Criminology - The Murder of Jared Bridegan

Episode Date: February 26, 2023

Jared Bridegan was gunned down in the Jacksonville, Florida, area in February of 2022. His two-year-old daughter was left in the vehicle unharmed but is thought to have witnessed her father's murder. Jared was a father of four. He had two young daughters with his current wife, Kirsten, and twins with his ex-wife Shanna Gardner-Fernandez. Jared's divorce from Shanna and the subsequent custody battle was extremely contentious. Join Mike and Morf as they discuss this currently developing case. One man named Henry Tenon has been arrested in connection with Jared's murder. This arrest has led to much speculation that more arrests may soon be coming after it came out that Tenon had a connection to Shanna's husband. The police have not released many details, but it has not stopped people from theorizing that it is possible that Jared's murder was orchestrated by someone who, at one time, had been very close to him. You can help support the show at patreon.com/criminology An Emash Digital production Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey there, it's Wayfair here, where delivery and setup are as easy as a few taps on your phone. You're relaxing in an old hammock, scrolling Wayfair's app, when you spot it, a brand new patio set. Next thing you know, Wayfair delivers it right to your patio and sets it up. Oh, you need a new grill, too? All right, Wayfair's got you covered. With Wayfair's room of choice delivery and fast experts set up on qualifying orders, life gets a little easier. Visit Wayfair.com or the Wayfair app. podcast that may contain discussion about violent or disturbing topics. Listener discretion is advised.

So everyone and welcome to episode 246 of the Criminology Podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson. And this is Mike Morford. Morph. What is going on with you, man? I'm just doing the typical house homeowners fun stuff. We were just talking before we started recording about projects around the house and expenses and the joys of being a homeowner.

Yeah, I had to have a new. new HVAC system put in, which I knew I was going to have to do. But, you know, when that, when that bill kind of hits you, it's like, that's what happens. You know, when you, when you got a house, things break and you can't plan for everything. So you just got to roll with it. Yeah. And we're still in storm cleanup mode or rebuild mode, whatever you want to call it. So slowly, surely, it's coming along.

I've been watching a lot of movies lately, you know. I watch movies in the background. while I'm researching and working. And I was telling Gibby the other day about this new game that I'm kind of playing. I watch a lot on HBO Max because they have a ton of movies. So at the end of every movie, at the bottom, there's always this list of like, okay, here's more like it or here's what we suggest. So the new game is I have to watch whatever they put up first,

whether it's a good movie, bad movie, I've seen it. I haven't seen it. I got to watch that. And it's led to me watching some older movies that I've kind of forgotten about. Final analysis with Richard Geer and Kim Basinger. That's a good movie, man. And it's older. I just haven't seen it in a long time.

Just stuff like that, it's kind of working out good. But then every now and then you get a real stinker that you got to kind of make it through. Yeah, you have to fit that stuff in when you're working a lot. You have to find a little time to find the movies and take a little bit. break and sounds like you might have another podcast on your hands though maybe maybe uh what's up next that's what i'm going to call it all right let's go ahead and give our patreon shoutouts we had helen lambert brian chank amoscel jumped out at our highest level jen melvin andrea papa george andrew britton so it's a lot of great new support we really appreciate it yeah thanks to everyone for going out of

their way to help the show it means a lot to us and anyone that like to support the show can go to patreon.com slash criminology. All right, buddy, let's go ahead and jump into this week's case. And in this episode, we're discussing the case of a 33-year-old Microsoft executive and family man named Jared Brightigan, who was gunned down in the Jacksonville, Florida area in February 22. Sadly, his two-year-old daughter was with him and witnessed his murder. At first, the ambush-style murder.

murder seemed like an act of random violence. When a suspect was arrested, it only led to more questions and a possible motive for the murder was revealed to investigators. There's already been one arrest and more may be coming. It was February 16, 2022, just days after Valentine's Day. 33-year-old Jared Bride again had taken three of his four children out on what's been referred to as a date night, basically just a fun time to get out and do something with his kids. Jared was a father of four, but only his two nine-year-old twins, a son and a daughter, from his first marriage to Shanna Gardner Fernandez, and his two-year-old daughter, Bexley, that he had with his second wife, Kirsten, went with him.

