They quickly fell in love and decided to build a life together. Kirsten said she was attracted to Jared because of quote the kindness in his eyes and smile. She said she found her best friend in Jay.

17:00 Kirsten relocated to Florida and continued to work for Microsoft remotely. Kirsten Jared were married in October twenty seventeen, just months after meeting. Kirsten loved being a stepmom to Avi and Liam. In August of twenty nineteen, they welcomed their first child, a daughter they named Bexley, and two years later, their second daughter, London, was born. Kirsten quit her job after London was born and became a stay at home mom. Kirstin and Jared were very happy together. In twenty eighteen, Shana met Mario Fernande Saldana at a CrossFit gym where Mario worked as a maintenance man. He also managed some rental properties. Shana later claimed they didn't know each other well when they got married, but she felt pushed into it after Jared had insisted if Mario wanted to spend time with the children and have sleepovers with Shana, they had to get married.

17:51 She said the marriage was one of convenience and her parents supported the union and they might have pressured her into it too. It is rumored that one of the reasons they got married was to high Shana's money from Jared. Mario was put in charge of Shana's trust. There was at least one report of Mario being aggressive with one of the children. Despite being remarried, Shana and Jared continued to fight over the children. Reportedly, whenever Shana was upset about a dispute with Jared, Mario also became angry and wanted to take care of it. Take care of it? What does that mean? I think you know what that means, because you watched The Sopranos. Allegedly, they planned Jared's murder for years. I think he's probably one of those things that they just sat in bed at night, you know, like daydreaming, like how we going to get rid of him? Yeah? Yeah. But as we said, Jared was a devoted family man who enjoyed spending time with his wife and children. He loved to stay active with his kids. Kirsten told Dayline that Jared went above and beyond to be fun and make memories with the kids, including family bike rides, turning all we already talked about this, but turning the garage into a laser tag arena with a smoke machine and led lights.

18:57 Jared was also very devoted to his Mormon religion and was a Sunday school teacher after his murder, when police arrived at the scene, they quickly evaluated the situation and realized that Jared's death was not a robbery. His phone and wallet were not stolen, It was not a random act. It was a targeted murder. Kirsten lived in constant fear of the killer returning to her home, and Bexley had been a staunch daddy's girl and was struggling to process what had happened to her father. Can't even imagine she understood that he'd been hurt, but couldn't comprehend that he was never returning. Here's Kirsten talking to doctor Phil about the impact of Jared's death on Bexley and her family. I know how to describe it. For the first few months, it almost seemed like it wasn't real, you know, I would still expect to see him pull in a driveway and walk through the door. And then the moments where it was thinking and were excruciating. I had nights where I would just scream. My parents would stay here and thankfully help us through that, but it's been really tough, and on top of losing him, you know, not having answers, not being able to answer our daughter when she asks why Daddy isn't coming back, why her siblings aren't here. It's just been an excruciating year.

20:12 So she really clearly recalls the sounds of the gunshots. She will talk about them as the boom and she'll repeat three boom, boom, boom, and then she'll say Daddy on the ground. So from her car seat, I don't believe she would have seen him get shot. She heard it. But then I believe when she was pulled from the vehicle. She possibly saw him on the ground outside of the car, and that's why she says, daddy on the ground. For the first few months, any loud noise would make her just freeze in her spot and you can just see the panic on her face, and then she would just kind of look like, help me, sounds of sirens she'd not like. Thankfully, she's getting past that, and yeah, she would still to this day comes into my room and then I love some nights just crying what she didn't do before. So it's still haunting her. She's still working through it. But thankfully the panic attacks with loud noises seemed to be getting less and less as time goes on. That's so sad. Is this really really sad? She loved her daddy so much and from you know, going to a two parent household to a one parent household.

21:26 I know that Kirsten has a lot of support from family and friends, but he devastating loss. Yeah, but just being there also and seeing, you know, whatever she did see and hearing what she heard, it's just, yeah, so sad. About a week after Jared's murder, a shadowy figure was captured on the right against surveillance cameras, causing cursed and even more anxiety and sleepless nights. She said, this has never happened before, and all of a sudden, there's a shadowy figure and she got an alert, I think on her Apple Watch and she was, you know, of course panicked. Yeah, suspicion fell on Shana due to her constant disagreements and demands of Jared. They looked at all the possible suspects in their life, and you can imagine they were like, yeah, I think that's probably where we need to look. Shanah was the only one who had a motive. She was questioned on multiple occasions by police, but there was no direct evidence linking her to the murder. And she really wasn't a suspect initially. But I'm sure everyone, like you know, the family and friends were like, yeah, we know, we know what happened here. Jared had just dropped off Abby and lea minutes before he was killed. Shana had been home with the twins at the time of the murder. When asked what she thought could have happened to Jared, she said it could have been a drug deal gone wrong, or maybe a gang initiation of course, which that happens people, that's often the excuse, right. Yeah. The investigation into Jared's death moved slowly, but authorities assured the Bridegigans they were working on the case daily and quietly making progress. Frustratingly, there weren't many leads. Investigators were tight lipped,

