Jacksonville Beach ex-wife of slain Bridegan speaks out: 'I want people to know where I am coming from'

The day after was all about distraction.

Shanna Gardner-Fernandez's ex-husband Jared Bridegan had been shot and killed in Jacksonville Beach. She sat down their 10-year-old twins and gently told them what had happened. Her daughter was shocked and quiet, her son sobbed.

Then "Yes Day" began.

Gardner-Fernandez asked them what they wanted to do. Her son had long craved a drum set so they went to a music store to get him a starter drum pad. He and his sister explored the store, trying out guitars and other musical instruments, as a staffer told their mother how the drum pad worked.

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They were moments to dull the pain.

Then they went out to lunch, although no one really wanted to eat.

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Gardner-Fernandez, 35, had not publicly commented about Bridegan or his Feb. 16 death until this week.

She said she stayed quiet out of respect for his current wife, Kirsten Bridegan of St. Augustine, who has two children of her own with him, and their family. They had asked her not to comment in the media, she said.

"I feel for Jared's family and what they are going through. I can't even imagine," she said. "I have tried to be respectful. I have tried to give them space."

Initially, Gardner-Fernandez was fine with that.

"There has been so much attention surrounding the murder. I have been trying to focus on the kids," she said.

But ongoing, sensationalistic and often inaccurate media coverage — including what Gardner-Fernandez considered invasive photos of her and her children enjoying a local park and implications that she was involved in the shooting — frightened her and the twins. Her friends and family also were being harassed and their businesses threatened, she said.

"It is becoming necessary to respond," she said. "I didn't want it to make a spectacle. I want people to know where I am coming from."

Bridegan, who would have turned 34 on June 29, was killed between 7:15 and 8 p.m. in a wooded area near the exit of The Sanctuary neighborhood. He had just dropped off the twins at Gardner-Fernandez's residence, the Jacksonville Beach Police Department said.

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The Microsoft executive was headed home to St. Augustine, with his 2-year-old daughter in the back seat, when he came upon a tire in the middle of the road. As he apparently tried to move it, he was shot multiple times, police said. His daughter was unharmed.

Investigators believe it was a targeted shooting but have not publicly speculated on a motive.

No arrests have been made in the case and $55,000 in reward money is available for information leading to whoever is responsible, according to Jacksonville Beach Police spokeswoman Tonya Tator.

"The Bridegan case is still active but no suspect information is being released at this time," she said.

Police have asked anyone who saw anything suspicious around that time and day on 15th Street South, Fairway Lane or America Avenue in Jacksonville Beach to call them.

Kirsten Bridegan declined to comment for this story. But at her husband's vigil at South Beach Park and Sunshine Playground, she said she was grateful for widespread community support.

"They care about this community and getting these people off the streets," she said. "Every single voice makes a difference. I want them to know that this is not OK, that we will find them and they will be held accountable."

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At the vigil, friends and family said they would remember Bridegan's goodness, smile and warmth and that he spent his last day doing his favorite thing: spending time with his family. A "Justice for Jared" Instagram page created by his widow is filled with references to how he "truly loved being a dad" — playing kickball with one child with another strapped to his chest — and was always helping friends and neighbors.

"Jared was an unbelievably caring, patient and focused father, husband, son, brother and friend," said one commenter. "It's shattering that he's gone."

2010 marriage ended in 'bitter' divorce

Utah native Gardner-Fernandez met Bridegan during a visit to Florida. They married in 2010 and initially lived in Utah, then moved to Connecticut. They later relocated to Florida, in part because their son had a heart condition that mandated he live at sea level.

But the marriage crumbled. In February 2015, Gardner-Fernandez filed for divorce, which began a long litigation that continued with child support and parenting conflicts even after both had remarried.

The court file in St. Johns County — the couple lived in Ponte Vedra Beach at the time and stayed in the same house until the divorce was granted — has about 300 entries and motions. 

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Among other things, Gardner-Fernandez accused Bridegan of “disturbing and abusive behavior," including "regularly interrogating" and recording the children after "actively coaching" them on what to say and threatening to use their recorded statements against her, according to the file.

He had his share of things to say as well, including that she locked him out of the master bedroom, installed surveillance devices in his car and the children’s bedroom and treated him "in a disparaging manner in front of the children," according to the file.

Gardner-Fernandez declined to comment on the details of the divorce.

"I don't see any good in airing our dirty laundry," she said.

But she denied published reports that she had an affair that led to the end of the marriage. She also addressed a report about her asking a tattoo parlor employee in 2015 if he knew anyone who would "shut … up" her ex-husband.

Gardner-Fernandez acknowledged making the statement — people say such things during "bitter" divorces, she said — but denied having any intent to harm him.

"Our relationship was pretty complicated and remained pretty complicated," she said. 

When she was told he was dead, she said she was devastated and collapsed to the ground, despite their acrimony. 

"I was shocked. I didn't believe it," she said. "It didn't seem real."

Struggling to move on

In recent months, negative media coverage has "become very loud," Gardner-Fernandez said. It made her children feel unsafe.

"I can't take it away," Gardner-Fernandez said. "My kids are 10. They understand everything that is going on. They see this and they are scared, terrified and struggling."

She said she hired Hank Coxe, a prominent criminal defense attorney, to provide options on how best to protect them from the publicity.

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The twins were already in counseling because of the divorce, she said. The same counselor is helping them cope with their father's death, as are friends and family. Among their biggest supporters is her husband, Mario Fernandez, 34, who she said manages rental properties.

The children have been asking when she will resume taking orders for her online bakery, which would provide some semblance of normal. She plans to reopen in the near future.

"You learn who your friends are. I am fortunate enough to live in an amazing community and have an amazing family," she said. "The kids know they're loved. I would never want anybody to go through this. It's terrible to witness."

Times-Union writer Dan Scanlan contributed to this report.

bcravey@jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4109

Tips 

Anyone with information about Jared Bridegan's death can contact the Jacksonville Beach Police Department at (904) 270-1661, First Coast Crime Stoppers at (866) 845-8477 (TIPS) or the ATF at Tampatips@atf.gov.