Authorities have warned that an arrest in the brutal slaying of a Microsoft executive in February last year is ‘imminent’.
Jared Bridegan, 33, was repeatedly shot in front of his daughter Bexley in Florida. His ex-wife Shanna Gardener-Fernandez and her second husband Mario Fernandez remain suspects in his killing – with his ex suspected of wanting to ‘shut him up’.
Police sources are now saying that they expect to make an arrest in the case as soon as Wednesday.
The father-of-four divorced from Gardener-Fernandez, 35, in 2016 after she reportedly had an affair, and their relationship deteriorated.
Jared Bridegan, 33, was repeatedly shot in front of his daughter Bexley in Florida last year
His ex-wife Shanna Gardener-Fernandez and her second husband Mario Fernandez remain suspects in his killing
Court filings revealed that the pair had been arguing back and forth for years before he was killed while dropping off the 10-year-old twins, Abby and Liam, that he shared with Gardener-Fernandez.
Bridegan delivered the children to his ex’s home in Florida, before starting his journey home with his then two-year-old daughter from his second marriage in the back of the car.
He stopped to remove a tire left in the middle of the road before being shot multiple times. Detectives believe that was a ploy to get him out of the car and ambush him.
Police sources told Fox News that Gardener-Fernandez remains a suspect in the slaying, and has since moved from Florida to West Richland in Washington with her twins.
Her second husband did not make the 2,800-mile move with the family to a six-bed and four-bathroom $1million home – but is still a suspect in the shooting.
Gardener-Fernandez refused to comment on the development in the case, before going shopping in her white Tesla.
Bridegan dropped the children off at his ex’s home in Florida before starting his journey home with his then two-year-old daughter from his second marriage in the back of the car
Fernandez and her new husband, Mario (pictured right), hired attorney Henry Coxe III, the former president of the Florida Bar who specializes in federal and state criminal matters
Pictured: Jared and his second wife, Kirsten, the twins and their two daughters Brexley, now 3, and London, now 1, with his 10-year-old twins from his first marriage
Jared and Kirsten met on a dating app when she was living in North Carolina and he was in Florida
She has always denied having an affair, but admitted last year that she asked a tattoo parlor employee if he knew anyone who could ‘shut up’ her ex-husband.
Bridegan expressed misgivings about Shanna’s new husband, Mario Fernandez, 33
However, she denied that it was a genuine threat, saying it was just things people say during ‘bitter divorces’.
She said: ‘Our relationship was pretty complicated and remained pretty complicated.’
The couple hired high-powered criminal defense lawyer Henry Coxe III – who declined to comment on the potential arrest.
Bridegan’s second wife Kirsten, who he had two daughters with, said that she was ‘shocked’ by the long-distance move.
She said that her children, London, 1, and Bexley, now 3, have ‘lost their siblings’ and she has lost her ‘step kids’.
Kirsten added: ‘It’s been an added loss. On top of losing Jared, my children have lost their siblings.
‘I’ve lost my step-kids. I have tried for months and months to make contact and have gotten nowhere.
Kirsten held a memorial service for her late husband in March, which was not attended by Fernandez, nor their twins, Abby and Liam
Shanna was seen enjoying some downtime with 9-year-old twins, Liam and Abbie – her children by Bridegan
In now deleted blog posts, obtained by DailyMail.com, Bridegan’s former mother-in-law, Shelli Gardner, 60, initially claimed that Shanna ‘and everybody who knows her’ was ‘uninvited’ from the funeral
‘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 … that’s what concerns me.’
The Microsoft executive’s wife said that she fears her step-children are ‘isolated’ from the rest of their family after being removed from their private Jacksonville Beach school.
Kirsten said that her daughter Bexley has ‘good days where she’s happy,’ adding: ‘But it’s going to be a lifetime for her of processing those feelings and the trauma of what she went through.’
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