22:59 and event remained sealed in the cave. Months went by with no clear suspect. Police asked residents to search their surveillance camera footage for an older model, dark blue Ford F one fifty with a silver toolbox. The truck was one of the only vehicle spotted on surveillance footage on the night of Jared's murder. The driver was considered a person of interest, but not necessarily a suspect. But they didn't they didn't have the license, Like, they didn't know who was driving the truck. What did police do before? Peoples are ringing cameras, right, like every case recover that's you know, like two thousand and beyond is like surveillance cam sat around waiting for the phone during many people wondered who would want this beloved husband and father Dad Kirsten and Adam bright Agan, Jared's brother, made many media appearances to keep Jared's case fresh in people's mind and to keep pressure on the police. Adam said publicly that Jared had actually feared for his life. He knew that he was possibly in danger. The Bridigan family raised over fifty thousand dollars to offer as a reward for any information.

24:02 They were desperate to find who had murdered their beloved Jared. We'll be back after a break. In January twenty twenty three, the first arrest was made in the case. Henry Arthur Tennan, sixty one, was arrested for Jared's murder. He was a petty criminal with nine minor arrests in and around Jacksonville, Florida. He did a one year stint in jail in the early two thousands for habitual traffic offenses. He was stopped for speeding when officers realized he was wanted for questioning in Jared's murder. A shotgun in bad repair was found in the trunk of his car. He was arrested for driving with a revoked license and possessing a firearm as a felon. When he arrived at the station, he was interviewed by detectives. Henry knew he was in trouble.

24:55 After he was shown some damning evidence against him, he said, there ain't nothing else I can give you, and I think I need an attorney unquote. The interview ended, we don't know what the evidence is. I saw a tape of his interrogation and it's black. There's a black box over the evidence. Okay, here's Henry talking to a friend from jail. It ain't looking good. What do you mean. I wish she's like, you're getting released or something. So far hopefully realized that it's not you. He didn't sell that very well. Upon Henry's arrest, his daughter said she was shocked and said that she didn't think he was capable of murder and believed he was being set up. The Bridigan family had never heard of him and were confused as to why he would kill Jared, but law enforcement made it clear that Tennon had not acted alone. He was the little fish. Oh that's where they start art. He was charged with second degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, accessory after the fact to a capital felony, and child abuse.

26:10 He agreed to cooperate fully with the prosecution and name all co conspirators to receive the lesser charge of second degree murder. The briding and family wasn't told of the connection Tenan had to Jared Tenin was a tenant of a property owned by Mario Fernandez Saldana, Shana's second husband. He drove a blue Ford F one fifty. Remember that was the vehicle we were supposed to be looking out for. Yep. Because of the plea agreement Tenin made, all charges were dropped except the one charge of second degree murder with a weapon. He is facing fifteen years to life in prison. He named Mario as a co conspirator, leading to his arrest. On March sixteenth, twenty twenty three. Mario, thirty four, was charged with first degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, solicitation to commit capital felony, and child abuse. So the child abuse charge is because little Bexley was in the car. Yeah, I figured that, and it makes me happy that they that they charged them with that too, because I think it's an important part of the crime. He pleaded not guilty and he was held without bail. The state announced that it planned to seek the death penalty against Mario. Finally, thirteen months after his death, Kirsten and Jared's family knew who was behind Jared's murder, but there was another arrest to come. I wonder who. Well you're reading this, I know you know. Shana Gardner was arrested on August twenty third, twenty twenty three, at her new home in West Richland, Washington. She had said that she

