The Short Family Murders /// Part 3 /// 604 | Forensic Files

thank you [Music] [Music] thank you foreign [Music] on September 30th 2003 Jennifer short was exhumed for
forensic purposes no one addressed why this was done or what tests were conducted or what the results of those
tests were this is very interesting here Captain because we're sitting here in our timeline and we had to go back in
time a little bit because we we left off with the 2005 charging of the three-man
lying to police lying to law enforcement getting indictments getting convictions
in all of those cases but now here we are back in 2003 we were about 13 months after the homicides took place and now
we're sitting here with the situation where they're exhuming the remains of Jennifer short we know
that at one time they exhumed the remains of Michael short and we get a little bit of clarity and a little bit
of reasons why they exhumed Michael's body but in 2003 we don't get any explanation for why they are exhuming
Jennifer Short's body or what tests were conducted or what the results of those tests were well that's been the the way
that law enforcement has handled this case from the beginning is very tight-lipped and they're not going to
give too much away but very weird right we've not seen I don't believe that we've seen a case where they've exhumed
more than one victim right and in such a short period of time they've exhumed two
of the three victims within 13 months of the actual crime itself now let's skip ahead a bit right this will lead us to
Spring of 2005. the Jennifer Renee short homicide abduction task force was assembled in 2005. with the purpose of
reviewing more than 3 000 leads compiled in the case 3 000 tips that is according
to the news and record the task force consists of two FBI agents two Virginia State Police investigators two
detectives from the Henry County Sheriff's Office and one from the Rockingham County sheriff's office in
North Carolina and an agent with the U.S Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco firearms and explosives the task force met once a
month and initiated a complete review of the case including re-interviewing some
of the people involved in August of 2007 it was reported in the Martinsville Bulletin that the task force had
developed people of Interest according to Henry County Sheriff Lane Perry he would not elaborate but did state that
Garrison Bowman was not a suspect the FBI would not go quite that far this per a statement to a local online news
states that investigators aren't going as far as saying he's innocent but they admit it's time to turn their attention
elsewhere and Mr Bowman's particular case he was someone looked at early on in the
investigation the evidence has not panned out to this point that any indictments or arrest are imminent or
pending in the foreseeable future so that's really interesting where you have this guy that there's a lot of people
pointing their finger to him we know that three of them get convicted of lying to police and it seems like within
the task force itself there's a little bit of a discrepancy as to whether he should still be considered a suspect or
not where we have some people going on record stating he is not a suspect as of 2007 and then others saying well we're
not willing to say publicly that he is not a suspect at this time yeah there was a major hiccup worth mentioning
though in the course of this investigation and although the impact if truly any at at all on the short case is
absolutely unclear but we should bring this up and this took place in November of 2006 when Federal investigators
charged 13 current and former members of the Henry County Sheriff's Office and a
racketeering case including the sheriff at the time who we quoted several times Frank Cassell
there was a 48 count indictment alleging theft of impounded property using selling and distributing ketamine crack
and marijuana trafficking and guns money laundering and obstruction of justice this was a huge deal and received
National media attention The Washington Post described the whole mess as the Appalachian version of an HBO drama
series sounds like a Tuesday to me let's hope not let's hope Tuesdays get better right Captain Sheriff Cassell
disgraced got eight months in prison for lying to investigators Cassell's successor Sheriff Lane Perry he did not
think this endemic corruption in the Henry County Sheriff's Office impacted the short investigation of course it did
it the FBI no effect on it yeah you know you sit there and say that Mr Perry and
you could be correct but the problem becomes for us on the outside looking in is twofold you've not solved the short
family murders yet and you've been very tight-lipped on it and you're going to tell me that these extracurricular
activities that you're doing have no effect on your actual performance of your real job and there's a huge black
guy on the sheriff's office because of this these crimes basically that some of their members were committing the FBI's
Roanoke resident agent in charge Kevin Faust agreed though you know this is a separate agency agreeing saying that we
don't think that all of this activity of course had impacted the short investigation but what was their
