The Murder of Jared Bridegan: Part Two: The Crime Scene

Summary

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The Murder of Jared Bridegan: Part Two—The Crime Scene

Podcast: Murder Sheet
Hosts: Áine Cain & Kevin Greenlee
Date: July 21, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this episode, journalists Áine Cain and attorney Kevin Greenlee continue their deep dive into the murder of Jared Bridegan. Part Two focuses on the immediate aftermath and investigation of the crime scene—detailing how law enforcement and first responders arrived, processed evidence, gathered witness accounts, and combed the area for crucial clues in what became a high-profile and complex murder case.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Immediate Response at the Crime Scene (03:06–10:48)

• Arriving Officers & First Steps:

  • Sergeant Lawrence Smith arrives and performs CPR on Jared Bridegan, prioritizing life-saving measures over evidence collection. Officers Harold Corey and Aaron Filbert arrive just after, starting to secure the scene and interview witnesses.
    • “Sergeant Smith fought to save Jared Bridegan’s life. Jared had no pulse. He wasn't responding to CPR. But the sergeant did not give up.” – Áine Cain (04:21)
  • Officer Corey ensures the safety of Jared’s 2-year-old daughter, confirming she’s being cared for by witness Janelle in another car (06:20).

• Scene Securing & Evidence Preservation:

  • Officers establish a perimeter. Officer Corey switches with Sergeant Smith for CPR due to fatigue, while others close off traffic (07:13–09:17).
  • The Jacksonville Beach Fire and Rescue Department arrives and takes over, but Jared is soon pronounced dead at 33 (10:30).

2. Documenting and Processing the Crime Scene (10:48–17:10)

• Documenting the Scene:

  • Officers begin methodical documentation using photography, flashlight assistance, and a 360-degree camera system (11:19–13:41; 15:33).
    • "Photography is a crucial part of crime scene investigation. In a scene like this, investigators want everything carefully documented.” – Kevin Greenlee (12:32)
  • Officer Jarman, called as evidence technician, walks the intersection with a flashlight, photographing everything including the bullet holes, shell casings, damaged tire, and Jared’s personal items, all left untouched by the killer (11:19; 12:47).
  • Detective Sergeant Young and Assistant State Attorney Christina Stifler join to oversee evidence collection and legal procedures (13:52–14:14).
  • The lead detective, Christopher Lee Johns, arrives and conducts a guided walk through, analyzing the battered Volkswagen and the body (14:32–15:17).

• Shooting Reconstruction:

  • The evidence team uses rods and strings for a bullet path reconstruction, discovering later a wrong-sized rod was used—a small but not uncommon error (15:50).
  • Multiple shell casings and bullet holes indicate the shooter stood close to Jared during the attack (16:49–17:10).

3. Personal Testimonies and Witness Interviews (24:04–32:36)

• Initial Witness Accounts:

  • Officers and detectives systematically canvass the area, gathering a diverse array of witness statements—most "ear" witnesses who heard, but did not see, the shots (24:11–25:02).
    • "Plenty of other ear witnesses would also come forward... This is a great reminder that ear and eyewitnesses... do not occupy some kind of hive mind. Discrepancies like this are normal in any police investigation.” – Kevin Greenlee (24:33)
  • A key eyewitness, Shane, took Jared’s daughter from the SUV and gave a full statement at the station (27:20).
  • Noteworthy is the experience of George, a Good Samaritan, who felt he was being treated with suspicion for stopping to help and ultimately gave a statement despite visible frustration (25:39–27:13).
    • "George told her he felt he was being punished for trying to help. And being a good guy getting punished for trying to help. Such is the lot of many crime witnesses." – Áine Cain (27:13)

• Surrounding Residents:

  • Many neighbors report hearing shots but vary widely on the number and significance, with several potential leads (America Avenue, a suspicious white van, and a white male acting strangely nearby) noted (28:11–32:33).
  • Officers also gather physical evidence—such as a silver bullet collected under Jared’s body (22:35).

4. Family Notification & Personal Context (32:54–36:59)

• Victim Identification and Family Impact:
  • Jared’s wife, Kirsten, is informed and reunited with her two-year-old daughter.
    • "Kirsten was now a widow, not because of a freak accident, but because someone had ambushed her husband on a dark road.” – Áine Cain (33:22)
  • The toddler provides a chilling firsthand account to police about hearing a "boom" and that it was "too loud," indicating the trauma she experienced (34:12).
  • Kirsten shares that the only major conflict in Jared’s life was with his ex-wife, Shanna Gardner, and her new husband Mario Fernandez Saldana—though she clarifies there was no known violence between them (35:05–36:04).

