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

[JohnTate90210]

Another article for a few months after the fire:

Open Case Virginia: Fire fuels fresh suspicion about Short family murders

 

[DoubleN1993]

Interesting. I just looked at Google StreetView and the house appeared to be gone. I did a search and found that it burnt down in 2019.

Short family's former Henry County home destroyed by fire; cause unknown

It sounds like it was unoccupied and had no power. A gas can was collected as evidence. I wonder if a cause was ever determined. If arson, I'd really wonder if the killer came back after worrying he might have left something behind.

My POV that I think it just some crazy person setting it off on fire for their doing ,
there were other houses and the one nearby the short's homes next to gas station.

 

[JohnTate90210]

Another article for a few months after the fire:

Open Case Virginia: Fire fuels fresh suspicion about Short family murders

 

[JohnTate90210]

Odd, on the current Google StreetView, the mailbox still stands with the door open. There's obviously mail in the box. The house was long gone so I wouldn't think a mailman would actually put anything in the box. Google shows a photo date of September 2019, so a few months after the fire. It's been nearly two years, now, and I wonder if it's still in the box. It looks rather thick like it's not just a regular letter or bill.

 

[JnRyan]

Attached is an aerial photo I found a while back. I marked the Short house with a red arrow.

View attachment 307780

Thanks! I was in that area 20-30 years ago when I had relatives living to the south of there in NC. But I would drive down Hwy 58 and turn south at Martinsville. I never made it up to Oak Level VA though. I was under the impression that there wasn't anything else around the house. There is more around there than I originally thought. Of course, I don't know how much was around there 20 years ago. And the killer used a .22 and the noise of that could be lost by the noise of passing vehicles/trucks, plus the last shot (Michael was on a couch outside?) was inside the house. Although, I can see why the one witness who gave the info for the sketch found it odd that someone would be sitting in a truck near the house on that 4 lane divided highway.

 

[JnRyan]

An article on that sketch, released 7 years after the murders.
FBI releases suspect sketch in Short murders

 

[Sunny Day]

Interesting. I just looked at Google StreetView and the house appeared to be gone. I did a search and found that it burnt down in 2019.

Short family's former Henry County home destroyed by fire; cause unknown

It sounds like it was unoccupied and had no power. A gas can was collected as evidence. I wonder if a cause was ever determined. If arson, I'd really wonder if the killer came back after worrying he might have left something behind.

I agree. He may very well have been worried because of all the publicity about genetic genealogy and the cold cases that are being solved because of it. I can only hope that they did collect some form of DNA that could be used.

 

[Sunny Day]

Thanks! I was in that area 20-30 years ago when I had relatives living to the south of there in NC. But I would drive down Hwy 58 and turn south at Martinsville. I never made it up to Oak Level VA though. I was under the impression that there wasn't anything else around the house. There is more around there than I originally thought. Of course, I don't know how much was around there 20 years ago. And the killer used a .22 and the noise of that could be lost by the noise of passing vehicles/trucks, plus the last shot (Michael was on a couch outside?) was inside the house. Although, I can see why the one witness who gave the info for the sketch found it odd that someone would be sitting in a truck near the house on that 4 lane divided highway.

I can't help but speculate that the killer must have used some type of silencer on the gun. It just seems incredible that the parents were both shot in different rooms and neither of them woke up. Mary was still in bed and Michael was asleep on a couch in the (attached?) garage. I would think that at least one of them would have heard the first shot and jumped out of bed to check on Jennifer.

 

[JnRyan]

I can't help but speculate that the killer must have used some type of silencer on the gun. It just seems incredible that the parents were both shot in different rooms and neither of them woke up. Mary was still in bed and Michael was asleep on a couch in the (attached?) garage. I would think that at least one of them would have heard the first shot and jumped out of bed to check on Jennifer.

That's certainly possible as there used to be (I haven't looked recently) several videos on how to make a sound suppressor for .22's with PVC pipe and other items you can find at any hardware store. That said most semi-auto .22's will not feed a .22 short, HOWEVER on some of them you can manually load a short and then put in the magazine. Shorts make so little noise compared to other rounds that a single shot fired outside a house (Michael was outside on a couch?) that it wouldn't likely wake someone inside. Of course, if someone fired a long rifle .22 outside my house I doubt I would wake up. With a house possibly shut up and the A/C running that would likely deaden the sound of a .22 to the point it wouldn't have woke up Mary or Jennifer. This guy cut the phone line and then used a .22 so he had these murders planned well. I really believe he had seen Jennifer sometime in the past and had the family and home scoped out in advance.

 

[JohnTate90210]

Here's the area in 2002:

 

[JohnTate90210]

Here's the area in 2002 (year of the murders). I marked the house with a red arrow.

 

[JohnTate90210]

On Google StreetView you can go back as far as 2008. At least from that date forward, there appears to be a statue in the yard that, to me, looks like a girl. Does anybody know if it was a memorial or just coincidence? Or was it there prior to the murders? I found a photo from the day of the murders and I can't see it but it may be out of view.

 

[JohnTate90210]

Here's the house in 2008, with statue at right edge of photo. I do think it would've shown in the 2002 newspaper photo.

 

[JohnTate90210]

Here's the statue in July 2016, seemingly decorated:

 

[JohnTate90210]

October 2015:

 

[JohnTate90210]

May 2011. Based on the background, there were apparently children living there again.

 

[JohnTate90210]

The latest StreetView is September 2019 and the house and statue are gone. The statue obviously wouldn't have been destroyed by the fire. I wonder if the killer drove by on a regular basis and the statue irritated him? Maybe the statue is totally unrelated to Jennifer but it rather looks like a plaque in front like it is a memorial. If the owner put it up, then why remove it? It's just an empty lot now.

 

[JohnTate90210]

One of the original news stories said: Besides the guns and ammunition, investigators seized bed covers, a not on paper from the kitchen table and an impression of the words "I'm glad to see" written on a window.

Have they ever revealed the note? And obviously the window writing must still be a mystery. It's rather like a message that wasn't finished. I wonder if it was written inside or outside? Was it written mirror-image so it could be read from the opposite side? Such as a person on the outside writing a message to somebody inside. Do police take the glass or just photograph it? If they have the glass, any chance of touch DNA?

 

[JohnTate90210]

1995 (Short house in center of photo):

2002 (year of murders):

2003 (year after murders):

2006 (four years after murders):

 

[DoubleN1993]

1995 (Short house in center of photo):
View attachment 308121

2002 (year of murders):
View attachment 308122

2003 (year after murders):
View attachment 308123

2006 (four years after murders):
View attachment 308124

Interesting John , I never seen photographs before and after murders of the Short's Home