alternative right admit that the embarrassing corruption had blown the investigation
yeah or tainted it right you so you're obviously going to say no the the most the most infamous murder investigation
that we have in our area was not impacted by these wrongdoings of some of the members of our Sheriff's Office
what's so wrong with telling the truth hey this probably impacted it on some level we don't know what level
do we think that now look I would I'd have so much more respect to people just tell the freaking truth did this have
some effect or some impact probably do we think that the case would be solved if this stuff didn't happen no see if
they came out and said that I'd buy what they're selling a little bit more well of course this made some people
wonder could there be some kind of scenario where Michael short or his wife found out that the cops were crooked and
then the cops came in and shut them up for good we need to point out 100 percent and be it crystal
clear here that there is absolutely zero evidence of this but of course this kind
of malfeasance among law enforcement is always going to stir up these kinds of conspiracy theories
let's go on to some more positive information in this investigation and this comes by way of the FBI themselves
and this is the course of three years 2008 2009 and 2010 when the FBI is releasing information about the short
family murders so in 2008 the FBI's website on the short family murders was updated with new information authorities
had identified a possible vehicle associated with the crime the FBI was looking for information from
the public about an unidentified man seen sitting in a vehicle near the short home along U.S 220 and Oak level on the
morning of the murders also the website indicated that the investigation had uncovered that Michael
Short was trying to get a job as a mobile home mover in South Carolina at the time of the murders
they were looking to make contact with any people who had contact with Michael Short regarding this relocation right
apparently these Revelations did not yield sufficient information because in February of 2009 the FBI updated the
website to release a sketch of a flatbed truck that was seen parked near the short home in the early hours
the day of the murder the vehicle was described as a 1998 to 2002 white single cab two-ton flatbed stake body truck
with wooden rails the cab of the unknown vehicle was believed to be similar in appearance to a 4 500 series
International Truck the next month in March of 2009 the FBI took the additional step of releasing a sketch of
the man seen in the flatbed truck near the short house he was described as a man in his 40s with a weathered
complexion so just to make sure I'm picking up what you're putting down it seems like law enforcement is saying hey
maybe him trying to move and making transition in his life he maybe came across somebody
that would want to do him harm possibly I think they're trying to cast a wider net here but obviously you look at this
situation and you see information trickling out from the FBI and the first thing you wonder is
2008 is when we get some newly updated information on the FBI's website and we go okay well what took you know what on
Earth took so long information in the sketches there's some illegal firearms and and drugs well not
the FBI this is information from the Federal Bureau of Investigation I'm sure they're doing it too it's not very
encouraging nope to the investigation right and again this is what I just don't understand and I will never I I
don't know that I'm ever going to understand this math 2008 is when they say hey we're updating
this and we we're looking for information from the public about an unidentified man and a unidentified
vehicle seen near the short home on the morning of the murders yeah why why didn't this come out five years
prior not only that why didn't that come out five years prior why did then they wait till February of 2009 to go okay
well here's a sketch to go along with that information that we released last year wow right and then oh
nothing comes of that so in in March let's release a sketch of the man now we released a sketch of the vehicle now
we're going to release a sketch of the man it just seems like seems like their heads are
shoved up their own asses look I can get it I get it from a uh what had corruption you know we have a sheriff's
office that has corruption in their office at the time we know this based off of the arrest and the charges that
stemmed from that investigation of corruption within the Sheriff's Office it almost appears too that the FBI in
this situation it's kind of like figuring things out as they go and I know that that's how an
investigation works you figure things out as the evidence as you uncover evidence however
they're making statements to the public asking for help and not really releasing
all of the information that they believe that they have at the time because they're jackasses it seems very odd it
just it seems like they don't really have a leader or a direction for this investigation and again that's not very
encouraging seeing that we're looking at this thing at our timeline we are now seven eight nine years
into this timeline and it seems or would appear as though that the investigation