27:42 was going to stay in Florida. No one was going to make her leave her home. But then but then she did changed her mind. She was charged with first degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, solicitation to commit a capital felony, and child abuse, the same charge as Mario faced. The indictment states that Shana and Mario plotted to kill Jared Bright again and hired Henry Tennant to carry out the murder. There is evidence to support that Shana considered having Jared killed as early as twenty fifteen. Here's Kirsten, Jared's widow, talking about how Shana's arrest felt to her. It has been such a relief. I feel like a heavy weight has been lifted off my shoulders with this last arrest. I know there's a lot still to come, but right now we're feeling good and we're feeling positive. I don't even know how to put it into wars. The feeling that we have, you know, there's a sense of happiness that finally this is happening, something that we have felt would be coming, but also sadness for Liam and Abbey and what that means for them. So very complicated emotions, but overall we are feeling good and we are looking forward to justice being served. I wanted them held accountable, and I wanted my kids to know they are all the streets, they are not going to harm our family anymore. And so it's a very good feeling to know that there have been for you arrest in this case. They can't tell us the evidence, so you know, we just have to have faith that it's by the book. They have enough evidence is a strong case, and

29:15 we're holding to that hope and that belief and hopefully that will play out that way in court. For me, it's important to be there to show not only Jared that we're fighting for him, but to show the community like we're still here, thank you for the support, We're still fighting, and to show those involved in his murder we're not going anywhere. No matter how tough it we'll get, we will be here, we will be looking you in your face, and we will be hoping for justice. Kirsten also said, quote from very very early on, everything in my body and soul told me she was behind it, unquote. Shana's parents released a statement upon her arrest quote words cannot accurately express the depth of our sadness. Family is our top priority. We love our daughter and are focused on supporting her and our entire family as we help our grandchildren navigate this difficult and very confusing time. For their sake and all involved, we caution against further speculation and request privacy as the legal process runs its course. I think Gabby and Liam are about eleven or twelve right now, and it must be so hard for them. Like their dad, who they was a great dad. It is dad, their mom, who, despite her faults, they love very much. She's in jail. We'll talk about this more later. But Kirsten, who you know, was also in their life for many years and they love. She's no longer in their life. Oh so a lot of sadness. Yeah, kids, really, really tough. The state also planned to seek the death penalty

30:48 for Shana. Her attorneys fought Shanea's extradition to Florida in an attempt to avoid the death penalty, but she is now in Florida awaiting trial. Kirsten supports the state's decision to pursue the harshest penalty against Shana and Mario. So investigating the crime scene, several gun shell casings were found. According to the arrest affidavit, projectiles had struck the interior of the vehicle within feet of Bexley. Can you met Kirsten must have just been so freaked out by Yeah. The investigation into Jared's murder found three checks written from Mario to Henry Tennen, which I'm really surprised that they wrote checks because no one writes. We don't even write checks anymore, and we're really old. I mean, just you know, that's the kind of thing you would normally do a cash transaction for, I would expect in your vast experience. Yes, the two also exchanged nearly one hundred text messages in the months before Jared's murder. There were no text messages between Shana and Henry, So are you seeing the patterns? So Mario wrote the checks. Mario text messaged Henry in twenty fifteen, when Shana became a regular at the tattoo parlor. She became good friends with the artist.

32:04 She confided in him about her crumbling marriage and lingering divorce. She asked him if he knew anyone who could help her shut up her ex husband. The personal trainer, whom Shana had denied having an affair with, came forward and admitted that they had been having an affair while Shana was married to Jared. As suspicion fell on Shana, the media followed her closely. She was uncomfortable being in the spotlight. She claimed to the Florida Times Union in June twenty twenty two that Kirsten had asked her not to speak publicly, and she respected that until she felt she could no longer stay quiet. She said, quote, I feel for Jared's family and what they are going through. I can't even imagine. I have tried to be respectful. I have tried to give them space. It is becoming necessary to respond. I didn't want to make a spectacle. I want people to know where I'm coming from. You learn who your friends are. I am fortunate enough to live in an amazing community and have an amazing family. The kids know they're loved. I would never want anybody to go through this. It's terrible to witness. End quote.

33:07 Excuse my eye roll. She said she was focusing on her kids and helping them navigate the loss of their father, along with a therapist who Abby and Liam had been seeing since their parents' divorce. Here's Shana talking to a reporter from CBS News forty seven Action News Jacks. I was asked to not talk to the medier give a public statement, but with the level of speculation, I felt that now it was necessary to speak out. I'm sure you would say that we've had happy moments. I mean, we share two most beautiful children in the world. Anytime divorce comes into any situation, it's messy.

