I've heard that there's a house that has some bodies in the basement. Somebody told you that Shakaia was a victim of human trafficking. I'm come to find out.
This is like it exploded into this huge thing.
I knew, I just knew something was wrong.
Police say thirty three year old Jared Bride Again was shot dead.
I kept calling his phone during the drive.
Gunned down in front of his two year old daughter.
It's a murder of the stun Jack Speach neighbors.
His murder has attracted national attention, with the investigators saying he was targeted. Eventually a police officer answered and told me to come to the police station.
Justice is something that takes different shapes or forms.
If you know something, heard something, please it's never too late to do the right thing.
So I'm Dana Thompson aka Body Movin, and.
I'm John Green. For about a decade, Deanna and I spent a lot of time on the Internet, especially in the underbelly of the Internet, trying to identify and get animal abusers arrested.
We spent countless hours scouring the dark web helping catch predators. We spent over a year and a half trying to get law enforcement to take us seriously about a man that was killing cats online and he was threatening to move on to kill humans. And that was Luca mcnatdah.
Yeah, you might have heard about the Netflix special called Don't Fuck with Cats.
That's us. Well, now we're turning our online investigator skills to some of the most unexplained, unsolved, and just ignored cases.
This is True Crimes, the production of iHeartRadio and Kati's Studios.
This episode was recorded on September tenth, twenty twenty three, five weeks after the arrest of Jared's ex wife, Shanna Gardner Fernandez. In this episode, John Green and I are joined by Kirsten Bright Agan to discuss the arrest, the upcoming hearing, and more importantly, how Kirsten and her family
are doing following all these events. So here we are. Now, we know Mari I was arrested, and he's he's got he's got some sort of a hearing on Tuesday, right, and then the new news is that Shanna Gardner Fernandez has been arrested. She's currently in Washington, and I'm assuming that there'll be some sort of extradition hearing, which I believe she is not fighting to come to Florida to
get arraigned in Florida. Now, I did look for a probable cause ebidavit, and there has not been one released yet. I'm assuming they have to wait for her to get into the state of Florida to present that, because that's when it will become court record, you know. But I wasn't able to find anything. I have been looking because I really want to read that. But how are you feeling?
I mean today, I'm good. It's it's the weirdest thing. We knew a little bit in advance that she would be into custody. You know, we were waiting around that morning at the courthouse for news, so even just that morning and since and it's just been all of the emotions. It's been Happiness isn't the right word, but I think it's like a finally like we got here. We've been waiting for this, like this is the final big piece of the puzzle. So a little bit celebratory, to be honest,
but also a lot of just sadness. I think a lot of that is, you know, reliving everything and like realizing like yep, this is what happened, Like his life was taken for some ridiculous reasons by some very evil people, and realizing what that means for Liam and Abbey. They already lost their dad, they lost contact with us, and now they're losing their mom because of the decisions that she had made. So it's just all over the place.
And even since then, it's been just waves of emotion and I'm I'm hoping that that'll start to even out, but it's just it's been a ride, really crazy ride.
I think that was our first thoughts too, were Liam and Abbey, And I mean, this is devastating for them, and I just can't imagine how confused they must be, and like I just they need family, you know, and I hope that you guys can you know, make arrangements to make that, you know, because they're going to need
their sisters, you know, throughout their life. I mean, this is forever, you know, And now that they've lost their mom, I mean she's still alive, but you know, all intents and purposes, they've lost their mom and I don't even know if they know what's going on, but eventually they're gonna need, you know, the positive influence of your family in their lives and I hope. I hope that comes
to fruition sooner rather than later. I hope that they don't have to wait for Shana to get convicted for you know, some sort of visitation to occur.
Well, we've kind of touched on this in speaking with you before about the Markel Act and how this can only apply to this case. The spouse, SHANEO is taken into custody, so we're we're at that point now, right.
Well, she has to be convicted, I believe.
I have consulted with three separate family law attorneys just to make sure I was getting, you know, the right information, and that is one of them didn't even know about the Act, which surprised me.
Well it's so new, right.
