All language subtitles for CrimeFeed S01 E06_track3_[eng]

[narrator] This week
on Crimefeed,
Hollywood bombshell.

A successful producer,
son of a Hollywood
power player,

suspected of murder.

The story is developing.

And the Long Island
serial killer case.

The suspect is in jail,
but are there more victims?

And what went wrong that let
the killings continue?

And murder for hire,
a Microsoft executive
gunned down.

The prime suspect, the ex-wife
and her new husband.

It's now a death penalty case.

This week on Crimefeed

with Nancy Grace,

investigative journalist
Mara S. Campo,

and private investigator
Derrick Levasseur.

What exactly does a famous
Hollywood producer have

to do with a woman's torso
found in a dumpster?

Well, according
to police, a lot.

I'm Nancy Grace.

Thanks for being with us here
on Crimefeed,

the so-called "Nepo Baby,"
Sam Haskell IV.

was arrested on
suspicion of murder.

He's the son of a high-powered
Hollywood agent

who repped the likes of
George Clooney, Dolly Parton,

even England's Prince Edward.

His mother,
a former Mississippi
beauty pageant queen.

Police race to
the scene 6:00 a.m.

Wednesday, November 8.

A homeless man finds
a dismembered female torso

in a dumpster

just five short miles from
Haskell's home in upscale
L.A. suburbs.

Now, we know the wife
and both in-laws of
the Hollywood director

Sam Haskell IV, age 35,
are all missing.

The arrest comes 37 days
since Haskell's wife May

or her parents have been seen.

The torso does not bode well.

Grainy surveillance
video shows a man

driving a white SUV struggling
to fling a black bag

from the trunk of the car
in that dumpster.

While the torso
has not been officially
identified,

Sam Haskell IV, apparently
obsessed with Brad Pitt,

according to TikToks
he's posting.

Haskell himself reportedly
working with rappers

like Tyga, Machine Gun Kelly,
but try as he might,

he never reaches
his father's fame.

Mara, what happened?

Well, Nancy, the suspect's
father, Sam Haskell III,

has been a major player
in Hollywood for decades.

Sam Haskell, the father,
joined the famous

William Morris Endeavor Agency
in 1978.

He represented stars
like George Clooney,
Dolly Parton,

Whoopi Goldberg,
and even King Charles'
brother, Prince Edward.

Haskell is now the head
of Magnolia Hill Productions,

which has produced several
Dolly Parton specials,

and he specializes in
family-friendly TV.

From 2015 to 2017,
he was CEO of
the Miss America organization,

until he resigned over
an email controversy.

Now, Haskell's mother is also
famous in her own right.

Mary Donnelly Haskell became
Miss Mississippi in 1977.

With this high profile family,
there will be a lot of people

wanting to know every detail
as they develop.

You know, it's amazing.

You know, this guy,
Sam Haskell IV,

had it all, okay?

He's got this
beautiful wife, May.

He lives in a six-bedroom,
nearly $3 million compound

in Tarzana.

He... with a pool
in the backyard.

Have you seen this place?

But yet, and I quote, he posts
all these TikToks.

My resume says unhappy,
bitter, resentful.

I'm really surprised May
didn't run from him

as if she had seen a monster.

Who wants the guy that says
I'm unhappy, bitter,
and resentful?

Well, anyway, we're approached
by him to get rid of some...

-That's right.
-...bags.

He told them they were rocks.

They look inside,
they're body parts.

Then he changes his story
and says, oh,
they're Hollywood props.

They go to two police
stations, Derrick,

two, two, one, two,
and are turned away.

They're trying to report
a dead body and no one
will listen.

Yeah, and there's another
video that's recently surfaced

where it actually shows
that interaction with

those laborers, where
they show up and he says, like

you said, hey, I got some
rocks I want to have removed.

It's three large bags.

They take the bag. They said
it feels like meat inside.

-So they drive down the road.
-You're so descriptive.

Thank you for that.

-I have that in my head.
-That's their words.

They drive down the road.

They felt like something
was off. They open the bag.

They actually say they see
a belly button.

So they pack it back up.

They take the bags
back to the house.

They bring the money.

They return the money as well,
which is why this video

that we're seeing on
the screen right now

is so interesting because
I believe it was a deviation

from what Sam originally
wanted to do.

He wanted to separate himself
from the crime.

He was going to,
allegedly, right?

He was going to have
the laborers dispose of

-the evidence, but instead...
-Hold on.

I gotta see that again.
Wait, I like to see it

-when you're saying it.
-Yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, that wasn't the plan
I think when they return,

-Yeah.
-the bags, he realized,
"Oh, crap.

I have to do something here."

