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- [00:00]
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At the Murder Sheet we know that running a small business takes some expertise. Luckily, there's Upwork to help connect small businesses with talented, specialized freelancers that you need to take your hustle to the next level.
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Upwork Works I know I was on UPWORK for years. One thing you listeners may not know about me is that I used to anonymously write romance novels. I found all of that work through upwork. It was super fun. As a freelancer, I earned some extra cash and I helped out some folks trying to grow their small publishing businesses. Maybe you've even read some of my stuff. Either way, I had a great experience on upwork. I know my clients did too because they published my stuff like crazy and I got great feedback.
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Visit Upwork.com right now and post your job for free. That is Upwork.com to connect with top top talent ready to help your business grow. That's upwork.com upwork.com I'm Anya and this
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is the first ever episode in our deep dive into a murder conspiracy case. Full of twists, turns and upcoming trials, this series will take you inside the murder of Jared Brideigan.
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Content Warning this episode contains discussion of murder and violence.
- [01:58]
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A note before we Begin Starting this summer, multiple defendants are slated to face charges in the murder of Jared Brideigan. This is a case with twists to spare, but it's not over yet. Trials are pending, so of course it's important that we all keep an open mind. To start, we are going to take you on a deep dive, outlining the key facts and events in this case. By the time we get to the first trial, you're going to know everything you need to know in order to be super informed. And then when the trial happens, we're going to cover that extremely closely. Yes, that's right. We're getting back to trial coverage in this episode. All of these facts derive from my research into official case documents and police reports. Now, in the interest of privacy and compassion for those involved in this case, we plan to be extremely judicious about including full names of witnesses and case figures, including, and especially children. We've seen the names of these various children in other media outlets, but we just want to handle it a bit differently. We simply don't feel comfortable with perpetuating that here. In this context. The hazard lights seemed like the brightest thing in the deep Florida darkness that night. Brighter than the full moon in the sky, brighter than any ambient light leaking out from the suburban enclave. The hazard lights blinked on a black Volkswagen Atlas sport utility vehicle that sat stopped at the intersection of Jacksonville Drive and Sanctuary Boulevard.
- [03:45]
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There had indeed been a hazard in the road when Jared Breitegan, the Volkswagen's 33 year old driver, stopped his vehicle and flipped the lights on. A dark form waited in the street. It was a discarded tire blocking Jared's way home. He wasn't the kind of person to just leave that for the next driver to deal with. Someone might get hurt, so he got out to move it. But the tire was not the only hazard out there. Something far more sinister, someone far more dangerous, also lurked in those shadows. They had placed the tire there and laid in wait. Jared had been lured straight into a deadly trap.
- [04:31]
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Now, just moments after the ambush, the lights shone down on Jared as he lay in the road. He twitched. He bled. He had been shot. Within the vehicle, his two year old daughter cried. She was too young to truly understand, but she knew something was wrong with her father. She became frantic. Strapped into her car seat and only two years old, there was nothing she could do. Soon there would be nothing anyone could do for Jared Bride again. Soon he would be dead. My name is Anya Cain. I'm a journalist.
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And I'm Kevin Greenlee. I'm an attorney.
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And this is the Murder Sheet.
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We're a true crime podcast focused on original reporting, interviews and deep dives into murder cases. We're the Murder Sheet.
- [05:20]
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And this is the Murder of Jared Breidegan Part 1. The ambush. Sam, We will take you down the darkened boulevards and tree lined parkways of that fateful evening. By going over this timeline, we will get a better sense of what happened to Jared. We're also going to introduce you to Jared himself and what he had going on in his life at the time.
- [06:28]
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Before the ambush, the night had been a good one for Jared. It had been what he might have called a daddy date night. That was a bit of a joking reference to A recurring event that was an important part of Jared's routine.
- [06:41]
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See Jared shared custody of his nine year old twins, a boy and a girl, with his former wife, 34 year old Shanna Gardner. Those days she had started going by Gardner Fernandez. We've seen the media call her both, although many legal documents we have seen use Gardner. We will do the same. Like Jared, she had found a new person to spend her life with. She had married 33 year old Mario Fernandez Saldana back in 2018.
- [07:10]
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Gardner and Jared shared custody of their twins. He had the kids for one week, she had them for the next week, and so on.