has no real Direction well again maybe because of the corruption maybe the FBI at this point said hey look there was
some stuff that we wanted law enforcement to put out and they didn't want to and and they were the
lead so we let that not happen we let them stay tight-lipped but once this corruption came out we felt it it was
our duty to put this information out and that would at least explain the lazy timeline one good thing for the
case is we know that it was featured on America's Most Wanted twice so that's always a good thing for a case usually
when you have a case that needs to drum up possible tips and information now one
thing that was revealed during the course of one of the America's Most Wanted episodes one of the episodes was
the source of the information that authorities had fingerprints and hair that they recovered from the murder
scene that's kind of the Genesis of that information which is good information in
this case positive information for the investigation now back to the FBI's website updates investigators of the
Jennifer Renee short homicide abduction task force this is a statement that they
released to the public are seeking information from General Contractors independent contractors construction
companies mobile home dealers mobile home parts suppliers mobile home Transporters or mobile home salvage yard
owners who conducted business with Michael W short or Ms mobile home movers between January 1 2001 and August 15
2002 investigators are seeking information regarding the identities and locations of individuals who worked with
Michael W short or his company Ms mobile home movers on a weekly or day-to-day basis to include
migrant workers some of these individuals may have worked solely on a cash basis they are
also interviewing anyone who utilized Michael Short's mobile home moving business and they are attempting to
identify any person or persons who saw or was in contact with Mary or Michael Short between August 1st 2002 and August
14 2002. this all seems and sounds very Broad and shows that even years after the
crime they are pretty much clueless about where to start in their investigation even so now
looking at it through new eyes through this new task force but the scope of the investigation was
even broader per the FBI's website several years prior to their deaths Michael and Mary operated a business
moving Mobile Homes at the time of their deaths the shorts were considering moving to South Carolina as a result
during the Spring and Summer of 2002 Michael Short made several trips to areas in South Carolina surrounding the
following cities Bennettsville Florence Conway and Myrtle Beach to seek employment investigators from the
Jennifer Renee short homicide abduction task force will be conducting interviews
from May 17th to May 20th 2010 in the following South Carolina cities and at least the same cities that they list
earlier so the investigators traveled to all of these areas and they put it out there in advance before going there hey
if you spoke to Michael short or you have anything to do with this investigation or his business or the
family relocating if you might have any information at all you can meet us in one of these cities on those dates and
speak with us which seems like a desperate move it also seems like a reasonably smart move to me though too
but again you know I don't know it really feels like they're kind of fishing for something anything at this
point in their investigation but you got to give them kudos for covering all bases and not giving up on this
investigation and then in a very strange turn of events here Captain this brings
us to February 20th of 2019 when the home that the shorts were killed in burned down even though it was vacant at the
time investigators say that they do not believe that there is a connection between the fire and the murders keep in
mind it's 17 years after the fact but note that years earlier the home owned by Gary lemons remember he's the man
that rented to Garrison Bowman and accused Garrison Bowman in the murders Gary lemons Rockingham County home also
burned down there are those out there who believe that arsonists may have had some kind of motivation to try to hide
evidence in the short family murders case now I'm going to be frank it seems like quite a stretch a very big stretch
at that since it was so long after the murders but that theory is out there [Music]
[Music] foreign we are back cheers mates to the windows to the walls crispy Frank just doesn't sound as good
cheers Captain all right we talked about a theory being out there that leads us to the theories section of this week's
show so let's talk about some of the theories all sources and investigators seem to agree that the short family was
completely normal no drama no issues no secrets they almost certainly would have
been uncovered you would hope in the two decades since they were killed if they had any issues drama or Secrets it it
sounds like they minded their own business that they kept to themselves and had no known enemies there is simply
no apparent motivation for the murders so who killed them and why the first Theory would be that Jennifer who was