His youngest daughter, seven-month-old London, stayed home with Kirsten at their home in St. Augustine, Florida. Jared and the kids had an uneventful day. Afterwards, he dropped the twins off at their mother, Shanna's house, near Jacksonville. At around 7.30 p.m., he called his wife. wife. They talked about how the outing with his children went, and according to the Daily Beast, Bexley happily exclaimed, Mom, I got an ice cream. Before they hung up, Jared said to Kirsten, I'm almost home, see you soon. The drive from Jacksonville to St. Augustine should have been a little more than half hour. Kirsten expected Jared home by 8.15, but when 8.30 came and he still

wasn't home, Kirsten started to worry. It was a half hour drive. And when they spoke on the phone, Jared said he was almost home. Kirsten later told the Daily Beast, I gave it a few more minutes. And then I started looking down the road just to see if there were headlights coming down the road. When Jared didn't answer her call or text, Kirsten hopped in her car and began searching. She told Fox News, I was thinking maybe he got in a car accident. I had a gut feeling something wasn't right.

As she drove, Kirsten tried Jared's phone repeatedly, but didn't. get an answer. She tried his phone one last time. And finally, there was an answer, but it was not Jared who answered his phone. It was a police officer. The officer wouldn't say much to Kirsten, and she was instructed to head to the Jacksonville Beach Police Department. While they didn't tell Kirsten what was going on, they did tell her that her two-year-old Bexley was okay. So, I mean, I think you have to imagine this more. Somebody doesn't come home in the time frame that you expect them to. That happens.

That's fairly routine. I mean, my daughter is supposed to come home. She's five, 10, 15 minutes late. Now, today I can track her with an app. I can see exactly where she is. But it's still stressful for people when they're expecting a loved one home. and that person doesn't show up. As time goes on, obviously that stress increases.

And here, you know, you see Kirsten getting in her car, driving around, searching, thinking that maybe something bad has happened. She even said it. She had a gut feeling that something wasn't right. And that's something that you hear a lot of times in these cases. Yeah. And then when she finally gets an answer, it's not her husband she's calling. It's a police officer that's picking up the phone, which has to make her heart drop into her chest at that point.

So she must have been really frightened. When Kirsten got to the police station, she was relieved to find Bexley coloring. She told the Daily Beast, I ran over and I picked her up, and the officer just wouldn't tell me anything for what seems like forever. Finally, an officer came over and gave Kirsten the awful news that would forever change her world, that her husband Jared was dead. But it wasn't an accident that had taken his life. Jared had been murdered, shot to death. For Kirsten in that moment, it was unfathomable.

They had just spoken on the phone. But Jared had been fatally shot just moments after that call ended. Kirsten told the Daily Beast, Honestly, my hearing seemed to go. I felt like I was going to throw up. She wanted to tell the officer, it's not him, it's somebody else. You made a mistake. But they had Bexley and Jared's phone,

and he would never just leave Bexley if everything was okay. And it finally sank in for Kirsten that there was no mistake. Jared was dead. So no doubt this was a roller coaster of emotions for Kirsten. We just talked about her being fearful, that something bad had happened, having a gut feeling. Well, now she's being told that, you know, her worst fears are true. And even then she doesn't want to believe it until,

it finally sinks in. I mean, it's heartbreaking because you can put yourself in Kirsten's shoes and just think about how horrible this range of emotions and, you know, finding out this news would have been. And it seems very sudden, too, no time to really process it. And the whole time, her young daughter is right there with her. So she probably, I would imagine, would want to compose herself and not upset her daughter too much, who probably was already frightened from the whole experience. Yeah, during the shooting, Bexley was unharmed physically and left in her car seat in the back seat of the car. She was alone for almost five minutes before someone drove by and found Jared on the ground and called 911. Police arrived and found Jared's driver's side door open

and a tire was in the middle of the road in front of his car. The hazard, like, were still blinking on and all. Nothing had been stolen. It was not a robbery gone wrong. Police theorized that the tire was placed in the road in an effort to get someone to pull over. And when Jared approached the tire, he got out to move it and was ambushed and killed. The question for police was, was Jared the intended target? Or was he just in the wrong place at the wrong time. The only witness to what happened to Jared and who did it was two-year-old Bexley. Although she was not injured, Bexley was aware that something was wrong. So police, you know, they kind of jump on this theory pretty quickly and it makes sense, right? Why is there a tire

in the middle of the road? Was it put there deliberately to, you know, stop a car, make a, someone get out of their car? And then you have to take it a, step further and try to figure out if someone was doing this to get any random person to stop and maybe ambush them and rob them or if this was done specifically for Jared Bright again. And I think the police had their work cut out for them trying to figure out where the truth led. Jared had no known enemies and was a well-liked and successful person. Though Kirsten didn't speak about Jared's prior relationship to the media and are pleased for information, many people immediately suspected that Jared's ex-wife, 35-year-old Shanna Gardner Fernandez, was involved.