33:49 It just is, I will say, but I think that we both love our kids. It was actually one of the one of the things. Sorry. I remember my son talking man and him saying that it was a good date night. I was shocked. I felled to the floor because I was devastated for what I was going to have to tell my kids. Even though we didn't always get along, he was still the father of my kids. Do you have any idea who might have done this? I do not have any idea. As I said, we've been divorced. We don't run in the same social circles. I all I know is that I would never want anybody to go through this. She told me if she could speak to Jared again, she'd say one thing, honestly, that I wish it weren't like this. I wish things could have been to be different. I think she comes across as very sincere, and I hate to say that, I agree does sound very sincere. Some people are just really good at manipulating people.

35:05 Yeah, Shana moved to Washington State with the twins for a fresh start, and Mario did not go with them. I'm not sure if they're a divorced or not, but I'm well, they're both in jail. I don't think that they are together. Jose Bya is best known for defending the Indefensible Casey Anthony is Shana Gardner's lawyer. Bias also defended Aaron Hernandez and Harvey Weinstein. Boy. His retainer is two hundred thousand dollars a month. Wow, Mom and dad are footing the bill. Oh, and it's so maddening when wealthy people can hire the best attorneys and those good attorneys can get you off sometimes.

35:47 John Bickerstaff fifty six, a disgraced former reserve officer with the Jacksonville Sheriff's Department, is one of two unnamed co conspirators in Jared's murder. According to The Deal Mail, which some people call the Daily Failed But I think that they are true crime reporting is actually usually do a pretty good job. They do a shockingly good job. You know, they're based in the UK, but whenever there's like breaking news in the true crime world, they're always the first people who have the information. They're kind of sensationalistic, but I've not seen any inaccuracies. Yeah, so they are saying the two unnamed co conspirators, they're naming one of them. It's believed that John's ten millimeter gun may have been the weapon that killed Jared. Bigger Staff was not able to produce the weapon when the police asked for it. Bigger Staff served time for sex trafficking and drug crimes. He was accused of running a prostitution ring and tipping drug dealers off about police activity. He is an acquaintance of Mario Fernandez Saldano.

36:50 Mario dated his daughter in high school. Bigger Staff is known as a swinger, as is Mario. Intimate pictures of Mario and Bigger Staff's wife were found on his computer. Shana Gardner was not known to participate in the swinger lifestyle. In court documents filed by investigators in early twenty twenty three, police requested to extend wiretap access to intercept calls made by five alleged co conspirators Shanna, Mario, Henry Tennan, likely John Bigger's staff, and one more individual that we don't know. Wow, it is a lot of people. It's a lot of people, Yeah, to get poor Jared. On May sixteenth, twenty twenty four, there was a seven hour bond hearing for Shana Gardner.

37:37 Her attorneys fought for her to be free on bond while she awaits trial. State argued that while Shana didn't pull the trigger, she was behind Jared's death. Several new details emerged from the hearing, including that Mario wrote a check to Henry Tennan for five thousand dollars dated on April fourth, twenty twenty two, and on the memo line he wrote kickstarter and good luck exclamation point. Oh that'll throw him off. I mean, that's just according to the Jacksonville Beach Police Department. Henry Tennant had agreed to kill Jared for one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. They planned to make several smaller deposits into his account to avoid suspicion into a pallet business that Henry owned. Originally, the plan was to kidnap Jared and kill him at a secondary location. Detective Chris John's testified that Mario told Henry quote, this needs to happen this week. He said that if Henry didn't complete the job, his marriage would be over.

38:34 It was a brutal day for Kirsten Bright again. The day of the hearing, the courtroom was filled with family and friends supporting her. Shano only had a handful of supporters there, including her parents and sister. A detective testified that little Bexley said she heard a boom boom and that her daddy was sick after the shooting and he needed a doctor. A bishop of the Church of Latter day Saints testified that Shano was still an active of her ward Or parish despite reports of her being an apostate of Mormonism. I just learned that word today. Yeah, I kind of proud yeah, apostate. Probably know you're just someone who left the church exactly, Yes, kind of funny side note. Alexa helps me a lot when I'm doing the podcast. Sometimes, like today, I asked her what's the name for an ex member of a church?

