Thomas Stein Sentenced to Life Plus 45 in Kayla Rincon-Miller's Murder, the Bridegan Murder-for-Hire Fight Over the Widow's Phone, and a WD-
About this episode
This episode covers the sentencing of Thomas Stein for the murder of Kayla Rincon-Miller, ongoing legal battles in a murder-for-hire case, and an attempted murder indictment in Massachusetts.
A three-case roundup. In Lee County, Florida, eighteen-year-old Thomas Stein was sentenced to life in prison plus 45 years after a jury convicted him of first-degree felony murder in the 2024 shooting death of fifteen-year-old Kayla Rincon-Miller, who was walking to get food with two friends after a movie when prosecutors say Stein and a co-defendant stopped to rob them; because Stein was sixteen at the time, the life sentence carries a review after fifteen years. Whether Stein fired the fatal shot is disputed — he maintains he did not — but Florida's felony murder law does not require it. In Jacksonville, Shanna Gardner and Mario Fernandez Saldana, who have pleaded not guilty in the alleged murder-for-hire killing of Gardner's ex-husband Jared Bridegan, were in court as Gardner's defense sought access to the phone of Bridegan's widow, Kirsten; prosecutors called it a fishing expedition. Trials begin in August. And in Gloucester, Massachusetts, Phyllis Palazzola was indicted on attempted murder and related charges after a longtime friend alleged Palazzola tried to subdue her with a WD-40-soaked rag over an unpaid $180,000 loan; Palazzola has not entered a plea and is due for…
Topics covered
- murder
- trial
- true crime
- felony murder
- murder-for-hire
- legal proceedings
Keywords
- Thomas Stein
- Kayla Rincon-Miller
- murder-for-hire
- Shanna Gardner
- Jared Bridegan
- Phyllis Palazzola
- felony murder
- trial
Mentioned in this episode
Places: Lee County, Florida, Jacksonville, Gloucester, Massachusetts
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