Her and Jared had a contentious divorce, which was finalized in 2016, but they were still involved in an ongoing custody battle at the time of Jared's murder, and at times the battle was heated. Jared and Shanna met in 2009. She was living in Utah at the time, but visited a friend in Jacksonville, and ended up hitting it off with Jared. They married in April 2010 in Salt Lake City. After their twins were born, they moved to Connecticut.

They were married for six years, but on February 23, 2015, Shanna filed for divorce in St. John's County, calling their marriage, irretrievably broken. Just months later, in court filings, she wrote that she and Jared just didn't love each other anymore. Apparently, though, Jared thought that Shanna was cheating on him. According to The Daily Beast, in a Facebook message to one of his close friends, he once wrote, Shanna has become really distant and got emotionally attached to her personal trainer at the gym and is now divorcing me.

Jared had gotten personal training sessions as a Christmas gift for Shanna in 2014, and by this point, he regretted it. Shana Gardner Fernandez has denied having an affair. but according to crimeonline.com, the personal trainer has supposedly spoken to the media, though remaining nameless, and says that the affair did indeed happen. However, he says that she told him she and Jared were separated before anything happened between them. She told him that they weren't really speaking and that they were living in opposite ends of the house. According to those that knew Jared, he wanted to move on and find someone new.

that he could be in a happy relationship with. Shanna, on the other hand, according to some people, seemed angry. According to the Daily Beast, in 2015, about the same time that Jared was messaging his friend about moving on, Shannon was asking people at the tattoo parlor she worked at if they knew someone who could shut up Jared for her. Shanna does not deny making that statement, calling the separation bitter and a Daily Beast quote. Also in 2015, Jared accused Shanna of of invading his privacy and spying on him by hiding baby monitors in the children's bedroom and even attaching a tracking device to his car.

According to Fox News, Jared sent his attorney an email which read, I should have every damn right on my own property to not constantly be under-recording or monitoring by Shanna. And Jared seemed pretty mad by this time because he finished the email with, I want the flipping gates of hell released on her for this. Just months later, they finally came to a divorce agreement.

Their divorce case files 819 pages along. So I think more to say that this divorce and, you know, subsequent custody battle was contentious is probably an understatement. I mean, you know, this is something that you might see in a movie. If she really was hiding baby monitors around the house and, you know, spying on him that way, attaching a tracking device to his car, okay, it's not going to be an easy divorce. The end must have been really rough while they were still living under the same route. I don't know how long a divorce agreement is the file, but this one was 819 pages long. So it seems like there's a lot involved, a lot of details.

And then, of course, you've got kids involved, which I imagine as a whole another saga. and we mentioned they had sort of a custody dispute going after the divorce. So it seems like a real messy situation. Though Jared was ready to move on, it still seemed as though he was upset about the divorce. According to the Daily Beast, he wrote one friend in March 2015 saying, never get divorced. It's literally the hardest thing I'll ever do. He went on to explain that it's emotionally and physically the worst thing in the world to hear

your eternal companion, which he thought that Shannon would be, just be like, yeah, I'm out. See you later. Jared joined a few dating websites in his bid to move on. Nate Sanders, Jared's former boss at Canopy, a software company in Lehigh, Utah told the Daily Beast, he had been doing a lot of dating on Bumble and Tinder and things like that and just felt like he hadn't found somebody that he could really connect with. But Jared met Kirsten in early 2017. She lived in North Carolina and worked for Microsoft. He then told Nate Sanders, I think she's really special.

