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E160: The Short Family
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When Chris Thompson approached his employer’s home around 9 am on the morning of August 15th, 2002 in the small town of Oak Level, Virginia, he expected his boss to step out of the home, ready to go with Chris to pick up the new business truck. What Chris discovered, instead, was that his boss, Michael Short, had been shot, seemingly as he slept on the couch in his garage. When police arrived at the scene, they found Michael’s wife, Mary, in the couple’s bed, had also been shot. The couple’s nine-year-old daughter, Jennifer, was missing.
A search commenced for the missing child, an Amber Alert was created, and news stations flashed her picture-- all hoping that she would be found alive and well. As weeks passed, police explored various leads from a stalker, to a stranger, to a disgruntled customer, and even explored theories spawned by the rumor mill in hopes of solving the crime and bringing Jennifer safely home. Unfortunately, on September 25th, 2002, thirty miles away in Rockingham County, North Carolina, fragments of human remains were discovered that later were verified to be those of young Jennifer. She too had been shot.
Who could have committed such a heinous crime and what was their motive, especially since money (around $600) remained on the kitchen counter inside the Short family home untouched? Will those who have information, as local law enforcement has indicated that they do, finally be willing to share the details they recall that could lead to justice?
And will YOU share about this case and help push for answers and closure?
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Transcript
Creating a supportive classroom environment
00:00:00
Speaker
As a teacher, one of the most important parts of a new school year is setting the tone for learning. We spend countless hours planning how to decorate and equip our room so our students feel comfortable and have everything they need. And know that this space is a serious space for learning and that they will be met with an equal measure of high expectations and care.
00:00:26
Speaker
I take meticulous note of where to seat students to eliminate potential distractions and yet to make the space feel collaborative.
00:00:34
Speaker
You see, teachers don't just worry about the curriculum and the pace of the lessons, which data I'll gather from each assessment to measure growth, though all of those things are important. As a teacher, I also care about your child's well-being. Will she be hungry? Stash some snacks in my desk drawer. Will he have access to highlighters? Better buy another pack. Will she need a winter coat?
00:01:00
Speaker
Let me see if I have one that I can pretend like I don't need any longer and ask if anyone would like it, knowing exactly who I want to take it. Will he need to hear an extra voice cheering from the stands? Better cancel my Friday night plans to be at the game instead. Those kids in the classroom each and every year become my kids.
00:01:21
Speaker
Yes, I know they're not mine to raise and I don't try to, but there also better not be anyone who talks badly of them because I will fiercely defend my kids. I will cry when they move on at the end of the year to start their adult lives in college because they're my kids. And I always find joy when they decide to pop back up and send messages to let me know that I made a difference in their lives because they're my kids.
00:01:49
Speaker
But what happens when there are events that I can't shield them from?
Introduction to the true crime case of Jennifer Short
00:01:55
Speaker
On the first day of the 2002-2003 school year in Henry County, Virginia at Figsboro Elementary School, teachers set up desks for the first day of school, including a desk for the fourth grade nine-year-old child who had already been missing for several days.
00:02:16
Speaker
I have no doubt that that teacher hoped and prayed for a miracle to see that added beaming face when school started. Unfortunately, that seat remained empty and the classroom buzzed with questions and with fear, a fear that the teacher couldn't protect her kids from. This is the story of the Short family.
00:03:18
Speaker
Welcome to Coffee and Cases where we like our coffee hot and our cases cold. My name is Allison Williams. And my name is Maggie Dameron.
00:03:27
Speaker
We will be telling stories each week in the hopes that someone out there with any information concerning the cases will take those tips to law enforcement. So justice and closure can be brought to these families with each case. We encourage you to continue in the conversation on our Facebook page, coffee and cases podcast, because as we all know, conversation helps to keep the missing person in the public consciousness, helping keep their memories alive. So sit back, sip your coffee and listen to what's brewing this week.
00:03:55
Speaker
Okay, Maggie, the short family who we're going to talk about this week consisted of dad Michael, mom, Mary, and daughter, Jennifer, and they lived just off of US Route 220 in Oak level, which, as I mentioned in the introduction, is in Henry County, Virginia. Okay. And Jennifer was in fourth grade, yes?
00:04:25
Speaker
Yes. That's like my, one of my most favorite ages in the classroom. Cause they still want the teacher to love them, but they're independent enough. They're just so sweet at that age. And I think what makes that bond even more special too is that Oak level was this very small community, fewer than a thousand people.
00:04:47
Speaker
Oh wow. Yeah and it is flanked to the north and to the south by large cities so Roanoke, Virginia to the north and Greensboro, North Carolina to the south. The Schwartz address 10-8-20 Virginia Avenue was just off of Maine thoroughfare but it was still fairly rural so while their home was near the Circle C convenience store
00:05:12
Speaker
and the Circle C motel, their nearest neighbor was a football field's distance away. I kinda like that though. I like having people near me but not right up in my face. Right, yeah. You've got some room to breathe.
00:05:29
Speaker
basically. Mary was Michael's second wife, 14 years her elder. He had previously been married and had three sons. However, after that marriage had ended, Michael and Mary had met and fallen in love. And on July 12th, 1993, Mary had given birth to Jennifer.
00:05:53
Speaker
out of curiosity do we know because that just made me curious when you said he was 14 years older than her what their ages were? So he was 41 and she was 27 when Mary gave birth to their daughter Jennifer.
00:06:12
Speaker
And Jennifer's aunt Carolyn said of Jennifer in an interview with Fox 8 News, quote, she was a fun, loving child. She was a smart child and she loved her parents to death, not one more than the other, but both equally, end quote. Oh, that is sweet. Mm hmm.
00:06:32
Speaker
And these three, Maggie, they were a tight trio. So while this is not the first place that you would find me, most of the residents who knew the shorts would see them working together in the yard.
00:06:48
Speaker
Oh, yeah, I would have hives. But you know, I'm jealous of you guys. You might be out there anyway, just in your long sleeves and jeans. Neighbor Ruby Emerson told the freelance star newspaper quote, they were always outdoors together in the yard mowing the grass or whatever. They seemed as happy as could be, end quote. And the three loved being in each other's company. They were a little bit more
00:07:15
Speaker
reserved, I think, as a family, yet they were still kind with all of their neighbors. I kind of got the sense when I was doing my research that they were one of those families for whom most people knew of them, but only few had kind of a deeply personal relationship with them.
00:07:32
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, that's not a bad thing, though. Oh, no, to just kind of keep to yourself. They were a family of modest means who, like I just said, they kind of kept to themselves most of the time. And while it was just the three of them in the home, they did have a larger extended family courtesy of Michael's sons from his first marriage.
00:07:53
Speaker
Neighbor Ray Reynolds told WFNY News 2 of Michael, quote, I would see him out in the community. The little girl was always at the store playing. She'd run from the house to the store and back and forth. You would always see her, end quote.
00:08:09
Speaker
So like I mentioned, the shorts lived near that Circle C convenience store gas station, and Jennifer is said to have made friends with the owner. So she would often stop in for snacks or just go inside to pay for her parents gas. So she was a familiar face in that gas station. In 2002, Michael owned MS Mobile Home Movers business, and Mary, his wife, worked for him.
00:08:38
Speaker
So, Michael had named the business after himself. M.S. stood for Michael Short. And basically, as the name of his company implies, if somebody moved and they needed their mobile home moved as well, well, that's where Michael would step in. So, M.S. mobile home movers. Honestly, if I had a business like that, I would name it after myself as well. So, kudos to Michael.
00:09:04
Speaker
Yeah. If you've ever seen those oversized load trucks going down the interstate, that's in a nutshell what Michael did. Okay. But one of Michael's trucks needed repair.
00:09:18
Speaker
And he was also needing to replace another truck. So in August of 2002, yes, he was needing to put in the money to make those necessary purchases and repairs. And that was going to put a financial strain on him, on his business and on his family. Plus, you know, I'm
00:09:39
Speaker
guessing that it's not every day that someone moves and wants to take a home with them. I mean, it'd be my guess that it's far more common to sell the property with the mobile home included and then purchase a new home wherever somebody moves to. I would guess that's more common.
00:09:59
Speaker
And I'm wondering if he limited limited himself to just mobile homes or if he also maybe moved big machinery or, you know, I've seen those carrying the huge dump trucks were the transportation department. So I'm wondering if maybe he did some of that on the side. I'm not sure from my understanding it was just mobile homes, but he may have. Okay.
00:10:22
Speaker
So briefly, due to those business woes, Michael had actually begun considering moving the business to South Carolina since he had made several contacts there. And he was thinking, you know, maybe if I move to a new area, the company might be able to thrive again.