5. Initial Theories About the Crime (37:20–39:06)

• Randomness vs. Targeting:
  • The lack of theft or robbery at the scene, combined with the placement of the tire and targeted nature of the attack, quickly leads detectives to suspect an ambush rather than a random act (37:53–38:46).
    • "Most crimes are personal. People kill people they know. Investigators soon felt strongly that this was a targeted killing, that Jared Bridegan had been lured into a deadly ambush." – Kevin Greenlee (39:06)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Law Enforcement’s Priorities:
  “In a scene like this, where there's even a sliver of hope for saving a man's life, that has to take priority. It trumps interviewing witnesses. It trumps collecting physical evidence. A human life has to come first.”
  — Áine Cain (04:21)

• Witness Discrepancies:
  "This is a great reminder that ear and eyewitnesses, while extremely helpful to an investigation, do not occupy some kind of hive mind. Discrepancies like this are normal in any police investigation."
  — Kevin Greenlee (24:33)

• Trauma of Jared’s Daughter:
  "On the drive back, something happened. The child said, daddy opened my car door and I heard a boom. The little girl said, it's too loud."
  — Áine Cain (34:12)

• George the Good Samaritan:
  "George told her he felt he was being punished for trying to help. And being a good guy getting punished for trying to help. Such is the lot of many crime witnesses."
  — Áine Cain (27:13)

• Initial Theory:
  "Most crimes are personal. People kill people they know. Investigators soon felt strongly that this was a targeted killing, that Jared Bridegan had been lured into a deadly ambush."
  — Kevin Greenlee (39:06)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• First responders and scene arrival: 03:06–06:20
• CPR and evidence protection: 06:20–10:30
• Scene documentation methods: 11:19–13:41
• Shooting reconstruction and evidence collection: 15:33–17:10
• Witnesses and Good Samaritan conflict: 24:04–27:13
• Neighborhood witness reports (white van, suspicious man): 31:12–32:33
• Family notification and child’s memories: 32:54–34:12
• Victim’s history with ex-wife and narrative of targeted murder: 35:05–39:06

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Conclusion

This episode meticulously reconstructs how the investigation unfolded in the hours after Jared Bridegan’s murder—from desperate life-saving efforts, to forensic documentation, to the chaotic tapestry of witness accounts and the beginnings of detective work into Jared’s life and relationships. The hosts balance robust process detail with empathy for both investigators and traumatized witnesses, positioning the crime as likely personal and targeted. The next episode will examine deeper motives and more players in this unfolding conspiracy.

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Transcript

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[Anya Cain]

I'm Anya and this is part of 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 Bredigan Content WARNING this

[Kevin Greenlee]

episode contains discussion of murder and violence.

[Anya Cain]

A note before we begin Starting this summer, multiple defendants are slated to face charges in the murder of Jared Breidegan. We'll be doing a deep dive into this case and then jumping right into in depth trial coverage. In today's episode, we'll be picking up where we left off in the case. Keep in mind we're basing all of this coverage off of an extensive review of case documents. Some of these ranks of different law enforcement officers may be outdated, and some of these officers have since become detectives. We just tried to keep to what the documents said.

[Kevin Greenlee]

In our last episode, we left Sergeant Lawrence Smith in the dark, kneeling over Jared's body, performing cpr, trying to save Jared's life.

[Anya Cain]

We also told you that Sergeant Smith's colleagues with the Jacksonville Beach Police Department weren't far behind him. In fact, two arrived at almost the same time as him. Officer Harold Corey and Officer Aaron Filbert. Soon, more would arrive. The Jacksonville Beach Police Department investigators would take charge of the scene.

[Kevin Greenlee]

These police officers would need to analyze the crime scene for clues, secure and start to process physical and forensic evidence, make contact with witnesses, and canvass the area for additional ear and eyewitnesses. These early moments of a case are crucial. They can make and break a later investigation. In this episode, we will drill down on all they found and all they did.

[Anya Cain]

My name is Anya Cain. I'm a journalist.

[Kevin Greenlee]

And I'm Kevin Greenlee. I'm an attorney.

[Anya Cain]

And this is the Murder Sheet.