Yeah, it's within the last year so and one of them said, it's not a new law, it's an update to an existing law. So a lot of them just apparently aren't aware that there is an update. But yeah, it's upon conviction then that update applies. But again, it doesn't give me any right. It gives grandparents' rights. So while that is something that we could work towards, it doesn't help the fact that me and their sisters are
not allowed to communicate with them. Obviously, if Jared's parents get granted visitation rights, then they could choose that we could be part of that, which would be a door right. But otherwise I've been told I have zero rights to it. Siblings, unfortunately, don't have rights to it. So I'm actually considering pushing forward a law in Florida to give siblings, even half siblings, rights to communicate with each other in situations like this, because that's absolutely.
I think that would be It's crazy to me that siblings don't have rights to their own siblings. It's insane to me.
Especially it's like, Okay, this isn't like two parents decided to move forward and they're each taking their own kids from previous relationships. They're half blood siblings who lived with each other fifty percent of their lives, and one parent allegedly murdered the other and that's the only reason they are no longer together. So like that should be a special circumstance that is considered by law.
I agree, I totally agree. Yeah, do you know when Shana will be extradited to Florida.
So she has a hearing. I believe it's on the fourteenth or the sixteenth in Washington.
Yeah, Friday think.
Yeah, I have been told that that's kind of irrelevant, Like what she is fighting extraditions, So.
Oh she is I read that wrong then.
Yeah, so what she enacted was habeas corpus, which basically means like produce the evidence. So but I've been told that doesn't really matter because what they're doing now is Governor DeSantis in Florida is signing an order saying this is Shanna Gardner, the Shanna Gardner that we need to prosecute here in Florida. He signs this governor's order and gets sent to Governor Ensley in Washington State. That governor signs it, and then she shipped over. So it's kind
of a game they're playing. I have been told it's not going to result in anything. She's just delaying.
Well, it's good.
I was wondering, did you watch the arrest?
I did watch the arrest footage.
The body cam footage.
Yeah, what was kind of going through your mind while you were watching that?
I was like, this is the strangest. That is not how I expect anybody to behave, especially if they're innocent when they're being arrested, especially arrested in front of their children. The fact that she was so home and just like if if someone came to arrest me, I'd be like, what the hell are you doing? I'm in I need a lawyer, like I you cannot do this, Like I don't take me. I need to be with my kids. I'd be trying to talk to my children like I
love you. Everything's gonna be okay, I'll be back. There was none of that in that footage. It was like, oh, there's some Instagram orders Abby and help me find my pants.
I was like what, And who's gonna take care of my dogs? Like it was very it was very creepy.
Yeah, Like that's so if you are innocent, that's not how I expect you to react. And if you're guilty, like that's the last thing you want to say to your kids, possibly ever in person, Like hey, there's Instagram orders like that. The whole thing was just so chilling to me. It's like, WHOA.
I have a feeling she just is like so used to kind of getting her way with life that she's just like, Eh, this is just a temporary thing. It's not gonna be a big deal. I'm gonna go I'm gonna talk my way out of you know. I think I just feel like she just is still not taking responsibility, even in her own mind, for what's gone down.
That's the way it comes off. So what we're referring to is when the Washington law enforcement goes to her house to take her into custody, she is very nonchalant, no big deal, acting like this is a normal occurrence to happen to her. Luckily, the officers are wearing bodycam footage that's been released for the public to see, and it is not the response you would expect from somebody, I think, and it does come off very creepy and sociopath and not taking in understanding what's fully going on.
You're being taken into custody to be brought back to the state you used to live in to be held accountable for the death of your ex husband. Normal people don't act that way, not at all. It is very creepy to watch.
Well, and it just broke my heart further for Leam and Abbey, like that that was one they witnessed it, but two that their mom wasn't focused on them and like making sure they're okay and saying that she loves them like that. I just felt so heartbroken for them.
So do you know where they are right now? If that's something we can ask?
Yeah, So I believe they are still in Washington State. In fact, I know they're in Washington State with her mom. So Shanna's mom, Shelley Gardner, and I have heard that some of Shanna's sisters are in rotation on who is coming out to view with them as well. So they're still in Washington.
Let's stop here for a break. We'll be back in a moment. So you often heard hear the phrase that the wills of justice moves slow. This incident happened in February twenty twenty two. Police today an extensive investigation. Finally somebody, a person of interest, is arrested in January of twenty twenty three. Eleven months later, then in March of twenty twenty three, Mario Fernandez is arrested. Who just happens to be married to Shanna Gardner. Now and now here we
are in September, and now she's taken into custody. What if you wouldn't mind sharing, what's it like going through that whole process? It's got to be like, what's taking so long. What's it like for you?