I have to get rid of it.
So that's why

-he's on camera...
-There it is, there it is.

And he gets out.
Watch this.

And he basically is heaving...
Struggling to get it out.

He went all the way,
he put the dead body.

Allegedly in a plastic bag,

which I love because
it's covered in fingerprints

and then put that in it.

Uh-oh. Whoa.

Little harder, little harder.
There you go.

Push, push, push in
a duffel bag and then
throws it away.

[Mara] Yeah, and the story
of how this came
to police's attention

is really remarkable.
Like you noted the,

the laborers said...
you said it,

they said it felt like
meat inside.

They described it
as feeling soggy.

So it didn't jibe with what
he was telling them

that there were rocks inside.
Then, Nancy, to your point,

they go to the police.
They get turned away.

You left out the Hollywood
prop part.

-Well, they take the bag...
-They go back to him.

Look in here.
These are not rocks.

And he says, no, no, no.
This is for Halloween.

These are props for Halloween.
Well, they know something
ain't right.

They go to the police.
They try to report it.

Then the police say,
well, you can stand outside

the police station
and call 9-1-1.

And in fact, in audio that
has been obtained,

you hear a 9-1-1 dispatcher
reporting what they're saying,

but saying the person
reporting it is outside

the police station.

So then police respond
to the home based on
these reports,

and they find nothing.

Because at that time,
he's moved the bags.

So they don't have cause
to go in the house.

[Nancy] Okay, right there,
I got a problem.

And this is my legal problem
with that.

You don't have
to see the crime.

If you have information that
an emergency is happening,

such as another person
is being cut up inside

that multi-million dollar
Hollywood home,

you can go in if you think
an emergency has happened.

Some people call it exigent
circumstance when you,

and it came from
an old moonshiner case
by the way, US v. Carroll,

when they were trying to catch
a moonshiner,

they thought they were going
to get rid of the evidence.

And he did, but in a way
it's a good thing

or we wouldn't have
that video.

Yeah, and they did
eventually get in.

[Derrick] Obviously, they went
back to the house.

They get this video.

They go to the house,
and they end up finding

a variety of evidence,
including blood.

-Which they won't reveal.
-They won't reveal.

But you can expect
that right now with
an open investigation.

But they find, allegedly,
a ton of blood

that suggests a killing
and a dismemberment.

But I don't want to skate over
the fact that we still have

two individuals,
May's parents,
that are missing.

There were three large bags.
I don't want to go there yet.

I'm hoping for
a positive outcome.

But on the surface,
it doesn't look good.

Okay, you've got 64-year-old
Yanxiang Wang, the mother.

You've got 72-year-old
Gaoshan Li,

both missing
and they all lived together.

That's right and
they would have been home

during the time in this would
have occurred.

-It's not--
-And there's three children.

It... three boys
and they were reportedly

with DFACS,
Department of Family and
Children Services,

but now I understand they're
with Mary Donnelly.

Sam Haskell IV's sister.

Yeah, the children,
ages 6, 8, and 12,

now they've been removed
from the home

and they're staying
with family.

It is worth noting that
there was no identifiable
information

on the body parts
that were found.

They're certain, I guarantee
you, because by now
you can get

a DNA quickie in less than
24 hours.

They've gone in and gotten
her toothbrush or something

and compared it to DNA
from that torso.

I'm wondering, where's
the rest of her body?

And where are the parents,
like you pointed out?

Absolutely.

All that money
and still miserable.

Coming up, serial killer
suspect Rex Heuermann.

New leads in the hunt
for even more victims

of the alleged Long Island
serial killer.

Will we ever know the truth?

Breaking tonight,
one woman after the next
goes missing,

then bodies and bags
turn up hidden in rough,

underbrush Gilgo Beach.

DNA on those burlap bags
and late night calls
to escorts.

Would they alone be enough
to convict the alleged

Long Island serial killer?

But bombshell,
new eyewitnesses emerged

placing suspect Rex Heuermann
with the dead women.

Eyewitnesses?

Awesome.

Mara, what?

Well, Nancy, as you know,
Rex Heuermann

is the main suspect
in these killings.

The 59-year-old architect
and Long Island resident,

who'd been working in
Manhattan since 1987,

has been credibly linked to
a number of the murders.

Let's take a look
at his connection

to these brutal slayings.

24-year-old Shannon Gilbert
vanished after

a chilling 911 call she placed
in May 2010.

Her desperate call for help
kicked off a search

that led to the discovery
of 11 sets of human remains

in the area around Gilgo Beach
on Long Island.

Over the span of
three days spent searching

for Gilbert in December 2010,

police found the remains
of four other women,

all within 500 feet
of each other.