I think it could go somewhere. Eventually, Jared drove six hours from his home in Jacksonville, Florida to Charlotte, North Carolina, to take Kirsten on a real in-person date. Soon after that date, Kirsten switched to remote work at Microsoft so she could move to Florida to be closer to Jared. By October 2017, they were married. After about a year, Kirsten and Jared began trying for children. Kirsten told the Daily Beast that in order to be able to spend time together as a married couple and really get to know each other, they waited just over a year before having kids.

She got to see what kind of father Jared was to his twins during that year, and she remembers Jared as a creative dad. Their daughter, Bexley, their first child together, was born in August 2019. Their youngest daughter, London, was born two years later in August 2021. In September 2021, Jared started working for Microsoft as a user-experienced design lead. Jared shared custody of the twins with Shanna and took turns with them every week. One week the twins would be with Shanna. The next with Jared.

Jared was trying to be the best father he could be to all four of his kids. And despite the uneasy tension between Jared and, and his ex-wife, Shanna, the arrangement seemed to work. But when Jared was killed, although they never accused Shanna publicly of being involved, behind the scenes, it seems as though Kirsten and the rest of Jared's family did have their suspicions, even if they were kind of watching their words that they used in the press. She told News 4 Jacksonville, I have my thoughts, but those aren't important. no matter what she thought happened,

she felt what was important is the detectives finding evidence and finding clear answers to who did this. Jared's brother Adam told Inside Edition that Jared definitely feared that something like this could happen to him with the divorce, apparently meaning that he thought the situation could end in violence. And here's the situation that I think you see kind of play out in a lot of cases, especially where, you know, one side of the family has some very deep-seated suspicions about a certain person in a case. You know, let's say in this case,

people are suspicious of Shannon. Well, what do they choose to say to the media? And I think you see here that Kirsten made the decision to be very guarded in what she put out there. And I actually think that's a smart thing to do, although it's probably tough when you feel as though in your mind that someone had something to do with your husband's death. But she's saying, hey, let's let the detectives figure this out. Let's let them find the evidence and figure out who killed. Jared. I think it's also troubling that here you have the victim who apparently told his brother that he was worried that something could happen, you know, volatile, maybe ending in violence. So I think anytime you have someone that's murdered in a situation like this, and then you have this backstory that they were worried about something that has to, you know, put that person a little bit higher on the radar of police. Yeah, because he's not saying to his brother.

rather, hey, you know, I'm worried just in general. It's very specific, right? It's related to the divorce. It's related to Shanna. So this fear that something could happen is really only related to her. Shanna wasn't invited to Jared's funeral. Their nine-year-old twins didn't attend either. Instead, having a private memorial on Jacksonville Beach with Shanna.

Kirsten was sad over not having Jared's oldest children at the funeral, telling Fox News, I miss them too. We didn't just lose Jared. We lost our family structure. Kirsten was quoted in Little Things.com as saying, On top of losing Jared, my children have lost her siblings. I've lost my stepkids. I've tried for months and months to make contact and have gotten nowhere.

All contact between the two families was basically cut off. On February 28th, just 12 days after Jared was killed, Shanna emailed Kirsten, asking her to return library books. Soon after that, she emailed again asking for a copy of Jared's death certificate. But there wasn't much else in the way of communication. In the suburbs of D.C., a woman fails to show up for work and is found brutally murdered. I wonder what's emergency? We just walked in the door and there's blood in the foyer.

For the next two decades, the case remained unsolved until new technology allowed investigators to do what had once been impossible. A new series from ABC Audio and Thurier. 20. Blood and water. Listen now, wherever you get your podcasts. While Jared's friends and family were coping with the aftermath of his tragic death, police continued searching for his killer. Police acknowledged one vehicle of interest seen on surveillance footage in the area was a dark blue 2004 to 2008 Ford F-150 with brown or tan running boards. For her part, Kirsten believes that Jared was targeted. She told the Daily Mail for it to be in that area. Someone knew what they were doing because there are no cameras,

there are no houses there, there's no ring doorbell. It's trees and a one-way street. The rest of the drive is either residential, where people would be likely to see something happen or full of businesses like gas stations with cameras. It seems for the suspect to get away with this murder, it had to happen here. Residents in the sanctuary neighborhood just passed where Jared was ambushed definitely have surveillance cameras. One neighbor there helped narrow down the timeline due to the sound of gunshots being captured on their camera. And more of I think this is one thing that we've seen in a number of cases that we've done recently, you know, police have for a long time had the ability to go to businesses and try to get their surveillance video. But now it seems as though a lot of

