The Short Family Homicide Part 1

Hi, I'm Holly and I'm Haley. Welcome to Mountain Mysteries, Tales from Appalachia. Hey, welcome back everybody. Hello.

Hello. We have had some super stressful little bit. Oh my gosh. Yeah, it's a yeah.

Yeah, we had a friend who was seriously injured, rec. Yeah, crazy crazy car accident. I mean, it was like looking at the pictures of the vehicle, I was like, she shouldn't be alive. Yeah, so it's a miracle that she is.

We're so grateful that she is and she's got a long road ahead. But going to be okay. Yeah, it's very, very happy about that. Yeah, it's been a long like this was our first week back, like full week back in school with kids since before Christmas.

Wow. Because we've had weather, we've had just like all kinds of stuff. And then our school community, like we had a really big tragedy that we went through, lost one of our students in a car accident very suddenly, very tragically. So that's kind of been a hard thing to process with, you know, staffing kids and everything.

It's just, I'm not really sure that I fully like gone through all of that yet, but we're trying to get back to quote, unquote normal and we're not normal. No, and like the feelings of all of the, like trying to that feels so wrong to say, right? Like, you know, when it's a grief like that, it's like everything should stop, but it doesn't. No, you have to figure out how to keep going and like be the show uppercase and show up for your colleagues and like all this stuff.

And like that student's family you have to show up for and you know, it's tough. It's tough week. Yeah, I think that everybody deals with grief in really their own way, but a really healthy way to display grief is to walk through it, to sit in it. Yeah, it hurts and it doesn't feel good and, you know, allow yourself just that time and space to be upset, to be angry, to feel all those things that come.

I think the more that we hold them back and, you know, I think even for our kids, our kids need to see that we're human too and that, you know, it's upsetting. And I think that for them, they're, they get angry when they're not seeing the emotions from us because we're trying to be strong and they're like, doesn't this mean as much to me as it does, you know, doesn't mean to you what it means to me. And so I think it's completely okay to sometimes break down a little bit because we're human. Yeah, I think that was like, I noticed that on the day, there was a lot that I don't remember about that day, just because it was a start from the very beginning of the day on the way to school.

Like it was very much, I think I've been in the building, like we had kids by 15 minutes, but when we got the news and kind of allowed ourselves like as adults in the room that I found out first to like have a minute or two of just shock and then turn it on really quick and like, okay, what we do, what we do, like we got like inform staff and kids and like go through all of this with them and we're such a small school and we're such a small like tight community that like it very drastically affected everybody in that building. But I do think it was important, like I'm walking through the halls, like I know I walk through the halls, I was crying, like all day and like other my colleagues were as well. And so I think the kids seeing us cry and like we had coaches come up, we had other, you know, community members came in like just the amount of support was pretty incredible. But yeah, it was good I think for them to see us be vulnerable in that way.

Yeah, to sit and to cry with them and to you know hug on them and love on them. And you know the next day we came, we had a snow day the next day and then we came back full schedule and like all staff was in the hallway to like welcome kids back in and like you know again hug and love on them and like sitting like we're here whatever you need. We're gonna try to do our day as you know best we can and you know and that student was just such a light and just a really sweet soul and lit up a room, very much lit up a room like us. We might go off right?

Well that was somebody who knew. Yeah, the student lit up in every space. I think you know we think that teenagers like well we don't need to hug them and they're fine you know that kind of thing. But you know what at the end of the day we're all human we all want to be loved on we all want to be cared about.

We all want to share these experiences and I think you know you just talking about like being emotional and like hugging these kids and like you all just sharing this bond you know in such a deep way because you have a shared experience and I think that's something that they'll never forget and that they can say like wow we grieve this together that's huge. Yeah that's huge. Yeah it's such a unique experience and one that I don't I wish we never had to go through we never have to go through again and you know it is such a tragedy but and I'm very like intentional and like I think some people get caught up in the professional aspects of your job especially in like schools and like teaching and being in the schools like I have a lot of kids who don't get that anywhere else except school like that love and things I'm very intentional and like I tell kids that I love them. Yeah like I've you know you hear from like the professionals and like oh that can be misconstrued and I'm like I'm telling kids that I love them.

Yeah like I tell kids I love them I hug kids like because there are some that don't get that anywhere else or have never been told that somebody loves them. Yeah yeah yeah and then to hear them like and they'll say it to you like I have several students who like when they you know leave my office or leave the room that I'm in they'll be like love you miss I'm like love you too. Oh that's so sweet. You know they'll leave and I'm like love you buddy.

I've had a facade on or whatever and I love you too. I've been rolled her eyes. That's a teenage reaction. Love you too.

Yeah so I have to facade on them like you know I only do this because I love you. Yeah I'm like I believe in you. Yeah and I know you can do it. Yeah that's security for them.

Yeah for sure. So heavy week. Keep doing what you're doing. You're doing good things and we're trying to rest blocks through it.

Yeah so you can do it's like it's been tough. Like isn't it tough start to the year for a lot of people. Yeah I'm sure like you all listening to this a lot of stuff too as well. It just feels like it's been heavy.

