JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The FBI analyst who tracked Henry Tenon and Mario Fernandez’s cellphones from the night of Jared Bridegan’s murder will face questions Friday morning from Fernandez’s defense attorneys.
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Fernandez is charged with first-degree murder and solicitation to commit a capital felony in the deadly February 2022 ambush shooting in Jacksonville Beach that investigators say was carried out by Tenon, who was a tenant at a rental property Fernandez owned on Potomac Avenue in Northwest Jacksonville.
Prosecutors allege Fernandez hired Tenon to kill Bridegan, his wife Shanna Gardner’s ex-husband. Gardner and Bridegan divorced in 2015 and spent years in and out of court in contentious disputes over how to care for the twins they shared.
Prosecutors say Fernandez is Tenon’s only link to Bridegan, a man he had never met. But the defense has argued that the state cannot prove who solicited Tenon or that Fernandez was involved in the shooting.
Tracking cellphones
FBI Agent Bobby Blythe testified in detail on Thursday about tracking the phones of both Tenon and Fernandez on Feb. 16, 2022, the night of the murder, and on other dates.
According to Blythe’s testimony, on the night of the murder, Fernandez’s phone was at his home before and after the murder, but showed no timing-advance or cell-site data from roughly 7:10 to 8:20 p.m., then resumed near his home at about 8:48 p.m.
The last of the gunshots that killed Bridegan in Jacksonville Beach was captured on a neighbor’s surveillance camera just before 8 p.m.
Blythe testified that the data gap in Fernandez’s phone indicated no connection with the cellular network; possible explanations included the phone being powered off or in airplane mode, though network problems could not be ruled out. He could not determine where the phone traveled during the gap.
On the night of the murder, Tenon’s phone and Gmail location data showed him at or near the Potomac address until roughly 5:49–5:57 p.m., then moving south and east, which would be in the direction of Jacksonville Beach.
Activity for both of Tenon’s devices stopped for a period afterward that night; Blythe said that pattern pointed toward the devices being off or in airplane mode, but he could not state that with certainty.
Blythe said that Jan. 29, 2022, was of particular interest for Tenon’s phone because it followed an unusual path that prosecutors said appeared to be a practice run for the murder.
Blythe described how on the day of the “practice run,” Tenon’s phone traveled south from the Potomac Avenue house he had rented from Fernandez to the area of Bridegan’s home and the gymnastics facility where Bridegan’s oldest daughter took lessons.
Again, Tenon had never met Bridegan, and prosecutors argue he had no logical reason for being in that area.
Blythe said from there, the phone traveled to Jacksonville Beach to the area where the murder would take place just over two weeks later.
Blythe explained to the jury that cellphone records can show an approximate location, not an exact one. Tower-and-sector data identifies the general coverage area; timing-advance data can narrow it further, while Google location history is usually the most precise, sometimes within a few meters.
Most of the tracking data for Tenon used Google history from the Gmail account attached to his device.
Blythe testified that on Jan. 29, 2022, when Tenon’s device was traveling to Jacksonville Beach and to the area of Bridegan’s home, Fernandez’s phone remained at the Potomac home.
Blythe will be cross-examined Friday morning by Fernandez’s defense team, which has already repeatedly mentioned his name and his work analyzing the phone locations while questioning other witnesses.
‘Planned ambush’
Prosecutors have described the deadly shooting of Bridegan as a planned ambush.
“The killer was a stranger to Jared Bridegan. The murder was personal,” Assistant State Attorney Christina Stifler told jurors during opening statements.
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Bridegan, a 33-year-old Microsoft design manager and father of four, was killed Feb. 16, 2022, after stopping his Volkswagen Atlas SUV on that dark street to remove a tire that prosecutors say was left in the road to lure Bridegan out of the vehicle.
Bridegan, who was driving home to St. Augustine after dropping off the twins at Gardner’s Jacksonville Beach home, was shot twice as his 2-year-old daughter, Bexley, sat in the vehicle. Two other bullets struck the SUV, narrowly missing Bexley.