39:22 And sometimes I ask her like Alex, I wish the distance between Detroit and Chicago and help. I never credit very helpful. I am a little shocked that you have referred to Alexa two times as a her. You're very yes, you did. I know. I do get irritated with anyone at a house calls Alexa her, and it's an It just not it's genderless. A woman named Kim Jensen was called as a witness during the bond hearing. She's Shane's best friend. In a text message dating back to twenty fifteen, Shana and Kim joked about murdering Jared. Shana had texted Kim, quote, I'm not even joking. I want him gone. Their text message, she said, quote I would love to see him get a lethal injection. Shana says in another text, quote is it too late to hire a hitman?

40:08 I'm serious, Kim replied, quote, Sue's husband knows people. I don't know who Sue is, but and Kim did contact Sue's husband and asked him about quote a magician who could perform a disappearing again and yet another message. Shana said, it gives me such great pleasure imagining slitting his throat. I'm not even joking. I want him gone so gross. Shana told Kim that Mario had been stalking Jared. Mario followed Jared to learn his habits with the intent of killing him. Shana referred to these as missed opportunities. Shana also said that Mario was close enough to touch Jared on several occasions without his knowledge.

40:55 It's not just as shocking to me that they wanted this nice man dead so badly. Shane and Kim also used code words and their texts like funeral potatoes to refer to Jared's murderer. You know what funeral potatoes are. I think it's a largely Mormon thing. Whenever you go. It's not just funerals, but if you go to an event, we would call them cheesy hash browns. Probably okay, but those are funeral potatoes, and I think they just, you know, we're referring to his death. Yeah, they also refer to Jared by the name stupid in their texts. They didn't say Jared. They would be like, oh, stupid did this or stupid did that? So so clever they are. Yeah. The judge's decision is pending as to whether or not to grant Shane's bond. How do you do you think shanea should be No, absolutely not, especially because their parents have money, They have tons of money. She could easily leave the country. And absolutely.

41:47 The next hearing in the case is scheduled for May twenty fourth. Oh Another impediment to the trial moving forward is an issue with text messages found on Shana's iCloud. Her legal team alleges Atorney client privilege was violated as some of the messages were from her attorneys. Her defense asked for the local state attorney's office to be disqualified from the case or for all materials obtained from shane'sycloud account to be withheld from use during the trial. He claimed this violates her sixth Amendment right the right to affair and speedy trial. Prosecutors argue the messages were never reviewed by them, and once the materials were recognized as sensitive, the information was forwarded to a taint team for filtering. Never heard of a taint team before. He hadn't really either. I think it's just an objective third party that filters through the evidence. Okay, we should note that there are seven terabytes of evidence in the Bridigan case. That's over one billion pages.

42:45 Wow. I mean when we say, you know, seven terabytes and it would be it would be equal to a billion pages. Some of that may be video, video and pictures and whatnot, So still it's aspect of a lot of data. And that's why you know, Shana's legal team is like, well, there's stuff in there that you know is attorney client privilege. They're just trying to delay things and they I mean for them to throw out all of her text messages, that would be a huge win for them. Well yeah, Jared's family is suing to gain visitation rights to Abby and Liam. They live in Utah with Shana's parents. Shelley Gardner. Shana's mom had a blog called So Shelley, where she talked about the twins a lot. She posted pictures of a memorial service that the Gardner family held for Jared after she claimed they had been disinvited from Jared's funeral. Kirsten wanted the twins at the funeral, but not Shana. She offered to come pick them up for the funeral, but Shana said she would only allow them to go to the funeral if she could be with them. Shelley's blog has since been taken down, probably under the advisement of their attorney. I think there were other controversial topics that she had written about. I think she was, you know, obviously very pro Shana and might have sent some not so nice things about the Bridigan family. Yeah, since Jared's death, Abby and Liam have not seen Kirsten, Bexley, London, or any of their extended family. Kirsten has been in the twins life since they were four years old and loves them dearly.

44:14 She and the Bridigan family continue to fight for visitation rights. Shanea's parents have custody of Abby and Liam. They live in Utah. Again, this is another horrible case where the children have been through a tragic event and aren't able to see their family, and the family that has custody. You know, they probably don't say a lot of amazing things about their father, and that's Yeah, it's so sad for the kids. One good thing that has come from this is Bexley Boxes. After two year old Bexley Bridegan was rescued from the scene of her father's death, she was taken to the police station to wait for her mother while the officers tried to comfort and entertain Bexley. The police station lacked the resources to care for a toddler properly. In the months after Jared's murder, while she was anxiously awaiting justice to be served, Kirsten Brdigan had an idea to help other families who struggled after suffering from similar traumatic situations. She launched the Brdigan Foundation and Bexley's Boxes. Bexley's Boxes are filled with diapers, zippy cups, snacks, toys, and comfort items for toddlers and small children. The first Bexley Box was delivered to the Jacksonville Police Department in October of twenty twenty two. Since then, over thirty of these boxes. They're kind of like these big chests filled with all of these goodies for kids. They've been delivered to several states including Florida, Utah, Texas, Washington, Kansas, and North Carolina. It's just so admirable when somebody who is a victim like Kirsten, finds it in her heart to do something

