JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Just days after withdrawing his guilty plea, the man accused of shooting and killing St. Johns County father Jared Bridegan has been indicted by a grand jury.
According to Duval County court records, Henry Tenon was charged Thursday by the grand jury with:
- Murder in the first degree
- Child abuse
- Possession of a firearm by a convicted felon
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Charges he was facing that have been dropped/abandoned include conspiracy to commit murder and accessory after the fact.
On Tuesday, Tenon told Judge London Kite, “I want a new trial.”
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Bridegan’s ex-wife Shanna Gardner and her estranged husband Mario Fernandez Saldana are accused of plotting Bridegan’s murder.
Tenon had previously admitted the couple hired him to pull the trigger.
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In a plea deal he originally agreed to, Tenon would face a minimum of 15 years to life in prison and avoid the death penalty.
But as of Tuesday, that deal was off.
The Instagram account justiceforjaredb posted Thursday about Tenon’s grand jury indictment, saying “We will see him at trial.”
‘Gunned down in cold blood’
Bridegan was gunned down Feb. 16, 2022, in Jacksonville Beach. He had just taken his twins he shared with ex-wife Gardner, and his then-2-year-old daughter he had with wife Kirsten Bridegan, to dinner.
The software engineer had just dropped off the twins at Gardner’s house when he encountered a tire on Sanctuary Boulevard, a one-way road. He was headed home to his second wife, Kirsten Bridegan, and their youngest child.
JUNE 2022 INTERVIEW: ‘Wish it weren’t like this’: Ex-wife of Jared Bridegan, father killed in Jacksonville Beach, speaks
Jacksonville Beach Police Chief Gene Paul Smith said during the announcement of the first arrest in January 2023, that “the tire was purposely placed there to make him stop, which he did.”
“Tragically, he began to exit his vehicle to move the tire and he was gunned down in cold blood,” Smith said.
Bridegan was shot several times while his daughter was still strapped into a car seat in the back seat of Bridegan’s car.
The suspects
Fernandez Saldana, Gardner’s estranged husband, was arrested in March 2023 on charges of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, child abuse, and solicitation to commit a capital felony.
The arrest of Tenon in connection with Bridegan’s murder was announced in January 2023. He was arrested on charges of conspiracy to commit murder, accessory after the fact to a capital felony, child abuse, and second-degree murder
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Gardner was arrested in August 2023 in Washington and is facing charges of first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, solicitation to commit murder, and child abuse.
Bridegan’s widow Kirsten filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Tenon, Gardner, and Fernandez Saldana in February 2025. A motion to stay that case until the criminal charges are resolved was granted in July.
Gardner and Fernandez Saldana are currently set to go to trial on August 10.
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