Between March and April
of 2011, six more sets of

remains were discovered,

with police determining
there was likely just

one single killer responsible.

Gilbert's remains were finally
found in December 2011.

It wasn't until over a decade
later that Rex Heuermann

was arrested, implicated by
his Chevy Avalanche linked

to one of the killings
and a hair from
the crime scene,

likely matching DNA found in
a pizza box

discarded by Heuermann.

Well, Heuermann was taken
into custody in July

and has been charged with
the murders of the three of

the four victims who
were discovered first in 2010,

while police continue
investigating his ties
to the other killings.

And, Nancy, those ties
are what I really want
to get into now,

after a new bombshell
just dropped in this case.

Two witnesses have
come forward since
Heuermann's arrest,

linking him to two
more deaths,

including Shannon Gilbert.

That's the woman
whose disappearance
kicked off the search

that led to the discovery
of all these other bodies.

[Nancy] You know, in addition
to those two witnesses,

there are two other witnesses.

Now, what's interesting
about the witnesses,

I want to see if you guys
agree, a lot has been made of

these victims being
sex workers.

Like somehow their lives
don't matter as much

as other victims,
which I resent deeply.

These victims are
not sex workers.

I mean, these witnesses
are not sex workers.

One is a bank worker working
at a bank by day.

At night, she drives a taxi.

And very "respectable"
in that sense of the word.

So I find, I believe
that it's going to be

very difficult for
a defense attorney

to suggest that she is somehow
tainted by her occupation.

And her witness testimony
is very solid.

Now I know that very often
eyewitnesses are attacked.

That they didn't see
what they saw.

But this woman, one of
these witnesses describes

Shannon Gilbert, who before
many people said,

oh, she was just there as
a coincidence,

which doesn't make any sense.

She describes Shannon
with Rex Heuermann

right down to her droopy eye.

Hey, could you pull up
a picture of Shannon Gilbert?

If you notice a lot
of her photos,

she brings her hair down
over one side.

She has a droopy eye.
It's genetic.

And that witness even
identifies the droopy eye.

It's her.

Yeah, the whole statement
from that.

You know, Shannon goes
into the motel.

She's there with Rex.

Rex is gonna give her $1,000
in an envelope.

He says, here you go.

It's sealed at that point.

-He goes into the--
- [Nancy] Hey,
there's the hair.

Check it out.

See, it's the eye that's
covered up that was droopy.

[Derrick] Yeah, she has a very
specific characteristic

that would be
identifiable, right?

So, they're inside the motel,
she opens the envelope,

realizes it's a bunch
of pieces, just shredded up
paper.

So, at that moment,
when Rex allegedly comes out

of the bathroom,
she runs into it,
calls for this taxi driver,

and as soon as she shows up,
she runs outside,

and that's where it picks up
from there.

So, I think it's a pretty
credible witness.

It's funny, because a lot
of people were saying

initially they didn't know
if Shanann was actually

-connected to
the Gilgo family.
-Which drove me insane.

-Which...
-Like her dead body
just happened

to be there with all
of his other victims.

-It looks like...
-Allegedly.

Yeah, it looks like
it might be tied to it.

It might have started all off.

Well, the idea of this being
a dumping ground
for many killers

came actually from
the district attorney

at that time, who was
rejecting the idea of

a single killer publicly
because he didn't want

to freak the public out.

But there were 11 sets of
remains found.

Only three Heuermann has
been charged with to date.

But now there's
the possibility that
all of them

and perhaps more
could be connected.

So you have these
two witnesses

who have come forward
with affidavits.

There are also an
additional two who
have come forward

to an attorney, both
sex workers who had encounters

with Heuermann.

But the ones in the affidavits
are the ones where we have

the most detail, and these are
the most compelling.

There's the one
that you mentioned,

and then there's the woman
who says that she

and her boyfriend
were swingers.

-They pick up...
-It was a detective
by the way.

-NYPD.
-There's so many

layers to this story because
her boyfriend was an officer

and they can do what they want
in their personal time.

-Sure.
-Not judging.

Don't care.

They say they pick up
a sex worker in Manhattan

to take her
to Rex Heuermann's home.

At a club called La Trapeze
which was known for swingers.

So they go there
and they pick up a sex worker

and they...
because Asa Ellerup...

Rex Heuermann's wife
was pregnant at the time.

And I'm sure she didn't
want to hear anything
about any swinging.

Well, in fact, when
they arrive at the house,

the woman, the witness says
she asks us if she wants

to engage in any
sexual activity.

And she says no.

[Nancy] But I believe
she said H-E-L-L N-O.

-She had no interest in it
at that time.
-None.

But what was there
are many things

that were interesting
about this affidavit.