Yeah, you know, so that night I was pretty damn sure that I knew who had done it once I learned the circumstances of how he died. So when you feel that strongly about something, every day feels like an eternity waiting for law enforcement to catch up with what you already know. Like, get, they have a job to do. They had to look into me, they had to look
into siblings. I'm sure everybody around Jared they had to look into I get it, But it seems like an attorney while you wait for them to get to the truth. And then when we are informed of the first arrest, a man I had never heard of, obviously, it's like, okay, probably a hired person if what I believe is true. But like, okay, you got him, so now get the other ones. But it takes longer, and they have to
build their case and keep looking for evidence. So it's excruciating, and part of you feels like your life's just frozen in time, like you can't move forward mentally, spiritually, physically, like it just you just feel frozen. But then on the other half, I'm a mom, I have to move forward. I have to be there for the girls, and like they're growing, they're learning, and that part of life doesn't
slow down. So it's a really weird position to be in where you have feel stuck in that night and then your other foot is being dragged through reality and you have to try to catch up. And sometimes it still feels surreal, like I still think I'm gonna get a text or a call from Jared and he's gonna come home, the kids can come home. That's not going to happen, and you just have to remind yourself about that.
Yeah, and what are you doing to kind of keep everything together, like especially considering that now that Shin has been arrested, this is kind of just the beginning, right, Like this is going to take at least another year.
Yeah, I honestly expected to feel different, like after she was arrested, and I think I do a little bit, like, oh, there's a little sense of great, we closed a chapter, a horrific chapter. But now it's like there's a lot more coming and it can take years. And we were we were told that after her arrest that this could be years of waiting in court and all of that, especially if she's doing what it looks like she's going to do and drag her feet every step of the way.
So I'm just trying to find outlets, you know. Like I Friday when we were going to talk, I was just I was in a it was a bad day for me. I went to am I actually went to a Brazilian jiu jitsu class because I just felt like I needed to get some anor house And I think I'm going to keep doing that because I cannot how good.
That yeah, like even if it's healthy.
Yeah, And so I think this this now is the time where I prioritize me because I've been put on hold, Like I've been trying to prioritize the kids, prioritize the case, putting Jared's memory out there. And I'm still going to do those things, but I also need to take care of myself or I'm gonna I'm gonna run out of gas before we're at the end of this. So that's
that's kind of where my focus is shifting now. It's like, how do I take care of me so that I can take care of the kids and everything else that's coming down the road for the long term.
Yeah, because like you do have a long road ahead of you, right, Like, I know you already know all this, but for the viewers, there's a trial, and then if it's if it's death penalty, there's appeal upon appeal, upon appeal, upon appeal, there's victim impact statements to write, you know, like her daughter, Kirsten's daughter was in the car when Jared was shot and killed. Like, there's so many different elements to this that you really have to be You
are the perfect example of like a strong woman. And this is not to say that other victims of crime are not strong, but miss Bride again has been rock solid throughout this whole ordeal. I don't know how you've done it, but I think she's created a foundation for a charity. And I mean, you've done so many positive things in Jared's name. I think that's probably helped you some, like with your healing and whatnot. Like his death is
never going to mean anything. I mean, it's it's tragic and it's terrible, it's awful, but you've given you've given his name meaning and I just I can't say enough positive about that, and it doesn't really matter. But I really admire you a lot, and you have to take it. You know, when you when you're on an airplane, they tell you if the safety masks come down, put the mask on you first, because you have to be conscious enough to be able to put them on your children
and whatnot. So that's that's what you really have to focus on, because you have a really long battle ahead of you, like a really long one. And I know you're very strong, that's my whole point. I know you're super strong, But I just don't know that anybody is really prepared for like the mental gymnastics that this legal team is going to try to pull.
Yeah, And that's honestly just what I think. That makes me sick. It's like, what are they going to say? Like they don't You just don't know what they're going to try to say. Is it defense or to justify maybe what happened?
Like and that just do you think they're going to flip on one another?
Yeah, that's the question. Do you think do you think Mario is going to stand his ground and say I'm innocent?
That's the big question on Reddit right now.
Has Mario flipped and provided evidence that led the police to get Acre into custody.