The first trial witness, Jonelle Cruz, testified about comforting Bexley after her boyfriend found the toddler in the SUV near her father’s body that night.
Prosecutors say Bexley had been alone for about 7 minutes before Cruz and her boyfriend arrived.
In a video shown to jurors, Bexley described to Cruz hearing a “Boom!”
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“She was shaking. She was very worried about her dad,” Cruz testified.
Key evidence: Where is the gun?
Defense attorneys have questioned lead Jacksonville Beach Police Detective Chris Johns and other investigators about the missing 10mm Glock believed to have been used to kill Bridegan. (The type of weapon was identified because of shell casings left at the scene.)
Agent Kenneth Stengel, who has been an ATF agent since 2008 and a firearms instructor for about two years, testified that 10mm weapons are more rare and that this was the first 10mm firearm he had encountered in his investigations.
Under cross-examination, however, Stengel acknowledged that Glock has produced multiple 10mm models and that investigators found records of six 10mm purchases at one Jacksonville gun store.
But Stengel maintained that the weapon was “not very common” based on his personal experience.
Investigators say the 10mm is significant because John Biggerstaff, a longtime friend of Fernandez, owned a 10mm at one point but could not produce it for detectives after the murder.
(EDITOR’S NOTE: Biggerstaff has never been charged with a crime in connection with Bridegan’s murder.)
The state has said Fernandez visited Biggerstaff on Jan. 25, 2022, weeks before the murder, and that investigators found evidence that Biggerstaff searched for information about 10mm firearms on the day of the visit.
But defense attorney Jesse Dreicer suggested Fernandez could have visited Biggerstaff’s home for reasons unrelated to the murder, including their longstanding personal relationship. (Fernandez attended Sandalwood High School with Biggerstaff’s daughter.)
Dreicer also questioned Johns about a video found on Biggerstaff’s phone that showed Fernandez having sex with Biggerstaff’s wife. Johns agreed the Biggerstaffs practiced a consensual “swinger” lifestyle.
The defense argued that Fernandez’s visit to Biggerstaff’s home in January 2022 did not prove he obtained a weapon there.
“What you certainly have no evidence of is that Mr. Biggerstaff gave Mr. Fernandez a 10mm firearm,” Dreicer said in one of many tense exchanges with Johns.
“There is no physical evidence of that,” Johns replied.
“OK. When you say no physical evidence, there is no evidence of that. Correct?” Dreicer asked again.
“There is no physical evidence of that,” Johns repeated.
Stengel testified Thursday that federal records showed Biggerstaff purchased a Glock 10mm on June 8, 2016, but that he had to give up that gun and other weapons after he was convicted of a felony.
Stengel testified that agents interviewed Biggerstaff, his son Juan and another man, but none provided information that led investigators to the location of the 10mm Glock. Investigators have admitted that the murder weapon was never recovered.
But on re-direct, Stifler got Johns to confirm that despite having no physical evidence that Biggerstaff had a 10mm gun at the time of the murder, detectives did have witness statements recorded on wires that led them to continue investigating Biggerstaff as the source of the murder weapon.
Key evidence: How did they find the blue truck?
Stengel also testified about the discovery of the blue, two-tone Ford F-150 that investigators say was captured on video being used in the killing.
Investigators had scoured the area for months after the shooting, and on Oct. 14, 2022, Stengel and a fellow agent used Google location data from Henry Tenon’s device to locate the truck at the home of Jimmy Jones, who turned out to be a longtime family friend of Tenon.
The truck was visible from the street, and Stengel said Jones was cooperative. Stengel said the truck’s discovery was a major break in the investigation.
Stengel and Johns both admitted on cross-examination that investigators did not search Jones’ home or the rest of the property for the missing firearm.
No DNA sample was taken from Jones, and no additional testing was conducted at the property. Stengel testified that he had no knowledge of any connection between Jones and Fernandez and that Jones was not treated as a suspect.
Johns said the truck was the only evidence recovered there and that investigators had no reason to search the house because records showed the truck arrived months after the homicide and Jones was not considered a suspect.