00:10:43
Speaker
So in the meantime, to save money since Michael had a trailer, a mobile home of his own that they weren't using, he decided to put the family home on the market with a plan to, when it sold, live temporarily in that mobile home before making the move and kind of uprooting his family to replant that family in South Carolina.
00:11:09
Speaker
So the shorts had a couple of open houses, but either the house wasn't selling quickly or maybe Michael wasn't as motivated to sell as he said he was, but all the while they kept the home looking like a show home just in case the real estate agent would contact them and want to show it, which kudos to them because my home looks like a disaster area if that's what you want your house to look like.
00:11:35
Speaker
And that's really hard to do because when Anthony and I moved into the house, we're in now like two years ago, we had to do that for a few days. And it's like every, which I guess is a good habit to get in, but you know, every time you dirty a dish, you immediately have to clean it, dry it, put it away. I was vacuuming all the time because you know, we have all of our dogs, so they shed constantly. So it was a lot of work. So kudos to them.
00:11:58
Speaker
On August 14, 2002, Michael was working late alongside his employee, Chris Thompson, who had been staying at a hotel down the road from Michael's home. They had actually been working on that truck that needed repair. And they had been making those repairs until a little before 11pm on the 14th.
00:12:21
Speaker
They made plans before they parted ways for Chris to come back by the short home the next morning. So he and Michael could ride together to go pick up a new truck for Michael's business. They were going to pick the truck up in the town of Christiansburg, which was about an hour away. Also sometime around 11 PM, the short family finally, finally picked up a very late dinner.
00:12:49
Speaker
from the Burger King Drive-Thru in Collinsville. So there's somebody who says, well, you know, they came through here, that's pretty late, but it is during the summer. So it's not like Jennifer has school the next day or anything like that.
00:13:03
Speaker
And sometimes life just gets in the way of dinner. Sometimes we're eating dinner at like nine 30. I'm like, this is not healthy, but. Right. Here we are. Here's your hamburger. Eat it. A little before 9 AM the next morning on August 15th, 2002.
Discovery of the Short family tragedy
00:13:20
Speaker
Chris showed up at the short home to meet up with Michael, you know, obviously again to get the new truck as he walked up to the home. Chris found it weird that Michael didn't come outside to greet him. He didn't see Michael or see any sign of activity anywhere. So it was almost like nobody's awake yet.
00:13:40
Speaker
But the garage, the home's garage door stood wide open. So Chris walked up and as he got closer, he still didn't see Michael come out. So Chris probably thought, you know, I'll just quickly peek ahead and let Michael know that I'm here, you know, no rush, but I'm ready whenever you are.
00:14:03
Speaker
Because sometimes Michael could get caught up in working on things in the garage and he would get preoccupied. So maybe Christopher's thinking, oh, he's probably, you know, piddling with something and just lost track of time. Yeah, it sounds like he knows Michael's family and that he would feel comfortable just like, you know, opening the door and saying, hey, I'm here whenever you're ready. Exactly. Exactly.
00:14:26
Speaker
Michael Short was indeed in the attached garage. Chris saw him on the couch deep in the garage when he entered. So it appeared like Michael was still sleeping on the sofa. However, Michael wasn't sleeping. He had been shot a single time in the head with a .22 caliber gun execution style.
00:14:54
Speaker
Chris Thompson immediately called the Henry County Sheriff's Office out to the scene. When law enforcement arrived, they searched the rest of the home. And that's when they also discovered the body of 36-year-old Mary Short in the bed. She had also suffered from a single gunshot wound to the head. Again, execution style.
00:15:21
Speaker
Law enforcement quickly entered Jennifer's bedroom, only to find it empty.
00:15:27
Speaker
It was obvious that Jennifer had been in bed because the mattress was pushed away from the wall about two inches. The covers were thrown back as though someone had done so to get out of bed and Jennifer's pillow was on the ground. But other than that small dishevelment in Jennifer's bedroom, the rest of the house still looked immaculate and showed no sign of struggle. This is odd, very odd.
00:15:57
Speaker
circumstances. With both parents deceased and no sign of their child, law enforcement's initial thought was that perhaps Jennifer had been awoken by the shooting in the garage and then in her parents' bedroom and that maybe she had been able to sneak out of the house with plans to return after the intruder had left.
00:16:23
Speaker
That's what I initially thought too, but then I remembered the intro and I was like, that's wrong. Right. Yeah. So they're thinking, okay, well maybe, maybe she's in the woods surrounding the home. She's hiding and she's terrified. So police began to search those woods for Jennifer and to place phone calls to all of Michael and Mary's friends and family to see if any of them knew where Jennifer might be. Like if she were to run into the woods, where would she go? Right. Or where would she hide?
00:16:52
Speaker
As the hours ticked by though and Jennifer didn't return to the home, law enforcement were forced to accept the fact that she too had likely met with foul play.
00:17:05
Speaker
Since they couldn't locate her in immediate vicinity by the afternoon of the 15th, with no further clues as to her whereabouts, police issued an Amber Alert for Jennifer. So the logistics of the Amber Alert actually showed how little law enforcement knew about when the crime had occurred. I mean, they didn't even know what Jennifer was wearing or who she could possibly be with. So this is more of just a, here's this child.
00:17:34
Speaker
Kind of a thing. And you think about it, you know, the last that the Short family had been seen was around 11 p.m.
00:17:45
Speaker
before being found dead the next morning around 9 a.m. And that's about all they knew. So they're thinking, OK, well, did the attacker enter the home just shortly after they'd gotten back from dinner and settled into bed or had the killer committed the crime just before Chris Thompson had arrived to pick Michael up the next morning? I mean, it could be anywhere in that time frame.
00:18:09
Speaker
So to account for any possible scenario in that timeframe, the Amber Alert was actually set to cover an extremely wide range. So hundreds of miles because they're thinking, okay, if somebody took her, they could have taken her at midnight last night versus eight o'clock this morning.
00:18:30
Speaker
News outlets soon covered the story as well. And Jennifer's face was featured on national channels calling for the immediate return of the sweet young girl. Still worried that she could be in the surrounding woods somewhere and potentially lost. Like what if she went out there and she just didn't come back because she got, you know, twisted and turned around and she doesn't know where she is.
00:18:54
Speaker
So over the course of several days, police carried out searches with volunteers from the community and family to aid in those searches. They brought in ATVs and horses to search the more inaccessible terrain. They brought in canine units and they flew a helicopter overhead. They searched local bodies of water, as well as the nearby Circle C motel for clues.
00:19:20
Speaker
but still no Jennifer, nor even a single sign as to where she might be. So the scent dogs, they did actually hit on Jennifer's scent, but they hit on her scent at her home, at the Circle C convenience store, and at the Circle C motel, but police didn't think any of these hits were significant since Jennifer was known to frequent all three of those places almost daily.
00:19:48
Speaker
You know, but I don't know, obviously, anything about this Circle C motel, but I'm just wondering if it's in such a small town and it's in between, you know, the two larger towns, what type of person it attracts this Circle C motel, and was she potentially exposed to some pretty dangerous people by her frequenting this Circle C motel? So from what I've read, there were some seedy characters there.
00:20:16
Speaker
Okay. But for some reason, I mean, even though the dogs hit on her scent, their police were like, it's probably just because it's so close to her home. She walked by it every day. You know,
00:20:31
Speaker
and didn't really put much thought, I guess, into that hit. But the search for Jennifer was paramount to law enforcement. And I'm sure at this point they're thinking, if we can find Jennifer, then that means we can find the killer.
00:20:51
Speaker
if the killer has abducted her or if she's out there still hiding and she's lost, we would at least have more details when we find her about the timing or potentially what the suspect looks like. And I want you to imagine what this small town law enforcement agency is facing here.
00:21:11
Speaker
They likely only handled small crimes like a small town normally does. So traffic tickets, maybe some vandalism, some domestic disputes. But homicide would normally be a crime reserved for larger cities, let alone a double homicide.
00:21:34
Speaker
And on top of the killing, yeah, exactly. Yep. On top of the killing of both Michael and Mary Short, they have that added crime of a child abduction. So the manpower required for the handling of even one of those crimes had to be more than the small town could handle.
00:21:53
Speaker
Hopefully though they asked for help, especially with a child missing, doesn't larger agencies usually get involved in those circumstances? Yes, they do. And luckily, unlike so many of the cases that we cover each week on the show, this small town agency did have the wherewithal to request help in their investigation. Good. Throughout the course of this investigation, as you're going to see, law enforcement have been
00:22:23
Speaker
intentionally vague and strategic in their release of information though to the public. That's good. To illustrate, initially they were vague about what evidence they had collected from the home and they were vague because Jennifer was still missing. So they were concerned, you know, that if the person who had abducted her,
00:22:50
Speaker
knew what the police had in terms of evidence or believed that the police were hot on their trail, then they might be more inclined to harm Jennifer. So they're like, let's not reveal what we've collected. Now, years after the crime, we have more information about some of that evidence.
