What Mario Fernandez Wrote On The Gunman’s Check

Henry Tenon confessed to killing Jared Bridegan, took a plea deal, and agreed to testify against the two people prosecutors say hired him. Then, four years and one day after the shooting, he stood in front of a judge and asked for a trial instead — and prosecutors let him. 
That reversal opened the Bridegan murder-for-hire trial in Jacksonville, a case already missing pieces prosecutors haven’t explained. A grand jury charged Mario Fernandez on four counts, one of them tied directly to the fact that Bridegan’s two-year-old daughter was in the car when he was shot. Prosecutors dropped that count two weeks before jury selection and gave the court no reason. 
Bank records tell their own story. Tenon had 52 cents to his name in January 2022. Within weeks of the killing, $10,000 in checks from a rental company owned by Fernandez and Shanna Gardner landed in his account — memo lines reading “landscaping and cleaning” and “keeping up with the roof.” A later $5,000 check allegedly carried the memo “Kickstarter” and “Good luck!” 
Fernandez’s defense says the payments covered real property work and that nothing was paid before Bridegan died. Prosecutors point to more than three dozen calls between Fernandez and Tenon during the month of the shooting, an unidentified second person who drove away from the scene in a pickup truck, and a jailhouse informant who claims Fernandez described the conspiracy from behind bars and tried to pin it on Jared’s widow, Kirsten. 
Fernandez has pleaded not guilty. His trial runs August 17 through 28. Gardner’s trial follows, and Tenon now waits for a March 2027 date of his own. 
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This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice. 
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