The murder of Jared Bridegan - is Shanna Gardner telling the truth? Her words analysed.

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The murder of Jared Bridegan in Jacksonville, Florida remains unsolved. His ex-wife has featured in a slew of innuendo-laden tabloid reports. A couple of weeks ago, Shanna Gardner gave an interview to a local TV news programme. What can we learn from her words?

Kristen Rary @KristenRary

‘Wish it weren’t like this’: Ex-wife of Jared Bridegan, father killed in Jacksonville Beach, speaks I got an exclusive TV interview with the ex-wife of Jared Bridegan, Shanna Gardner. Check it out.

actionnewsjax.com‘Wish it weren’t like this’: Ex-wife of Jared Bridegan, father killed in Jacksonville Beach, speaksShanna Gardner told Action News Jax if she could speak to Jared again, she’d say one thing, “Honestly, I wish it weren’t like this. I wish things could have been and could be different.”

Annoyingly the report only uses short excerpts of her words, but let's see what we can glean.

Narrator: Our first question, why have you stayed silent?

Gardner: I was asked to not talk to the media or give a public statement, but with the level of speculation I felt that now it was necessary to.. to speak out.

Gardner does address the question of why she remained silent, but only in as much as putting the blame on someone else. Is that so that it looks like she’s a “good person” happy to comply with the wishes of others, or is it because she wants to conceal her reasons for staying quiet?

Whatever her motive, it’s clear she intends for us to know it was someone else’s request that she didn’t talk, but her decision to speak up now.

Narrator (talking about acrimonious divorce): We wanted to know how the relationship could have gotten to that point.

Gardner: I’m sure they... You would say that we've had happy moments. I mean, we share the two most beautiful children in the world.

Shanna starts this answer by talking about “they” and then stops. Whoever “they” are, she didn’t want to talk about them any more. She moves on, but instead of talking about herself, she tells us what “you” would say about her marriage.

We don’t know the specific question that was asked here, but the introduction alludes to the trouble in the marriage and the answer is about the “happy moments”. It doesn’t sound like there was a whole lot of good times to talk about, as it’s a weak portrayal of happiness. Rather than something strong like “we had many happy moments together”, it’s “you would say we’ve had happy moments”.

The line about beautiful children is one that most parents would use and even then, talking about the fact they “share” the children, suggests the divorce and the events that led to it still hit hard.

Next, Garner is seen talking more about divorce.

Gardner: Any time divorce comes into any situation. It's messy. It just is. I will say that I think that we both love our kids.

Just like previously, Gardner doesn’t attach herself to the answer. She doesn’t talk about her divorce, but “any” divorce in “any” situation. I know it was a bitter divorce, and my guess would be that she wants to avoid drawing attention to that. With her words, she hopes to portray it as a run-of-the-mill divorce.

This sentence is all in the present tense. That can be an indication that someone is making up past events. Here, it’s more likely to show that she still considers the divorce and its aftermath to be on going.

Following on from her rather weak attempt to show the “happy times”, saying she only “thinks” they both love our kids demonstrates that whatever happened between them has left quite a mark.

However, in everything she has said so far, she has never referred to her ex-husband in a distant or even solo manner. She had only spoken about things in terms of “we” and “our”. This suggests she still feels a unity with him, perhaps through their children, perhaps she wishes they’d never split.

Talking about their “date night” with the twins on the night he was killed

Gardner: It was actually one of the… one of the things ... I’m sorry... I remember my son, tucking him in and him saying that it was a good date night

This has a few linguistic indicators that it is a fabricated version. It’s in present tense and includes words to convince us that it happened, like “actually” and “I remember”.

It’s also out of order, I would expect this to be said along the lines of, “As I was tucking him in he said to me that it was a good date night”

On when she was told about the murder

Gardner: I was shocked. Um… I fell to the floor because I was devastated…. erm.. for what I was gonna have to tell my kids

The first thing I noticed with these words is that they weren’t as fluent as the ones that had come before. They have pauses and ums and erms.

The words she’s picked here suggest that Shanna really wants us to know how hard the news hit her. Especially with the dramatic falling to the floor.

She does say she was devastated, but due to what she would have to tell the kids, not that her ex-husband, who she had been with minutes earlier, had been killed.