people have video doorbell cameras, security cameras, you know, on the outside of their homes. And they're catching a lot of things. Now, it may not. be an actual murder. Like in this case, somebody captured on their camera the sound of gunshots. So, you know, can you use that then to

pinpoint the time and all of that? It's just a technology that the police have now at their fingertips that they didn't have years ago. Yeah, I think even if you go back just 10 years ago, 20

years ago, this was something that's, there just weren't that many cameras that people had in their, you know, homes, ring doorbells, that kind of stuff. So I think all this stuff helps police narrow down timelines and every once in a while we talk about cases where a description of a car is captured. So it does give them a little bit of an advantage in trying to solve some of these crimes. It was apparent that the killer didn't just know the area, though. They knew Jerry. Kirsten told the Daily Beast, whoever decided killed Jared knew what kind of person he was. They knew he was the kind of person who would stop to move a tire out of the street to ensure someone else wouldn't get hurt. Jared was shot from very close range, just three to four feet away, multiple times.

This was no accident. Jacksonville Beach Police Sergeant Tanya Tater clarified that authorities were looking into the tire in the road, saying to News Nation now he got out of the vehicle, we believe, to check on that tire. We are investigating if it was put there purposefully or if it was just happenstance. It would seem that this was not random as crime like this is not common in that area. According to Fox News, Sergeant Tater also said Jacksonville Beach is a safe community and a murder of this nature is highly unusual. As we mentioned, Kirsten agreed that this was no random act of violence telling Fox News

this was orchestrated, this was planned, and this was specific to Jerry. So I don't think there's any doubt more where her thoughts are. She was very adamant and has been very adamant telling multiple outlets that she did not believe this was a random act of violence. She believed that Jared was specifically targeted. Jared's brother, Adam Bright again, agrees telling Jackson News for Jacksonville, just due to the amount of times he was shot, just to ensure that he was dead, that he wasn't going to be able to recover.

Jared's family is hopeful the case will be solved. Kirsten told the Daily Mail, I have a lot of confidence in the officers that are on this case. Evidence processing takes a lot of time. She said early on in the investigation, Sergeant Tater felt positive about the investigation too, telling News 4, maybe not now, maybe not next week, but I feel confident that eventually we will find the person or persons responsible

for this. Jared's brother, Adam, added, after talking to those behind the scenes that are working so hard, the sacrifices that they are making, I absolutely believe that we will have justice. True to their word, police did make an arrest. On January 25, 2003, 61-year-old Henry Arthur Tenon was charged with second-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, accessory after the fact, and child abuse. At the time of the research and writing for this episode, all documents relating to his arrest were still sealed. When he was charged, Tenon had already been in custody since he was arrested on August 18, 2021, for possession of a weapon by a felon, and driving with a suspended or revoked license.

After being pulled over, a shotgun was found. in his trunk. Tenant has a long criminal history dating back to at least 1998 when he was in his mid-30s. Most of his crimes are traffic violations, a suspended license, careless driving, driving under the influence, or leaving the scene of an accident where there was property damage. But he has also been charged with domestic violence multiple times, battery, criminal mischief, and writing bad checks. But Tenon's background isn't the only thing that jumped out to people because it appears that he once lived in a home owned by 33-year-old Mario Enrique Fernandez, Shanna Gardner Fernandez's new husband. He also worked for Fernandez as a handyman.

Mario Enrique Fernandez has since sold the home, which was just 25 miles from the scene of the murder. Shanna and her husband have both retained attorney Henry Cox III since shortly after Jared's murder. Supposedly they hired this attorney, according to The Sun.com, for the purpose of seeing if steps could be taken to protect her young twins from any publicity surrounding this tragic event. Cox claims that is the sole reason, stating, as for any other reason, for the family to have, or need counsel, whether it be myself or anyone else. There is none. Shanna Gardner Fernandez agreed, saying, I consulted with a criminal defense attorney for my kids.