It's been yeah it's been super heavy start and heavy week and so we just want you to know that we're thinking about you all and we love you. We love you. We love you. We love you.

I know you only hear us in your car or you only hear us when you're doing dishes or you got your earbuds in but if anybody hasn't told you that we really love you and we do appreciate you. Absolutely. I don't appreciate the ones who write negative things on Apple. I appreciate you most of all.

I didn't like the sound of her eating a banana that was cringy. Oh wow yeah that was that really struck a chord with that individual. It did. That was triggering.

Apparently so. And I'm here to say it was for me as well but it's okay. Sorry. You know whatever that is where like what is that called where you can't stay in the sound of people eating because I for sure have that.

Yummy phobia. I don't know. Like those like ASMR videos or whatever that like show people like eating food or whatever. Makes me internally ill.

I love the ones where they're cleaning and you can hear like some of them are really like any kind of like wet sounding thing. I don't really like food eating. I don't like yeah um like any kind of like tippity tap like that. I love that.

I like that. I like that. I do like that sound. The tippity taps.

It's the the dancer in you. You like the tippity taps. I do too. I love the sound of tap shoes.

I love it. I love it. You know I love it. So I that's why I want to learn to tap just so I can make all those noises.

Well if you want to leave a negative comment. I mean don't let it go for it. I mean we don't want to leave a positive comment. Not even greater.

Yes that would. But I don't think those that leave negative comments are accomplishing what they hope to. Right. Because like I we just keep doing it.

Really get a kick out of reading some of them sometimes like it cracks me. I'm like yeah someone really had to sit there. And really listen. Listen closely and carefully and really think this out.

So you know what that means they're listening every week. And then take the time to actually sit down and write that out. What a negative experience. Which is great.

It is. I love it. So you know do what you do. That's what you know makes you happy.

So Tara there's down. I'm glad we can be that source for you because you know we're secure enough to handle that. Exactly. You know maybe don't yell at your local checkout person at the grocery store and instead you can yell at us.

We'll take that on. Hayley Bell. I will. I'm like I ain't digging that on.

I'll take it on. Yeah. That's really nice. Maybe you just need a hug and be told you're loved.

And we'll do that for you from your ears. There's an ear hug. Oh there's that that's done. All right well.

All right. Go for it. Cool. We have a story today.

You got two part. Don't you? Yes. I'm excited.

I am very excited about this. So as I was digging into the story I realized very quickly that I had 12 pages and I was like oh wait wait wait you have 12 pages and you have 12 pages that you blow up to like 60 point five. No it is at 14 on the cowboy body. Yes.

You can read that. It's like that's like small. That's not small. And I bolded.

Wait let me see. Well here I've made a bigger. I'm impressed. Thank you.

Wow. Thank you. Those listen. I was in high school when you were pooping in diapers.

I thought I could have babysat you and changed your diapers. You've been my mom. You were you know teen pregnancy. Hey.

Hey. Hey. Oh my gosh. My teen pregnancy.

Oh yes. It's teeny pregnant. Oh my gosh. I was.

I was back in the late 90s. Yeah that's right. I would have rocked that too. Yeah.

Yeah. Really good. Me and my little red headed baby daddy. He had to have been.

You had to have red hair. Yeah. I knew about my parents that right here. That's true.

That's true. That's good to generation. Maybe he's grandm That's right. The top movie at the box office was signs.

This is a movie with a crop circle. Oh yeah. Aliens. Yeah.

Never seen it but I know what you're talking about. Yep. In World Events Israeli Troops along with 30 tanks push their way into northern Gaza killing a Palestinian police officer. I feel like we're seeing you know there's a big old conflict.

Yes. It kind of seems like we just never can get away from it. It seems to just keep going to the surface. There's just big stuff going on there that I won't get into but big stuff.

And at this point this was just less than a gear post 9-11. Oh yes. Tensions are high. Tensions are high.

Yes. Very. And there's a lot of pressure from the US to push forward. Yep.

Absolutely. Yep. All right. So now we're traveling to Oaks level Virginia where our story begins.

Okay. Oaks level sits in Henry County and is only a short drive north of the Virginia North Carolina line. It's about an hour drive to Greensboro, North Carolina. Okay.

So yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Got it.

So it's the evening of Wednesday August 14th, 2002. Chris Thompson is at the home and workplace of his boss, Michael Short. Michael owns M. S.

Mobile home moving, which is exactly how it sounds. They transport and move mobile homes from one place to another. It's always fascinating to see those like on the road. It usually says like there's a car in front of it.

This is why load and slow down. It's like me want to come down the hallway. So it's all same. I'm not saying sign in front of me.

Yeah. I'm like, oh my goodness. But yes. So that's essentially what Michael and his moving company did.

Over the last several years, Michael has had many workers come and go and he offered often hired folks who were nomadic. So people traveling around. His business often had him traveling to places like Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky. So he traveled all around.

Yeah. Chris has been working for Michael for a short time, but has run very fond of him and his family, which includes his wife Mary and their nine year old daughter, Jennifer. Cute. Precious.