Again, on their relationship

Gardner: Even though we didn't always get along. He was still the father of my kids.

This is a continuing example of how she talks about their relationship. It was so bad that she can only phrase it in the negative “we didn’t always get along”, but she does use “we” again.

For the first time she refers to Jared as a solo person, saying “HE was still the father of my kids”.

The question

Interviewer: Did you have anything to do with Jared’s murder

Gardner: No, I did not have anything to do with his murder.

This is THE question and there are a lot of reassuring markers in her answer. Her very first word is “no”, so there is a quick denial. She then follows up with “I did not have anything to do with his murder” which reflects and address the question almost exactly. There are no extra and needless words or phrases which qualify her answer.

Shanna also uses the word “murder”. She doesn’t seek to downplay what has happened by calling it something softer like “this crime” or even just “this”. Often, the guilty will sub-consciously downplay the severity of their crimes in their words.

I can, however, spot two slight worries. She uses the formal “did not” rather than the contraction “didn’t”. Elsewhere, Shanna has used contractions such as “I’m”, “it’s” and “we’ve”. It’s not proof she’s lying here, rather it’s a point of interest that her style of speaking has changed on this denial.

Shanna was asked if she had anything to do with “JARED’S murder” and her reply was that she did not have anything to do with “HIS murder”. That is less close and more distant from the way it was stated in the question. Again, not proof she’s lying, but a point worth noting.

On why she hired an attorney

Gardner: He was referred to me by several friends. And ultimately, my kids, images and videos were being used in the media without consent.

We didn’t hear the exact question that was asked, but if it was close to “why did you hire this attorney” then it’s a weak answer. The response doesn’t start with why the need for an attorney, but who recommended the attorney. And note it was “several friends”, Shanna wants us to know it wasn’t her choice but the choice of people with her best interests at heart.

Next, she does move on to why she felt the need for an attorney. As is the case numerous times now, it’s for her children. I’m starting to get the impression that Shanna may be someone who feels if she states her children are the reason for her doing things she’ll find it easier, or people will like her more, than if she said something more self-centred.

No idea

Interviewer: Do you have any idea who might have done this?

Gardner: I do not have any idea.

I as I said we've been divorced. We don't run in the same social circles. All I know is that I would never want anybody to go through this.

She gives a non-contracted “do not” instead of “don’t” again here.

Just as worryingly, “I do not have any idea” is a high-probably deceptive answer. I was not married to the man, but I have ideas. It could have been a robbery gone wrong, it could have been mistaken identity, it could have been to do with the nature of his work. Why does someone even closer to him, who has probably thought about this a lot have “no idea”?

Next, Shanna is keen to show distance from Jared for the first time. But why does she phrase it as they are not in the same “social circles”? The killer could be a professional acquaintance, someone unknown to him, or even a family member. Saying she has no idea what happened because they move in different “social circles” is interesting.

Narrator: She told me if she could speak to Jared again. She'd say one thing:

Gardner: Honestly, that I wish it weren't like this.

I wish things could .. could have been, and could be different.

This is very vague. What are the “things” she wishes could have been and could be different? It feels like she’s talking about something that happened before his murder, it could be their split. What could be (present tense) different? That he wasn’t killed?

Conclusion

There is a lot to worry about in these words. Shanna and Jared clearly did not have a good relationship, and she makes efforts to avoid talking directly about their divorce and why she hired an attorney.

Shanna appears to use their children like a shield to protect herself from stating how she feels about events.

Despite the lack of evidence of a good relationship, Shanna shows a lot of unity with Jared, often using words like “we” and “ours”.

However, a bad relationship of which one side hasn’t completely let go doesn’t automatically make that person a murderer.

Shanna deals well with the direct question about having anything to do with the murder. She deals less well when asked if she has any idea what happened.

The fact Shanna tries to hide how bad their relationship was is interesting. Is she doing that because she would rather not be seen (unfairly) as someone with a motive? Or is it in her interest to deceive the world into thinking they got on well and there’s no way she’d be complicit in the murder?

There’s not enough in these words for me to say she should be put under real scrutiny. There is enough for me to say that she’s holding back on saying everything she knows.

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