Investigation and community impact
00:23:13
Speaker
So here is what law enforcement were able to find that we know now.
00:23:19
Speaker
Based upon the position of the bodies and no sign of struggle, it appears as though the couple had been taken completely unaware of the attack on their lives. Since, as I indicated earlier, both of them had been shot execution style, that told police that this was not a murder suicide. We can rule that out. Both Michael and Mary had been killed with a single shot
00:23:48
Speaker
by a .22 caliber gun. The assumption of police is that Michael, since he was sleeping in the garage, was likely killed first and that Mary had slept through the shooting of her husband, making her completely unaware also when they then came for her. But I honestly question many things.
00:24:13
Speaker
about the scenario. So before I tell you my questions, I will tell you that it wasn't, from my research, necessarily odd that Michael was sleeping in the garage on the couch. And it wasn't... That was one of my questions. Yeah.
00:24:30
Speaker
It wasn't because he had been like sentenced there by Mary because of a squabble or anything like that. Michael would frequently sleep on the sofa there if, number one, he had fallen asleep while watching television out there. That happens to me all the time, by the way. I mean, I can be wide awake watching a show and then poof into dreamland.
00:24:56
Speaker
I mean in split second. So when that would happen for Michael, instead of when he finally did wake up, going in, climbing into bed, waking Mary up, he would just sleep out there on the sofa for the rest of the night. And he would also commonly sleep there because number two, he snored, loudly. And Mary was a light sleeper. So sometimes for Mary's sake, Michael would sleep out there.
00:25:26
Speaker
Okay, see I too am a very, very light sleeper. I think that must be a woman thing. I don't know. But Anthony snores like a NASCAR Speedway. Like it is so loud. I have to sleep with noise canceling earphones in, which is not healthy for your ears to do that every night by the way. But there are some nights even with these in,
00:25:54
Speaker
and we have a bed that can tilt you up so that you're on like a position that's supposed to prevent snoring but it doesn't work combination of those two things and sometimes i'll take my happy butt out to the couch just so i can sleep yeah so i understand i understand you understand where mary's coming from yeah so while that detail can be explained right those are some legitimate reasons
00:26:22
Speaker
There are several details that conversely create more questions than answers. My first question, why was the garage door open?
00:26:33
Speaker
Yeah, I don't think he would sleep with it open, but it was summer, so maybe he just needed a nice little breeze while he was sleeping, and they don't have a lot of neighbors. Right, and that could be it. I mean, we don't know if the garage door had been left open when Michael went to bed, or if the killer had opened the garage door maybe when leaving. So did he simply fall asleep on the couch with the door up, either that night or the next morning, maybe wanting to get
00:27:02
Speaker
Like you said Maggie a little summer night breeze or morning breeze and then the killer had come in with that Night or morning air. I mean in my mind the other scenario Doesn't fit that the killer would have opened it while leaving that's something that's proposed by a lot of people but I could be wrong and
00:27:25
Speaker
But I feel like a garage door opening would be a lot of unwanted noise, drawing attention to the house that someone had just murdered multiple people wouldn't necessarily want because it would draw attention. Our garage door is loud. Ours is too.
00:27:45
Speaker
So, yeah, I understand that pushing a button to exit could be done by hitting the button with an elbow or with an object. You know, you could avoid the kind of DNA leaving act of grabbing and twisting a doorknob. I get it. And I understand that as a motivation, but I still think that the sound and the lights of a garage door, we have a light that turns on when the garage door opens. I feel like that would make that option of escape undesirable.
00:28:14
Speaker
for a perpetrator. Maybe they never so they get their hamburger from Burger King. They come home. Perhaps they just forgot to close the garage door. And then, you know, like you said, he's out there watching TV and he just kind of slips off without waking up to go close the garage door. Mm hmm.
00:28:37
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, how many times I'll do this, I'll sit down, let's say, you know, at my desk at work and I'm like, oh, I didn't grab those copies from the copier. I'll go do it in just a few minutes. I don't feel like getting back up. And then you get distracted and then you never go get the copies off the copier.
00:29:00
Speaker
Is it a possibility or do we know could the killer have been in the house waiting for them? Is that a possibility? And so they really just didn't have time to close the garage door. I mean, I guess it, maybe he kills Mary first and then Michael after that. It is a possibility. Yeah. But then the person who's inside already either open that garage door to leave or
00:29:29
Speaker
It's just happy coincidence for the perpetrator that the door was left open. But I will say that if
00:29:41
Speaker
the killer did leave through the garage door by opening it himself, and they only left it open at that point, then that means he did enter some other way. So either was already hiding in the house, so had a point of access. I don't know how religious they were about locking their windows and doors when they weren't home.
00:30:04
Speaker
But with no sign of forced entry, then either they didn't have it locked up and the person was able to easily get in, or they were let in because it seemed to indicate that the Short family knew their killer. Obviously versus the theory that the door had been inadvertently left open by Michael falling asleep, which then means that the killer could have been anyone.
00:30:29
Speaker
So who opened the garage door does seem to be an important question. The second detail that leads to questions is that the phone lines to the house had been cut.
00:30:47
Speaker
And that small detail tells me that the killer went to the home with the intent to kill. Oh, yes. So the murder meditated. Oh, absolutely. And, you know, sleuth towns out there, you might be thinking, well, obviously, Alison, you didn't have to be a genius to figure that one out, right? That, you know, the phone lines being cut shows that they went there with an intent to kill. But I want you to stop.
00:31:12
Speaker
for a second and realize just how significant that tiny detail really is, because it tells us that their murders were not committed in the heat of passion. Which means that if they catch this perpetrator, then that perpetrator can't give an excuse of, Oh, well, we had an argument and you know, it blew up into something that I didn't intend, because the phone lines being cut shows you did intend it, you know, and
00:31:41
Speaker
This was someone who had, it seems, long since targeted them for the crime because cutting the phone lines is a very calculated move. Yeah, I wouldn't even know how to begin to do that. Oh, yeah, I wouldn't like I just don't know where you would even begin to do that. But, you know, I guess if you've got the telephone lines above ground,
00:32:07
Speaker
then you could kind of see where the pole comes into the house. Cause I was thinking about that. Cause I was thinking, is this guy like walking around the perimeter of the house with a flashlight looking for the phone lines to be able to cut it? And then I was like, wait, Alison, maybe, you know, if there's a pole, then you'd be able to see kind of where they come in. But I wouldn't even know what to cut. I mean, I don't know. So then you start thinking, okay,
00:32:36
Speaker
If we see this calculated detail, then what kind of perpetrator would conduct a calculated murder? You think, you know, did they make somebody mad? Had somebody been watching them and canvassing the house, you know, because they were either cutting the lines because he, you know, so that he would have time to do what he needed or to have plenty of time for escape.
00:33:03
Speaker
were the phone lines cut because the killer knew where the phones were in the home and the likelihood that Mary or Jennifer could get to one of them if they did wake up, right, if Michael shot first. And if so, then that would mean that they had been in the home before.
00:33:26
Speaker
See, I'm wondering if it almost has to be someone closer to them because you said earlier that they kind of kept to themselves and that very few people were kind of let into their inner circle. And so I'm wondering if it was someone that they knew. Right. Because then they would know all those things, like where the phone lines were, what time they typically went to bed. They could be let in without it being weird.
00:33:53
Speaker
And that detailed the phone lines too. I think it says all those things that you're saying. Absolutely. I think it also seems to indicate that this was not a first time perpetrator or even a young one for that matter, because I don't think a first time perpetrator or a young perpetrator would necessarily think to cut phone lines. Yeah.
00:34:19
Speaker
I feel like the act of cutting the phone lines tells much more than the act of not doing it would. But it's a manner of Michael and Mary's deaths that cause the most questions for me, especially in light of the elements that we just talked about. So my primary question is how Michael could have been shot and no one woke up.
00:34:48
Speaker
So I get that different caliber weapons when shot create different decibels of sound. But a gunshot is a gunshot and the couple's bedroom was not that far away from where Michael was sleeping on the couch. Can you put something on a 22 that makes the shot quieter? You can. Yeah, you can put suppression on it that would quieten it.
00:35:18
Speaker
But it still, in my mind, would be too loud. I mean, I could be wrong. I know that a .22 is one of the quieter guns on the market. A shot from it, according to my research, is between 120 and 140 decibels. So to put that into perspective, everyday conversation is around 60 decibels.