Dreicer challenged that explanation, noting investigators had not recovered the firearm and had evidence that Tenon had been at the home.
“Other than the fact that the biggest break in the case was found at Jimmy Jones’s house. Other than that, there was no reason to search the house,” Dreicer said.
Stifler made a point of asking Johns on re-direct about not searching Jones’s home. Johns confirmed to her that investigators received information in 2023 that the gun involved in the murder had been destroyed shortly after the shooting, so it would not have been at Jones’s home even if they’d searched for it.
Key evidence: Who was driving the blue truck?
Video evidence shown in court traced the blue, two-tone Ford F-150 through Jacksonville Beach on the night of the killing.
Prosecutors say the truck carried the shooter to the scene of the murder, but that surveillance showed a person running from the area after the shooting while someone else drove away in the truck.
That means two people were there that night, the prosecutors and defense agree.
But they don’t agree on who that might be.
The defense has emphasized that Fernandez was not shown driving the truck or accompanying Tenon.
Investigators acknowledged they could not identify the truck’s driver and that there is a 32-minute gap in the footage when they don’t know where the truck was in Jacksonville Beach that night.
What surveillance video did capture, though, was an unsettling moment outside the Jacksonville Beach Police Department the night of the murder.
A man prosecutors believe was Tenon walked past the station just seconds before Kirsten Bridegan arrived in the family’s SUV after learning her husband had been shot.
Kirsten testified on Monday that she did not recognize the man, and it was unclear whether she had seen the footage before or knew how close she had come to him that night.
Interactive timeline
Potomac property
In his cross-examination of Johns, Dreicer also focused on cellphone and surveillance evidence involving Fernandez’s rental property on Potomac Avenue, where Tenon lived at one point.
Again, Fernandez’s phone was recorded at the property for several hours on Jan. 29, 2022, while Tenon’s phone traveled toward Jacksonville Beach and back in what prosecutors describe as a practice run for the night of the murder.
Dreicer made a point while questioning Johns that there was surveillance video evidence showing it was not unusual for Fernandez to be at the rental property when the renter was not at the home, and that by late January, another man had begun renting the property.
Dreicer pointed to surveillance footage showing Fernandez repeatedly visiting the Potomac property, meeting contractors and carrying construction materials.
He argued the video supported Fernandez’s explanation that he was overseeing legitimate repair and renovation work.
Detective Johns agreed the footage showed Fernandez performing or arranging property work but said it did not establish what happened on the specific day in question: Jan. 29, 2022.
Key evidence: Was there DNA?
Prosecutors presented evidence from a DNA analyst on Wednesday afternoon, who said that Tenon’s DNA was found on the tire used to stop Bridegan’s vehicle.
Investigators say Tenon’s boots, jacket and distinctive gait also matched evidence associated with the shooter.
Fernandez’s DNA was not found on any of the items tested by investigators, the analyst acknowledged.
Detective Johns also acknowledged there was no surveillance, fingerprint, hair or other physical evidence placing Fernandez in Tenon’s blue pickup truck or proving he accompanied Tenon to Jacksonville Beach.
Dreicer made a point of talking about how dirty the inside of the truck was when investigators found it months later, implying that the evidence was not missing because someone had “wiped” the truck.
Key evidence: What were the checks for?
The state has highlighted three checks totaling $10,000 that Fernandez wrote to Tenon after the killing.
Johns testified Tuesday that three business check stubs, which were later matched to three checks Fernandez wrote to Tenon, were found in the blue truck.
The checks were described as payment for landscaping, roof work and a Kickstarter project that the state says didn’t exist.
The checks from First Choice Home Rentals LLC — all signed by Fernandez — were for $2,000 and $3,000 dated March 28, 2022, and $5,000 dated April 4, 2022.
Prosecutors argue the payments were disguised compensation for the murder.
But the defense says Tenon performed work at Fernandez’s property and that the checks were legitimate.