[Kevin Greenlee]

We're a true crime podcast focused on original reporting, interviews, and deep dives into murder cases. We're the Murder Sheet.

[Anya Cain]

And this is the Murder of Jared Breidegan Part 2. The crime scene. Sergeant Smith fought to save Jared Bregan's life. Jared had no pulse. He wasn't responding to cpr. But the sergeant did not give up. In a scene like this, where there's even a sliver of hope for saving a man's life, that has to take priority. It trumps interviewing witnesses. It trumps collecting physical evidence. A human life has to come first.

[Kevin Greenlee]

As we mentioned, Officers Corey and Filbert showed up at nearly the same time as Sergeant Smith. There had been multiple calls about the situation at the intersection of Sanctuary Boulevard and Jacksonville Drive. Officer Corey saw Sergeant Smith giving CPR to Jared. He went over to the gathered witnesses. He needed to start getting information. He asked the witnesses if the Volkswagen SUV was theirs. Everyone said no. Officer Corey looked inside the car. Dispatch had indicated that there was a little girl at the scene too. But the SUV was empty. He became concerned she could be in danger. Where was she?

[Anya Cain]

The other witnesses assuaged Officer Corey. The little girl was being taken care of by a witness named Janelle in another vehicle. Remember, Janelle's boyfriend? Shane had gotten the little girl out of the suv. So Officer Corey went over to their vehicle. He saw that Jonelle was comforting the two year old. The little girl was okay, at least physically. She had just seen her father shot in the street after all. Then Officer Corey went back to Sergeant Smith. Performing CPR correctly is tough and tiring. To maintain high quality CPR switching between rescuers is advisable. So Officer Corey knelt down and took over from Sergeant Smith. The Jacksonville Fire Rescue Department's rescue team would be arriving soon. The police officers needed to keep up life saving measures until the rescue team got there.

[Kevin Greenlee]

At some point, presumably after Officer Corey relieved him, Sergeant Smith got on his radio. He advised that he was at the scene where he had located a male victim lying in the street. He asked all responding units to secure the scene and hold witnesses for questioning. He also requested the two particular people, Officer Shane Jarman and Officer James Choate, come to the scene. Officer Jarman was an evidence technician. Officer Choate was the property officer at the station. They both had the training to document, handle and collect evidence at the crime scene. Sergeant Smith also rang Detective Sergeant David Young, who arrived to begin coordinating a response from the department's detectives.

[Anya Cain]

First of all, the police needed to figure out who this victim was. Officer Filbert got to work running the Volkswagen's tags. Jared's name came up right away. So did the name of Jared's wife, Kirsten. Officer Filbert got the contact information for Kirsten. Jarrod's wife would soon hear the worst news possible.

[Kevin Greenlee]

When Corporal Yvonne Santiago arrived, her sole focus was on the little two year old Jared's daughter. She found that Janelle had calmed the toddler down. The child looked uninjured despite having been strapped into her car seat. As the father's SUV was shot up, Corporal Santiago took the little girl from Janelle and brought her to the Jacksonville beach police station to await her mother Kirsten.

[Anya Cain]

One detail at the scene that struck these law enforcement officers was all the blood. Blood all over the road, smeared. After Sergeant Smith rolled Jared over to begin cpr. Blood coagulating near Jared's head. Then there was the darkness. As we mentioned in our previous episode, this intersection gets very dark. Tall trees looming against the night sky. Very little ambient light other than the moon. On that particular evening, the Jacksonville Fire

[Kevin Greenlee]

and Rescue Department's Rescue Station 60 team reached the scene. The JFRD's Rescue Division handles emergency medical services. Jacksonville beach began contracting its fire and rescue services to the big nearby city of Jacksonville.

[Anya Cain]

The rescue personnel took over life saving measures from Officer Corey. Thus relieved, he grabbed police tape and strung a strip of it across the south end of Sanctuary Boulevard. He waited there, ready to stop any traffic from coming in and disrupting the scene, until his colleague, Officer Jared Langlough swung by to block off the road with his vehicle. He had initially been sent to State Road A1A N J. Turner Butler Boulevard over reports of gunshots. And then dispatch had him go to Sanctuary Boulevard and Jacksonville Drive, where the actual crime scene was. He flicked on his overhead lights. Officers Lang, Law and Corey walked back to the crime scene. On the northbound side of the street, Officer Langlough could see the glow of headlights, then Jared's body.

