VA VA - Michael, 50, Mary, 36, & Jennifer Short, 9, Bassett, 15 Aug 2002

[lillygator]

how does a reward expire?? what happens to the $$$?

 

[less0305]

how does a reward expire?? what happens to the $$$?

I assume it would revert back to whomever or whatever agency pledged the reward money.

 

[s_finch]

After reading what I could find on here and on the internet, my opinion, for what it's worth, is that Jennifer was the target, not the parents. I think this because whoever took Jennifer took a huge risk in taking her out of the home and transporting her to another location---perps don't do that unless they really want the person they took. If someone was simply wanting to get even with the parents, as has been suggested, they wouldn't have bothered taking Jennifer with them, she would not have been any interest to them. Also, these murders and abductions were obviously planned, wasn't a "spur of the moment" thing,,,it's too clean, too few clues, and went off too well.

I searched for pictures of the Jennifer Renee Short Memorial Bridge and couldn't find a one, so did a Google Earth for Grogan Road, Rockingham, NC and found it. It's a very small little bridge over a little creek, way out in a rural area. As we sleuthers know, perps usually pick a dumping ground that is near them, but often not too near---so they can visit the remains (hate typing that) and an area that feels "safe" to the perp. Whoever took Jennifer from her home, and brought her to that bridge, did so for a reason.

It has been speculated that Bowman was set up by his landlord. The news article in the following post has some interesting information from an interview with Bowman.

I'm praying that LE can solve this case. Bowman does "look" guilty, but LE searched his truck and trailer and obviously couldn't find any or enough evidence to make an arrest so that makes me wonder. He did leave right after the murders to go to Cananda but says it wasn't a secret, that he had had the trip planned for a while. Could be he was set up. I'm sure LE knows far more than they're telling.

It just makes me so mad to know that someone just walked in, shot the parents, took Jennifer, killed her too and left her under that bridge. I want justice!

EDITED TO ADD: At link below, it states LE has DNA samples of perp which don't match Bowman. "...hair and fingerprints of the perpetrator were found and collected but no matches have been found."

http://www.johndouglasmindhunter.co...?p=71271&sid=6be7f6141089e04c431bc982801138fc

 

[s_finch]

http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/10589

STONEVILLE, N.C. - Barefoot and shirtless, Gary Bowman lays a road atlas on his coffee table, next to an ashtray piled high with cheap Bailey's cigarettes. He spreads out maps of Alaska and Canada, and points to towns in the far north he's been to, with such names as Deadhorse and Whitehorse.
"This is my escape," he said - using the atlas to remind himself of places he'll likely never see again. "I'm not locked up, but I am locked up," he said.

He knows that when he goes out in public, there are still people who recognize him and say to themselves, "There's that guy who killed those people."

For nearly two years, the 68-year-old retired carpenter has lived under a cloud of suspicion, ever since a search warrant revealed that police considered him a potential suspect in the triple homicide of a Henry County family. Though he's never been charged with any crimes related to the slayings of Mike, Mary and Jennifer Short, police still call Bowman a "person of interest" in the case.

"I didn't know them," Bowman said. "There is absolutely not one damn shred of evidence" that connects him to the killings. "I've never been in that house. I've never been where they lived."

A tip from Bowman's former landlord, Gary Lemons, turned Bowman into the main focus of the Short case investigation. First the police and then the news media seized on Lemons' statement, blowing it completely out of proportion, Bowman said. "Only the things that made me look guilty made it into the news."

Deported from Canada, arrested on a federal material witness warrant, Bowman spent eight days in October 2002 locked in a cell in the Roanoke City Jail. He called it "solitary confinement" - a narrow cell with no bars to look out through, just "a hatch in the door where food comes in."

He wondered, while in there, when or if he would get out. "Damn right, I was scared," he said. He remembers thinking to himself: "Hey buddy, this ain't going to go away. You could go to the electric chair for something you haven't done."