- [07:17]
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Each week that one of the parents didn't have the kids, they they'd get a so called date night. That night they'd swing by, pick up the twins and take them out for about an hour. That was a good way for the children to reconnect and have fun with the non custodial parent.
- [07:34]
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That week, Jared spent the last night of his life, the night of Wednesday, February 16, 2022 with three of his children. He drove his Volkswagen from his home in St. Augustine, Florida to Jacksonville Beach. That is about a 50 minute trip. Jacksonville beach was where Gardner lived with Fernandez Saldana on a street called Marsh Inlet. Their home was a four bedroom, three bathroom, 2, 600 square foot house that is now estimated to be worth nearly a million dollars. It is painted white with a prominent set of garages jutting out front.
- [08:13]
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Gardner lived not far from the Jacksonville Beach Golf Club and just down the road from the Discovery School where the twins attended. The cul de sac they lived on was filled with an eclectic mix of large, nice homes in different styles. Think boats and driveways, tidy landscaped yards, plenty of trees. Very nice, but not necessarily to an intimidating, overly polished degree.
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That week Gardner had the twins, so that meant it was Jared's turn to swing by and pick up the kids for a date night.
- [08:45]
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And Jared wasn't alone. He wanted all of his children to forge strong bonds. So he brought along his two year old daughter who he shared with his second wife, Kirsten. Kirsten, who was 30 then, often went along on these date nights, but tonight was different. Seven months prior, Kirsten had given birth to another daughter. Tending for a little baby meant that she had a lot of sleep to catch up on. So she stayed in St. Augustine with the baby and let Jared head off to enjoy the time with the other children.
- [09:15]
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Jared swung by Gardner's Marsh inlet home at 6:29pm he texted his ex a single word to let her know it was time for the twins to come out here.
- [09:26]
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The pair headed outside and then Jared and three of his four children were off. Kirsten texted Jared at 6:42pm asking him how everything was going. He confirmed that the night was going well.
- [09:39]
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Jared drove the three kids to the Bearded Pig, a barbecue joint at 1700 3rd Street south in Jacksonville Beach. That location has since closed.
- [09:51]
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The Bearded Pig's outside surveillance Cameras recorded Jared's SUV pulling into the restaurant's parking lot at 6:48pm Jared and the three children all exited the vehicle and headed into the restaurant. Nothing happened out of the ordinary at the Bearded Pig. An employee named Tori worked the register that night. She didn't see anything off. Just a family enjoying a meal together, probably. No employees reported any strange incidents. In the daily summary report sent to Robert, the general manager, everything was fine. Jared's 2 year old ordered Mac and cheese, her favorite.
- [10:25]
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Jared's oldest daughter, one of the twins, asked if she could borrow his phone to text with Kirsten. The pair seemed to have a close relationship, often texting and facetiming. Jared loaned her his iPhone. Kierson asked the 9 year old where they were eating. The girl texted back a pig emoji. Kirsten correctly guessed they were the Bearded Pig.
- [10:50]
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Pretty normal stuff for a blended family, right? It's the kind of thing one wants to see in such circumstances. A setup that allows for divorced parents to get quality time with their children.
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Jared and the kids finished their meal, which cost $39.09. Jared paid with his cell phone's digital wallet. Cameras picked up the family departing the restaurant at 7:22pm Jared's SUV pulled out of the parking lot two minutes later and turned south on Third Street.
- [11:20]
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But a daddy date night was not complete without some frozen treats. So Jared took the kids out to get Frosty's at a nearby Wendy's fast food restaurant. For what it is worth, there is a Wendy's now down third street which has since been designated as the Jimmy Buffett Memorial Highway. It's just a two minute drive away.
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Meanwhile, back in St. Augustine, Kirsten got a call from her brother at 7:39pm around that time, Jared was on his way back to the twins Marsh Inlet home. He dropped the children off around 7:45pm although later one of the twins would indicate that they thought it was more likely 7:48pm the twins got out of
- [12:02]
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the Volkswagen and rushed into the big garage. That was how they usually accessed their mother's home after a daddy date night. Once the kids were dropped off, Jared called Kirsten that was around 7:46pm Although again, the exact drop off time is a little hard for us to pinpoint in these early documents.