But one of them is
she recounts the conversation

that she has with the wife
and she says the wife

tells her, "Rex brought me
here to this country.

Everything I have
is because of him.

I'm lucky he's rich."
I guess rich is relative

-and that she was
afraid of him.
-Bingo.

So this raises a lot
more questions.

Why would she be saying that?

What did she witness
in the past?

And one thing we didn't
mention there is that

this witness
and her boyfriend, the cop,

they brought one of
the victims, Karen Vergata,
to that house.

Karen Vergata was a sex worker
at the time.

They pick her up before going
to the Massapequa Park home.

They bring Karen to Rex
and Asa, right?

There's some things
that happen inside.

They're allegedly reporting
to this witness that Rex,

Karen and the boyfriend
go downstairs for a while.

That's when that
conversation happens.

And then when the witness
and the boyfriend decide
to leave,

they leave Karen behind.

And according
to this witness,

-as she's pulling away,
-Right.

they see Karen Vergata
in the window.

She looks like
she's calling for help,

and then she runs out of
the house naked.

And what's so concerning about
that is they didn't go back.

And this man's
a police officer.

-Yeah, they didn't go back.
They left her there.
-And the woman says,

we're just gonna leave her.

And he goes, oh, yeah,
they're just playing
a sex game,

-Yeah. Not good.
-a sex game that apparently
ends in murder.

Guys, coming up,
experts insist there are

more victims of
the Long Island serial killer.

Can family members
reveal evidence?

Their mothers, their sisters,
their daughters go missing,

then turn up
in burlap bags

along a lonely stretch
of beach?

Could Rex Heuermann's
own family reveal clues about

the murders?

With us now, you should
know him well.

If you don't, you're going to.

High-profile lawyer
representing the families

of two of the murder victims,
John Ray.

Man,

you blew me away with all that
information about witnesses.

Now are you telling me there's
another new witness?

There's several new witnesses,
one of whom

has signed an affidavit.

Um, in that event,
this witness,

who I vetted for several hours
and I believe is credible,

and we have physical evidence
to support it,

was shot by Rex Heuermann.

-Wow.
-And that affidavit
that she's signed

has been turned over
to the police.

You know, I am stunned at
the connection with Shannon.

That is very powerful
evidence.

And as a practicing lawyer,
would you agree?

We saw it in O.J. Simpson,
where DNA,

which I believe proved
he was guilty,

was attacked, claiming it
was planted,

it had been tainted at
the crime lab, blah,
blah, blah, blah.

DNA can be attacked,
and successfully.

We saw Johnny Cochran do it,
and he won.

But when you pair DNA
with eyewitnesses,

that's a whole
other ballgame.

It is. I agree.
And in Shannon's case,

we had no idea, until this
witness came forward,

that there was any connection
between him and Shannon.

But there still lies out there
the question of whether or not

her death is connected with
the people we have accused,

Dr. Peter Hackett being
responsible for it, as well.

But we now know of
a potential connection

between Dr. Hackett
and Heuermann.

And that comes in
the police inventory
of his house.

They took what they deemed
survivalist equipment,

survivalist material.

And Dr. Peter Hackett
ran a company on Long Island

-called Survivalist Dynamic.
-That's right.

And I'd like to point out,
he has not been charged.

He's not been named a person
of interest at this juncture.

But I guarantee you,
if there is a cohort,

if there is a co-defendant,
they're going to get them,

and they're going to sing
like a canary to save

their own skin, thoughts.

Can I just ask you
a follow-up question

on the new affidavit
that's forthcoming?

You mentioned that
the witness said that

-they had been shot
by Heuermann,
-Yes.

and what were the extent
of their injuries,

and what was
the outcome of

the investigation
at that time?

The shooting took place
years ago, and the witness

was shot across the back of
her neck, and in such
a fashion,

he missed, basically,
but it left a scar
on her neck,

and you can see
the bullet scar going
right across her neck.

-Wow.
-And this was a sex worker
as well?

This was a sex worker,
and I've since done the work,

the legwork to find,
this goes back many years,

to find the police
case number.

We found it,
and the only way that

we can receive that evidence
is by FOIA-ling the evidence,

and we've done that
as soon as I got the case.

Did you say FOIA, Freedom
of Information Acting?

-Yes.
-Yes.

And so that method is
being used by me now.

I don't know what the police
have done with it.

They may have done
a lot with it. I don't know.

as much as I'd love
to talk about,

the Federal Freedom of
Information Act.

Can we get right down to
La Trapeze, the swingers bar?

Yes, La Trapeze was
a well-known swingers bar

in its day, which goes back
into the '90s.

