Jared Bridegan Murder: The Hidden Psychological Cost Paid by the Children in This Case | Pt. 3
True Crime Today | Daily True Crime News & Interviews
Tony Brueski
4.2 • 612 Ratings
🗓️ 25 March 2026
⏱️ 19 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In the coverage of the Jared Bridegan murder case, the children are mentioned and then moved past. This episode doesn't do that.
Part 3 of One Mile From Home stays with the children — Bexley, who was in the backseat when her father was shot at two years old, and the twins, who grew up moving between two households at war and will spend the rest of their lives integrating what that war allegedly produced.
Tony Brueski examines parentification and loyalty conflict — the documented developmental damage that occurs when children are placed inside adult conflicts as participants rather than protected bystanders. What it does to a child who learns to manage a parent's emotional state before having space to develop their own. The split selves, the hypervigilance, the exhaustion carried quietly into adulthood.
He also addresses where the twins ended up: after the arrests, guardianship was granted to Shanna Gardner's parents in Washington state. Through no choice of their own, the children now live with the family of the woman accused of killing their father.
This episode is built for adults who grew up in high-conflict custody situations and have never heard their experience named this honestly. The children in this case paid the cost. It was not collateral. And it deserves to be treated as the central tragedy it is.
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Transcript
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| 0:30.5 | If you're into true crime, not just the headlines, but the human stories behind them, |
| 0:35.1 | join us at Crimecom Birmingham, an intimate one-day event on April 25th, |
| 0:39.5 | featuring in-depth sessions with investigators, creators and the families impacted by crime. With just |
| 0:45.0 | 200 attendees, you'll also share breakfast and lunch with the speakers, giving you the chance to spend |
| 0:49.9 | time with the people shaping the world of true crime crimecom Birmingham is partnered by the true crime |
| 0:54.9 | channel for 10% off go to crimecon.com.com.com and use the code Birmingham at checkout. |
| 1:00.7 | This is Hidden Killers with Tony Brewski. Here now, Tony Brewski. |
| 1:07.5 | Brexley Bridegan was two years old on February 16th of 2022. |
| 1:11.6 | She was in the backseat when her father stopped the car. |
| 1:15.3 | She was in the backseat when he was shot. |
| 1:18.0 | She was there, present strapped in two years old. |
| 1:21.0 | For the last moments of Jared Bridegan's life. |
| 1:25.2 | And then she was the first thing that was seen when that door opened, a toddler, |
| 1:30.5 | alone without her dad. I want to stay here for a minute before we move anywhere else, |
| 1:37.6 | because the coverage of this case tends to note that detail and then move on, as we do in so |
| 1:42.9 | many cases, like, and the kids suffered and they went |
... |
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