She went on to explain, ultimately, my kids' images and videos were being used in the media without consent. Kirsten was saddened, but not shocked by the connection between her husband's ex-wife Shanna and Henry Tenon, saying to the Daily Mail, It's sickening because we do know Mario. And so the fact that Henry is connected to him, I'm not surprised, to be honest. Employees at a pallet company that Tannen worked for say that he owns a Blue Ford F-150, just like the vehicle of interest police were looking for.

It's unknown how investigators narrowed in on Henry Tennon. But the $55,000 reward that was offered for information in the case may have helped. Authority searched the home he rented from Mario Fernandez, at least three different times, according to the home. current tenant. No one else has been charged in connection with Jared's murder, at least not yet. State attorney Melissa Nelson told Jacksonville.com, we know Henry Tennant did not act alone. The conspiracy charge against Tenin may be a clue that more arrests are coming. According to the charging document, Tenon on or between January 4th, 2002 and February 16th,

2022 did agree, conspire, combine, or confederate with other human beings to unlawfully and from a premeditated design affect the death of Jared Brightigan. Jared's brother Adam told the Daily Mail, we have no idea how far that conspiracy went, how deep that it went, and to know that this individual or these individuals are currently living among us, it's scary. to anyone else involved in Jared's murder, Kirsten has one message, enjoy your freedom while you can. So more if I got to tell you, man, I like Kirsten. You know, obviously what she went through and is still going through is horrible,

but you can get a sense from her quotes that she's not afraid to put it out there, you know, saying enjoy your freedom while you can. She wants justice. She's going to get justice. And she's not afraid to call people out. Now, she can't do it by name, but she's saying, whoever you are, they're coming after you. Yeah, it definitely seems like she's being patient but confident as well. And I don't know if this guy is involved with other people, you know, the time may be coming where he's going to look for a deal for himself.

And he might start naming names. So we might know some of these names sooner rather than later. And the fact that this Tenin guy is connected to Jared's ex and her new husband, that's either the world's biggest coincidence or maybe there's something else going on there. Yeah, I mean, I think that's the way everybody looks at it, right? Can it really be a coincidence that this guy worked for Shanna's new husband, had other connections to him. Man, like you said, the world's biggest coincidence,

or there's something else going on. On February 13, 2023, Henry Tennant entered a plea of not guilty at his second appearance in the Duval County courthouse and a trial will be held in the near future. Maybe more than one trial if authorities are able to arrest any accomplice or accomplices. Investigators believe the murder was planned for at least six weeks.

Currently, Mario Fernandez and Yenges and Shanna Gardner-Fernandez are both suspected of being involved in Jared's murder, but neither has been arrested or charged with any crime. At the February 13th hearing, Kirsten Brightigan was there to face her husband's accused killer. She told Fox News, to think that might have been one of the last people my husband saw is kind of a hard pill to swallow. In a statement to the media, she spoke directly to tenant. Henry, if you get to hear this, please choose now to do the right thing. Please help us receive justice sooner than later.

Please help us in this nightmare that we're living every single day. Kirsten had compassion for Tennon's family, knowing how it feels to lose the life you had with the loved one. She added, we can only imagine the hurt and the pain you must also be feeling. Tenon's hearing was originally set for February 16. the one year anniversary of Jared's murder, but his team asked that it be moved.

And again, I want to go back to Kirsten because I do think she's such a central figure in this story. You know, these statements that she's making to the media, to different papers, some of them, I feel, are very calculated. You know, she's speaking directly to Henry Tennant. asking him to do the right thing. But at the same time, she's showing compassion for his family. So I just wonder, you know, how calculated it really is to try to get this guy to name names,

to tell the police who all he was involved with and maybe get his family to put pressure on him as well. Yeah, and it seems like Kirsten is very composed and handled. herself pretty classy the way that she's putting her opinion out there and maybe putting a little pressure on him to do the right thing and help her family get justice. There's a question of whether Bexley, the sole witness to Jared's murder, who's now three years old, will need to testify at trial. Kirsten worried about that, telling Inside Edition, she's been through that. She does not need to be there and have to see the people who are involved in her father's murder. Kirsten said that Bexley has been making good progress healing from the incident, with Kirsten explaining that