00:35:44
Speaker
Okay, so now I have another question. I wonder what the disciples are for someone snoring, because if she's a light sleeper and his snoring wakes her up, then surely a gunshot would have woken her up.
00:35:59
Speaker
apparently the decibels for snoring are between 50 and 65, but it can reach in the range of 80 or 90, which matches the decibel levels of a vacuum cleaner. So it can get up to 80 or 90. So then yes, it definitely would have been woken up by that. That's what I'm thinking too. And I feel like when
00:36:26
Speaker
all the different sources that i looked up when they're giving a comparison they compared the shot of a twenty two to the decibels of an everyday conversation but i feel like those two statistics when they're given together paints a false picture because i feel like when you look at them side by side without understanding.
00:36:44
Speaker
decibels, it almost makes it seem as though, oh, 60 to 120, that's not that loud. If the television were loud enough, then maybe the gunshot might have been mistaken for a sound emitting from the television, and therefore, maybe something that Mary would have slept through. But I did want to add this final statistic too, to give a reality check. So if you remember, a 22 is between 120 and 140 decibels.
00:37:12
Speaker
An ambulance siren is 125 decibels. Oh, and those are loud. You hear those at pretty far distances when you're driving. Oh yeah, if you're at a red light, even if you have your radio blaring, you can still hear the ambulance coming long before you even know where the sound is coming from. A jackhammer is 130 decibels.
00:37:38
Speaker
And if you're right, if she's a light sleeper and she's waking up to snoring, then a gunshot would definitely wake somebody up. Now, I started thinking, okay, well, she's found as though she was asleep. So then I'm thinking, well, could the shot, because it was only one, maybe have startled Mary from her sleep and then, you know, sitting in the darkness, not knowing what woke her up,
00:38:08
Speaker
and then hearing nothing follow the sound, could she have gone back to sleep or at least been in the process of attempting to? And I do think that that's a possibility. Yeah, that is a possibility. But then that means that the killer was willing to stay in the house long enough for her to go back to sleep, which I think it tells something else about the psyche. I think it also makes sense that Michael would have been killed first.
00:38:37
Speaker
because he would have posed the biggest threat in terms of physicality. Oh, definitely. And the killer then entered the home to kill Mary. But again, I feel like we need to pause here to really examine what those actions tell us. So first, the cut phone lines, to me anyway, indicate that the killer either knew the layout of the home and the proximity of the phone to the victims or believed that the crime would take some time.
00:39:04
Speaker
The ability to take Mary unawares after killing Michael meant that, again, in my mind, either the killer knew the layout of the home, so were able to navigate through the house quickly to where he wanted to go without knocking things over in the dark, right? Because it's not like you can turn a light on and take somebody unawares. Or that the perpetrator believed, again,
00:39:33
Speaker
that this crime is going to take some time and they're willing to, like I said a second ago, kind of wait in the home, giving Mary time to fall back asleep after potentially waking to the sound of the gunshot. And either option is very creepy to me. Which could also explain why the phone lines were cut. They probably did that beforehand thinking, well, I'm going to kill Michael first.
00:39:59
Speaker
If she were to wake up, then she would maybe call 911. If I cut the phone line, she won't have the chance to do that. But I feel like even the act of entering the home after killing Michael
00:40:17
Speaker
tells us something about the psyche and or the motivation of the perpetrator. I wonder if this person has ever been the killer in this case has ever been like, you know, how the FBI can do those profiles. I would be interested to say what they say about this person. Because if it was just against Michael, then boom, you kill Michael, you're done. Exactly. But obviously, it wasn't just Michael.
00:40:46
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. Because, yeah, you're right. I mean, if it were just about Michael, you would have killed him in the garage and then fled through a potentially already open garage door and never have needed to enter the home. Because of what actually happened, I refuse to believe that it was solely due to some personal grudge with Michael alone. Or I feel like it would have ended right there. I think it was, they were specifically targeting Jennifer.
00:41:14
Speaker
Oh, we're going to talk about that because she's the only one that isn't in the house. Yeah. A lot of people think that same thing. So we'll come back to that. Another detail I think about the manner of death that gives me pause is again, I keep going back to it like the phone lines, how calculated the deaths seem. So this wasn't a messy crime scene of struggle. It doesn't
00:41:44
Speaker
seemed to me as though the crime was so deeply personal that the killer wanted to see Michael and Mary suffer. Instead, they were shot in their sleep with a single shot. So an act that, to me, seems more like one committed by a stranger rather than someone with a close personal relationship to the victims who felt some deep anger toward them. So I'm struggling to make the details add up.
00:42:14
Speaker
I wonder if it could again, if it is about Jennifer, even be someone who felt remorse in having to kill Michael and Mary. And that's why the deaths were, this is a horrible word, but more merciful. It could be. I don't know. I think that is a likely possibility.
00:42:40
Speaker
So we're going to get to potential motives here in just a minute. But before we get to that, Maggie, I did want to tell you what a thorough job law enforcement did with the crime scene in this case. They collected anything and everything that even had a remote possibility of containing DNA. That's awesome. They had 22 shell casings, one from the garage by Michael and one that was found in the bed next to Mary.
00:43:10
Speaker
other weapons and ammo that were found in the home, items related to Michael's business, like his checkbook, a computer disc, documents taken from a briefcase, though we don't know what those documents are. They've never clarified. And $600 in cash and a blank check that had just been lying on the kitchen counter, which obviously rules out some motives for us right there.
00:43:38
Speaker
Because we know if the gun was Michael's gun from what I understand it was not one of his guns. OK. But, you know, to think somebody's going to come in and do this and then just leave six hundred dollars that was lying there in plain sight.
00:43:58
Speaker
That's bizarre. Yeah, along with Dory, I'm sure Mary had. According to television coverage of the case, the evidence log also mentioned potential fingerprints and or hair collected that belonged to an unknown person. One source said there had been a note collected from the kitchen table, though I wasn't able to find that corroborated anywhere nor to find any indication as to the content of the note, but it just mentioned
00:44:27
Speaker
One source mentioned that there was a note. There were also early reports of a partial fingerprint writing on a window. Like you don't remember when you were a kid and you'd like fog up the window and write on it. Like that kind of a writing on a window that read, and again, this is only partially, I'm glad to see.
00:44:51
Speaker
But again, I wasn't able to corroborate that detail, but that was in early reports about the case.
00:44:58
Speaker
An article in the Roanoke Times that was published on August 22nd added one additional piece of information about the evidence that there was a voice message on the answering machine that had been collected and sent to the FBI that purportedly contained an obscene message. So had someone threatened the family or been harassing them, but again,
00:45:24
Speaker
Like the threats and the harassing, I just don't know if that necessarily fits with the calculated cutting the phone lines, execution style, those sorts of things. Police have said that in total, they collected more than a hundred pieces of evidence.
00:45:44
Speaker
Captain Wayne Davis of the Henry County Sheriff's Office actually said as recently as August of 2022, so this year, that there were upwards of a thousand pieces of evidence collected. They fingerprinted everything, even the walls of the home.
00:46:04
Speaker
So basically they knew that if DNA technology continued to improve, that they wanted to make sure to collect everything that they could that would help them ID the perpetrator in the future, even if they couldn't do it now. The other good news amidst all this tragedy was that there was still hope for them that Jennifer was alive out there somewhere.
00:46:31
Speaker
The sheriff even went so far as to say that there was no indication from the investigation of the scene that Jennifer had been seriously injured during the murder of her parents. So that day at the crime scene, a detective told the press, quote, we presume that she was kidnapped, abducted from her own home after her parents were killed and taken against her will, end quote. Do we find out what happens to her? We do.
00:46:58
Speaker
But the days passed with no answers on August 23rd, 2002, Michael and Mary's funeral was held. Imagine how hard this funeral was on the short family to lose so many people at once and with Jennifer. Yeah. And Jennifer is still missing to me. It reminded me of the investor murders that we covered where you've got like a whole family killed.
00:47:27
Speaker
Yeah. And imagine the community. This is a Tawny community. Yes. Yeah. I'm sure they were shook. Carolyn Short, Jennifer's aunt, said, quote, it's one thing to lose one or to lose a child. But when you lose a whole family, that's a lot. End quote.
00:47:49
Speaker
And then to know on top of that, that Carolyn learned about the murder of her brother Michael and sister-in-law Mary from watching the news and not directly from law enforcement. And that is heartbreaking. Yes, it is. So, I mean, it's not as though law enforcement did everything correctly in this case because they didn't. However, in what I think was a brilliant move,
00:48:17
Speaker
law enforcement, since they were still no closer to identifying the perpetrator, actually decided to record the funeral.
