Witness index
18 witnesses indexed from the day-by-day record. Click a day for full context.
| Witness | Role | Day | Testimony, in one line |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cpl. Brian Wallace | Jacksonville Beach Police | Day 2 | Walked through the surveillance footage. On cross he agreed with the defense that two people were in the truck — the single most useful concession the defense got all week, because the state has never publicly identified the second person. |
| Det. Brett Burrell | Jacksonville Beach Police | Day 2 | Crime scene and evidence collection — the tire, the casings, the DNA swabs. |
| Det. Chris Johns | Jacksonville Beach Police, lead investigator | Day 2 | The spine of the state's case. Introduced the F-150, the matching tire at the Potomac Avenue property, the check stubs, the March 2022 interview recording, and explained the wiretap strategy built around Tenon's arrest announcement. |
| Det. Chris Johns | Jacksonville Beach Police, lead investigator (cross-examination) | Day 3 | Conceded there is no physical evidence a gun passed from Biggerstaff to Fernandez, that the 10mm was never recovered, and that no surveillance, DNA or fingerprint places Fernandez in the truck or at the scene. |
| Det. Chris Johns | Jacksonville Beach Police, lead investigator (second day of cross) | Day 4 | Conceded no physical link between Biggerstaff's 10mm and Fernandez, a 32-minute surveillance gap on the night of the murder, and 2023 information that the weapon was destroyed soon after the killing. |
| Dr. Peter Gillespie | Medical examiner | Day 1 | Testified to cause of death — gunshot wounds — and described the autopsy findings, including wounds to the left shoulder area. The state used him to establish that Bridegan was shot as he was out of and beside the car. |
| FBI Special Agent Bobby Blythe | FBI cellphone location analyst | Day 4 | Opened the digital case: on Jan. 29, 2022, Tenon's phone moved past Bridegan's home and a gymnastics facility and on to Jacksonville Beach while Fernandez's phone stayed at the Potomac Avenue property. |
| FBI Special Agent Bobby Blythe | FBI cellphone location analyst (cross-examination) | Day 5 | Testified to the 70-minute gap in Fernandez's phone activity on the night of the murder and to Tenon's phone moving toward Jacksonville Beach. On cross he agreed cell data shows approximate locations, not precise ones. |
| Former ATF agent | Digital and firearms evidence (not named in available reporting) | Day 5 | One of three digital-evidence witnesses News4Jax reported testifying Friday; the outlet did not name him separately in the account available. |
| Glenn Fahrig | ATF forensic biologist (DNA) | Day 3 | Tenon's DNA on the tire's inner rim, the truck key and the steering wheel. No DNA from Fernandez, Gardner or Bridegan on the items tested. |
| Jacksonville Sheriff's Office detective | Digital evidence (not named in available reporting) | Day 5 | Third of Friday's digital-evidence witnesses, testifying to the electronic trail prosecutors say led to Fernandez's arrest. |
| Jonelle Cruz | Eyewitness | Day 1 | One of the first two witnesses called — people who were near the scene that night. |
| Kenneth Stengel | ATF agent (News4Jax has also rendered his first name as Mike) | Day 4 | 10mm Glocks are uncommon; Biggerstaff bought one in 2016 and forfeited it after a felony conviction; agents found the F-150 in October 2022 using Google location data from Tenon's device. On cross he acknowledged investigators never searched the home where the truck was found. |
| Kirsten Bridegan | Jared Bridegan's widow | Day 1 | Described a co-parenting relationship that had collapsed into paperwork: "There was absolutely no trust, so everything was in writing. Text, email, we did not speak in person." She testified about their last phone call — "It was strange. I remember feeling like it was strange because after I was like, 'All right, well, love you, I'll see you soon.' He was just quiet" — and about the police call that came when he never got home. She became emotional when shown a photograph of him. |
| Sgt. Lawrence Smith | Jacksonville Beach Police | Day 1 | Responding officer. The state walked through what police found: 10mm shell casings, the large tire blocking the road, and Bridegan's wedding ring, phone and wallet still on him — which matters because it rules out a robbery. |
| Shane Borja | Eyewitness | Day 1 | Second of the scene witnesses the state used to put the jury on the street. |
| Taylor Kutis | Friend of the defendant, testified by Zoom | Day 3 | Met Fernandez in 2013 in the Army. Recalled the "special set of skills" remark, a reference to "a contract with Gardner's family," and the post-murder phone call in which Fernandez said "they think it was a hit and run." |
| Victor Quiroz | Friend of the defendant | Day 3 | Fernandez visited his North Carolina home in March 2022. Described him as reliable and said he "wouldn't have invited him" if he had suspected anything — testimony that helps the defense more than the state. |