45:47 productive like that instead of just you know, grieving and locking herself. She did it so quickly, like she did it like super fast, like you know, she was before anyone who was arrested. And I think it shows her goodness and her heart. Yeah, it's amazing. And this month, our charitable contribution will go to the Bride Again Foundation to help support their mission of supporting families who are going through traumatic events. If you would like to donate as well, go to Brideiginfoundation dot org slash donate. There's also a go fundme campaign to assist the bride Agains with their legal fees to pursue court mandated unsupervised visitation with Abby and Liam. Jared bride Agan was an excellent father to Abby, Liam, Bexley and London, and a loving husband to Kirsten.

46:36 He was creative, funny, kind and generous. He deserved to see his children grow up and to grow old with his wife. Rest in peace, Jared. So, what kind of garbage person arranges to kill a father in front of their two year old child. I don't Yeah, maybe I know. I can't even imagine, like it's it's horrible to kill your ex husband one way or another, but yeah, in front of and it was a well thought out plan. They knew that Jared always brought Bexley with him to these dinners. Yeah, it's terrible, disgusting. Shana really hated sharing custody of the kids with Jared. I think she was kind of a spoiled, over indulged person her whole life, and she knew just sounds like her parents kind of took care of a lot of things for her. Yeah.

47:23 Most of the evidence in the trial is still sealed, so we don't really know what the evidence against Shana is so far, but I think it looks really bad for Mario. I'm hoping there's enough evidence to convict Shana as well, assuming that she is guilty. Well, it sounds yeah, I mean it sounds like she is guilty, just based on the text messages and everything you've said so far, And yeah, I hope. So it sounds like she was trying to distance herself from Mario, like having him do the dirty work, yeah, keep her hands off of it, and then she moved away and loved him there. Yeah, I've read a lot of things on Reddit about this case, and I'm going to share some of those things with you. As always, I love the redditor think you read. They do a lot of great investigation. They can dig kind of deeper than we can because we have limited time, So I'm just going to share with you some of the things that I read there. The Gardner family allegedly regrets not paying Jared off. They believe that he would have left his children if they would have paid him enough money. But I think you know Jared well enough to know that he would not have left his kids for any amount of money.

48:29 Shane's mom, Shelley, allegedly met Sterling Shane's dad when she was the babysitter for Sterling and his first wife. Oh so she was seventeen allegedly when they met. The Gardeners might be using a nonprofit as a tax shelter. In this nonprofit, they have over three million dollars and in twenty twenty two they donated just two hundred thousand dollars of that. Since twenty fifteen, they have awarded very few grants, and initially when they started the foundation, they were much more generous, but now it seems like the money is just kind of sitting there. Interesting, very wealthy family. I found their address and they live in a four point five million dollar house. Wow. Do you have any feeling at all about this fifth unnamed co conspired or who they could be.

49:19 I mean, I have no idea who it could be. I'm just shocked at how many people were involved in this plot. I mean it really and not even just the people directly involved, but the other person that Shana was texting and saying, you know, I want him dad, and she was saying, I'll go talk to my friend. And that's why I'm wondering if that's Kim Jensen. Wondering if it could be Kim Jensen. Some people were like thinking it could be Sterling her dad too. Oh interesting. The Gardeners may have been more kind of like the Charlie Adelson case, where there's wealthy dentist family. You don't know the case. I'm tied. I know the name, but I can't remember. Our listeners will know. But go listen to our good friend Primetime Crime. She has a summer series going and she is analyzing that case and breaking it down, doing a deep dive.

50:08 I think it's possible that Mario might end up taking the fall because Shana has these really good lawyers and guessing Mario does not have really good lawyers. I don't really know. It's possible that the Gardner family is being rolling him too, but I don't think so. And he allegedly may have been driving Henry Tenant's truck after Jared was shot on them. I wonder, you know, that made me think of something though. I wonder if they might bankroll his defense because they don't want him turning against Shana. I mean, if if they really have a lot of evidence against Mario and not as much against Shana, I could see them trying to get Mario to flip, you know, to reduce the charges, take away the death penalty. Maybe it could be.