00:48:26
Speaker
So that way, if anybody came who's acting suspicious or who nobody else knows, then it would be captured on film. But unfortunately, though a brilliant idea and plan, nothing that they saw in the recording gave them pause in terms of the attendees or the activity. On the contrary,
00:48:50
Speaker
There was activity by the police that gave the public pause that happened less than two weeks after the funeral on September 4, 2002. Authorities exhumed Michael Short's body for further testing.
00:49:12
Speaker
Henry County Sheriff H.F. Cassell insinuated that the only reason for the exhumation was to get hair samples from Michael that should have been collected during the autopsy but weren't. That may indeed be true, but it led many people to wonder
00:49:32
Speaker
why hair samples would be so significant to the investigation that they would be willing to put the family through that trauma again. The rumor mill ran rampant with the action though that many locals were speculating
00:49:49
Speaker
that the hair sample was taken to see if Michael Short were truly Jennifer Short's father. And this was a rumor that the sheriff didn't really confirm nor deny. Because that could potentially be a motive for someone, especially since she's been kidnapped. Yep, because we know that parents
00:50:16
Speaker
are responsible for kidnappings of children. And something as astronomical as 90% of kidnapping cases. So that theory makes sense. So if Michael were not Jennifer's father, then perhaps the real father was out there somewhere and had killed Michael and Mary to get Jennifer back. So the only silver lining of this theory would be that Jennifer would hopefully
00:50:45
Speaker
still be alive. Small little fact about my little sleuth hound and me. We could live on smoothies. My girl makes one every morning for breakfast to take on the bus and sometimes she treats me by making me one too that I can bring to work.
00:51:05
Speaker
But the clunky blender was always a pain. Lug it out, get it to blend, waking up the whole house in the process, wash it afterwards, leave it sitting on the counter to dry, and then go through the hassle of putting it away just to do the same thing the next morning.
00:51:23
Speaker
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00:51:38
Speaker
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00:51:59
Speaker
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00:52:16
Speaker
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00:52:46
Speaker
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Speaker
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00:53:22
Speaker
Since Allison and I don't work together anymore, recording our podcast became harder until we found Zencaster. Zencaster is podcast recording the way it should be, web-based and as easy as creating a link and clicking to join a recording session.
00:53:36
Speaker
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Speaker
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Speaker
Go to zencaster.com forward slash pricing and use our code coffee and cases all one word. You'll get 30% off your first three months of Zencaster Professional. We want you to have the same easy experience we do for all our podcasting and content needs. It's time to share your story. So sadly, Maggie,
00:54:44
Speaker
Six weeks after the murder on September 25th, 2002, 30 miles away in Rockingham County, North Carolina, Lisa Albert Vaughn and her son were at her father's house off of Grogan Road. Her son had been walking around his grandfather Eddie Albert's yard when he found a child's tennis shoe.
00:55:08
Speaker
No. It wasn't initially alarming because Lisa's father's dogs were known to kind of bring home or dig up random items and then just leave them in the yard. In fact, a few days after the tennis shoes, there was what looked like a wig that was thrown away. I mean, they saw this and they're like, oh, a wig. So they just threw it away. And then a few days before the shoe, Lisa had found some teeth
00:55:33
Speaker
at the end of the driveway, yeah, when she was washing her car. And her dad explained that, you know, it was probably teeth from a deer or some other animal carcass that the dogs had, again, brought home. But when the dogs were then seen playing with what Lisa first thought was a turtle shell, but upon closer look appeared to be a partial skull, she called up a friend who worked in law enforcement to verify.
00:55:59
Speaker
Okay. Was the wig actually a wig or was that the hair? It was hair. So what the dog had drug into the yard was indeed a skull. And Lisa and her father, like you just said, they then began thinking, okay, that means that hair probably was not a wig. So they got it out of the trash and they called law enforcement who came in.
00:56:28
Speaker
and they searched the entire property. They actually drained the pond that was on her father's property and they began placing flags in all of the places where bones or other evidence seemed to be scattered. These remains were positively identified as fourth grader, Jennifer Short, with only about 25% of her remains being recovered.
00:56:55
Speaker
Lisa told Fox 8 News of the sight of those orange marker flags. Quote, it just really rips you apart. It's like, how could she end up here, right here on our property? And then from then on, she became part of our family. There were flags. You couldn't count how many flags was out there. End quote. Oh, my God.
00:57:24
Speaker
Lisa and her father were very invested in hoping for resolution as to who could have committed such a heinous crime. And in the years since, Lisa's father has passed.
00:57:37
Speaker
He had never stopped hoping for answers. Lisa recalled, quote, he had hoped before he passed away that they would find out who had done this. We always discussed it, went over scenarios, especially how did this little girl get from Virginia to here? Why did she end up here? End quote.
00:58:01
Speaker
And I wonder if she, did they ever find the rest of her remains before I asked this question? No. So I mean, she could have been dragged those bones by a wild animal. Her remains could be anywhere. Yeah. Now, so her remains are found about 30 miles away from her home. So it's not that that far away.
00:58:31
Speaker
But yeah, I think the scattering could have been from wild animals. Animal related. The majority of the remains that were found were located beneath that bridge in Stoneville, North Carolina that now actually bears Jennifer's name. It's called the Jennifer Short Memorial Bridge.
00:58:54
Speaker
While her remains were scattered and decomposed, law enforcement could determine that Jennifer had also been shot once in the head.
00:59:05
Speaker
But I'm assuming not in her home, correct? Because there was no evidence of that. So she had been, I wonder how long she had been alive before she was killed. And I think that's the big question. So there wasn't a 22 shell casing found in the home or blood spatter in her bedroom or anything like that. So of course, you know, finding her with the same injuries as her parents yet such a distance away makes me wonder why she was even taken from the scene in the first place rather than
00:59:33
Speaker
you know, having been killed along with her parents in the home. Because that's odd that that happened if the intent was to kill her in the same way. But I will add here that law enforcement have also been very vague in this regard as to whether Jennifer had been killed
00:59:52
Speaker
here at this place in Stoneville, North Carolina near the bridge or had actually been killed elsewhere and then brought there. They've been very vague on whether they know the answer to that question.
01:00:06
Speaker
And then, you know, was the crime committed by someone with ties to both of those places? Or was this from someone from North or South Carolina even, but with links to the Short family? And that's why, you know, we're going South. But with, so with Jennifer's body discovered 30 miles away, there are just many more questions now.
01:00:32
Speaker
It was after the discovery of Jennifer's body that law enforcement did openly announce that they had checked if Michael Short were Jennifer's biological father because of a rumor that was circulating. And they did verify that Michael Short was in fact her father.
01:00:52
Speaker
Now, the reason that they had not publicly made that announcement at the time that they themselves knew the answer was because of the theory that Jennifer might still be alive somewhere. So they're thinking, okay, if she had been abducted by someone who at least believed he was her biological father, then he might not harm her thinking, oh, this is my child. But then if he found the truth, exactly. Yeah, if he found out the truth that she wasn't his,
01:01:21
Speaker
then he might do her harm, which is why they kept, that's why I said, very calculated and strategic in what information they're giving out. And so it wasn't until police knew that no further harm could come to Sweet Jennifer that they made the announcement public. In addition,
01:01:41
Speaker
Another search of the creek was conducted where her remains were discovered, and that was done in July 2003. They were able to collect more evidence, but we don't know what nor how much. However, in September, Jennifer's body also was exhumed for forensic testing.
01:02:06
Speaker
and then reburied the next day. And law enforcement have given no further details as to the evidence that they found, nor to the purpose of that forensic testing. So I have no idea why they even did that. In terms of who could have committed this crime, Maggie, we do have some theories. Some of them are shorter, some of them are longer. So here we go.
01:02:31
Speaker
Number one, the first person I will bring up is Chris Thompson because that is Michael Schwartz worker. He was the last one that we can verify, saw them alive. And of course he's the one who discovers the crime scene. However, and this is a very short theory, police have indicated that he has fully cooperated in the investigation and he has never been named a suspect or even a person of interest.
01:03:03
Speaker
You know, I never got like a weird feeling about him or a weird vibe. I know he was only mentioned very shortly, but usually you and I are kind of quick to pick up on those kind of feelings.
01:03:16
Speaker
The next one that I'm going to mention is the name most commonly associated with this case when suspects are discussed. Garrison Bowman. He was in his 60s at the time. It was actually Bowman's landlord who put Bowman on the radar for law enforcement.
01:03:36
Speaker
His landlord told police that on August 13th, only two days before the murder, that he had seen Bowman holding a gun, that on the 14th, he didn't see Bowman all day and that Bowman's trailer was gone, as in his mobile home. And he told police that he had additionally witnessed Bowman building a false bottom on his van.