***

These days, Bowman whiles away the hours smoking and watching satellite television in his sparsely furnished living room. He lives off Social Security and a little extra money earned helping out with an occasional carpentry job for his friend John Beasley. He has no car - another friend, Danny Sizemore, occasionally takes him to buy groceries and cigarettes.

When he speaks of his ordeal, his tone is more resigned than angry. "I've come to accept where I'm at. Nothing's going to change."

For many years, Bowman rented a house from Lemons, a Mayodan, N.C., salvage yard owner. Bowman used the house for a workshop and lived in a small mobile home he kept on the property. Self-employed, he drove a van full of tools to home remodeling jobs throughout the community.

He can't restart his business, he said. His van and all his possessions were seized in Canada and have never been returned. "They've still got everything I owned."

The day after Jennifer Short's parents were found shot to death, Bowman left Mayodan for Canada. He'd been to Alaska and Canada before and intended to return to Canada and stay for good. He'd planned the trip for a long time and made no secret of it, he said. "I wanted to see the caribou herds."

Lemons contacted the Rockingham County, N.C., Sheriff's Office on Aug. 18, 2002, two days after Bowman left for Canada. Lemons told police he talked to Bowman on the phone on Aug. 13, two days before Mike and Mary Short were killed and Jennifer disappeared. According to Lemons' statement, Bowman said he had paid a Virginia man to move his mobile home, and if the man didn't do the job or refund the money, "he would have to kill him." The Shorts ran a mobile-home moving business.

"No. Never happened," Bowman said about the conversation Lemons described. "When you're in the contracting business, you never pay anybody in advance to do something for you." Why look for someone in Henry County to do the job, he asked, "when there's people right around here that I might know?"

Lemons told police that on Aug. 15, the day of the slayings, he went to the rental property. Bowman brandished a pistol and told him to leave.

"I've never owned a pistol," Bowman said. "I've never had one in my possession." He said the only gun he owned was a shotgun, which he gave to Sizemore three weeks before heading to Canada.

Bowman's account of those days echoes accounts made previously by his friends. He and Sizemore worked on dismantling a deck attached to his mobile home so it could be moved onto Beasley's property for storage. Bowman intended to give the mobile home to Loree Butler, a friend and former employee of his who lives in Michigan.

On Aug. 16, a company from North Carolina moved his van to Beasley's farmland, and he left. He visited Butler in Michigan and a sister in Montana. He didn't hear anything more about the Short case until later that month, when he was visiting a relative in the tiny town of New Denver in British Columbia. Butler called him, he said, and told him FBI agents were trying to find him.

He went to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, he said, and contacted the FBI to let them know where he was. An FBI agent interviewed him via phone, Bowman said. "He didn't seem to be too excited."

Bowman made sure the FBI agent knew he intended to go to Inuvik in the Northwest Territories, he said. "None of that got in the newspapers."

***

The intense focus on Bowman began after Sept. 25, when Jennifer Short's skeletal remains were found by a bridge within a mile of the place where Bowman's mobile home was stored. Investigators searched his mobile home, seizing bedclothes, carpet samples and hair samples. In the meantime, Bowman had run afoul of the law in Canada. Police arrested him Oct. 3 on an immigration violation. Canadian authorities kept him in custody for 18 days before deporting him.

During that time, detectives from Henry and Rockingham counties made the first of four trips to Canada related to their investigation of Bowman.

Bowman recalls flying from Canada to Raleigh, N.C., in handcuffs. When he disembarked, authorities were waiting for him. About 10 investigators, representing Henry and Rockingham counties and the FBI, interrogated him for 3 1/2 hours. They showed him pictures from the crime scenes.

"They never did come right out and say, 'You did it and we know you did it,'" Bowman said.

After the questioning, authorities brought him to Roanoke. Federal prosecutors released him Oct. 30. Bowman says he still doesn't know the reason why he was finally allowed to go. "Maybe after they did some checking on me, they found out I wasn't a terrible person."

When he was released from the Roanoke City Jail, all he had were his shirt and sweat pants, his wallet, credit card, passport and about $600, he said. What possessions he has now are what he's managed to buy since his release.