50:51 Do you think Shana and Mario should be eligible for the death penalty? And that's a tough one for me because I have my own personal feelings about the death penalty, but putting out aside, if you're going to have a death penalty, I think that Mario and Shana what they did was completely calculated, completely premeditated, completely horrible. The circumstances of killing him in front of his daughter. So if you're going to have a death penalty, then yes, I think they should definitely be eligible. Has your opinion on the death penalty changed since we've been doing this podcast. Not really, although there are definitely cases where I that that opinion is challenged. I'm opposed to the death penalty. I am too. I am too, but I will admit that I am a little more conflicted about it than I was because we get to know these families and we know the impact on the families, and it is really Yeah, I care about them, and I understand why some people, you know might want that same. In this case, I think that there's two two young people, Abby and Liam, and I think for both of their parents to be taken away from them is just beyond devastating. It's a good point. I just have a hard time with that. I guess I don't want them to suffer any more than they already have, right, Yeah, that's a very good point. Well, thank you again to our friend Jarna for recommending this case. We will stay on top of it and keep you updated. Thanks Tarna. A while ago, we committed to talking about

52:31 missing persons cases. People that are currently missing and there's a search underway for them. We've done not a great job of keeping up with that. We're going to try to do one a month, but we do want to try to get back into that, and so you have a case today to talk about. Sarah Gail ever Saw twenty six, disappeared from Reddick, Florida, in the early morning hours of March through twenty twenty three. Reddick is a small town of only six hundred. It is sixty miles east of Daytona Beach and ninety miles north of Orlando. Sarah is the youngest of seven children. She was primarily raised in Sarah Soda by her aunt and uncle. Sarah's sister, Michelle, told Dayline she is quote a free spirit who thinks everything is sunshine and rainbows. Sarah loves adventure and exploring. Sarah worked as an exotic dancer and needed a ride home on the night of March third, Michelle said, quote she had messaged me around seven something asking if I was able to give her a ride home from work. I told her I wasn't available.

53:30 I was sorry, and she said that was okay. End quote. Sarah sent another text message to Michelle at seven fifty pm. She told Michelle to tell her kids that she loved them. At ten eleven pm, Michelle received a final text from her sister. She said that she was getting into a random truck with some cowboys and that she'd hoped they took her on a ride. Oh boy, oh, Michelle must have been like, oh oh yeah. Sarah was last seen at a circle K gas station getting into a black Silverado twenty five hundred HD pickup truck with two unknown mails. The Circle K is located at one seven nine eight zero North Highway four four to one in Reddick. The next day, Michelle began to worry when she hadn't heard from Sarah and her phones went straight to voicemail. It was unlike Sarah not to respond to messages. Sarah's roommate called the police to file a missing person's report, and they told her that they would need to wait a week. A week. That's that's not okay, that's insane. That is insane. Michelle took the investigation into her own hands. She was able to find the vehicle and the two men who had last been seen with Sarah. That's amazing to work. They claimed that Sarah had come back to their house to party with them around midnight. They even posted pictures on social media of Sarah waxing one of the men's chest hair. Oh that hurts hearing that Michelle was able to access Sarah's iCloud account. She last took a picture at one twenty two am.

54:58 Sarah's last activity on her phone was at two forty am. Michelle does not believe that she was under the influence of any substances. She appeared to be having a good time. Sarah left the house in a blue Sedan, possibly a Hyundai sometime between three and five am. It's quite a span there. Yeah. Sarah had a large amount of money with her that she'd earned that night at work. The man who Sarah was hanging out with have been interviewed by police. Michelle said that someone attempted to access Sarah's snapchat on the afternoon of March third, the day of her disappearance. Someone also cleared her timeline. Officer Zach Moore of the Marion County Sheriff's Office said quote there has been no evidence uncovered of foul play. However, the length of time that Sarah has not been heard from elevates the concern for her well being. If the residents of that house are to be believed Sarah left the house in a newer model blue Sedan, possibly a Hyundai, driven by a man who was described as being a for uber and who was Hispanic in his mid thirties, approximately five foot eight inches tall, with a thin build and long dark hair.

