Henry Tenon
Published on February 13, 2026 at 11:41 am
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The state’s star witness in the murder case against a couple accused of murdering father of four Jared Bridegan in Jacksonville Beach in 2022 says he will no longer testify against the accused.
In a motion filed Friday morning, Henry Tenon, 65, said he “will not testify against Shanna Lee Gardner or Mario Enrique Fernandez Saldana. Mr. Tenon is seeking to withdraw his previously entered plea of guilty and proceed to trial.”
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Shanna Gardner is Bridegan’s ex-wife. Fernandez Saldana is her new husband. Their trial is scheduled to begin Aug. 10.
Tenon’s move would strip prosecutors of their primary witness in the high-profile case. Tenon previously confessed to shooting Bridegan to death as part of a contract killing and agreed to testify against the couple, who prosecutors say arranged the hit. Both have pleaded not guilty.
Jacksonville Today reached out to the State Attorney’s Office and Tenon’s attorney for comment.
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The State Attorney’s Office responded, “We are going defer comment until the actual hearing.” Tenon’s attorney, Julie Schlax, declined to comment.
Tenon has shown previous signs that he might not be a reliable witness for the state. Last February, he told Circuit Judge London Kite that he had given “false testimony” to prosecutors, a claim he later withdrew.
The murder case, which remained unsolved for months, has drawn national and even international coverage.
Bridegan, a 33-year-old Microsoft executive from St. Augustine, was driving near the exit of The Sanctuary neighborhood in Jacksonville Beach on Feb. 16, 2022, after dropping off his children at Gardner’s house. Police say he’d stopped to remove a tire from the road when he was ambushed, shot and killed with his 2-year-old daughter from his second marriage in the car.
Prosecutors initially said they would seek the death penalty in the case but withdrew the death filing last November. Tenon’s original plea deal reduced his charges to second-degree murder with a recommendation of the lesser penalty of 15 years in prison, in exchange for his testimony against Saldana and Gardner.
It’s not clear how the motion will affect the state’s case. A hearing on the motion is set for Feb. 17.
