Law&Crime Sidebar - Microsoft Exec Murder: Sex Trafficking Ex-Cop Implicated in Jared Bridegan's Death, Cops Say

Episode Date: March 24, 2024

New documents in the Jared Bridegan investigation reveal his connection to a disgraced ex-cop involved in a swinger lifestyle. Multiple people are believed to be connected to Bridegan’s assassination, including his ex-wife, her new husband, and a hitman. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber analyzes the latest developments with retired NYPD sergeant Joe Giacalone.HOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael DeiningerScript Writing & Producing - Savannah WilliamsonGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondry Plus in the Wondery app Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Agent Nate Russo returns in Oracle 3, Murder at the Grandview, the latest installment of the gripping Audible Original series. When a reunion at an abandoned island hotel turns deadly, Russo must untangle accident from murder. But beware, something sinister lurks in the grand. View Shadows. Joshua Jackson delivers a bone-chilling performance in this supernatural thriller that

will keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. A former cop who admits he and his wife are swingers might have a connection to the murder of a Microsoft executive in Florida. The victim's ex-wife, Shanna Gardner, and her new husband Mario Fernanda Saldana are already under arrest, along with an alleged hitman. Could John Bigger Staff be next? We're discussing it all with retired NYPD Sergeant Joseph Jackalone. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime.

I'm Jesse Weber. The murder of Jared Bridegan is a complicated case, to say the least. It has a lot of moving parts, a lot of players, and it just got even more complicated. I want you to stay with me as I walk you through this because it's something. It's something. So we go back to February 22 and 33-year-old Jared Bridigan, an executive with Microsoft, had just dropped off his twins from his first marriage at their mother's home in Jacksonville Beach, Florida. He apparently was on his way back to his house with his two-year-old daughter from his second marriage in the back seat

when he came across an object in the road that turned out to be a tire. He gets out to move it and he was shot multiple times at close range. His daughter still strapped in the car, in the backseat, horrific. Nearly a year after the shooting, police announced a major development. They had made their first arrest in January of 2023. Henry Tenon admitted to police that he was the one who shot Bridegan, and he agreed to plead guilty to second-degree murder with a weapon. And it's being reported that as part of this plea agreement,

this plea deal, Tenon has to testify truthfully about his involvement in the crime and his interactions with the second person to be arrested in this case, Mario Fernandez-Saldana. Okay, well, investigators found out that Fernandez-Soldana was the only connection between Bridegan and Tenan. You see, Tenon was a tenant at the property of Fernandez-Soldana, and Fernandez-Soldana at the time of the murder was, get this, married to Bridegan's first wife, Shanna Gardner.

Yes, apparently Gardner and Bridegan were in the middle of a, sure you could have guessed it, a bitter custody battle over their children, their twins. Fernandez-Soldana was arrested in March of 2023. He was charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, solicitation to commit a capital felony, and child abuse. Child abuse because Breitigan's daughter was in the car when her father was shot. Shana Gardner, meanwhile, was arrested on the other side of the country out in Washington State. She was hit with the same charges. She and Fernandez Saldon are being tried together, but with separate attorneys, both face the death penalty, if convicted.

But now we have a new development, and this is what we want to get into. 56-year-old John Biggerstaff, a self-described swinger alongside his wife, a former police officer with the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, is now a new suspect in Breitigan's death. Biggerstaff is a convicted felon, actually served time behind bars for a sex trafficking and drug offenses and is believed to be a known associate of Fernando Saldana. In fact, it's reported that Fernandez-Saldana dated Biggerstaff's daughter back in high school, that Biggerstaff and Fernando Saldana reportedly became workout buddies. Now, even though he is not criminally charged, and we'll get to that, court documents indicate that he is one of five people, quote, likely involved in this murder plot. Now, how do we know this? Well, court documents indicate that he apparently was interviewed by police about the bride and killing back in 2022.

He reportedly did some handyman work at the building where Tenon was a tenant, but claimed he hadn't seen Tenant for a year or two, didn't really know him. He was questioned about why he was searching for 10-millimeter glocks the month before the Briding and killing. He admitted he owned a 10-millimeter caliber gun, but said he didn't know where it was. And remember, a 10-millimeter gun was the one that was used to murder Bridegan. The report indicates that both Biggerstaff and Fernandez-Soldana's phones were off the night of the murder at the same time. Biggerstaff doesn't remember the day of Brideon's killing, doesn't leave the house often, doesn't remember the conversation he had with Fernandez-Soldana before or after the killing.

Bigerstaff had his, he actually consented to a bucle swab DNA, handed over his cell phone. Turned out his conversations with Fernandez-Soldana had been deleted to May 2022. And he was asked why he and Fernandez-Soldana were driving around Jacksonville, why Fernandez-Sldana called him regarding the case. Bigger staff claimed this was merely a courtesy call. He wanted to give him a heads-up, let him know that he might be questioned because he understands that Bigger staff was in prison, that he had, you know, a drug-use issues. That's why, not to talk about what his role might have been in the killing, but to give him a heads-up.