Bowman has not allowed police to question him since his deportation. Nor has he testified before the federal grand juries held in relation to the Short case. He believes investigators in the case are determined to pin the crime on him. "They want an arrest and conviction, and they don't give a g--d--- whether you're guilty or not."

As the Short investigation continues, "Gary Bowman is not the only person we're looking at," said Capt. James Keaton with the Henry County Sheriff's Office. "We're looking at any and all leads that we get."

Bowman stayed in Pennsylvania and Michigan for a while before returning to Stoneville. Police kept tabs on his every move, he said.

"This will live with me until the day I die, or until it's solved," he said. "I'll always, in some people's mind, I'll be the guy that got away with it."

In North Carolina, he's around people who know he's not the kind of person who could have done something like what happened to the Short family, he said. He tries not to be angry about the way association with the case has destroyed his life.

"Hatred does not destroy the other person," Bowman said. "It destroys you."

News researcher Belinda Harris contributed to this report.

 

[curious_mom]

how does a reward expire?? what happens to the $$$?

When the $100,000 was first announced to now be the reward, it had the stipulation that if the money didn't lead to an arrest that eventually lead to prosecution, the reward would expire in a certain amount of time. Last I heard, this was state, federal, and money put up by an anonymous donor.

 

[curious_mom]

After reading what I could find on here and on the internet, my opinion, for what it's worth, is that Jennifer was the target, not the parents. I think this because whoever took Jennifer took a huge risk in taking her out of the home and transporting her to another location---perps don't do that unless they really want the person they took. If someone was simply wanting to get even with the parents, as has been suggested, they wouldn't have bothered taking Jennifer with them, she would not have been any interest to them. Also, these murders and abductions were obviously planned, wasn't a "spur of the moment" thing,,,it's too clean, too few clues, and went off too well.

I searched for pictures of the Jennifer Renee Short Memorial Bridge and couldn't find a one, so did a Google Earth for Grogan Road, Rockingham, NC and found it. It's a very small little bridge over a little creek, way out in a rural area. As we sleuthers know, perps usually pick a dumping ground that is near them, but often not too near---so they can visit the remains (hate typing that) and an area that feels "safe" to the perp. Whoever took Jennifer from her home, and brought her to that bridge, did so for a reason.

It has been speculated that Bowman was set up by his landlord. The news article in the following post has some interesting information from an interview with Bowman.

I'm praying that LE can solve this case. Bowman does "look" guilty, but LE searched his truck and trailer and obviously couldn't find any or enough evidence to make an arrest so that makes me wonder. He did leave right after the murders to go to Cananda but says it wasn't a secret, that he had had the trip planned for a while. Could be he was set up. I'm sure LE knows far more than they're telling.

It just makes me so mad to know that someone just walked in, shot the parents, took Jennifer, killed her too and left her under that bridge. I want justice!

EDITED TO ADD: At link below, it states LE has DNA samples of perp which don't match Bowman. "...hair and fingerprints of the perpetrator were found and collected but no matches have been found."

http://www.johndouglasmindhunter.co...?p=71271&sid=6be7f6141089e04c431bc982801138fc

As a local resident, many many people have felt this case was committed by someone local, but not Bowman. Several popular online sleuths who have been involved with researching this case, say they felt that Joseph Duncan was responsible. But now that they have finally released info saying that they have a hair & fingerprints that aren't in any databases, that throws out those theories.

Given everything that has happened in that area since the Short family murders, I still go back to my original theory, it was someone local. The Short family home was easily accessible via the main highway, but where Jennifer's remains were found, is an out of the way place one normally wouldn't just happen upon. Sure it would be possible, but not likely.

Now we learn that this "tip", of the vehicle and man sitting on the side of the road that night was sent shortly after the murders, but got "lost"? How does any LE agency lose this type of a tip? I don't give a rat's behind if there were 10,000 tips that came in :banghead: This supposedly happened after the tip was called in to the Rockingham County LE department.