abducted that she was actually the target all along this is really interesting and it's an interesting bit from the
FBI's website showing that one angle of the investigation that was still being pursued even to this day is that
Jennifer was the target and it states investigators are attempting to identify any person or
persons who had contact or was in contact with Jennifer Renee short between June 1
2002 and August 14 2002. for instance there may be a coach teacher friend parent or neighbor who
was in contact with Jennifer through such events and or activities as softball dance Church birthday parties
Etc anyone who had such contact with Jennifer short during this time period is requested to notify or re-notify
investigators on the FBI tip line at 1-800-225-5324 doesn't this seem like a completely different angle they're going
in as far as the investigation is concerned it seems like a different angle yes I
don't know about completely different and I don't think that they had ruled out the possibility of it being
related to Michael Mary or Jennifer at any point and you're right though at different times of this investigation
over the course of the last 20 years it appears like it was going in different directions right they honed in on Mary
for a little bit they honed in on victim Michael for a little bit and then victim
Jennifer is the one that seems to be sticking well in in regard to this Theory it would have to stick because
that's what this whole theory is based around now expanding on this Theory a little bit you can go back to August of
2015 when Henry County Sheriff Lane Perry announced that the motive and his opinion for the short parent murder may
have been the Abduction of nine-year-old Jennifer he says as we saw he called on her
friends from school and her softball team to see if they remembered anyone Jennifer might have mentioned he was
quoted on Fox 8 news saying was it a sexual predator that Jennifer was the target of the crime and we do believe
the house the way what did happen around the home and The Cutting of the phone lines and the
things I do think this is a person that could have been watching for some time and it is possible they were watching
for patterns and behavior some online sleuths posit that someone could have seen Jennifer at the Circle convenience
store and watched her walk to her home a couple of hundreds hundred of yards away
the planning the the very quick style of the attack the not taking of the bag of cash the
check credit cards purse any of those things that we know were left behind so that points away from robbery
and points toward a targeted goal so perhaps Jennifer was the target all along shooting her parents was just a
quick way to eliminate the obstacle they presented and this does remind you this should remind our listeners of the
Jamie Kloss case right in which the perpetrator shot down the front door in the middle
of the night blasted Jaime's parents before abducting her right and we know that Jamie kloss's abductor
simply saw her getting off of a school bus so is there a chance that maybe somebody saw Jennifer at that
convenience store or saw her walking up to her home one day and that this abduction
and these two murders that went along with the abduction were just that random so Theory number two is that somebody
had a score to settle with Michael Short the father had revenge against the father and again until this case is
solved and until we understand what motivated these murders in the abduction all of these theories do seem plausible
and we this is all something you know when you look at this investigation you kind of see the dog chasing its tail
right where you where one Theory seems to be something that they're honing in on and focusing in on for a period of
time and when that doesn't pan out then they Circle back to a previous Theory and and
so this is one of those theories that has kind of come in and out of the Limelight the whole time of this
investigation So based on all of the information requested by the FBI's website the agency seems to have not
ruled out the possibility that Michael's business contacts are somehow connected
to the murders now some people have pointed out that the mobile home moving business is tough and attracts unsavory
Shady transient types who could have nefarious motives maybe someone had an issue with Michael
but then of course you wonder well why take the kid why kill Jennifer why kill Mary
it's believed that the parents were killed in their sleep so Jennifer wasn't taken as some kind of
message to the shorts we know that they were killed before she was taken so I don't know it's it's certainly a
possibility and I think that it's obvious that the FBI has not ruled that out and so we should keep it as a
consideration when when looking at this case here's a weird one yeah a weird one
a theory that's certainly out there and should be out there okay so the way that theory number three
goes we'll just call this Theory Joseph Duncan oh Joseph Duncan that piece of [ __ ] Joseph Duncan who long time
listeners of this show will know that I've said repeatedly is one of the most evil persons we've ever discussed he
likes to come up often on True Crime garage and so he's he's so evil that in fact the captain and I threw a little