[Kevin Greenlee]

Others, like Officers Lindsay Lyon and Julie Spurrier, held the perimeter they needed to ensure nobody was going to run over or trample their crime scene.

[Anya Cain]

Meanwhile, the rescue personnel saw that Jared wasn't responding. He was gone. The rescue team declared Jared dead. He was 33 years old. The rescue team then covered Jared's body with a white sheet. And then on top of that, an emergency blanket.

[Kevin Greenlee]

Having parked his vehicle to help with the perimeter, Officer Langlough braved the marshy brush in the median. He cut right across. What he saw at the crime scene was horrible. A body lying beneath a sheet that was quickly becoming seeped in blood. Jared's feet stuck out from under the sheet. They were crossed. One was missing a flip flop. Jared's left hand rested on the curb, curled inward, streaked with blood. He wore a wedding ring and a black apple watch.

[Anya Cain]

Whoever had done this apparently hadn't been interested in any of those valuables.

[Kevin Greenlee]

Let's start out by talking about how the Jacksonville beach officers processed the crime scene.

[Anya Cain]

Officer Shane Jarman arrived, having been called over to the scene by Sergeant Smith. He noted the lack of street lights, ambient lights, anything. Fortunately, though, Sergeant Smith was there. With a flashlight, he illuminated the way for Officer Jarman as they walked the whole scene together. The flashlight hit the open driver's door. It also lit up two bullet holes and the damaged tire in front of the SUV that had blocked Jared's way.

[Kevin Greenlee]

From there, Officers Jarman, Choate, Filbert and Langloh formed a bit of a team. They were aided by Sergeant Smith, who switched from patrol mode to helping the evidence technicians. He even helped videotape the scene. Sergeant Smith Also loaned Officer Langlow his camera to photograph the scene.

[Anya Cain]

Officer Jarman later sent Officer Langlough back to the station to get even more equipment for processing the scene. Officer Langlough returned with that and they proceeded mistake mystique and proceeded to help the rest of the team by holding a flashlight to help illuminate everything for photographs.

[Kevin Greenlee]

Photography is a crucial part of crime scene investigation. In a scene like this, investigators want everything carefully documented. That helps them out a lot later on and shows that they did a good, thorough job of processing everything.

[Anya Cain]

These officers took pictures of a lot of stuff. Early on, Detective Sergeant Young asked Officer Filbert to take a picture of something through the open SUV do. She went over and saw that the object in question was Jared's cell phone. It was important to document its exact position because Detective Sergeant Young wanted to go ahead and collect it. It might contain important evidence.

[Kevin Greenlee]

From there, Officer Jarman began photographing the entire scene. From the east side of the north median, from the northbound traffic lane, from the south median, then north to south. He snapped images of Jared's body, of the shell casings without any evidence. Markers of the inside of the car through the open driver's door. Then all of those spots again, this time with markers next to the evidence. Then mid range, then up close.

[Anya Cain]

By then, detectives were showing up, including Detective Stephen Currier and Detective Jason Lamont. They had been called to the scene by Detective Sergeant Young.

[Kevin Greenlee]

Detective Currier pulled out his phone. He rang up the State Attorney's Office, 4th Circuit, or the Duval County State Attorney's Office, which is housed in Jacksonville. He got the on call Homicide State Attorney. That was Assistant State Attorney Christina Stifler. ASA Stifler agreed to meet the detectives at the scene. She headed over.

[Anya Cain]

Detective Currier also called the Duval County Medical Examiner's Office. He got Investigator Jeremy Stumm. He also called North Florida Transport and asked them to come transport the victim's body to the Duval County Medical Examiner's Office for autopsy.

[Kevin Greenlee]

Now is probably a good time to introduce the lead detective in the case, Detective Christopher Lee Johns of the Jacksonville Beach Police Department.

[Anya Cain]

He got there fast. The first police officers arrived just before 8 o' clock at night. By 8:32pm Detective Johns was there too. He was there to take everything in.

[Kevin Greenlee]

One of the very first things he did was familiarize himself with the scene. He had Officer Jarman walk him, Detective Sergeant Young, Detective Currier and ASA Stifler through the entire dark intersection. They looked at the black 2018 Volkswagen Atlas with the bullet holes in a spidered front passenger window. They came to the body beneath the bloody sheet.

