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

[DoubleN1993]

Of course I do not know for certain but I believe horrible as it sounds Jennifer Short was the target of a violent sexual predator and that he killed her parents in the commission of the crime.

Maybe or somebody want us to think it was Jennifer the target .

 

[JnRyan]

Either scenario you stated could be correct or it could be a combination of the two. I can't help but feel that if it was the first scenario only, they would have killed Jennifer in the home with her parents.

In addition to being similar to the Closs murders, it also (very sadly) reminds me of the Ashley Freeman/Lauria Bible disappearance and presumed murders in OK in 1999. Both of Freeman's parents were found murdered in their burned out mobile home. Ashley (their daughter) and her BFF Lauria both age 16 who happened to just be spending the night with Ashley were in the home when the murders occurred. They were taken hostage by the killers and raped over a period of days before being executed. Their bodies have never been found. I don't believe the original plan of the killers involved taking the girls and that part of the crime came about after the killers arrived at the Freman home.

When I read about Jayme's case, the Freeman/Bible abductions and murders were what I thought about first. After someone on the Jayme thread mentioned the Smart family it triggered my memories. I'm hoping the ending is not the same.

 

[truecrimemavens]

Maybe or somebody want us to think it was Jennifer the target .

Totally what we were thinking. Like let me take her but kill them so they will focus on why she was taken instead of why they were shot execution style. Just feel like if the phone lines were cut then it probably wasn't just a kidnapping.

 

[DoubleN1993]

Totally what we were thinking. Like let me take her but kill them so they will focus on why she was taken instead of why they were shot execution style. Just feel like if the phone lines were cut then it probably wasn't just a kidnapping.

And when I saw the Short Family house and the backdoor area I think the place they have backdoor got alots of hiding places for the Killer to blend in the darkness to wait til the family goes to sleep

 

[DoubleN1993]

<Modsnip - quoted post removed>
I think Michael knows something that triggered the person hidden operations risks being exposed and the reason they killed poor Mary because they knows he told her all about it and for Jennifer I think the killer has been ordered to take her so they can work out what to do with her .

 

[TedMac]

Maybe or somebody want us to think it was Jennifer the target .

Maybe, but the killer was taking a tremendous chance by taking a kidnapping victim with them after committing a double homicide. If it was a simple robbery or home invasion, they would have killed Jennifer at the scene and left her behind like they did her parents. The more I think about it, the more I believe it was more in line with the Bible/Freeman murders-kill the parents over $$ owed them or a simple robbery and take the child as a bonus. Sad to think about.

 

[truecrimemavens]

And when I saw the Short Family house and the backdoor area I think the place they have backdoor got alots of hiding places for the Killer to blend in the darkness to wait til the family goes to sleep

Oh wow! Where have you seen the back door? Nothing we have watched or read that we can remember have shown us the back of the house. That would be interesting to see. Please share.

 

[DoubleN1993]

I'll try but as long it okay on Websleuths , just trying to be careful not to get into trouble

 

[truecrimemavens]

Maybe, but the killer was taking a tremendous chance by taking a kidnapping victim with them after committing a double homicide. If it was a simple robbery or home invasion, they would have killed Jennifer at the scene and left her behind like they did her parents. The more I think about it, the more I believe it was more in line with the Bible/Freeman murders-kill the parents over $$ owed them or a simple robbery and take the child as a bonus. Sad to think about.

Kidnapping is a huge gamble especially after killing 2 people. We are not sure robbery was the motive from what we have read. One of our questions to LE is, was there $500.00 left on the counter in the home? We had read that this occurred so we re going to try to get confirmation.

 

[truecrimemavens]

Hey guys! Some of the stuff we discussed today was removed. We are sure you received notification too. Lets keep this going. If you have an idea of a suspect please share. We will share with LE. Even if they are aleady aware you may be able to provide a tibit of info that they were not aware of. Even if it does not pan out it may lead them in other directions. We know they are doing everything they can for this family to get justice. They deserve justice.

 

[jaejae]

Hey guys! Some of the stuff we discussed today was removed. We are sure you received notification too. Lets keep this going. If you have an idea of a suspect please share. We will share with LE. Even if they are aleady aware you may be able to provide a tibit of info that they were not aware of. Even if it does not pan out it may lead them in other directions. We know they are doing everything they can for this family to get justice. They deserve justice.

Thanks for the post. I would look at Ralph Leon Jackson who was a convicted killer in Virginia who was arrested in 2010. Do not think this can really do any damage at this stage and he is a convicted killer.

 

[DoubleN1993]

Hey guys! Some of the stuff we discussed today was removed. We are sure you received notification too. Lets keep this going. If you have an idea of a suspect please share. We will share with LE. Even if they are aleady aware you may be able to provide a tibit of info that they were not aware of. Even if it does not pan out it may lead them in other directions. We know they are doing everything they can for this family to get justice. They deserve justice.

Thanks for letting me know, We all want the case to be ended and give The Shorts the justice they need and peace.

 

[JnRyan]

Maybe, but the killer was taking a tremendous chance by taking a kidnapping victim with them after committing a double homicide. If it was a simple robbery or home invasion, they would have killed Jennifer at the scene and left her behind like they did her parents. The more I think about it, the more I believe it was more in line with the Bible/Freeman murders-kill the parents over $$ owed them or a simple robbery and take the child as a bonus. Sad to think about.

When I first heard about the recent Jayme Closs case in Wisconsin the Bible/Freeman case was the first I thought of. I had forgotten about this case as it seems to receive very little attention outside Henry County.

 

[truecrimemavens]

Thanks for letting me know, We all want the case to be ended and give The Shorts the justice they need and peace.

Thank you for sharing. We had not heard that name. We will definitely share! We are excited to see where this goes.

 

[jaejae]

Thank you for sharing. We had not heard that name. We will definitely share! We are excited to see where this goes.

That's ok if you mean my name as people may know I honestly do not believe he committed his first crime aged 56. Thanks

 

[truecrimemavens]

That's ok if you mean my name as people may know I honestly do not believe he committed his first crime aged 56. Thanks

We meant we had not heard Ralph's name in connection with this case before. We put his name in the search bar and see that you have mentioned his name several times in connection with other crimes. We do agree people do not normally start committing crimes that late in life.

 

[DoubleN1993]

Thank you for sharing. We had not heard that name. We will definitely share! We are excited to see where this goes.

As I did said before It is a good interesting case but not as biggest shocking case that shook the country like Jamie Bulger case or Madeline McCann case did .

 

[jaejae]

As I did said before It is a good interesting case but not as biggest shocking case that shook the country like Jamie Bulger case or Madeline McCann case did .

The murder of Jennifer Short of course was a wicked crime. But I agree nothing like the impact of those UK cases you mention or a US one like JonBenet Ramsey. As I say with Harold Shipman etc people in glass houses should not throw stones but there are quite a few unsolved cases in Virginia and hopefully this one will be solved soon if at least for all those people in her home state who have tried to keep her memory alive.

 

[DoubleN1993]

Many People in Bassett held the Jennifer Short Memorial every years on the 12th August for like a Bike Ride or summet .

 

[DoubleN1993]

Was the door of the carport at the Short's home opened ? If it was then that might be how the killer got in and killed Michael and Mary and snatched Jennifer