party on off the Record when he died in prison that's to show you how evil we are we don't throw parties very often
for any reason at all now Joseph Duncan unfortunately is a favorite suspect for the short family murders on several
websites this is primarily because of the modus operandi that he used that is so similar to what may have happened
here in the short family case right right so Joseph Duncan what we know that he did we absolutely he was convicted in
a federal court of law of this okay he we know that he broke into a home the home of the groanies he broke into the
grony home jabroni murdered what he would have perceived to have been obstacles that would be the parents
Brenda groney and Mark McKenzie and 13 year old Slade who was one of the kids and then kidnapped the two younger
kids Shasta and Dylan he later murdered Dylan by shooting him in the head just like one of our Vic all three of our
victims here right just like Jennifer died by being shot in the head so the question is where was Joseph
Duncan in the summer of 2002 well there were portions of that year that we believe he was roaming the country
according to darkideas.net he used Minnesota in North Dakota as home bases and had no known ties to Virginia
where our crime took place but he turned up in Idaho when he carried out the grony abduction even though he had no
connections known to there either so it's not out of the realm of possibility it seems like a stretch seems unlikely
but according to several online sources Duncan had a good friend that he visited
in Florida and he was known to roam far distances in search of prey we know that
based off of his other crimes his other murders so Duncan would seem like a good
suspect given his known modus operandi and targeting of children but if it's true that authorities have DNA hair and
prints and evidence that would seem to rule him out right we know that he was in their custody up until the time of
his death and so while we cannot say for certain that Joseph Duncan was either in or not
in Virginia in 2002 it seems like if he would have left any physical evidence at the crime scene that they
would have by now linked him to this triple homicide yeah which makes let's just stay on that point for one second
if they have DNA at this point it has not been matched with anybody because we would have an
arrest yeah so it almost seems like the person that committed these crimes has just never committed another crime or
never been caught for another crime or remains unidentified in those crimes that they committed Right theory number
four well that it could have been Garrison Bowman all along he was the suspect that we discussed the
most he was the one that was pointed out by his landlord to law enforcement now we know that three men came forward and
said we think we saw him fleeing the crime scene oh boom they're convicted of lying to the police
so we've discussed this at length and what evidence pointed to him being the Killer
and the problem though is that a grand jury decided that there really wasn't a whole
lot of evidence to pointing to him being the killer at the end of the day because
they decided not to charge him in the case now by all reports Bowman was a drunk who would not have been this is
kind of the general perception would not have been Savvy enough to eliminate all
evidence that he would have left clear-cut signs of himself at the murder scene or on the victims there is zero
indication from people who knew him that he was interested in children at all or
that he was violent at all the only evidence is the odd timing of his departure for Canada and the Unexplained
map that we had mentioned and it seems like that's kind of it I don't really think that he is
the guy and I I do want to make sure that I point out some of this other information
here before we move off of Garrison Bowman the way that I look at this and the way that I see things here Captain
it looks to me the evidence against Bowman just wasn't there now per the news and record this is from an old
newspaper article and it states quote detectives say they have not linked Bowman with the shorts neither through
business or personal contacts nor through forensics test Bowman told that media Outlet in 2004 this will hang over
me for the rest of my life unless they find the person who did it unfortunately Garrison Bowman was right
he died in 2014 with his name forever linked to the short family murders to this very day 20
years after the short family was killed many in the area still believe that he may be responsible and this is my
problem with law enforcement sometimes in these cases is when it's too tight-lipped right
they might have information like let's say they have Michael's phone records for his business
and there is no contact between him and this individual there's there's no there is no known record of having any
contact with his business and this individual if if that's true and law enforcement
can tell you that or they can go look we looked into this guy over and over and what what we come to find over and over
is that we don't believe this guy is connected then people could could move on to other
theories and spend time on other theories there are a couple of theories that are not so out there like the four