And the people that
have come forward

to tell me their firsthand
experience with it,

that including the witness
who went with Karen Vergata,

indicate altogether
that there are a considerable

number of police officers
who would go there

and a considerable number
of people from Long Island.

The only way you could go
there is you had to have
a partner

and you had to leave
with that partner.

There were crimes committed
there, all covered up

because there were
that many police...

who were there.

-So...
-John, do you think...
And there's a lot of problems

with this case, and I think
you could attest to that.

-Obviously, nothing was...
-[Nancy] I don't see
any problems.

Yeah, nothing was
digitized initially.

It was kind of a mess.

But do you think what
you just hit on right there,

corruption, right, being
the big word, so many

police officers from
that community being involved

with this
sex-working activity,

when this case actually
started to come
to the surface,

when they started
finding bodies,

do you think that contributed
to why this case

was always put on
the back burner,

why the investigation
didn't go forward
as aggressively

as it should have?

Well, just to start with this,
you know,

I've done 33 homicides,
but I have a great deal
of regard

for the police as brave
and courageous people.

[Derrick] Likewise.

And I, therefore, constantly
had to withhold myself

from drawing any kind of
a conclusion that

the police were
willfully doing anything

in this case,
in Shannon's case.

I always gave them
the benefit of the doubt.

You cannot do that
anymore with
the evidence that we have.

The... There is no question
whatsoever

in my mind that
from the inception

of this investigation until
the task force was formed

a little over a year ago,
there was willful negligence,

willful avoidance of evidence,
willful cover-up of evidence.

[Nancy] Guys, I agree that
that's terrible.

Agree, but can we focus
on the serial killer
for a moment,

the alleged serial killer
Rex Heuermann?

Yes, we've said it
a million times.

We're beating a dead horse.
Yes, some of the cops

are seeing sex workers.

Yes, they didn't want to get
caught,

so they didn't want the FBI
in it.

Yes, there was a delay.

Now, can we talk about
the evidence in this case?

There's plenty of that

Yes, but I think what's
concerning to people in terms

of the corruption slash
indifference Is that

how many other
women potentially
were killed

because the police were not
taking appropriate action?

And in terms of
the witnesses that

you have,
you also have a witness.

You have two
that were sex workers.

One of them who said
that they were

frequently at the home
and that the wife

was very much aware
at least that Heuermann

frequently entertained
sex workers.

Can you tell us a little bit
more about what

she maybe did or did not know?

That witness,
who came forward,

spoke to me at great length.

And she spent, she said
at least 20 times

she serviced Rex Heuermann
in his home.

She said that the wife
was upstairs.

It's a 1,300 square foot home.
It's a teeny weeny bungalow.

It'd be impossible for
the wife not to know what

was going on downstairs
in a place like that.

And she said that the wife
was upstairs so much so
that in one instance,

the wife ran out into
the yard, very angry

at one of the sex workers
who was there,

because the sex worker
had allegedly stolen

the wife's iron from
an ironing board.

And there was a big battle
over that,

and the taxi cab driver
had to-- or, rather,

the driver had to--
They had to empty the car

in order to find the iron,
which, did not happen.

But when you consider
the clutterbug nature

of that house and the way
that woman kept things,

it makes perfect sense
when you hear that

she was upset about
an iron missing,

but it indicates
her knowledge,

her actual knowledge
of the sex worker.

[Nancy] Well, wait a minute.
She's upset about
the clothes iron

when her husband's
with a sex worker?

I mean,

that's bass-ackwards to me.

I would be doing
a backflip at my husband

or with the sex workers.
You can have the iron.

Take it.

I'd be mad if you didn't.

But it tells me a lot about
claims that the wife,

Asa Ellerup, knew what
was happening.

But is it not possible,
because one of the witnesses

that you presented
the affidavit for said that

when she had
this conversation with her,

she said that she was
afraid of him.

Is it not possible that
she herself is also

a domestic violence victim,
that she was almost like
a captive,

in a sense,
that did not necessarily

have choice
in cooperating with him

because she lived with a man
she was terrified of?

Anything's possible,
but the overwhelming evidence

is exactly the opposite
of that.

Consider, for example,
in 2010,

we have her emails
back and forth to people

across the United States

when she deals with
this ComCon.

She was involved in a--
she'd dress up in
a weird costume

and that sort of thing.

She's a perfectly happy lady,
having a good old time,

traveling around the country.

She travels with
her husband in various places

to other states.

And I have a witness who came
forward who cut his hair,

and she came with him,
and she had her hair cut

as well. That does not
sound like somebody who's

in an abusive relationship.

And her comment when
she was first confronted by

the press when
they came to her home was,

it is what it is.

Not, gee, the poor people
that were hurt and killed

and so on.
It is what it is.

