Mario Fernandez Saldana received a life sentence for Jared Bridegan’s murder after a judge rejected his request for a new trial.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Mario Fernandez Saldana was sentenced Thursday to life in prison for the killing of Jared Bridegan, following the judge’s denial of his motion seeking a retrial.
A jury convicted Fernandez Saldana in August of first-degree murder and solicitation to commit a capital felony.
Defense attorneys based their new-trial request on evidence they said had only recently emerged involving a reportedly stolen handgun. They cited a Texas police report detailing the recovery of a .40-caliber weapon on Sept. 17 during an unrelated narcotics investigation. In a supplemental filing, the attorneys said the gun had allegedly been stolen from Juan Biggerstaff.
During the trial, prosecutors challenged the account of the handgun’s theft. They argued that Biggerstaff had supplied an incorrect serial number to hide his father John Biggerstaff’s alleged possession of another firearm — a 10mm weapon tied to Bridegan’s death.
Prosecutors claimed John Biggerstaff, who was a friend of Fernandez Saldana, had possessed the 10mm firearm connected to the killing. The weapon believed to be the murder weapon has never been found.
The defense maintained that finding the .40-caliber handgun made it more plausible that the theft report was genuine, contrary to the prosecution’s suggestion that it had been fabricated. Attorneys also challenged the state’s account of how the firearm allegedly passed between the people involved, noting that no witness testified to seeing John Biggerstaff give a gun to Fernandez Saldana or Fernandez Saldana transfer one to Henry Tenon, who is accused of carrying out the shooting.
Fernandez Saldana’s conviction and life sentence represent the latest major developments in the case. The trial of his estranged wife and Bridegan’s former wife, Shanna Gardner, is scheduled to begin in May 2027. Gardner is accused of helping plan Bridegan’s killing with Fernandez Saldana and hiring Tenon to execute the plot. Tenon is scheduled to stand trial alongside Gardner.
Bridegan, a St. Augustine father of four, was shot and killed on Feb. 16, 2022, shortly after he dropped off the twin children he shared with Gardner at her Jacksonville Beach home. He stopped after encountering a tire lying in the road in Gardner’s neighborhood and was fatally shot as he tried to move it.
Prosecutors have characterized the killing as a deliberate murder-for-hire scheme, citing the strained co-parenting relationship and custody dispute between Gardner and Bridegan.