Bexley used to talk more about what she saw and heard, but has since started to talk about memories with Jared and acceptance of him being up in heaven. And we haven't talked about Bexley all that much. That's heartbreaking to think that a two-year-old witnessed their father's murder. Now she's three years old. Would she really be called to testify? a trial. A three-year-old. I mean, it's possible. Obviously, Kirsten doesn't want that for Baxley, doesn't want her to have to go through that. But again, heartbreaking when you hear some of these quotes, right, used to talk about what she saw and heard, but now is talking more about the memories of her dad and the acceptance of him in heaven. Your heart goes out. Your heart goes

out for these people. Yeah, and I wonder, you know, a child's mind, you know, is a pretty fascinating thing because sometimes they deal with grief and things that as adults are really tough, but children are resilient, they say. So hopefully she's able to overcome this and not have trauma from it and things that are ongoing in her life as she gets older. Henry Tenin is being held without bail. Shanna Gardner Fernandez and the twins, who are now 10 years old, have moved 2,800 miles away to Benton County, Washington. The cross-country move shocked Kirsten.

She told Little Things.com, first the twins lost their dad. Then they were completely cut off from their own sisters. And now they're being taken away from their school, friends, their sports teams. Shanna's second husband, Mario, did not move to Washington and still lives in Florida,

but not in the home. They had lived in together, though he still owns it. He seems comfortable. He's been photographed, casually trimming his beard in the driveway of his Kissimmee condo. Although it's not confirmed,

there's a rumor that Mario and Shanna are no longer a couple. The home in Washington where Shanna is currently living is pricey, $1 million, and was bought in September by her parents, Shelly and Sterling Gardner. Shanna has not been charged with any crime, but in the court of public opinion, all eyes are on her. For her part, she maintains her innocence, telling the sun.com, I did not have anything to do with his murder. Last June, she explained that though their breakup was bitter, she didn't want to hurt him.

She told WOKV.com, even though we didn't always get along, he was the father of my kids. And I would never want this to happen to anybody. Henry Tenin faces life in prison. If he is convicted on the second-degree murder charge of Jared Bridgetan, there's even a chance for the charge to be changed and upgraded to first degree as the investigation continues. At some point, it may behoove Henry Tenon to tell authorities everything that he knows. He's doing court on March 21st. There's still. Still a $50,000 reward for information that leads to any further arrest in this case, like Kirsten and all of Jared's family.

We are waiting for more arrests to be made and we'll all be closely following any upcoming trials. Kirsten Bright again wants justice for all of Jared's loved ones telling the New York Post, a grave injustice has been done to our family and that includes the twins. On a recent appearance of Dr. Phil, Kirsten opened up more about her suspicions telling Dr. Phil, I have never found Shanna to be a truthful person. So I don't put a lot of weight into what she said. She didn't feel that Shanna Gardner Fernandez was really broken up about Jared's death saying, there's no tears.

There's no real emotion there doesn't come across as genuine to me. Kirsten and the rest of Jared's family have started the Bride Again Foundation, whose mission is to give first responders Bexley's boxes for children who are involved in traumatic crimes and situations. Comfort items for children are something that an officer usually has to run out for, or cobble together, personally, when they end up with a child at the police station. Kirsten recalls forgetting to bring a diaper for Bexley in her rush to the police station that night and arriving to find that she needed a diaper change, but the station didn't have one in Bexley's size. Not only that, when Kirsten was interviewed by officers,

Bexley was scared and with strangers. She told the Daily Mail, the more I thought, the more I wanted to make a difference for other kids, explaining that it started out small thinking maybe I'd do two or three boxes at police departments, filled with all these essentials as well as toys to keep them distracted. They expanded their goal to create 16 Bexley's boxes by February 16th just last week, as the one-year anniversary of her husband's murder approached. Kirsten told News 4 in Jacksonville, we're going to stay positive. We're going to show love to people,

and that's how we're going to get through this. So morph, as we wrap up this episode, you know, obviously this is a case that is still in flux. Henry Tenon has not yet gone to trial. And my thought is there's a lot that could change leading up to that trial. you know that they're going to most likely offer him some kind of deal to name his accomplices. Is he going to want to take a deal like that?

Maybe. It depends on how good the deal is. The one thing that is not in doubt is that when it comes to the court of public opinion, When you look out there online in forums and on different websites, overwhelmingly, people are in the camp that this is much more than a coincidence, that Henry Tenon is connected to Mario Fernandez and therefore connected to Shannon. I think most people believe there's more to this story. And it remains to be seen how much more of the truth is going to come out. And that's one of the reasons why I think people are really going to follow this case closely because things could change dramatically.

