The Florida woman charged with orchestrating the murder of her Microsoft exec ex-hubby was chillingly caught on camera before her arrest weepily describing how she broke the news of his death to their kids.
Suspected former-spouse slayer Shanna Gardner, 36, recalled to Action Jax months after 33-year-old ex Jared Bridegan’s February 2022 slaying — and before her bust — how she and his grieving second wife, Kirsten, 32, sat down with the two kids to break the news.
“It was a very quick visit,” said the heavily tattooed Gardner, who hails from an affluent Mormon family. “[Kirsten] came over just because she asked to be there to tell the children. And we just wanted it very clear that this is to honor his memory. We didn’t want too many details. … I think we all can agree that we love the kids, and they needed to be the priority.”
A year later, Gardner was charged with engineering the murder and is now facing a possible death sentence.
She recently hired prominent Miami lawyer Jose Baez — who secured an acquittal for Casey Anthony — to defend her against first-degree murder charges.
The day of his death, Jared Bridegan — who also had two kids with Kirsten — had just dropped off the twins he shared with Gardner at her Jacksonville Beach home when he encountered a tire blocking his path.
With his 2-year-old daughter with Kirsten in the backseat, Jared was pumped full of bullets after he got out of the SUV to investigate.
Gardner was locked in a bruising custody war with Jared at the time and soon fell under suspicion.
Hoping to quell those whispers, she spoke to Action Jax in June 2022 to proclaim her innocence. The outlet has released new excerpts from that conversation in recent weeks.
Gardner repeatedly teared up during the interview while discussing the murder she is now charged with initiating.
“I found out in the middle of the night,” she said of her ex’s death. “I was shocked.”
The mother also became emotional when discussing the impact of his passing on their kids.
“I can’t imagine as children what that kind of news would mean, to have to process that,” she said as her eyes welled. “Much less something that they love, their father.”
Gardner also recalled first meeting the man she would later be charged with killing, telling the outlet that Jared’s brother set them up on a blind date in Salt Lake City two decades ago.
“It was a very fast relationship,” she said. “We got married soon after dating. With a couple of years we had the twins. Any time kids come into the mix, it’s a lot.”
Gardner said the couple eventually split in 2015 after the relationship deteriorated.
The ex-Mormon’s new husband, Mario Fernandez, and his former tenant, Henry Tenon, have also been charged in connection with Jared’s murder.