On August 15, 2002, police discovered the bodies of Michael and Mary Short in their Henry County, Virginia home. An unidentified killer shot them both in the head and cut their phone line before their murders.
Michael Short was on a couch in an enclosed carport, and Mary Short was in a bedroom. Their nine-year-old daughter Jennifer was missing, and police believed someone abducted her from her unmade bed.
Authorities initially thought the girl might have escaped the house and run away during the shootings (Associated Press, 2002).
The motive was not robbery; $485 in cash was on the kitchen counter. A massive search for the girl and killer ensued.
On September 25, 2002, authorities recovered Jennifer’s remains near a streambed in North Carolina. The perpetrator had shot her in the head, too.
A suspect emerged immediately — Gary Bowman. He owned a trailer close to where police found Jennifer’s body. Bowman fled to Canada a day after the discovery of Michael and Mary’s bodies. Authorities extradited him back to Virginia and intensely interviewed him. In 2007, police ruled him out as a suspect.
In 2018, police released a new plea for help.
Investigators never caught the killer, and the case remains unsolved.
True Crime Diva’s Thoughts
This case reminds me a bit of the Joseph Duncan case. In May 2005, he murdered three people – Brenda Groene, her boyfriend Mark McKenzie, and her 13-year-old son Slade Groene in their Coeur d’Alene, Idaho home. Duncan kidnapped her two youngest children, Dylan, 9, and Shasta, 8.
Duncan later killed Dylan, but Shasta survived and was found in Denny’s restaurant with her abductor. Duncan had repeatedly molested both kids. While in police custody, Duncan confessed to killing 14-year-old Anthony Martinez of Beaumont, California in 1997 and Sammiejo White, 11, and her sister, Carmen Cubias, 9, who vanished on July 6, 1996, after leaving the Crest Motel in Seattle, Washington, to panhandle. A judge sentenced Duncan to life in prison.
I remember reading that Duncan killed Brenda, Mark, and Slade to kidnap Dylan and Shasta.
I wonder if that is what happened with Jennifer Short. Maybe the assailant(s) killed her parents so they could take her.
The area the Shorts lived in was small and rural. The place where Jennifer’s body was found is, too. So, this makes me wonder if the killer knew the victims and was local.
While researching this case, I came across serial killer Gary Hilton, convicted in 2008 for the murder of Meredith Emerson and linked to the 2007 murders of a North Carolina elderly couple and a Florida woman. Hilton strongly resembles the composite drawing of the suspect in the Short family murders.
His eyes are what gets me. The bottom pic is a mugshot from 1995, 7 years before the short murders. The shape of his face and eyes are similar to the man in the sketch.
I really hope there is justice for the Short family one day. They did not deserve what happened to them.
Sources:
Associated Press. “Finding Girl Becomes Person for Sheriff.” The News-Leader, August 25, 2002.
Associated Press. “Jennifer is Safe Now.” Daily Press, October 13, 2002.
Associated Press. “Man and Woman Dead; Police Search for Child.” Daily Press, August 16, 2002.
2 comments
It's such a sad case. I just wish justice would be served. I'm with you…if it was because of the parents, why not shoot Jennifer right there in the house? It would make sense to leave a sexual assault victim in water because the water would wash away evidence. Thanks for commenting! You should do this case on your blog! Just hope no creepy people come out lmao!
I forgot all about Jennifer Short's case. At the time when it happened I was so shocked, and it was just really strange circumstances that she was taken from the home to be shot and dumped off. If she saw something why not just shoot her too and leave her with her parents? Why go to the trouble of traveling with an abduction victim and risk getting caught? I have read before that leaving the victim in or near water is common in sexual abuse crimes. IDK if it is really true though.