-That's what she said,
and now she's shopped,
-A very different sensibility.

according to her own lawyer,
who talked to me personally,

she's out shopping,
trying to get
a seven-figure book deal

to be able to do a book
and a movie.

Well, I can tell you
right now, somebody's
gonna make

a million dollars off of this,
and it's not us.

-Not us.
-It's blood money, blood
money, blood money.

You know what?

You can have it.

Mr. John Ray,
thank you so much,

not only for being with us,

but for what
you are doing to advance

the truth of this case.

Guys, also tonight, a loving
husband, deeply religious dad

of four, ambushed and murdered
on a Sunday night

on his way home from dropping
off his two twins,

his little daughter,
strapped in the backseat,

screaming for daddy.

But was it a murder for hire
plot hatched by his bitter ex?

Welcome back, everybody.
A Microsoft executive,

a dad of four, shot
and killed in a deadly ambush

while he's driving
his tot girl

in the backseat of the car.
Who would do that?

Well, two years later,
according to police,

the murder mastermind
is none other than

the spoiled, rotten daughter
of millionaires,

his bitter ex-wife.

On February 16th,
Microsoft exec
Jared Bridegan,

a 33-year-old dad of four
driving home

with his daughter, Bexley,
just two years old,

when he asked to stop his SUV
to remove a tire

strategically placed in
the center of the narrow road.

Once Jared is out in the open,

shots fly, riddling
the young dad with bullets,

his two-year-old girl still
strapped in the back,

crying for daddy.

No robbery, no carjack,
no kidnap.

So what's the motive?

Police say revenge.

Mara, what about it?

Yeah, Nancy, detectives linked
surveillance video

of a pickup truck at the time
and place of the murder

to 61-year-old Henry Tenon.

And after looking into
his background,

they made a shocking
connection.

They found that he rented
a room from Mario Fernandez.

That's the new husband
of Jared's ex-wife,
Shanna Gardner.

They suspected Shanna
and Mario hired Henry

to pull the trigger.

In March of this year,
Henry pleaded guilty

to second degree murder
and agreed to testify
against the couple.

Both charged for playing
a key role in the conspiracy

to murder Jared.

This morning,
a Fourth Circuit grand jury

indicted Shanna Gardner
for first-degree murder,

conspiracy to commit
first-degree murder,

solicitation to commit
first-degree murder,

and child abuse, all related
to the murder of

Jared Bridegan,
Shanna's ex-husband.

We will be filing a notice of
our intent to seek
the death penalty

as we have also done in
the case of Mario Fernandez.

Wow. Okay.

We also know
the Florida death penalty

has been announced
and they don't play.

All right. You get
the death penalty sentence.

You will get the Florida
death penalty.

But it's amazing to me
that the ex-wife

has been this bitter
for this long,

and she's got nothing
to be bitter about.

She's the one that wanted out
of the marriage,

and he's a devout Mormon.

He did not want
to break up the family.

But she left, all right?

She's remarried to a guy
she met at the gym.

Could you just surprise me
one time, man?

Just meet somebody in
a book club or at the library.

Why is it always the gym?

Anyway, that's... There he is.

He's smiling now.

He's not going
to be smiling long,

-because the trigger man is...
-No.

Totally gonna rat the two of
them out for a sweet deal.

[Derrick] Yeah. No, it was,
it was incredible what
the police

did here, obviously we saw at
the top of the segment here

that police identified
a blue pickup truck,

a Ford F-150.
It had brown trim on it.

With a silver toolbox,
which is pretty specific

and then Tenon was pulled over
in August of 2022.

-I believe, police knew
he was one...
-In a blue pickup

-Blue pickup...
-with brown trim
and a silver toolbox.

Yep, they brought him in
for questioning

and then it just it snowballs
from there.

They start to see the link.

Obviously he comes in,
they question him about it.

He starts to tell them what
they want to hear

and then there's
the financial records

where Mario made
multiple payments

to him in October of '22

-You have cell phone records--
-I think by check.

By check.

-Yeah, that's great, right?
-I mean, really?

And then 30 cell phone calls
as well in February.

But here's the problem
in securing a conviction
for Shanna.

So she's the one with
all the family money.

She has now hired
a very high-profile attorney

-Jose Baez.
-You might have heard
of her, Nancy.

-He represented--
-Who's Jose Baez?

He represented Casey Anthony,
he represented Aaron Hernandez

on the time he was acquitted.
Not when he was convicted

of murder. So she brings in
this very high-profile--

There are so many trials
to pick from
with Aaron Hernandez.

She brings in this very
high-profile attorney.

The husband does not
have that

and he does not have
the family money

and he's the one who has
all the links to the hitman.