- [12:21]
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Kirsten merged Jared's call and he joined her and her brother. He bantered around with Kirsten's brother. Everything seemed normal. Good. Then Kirsten's brother hung up at 7:47pm to give his sister and his brother in law a chance to chat.
- [12:38]
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Jared had Kirsten's call piped in through the SUV's speakers. Kirsten listened to her two year old chat about her frosty.
- [12:46]
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After a bit, Jared got quiet. He seemed unresponsive. So Kirsten got off the phone. But Jared acknowledged her before she ended the call. The whole conversation, including the part with her brother, lasted only eight minutes. It didn't even immediately show up on her phone logs as a call with Jared because it had been a merged call.
- [13:10]
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But that casual little interaction turned out to be quite meaningful. Unfortunately, it was the last time Kirsten would ever speak with her husband. She did not know that, of course. Back in St. Augustine, Kirsten tended to the baby she shared with Jared. She waited for her oldest daughter and her husband to return. She would be left waiting for a long, long time that night. And in the case of the latter, she'd be kept waiting fore.
- [13:46]
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To understand what exactly happened here, we must look at Jared himself. Who was Jared Breitigan? What was he like? How did he earn a living? What were some of the important relationships in his life?
- [14:00]
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Well, Jared's full name was Jared Galen Breitigan. He was born on June 29, 1988 in Warrensburg, Missouri, the county seat of the Show Me State's Johnson County, a college town home to the University of Central Missouri.
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But he was raised in Florida. Jacksonville to be exact. Let's take a moment just to clarify some of these Florida locations because they come up a lot in this case. So Jacksonville is not the same thing as Jacksonville Beach.
- [14:31]
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Think about Jacksonville as the big city, one of the biggest in the whole United States and the biggest in the Sunshine State. As far as population within the actual city limits goes, at least they've got over a million residents. It is the seat of Duval County.
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As the name indicates, Jacksonville beach is a beach community and incorporated resort city in Duval County. About 23,830 people lived there in 2020, according to the United States Census. The city has its own Jacksonville Beach Police department with about 100 officers.
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Along with Mayport, Atlantic Beach, Neptune beach and Ponte Vedra Beach. It's part of a collection of communities called the Jacksonville Beaches. They're all on San Pablo Island.
- [15:21]
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Meanwhile, St. Augustine, where Jared would eventually live with Kirsten, is the county seat of St. John's County, Florida. It's about 40 miles to the south of Jacksonville.
- [15:32]
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It's actually the oldest continuously inhabited settlement established by Europeans in what is now the United States. But don't worry, I won't force you all down that whole side road.
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So let's get back to Jared. Growing up in Jacksonville, he attended the Douglas Anderson School of the Arts in the city's San Marco neighborhood. Then he matriculated to Utah Valley University, graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in Digital Media in 2024.
- [16:01]
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That was just the start of what became a pretty impressive resume. Jared was a creative person at heart and he poured that talent into design, specifically user experience design or UX design. So what exactly does that line of work entail? Well, it's all about looking at designing products, in this case websites, applications that make for an excellent user experience. A designer must consider how a digital product is laid out and structured. How easy is navigation? What frustrations might users run into? How do they really interact with the product?
- [16:36]
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- [17:40]
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- [18:13]
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- [18:23]
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- [19:44]
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age of 33, Jared already boasted an impressive resume. Previously, he'd been senior UX designer at Canopy, then Director of ux@web.com and then Chief Technology Officer at Clean Simple Eats. At Microsoft, he worked as a senior design manager. That was still his job on February 16, 2022.
- [20:08]
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Aside from occasional late night calls to accommodate international colleagues, Jared's workdays ran 9 to 5. But other than that, this was not a standard office experience. Jared's office was in his house. He was strictly working from home. No outside workplace, no local coworkers. His boss had been at Microsoft for 22 years and seemingly worked out of North Dakota. No local meetings. All meetings went down on Microsoft Teams. But life wasn't just about work for Jared.
- [20:38]
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He'd wanted a family, and he got one. He married young several Years before earning his university degree, he had met his wife to be through his brother Adam's wife. He wed that young woman in April of 2010 when he was 21 and she was 23. Jared's bride was Shanna Lee Gardner. They had both grown up in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and wed at the massive spired LDS temple in downtown Salt Lake City. Afterwards, they lived together in Utah. To outsiders, they seem like a great match. Gardner's family seemed to adore Jared.