Then you have the arrests of former Henry County Sheriff Frank Cassell, along with 20 of his deputies on charges of racketeering conspiracy that included the distribution of illegal drugs, theft of drugs and firearms under the custody of the Henry County Sheriff's Office, money laundering, and obstruction of justice (http://www.justice.gov/dea/pubs/states/newsrel/wdo110206.html). These arrests came in November of 2006, just over 4 yrs from the Short Family murders.

Is it all somehow connected? We have no clue, but I can tell you most, if not everybody in the local area thinks it is.
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moo
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[MBLover]

As a local resident, many many people have felt this case was committed by someone local, but not Bowman. Several popular online sleuths who have been involved with researching this case, say they felt that Joseph Duncan was responsible. But now that they have finally released info saying that they have a hair & fingerprints that aren't in any databases, that throws out those theories.

Given everything that has happened in that area since the Short family murders, I still go back to my original theory, it was someone local. The Short family home was easily accessible via the main highway, but where Jennifer's remains were found, is an out of the way place one normally wouldn't just happen upon. Sure it would be possible, but not likely.

Now we learn that this "tip", of the vehicle and man sitting on the side of the road that night was sent shortly after the murders, but got "lost"? How does any LE agency lose this type of a tip? I don't give a rat's behind if there were 10,000 tips that came in :banghead: This supposedly happened after the tip was called in to the Rockingham County LE department.

Then you have the arrests of former Henry County Sheriff Frank Cassell, along with 20 of his deputies on charges of racketeering conspiracy that included the distribution of illegal drugs, theft of drugs and firearms under the custody of the Henry County Sheriff's Office, money laundering, and obstruction of justice (http://www.justice.gov/dea/pubs/states/newsrel/wdo110206.html). These arrests came in November of 2006, just over 4 yrs from the Short Family murders.

Is it all somehow connected? We have no clue, but I can tell you most, if not everybody in the local area thinks it is.
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][SIZE=-1]
moo
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ITA! It is disheartening to know that this "tip" just somehow got lost when it was called into a PD not where the actual crime occurred but where Jennifer's body was found. Just how does something like that get lost? Didn't that ring any major bells for anyone with the RCPD?

Or did someone with that dept. think like some of us here have thought... Here's a tip...it was dark...Rt. 220 is driven at 55+ mph...did this person really see what she thought she saw...so it was just dismissed?

I too feel like there is some connection (directly or indirectly) with the Short family murders and the HCPD corruption.

To me if Jennifer was the target and this had nothing to do with Mike & Mary Short then why go to all of the trouble of killing 2 people with the possibility of someone hearing gunfire or one of the 2 of them being able to get off a 911 call before the other was killed...or the possibility of Mr. or Mrs. Short getting to one of their own weapons and foiling the plan. Or the possibility of one of them escaping and going for help? Why go to all of the trouble this perp(s) did to only take Jennifer and basically kill her within a few hours?

There would have been other prime opportunities to take Jennifer - such as getting off a school bus...or at a friend's house or when Mr. Short was away doing his business - that would have left only an adult female to have to contend with in order to get Jennifer.

I believe that Mr. & Mrs. Short were killed for something they knew or something the perp(s) thought they knew. I have to wonder if Jennifer wasn't used to throw off the investigation away from Mr. Short to make it appear that Jennifer possibly was the target.

 

[Wondergirl]

The manner of death for all 3 victims is very puzzling to me - execution style, single gunshot to the head?

I don't know the Short's case, just started reading it today.

When I initially read the details, I thought the husband and wife were the targets, and Jennifer was taken as an afterthought.

But it seems that LE thinks this is exactly opposite. :waitasec:

 

[s_finch]

I've read in MSM (don't have link) that LE is looking for old employees of Mr. Smart, many of whom were illegal migrants and therefore hard to track. Knowing now that LE has hair samples and knowing that often race can be narrowed down by a hair sample, it makes me wonder if LE doesn't isn't looking for a person of a particular race. Does that make sense? But then I wonder how they know they have the hair sample of the perp since it was so professionally done. I mean how do they know the hair wasn't from just anyone that had been in the house---although obviously LE knows way more than they are saying. Doesn't look like any struggles at all and they don't mention getting evidence from under the Shorts' fingernails (although that could be something they are holding back).