that we just went through those four are by far the most popular theories but a couple of thoughts that I have before we
move on to some more recent movement in this case if you want to call it that would be a couple of ideas
of people that we do know that are either close to the case or somehow injected themselves into the
investigation itself so one this Timothy Sampson remember he's one of the three that was charged with lying
to police he is one that was charged with threatening the lives of two of the investigators that worked this triple
homicide the thought is that he wanted to claim he and his friend wanted to claim
the reward money that was out there now look this guy this guy this guy sharpest tool in the
shed no no not this guy no playing with the full deck no not this guy does that elevator
go all the way up Captain no not this guy elevator's broken out of order my friends this guy smells like turds think
about his scenario he and his Idiot Friends devise this plan of well we were going to burglarize some places out in
the that area that night we just so happen to hear two gunshots come from the crime scene and we saw a man who
looked like Honest Abe Lincoln fleeing the scene child and gun in hand oh now I see a picture of Garrison
Bowman that's the honest Abe that I was talking about now give me that reward money but wait a second here Timothy
Sampson cha-ching I'd I'd say dumbass but Dumas as the commercial says It's Dumas that's Dumas
this guy how does he think he's going to get any of this reward money Gary lemons
is the one that told police about Garrison Bowman to begin with and then you have to wonder when they're cooling
on Gary lemmon's accusations against Garrison Bowman did he somehow get in cahoots with these
other three guys to come up with well now we need a witness to kind of seal the deal here maybe we can split up some
of this money I don't know I look at it and I see I don't know how he thought he was going
to be getting the money uh you want to say like you said earlier that you would hope that good people good honest people
are coming forward because you want to believe eyewitnesses especially when we're talking about homicide
but then we learned that these guys lied to police so much so that they were convicted of doing so
the other thing too with this Timothy Sampson is and I I can't figure out how this thing
ended up shaking out but at one point he was charged with being involved in The Disappearance of a
dawn Inez Phillips age 28 so she disappears she lives with Timothy Sampson and disappears the day after Christmas
in the year 2000. in the year 2000. he tells police she went out to buy drugs never came back they eventually charge
him with being involved with her Disappearance in some form or fashion but he's not charged with this until
2004. this is after he's all wrapped up in this lying to police about the short family murders case so this dude is not
a good dude he doesn't make good decisions is he responsible for this Don Phillips and what happened whatever
happened to her we don't know because there's no conviction for that but we do know that several newspapers reported
him being arrested and charged with some kind of involvement in her disappearance
then that leads us back to Chris Thompson the man who found his employer Michael Short dead on the
couch in the garage I remember he was there the night before he was there the night before this is look this guy could
be a saint for all we know we do know in Chris Thompson's defense police have been vocal they've not been vocal about
a whole lot of things in this case but one thing that they've been clear about to the media is Chris Thompson's been
very Cooperative we've spoke with him on many occasions about the case and he is a witness he's a person that can
provide information to the police and to their investigation they've never considered him to be or publicly stated
for him to be a suspect or even a person of interest again another again I think sometimes law enforcement needs
to go if we have all these suspects coming up in the Public's eyes that maybe we need to clear some of them
or or at least to say this person is uh not a person of interest so I've read two different accounts of the night
before now I cannot say I want to be clear here I cannot say that Chris Thompson's story
doesn't match up that he has a different version of what went down all I can say
is that there were two versions reported and they're very short and and I'm a little ticked off that they are so short
because captains pointed this out everybody knows out there that the devil is in the details what we need here in
Chris Thompson's story is the details because one report that I read was that he state that he worked with Michael
Short until late and that when he left he presumed that they would be going to bed shortly afterwards and that Jennifer
short was already in bed when he left the other version of that story is that the family went to Burger King came
home and then after they got back it's thought that they went to bed right what we need to know those two those two
stories sound very different both of them could be absolutely true if we had all of the details right is there a