“Henry Tenon is a worker. Mario Fernandez has hired him to do work, not murder, tree work, roof work, landscaping, tile work,” defense attorney James Hill said in his opening statement
Gene Nichols, an attorney not involved in the case, said the checks are the hinge point of the entire trial.
“I think when it’s all said and done, what does the jury believe about the checks? That’s going to rule a tremendous amount,” he said. “That, to me, is going to be where this hinges — will a jury believe that those checks were written in order to commit murder, or were those checks written for the work that Mr. Hill said they were written for?”
He added that the burden of proof remains high.
“If the jury believes that they were for work that was done, or they take the position that the state didn’t prove that the money was for murder, then that’s going to sway a jury,” Nichols said. “In order to convict him, it’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt by all of those jurors.”
What’s the motive?
Prosecutors have pointed to the hostility between the two families as a possible motive for Bridegan’s murder.
Kirsten Bridegan, Jared’s widow, testified Monday that the co-parenting relationship between Jared and Gardner had deteriorated into constant conflict.
“It was pretty terrible,” Kirsten Bridegan said on the stand. “There was absolutely no trust so everything was in writing. Texts, email. We did not speak in person, like at school events. Didn’t do phone calls.”
In his initial interview with detectives, which was played in court on Tuesday for about 50 minutes, Fernandez discussed the ongoing conflicts over the twins, describing Jared Bridegan as difficult and “passive-aggressive” and calling him a “keyboard warrior.”
Fernandez also mentioned the family communication in that interview, saying the family was in a group text and had an arrangement to text when they arrived to pick up the kids for date night.
The custody agreement established alternating Wednesday “date nights” for both parents on the week when the children were in the other parent’s home.
Dreicer argued that the schedule for date night was public information and therefore could have been known by people outside the family.
“So the idea that (Wednesday date night) is some personal detail that only the Bridegans would know and only the Gardner-Fernandez residence would know is simply not true. It’s public information. Correct?” Dreicer asked.
“The docket is publicly available,” Johns acknowledged.
Friends testify
On Wednesday and Thursday, friends of Fernandez also testified.
Taylor Kutis described conversations involving Fernandez’s marriage, co-parenting disputes and an obscure “contract” involving his wife’s family.
Under cross-examination, Kutis acknowledged that her recollections were not verbatim, that she kept no notes and that some details came from media reports.
Victor Quiroz, a longtime online gaming friend, testified that Fernandez visited him in North Carolina in March 2022.
Quiroz said Fernandez acted normally and did not discuss the killing. Fernandez mentioned only later that his wife’s former husband had been shot.
Carlos Phuong, a friend of Fernandez since high school, testified on Thursday about Fernandez’s relationship with Gardner and about two phone calls he placed to Fernandez in January 2023, when neither man was aware they were being recorded.
The expletive-laced calls between the two friends were played for the jury.
In the calls, Phuong told Fernandez that media reports were linking Gardner to Jared Bridegan’s death and that Henry Tenon had been arrested. They discussed Tenon’s work on Fernandez’s rental property and possible motives, along with unrelated topics.
Phuong testified that Fernandez made no admission, did not seem evasive and said he had nothing to do with the killing.
Phuong also testified that he never heard Fernandez or Gardner threaten Jared Bridegan or discuss planning his killing.
What’s next?
Fernandez’s murder trial is scheduled to continue through Aug. 28.
Gardner, 39, faces a separate trial in September, while Tenon is scheduled to stand trial in 2027 after withdrawing an earlier guilty plea.
Gardner is charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, solicitation to commit a capital felony and child abuse.
Tenon is charged with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit murder, child abuse, possession of a firearm by a felon and accessory after the fact.
Neither Gardner nor Tenon will testify in Fernandez’s trial.
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The case has garnered national attention, and Judge London Kite has repeatedly explained to the 12 jurors and four alternates that they can not look up anything about the case or talk about it with anyone.
As part of the preparation for trial, Kite previously ordered that the seated jurors’ names be kept anonymous until 60 days after the trial, which is typical in high-profile cases. The jurors were referred to only by their numbers during jury selection to protect their identities.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.