01:04:07
Speaker
The landlord said that on the 13th, so again, two days before the murder, that Bowman had been talking about having paid a Virginia man, I remember the shorts, live in Virginia, to move his mobile home. I remember what his Martin Short, yeah, owns a mobile home moving company, but that he was having some sort of trouble in getting the man to actually do it.
01:04:37
Speaker
and had commented to the landlord that he would, quote, have to kill the man, end quote, if he didn't do the job he was paid to do or if the man didn't give Bowman his money back.
01:04:51
Speaker
You know, that's a little extreme. Anthony and I have been trying to get in touch with the CPA for like two weeks and we're playing phone tag, but never once. I've been really frustrated, but never once have I been like, if he doesn't return my call, that's right. Right. So these, I mean, this is what the landlord is coming to law enforcement and saying, we also know that Bowman had moved to Canada the day after the murders.
01:05:18
Speaker
and that his quote unquote missing mobile home that his landlord brought up where he said well all of a sudden his mobile home disappeared was actually found on a friend's property only about a mile away from where Jennifer's remains were discovered. Okay.
01:05:38
Speaker
Too many things here. Too many things. There are a lot. Yes. When police were given this information from the landlord, the property was searched for evidence and they actually found a map that several sources stated had an X on it marked right on the location of the short family home.
01:06:02
Speaker
There were even men, Timothy Sampson and Jerry Mills, who came forward to say that they had seen Bowman leaving the Short family home carrying a young girl. Wow. For what it's worth though, there are people, even Short family members, who believe that Bowman is innocent.
01:06:29
Speaker
And I'll get into why here in just a second. Michael's sister, Carolyn stated, quote, I just don't see him having anything to do with it. Never have thought that. I always say that if he didn't do it, he's got to forgive everyone that accused him of it. But I never accused him because I didn't think that. End quote. And here are the reasons why many people
01:06:57
Speaker
say that Bowman is innocent. Bowman, as well as his friends, actually had reasons to explain the things that were said of him. Friends told police that Bowman had actually been planning on moving to Canada for years. He'd actually visited there many times because he was just getting ready to retire. He's in his sixties.
01:07:24
Speaker
this is finally that move to Canada for retirement. And that the mobile home had been moved to a friend's property because someone from Michigan had offered to buy it and the friend whose property it was on told Bowman that, hey, you can keep your mobile home on my property until the new owner can come down and get it. So there's an explanation for that.
01:07:50
Speaker
Still others who knew Bowman said that he was too much of an alcoholic to have ever committed such a crime. They said, we've never seen him, first of all, be violent. And because he is such an alcoholic, he definitely wouldn't have been able to commit such a crime without leaving evidence behind. Like it would not have been as clean. We talked about, you know, coincidences before on the show.
01:08:18
Speaker
I mean, all of that could be true and I'm not saying that it isn't, but that's just so many coincidences. I feel like he has to have rotten luck that there's that many coincidences that kind of align with the murder of this entire family. Well, and I'm going to give you a few more details and then we'll see how you feel at the end of it.
01:08:41
Speaker
So Bowman did appear before a grand jury in Roanoke, Virginia on November 12th, 2002 concerning the short family murder, but no indictment followed. There was not enough evidence to charge Bowman with anything related to the crime. Plus, and I just keep going back to if that landlord is right, right? If the landlord's telling the truth about everything,
01:09:08
Speaker
and Bowman felt like he had been swindled out of money by Michael Short, then why would he not have stolen the money that was laying on the counter when he's in the home?
01:09:20
Speaker
And I don't know how expensive it is to move a mobile home. How much money was he out? Was it around the $600 and then therefore it would have just made sense to steal the money? Or is this like thousands of dollars and he feels the only way he can get his justice is by killing this family, which I think just seems like I said, very extreme. I'm not sure in terms of the cost, but I still feel like
01:09:50
Speaker
I don't know if there's really this focus on him being out money, then I feel like he would have also taken the money if it were him. In 2005, attention shifted away from Bowman, finally, when the U.S. Attorney announced that Timothy Sampson, Jerry Mills, and another man, Tony Epperson, had lied to them in implicating Bowman in the case. They had just done it because they wanted to earn the reward money.
01:10:19
Speaker
So they are convicted of perjury. So these men who said, oh yeah, we saw him leaving the Short family home carrying a little girl.
01:10:29
Speaker
They lied. So think of all the time and resources that had been spent on investigating Bowman. Money wasted. Because of what these witnesses told, quote unquote, witnesses. And the emotions of the family. In 2007, law enforcement made the announcement that Bowman was no longer a suspect.
01:10:50
Speaker
So just like Thompson, Michael Schwartz worker, Bowman has also cooperated with law enforcement the whole time. In fact, a friend of his actually mentioned to Bowman, he said, Hey, I'm seeing all these news reports that police are actually looking for you. Right? And of course, we know it's because of those details that were given by the landlord. And they're saying they're looking for you in connection to this murder case. And it was actually Bowman who contacted the police himself.
01:11:18
Speaker
So he's like, oh, they're looking for me. Let me call them. You know? Yeah. I don't think if you were guilty, you would do that. I don't think so either. And he indicated that he didn't even know who Martin Short was and that the only person that he had recently had any beef with was his landlord.
01:11:39
Speaker
So that means it could have been lies as well. Bowman said that none of the conversations that his landlord detailed to police had actually happened. He stated that he had never been seen with a gun because he didn't own a gun. The police were able to confirm that there was no false bottom that was built in his van.
01:12:02
Speaker
And as to why his landlord may have made up these accusations, one reason that Bowman gave was that since he had leased the land that his mobile home had set on and he had leased it for like 20 years, that when he told his landlord that he was moving to Canada and that he wasn't taking the mobile home, that his landlord had assumed that he would just inherit Bowman's mobile home.
01:12:28
Speaker
But Bowman wanted to sell it and sell it to somebody out of state, which leads us back to the detail of storing it on a friend's land until the buyer could come and get it, right? And all of that.
01:12:43
Speaker
And that X that was on the map, it was actually confirmed that the X that was on the map was drawn over a spot that was several miles away from the short home and not directly on it. So there's that theory. Theory number three.
01:13:01
Speaker
is that whoever committed this crime was someone linked to Michael who had a business beef with him. And maybe even someone, one of his connections in South Carolina where they were thinking about moving. And the reason I say this is because FBI must have at least thought that this theory was a remote possibility.
01:13:21
Speaker
Since in May 2010, several agents went to multiple cities along the South Carolina coast. So, Bennetsville, Conway, Florence, and Myrtle Beach to interview several individuals about their interactions with Michael Short, who had just been in all of those cities in the weeks before his murder as, you know, potential cities for his family to plant new roots.
01:13:49
Speaker
In this theory, it's likely that whomever had committed the crime maybe didn't know of Jennifer. And so she was potentially abducted because a perpetrator, you know, as of yet couldn't figure out what to do with her. What to do? But then, I don't know about this one. Because again, as we said in the beginning, why not then just come into the garage
01:14:14
Speaker
You know, where, yeah, Michael's easily accessible. And then, yeah, just leave. I don't know. Theory four, there were thoughts that the killer might have been a random person. So the home had, yeah, which is super scary. The home had been put on the market and there had been at least one open house allowing someone to come into the home
01:14:43
Speaker
to know the layout and maybe even see family photos on display and things like that before making the decision to kill.
01:14:54
Speaker
Okay. So at first was like, Oh no, it's not going to be this one, the random killer, but I had forgotten about the open houses because, you know, in my mind, I was like, it's not going to be somebody random because, you know, they knew where the phone wires, right. And things like that. But if they were there for the open house, potentially a couple of times, cause they, you know, I saw a house a few times. Then they could learn the layout of, Oh yeah. And know where the phones are.
01:15:22
Speaker
and all of that. You know, so that could be it. Or, I mean, it could have, I guess, potentially been someone who saw the opportunity, just with the garage doors open, saw the opportunity to commit a crime. But my pause with this theory is, as I mentioned earlier in the episode, an impulse kill, so an opportunistic crime,
01:15:48
Speaker
like that, like, oh, the garage door is open, you know, this will be the perfect crime. That doesn't jive with the cutting of the phone lines because one is impulsive and the other is very calculated. And so it also doesn't fit with leaving cash on the counter because I feel like it would be an impulsive thing to go ahead and grab the cash. Yeah. Unless, you know, they go to the open house sort of like the case you talked about in the Patreon.