version where Chris Thompson says I went with the family to Burger King or only a
portion of the family went to Burger King to pick up food for the rest of us and when they got back I left
after they had returned you know there's any number of ways that both of those stories could be true the problem though
is what are the details fill in the blanks of that story because if he says that he left the house and
Jennifer short is already in bed yeah she could have got up yeah they could have woke her up and taken her to Burger
King it doesn't seem very likely with right with her being nine years old yeah it doesn't doesn't seem likely
but but also there but at nine there's um she's out of school for the summer time see I could see somebody going hey
I'm going to run to Burger King really quick you guys stay here but I don't see both of the parents
jumping in the car and leaving her in her bed so now make a lot of sense and again we
need more details of that Burger King version of the story right does somebody see all three family members does
somebody see all three family members plus an extra person with them which could be Chris Thompson riding along
do they only see two of the family members you see what I'm getting at the right we need more details of that night
I think that that there in lies a big problem with the this case as far as the public anyway looking at it and
questioning and rightfully so questioning law enforcement as to why they've not solved this case and you
talk about moving on from somebody look again Chris Thompson could be an absolute saint
for all we know the person that we know that is not a saint is Timothy Sampson he lied to police he threatened law
enforcement with their lives he is believed to be somehow involved in the disappearance of Don Phillips this
person is not a saint and I would be really curious I'm I'm really suspicious of this individual who is pointing the
finger at somebody else and he seems to be all wrapped up into criminal activity
I just feel like this has when you bring up Joseph Duncan that this just has a lot of similarities and
not saying that he's involved but just this idea that this person would know that this nine-year-old was
there they abducted her they abducted her for a reason I think that's the cause of
her parents being killed it's so that they could abduct her and move her to a different location and
and who knows how long she was there for that's what my gut feeling um tells me and
and I think you were bringing up the point you know it could be somebody that saw her you know playing a
sport or somebody that met her through school um but I think this was very calculated
especially with I think there was a taunting uh and that was that's what the message was but also
the The Cutting of the phone lines I think this was very calculated and we we have you know almost
zero physical evidence that we know of I mean they've stated that there's some items that they're testing but we don't
know if that has come back conclusive that it's the perpetrator you could find hair on the the husband
or Heron the wife and then later on find out that they're at their friend's house
and it's some dog hair or whatever so I just I think this leans towards and this is a scary crime it it leans
towards the idea that they were targeting the nine-year-old they're targeting Jennifer
I agree with that and I'm going to base that simply off of the idea that I'm so smart yes case closed case closed but
let's go back to the other ideas the Jamie Kloss case and the yes Joseph Duncan the grony family case in both of
those cases very weird scenarios where people were murdered at the scene there's some type of break-in into the
home and then the younger the youngest child or the child is abducted in both of those scenarios those are incredibly
rare crimes just like this short family case that we're working on here and in both of those cases it was a
perfect stranger it was somebody that didn't know the family at all but but for whatever
reason locked in on one of the kids they were targeted and then the perpetrator watched the home
for a bit of time before making his move right and I almost feel like cutting the
phone lines is indicative of a person watching the home before they make their move I hate to say this but I agree with
you in October of 2021 so less than a year ago and here we sit now Captain almost
20 years to the day that the short family was killed I'm hoping and praying that we receive some kind of update some
kind of movement some kind of proof that today the case is still very active and
heading in the right direction finally once we get to this 20th anniversary of such a dark day but less than a year ago
in October of 2021 the Henry County Sheriff Lane Perry held a press conference about a new
multi-jurisdictional task force he had convened earlier in the year to reopen the short case making up the new
investigative team he said is the Henry County Sheriff's Office the Rockingham County Sheriff's Office the Virginia
State Police and a Federal Officer they intend to re-examine all the evidence and the case from start and will make
use of any new technology and testing that is now available at the presser Sheriff Perry
