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Sunday, September 08, 2002
"In your mind, you can't rest, knowing what this child may be going through if she's still alive," says Henry County Sheriff Frank Cassell.
By MIKE ALLEN
More than 40 miles away, the couple's daughter, Jennifer, smiles shyly from a poster taped to the window of a Roanoke gas station. The 9-year-old has been missing since Aug. 15, when her parents' bodies were found. A church marquee in Collinsville reads "Pray for Jennifer." About a mile away, in an office decorated with pictures of his 8-year-old granddaughter, Henry County Sheriff Frank Cassell ponders the investigation's next moves. "In your mind, you can't rest, knowing what this child may be going through if she's still alive," the sheriff said. The killings and apparent kidnapping happened sometime between midnight and 9 a.m. in the Shorts' home alongside northbound U.S. 220. Since the discovery, FBI agents, state police, search and rescue crews and police from surrounding jurisdictions have pitched in to find the missing girl. National news media have broadcast her image far and wide - so far, to no avail. The nonstop search has taken its toll on investigators, on the Shorts' friends and family, and on the community at large. "It's frustrating for the family. It's frustrating for me," said Frank Arrington, Michael Short's uncle. "I want to see on the news that they've found her."
Few clues, few tips The fact is, there's been little news at all since the bodies were found and authorities realized Jennifer had vanished. Despite national media coverage and segments aired on "America's Most Wanted" and "Inside Edition," hundreds of leads have turned up nothing. Most of the leads investigators have to follow are the ones they've generated through their own legwork, Cassell said. Wednesday, Michael Short's body was exhumed to collect more forensic evidence, making many wonder if the sheriff's office had some hot new tip. But according to a court order filed Wednesday, investigators were collecting hair samples that hadn't been gathered during the medical examiner's first inspection of the body. Thursday, the sheriff's office acquired a search warrant to go through the Shorts' mail. It was the latest of several warrants investigators have obtained as they sift for clues. What few clues there are point to a crime carried out with considerable deliberation. Phone lines outside the house were cut. Michael and Mary Short were each shot at very close range, possibly while they were still asleep. The weapon used, a .22-caliber gun, is unusual in that many bullets of that caliber cannot be traced back to an individual gun. Though Jennifer's bed was unmade, there appeared to be no sign of a struggle. Investigators have seized guns, ammunition, business records and videotapes from the home. Some of the most curious items found there, including an answering machine tape that contains an obscene message, still haven't given detectives much to go on. Most tips from concerned residents have turned out to be red herrings. Monday, a caller mistook an 11-year-old Danville girl for Jennifer, leading to a scene where police held the tearful girl in a cruiser while her frightened parents showed them identification cards and family photos. Without one thing to focus on, investigators are exploring in many directions. They're still trying to find all the people who have worked for Michael Short's mobile-home-moving business. Because Short employed many transients, the sheriff's office may never find them all, Cassell said. The sheriff's office has given polygraph tests and returned to acquaintances of the Shorts for further interviews. Search parties have scoured side roads that have already been combed over once, and a helicopter has circled over quadrants of the county, looking for anything strange. Despite the lack of progress, investigators still haven't exhausted every possibility, and the probe hasn't slowed. "We've got thirty-some people out here today, and every one of them's busy," Cassell said.
'It pains me to the core' Before he became a Henry County investigator, Jay Gregory served as sheriff of Patrick County. In 1983, his investigation led to the conviction of a North Carolina man, Dennis Stockton, for the gruesome murder-for-hire of an 18-year-old five years before. Kenneth Wayne Arnder's hands had been cut off, and he had been shot once in the head. Stockton was executed by lethal injection in 1995. That case was the biggest one of Gregory's career as sheriff, and it's the only basis for comparison he has for how the Short case makes him feel. It's on his mind constantly, he said. County investigator G.R. Hooker has no such basis. "We've dealt with every case conceivable short of a school shooting, but this is different than anything I've ever dealt with," Hooker said. Hooker worked on collecting forensic evidence at the crime scene, and through that he feels like he's gotten to know the Shorts and their daughter. Jennifer is "a fairly well-adjusted, happy child who loved her family," he said. "It just pains me to the core to try to even imagine what trauma that child was subjected to. And it really makes me wonder what evil came into her home that night." "Every day I feel like there's a hollow spot inside of me," Gregory said. "I suspect it will be there until she's found." Gregory was preparing to take his wife on a vacation to Dollywood when he was paged from home Aug. 15. He's put in as many as 23 hours a day on the case since. Hooker has a 2-year-old daughter he's hardly seen since the Short case started. "It just seems like I spend most of my time telling her, 'Bye.'" But none of the men and women involved in the case wants to go home. They have posters of Jennifer on their office doors, and a minister comes each morning to lead them in prayer before they return to the search. "I've had to make them go home," Cassell said. The sheriff's office is facing a financial crisis because of the search. Cassell estimates he could owe deputies and investigators as much as $70,000 in overtime before the hunt for Jennifer has to be scaled back. He's asked the Virginia Compensation Board for more money, and although the board has expressed willingness to help, he doubts he'll be able to get the full amount he'll need.
'Out here somewhere' Feeling helpless, family members, friends and the community at large have turned to fund-raising to fatten the reward money for tips that lead to Jennifer or help solve her parents' slaying. Currently the reward money offered by various funds totals more than $57,000. On Sept. 1, a horde of motorcycles thundered down U.S. 220, honking horns as they rode by the Shorts' empty house, in an event that raised about $2,700 for the Henry County CrimeStoppers program. Saturday, family and friends held a barbecue benefit at a Rocky Mount truck stop for a fund that had already collected $2,500 by Friday. "We're just not thinking any other way except that she's out here somewhere," said family friend Sheila Davis. Frank Arrington, the Short family's spokesman, used his connections as a retired United Parcel Service pilot to get posters of Jennifer distributed throughout Mexico. He also persuaded the Sheetz gas station company to put posters of Jennifer in every store. Jim Whitehead, Mary Short's brother-in-law, started a fund in Martinsville to pay for Jennifer's medical expenses. At the Circle C just south of the Shorts' home on U.S. 220, owner Loraine St. Clair sells T-shirts, hats and pins bearing images of Jennifer and her family. The proceeds, almost $1,000 so far, go to Whitehead's fund. St. Clair knew Jennifer, who frequently stopped in to her store to cash checks for her parents. "I don't know how to feel; we don't know what to think," she said. "I try to help all I can." Donations for the reward fund can be sent to: Jennifer Renee Short Family Fund, c/o First National Bank, PO Box 207, Boones Mill, VA 24065.
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