[Anya Cain]

Officer Jarman drew back the sheet covering Jared so Detective Johns, an ASA Stifler, could see him. In doing so, he spotted a small piece of metal, a bullet fragment. He took more photographs of that.

[Kevin Greenlee]

Then the evidence team got back to work. Officers Jarman, Filbert, and Langlough set up the OSCR360 behind the vehicle and in front of it. This device features a 360 degree camera setup that can essentially take spherical photos of a crime scene.

[Anya Cain]

Sergeant Smith asked Officer Jarman to complete a shooting reconstruction on the scene too. Officers Filbert and Shoate worked on that. These reconstructions are supposed to help investigators visualize the path of a bullet, to understand the positioning of a shooter and a victim or a shooter or and something they've shot. The evidence team broke out rods and strings and took pictures trying to measure the bullet strike to the passenger door as best they could. In his report, Officer Jarman indicated that they used the wrong size rod for part of this. It's a good reminder that no investigation is without mistakes. Police investigators noticed a few things as they processed the scene. Four bullet casings lay around Jared. Officer Filbert noted those and placed a blank field contact card next to two of them. She didn't think those two were too visible, and she wanted to help other officers and technicians see them better.

[Kevin Greenlee]

There were also clear bullet holes in the suv. One blasted through the center console dashboard area to the lower right of the steering wheel. The other was in the middle left area of the passenger side front door. Under the window that had damaged the window. The glass was spidered, although it was not fully broken out.

[Anya Cain]

In other words, somebody had been quite close to Jared when they pulled the trigger. This message is sponsored by Greenlight.

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[Anya Cain]

They had also shot up this vehicle with a two year old inside of it. The shooter had killed Jared, but they could have easily hit her too. Whoever had done this, whoever was behind this, was a cold blooded killer.

[Kevin Greenlee]

By then, the medical examiner had arrived. The documents use male pronouns and just refer to this person as the medical examiner. It is unclear if this was Investigator Stump. The person Detective Currier called the medical examiner would need to check over Jared's body and then have him moved for an autopsy. Before Jared was taken away, Officer Jarmut directed Officer Langlough to do something one usually sees in old movies. He had him mark the spot where Jared lay with chalk, noting locations of the body's head, feet and arms, as well as the spots where casings and possible projectiles lay.

[Anya Cain]

It was now time to move the body to give the medical examiner a better look. In that process, the medical examiner and officers scrutinized Jared for wounds. The medical examiner felt Jared's head but could not find an entry wound. The whole body retrieval team arrived then. Together they rolled Jared onto his left side and then his right, allowing Officer Jarman to photograph Jared's back. At that time, they still didn't really see any entry wounds. Finally, Officer Filbert helped the medical examiner locate the entry wounds in Jared's left shoulder. They saw two holes in his shirt at his left shoulder. That is where he had been shot. Officer Jarman photographed the wounds first through Jared's shirt and then with the garment peeled away from his skin.

[Kevin Greenlee]

When they lifted him, they also noticed something shiny lying beneath him. A silver colored projectile beneath the body. In other words, a bullet. Officer Choate collected that and kept his eye out for any other potential evidence like bullet fragments and casings.

[Anya Cain]

Once they were done, the North Florida Body Removal team took Jared's body away. After the body was gone, the evidence team laser mapped the whole scene. Officer Langlo joined the line search of the north and southbound lanes of Sanctuary Boulevard. They were still searching for more evidence. Perhaps the killer had discarded something. After fleeing, Officer Choate worked to gather and protect any potential physical evidence at the scene. For instance, the tire in the road was collected and so was the Volkswagen. Once the photographs and analysis were done, Officer Choate personally taped up Jared's SUV with evidence tape, carefully ensuring that the scene would be preserved for a later in depth search. Back at the station, Ray's wrecker came and collected the vehicle. Officer Choate drove behind them. After the wrecking crew dropped Jared's vehicle In the Jacksonville beach police station's property garage, Officer Choate personally locked the garage behind him. All to preserve the chain of custody and potentially crucial physical evidence. So that was the physical evidence side of things at this crime scene.

[Kevin Greenlee]

Then there's the witness side of things. That's what most of the other officers and investigators were focused on.

[Anya Cain]

For instance, as she stood at the perimeter, Officer Lyon spoke with a witness, A man who said he heard four or five gunshots. Quick succession, with a pause before the last one, like the killer, lingered a moment before firing again. Soon afterwards, this witness saw the blue lights of the police cars. He came over because he wanted to tell the police what he knew.