- [21:19]
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They had their twins in 2012, a boy and a girl. The boy was born with a health problem with his heart. Living in a high elevation environment was apparently bad for him, so the family uprooted and moved to Connecticut. It also helped that that was much closer to his heart specialist.
- [21:35]
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But the marriage did not last. Gardner and Jared got divorced in 2015, but Jared found someone new after that.
- [21:43]
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In 2017, while on the dating app Mutual, which is targeted to the LDS community, Jared met a woman, Kirsten. She was from Charlotte, North Carolina. She and Jared fell in love with. They dated for about half a year. Then they married and they had their two daughters.
- [21:59]
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As far as his personality, Jared was not a particularly social man. He wasn't big into phone calls or check ins or hangouts. He had recently gone out to top golf with some friends, but his circle of close contacts was fairly small.
- [22:15]
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The person he was truly closest to in life was his wife Kirsten, and after that maybe his older brother Adam and his sister in law Adam's wife Charlie. Jared's idea of fun was staying around the house completing home improvement projects a few times a week. He also played Halo with a group of people on his Xbox.
- [22:34]
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He was on social media as Jared B2 on Instagram and Jared Brightigan on Facebook. He didn't really post though, he mostly just scrolled. He had deactivated his accounts in order to avoid distraction so he could be more present with Kirsten, but by that February night he had recently reactivated them.
- [22:57]
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Jared stayed in shape by heading to the Residents Only gym in his St. Augustine neighborhood and doing daily runs there. He took the family he shared with Kirsten to a weekly Tuesday appointment at the Revolution Chiropractic practice in Jacksonville for their chiropractic needs, and most Sundays the family went to the LDS Church in St. Augustine. Jared and Kirsten were both devout members
- [23:19]
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of that faith, so on the surface none of this is extremely concerning. No obvious drug usage or dealing. No obvious intimate partner violence scenarios. No sketchy business associates. I and I are not really hearing Anything that screams this guy had a lot of people who might have wanted to murder him.
- [23:39]
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No, he sounds like a pretty normal guy that you might meet in everyday life. What's more, Kiersten felt that Jared generally got along with people quite well. He wasn't the most social guy, but people didn't have an issue with him. People tended to like him. Keep in mind, though, Kirsten of course, was Jared's wife. She loved him. Obviously she'd have a pretty positive view of him. But in fairness, she was quite aware of two exceptions to her feeling that Jared got along with everyone she knew of two people who had a history of having pretty serious issues with Jared. But we'll get into more of that in a future episode.
- [24:20]
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Jared was a creature of habit when it came to the route he drove to return home from dropping off the twins. Kirsten knew that all too well.
- [24:29]
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Let's head down that route with him. Jared would get onto Beach Boulevard and head westbound on San Pablo. Then from San Pablo he would drive onto the J. Turner Butler Boulevard. Going that route, he would end up on Sanctuary Boulevard, which gave way to Sanctuary Parkway before merging onto the J. Turner Butler Boulevard. And it would require Jared to drive through an intersection between Jacksonville Drive and Sanctuary Boulevard.
- [24:55]
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Kirsten remembered it vividly because it was a pretty inefficient route, in her view. She and Jared had even gotten into a minor quarrel over this. Kirsten urged him to drive her preferred route instead because she said it was faster. But that didn't change Jared's mind. He had his route and he was going to drive it.
- [25:16]
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And that's just what Jared did that night. February 16, 2022. Let's go back to the roadways of Jacksonville Beach. From Marsh Inlet Court D down to the intersection of Jacksonville Drive and Sanctuary Boulevard. It's about a six to eight minute drive, depending on the exact way you go. It goes through a predominantly residential area.
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Let's talk about the intersection. The same intersection we brought you to at the beginning of this episode, the one where everything happened.
- [25:49]
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Both Jacksonville Drive and Sanctuary Boulevard are curbed, well maintained roads. A crosswalk of gray bricks cuts across Jacksonville Drive right before the spot where one turns onto Sanctuary Boulevard.
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Sanctuary Boulevard itself is divided by a median into a northbound lane and a southbound lane. That median isn't just a small divider either. It's wide with grassy spots and brush and trees. It can also get somewhat swampy.