Side notes: I feel very sorry for Mr. Bowman and agree with the locals' perspectives that the LE at the time could have been involved.

JMHO

 

[:+:MrTT:+:]

I've read in MSM (don't have link) that LE is looking for old employees of Mr. Smart, many of whom were illegal migrants and therefore hard to track. Knowing now that LE has hair samples and knowing that often race can be narrowed down by a hair sample, it makes me wonder if LE doesn't isn't looking for a person of a particular race. Does that make sense? But then I wonder how they know they have the hair sample of the perp since it was so professionally done. I mean how do they know the hair wasn't from just anyone that had been in the house---although obviously LE knows way more than they are saying. Doesn't look like any struggles at all and they don't mention getting evidence from under the Shorts' fingernails (although that could be something they are holding back).

Side notes: I feel very sorry for Mr. Bowman and agree with the locals' perspectives that the LE at the time could have been involved.

JMHO

You have posted some key points.

The shorts were not living a paranoid life, as if someone was out to get them. I am sure there was no forced entry, they were simple enjoying the evening at home, like they have so many times before.
​

The phone line that was cut, from the latest episode of AMW, it looked as if only one of several were snip. I say snipped, and not cut though speculating only.
​

If that was me i would have snipped/cut all the wires, for i would not have known which one was which to cut the correct one.

As far as the crime scene photos shown.
​

And i want to say right now to LE, I give them credit for releasing those to AMW, and letting them be shown.

Those kind of visual aids from the crime scene are PRICELESS!, in cold cases such as this.


And last for LE.
If you want a theory of what may have happened.
With Jennifer as the reason for the crime.

Perhaps there were in fact two, and not one.
The one seen in the truck was the look out. And the killer had already gotten out and approached the house.
He cut the phone line, went around to where Mr Short was laying, and murdered him. He then enter the house, and either Mrs short heard something, and got up out of bed to investigate and was told to get in bed, or the perp just entered and found her laying in bed reading a book, or watching TV. He then proceeded to murder her and left with Jennifer.
When the two left from inside, the guy in the truck made a u turn and opened the door, and the two got in side.


The full set of prints they mentioned, i am guessing came from the screen door, outside door there you see in the video. And the hair, may had been just a strain or two. But dark hair, I would guess jet black perhaps, but black regardless.

I did not see any blood spatter on the bed from Mrs Short?

To me i always thought she was strangled. But they said shot, so shot it must have been.

But they said they recovered shell casings. Was that from an automatic weapon, or a pump action shotgun?

As far as those prints, i would recommend sending them south of the border, to any towns/city Mr Short may had been from, visited from time to time etc. And let the local LE officials there look at there prints on file and compare with what you have.

Not all country's, towns etc are connected to some international data base for fingerprints. Perhaps a LE official south of the border, could do it the old fashion way, and look with a eye piece and see if they have a record on file, that can be match with the prints from the home.

As for Jennifer.
I am incline to believe that Jennifer became incapacitated.
Not from something that was done to her, but rather from the seer horror of it all. That her body just shut down from the shock of it all, and being so young as she was. She didn't experience any of horror from later on, for she was already gone and in heaven with her parents. That is what i want to believe.

THE ABOVE ALL MOO AND SPECULATION ON MY PART.
NOTHING POSTED AS BEING FACT, UNLESS OTHERWISE KNOWN TO BE.
​

 

[:+:MrTT:+:]

These are the crime scene photos taken from the AMW video which aired Saturday (they are not very good, if anyone else here knows how to screencap & upload it would be much appreciated):

...
For taking the time, and putting in the effort to post those clips of the crime scene. Your time and effort in doing so is very much appreciated and not taken for granted.
I just wanted you to know that.
​

 

[curious_mom]

...
For taking the time, and putting in the effort to post those clips of the crime scene. Your time and effort in doing so is very much appreciated and not taken for granted.
I just wanted you to know that.
​

You're welcome. Just wish I were better at it :waitasec:

But they said they recovered shell casings. Was that from an automatic weapon, or a pump action shotgun?