I don't you know. Here's the thing. I don't think they're going to be offered anything. I feel in my heart of hearts the cops have them dead to rights and there's enough evidence and they're not going to be offered. They're not going to be offered anything. I think they're going to go for the DP for both of them. I think Henry Tennan is gonna spill the beans. Maybe I'm wrong. I think Henry Tennan's going to spill the
beans to save his own ass. And I think Mario and Shanna Sorry, are are dead rights.
I really do.
At least that's my hope. At least that's my hope. I just feel in my heart of hearts like the wheels of justice do take long. But I feel like with anything that's being extradited, your dot, your eyes have to be dotted, and teas have to be crossed. Everything has to be perfect.
And just so everybody knows, Deanna is a live court room fanatic. She literally like will watch them while she's at work, so she knows these things.
Yeah, well I don't. I don't know these things, but I do a little bit. I do a little bit, But they really have to be good. And even though Shanna is fighting extraditions, it's not going to mean anything. Extradition is rarely not granted, you know what I mean. It's always granted within the Continental Unit, well within the United States as a whole. Yeah, I can't imagine any scenario in which, now, if she was in Italy, that
would be a difference because the death penalty places. There are places in like the EU and whatnot that will not extradite to a death penalty state, but within the United States it's rarely not granted. So she's gonna be coming home to Florida to face justice. But it's gonna be a really long road. And with the money that they've got, they're gonna hire some good lord, They're gonna they're gonna try to find every mistake the cops made, every single.
One, Yeah, for sure.
So it's gonna be it's gonna be a really rough road the next year, in the next two years, it's gonna be a rough yeah, But it's not gonna stop, you know, her trying to run and pay and throw her little Princess Tierra around is not gonna help her at all. It's just gonna delay things, that's all it's gonna do. I just don't feel like Mario or Shana will flip all one another. She might, but I don't think Mario will.
It's hard to get into the mindset.
It is hard to get into the mindset. But I mean, this all makes so much more sense now things are now more black and white, especially that route home, especially that round.
Yeah. I remember the first time talking with you, Kirsten. You were telling us about your gut feeling that night and how you just knew right from the start, you knew what happened and who the people are involved. And so it must be there must be that sense of satisfaction, like I knew this all along. Finally I knew it, and now look what's happened. It must feel good for you.
Yeah, I mean in a sense. Yeah, in another sense, it's like I wish this never happened, never happened, and just the reality of like even though what I thought was right, like the kids are still not allowed to talk to it. Like I just feel like I'm being punished for saying what I thought happened, Like the kids are being punished because I've been so vocal, and that
is heartbreaking to me. Like I truly believe that there's some blame put on me by Shannon's relatives for the fact that he's in jail right now, and that's why the kids are not allowed to speak to us like that. My gut feeling about that situation too.
That you're probably right, but that's insane that they would be so they're punny. Oh God, I don't even know what to say to that.
I think they're probably worried that the kids would say something to you about anything that they saw going on, and that's what they're really ultimately scared of.
I thought that too, but just with them, Like the last week or so, Shanna's mom has allowed Jared's parents to talk to the kids via FaceTime, so like she's allowing Jared's parents and Jared's sister to talk to them, but continues to ignore me. So to me, I'm like, if you were afraid of them saying something, you wouldn't just not allow them to communicate with any of the family.
But you're being very at who you are not allowing to communicate and it's me and our girls like they're sisters, which is just Ah, that's why.
She's punishing you personally. Do you think it might have anything to do with the fact that that they were divorced and he remarried and had children with another woman. Do you think it has anything to do with that, Like she doesn't recognize you as like legitimate or anything like that.
I don't think so. I think there's just a level of hatred for me because of like a personal Yeah, because I've been vocal and there's been a lot of heat on their family and the media, and I'm sure they blame me for all of it. And that's just my personal belief because why allow communication with everybody else, but like the siblings that you know your grandchildren love and adore, you won't let them communicate with Like that's just right.
There was a big stamp and up convention here in Vegas when she got arrested, and I saw the signs. I saw the signs and I was like, oh. And then literally she got arrested and I was like, oh my god, I wonder if Shelley's here. And then I went watched the video and I was like, oh, nope, Shelley's in Washington. Yeah, oh my gosh, Yeah, there are a bunch of them running around crazy.
