Friday, September 27, 2002
'It's just rough, not knowing and wondering,' girl's uncle says
Hair test suggests body isn't Jennifer's

Although there aren't enough remains to identify the body, police have been contacted by numerous agencies regarding missing-persons cases.

By MIKE ALLEN
THE ROANOKE TIMES

   MADISON, N.C. - The emotional roller coaster ride for the relatives of a missing Henry County girl started Wednesday afternoon, when a North Carolina man discovered skeletal remains of a "small person" in his yard.

    Fear and worry combined with hope Thursday, when authorities announced that the remains don't appear to be Jennifer Short's.

    "I may be wrong," Henry County Sheriff Frank Cassell said, but "I don't think this is Jennifer, and I didn't think it yesterday."

    Thursday marked six weeks since the bodies of Michael and Mary Short were discovered Aug. 15 in their Oak Level home. Each had been shot once in the head, and telephone lines to the house had been cut. The couple's 9-year-old daughter, Jennifer, has been missing and presumed kidnapped since then.

    Using a microscope, the state medical examiner's office compared hair from the North Carolina remains with samples of Jennifer Short's hair taken from her Oak Level home. The samples don't match, Cassell said Thursday.

    However, authorities are awaiting a DNA test before definitely concluding the remains are not Jennifer's. Results from those tests are not expected for a few days.

    Jim Whitehead, Mary Short's brother-in-law, said he'd been awake since 2:30 a.m. Thursday, thinking, "Oh, Lord, don't let it be her." News that the remains likely aren't Jennifer's restored a cautious optimism.

    "I'm hoping very much that she's alive, but I'm also expecting the worst," Whitehead said from his office in Alaska.

    Jennifer Short's other relatives also stayed glued to their televisions Wednesday night and Thursday, alternately hopeful and frightened.

    "It's just rough, not knowing and wondering what they're going to come up with," said Jerry Short, Michael Short's brother, who lives in Franklin County.

    Knowing the hair samples didn't match raised Whitehead's hopes, but now, "I feel sorry for whoever's parents that person belongs to."

    The remains were found about 1:30 a.m. on Grogan Road, about four miles east of Madison in Rockingham County. The location is about 30 miles south of the Shorts' home, which is alongside northbound U.S. 220 near the Franklin County-Henry County border.

    Eddie Albert noticed one of his dogs playing in his driveway with a piece of a skull that had hair attached.

    Albert called police, who searched the grounds throughout the night. A large pond in Albert's front yard was drained, though searchers found no remains there. Albert is not a suspect, authorities said.

    Beneath Thursday's pounding rain, about 45 searchers canvassed the upscale neighborhood surrounding the house. Small orange flags marked spots where searchers found pieces of bone.

    About noon, the Rockingham County Sheriff's Office suspended the search, saying they had found nothing new for several hours. They found pieces of a skull and jaw, hair, some teeth and many small fragments, said Maj. Jim Thomas, who coordinated the search.

    There weren't enough remains to identify the body. The Rockingham Sheriff's Office was contacted by numerous agencies Thursday morning regarding missing-persons cases going back to the 1970s. Rockingham authorities also reopened a year-old missing-persons case involving a woman in her 30s.

    Meanwhile, police in Greenbrier County, W.Va., on Thursday reported skeletal remains had been discovered in a state park Thursday morning.

    Capt. Kimmy Nester of the Henry County Sheriff's Office said, "it doesn't appear that it will be related" to the Short case, but "we'll know more as the investigation goes on."

    Henry County authorities have requested autopsy and DNA test results from that discovery.

    About 15 investigators assigned to the Short case continue to track down leads and take tips from callers.

    "We check everything as long as it isn't just absolutely ludicrous," Cassell said. "One of these days, one of these calls will put us on the right track."

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

    MIKE ALLEN can be reached

   at 981-3149 or mikea@roanoke.com.

    "It doesn't appear that it will be related," but "we'll know more as the investigation goes on," said sheriff's Capt. Kimmy Nester.

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