56:08 If Sarah didn't leave that residence alive, it means that something happened to her while she was there, and that the story of the Uber driver was fabricated to send detectives down a rabbit hole unquote. There is no record of Sarah ordering an Uber. In December twenty twenty three, the home that she was at that night was searched. Police named a person of interest, Tyrone Moreman. They believe Sarah left the house with him, but aren't sure how he knew Sarah. He claims to have been out of town that night, but police say they have eye witnesses that place him there. Police asked him to hand over his phone, but he claimed it broke and he threw it away. He was served a search warrant and then handed his phone over.

56:52 He was arrested on December twentieth, twenty twenty three, for misleading law enforcement, but he was released today. Later, police believed that Tyrone was with Sarah at a convenience store in the early morning hours of March third, and that's based on his phone's GPS data. Just to be clear, Tyrone was not arrested for anything in connection with Sarah's disappearance. It was just for misleading the police. Michelle, however, does not believe Tyrone is involved in Sarah's disappearance. She has a suspect in mind. She refuses to back down to the police department and is determined to find out what happened to her sister. Michelle told Dayline quote, I just feel like Sarah's probably not alive wherever she is. She's never gone even a week without speaking to somebody and getting on social media unquote. Sarah, now twenty seven, is five foot two inches tall, about one hundred and fifteen pounds, with dirty blonde hair and blue eyes. She was last seen wearing a white tank top and a black skirt.

57:54 She has a tattoo on her right hip of Cocoa Pella of fertility deity. Sarah has a daughter who just turned six. This marks the second birthday celebration without her mother by her side. If you have any information, about Sarah's disappearance. Please call the Marion County Sheriff's Office at three five two three six eight three fiveh eight. Well, we are so sorry to Sarah's family and we hope that she is found safely soon. Yes, I have a couple of items, pop culture items. You know, I'm a big fan of pop culture. Yeah, to talk about Well, this isn't even pop culture. This is about domestic violence. But did you happen to see the video of Sean Combe? Oh? I did. It's very disturbing, horrific?

58:44 Yeah, what what a piece of shit. I'm just going to say it. He's just a horrible person. I've never liked the guy, but like this is just and it's from is it from twenty fifteen? Like it's it's older, and I have to think that he paid someone just you know, to keep bit hidden. This grosses me out when people use their money and such. Oh yeah, and ways like that. Just the fact that he would do what he did when he's in a you know, hallway where he I'm sure he knew there were cameras there or whatever, and just felt like he didn't have to worry about it. I apologized today. Okay, then he said, you know, he takes full accountability of it, so right, you know, well, and you know if someone's doing that in front of cameras a hundred you know, one hundred times. Yeah, so very sad, And I just think it's really important to call out domestic violence when you can, and when when you know people are acting inappropriately and not treating their spouse with dignating respect. I think it's really becoming increasingly more important for us to not just us, but you know, as a society, to call it out. On a lighter note, though, did you hear that Ben Affleck and shlo like they're not wearing their wedding rings. I heard the divorce is imminent. I know they're public figures, but it makes me sad. And yeah, they still deserve boundaries and respect, and I can't imagine what it be like heavy. I'm such a private person. I don't like to post pictures of myself as people know of Yeah, I don't think

1:00:15 people have a right to know everything that's going on in their marriage. I know there's a video I just saw the other day of it's I think it's from a few years ago, but you might have seen it, like Ben Affleck is holding the door open for her, and he closes the door, and the way he closed the door, he's just like you can just tell he's like a fight or whatever. They closed the door like he's just done. Then he walks around and he looks up and he sees the person filming him, and he just gets a look at his face like, dude, what the Like? I know, you just feel like he should really go live in the mountains where cameras can't capture his every move because clearly he's not the happiest fella. Yeah. I don't know anything about this other than it's a movie that Jlo made. I think it's some sort of auto biographical documentary or something. It's called The Greatest Story Never Told, Wait, the Greatest Love Story Never Told. And I think she spent like twenty million dollars of her own money making this, and it's like a tribute to her and Ben's love. Oh so she might be regretting that money right now. Maybe.

1:01:17 So. We wish them all and I hope you work things out. I want to thank everyone sincerely for all your nice messages, your notes, your comments on Spotify. We see them, we treasure them. We're very grateful for you. Yeah, we really are. Please rate, review, follow and subscribe, Find us on social media, or send us an email at Lovemrykill at gmail dot com, and please consider supporting us on Patreon dot com slash Lovemrykill. We have one tier five dollars a month, and that gets you early ad free access and a monthly bonus episode. Until next time, don't kill your husband and don't kill your wife at the compat