Now, according to court documents, quote, Toll records show a significant increase in contact immediately before and after the murder compared to the otherwise sporadic contact between them in the six weeks before the murder. They note that the suspect, quote, had frequent phone and in-person contact with Fernandez Saldana on the day before, day of, and day after the homicide. Biggerstaff claims he knows nothing of the murder, but reporting indicates that authorities may not have believed Biggerstaff that he wasn't quite being honest with them in this interview. So with that in mind, let me bring on Joseph Jackalone, retired NYPD sergeant, adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

Good to see you, sir. What a case. Oh, boy, a retired police officer now allegedly involved in this? This is the new update. What's your take on it? Yeah, so I think that the prosecutor and the police, and they've stated that this investigation is far from over, and they're looking into all different avenues and available suspects, so to speak. You know, they believe that this is basically part of this conspiracy.

They already dropped conspiracy charges. So I think they just continue to follow the investigation, follow that electronic evidence and see if they can dig up any more surveillance video and what have you, try to put this piece of the last puzzle, so to speak, together. I was trying to, I was struggling a little bit about what role he played in this. What role from what you saw, allegedly, would he have played? Bigger staff played in this killing. I mean, again, he hasn't been criminally charged.

We're kind of reading through the tea leaves. But did you come up with a working theory about what he might have done to aid this? Well, the only thing that looks like the connection somehow is this 10-millimeter gun, right? So he had, he owned one. He doesn't know what happened to it after he was arrested. He said that he had to give up all of these guns. And he said his wife, his son had them, you know, and that's the case. And then he actually kind of, when they asked them, did some of these, like, go to other people?

Did they go to any kind of, you know, in the interview, he basically said he didn't know exactly what transpired. with some of those guns. So, you know, the issue that comes down to is that they have nothing on him, per se, right now that we are aware of, of course. The only connection that looks like it has is that he knows him and that he, you know, he knows the alleged shooter, right? This guy, Tenen, and this mystery 10mm handgun. They asked him about the ammo to Jesse, and he said that he didn't remember what kind of ammo he used to have for the gun, too. So I guess the cops were fishing for a specific make model of the, of the cartridge or the, shell casings that were found at the scene to see if they can do something like that.

But he did give up another little piece of information about where he would purchase his ammunition. And maybe there's some sort of record that they keep about who they sell it to and what kind of cartridges they buy. Isn't it weird, though? He was talking to Fernandez-Seldana so much during this time period. And both of their phones were off the same time on the night of the murder or the day of the murder.

I mean, look, we talk about the Brian Coburger case and how his phone was. was turned off and investigators have said that's a way that a lot of criminals try to avoid capture so they know they won't be tracked but when you turn your phone off and you turn it back on and it's off during the commission of the crime it can make you look even more guilty so i think that that aspect of it is pretty significant in my eyes well sure it is right so but you know it's like it's just pure speculation on our part at that point right so yes it's strange it's unusual. He actually answered that out and said, I shut my phone off all the time. So if that's the case, the police can actually get that information from the cell carrier to, listen, do we have to

believe him? No, but right now, there is nothing that is pointing to him directly involved in this conflict, or the prosecutor would a levy charges on him. I think they work in the case. They're looking at every available piece of information. And who knows, you know, some of these people that are involved, if they're up for the death penalty, if they want to cut a deal, this could be a precarious situation for maybe other people that might be involved in it, because, as you will know, people will talk to save their own skin. A lot of things to break down there. Why do you think he hasn't been arrested?

Well, the police need the evidence and the probable cause to do so, right? They haven't been able to get that piece to convince the prosecutor to say, yes, arrest him. When you're building a case like this, especially a homicide case, the prosecutor is what we call a riding with you. They're riding actually with you. They're doing all this kind of work with you. And they dictate most of what happens about who gets arrested and when they get arrested. And they want to build airtight cases.

They don't want to lose cases. So if you're going into a case that's very weak based on either circumstantial evidence alone or just on the fact that there's some oddities that are going into it, that doesn't rise to the level of probable cause. And the prosecutor is doing what they need to do. Do you think it's possible he's cooperating and we just don't know about it? Why do I say that? I say that because if he did have some sort of role in it, he might be able to add some

of the pieces of the puzzle together. Then again, it seems like they have tenant already as a cooperator and they've already charged him. So if bigger staff did have a role in, I imagine they would charge him, but he would take some sort of feel for a more lenient sentence in order to cooperate, I just couldn't imagine that they just wouldn't charge him. Having said that, I have to ask you, and maybe I'm reading it the wrong way, but doesn't it sound like there's still one other identified person that may likely be part of this?

