Henry Tenon was charged in Jared Bridegan’s Feb. 16, 2022 murder, but authorities believe he did not act alone. (Image: Jacksonville Beach Police Department)
The man charged in a Microsoft executive’s murder made his first court appearance on Thursday. Henry Tenon, 61, said nothing in a Duval County courtroom as a judge explained that another judge found probable cause for murder in the second degree, conspiracy to commit murder in the first degree, accessory after the fact to a capital felony, and child abuse.
The precise allegations remain a mystery leading up to the 1-year anniversary of someone gunning down Jared Bridegan, 33, in Jacksonville Beach, Florida.
Authorities have said that the arrest warrant and affidavit against Tenon were sealed, but police previously said that someone placed a tire on Sanctuary Boulevard on the night of Feb. 16, 2022. Bridegan was driving with his 2-year-old daughter in a car seat in the back. He had just left the girl’s twin half-siblings with their mother — his ex-wife Shanna Gardner-Fernandez — and was returning home.
But blocked by the tire on that dark stretch of road, he stopped and opened the door to his SUV, presumably to move the object, Jacksonville Police Chief Gene Paul Smith said in a press conference on Wednesday.
“It was then that he was gunned down in cold blood,” the chief said.
Someone ambushed Jared Bridegan the night of Feb. 16, 2022 after he dropped off his twin children at their mother’s home, police have said. His two-year-old daughter was in the SUV. (Image: Jacksonville Beach Police Department)
Police claim this was a planned and targeted ambush. Nothing was stolen and Bridegan’s daughter remained strapped in the car seat in the back. The child was unharmed, though authorities are charging Tenon with child abuse because she was put in harm’s way.
“We know Henry Tenon did not act alone,” Nelson said. Authorities did not name any potential suspects. The prosecutor announced her office will seek an indictment for murder in the first degree against Tenon.
Amid the initial investigation, Gardner-Fernandez denied wrongdoing. She refused to speak about their contentious divorce in detail, according to The Florida Times-Union in a June 30 report. Documents reportedly said she had accused Bridegan of “disturbing and abusive behavior,” while he claimed she locked him out of the master bedroom and installed surveillance devices in both his car and the children’s bedroom.
“I don’t see any good in airing our dirty laundry,” she told the outlet.
Smith on Wednesday noted that Jared’s widow Kristen Bridegan and his brother Adam Bridegan were there for the press conference.
Tenon is held on no bond for the murder charges. He is held on $500,003 each for the remaining three charges. His arraignment is scheduled for Feb. 16, the 1-year anniversary of Bridegan’s death.
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