Mario Fernandez Was Renovating a House. Prosecutors Say That's the Point.

Mario Fernandez's defense can show exactly where he was on January 29, 2022: at his own rental property on Potomac Avenue in Jacksonville, meeting contractors, hauling construction materials, on camera. In the Jared Bridegan murder trial's fourth day of testimony, prosecutors used that same day against him. FBI Agent Bobby Blythe traced Henry Tenon's phone leaving that exact property and running a route through Bridegan's life — his neighborhood, his children's gymnastics facility, Jacksonville Beach — eighteen days before Bridegan was shot dead beside a tire left in the road. The state calls it a practice run launched from the defendant's own address. The defense calls it a workday.

The rest of the day belonged to what investigators don't have. No DNA, fingerprints, or surveillance connect Fernandez to the blue Ford F-150. No physical evidence shows John Biggerstaff supplying him a 10mm, and records showed six 10mm purchases at a single Jacksonville gun store. Nobody ever searched the property where the truck was found — an omission detectives explained with 2023 information, disputed by the defense, that the weapon was destroyed shortly after the shooting.

Fernandez is charged with first-degree murder and solicitation as the alleged hirer, and the state's proof runs through a lease, a route, and $10,000 in checks to Tenon written in the six weeks after the murder. Jurors heard Fernandez's recorded calls from the days around Tenon's arrest and his 2022 police interview calling Bridegan "a keyboard warrior more than anything." Tony Brueski breaks down which side actually won Day 4 — and why the answer depends on which job the jury thinks is on trial. Testimony runs through August 28.

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This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.

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