[Kevin Greenlee]

Plenty of other ear witnesses would also come forward. Many, many people in the neighborhood heard gunshots. Some heard three, others four, others five. Many weren't quite sure. This is a great reminder that ear and eyewitnesses, while extremely helpful to an investigation, do not occupy some kind of a hive mind. Discrepancies like this are normal in any police investigation.

[Anya Cain]

So a lot of people heard Jared's murder, But had anyone seen anything? Nobody at the scene seemed to have actually glimpsed the act.

[Kevin Greenlee]

Then there were the witnesses who had interacted with the crime scene after discovering Jared's body. One of these was George, one of the Good Samaritans.

[Anya Cain]

Officer Spurrier checked in with him. He told her that he didn't hear gunshots or see any suspicious activity. He only noticed multiple vehicles near the south end of the boulevard. He wanted to get out there and help. She asked him why he thought he needed to help if he did not observe anything suspicious.

[Kevin Greenlee]

George bristled. He did not seem to like that question. He said he was just trying to do the right thing.

[Anya Cain]

Officer Spurrier asked to see George's identification. When he started pulling his driver's license from his wallet, she noticed his concealed carry permit. She asked him about it.

[Kevin Greenlee]

That agitated George. He did not want to be there anymore.

[Anya Cain]

Now, before anyone jumps on George, let's think about this from his perspective for a minute. He's going about his business. He gets thrust into a situation where he comes upon the aftermath of a man shot dead in the street in front of his small daughter. And then suddenly he's talking with the police and hearing some questions that he might perceive as pointed. I'm not blaming Officer Spurrier either. For the record, it's very much her job to ask pertinent questions and frankly, be skeptical. Safety and crucial case information come first.

[Kevin Greenlee]

We just think it's important to call for some empathy and understanding for witnesses in situations like this. Because we have seen witnesses get attacked online for things like this Anyways.

[Anya Cain]

Officer Spurrier told Jurge he needed to stick around to talk to a detective. He retorted that he didn't see why he had to stay. As Officer Spurrier went and talked to other witnesses, she noticed George pacing up and down the boulevard. He kept getting in and out of his truck. For her part, Officer Spurrier tried to defuse the situation. She assured him the detective would get there fast.

[Kevin Greenlee]

George told her he felt he was being punished for trying to help. And being a good guy getting punished

[Anya Cain]

for trying to help. Such is the lot of many crime witnesses. It is not clear from the documents if George did indeed wait for detectives and they allowed him to go, or if he just left. But to his credit, despite his obvious unhappiness, George did ultimately give a statement. We'll hear more about that in a later episode. Detective Jason Lamont focused on some of the other key crime scene witnesses. He went and spoke to Shane, the witness who took Jared's daughter from the suv. He also spoke to the two sisters, Zoraida and Osiris, who had been in the vehicle directly behind Jared. He got statements from them all. Shane also gave a written statement and accompanied police to the station. Detective Johns interviewed him in the station's soft room. He gave his whole story that we outlined in episode one.

[Kevin Greenlee]

Let's go over some of the witnesses and residents Officer Spurrier spoke to that evening. They give a sense of the chaos and churn of information in the initial hours of an investigation. First, Officer Spurrier spoke to a man who lived in the area. That man heard two to three shots. His son upstairs in his bedroom, heard four to six. The kid called down to his dad, thinking that some fireworks were going off.

[Anya Cain]

That man's wife had also noticed somebody suspicious that evening. Maybe the person the police were seeking. A white male, over 6ft tall, average build, wearing a short sleeve black shirt and a black hat. That guy was stalking east on Jacksonville Drive towards South Beach Parkway. This wife thought this guy looked really suspicious. He kept glancing over his shoulder and kept a really brisk pace. Detective Lamont called on that same father and son duo who heard gunshots and even got access to their home surveillance footage. But reviewing that, Detective Lamont found that he didn't see anything. That appeared to resemble a suspect fleeing from the scene. He couldn't get a copy of the footage right away, but he would work something out later. To get that footage in this case would turn out to be key evidence. But it would take some time to sift out what was valuable and what was not.

[Kevin Greenlee]

Officer Spurrier also checked in with a woman who was a member of the Neighborhood Watch. She'd gotten a text from a neighbor about the gunshots, but she had not seen or heard anything herself.