- [26:19]
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The spot where Jacksonville Drive crosses Sanctuary Boulevard is very dark at night. There are no streetlights. There are plenty of houses Nearby, but only a few close enough to really give off much light. There are plenty of tall trees though, that loom high against the sky.
- [26:36]
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That night was a full moon, a snow moon of February that gave off some light. Not enough to help Gerald see the danger in the darkness. Though
- [26:48]
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the ambush was a simple one. It happened right there at that intersection. What's heartbreaking to me is that Jared was so close. He was so close to getting on Sanctuary Parkway and heading toward the J. Turner Butler Boulevard and home, back to his wife and baby.
- [27:06]
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But that's not how it happened. As we mentioned at the top, a tire lay in the road. Jared did not know it, but it had not been there long. Someone had set it out just for him.
- [27:20]
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A tire. A damaged one at that. Jared stared at it through the windshield of his Volkswagen Atlas. He decided to get out and move the thing blocking him from getting home. The obstacle that would unfortunately prevent him from ever getting home again.
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He parked his Volkswagen. He flicked on his hazard lights.
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He.
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He opened the door and started to get out of the vehicle. Bloodstains found on the driver's car seat indicate that he was shot. As this happened, something.
- [27:51]
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Someone moved toward him fast. Gunshot after gunshot went off. Jared was hit. Shot. Bullets blasted through the vehicle where Jared's 2 year old was still strapped into her car seat. Shell casings clinked onto the road around Jared. The shooter was that close. Jared fell to the road and lay there bleeding.
- [28:14]
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The gunman disappeared back into the darkness. Inside the suv, Jared's two year old daughter began to cry.
- [28:23]
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People in the area heard the gunshots and other drivers also began to arrive. These were folks who just happened to be driving in the area at this time. They found themselves confronted with a really confusing scene. Some maneuvered their vehicles around the SUV with the hazard lights and drove on. Others stopped and what they saw frightened them. Several called 91 1-Jacksonville- Beach 911.
- [28:49]
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I'm pretty sure I just heard three or four gunshots.
- [28:52]
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We are driving by Sanctuary Boulevard corner to J.T.
- [28:57]
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butler. Okay?
- [28:58]
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And there is. There is a car standing in the
- [29:01]
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middle of the road.
- [29:02]
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There is a guy standing on the floor.
- [29:07]
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Two sisters occupied the car directly behind Jared's. They had driven up to the intersection and discovered the Volkswagen blocking their way. Their names were Zoraida and Osiris. They became concerned. They worried it was a setup, some kind of a trap, a robbery. But they could not escape. More vehicles pulled in behind them, boxing them in. They stopped and stayed in their vehicle, confused and scared.
- [29:37]
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Another witness from a vehicle behind them was named Shane. That night, he and his girlfriend Janelle left a friend's house near Seabreeze elementary, not too far away. At the intersection, the traffic suddenly stopped. Shane stopped his vehicle and got out. He saw Jared's suv. Then he saw Jared just lying there. Jared wore a blue shirt, gray pants, brown flip flops and a wedding ring.
- [30:02]
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In a situation like this, many people unaccustomed to murder and mayhem will grasp for an innocent explanation. Shane wondered if Jared was changing a tire. So he started to walk over, figuring he'd help the guy. But quickly he realized something was very wrong. Jared was twitching, moving ever so slightly. He looked hurt bad. Dying even.
- [30:30]
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Shane turned to the vehicle that had stopped directly behind Jared's. The two sisters were inside. He asked them to call 91 1. The sisters thought of him as a Good Samaritan because he was trying to help in a confusing and troubling situation.
- [30:44]
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Even then, even after what he had seen, Shane's mind went to an accident. Janelle agreed. She figured Jared had experienced some kind of a medical crisis. Shane's guess was a traffic accident. He glanced around the nearby trees and brush, looking for a possible second vehicle, one that might have careened off into the greenery as the result of a collision.
- [31:08]
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Then Shane saw the shattered window. The SUV's passenger window was all spidered out. That meant one thing to Shane. A bullet had passed through it. That's what it looked like. He must have felt so scared in that moment. Standing in the dark next to a shot up suv, the man dying face down near him. Then Shane heard some cries. Those made him freeze. A little girl was sobbing somewhere inside the Volkswagen.