It was a 22, but that's all I know. I don't think it's ever been stated by LE if it was a handgun or shotgun. If I were to guess, I would think shotgun cause 22 handguns just aren't that accurate, and each of the Shorts only had one shot to the head.

 

[yosande]

Please state who you think killed the Short family and why you came to that conclusion . . .

I think Joseph Duncan, who killed the Goene family in Idaho did it, because the mo is pretty much the same.
Both homes were near an interstate, the child/ren were found in the countryside.
The purpose of killing the parents was to take the child/ren.

He used a baseball bat on the family in ID, and a gun for the one in VA.

I think there are many more victims of his as well. imo

I've thought this from almost the beginning of the Idaho case which happened after this case.
He also shot the DG, in the woods with a shotgun iirc, then buned him in the fire pit.
I don't know why bones only were found of JS, but six weeks later only bones were recovered? Did he attempt to destroy evidence in her case as well. DG's little sister, SG, survived when JD brought her to a restaurant in the middle of the night and the waitress recognized her.

moo

 

[curious_mom]

I've read in MSM (don't have link) that LE is looking for old employees of Mr. Smart, many of whom were illegal migrants and therefore hard to track. Knowing now that LE has hair samples and knowing that often race can be narrowed down by a hair sample, it makes me wonder if LE doesn't isn't looking for a person of a particular race. Does that make sense? But then I wonder how they know they have the hair sample of the perp since it was so professionally done. I mean how do they know the hair wasn't from just anyone that had been in the house---although obviously LE knows way more than they are saying. Doesn't look like any struggles at all and they don't mention getting evidence from under the Shorts' fingernails (although that could be something they are holding back).

Side notes: I feel very sorry for Mr. Bowman and agree with the locals' perspectives that the LE at the time could have been involved.

JMHO

Morgan Harrington's (the 18 yr old that was murdered in Va in Oct. of 2009) parents have been helping to push familial dna testing in the State of Va. There are very few states who use this type of testing, and the UCLA is getting ready to do battle with Va if they pass this in Va. It has helped to solve a few cold cases in recent history. You can read about this here: http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2010/07/scientists-explain-how-familial.html

I think this type of testing would go an extremely long way in nabbing criminals out there. If you go with the theory that many families who have one criminal in the family also have other criminals in the family also. Maybe they are not all "hardened" criminals, but criminals just the same. I realize that our crime labs are extremely backed up as it is, but this type of testing, IMO, could go a long way to solving cases like Jennifer's and Morgan's.

Can't they tell by a hair & or dna what race a person is? They can tell by bone what race a person is. Looking at the composite sketch it's hard to even guess what race this person might be. Looks like LE could release at least that much, but hey, it took 8 yrs to tell us they had fingerprints & a hair :maddening:

 

[docwho3]

Joseph Duncan killed parents and a sibling just so he could
take the two younger children (ended up killing one of those two before he was caught).
Jennifer may have been the target.

Yes, and some of those killed at duncan's victim's house were killed by wounds to the head
(although the weapon was different in some of duncan's deaths.)

It is true that in past unrelated cases sometimes a family, or family members, is executed so the
perp can get away with one or more children. Sometimes the child is then removed from the home
to be further harmed and then killed.

In light of the talk of L.E. corruption I do wonder if the person in the 'missing' tip was someone
that L.E. did not want questioned due to trying to avoid light being shown into unrelated
dark corners. But then again it could have just been a simple case of a lost tip.

 

[curious_mom]

I think the same guy who killed that family in Idaho did it, because the mo is pretty much the same.
Both homes were near an interstate, the child/ren were found in the countryside.
The purpose of killing the parents was to take the child/ren.