Well, well, hopefully the who has custody of the children. It's just a temporary thing. Right now, this is step one. You needed an arrest to happen. You've gotten arrest. Now there comes everybody's due, a right to have a fair trial. She's going to have a trial. Depending on the outcome of that trial, she's found guilty, which could take years
from now. I found guilty, That's when the Mercle Act kicks in, and then Jared's parents can ask for permission to see the kids, which when then hopefully give you access and your and your kids to see them as well. So one step at a time. This is a big one. Next is the trial that we all know is going to probably be lengthy, and I'm glad to hear you're doing things for yourself and to take care of yourself. Does the state of Florida provide like a victim advocate or anybody to help you.
So there's a victim's advocate through the court house. I really don't interact with her unless we're at court. So like the Sheriff's office in my home county, Saint John's County has victim advocates and they're great. I've talked to them before. But the Jack's Beaches, I don't think they even had one, So where the crime happened, their jurisdiction ever been offered victim advocate from there, So no is the short answer.
Let's stop here for another quick break.
How would you describe your experience working with the law enforcement on this case, on Jared's case, it's been frustrating, good, bad? How would you I.
Would say mostly positive. Obviously, it's a hard situation and I hound them, especially early on. I was hounding them every day. I was down there a lot. I was pulled in for interviews a lot. They had me look for evidence around the house for like things they wanted me to give them, so I like took car folds of stuff over there. So it's a hard situation. And I understand when they can't tell me things and why
they can't tell me things. So I think me being understanding of the situation they're in and them being empathetic towards me, it's been overall positive. It's just obviously frustrating when they can't tell you everything they know. When you want to know everything.
Right and you want to know everything right now, you know, Yeah.
Like I don't want to wait, but I have to for something.
No of course not, of course not. How are the girls? Are they doing good? Do they know what's going on?
Bexley does? London is just too so she doesn't. She doesn't really know, Like she knows who Jared is, Like she'll see pictures and she'll say Dad, but I haven't told her like oh he died, Like she's too young for that right now. But Bexley, obviously she was there, she knows. And with each arrest I did tell her, you know, we have a lot of family around when that happens, our friends all know. I'm sure she's going to hear it. So I made it a point to tell her that one of the bad guys that hurt
Dad got arrested. He's in jail. He's a wait for a long time. And she referred to that as long time out, so like she she processes it in her own way. And then with Shanna's arrest, she had already referred to Shanna as the mean mom because I I was honest with her. She'd say I want to talk to Lim and Abbey, and I'd say I've asked and their mom said no, So like I would say that I would not comment any further about Shanna. Yeah, but I would say they said no or they're not responding,
And so she said, well, she's a mean mom. And so when I told her that she was arrested, she said, the mean mom's arrested. She's in a long time. OUT said yeah, and then she's like, well, now we can talk to Liam and Abbey and I had to kind of go over that, well, not not yet. We'll try, but still not yet. So right, yeah, she has a four year old understanding of what's going on.
Just I still can't believe she was in the car, Like was she on date nights all the time.
Like ninety eight percent of the time.
So they knew, they knew, Yeah, she was going to be in the car. And that is I mean, okay, I hate I mean, obviously killing Jared was absolutely wrong, but they did it with a two year old in the car and they knew she would be there. Yeah, that's like a level of it's just it's just mind boggling to me that Shana or even Mario, I mean, they knew her, they knew her.
How could they knew that the kids loved her? You know, like even if you don't really care my child yourself, you know that your children love and adore their baby sister, that you're going to be fine with giving her this lifelong trauma.
Like it's well, not only that, but they could have killed her. Yeah, exactly could have killed her.
Yeah.
I can't let myself think about it too much. I just extremely angry.
But I mean that was always a question like did they know that, I mean, was she with on date nights a lot? Oh, ninety percent of the time. Huh, that's even well. I hope that is, you know, the the child charge they have is pressed. I hope that that's made abundantly clear to the jury that you know this was done with the knowledge that his two year old daughter was in the car. Yeah, the twins like half sister. Like, it's just crazy to me, so stupid.
True Crimes is executive produced by Stephanie Lydecker, Deanna Thompson, Courtney Armstrong, Jeff Shane, Andrew Arnout, and me John Green. Additional producing by Connor Powell and Gabe Castile. Editing by Jeff Ti Music by Vanicor Music.
True Crimes is a production of iHeartRadio and Katie Studios. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, please visit the iHeartRadio, app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.