[Nancy] And he doesn't have
any motive...

[Mara] He's the one
who does the checks.

...but what's his motive?
What's he mad about?

[Mara] But I think if I were
the husband,

I'd be very concerned
because you have the hitman

flipping on the two of them.
But if she then flips on

the husband and says
I knew nothing

about this and there's nothing
tying me directly to it.

Then in that case,
it's just him alone saying,

"No, no, no, it was really her
all along."

But is that gonna be enough
to secure a conviction?

Well, I'm telling you,
she's the one that
dragged Bridegan,

Jared Bridegan,
the husband, to court.

And you know who's going to
be the best witness on that?

The current wife,
Kirsten Bridegan.

Can you roll her speaking
about her daughter?

In a deeply emotional day
like this, what do you tell

your children about today
and the results of today?

London is too young
to know anything.

Bexley is older.

She was there.

She's been part of this
since they decided to kill

her father in front of her.

Um...

I have to keep it in simple
terms 'cause she's only four.

She knows that two bad guys
have been put in jail

and this morning I was able
to tell her that...

who she refers to
as the mean mom,

is going to be
in jail as well.

For the past year and a half,
Liam and Abby

have been isolated
and kept away from us

while they lived with
their mother, their stepdad,

and their maternal
grandparents.

Despite my constant requests
to see or speak to them,

[clears throat] I have been
denied and continuously
ignored.

So I will take this
opportunity to do it again.

[sniffles]

I plead with the Gardners
to put the emotional

and mental well-being
of Liam, Abby above all else

and allow them to
reconnect with us.

You know, real quickly,
I know that some people

might be looking
at us saying,

Tenon's only getting 15 years
in prison for this.

He pulled the trigger.

But think about what
Melissa Nelson already said.

He was the single link to
Gardner and Fernandez.

Without him,
they don't have anything.

So I understand that
it seems light.

-But like you said earlier,
they're going death penalty.
-Can I tell you something?

This is what I learned,
I learned it the hard way.

Sometimes you gotta go to hell
to get the witness

-Right.
-to put the devil in jail.

So, sometimes you gotta eat
a dirt sandwich

and take a plea
just like that.

Guys, coming up,
the Florida death penalty

for two of the alleged perps
while the admitted trigger man

is set to point
the finger at the ex.

When we come back.

It was pretty clear
that someone knew his route,
his schedule.

I have felt since
the beginning

that this was planned,

this was thought out,
and this was specific
to Jared.

So I am not surprised
that they announced

that Henry Tenon, someone that
we've never heard of

that Jared did not know,
wasn't alone in this.

It's frightening, frankly,
that there is a connection

and that there is
this mass conspiracy.

It does not help us sleep
at night.

The high-profile lawyer
who repped top mom

Casey Anthony in charges
she murdered

her two-year-old little girl,
Kelly.

He also repped convicted
serial killer

and NFL star Aaron Hernandez.

Jose Baez enters the fray
representing the ex-wife,

Shanna Gardner.

She's facing
the death penalty

for allegedly planning
the murder of

her ex-husband with
her new husband

that she met at the gym.

What, if anything, does that
mean for the state's case?

With us now, Vic Micolucci
from Jacksonville, Florida,

TV station, WJXT.

Vic, it's great to see you.

You've been on this case
from the very beginning,

and a lot of people
are saying, "Oh, well,

how is Shannon Gardner
really tied into this?"

I'll tell you how.

She knew he was coming
to her home that Sunday night

to drop off his two twins
from their marriage.

She knew his route home,
that basically

a very narrow, almost
a one-way street

he took every Sunday
on the way home,

and somebody had placed
that tire there.

Thanks for being with us.

And this year is marking
one year since this
all went down.

So let me ask you this.

What do you make of it?

Is there enough
to put the bitter ex

Shanna Gardner behind bars?

Well, first of all, this is
such a heartbreaking case

and our heart goes out to
the family members

and all the people devastated
by this.

It is so bizarre here when
you think about it,

but there are a lot of fingers
pointing at Shanna Gardner.

And from the very beginning,
before we were even able

to report it, people were
reaching out to me,

they were reaching out
to other journalists saying,

we know who did this.

And if you look at
the facts of the case,

Jared Bridegan
was leaving after

dropping off the twins
that he shared with
Shanna Gardner

at Shanna and Mario's house.

He was taking a specified
route which he took
to his home

which is in another city
and it goes down into

a wooded area.

And it's really one of
the few wooded areas

in this beach coastal town
that is Jacksonville Beach.

And that's where it's dark.

That's where there's not
a lot of cameras.

That's where you've got this
little one lane narrow road.

And he runs into this tire.