01:16:19
Speaker
episode for December. Like, what if they weren't planning on killing, but they go to an open house and they just kind of have that impulse and then they go back and kind of learn the layout of the house. So then it really is as impulsive, right? More calculated at that. Yeah, it could be theory five, Mary's stalker.
01:16:43
Speaker
Around 1992, so about 10 years before the crime, Mary had worked as a seamstress at the Pluma Inc plant, and while an employee there,
01:16:58
Speaker
There were several times that a man showed up at the plant looking for Mary, and on each of those occasions, he was asked to leave. On one of those attempts, the man had actually managed to enter the plant itself and was escorted out by a plant manager. However, when she was asked if she wanted to press charges against the man, Mary declined.
01:17:24
Speaker
And she had never filed a restraining order against this man. So whoever this man was, her coworkers didn't recognize him and they knew her husband, Michael. And we know that this man desperately wanted to see her. So many people thought that because Jennifer was born in 1993, that that was the reason the rumor began that Michael might not be Jennifer's biological father.
01:17:54
Speaker
But despite searches and even releasing pictures of Mary back in the day to jog people's memories, no one seems to know the name of this man. So that's kind of where this theory ends. Theory number six, a serial killer.
01:18:14
Speaker
In 2005, there was a similar case to the Short family murders. Many people do, I'll go ahead and tell you, discount this theory because it took place in Idaho, which is a far cry from Virginia. But in that case, a man named Joseph Edward Duncan III, dare I say,
01:18:36
Speaker
a three-namer, a three-namer, killed the parents of the Groney family, as well as the older brother, and abducted the two youngest children, a little girl and a little boy. And the little boy was eventually shot in the head.
Exploration of related murder cases
01:18:54
Speaker
And Duncan then took the little girl, Shasta Groney, to a diner where he was actually recognized by the waitress who called the police.
01:19:04
Speaker
and that's how he was arrested. Duncan did also later confess to other murders, and he was a free man at the time of the Short family murders, though he had just actually served time for rape. However, we don't know if he has ties to Virginia. Well, similar, but
01:19:27
Speaker
the distance. Well, I mean, but there are serial killers that travel the whole United States. Oh, yeah. Israel keys doesn't matter. Right. And then the final theory, theory number seven is someone else targeting Jennifer. So after the initial investigation into a connection with the parents, investigators later took a completely different path and began looking into potential connections with Jennifer.
01:19:53
Speaker
And the investigation into the Short Family's case was actually reopened in 2021. And the task force was made up of individuals from the Henry County Sheriff's Office, state police from Virginia, the Rockingham County Sheriff's Office, where Jennifer's body was discovered, the North Carolina State Police, the FBI office out of Lynchburg, Virginia, and someone from the US Attorney's Office. And this new task force, yeah, they picked up
01:20:21
Speaker
where a previous investigation had left off in 2015 with re-interviewing Jennifer's classmates to see if they remembered anything or anyone hanging around them or at the school at the time. But here's the problem. These questions weren't asked at the time of the crime. They're being asked years later after memories have faded. Yeah, I guess how old are these kids by that point? Oh yeah. She was in fourth grade when?
01:20:51
Speaker
in 2002, and now we're in 2015 when these people are being questioned. Now, most who do believe this theory that it did have something to do with Jennifer, they say, just like you did Maggie earlier, that it only makes sense that Jennifer was the motivation behind the crime. And the proof of that is the fact that she was the only one who was abducted. But like I said, with so much time having passed,
01:21:22
Speaker
It's hard to know. And this wasn't the first time that police had held back information from the public or waited to release key details. For example, it was seven years after the murder in 2009 that the FBI released sketches
01:21:43
Speaker
of a white 1998 to 2002 single cab flatbed truck that had been sighted in the area at the time and a sketch of the man seen in that truck. A man who looked to be in his 40s with a quote unquote weathered look. So they don't release it right after the murders to say, have you seen the truck or have you seen this man? Seven years after the murder.
01:22:13
Speaker
I wonder why. Well, here's what they said was they were asked what their reason was for waiting so long. And an FBI special agent who actually asked for his identity to be confidential said, quote, I'll say that there was a specific reason why that we released it at that point in time. And I can't go into detail.
01:22:42
Speaker
why those sketches were released at that point in time," end quote. So he's saying, there's a reason. I just can't tell you what it is. I can't tell you why. But Maggie, either the man in the sketch was the perpetrator or was a potential key witness. So important to the investigation no matter how you look at it.
01:23:06
Speaker
Right. Now Maggie, I've attached the sketch so you can look at it and let me know what you think. If you want to scroll down and look in Sleuth Hounds, I will post it for you on the Monday following this episode. What do you think about this sketch? I think this would be a person that most people could say they've seen in their lifetime. It's not
01:23:32
Speaker
you know, anything super distinguishing about him. He does have kind of a wide nose and very, I don't know, just very average looking. Yeah, there's nothing looks like someone who maybe does more blue collar work than white collar work. And I'm just getting that based off this hat, the hat that he's wearing. So that could be totally wrong. But yeah, nothing distinguishing about this dude. No, extremely, extremely vague look.
01:24:02
Speaker
Also vague, even now, when asked about what evidence was collected from the Short family home and the motive for the crime,
01:24:11
Speaker
that same special agent told Fox 8 News this, quote, divulging certain things at certain times, that's part of the investigation. And we just can't comment on what we've done in the investigation because it could affect it, end quote. I know there's not a lot to support the random person theory or the stalker theory, but at least those theories to me would explain
01:24:39
Speaker
someone who locals wouldn't recognize and would need then to provide a sketch to police about. Because remember, this is a small community. So if the perpetrator were a local person, then there wouldn't be a need for a sketch. Instead, they would be like, oh, I saw Tim there. You know what I mean? Exactly. So that tells me that it's not someone who locals have seen before because of the need to create a sketch. Yeah.
01:25:10
Speaker
So it could potentially be someone that Michael ran into on that route along the coast.
01:25:16
Speaker
Or someone staying in that creepy motel. Exactly. While so much is still up in the air, at least everyone is hopeful that all the additional precautions that were originally taken to collect as much potential DNA as possible will finally pay off. Henry County Sheriff's Office was the recipient of a recent grant awarded by the US Department of Justice Sexual Assault Kit Initiative.
01:25:42
Speaker
that allows them the financial ability to conduct advanced genetic testing in the short family case. Current Henry County Sheriff Lane Perry told Jackie Pascal of WXII12.com, quote, that day at the crime scene, if it was even thought that it had evidentiary value, it was collected. With that grant, if there is a piece of evidence that wasn't tested, it will have testing.
01:26:12
Speaker
And if it doesn't have the most current methods, it'll be tested again. Any advancement that could possibly break something will be done." End quote. Now, I'm going to point out to you something that you probably already heard me say, that the funding was from the Sexual Assault Kit initiative. Yeah. That makes me question some things. While there have been no established reports of sexual assault on Jennifer,
01:26:41
Speaker
Henry County Sheriff's Office Captain Wayne Davis told Justin Melrose of WFXR TV that any time a child's abduction occurs, it's a conclusion that must be ruled out. So with the potential evidence of the new DNA testing, Sheriff Perry told a reporter, quote, there's a part where we want to say that we feel we're close, but there's being close to actually getting a warrant, but we know the warrant.
01:27:09
Speaker
is not the end of it." So taking everything we know, I want to also provide this insight. Perry, the sheriff, additionally told WGHP, quote, we do have people that this is focused around. We are not at liberty to say who, but yes, we do have things that point us in the directions with people and we are working those leads and have worked them in the past.
01:27:39
Speaker
end quote. Similarly, but with a couple of minute added details, Perry told W F M Y News to quote, when we went back, it probably opened the case up a little bit. And there was probably a name or two that was put back in a really tight pool of people as a suspect that may not have had that true light on them before end quote.
01:28:07
Speaker
Interesting. Yeah, those are super interesting statements to me because it it almost seems to preclude any new or as yet unidentified suspects. Right. It seems to indicate that one of the previous theories actually put them on the right track. Right. He said things like, you know, we're working those leads and we have worked them in the past.
01:28:36
Speaker
So then I'm thinking, okay, well, it's going to be one of those that they've already looked at. But then he says, we actually put some names back in and maybe some people who we didn't fully investigate before.
01:28:52
Speaker
could potentially be someone we need to investigate. Right. So before I ask your thoughts, I wanted to share one final detail because we still do not know if this detail I'm going to tell you is related to the murder investigation or not. But on February 20th, 2019, firefighters were called to the scene at a property that had been abandoned for almost two decades.
01:29:18
Speaker
It didn't have electricity nor any utilities turned on, which reminded me of the Brooklyn Farthing case, but it was a blaze. The home, which had been purchased for renovation about 10 years earlier, but had never been fixed up, was for all intents and purposes destroyed by the fire. That property had been the short family home.