- [31:37]
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He hurried over and found Jared's two year old daughter. Shane unstrapped her from her car seat. He carried her away from the suv. He brought her to his vehicle and gave her to Janelle, who comforted her. The sisters watched as he did this.
- [31:54]
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Outside of the line of stopped vehicles, Shane noticed people gathering. Passersby, a white guy in a hat, said he heard a lady mention gunshots.
- [32:04]
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A driver in a big white truck came by, coming to a halt. The driver did not get out. Shane asked the driver if he was a physician or someone with a medical background. The truck driver said, no, man, and just drove on.
- [32:18]
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Osiris and Zoraida noticed another Good Samaritan, a tall man over six foot, enter the scene. That man walked over to Jared. From reading the files, we believe his name was George. He was also trying to help.
- [32:33]
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He tried calling out to Jared, saying hello, can you hear? Then, alarmed, he saw what Shane had already noticed. He pointed to the SUV's passenger side window. No wonder he is dead. He cried.
- [32:48]
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The eyes of the sisters went to the window glass, the spidery cracks. A bullet had gone through that window. This hadn't been an accident.
- [32:57]
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Back in his vehicle, Shane and Jonelle asked the little girl what had happened. But she could not answer. She could only talk about her father. She was so worried about him.
- [33:10]
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Sergeant Lawrence Smith was the first law enforcement officer on the scene. He was an officer with the Jacksonville Beach Police Department. He arrived at 7:59pm he got to the intersection. He immediately noticed the darkness. Then the Volkswagen with the motor still running, the hazard lights. The vehicle's windows and doors were closed, aside from the driver's side door that hung open.
- [33:38]
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And then he noticed the worst thing, the most important thing. The man lying in the road, face down, shell casings glinting around him. A pool of coagulated blood sticky around his head. He focused all of his energy on that wounded man.
- [33:57]
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Sergeant Smith knelt next to Jared and felt for his pulse along his carotid artery. He found none. Jared was lifeless. But Sergeant Smith had to keep trying. He rolled the man onto his back. Then he began to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation or cpr. Rescue breaths, chest compressions. It's exhausting work. He did this over and over again to try to resuscitate Jared. He kept working, but it was too late. Jared was mortally wounded. He would soon be pronounced dead.
- [34:32]
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Sergeant Smith was not alone. Soon he'd be joined by a flood of colleagues from the Jacksonville Beach Police Department. Patrol officers, detectives, evidence technicians, all working together to try to figure out what happened to Jared. We will get into all of that in next week's episode.
- [34:53]
A
This case was to be an unforgettable one, a tragic one for the witnesses, for the officers who worked it, for Jared's two year old daughter, for his baby daughter and wife far away in St. Augustine, oblivious to the crime. And for his twins, who lost their father that night. This was a vicious murder. A father had been gunned down in front of his toddler daughter. But who could have done this? That was the question police would have to figure out. They had to find enough evidence to answer the important question. Who would have wanted Jared Breitegan dead? Next week, we will take you inside the crucial early phase of the investigation. From the first moments to the initial days of canvassing rumors and sketchy suspects. We'll watch as detectives start to piece together answers about the person that they would come to suspect orchestrated this deadly ambush. Tune in then, for the next installment of our deep dive into Jared Breitigan and his murder. Stick with us and by the time we get to the trials this summer, you'll be an expert on the case.
- [36:05]
B
Thanks so much for listening to the Murder Sheet. If you have a tip concerning one of the cases we cover, please email us@murdersheetmail.com if you have actionable information about an unsolved crime, please report it to the appropriate authorities.
- [36:25]
A
If you're interested in joining our Patreon, that's available at www.patreon.com murdersheet if you want to tip us a bit of money for records requests, you can do so at www. Buymeacoffee.com murdersheet. We very much appreciate any support.
- [36:49]
B
Special thanks to Kevin Tyler Greenlee, who composed the music for the Murder Sheet and who you can find on the web@kevintg.com if you're looking to talk with
- [37:00]
A
other listeners about a case we've covered, you can join the Murder Sheet Discussion group on Facebook. We mostly focus our time on research and reporting, so we're not on social media much. We do try to check our email account, but we ask for patience as we often receive a lot of messages. Thanks again for listening.