And I think that's just what
really had people thinking

this was not some sort of
random murder.

This wasn't
a random thrill kill.

This wasn't a robbery because
he had his wallet on him.

This was a planned,
calculated attack.

And we learned very early on,
I think the week

that this happened, I learned
from the police chief

and investigators that
this was going to be

a targeted murder.

And you just have to look
and trace it back.

And you're going to
immediately find out that

Shanna Gardner is going to be
a prime suspect here.

You know, what's interesting
is their horrible, horrible,

tortuous, contentious
relationship.

And I don't get it, Vic.

All that money from
her parents who have

that paper company,
like party favor type

paper company,

millions and millions
of dollars.

She's never had to work
a day in her life.

Why is she so bitter
and resentful toward him?

It's just a very, very long,
bitter divorce and just

an ugly battle for custody
of these children as well.

She wants to potentially move
these children somewhere else.

Jared Bridegan wants to
keep them in North Florida.

And we can see this by reading
the court documents.

They're not publicly available
online,

but I was able to read them,
dozens of pages of them.

And you could just see such
a contentious divorce here

leading up to this murder.

There's medical conditions
in there.

There's allegations
of abuse in there.

She apparently locked him
out of the master bedroom.

Their house had all kinds
of cameras so that

she could potentially
keep surveillance

on Jared Bridegan.

And Nancy, this goes back...

a very long time,
potentially back to 2015

before they were even
separated and divorced.

And if you look at
the indictment,
you'll see that there

are allegations
that potentially
she plotted to kill him.

She wanted to, quote, "Shut
him up," as far back as then.

-[Nancy] Ooh.
-So we're talking about it.

[Nancy] That's what she said
at the tattoo parlor, right?

-Yeah.
-Shades of Tot Mom
Casey Anthony.

She said, did you guys know?

She actually said at
a tattoo parlor, "Hey,

you know anybody that
could shut my husband up?"

Yeah, that was while she was
getting her genitals pierced.

Okay, I wasn't going to say
that 'cause I'm not judging.

-But you, but you...
-Oh, we gotta put out
all the facts.

In terms of questionable
behavior, which maybe we filed

that under questionable, Vic,
I wonder if you have

any details on Shanna's
behavior after the murder that

also raised eyebrows about
her potential involvement.

Mara, the behavior
was very bizarre

and I heard this from
the Bridegan family.

I heard it from sources in
the case and I also heard it

from neighbors.

She was still out and about.
She was going to parties.

She threw a party around
the time of Jared's funeral,

according to
multiple sources here,

and I know that she was
still attending parties

in the Jacksonville
Beach area.

Given Jacksonville Beach
is not used to crime like this

in the greater Jacksonville
area this far.

So far this year alone,
we've had 110 homicides.

Vic, do you see
any issues now?

Obviously, Mario and Shanna
have separated.

We have the paper trail with
the checks that were written.

We have phone conversations
between Mario and Henry.

Now Jose Baez is on this case.

Do you see a situation where
Shanna is going to come out

and say, "Listen, I didn't
know what was going on.

Mario did this on his own."

Are we going down that road?

Absolutely, Derrick.
I think that that is

a very plausible thing
that we could see here
in court.

She's going to try
to separate herself

from Mario Fernandez
and Henry Tenon.

Now, we know that
Mario Fernandez owned

a home where Henry Tenon
rented a room.

And in fact, I went by
that home.

I talked to Henry Tenon's
roommate about it.

Very bizarre because
they said that Henry Tenon

was just a quiet guy,
but he needed the money.

So there is the potential
here that Jose Baez,

being a very talented
defense attorney,

could paint
the picture saying,

"Look, Mario Fernandez,
for whatever reason,

did not like Jerry Bridegan
and plotted against him."

And then he found somebody
that needed some money.

That somebody would
be Henry Tenon.

And they did it because
those checks,

there are three checks,
go from Mario Fernandez

to Henry Tenon.

We do not see Shanna in there.

And then phone records
are huge in this case, too.

That's a big piece
of the evidence.

We're talking about more than
70 phone calls.

-Yeah.
-And who are
the phone calls between?

From what we know from
the documents,

those are between
Mario Fernandez
and Henry Tenon.

-Man, she's smart.
-Not Shanna Gardner

-She has kept her hands clean
this whole time.
-from what's been released.

Vic Micolucci, thank you
so much for being with us.

This week marks one year since
the murders at

the University of Idaho
and the saga of

suspected killer
Bryan Kohberger.

This week, we think of them
and their families.

On Crimefeed, we bring you
the biggest crime cases

across the country and some
you may never have heard of.

On behalf of Mara
and Derrick and myself,

good night, friends.

[inaudible conversation]