seemed to imply that they have DNA evidence by saying that they need to sit down and evaluate new testing methods
and see whether they have evidence that might be suitable I'm going to break in with my own little thought here for a
second captain before finishing up this information that was released in this presser but going back to the
exclamation of Michael Short's body and when police came out and said that we exhumed him because we needed to collect
hairs that we failed to collect during the course of the autopsy it makes you wonder did they Identify some kind of
physical evidence that was found on Mary short because keep in mind they had not
recovered Jennifer at this point had they had they found some kind of evidence some forensic physical evidence
on Mary short and then they go okay well let's compare that to our other victim did we find that on our other victim and
that's when they something alerted them that they had not collected hairs from Michael Short's body right if that
statement from law enforcement to us the public is true I wonder if it's as simple as a couple FBI agents lending
their time to the case because he got some higher profile and they go hey guys you missed this
you forgot to collect hair samples off of this victim it could be really something that simple and then back to
one of the other suspects that has been publicly named uh the man who passed away in 2014 Garrison Bowman
so interestingly enough at this press conference when asked about Garrison Bowman
Sheriff Perry said no one could be ruled out until the case is actually solved but he seemed to point in a different
direction when it said we do have people that this is focused around we're 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 Perry goes on to say that there are some people that the evidence points to but
they don't have enough to ensure a successful prosecution he said quote I believe there's a couple key people that
have information they know who they are and they have been approached numerous times
and he said he hopes that they are watching this press conference [Music] there is still a reward for 62 500
leading to the rest of the suspects if you have any information please call the FBI tip line at
1-800-225-5324 that's 1-800-225-5324 really fascinating case that we covered this week if you have
thoughts and opinions make sure you go to truecrime garage.com and comment on our blog Colonel do we have any
recommended reading for the beautiful listeners thank you Captain this week we are recommending met her on the mountain
by Mark Pinsky in June of 1970 the body of 24 year old Nancy Morgan was found inside a government-owned car in Madison
County North Carolina it had been four days since anyone had seen or heard from Nancy met her on the mountain tells the
story of this murder in Chronicles penske's efforts to solve the 40-year mystery once and for all check out meta
on on the mountain by Mark Pinsky you can find that great title and many more on our website True Crime garage.com on
the recommended page and until next week be good be kind and don't litter thank you
foreign

The Short Family Murders /// Part 3 /// 604

Part 3 of 3

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Around 9AM August 15th, 2002 a man named Chris Thompson went to his employer’s home. This was a scheduled work day and Chris was to be there at the home to start work that morning. When he arrived Chris found the overhead garage door to the home open. He found his boss inside the garage, dead. Michael Short had been shot once in the head. Inside the Henry County Sheriff’s department located Michael’s wife Mary. She too had been shot once in the head. As if things weren’t already bad enough, the Sheriff’s department could not locate the Short’s 9 year old daughter. What was the motive here in this double homicide? Where was the little girl? Join us in our Garage as we take a deep dive and look at a case that is now 20 years old and 20 years unsolved. This week we spotlight this case and the investigation that ensued over the years. Plus we look at some theories and suspects.

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Brief Summary

The episode covers the unsolved Short family murders, exhumation details, task force developments, and various theories about the case.

Key points

Exhumation of Jennifer Short. In 2003, Jennifer Short's remains were exhumed for forensic purposes, raising many questions.
Corruption in Law Enforcement. In 2006, 13 members of the Henry County Sheriff's Office were charged with racketeering.
FBI Updates Investigation. From 2008 to 2010, the FBI released new information about the Short family murders.
Theories on the Murders. Investigators believe Jennifer Short may have been the target of the crime.
Theories of the Murders. Multiple theories arise regarding the motivations behind the Short family murders.
Joseph Duncan's Modus Operandi. Joseph Duncan is a prime suspect due to similarities in his past crimes.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

We've not seen a case where they've exhumed more than one victim.

Commenting on the unusual nature of the case.

2:27WatchOct 18, 2022

Tension

60/ 100Some tension

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