Ex-wife of slain Microsoft exec charged with his murder

The ex-wife of a Microsoft executive who was gunned down in what the US police said was a ‘targeted ambush’ last year, has been charged with his murder.

The suspect, Shanna Gardner who was arrested on Thursday in West Richland, Washington, has been indicted for first-degree murder of her husband, Jared Bridegan, in what Florida prosecutors called the “cold, calculated and premeditated murder” of the father of four.

Gardner was indicted by a grand jury for first-degree murder, a capital felony, as well as conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and child abuse, prosecutors said.

Bridegan who was 33 at the time he was murdered, was shot and killed in the middle of a Jacksonville Beach.

Read also: US mother bags three life jail terms for killing her two kids in ‘doomsday’ plot

The Jacksonville Beach Police Department say Bridegan was driving his then-2-year-old daughter in February 2022 when he came upon a tire blocking his path. When he stepped out of the car, authorities said he was ambushed and murdered.

Though Gardner has denied any involvement in her ex-husband’s murder, her current husband, Mario Fernandez Saldana, was indicted by a grand jury on multiple charges, including first-degree murder, five months ago.

“This investigation has uncovered the truth of Jared’s murder,” State Attorney Melissa Nelson, who is prosecuting the case, said during a press briefing Thursday.

“Shanna Gardner’s indictment acknowledges her central and key role in the cold, calculated and premeditated murder of Jared Bridegan.”

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