The man accused of being the gunman in a murder for hire plot to kill Microsoft executive Jared Bridegan in 2022 has filed a motion to withdraw his guilty plea, saying his testimony against Bridegan’s ex-wife and her second husband is false.
Henry Tenon was charged in January 2023 with second-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, accessory after the fact, and child abuse in Bridegan’s ambush-style murder in Jacksonville Beach, Florida, on February 16, 2022, WJXT reported. He pleaded guilty to the second degree murder charge in exchange for his testimony against Bridegan’s ex-wife, Shanna Gardner, and her estranged husband, Mario Fernandez Saldana.
Tenon first said his testimony against Gardner and Fernandez Saldana was false in January 2025, when he requested a new attorney. Court documents now say he has asked a judge to let him retract his guilty plea before sentencing.
Gardner and Fernandez Saldana have been indicted on first degree murder and other charges, with jury selection for their trial set to begin on August 10.
Bridegan saw a rimmed tire on the road while driving back home to St. Augustine after dropping his twin 9-year-olds at Gardner’s home on February 16, 2022, as CrimeOnline previously reported. Police say he stopped to check on it when the assailant allegedly shot him in front of his child, 2-year-old daughter, Bexley, who was in the car for several minutes while her father bled out on the roadway.
“That tire was purposely placed there to make him stop,” State Attorney for the Fourth Judicial District Melissa Nelson said during a press conference in January. “The toddler remained strapped in the car seat in the back.”
Gardner and Fernandez allegedly offered $150,000 to Fernandez-Saldana’s former tenant, Henry Tenon, to kill Bridegan, investigators said at a bond hearing for Gardner in 2024.
A $5,000 check dated April 4, 2022, was allegedly sent from the defendant to Tenon that read “Kickstarter” and “Good luck!,” according to Jacksonville Beach Police Department Detective Chris Johns, who testified at the hearing.
According to WJXT, the State Attorney’s Office declined comment on Tenon’s motion to withdraw his plea, saying it “would defer comment to next week’s court hearing on the matter.”
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[Featured image: Jared Bridegan and Shanna Gardner-Fernandez/Facebook]