Well, and the one thing we don't know in this case is how much police have to work with behind the scenes because it seems that they have a pretty good timeline. They stated that this planning went on for quite a while. so this wasn't like a spur of the moment decision that this guy concocted. He had some help and he had some planning and he coordinated with people over a period of time. So those things that the police have, that there's bits of information behind the scenes, maybe there's a lot more that is going to come out from that as well. Yeah, I think that's a great point.

There's really no reason for them to put that out there. it would do more harm to the case than it would good. The other thing that that I was kind of thinking about is that, you know, there's maybe no need to rush it, you know, keep compiling as much evidence against other people involved as you can before you make your move. And part of that may be the timing of waiting to see whether or not Henry Tenon is going to turn on anyone. Because obviously, if you get his testimony against other people,

that's a really powerful tool in the prosecution's arsenal. So that may be kind of the linchpin or the domino that they're waiting to see if it falls before they move forward with other plans. And as far as the whole legal situation in the crime itself, what's been charged and what still may be charged, the one thing that I was scratching my head over is if he allegedly planned this out with some co-conspirators over a period of time and carried this out, how is this not first-degree murder? And I'm sure we have some legal experts that are listening that maybe could explain why they would go second degree of murder as opposed to first-degree. although we said it could be elevated to first degree. I'm wondering why they didn't charge him with first degree murder right from the beginning. Yeah, that question ran through my mind as well.

But like you said, that could be upgraded, definitely. And maybe that's part of the process as well of trying to make some type of deal with this guy to nab other parties involved. And we can't know everything that Jared's family's thinking, but I would expect that although this guy may have been the one that actually pulled the trigger, they want everyone held accountable that played a role in Jared's death. So I can understand them wanting to be patient and hopefully have this guy spill the beans about everything he knows so that everyone involved is held accountable for their actions. Yeah, I mean, yeah, when you think about it, okay, let's say, because we don't know this, this thing's not been finalized. He's only been charged, but let's say Henry Tenon pulled the trigger. But at whose behest, right? Who wanted this done? If there are other individuals involved, who put him up to it? And, you know, to your point, more if Jared's family would want

those people held accountable, especially if it turns out to be Shanna. And if that's the case, this is just a tragic scenario all the way around because Jared's oldest kids, the twins, if Shanna winds winds up being involved and is prosecuted, then they've essentially lost their mom and their dad. So this could get even worse as far as how tragic it is. But I want to go back to Kirsten because, you know, throughout this episode, you know, all of the quotes that she made to various outlets, I was just so impressed with her. Not only did she have to degrieve the loss of her husband and try to help her young daughter, Bexley, cope with that loss, but she's also fighting for justice at the same time. I thought a lot of her comments really showed a lot about her.

She was measured. She was in control. But at the same time, you could get to sense that she was a little fierce. And she wasn't going to stop until she got justice for Jared. Well, I know a lot of us will definitely be keeping an eye on this case and seeing what develops. It should be interesting. And hopefully Jared's family gets the justice they deserve in the end. Yeah, I mean, we're all hoping for that.

And like in many cases, we see something good come out in the wake of this tragedy, you know, this Breitigan Foundation, the Bexley's Boxes. That's a really amazing idea because there are a lot of situations where children are involved in traumatic crimes or situations, they end up at a police station. Is the station equipped with things that, you know, are needed for a young child? I would say normally not. So these Bexley's boxes, I just think that's an amazing idea and something to do not only for Bexley, but for Jared's memory as well. But that's That's it for our episode on Jared Brightigan.

Like you said, we'll be keeping an eye out on future developments. If you love the show and you haven't done so yet, take a minute, go out, leave us a review or rating. Keep telling your friends, that word of mouth about the criminology podcast is huge. It really helps us out. If you want to find us on social media, we're on Twitter with the handle at CriminologyPod, where you can find us on Facebook by going to facebook.com slash criminology podcast. You can also join our Facebook discussion group, criminology podcast, discussion and fans. So that's it for another episode of criminology, but Morph and I will be back with all of you next Saturday night with a brand new episode.

So for Mike. And Morph. We'll talk to you next week. Take care, everyone.