I mentioned that they said there were five. They have three that are arrested. Now we're talking about bigger staff. I don't know who the other person is unless you do, unless I miss something. But I wonder, again, reading through the tea leaves here, if bigger staff has some information that might be able to identify this other person or may be able to testify against this other person or the others. What do you think? Sure, that's always possible. I mean, we used to refer to this as queen for a day where you bring somebody in front of the district attorney who could be involved in something and say, listen, you have immunity.

and you can tell us exactly everything that happened and there's nothing that's going to happen to you. Those are all options that the prosecutor can use. It depends on how big these fishes that they want to fry, right? I mean, that's just the general thing. When this usually works is that they usually make arrests first and then flip people because that's the leverage that they have on them, right? They can get them to cooperate and get them to continue to cooperate.

When you're dealing with people who aren't under arrest, I mean, it's a wild card you're dealing with, And I don't think you see much of that going on specifically in a capital case. I just think right now they don't have the evidence and they don't have the leverage to use against him. Talk to me about the plot, right? So, you know, the idea it seemed to me that they had to know where he was going bright again. They had to know his movements, putting the tire out on the road so he would get out and that is when he's gunned down. It is an intricate plot that seems to have many different connections, right?

The person who pulled the trigger, the person who knew his whereabouts, the person who put the tie. there, the person that got the gun, I'm not saying it's all different people, could be one person, but it seems to be a rather intricate plot. And when I hear the details of his ex-wife's involvement or alleged involvement, it doesn't surprise me. I mean, how many times do we have cover cases where someone is in the middle of a bitter divorce or about to get divorced or in the middle of a bitter custody battle? And sometimes that's a motivation. But the idea here of how intricate this plot was to get him out in the open with his daughter in the back seat, by the way, and to gun him down there. What's your take on that? Well, you're right, Jesse. And I, and I live by the

Benjamin Franklin quota says, you know, three people can keep a secret as long as two of them are dead, right? So when you're dealing with a plot like this and all of these working parts, it's bound to fail. I mean, it's as simple as that, because everybody then becomes interested in how do I get myself out of this? And the easy way is to turn states evidence against them. And that's what's happening already with the actual, you had the key person, the person actually did the killing this guy tenant he's the one that's talking right he's the one that cut the deal so you know he has of course the most to lose he went he would have gotten the capital murder charge but now he got the second degree murder charge for that and now he becomes the

the star witness against everybody else and that's something that is a concern now for the other remaining defendants because you know they have the piece that they really need right the person actually pulled the trigger but yeah there's too many too many working parts too much of a plan And you know what? When I first was reading about this case, there's a lot of similarities between this and the Dan Markell case, right? Right. I mean, you think, I think, custody battles, cars involved. And if you remember, those killers. Florida.

Yeah, Florida. But if you remember, those killers said that they didn't want to, you know, do it one day because the kid was actually in the car with them, right? Right. So there's so many similarities here. And it's just, you know, it's mind-boggling. But you know what? It's that family dynamic. And it's the custody battles and the divorces. and everything like that, and that's usually where these cases lie. What do you think about the fact that bigger staff consented to not only being interviewed? I think he said, let me wait until I finish work, goes in, interviewed, agrees to have a DNA swab taken, agrees to have his phone, you know, taken over, hands his phone over to be analyzed. Does that signify to you, hey, he has nothing to hide?

Or does that signify to you, you know, we shouldn't make more of it? Because he could have lawyered up. He could have lawyered up. He could have said, you know what, I'm not going to talk to anybody without a lawyer. You're asking me about a murder investigation. You're asking me about this case. And he chose not to. What do you think?

Well, most people, believe it or not, even with under Miranda or know the consequences of these things, they still think two things. One, they're smarter than the cops so they can get out of anything. And two, if I do all that, it makes me look guilty. So I might as well just sit down and try to give out as much information as I possibly can. It look like they cooperate. This happens hundreds and hundreds of times a day in this country. And I've seen it happen personally where people who, you had all the evidence in the world on you, and they still think that they're going to be able to pull one over on you.

So that to me means absolutely nothing. The fact that he gave up his cell phone only to have all of these messages to be found out to be erased, which doesn't mean they're totally lost, right? So I'm sure that they- That's weird, too, right? They're erased till May 2022. I mean, look at the time frame of what we're talking about here. Redding was killed in February. does that not coincidental? And again, they said that he wasn't, the reporting indicates that

authorities didn't believe he was telling the truth, that he might have been lying. Right. Well, investigators will tell you they don't believe in coincidences, right? Right. And having your messages all deleted up at a certain point is there's so many red flags that looks like China, right? I mean, that's basically the kind of thing that you're doing with. But now the police and the prosecutors have to work with the phone companies and the phone company and the, you know, the carriers and everything else to try to see if they can recover all them. Yeah. In my experience, and I've learned that just because you delete a message doesn't mean it's gone forever.

Some of them can be recovered. So that's just a... I think a lot of people realize that in the cases that we cover. When you make a digital footprint, it's there. Look, John Biggerstaff has not been charged. He's not been arrested. We will continue to follow it, though, and see if there's an update. Joseph Jack alone.

Thanks so much. Appreciate it, sir. Anytime, Jesse. All right, everybody, that is all we have for you on this episode of Sidebar. Thank you so much for joining us. As always, please subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time.

or Spotify.