[Anya Cain]

Another man approached Officer Spurrier as she talked to the Neighborhood Watch member. He had something to share, too. He had heard four gunshots. Hadn't seen anything, though.

[Kevin Greenlee]

Then Officer Spurrier talked to a woman and her son. They saw the police lights and went over to stand on the northwest corner of Jacksonville Drive and Sanctuary Boulevard. That is when a white man with gray hair and a beard stop in a white car. He asked what was happening. The woman replied she thought it was a car wreck. The man replied hopefully, nobody got shot and drove away.

[Anya Cain]

Officer Spurrier took all that down.

[Kevin Greenlee]

Like Officer Spurrier, Officer Cory ended up talking to a lot of people that night. He canvassed America Avenue. Much like his colleague, Officer Spurrier. He heard all kinds of stories. Here's a quick rapid fire sampling.

[Anya Cain]

One man heard the gunshots as he pulled into his driveway. He thought they were fireworks.

[Kevin Greenlee]

One man had been changing upstairs in his house and heard three shots but saw nothing.

[Anya Cain]

One woman heard four or five shots but hadn't yet checked her surveillance cameras.

[Kevin Greenlee]

One man hadn't been home during the shooting. But had a camera that might have caught something.

[Anya Cain]

Many, many residents heard three or four or five or six shots. But they couldn't help the detectives or the police officers. Because either they didn't have surveillance cameras or the footage they had hadn't captured a thing.

[Kevin Greenlee]

One woman saw a white panel van on the street 30 to 40 minutes after police arrived. The driver had acted weird in her view. She heard he was run off by other neighbors. That was something to check up on. Could that be the killer come back to see their handiwork?

[Anya Cain]

Another woman spoke more about the white van. Her son had tried to take a picture of it before it sped off, but couldn't get a clean shot in the dark.

[Kevin Greenlee]

One man living nearby told them even more details. He had left his house to drive to the store, found a white panel van blocking his way. The driver stood in the bushes on the west side of America Avenue. The man asked the driver to move his vehicle. A pretty simple request. But the driver seemed nervous. A white guy, heavyset, with a black scraggly beard and a gray hoodie and hat. About 6 foot 2 and 252 pounds. His van had no markings and PVC pipes atop his van. His plates were from Florida, but the witness did not get the number. The driver had said something odd to the witness. He said his father used to live in the sanctuary. He was driving past and saw police lights and got curious. But talking with the witness, he didn't seem curious. He just seemed anxious. He got in his van and drove off.

[Anya Cain]

Officer Corey took all of that down.

[Kevin Greenlee]

In the initial hours of an investigation, no one knows what is going to turn out to be important. Keep in mind, after a murder, people are going to look back on certain things with more suspicion. That doesn't mean these are going to be relevant later, but they are important to take note of.

[Anya Cain]

Back at the Jacksonville beach police station, Detective Johns had another person to meet. An extremely important person. Kirsten Breidegan, Jared's wife.

[Kevin Greenlee]

Earlier in the night, she had chatted with her husband. She became frantic. Around 8:51pm when Jared and their older daughter had still not arrived home, she began blowing up his phone. Then she got unimaginable news.

[Anya Cain]

Kirsten was now a widow, not because of a freak accident, but because someone had ambushed her husband on a dark road. She arrived at the station to get her two year old daughter and to speak with the police. One can only imagine the heartbreak she was feeling at this time.

[Kevin Greenlee]

She arrived at the station with her mother, Mary, to pick up her daughter. Corporal Santiago had been safeguarding the child. The corporal was struck by how articulate and intelligent the little girl was. The child had chatted away on the drive from the crime scene to the

[Anya Cain]

station about innocent things, like how her mommy had just bought her new shoes at Target. That was almost correct. Corporal Santiago learned that the store was really a Walmart. The little girl was only two, after all. The two year old went on to say that she had dinner that night with her brother and sister and her daddy. Mommy stayed home.

[Kevin Greenlee]

Then the conversation took a dark turn. On the drive back, something happened. The child said, daddy opened my car door and I heard a boom. The little girl said, it's too loud.

[Anya Cain]

Back at the station, Corporal Santiago met Kirsten and returned her daughter to her. ASA Stifler asked the newly grieving widow if they could interview her 2 year old with the Child Protective Services team in the coming days. Kirsten gave them permission. She wanted to do anything she could to help figure out what had happened to Jared.