He used a baseball bat on the family in ID, and a gun for the one in VA.

I think there are many more victims of his as well.

I've thought this from almost the beginning of the Idaho case which happened after this case.
He also shot the boy, Dylan, in the woods with a shotgun iirc, then buned him in the fire pit.
I don't know why bones only were found of this girl, but six weeks laters only bones were recovered? Did he attempt to destroy evidence in her case as well.
moo

The problem with this is that now that they have finally released info stating they have fingerprints, hair and shell casings, they don't match Joseph Duncan's (isn't this who you're talking about). LE stated they have run the prints & dna/hair, and it doesn't come back or point the finger to anybody. Looks to me like what we have is a killer of multiple people, who's not ever been convicted of anything.

So how does one go from a supposed life of no crime, to a spree of killing 2, kidnapping 1 and then later killing them too. Isn't that pretty rare?

 

[curious_mom]

how does a reward expire?? what happens to the $$$?

Here's the link to the story about the reward: http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2010/aug/14/shor14-ar-425959/

 

[Bargle]

You're welcome. Just wish I were better at it :waitasec:
It was a 22, but that's all I know. I don't think it's ever been stated by LE if it was a handgun or shotgun. If I were to guess, I would think shotgun cause 22 handguns just aren't that accurate, and each of the Shorts only had one shot to the head.

Let me impart some firearms knowledge.
There's no such thing as a .22 shotgun. There are shotshell cartridges, also called ratshot, but they are used in a normal revolver or rifle. They are usually not used in a semi-auto as they are likely to jam or cause other problems. The pellets in the cartridges are very small and highly unlikely to inflict a mortal wound. I'm not certain they would inflict a fatal wound even if fired into the eye at close range.
I don't know where you got the idea .22s handguns aren't accurate. They are. Some cheap ones may not be, but at as short a range as you would have inside a house, overall accuracy would be a minor consideration, no matter what type of gun or caliber was used.
The murder of Mr. Short before Mrs. Short, yet her apparently not waking, leads me to think that the murderer may well have used some sort of silencer.

 

[s_finch]

You're welcome. Just wish I were better at it :waitasec:
It was a 22, but that's all I know. I don't think it's ever been stated by LE if it was a handgun or shotgun. If I were to guess, I would think shotgun cause 22 handguns just aren't that accurate, and each of the Shorts only had one shot to the head.

The fact that it was a .22 is the only thing suspicious to me. All other parts of this crime seem "professional" but not the use of a .22. It almost makes me want to go with the corrupt LE theory and think a .22 was used to point AWAY from LE. You use a .22 to go rabbit hunting not for murder.

 

[docwho3]

Looks to me like what we have is a killer of multiple people, who's
not ever been convicted of anything. . .

Yes, perhaps a serial killer MO. But not someone previously known to be operating.
It is probable that such killers went unnoticed even easier in the past than they do today.
In the past few years there has been an explosion of case info listings on the internet and
shown in TV news reports. Another case where the parents were murdered and
two young ladies went missing from the mobile home and were never found:
http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/b/bible_lauria.html

Not excatly a total match to the MO of this case but again there were 2 parents murdered
and left in the home while the 2 young ladies were never found. In that case also it has
been suggested that a serial killer might be to blame.
(I am not suggesting the same killer did this crime as well. Just pointing out that
it is not so unusual to find the parents murdered and the child or children missing from the home.
Also serial killers have been known to use that way of doing things.

. . .So how does one go from a supposed life of no crime, to a spree of killing 2,
kidnapping 1 and then later killing them too. Isn't that pretty rare?

We do not know for a fact this person went from nothing to doing this as his first crime,
only that he was not ever arrested and printed with the prints being put on computerfile &
that his DNA was never put on file
(which even today fails to happen in some states.)
Perhaps he just kept getting away unnoticed . . . .until now.

Question: What has he been up to since that crime all those years ago?
Is he even still in the country?