01:29:42
Speaker
and fire marshals were not able to figure out what caused the fire and whether the fire was truly an accident or whether it was intentionally set to destroy even more evidence. Michael's sister Carolyn told WDBJ7, quote, how does a house catch on fire? We didn't have a storm. There was no electricity in the house for months.
01:30:10
Speaker
They've cleaned it up quickly. So it seems to me that something is trying to be hid." End quote. But hidden by whom? So Maggie, what are your thoughts?
01:30:27
Speaker
Initially, I was kind of leaning toward the maybe random person who had been in their house enough that it wasn't completely random. I do think that Jennifer is at the center of this whole thing. Because I think if it was something against the parents, then they would have just killed all three of them in the house. I don't know why Jennifer was taken. So I feel like she
01:30:56
Speaker
has to be at the center of this whole thing. Now though, I'm wondering if maybe it was one of those other theories that we just kind of dismissed and was like, no, maybe that's not it. You know, because those final quotes got me thinking that maybe it was someone that we blew off and that investigators kind of blew off.
01:31:18
Speaker
Well, I think you could be right because they've been so tight lipped about things. They could have evidence that actually implicates one of those people who, like you said, we just kind of brushed off, but now maybe deserves a closer look.
01:31:34
Speaker
The dedication from law enforcement in the case is clear. There's even a framed photo of Jennifer Short that sits on Sheriff Lane Perry's desk, just as it had set on the previous sheriff's desk. A daily reminder that this case still needs resolution. Perry told WFNY News 2, quote, every day that picture is looked at multiple times a day so that we don't forget that case, end quote.
01:32:01
Speaker
Unfortunately, according to Sheriff Perry, there are certain individuals who he knows have more information than they are currently providing. Citing the age old, I don't want to get involved, as the excuse, as cited in Kim Lee Martin's article for crime online. While those individuals don't want to get involved, at least one other very special person did just that. The Shorts old neighbor, Ray Reynolds,
01:32:31
Speaker
After the case, Reynolds arranged a motorcycle rally to raise money for a reward and to maintain interest and a focus on the case. It's a rally he has organized for the past couple of decades. Now, due to declining health, Reynolds is afraid that this year's rally was his last and that someone else will need to step up to organize the rally. He told Jackie Pascal of WXII 12, quote,
01:33:00
Speaker
I made a promise I'd continue to do this until someone was brought to justice, and it just breaks my heart that this has not been solved. If any of you have kids, love your kids all you can. Just think about what the Short family's been through and what happened to that little girl."
01:33:19
Speaker
Specifically, police are still looking for someone who might be able to provide more information concerning the places in the community that the Shorts frequented and detailed information about their planned move to South Carolina.
Appeal for information and community support
01:33:33
Speaker
They're looking for contractors as well as those in the mobile home industry who had business dealings with Michael Short or with his business, MS Mobile Home Movers, from January 1st, 2001 until August 15th.
01:33:48
Speaker
They are also interested in speaking with anyone who saw or worked with Michael or Mary in August of 2002.
01:33:59
Speaker
The Martinsville-Henry County Crime Stoppers are offering a reward of $62,500 for information in this case that leads to an arrest and conviction. Anyone with information regarding the short family murders is asked to call the Henry County Sheriff's Office at 276-638-8751 or to call Crime Stoppers at 276-632-74.
01:34:29
Speaker
6-3.
01:34:31
Speaker
Again, please like and join our Facebook page, Coffee and Cases podcast to continue the conversation and see images related to this episode. As always, follow us on Twitter, at casescoffee, on Instagram, at coffee cases podcast, or you can always email us suggestions to coffeeandcasespodcastatgmail.com. Please tell your friends about our podcast so more people can be reached to possibly help bring some closure to these families. Don't forget to rate our show and leave us a comment as well. We hope to hear from you soon.
01:35:01
Speaker
Stay together. Stay safe. We'll see you next week.
01:35:23
Speaker
It's Love Nodes with Maggie and Allison. And to kick this off, Love Nodes are going out to Jodie, Vera, Tegan, Larissa, and Shelly for reaching out to us or recommending us on social media this past week. We love hearing from you and
01:35:41
Speaker
can't wait to see pictures of our sleuth hounds and our merch for those of you who have already purchased it. So purchased it. So love is going out to all of you as well. And I don't want to say those names on here because I don't want it to ruin any potential surprise Christmas gifts.
01:35:59
Speaker
The deadline has already passed if you wanted merch in time for Christmas, but the merch shop is still staying open. So when you feel the need to show our podcast some love, you know, give it right back to us. You can just head on over to the Etsy shop, which is Etsy.com slash shop.
01:36:17
Speaker
slash coffee and cases pod, make sure you capitalize the CNCP part so that it takes you to the right place. That's right. We have extra love going out to JPSP underscore GA who gave us a five star written review saying, quote, these ladies are so real. It seems like a conversation with friends. Even more, their intros are quite thoughtful and captivating.
01:36:45
Speaker
and the icing on the cake. It's not the same old cases done by every other podcast. I've been an avid true crime podcast fan for a while and many of their cases are new to me. My new favorite." End quote.
01:36:59
Speaker
That was so sweet and a review that I definitely needed to read. So thank you so much for posting that one. Plus some love, love, and extra love to the three new patrons that joined Patreon in the last week. We love that. We have Leslie and Meredith.
01:37:18
Speaker
We're thankful that you took our advice to head on over and join Praetrion before the year ends to lock in that cheap price of just $5 a month. And if you join at the $12, $15, or $20 level this month and you stay there through February, then you will get in on the next round of swag boxes that are going out around Valentine's Day.
01:37:42
Speaker
And if you have been considering giving Patreon a try, check us out before the month is over. If you like what you hear, then you can stay on that $5 a month plan. You have locked that in. If you don't, you can take advantage of the access until January and then just cancel it. But we know you'll love listening to it as much as we love making all those for you guys because we do have a really good time doing that. Lots of laughs over there.
01:38:10
Speaker
And with that, all of our love is going out to each and every one of you. Until next week, Sleuth Hounds. Looking for a new podcast to keep you entertained because you are all caught up on Coffee and Cases? Check out TZ Borden and his podcast, Tapes from the Dark Side.
Podcast structure and listener engagement
01:38:31
Speaker
The podcast is organized into seasons with one case per season.
01:38:35
Speaker
and four seasons already there for you to binge. Now is the perfect time to check out the pod. You will not regret it. Check it out. And if you like what you hear, which we obviously know you will, leave a five-star review and let TZ know that Allison and I sent you. Here's a little bit about the show from the host himself.
Exploration of Daniel Shaver's case
01:38:59
Speaker
You know those dads who literally never sit down? That was Danny. He constantly was doing something either for them or with them. Hashtag girl dad, totally. We hope to one day have a son, which was taken from us. If you make a mistake, there's a very severe possibility your go-book is gonna get shot. Do you understand that? Yes. Wanting to do our best to secure and make sure everybody was safe, so we started making verbal commands. Shut up. You've listened, you obey.
01:39:28
Speaker
You started screaming. I would describe his yelling very loudly. Please do not shoot me. Listen to my instructions. I'm trying to do it. Don't talk. Listen. He's crawling towards the police, crying, please, please don't shoot me. The officer shot him five times. Hands straight up in the air. Do not put your hands down for any reason. You think you're going to fall, you better fall on your face. Go towards me.
01:40:00
Speaker
Jesus Christ, they murdered that guy! And he got off! He got off! They killed this guy. I mean, it looks a lot like murder. A cop who killed fired from the force is now getting paid collecting a taxpayer-funded check every month for the rest of his life. She received a phone call from her eight-year-old school. She tried choking herself while she was at school.
01:40:22
Speaker
and told her friend that she wanted to die. I lost everything in my life. Mesa's watching every single video on here, so I want to make this message very clear to them. I am not going to stop fighting until my husband gets justice. You didn't realize who you were messing with when you killed Daniel Shaver. I am Laney Sweet, I'm his wife, and I will not stop fighting.
01:40:48
Speaker
You just listened to the trailer for the new season of my podcast, Tapes from the Dark Side. The execution of Daniel Shaver is the investigation into the 2016 police shooting of an unarmed man. It's often described as the most disturbing police shooting ever caught on tape.
01:41:05
Speaker
This multi-part series will examine the depravity of the Mesa Police Department's actions that night and the ensuing corruption that is still ongoing to this day. This is Tapes from the Dark Side, the execution of Daniel Shaver. Available now on Apple, Spotify, and all podcast apps. Subscribe today. Just search Tapes from the Dark Side.