[Kevin Greenlee]

And she had plenty of information to give herself. Investigators would ultimately ask Kiersten if anyone had a problem with Jared. Generally, no. He was easygoing and likable, she would say.

[Anya Cain]

But last week we mentioned that there were exceptions to that, and Kirsten would inform investigators of two of those exceptions.

[Kevin Greenlee]

Things were bad between Jared Breideggan and his former wife, Shanna Gardner, and her new husband, Mario Fernandez Saldana.

[Anya Cain]

Theirs was not a cordial co parenting arrangement or even a merely moderately awkward one. Things were ice cold between the exes.

[Kevin Greenlee]

According to Kirsten, Gardner was litigious, always filing things in court about the children. Gerald felt Gardner and her new husband were telling the kids lies to make him look bad, to make him seem like an awful father.

[Anya Cain]

Gardner had last filed against Jared in the past year, although that had been dropped. On top of that, Kirsten thought Fernandez Saldana seemed like a very controlling person.

[Kevin Greenlee]

Then again, drama and even animosity after divorce is common. And Kirsten said there wasn't any history of intimate partner violence or threats of violence in the history of their relationship.

[Anya Cain]

Police would need to dig to determine whether or not Kirsten was simply describing a tense domestic situation or a prelude to murder. We will get into the full extent of the acrimony across the miniseries, but

[Kevin Greenlee]

in the meantime, it fell to Detective Lamott and Detective Brett Burrell to break the news to Gardner. After all, she was the mother of Jared's twins, two 9 year olds who were now some of the last people to see their father alive. The detectives reached her house on Marsh Inlet at 12:39am well past midnight.

[Anya Cain]

Gardner let them in. They told her Jared was dead.

[Kevin Greenlee]

Gardner spoke to them. She noted that the divorce had not been amicable. They barely spoke, really. They only communicated through text. Before picking up their twins that night, Jared had texted her here. That was it.

[Anya Cain]

Gardner didn't know if he had any enemies. He wasn't really in her life anymore. Aside from exchanging custody of their children and going to different school events and court dates, Gardner assured the police she would be available if they needed anything else for the investigation. So after midnight, the detectives left that home on Marsh Inlet.

[Kevin Greenlee]

In this episode, we've heard from many witnesses, figures close to the victim. And we've also heard about how the officers process this crime scene. A crime scene can be a bit like a witness, too. It has a story to tell. In this case's crime scene, we see a man lying down next to an suv. He's seemingly gotten out to move a tire left in the road. Someone ambushed him Shooting him twice, firing into his suv. He dies. The shooter flees the scene. Lots of people hear the shooting. No one seems to glimpse it.

[Anya Cain]

One idea comes to my mind. Maybe this is one you've thought of as well. Perhaps this was a carjacking or a robbery gone wrong. That sort of thing can happen to anyone. One only has to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

[Kevin Greenlee]

Investigators noted a few things, though. Nothing from the scene had seemingly been stolen. Jared had clearly been incapacitated, fast, shot down in an ambush. His Volkswagen was there, just waiting to be taken. What kind of thief would not have gone for the vehicle or for valuables on the scene like his apple watch, his ring, his wallet?

[Anya Cain]

Now, a robbery didn't really fit because of that. And then there was the tire. Had that been placed in the road in order to force Jared to stop? Was that for Jared specifically, or was it a trap set for any passing driver?

[Kevin Greenlee]

In the world of crime, one can never totally discount just some random, untargeted madman or mad woman or mad person doing something terrible to someone they've never met. But investigators would soon begin to believe, based on all they collected that night, that this crime was not random.

[Anya Cain]

The fact of the matter is that most crimes are personal. People kill people they know. Investigators soon felt strongly that this was a targeted killing, that Jared Breitegan had been lured into a deadly ambush. But who would have set such a trap? In our next episode, next week we will get more into the ongoing investigation. We'll hear from more witnesses with more stories, and we'll learn more about Jared's relationships and the people who may have wished harm upon him.

[Kevin Greenlee]

Thanks so much for listening to the Murder Sheet. If you have a tip concerning one of the cases we cover, please email [e-mail] if you have actionable information about an unsolved crime, please report it to the appropriate authorities.

[Anya Cain]

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.

[Kevin Greenlee]

Special thanks to Kevin Tyler Greenlee, who composed the music for the Murder Sheet and who you can find on the [e-mail] if you're looking to talk with

[Anya Cain]

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.