Precious little family. On this night, Michael has asked Chris to come by and work on one of the trucks that they have in the yard. Chris obliges and comes to the house. So let me explain this house situation for a second.

The family home is on a four lane highway, US 220 to be exact, also known as Virginia Avenue. There aren't a ton of houses around, so it wouldn't really be described as residential, but more a heavily trafficked thorough fare. Yeah. So along this highway, it's several businesses, including a circle C, not a circle K, right a circle C convenience store that is directly across the street from the short home.

Okay. The shorts are pretty well known patrons of the circle C, especially their daughter, Jennifer, who likes to go across the street and pop in and chat with the staff. She typically comes in and buys candy. Now, is she crossing like, is this one of those where it's like, she's crossing the four lane or is it like a residential, not a residential, but you know how you have like the four lanes and you have like houses on the side and there's kind of like a little off road.

I actually found the address and I googled it so I could see for myself what this looks like. And of course, you know, it was it was from 2023, the Google, but anyway, so essentially it's two lanes and then a median in between, which is like a grassy medium and like areas where you can make left turn and anything. And then there's, yes. So then there is two other lanes.

So that's how the four lanes. That's scary. That's very scary. Because usually that's like 60 miles an hour.

Yeah. 55 to 60. So people are pretty fast. But I assume, you know, they taught her all the things and safety and I think I'm still not letting my non-year old rock out.

I can tell you that the circle C convenience store, it didn't face their house, the side of the convenience store face their house. So the entrance faced another road. So you'd have to turn down another road to go to the front. Gotcha.

Yeah. Yeah. That'll come through later and make a little bit more sense when I talk about convenience store. Anyway, Jennifer is described as sweet and precocious.

On her last trip to the circle C a day prior, Jennifer was talking about her upcoming school year at Fitzborough Elementary School and how excited she was about it. So I would assume being nine, she's probably going into the fourth grade. Yeah. Jennifer was a really good student.

She had a lot of close friends and she played on the little league baseball team. Yeah. I played on little league baseball too. I played little league softball.

Did you? For a year. I was the only girl on the team. I hated it.

I loved it. I loved it. I played first base. I was really good.

I don't know what I played. I feel like five. I don't remember much about it. I didn't return for a second year.

So I'm a little bit five. Who is really good? Yeah. You know, I played from five to 10.

Okay. I was an all star. Oh, I know. I know.

I've had soccer. Oh, no, I didn't play soccer. I was the only girl on my co-ed soccer team. Oh, yeah.

So I was me and all the boys. I loved it. They call it co-ed, but it should just be Haley. Right.

It was co-ed. There were more girls originally and then that they dropped out. It's split. So and there was a like a eight, you and a six, you or whatever it is, like in soccer.

Yeah. And I played up a level. So I played on the eight you team and I was the only girl on that team and the rest formed an all-girl team on like a little girl level or something. But they let me play.

Sounds almost like a mean girl club like, oh, we're gonna stay together. Haley, you have to go over there. Yeah, I played with the boys. So nice.

It's fine. I think I had a good time. I think I quit playing. I was like 10 later.

Come on. Interesting. Has a full grown adult by then. Yeah, you are.

Look at my baby playing soccer. All right. So in addition to the Circle C, there were several other service stations in Elondranat along this highway kind of close to the house. So the short home was a ranch-style house with a large carport that Michael used to keep his tools and vehicles.

He was known to tinker a lot with his cars and trucks. So he kept a couch out in the covered porch. Okay. So it's not, you know, hey, just like sit down, take a break on the cover porch and put it inside.

Oh, I think it's a little easier. Maybe bring your coffee out there. Sure. Why not?

So for those of you who are overseas and don't know what a carport is, it's basically a garage with no door. So I have a carport. Yeah. Yeah.

Where I live with carport. Under it. So it's covered. You can park underneath it, but it's like open air.

Yeah. Mine's more like a shed, but yeah. So like shed carport, tomato tomato. Right.

A few weeks prior to this, the short family put their house up for sale because they were hoping to move to South Carolina. They had several showings, but no offers were on the table. When Chris shows up in the early evening to help Michael, he observes Mary, who's getting out of her car. She had gotten fast food for dinner for the family.

So the family and Chris, they all eat. Okay. And then afterwards, Jennifer plays outside, darting in between Chris and her father as she happily rides her bike. Yeah.

Yeah. As the sun goes down, Jennifer and Mary go inside to bed while Chris and Michael continue to work on the truck. Exhausted, Chris leaves the home around midnight and returns to his hotel. As he wakes the next morning, he plans to go back over to the home and continue helping Michael.

It's around nine a.m. when he arrives at the short home. All appears to be quiet. And his first thought is that, oh, everyone must still be asleep.

I mean, especially Michael, he was up pretty late. So he's thinking like, Oh, Josh, I don't want to wake him up. This is alarm. Yeah.

Like, Oh, yeah. Sorry. That's one of those like weird things. Like it's your boss.

You don't want to wake anybody up. You know, yeah. Yeah. I've had, I mean, not that experience, but it reminds me of, so my boyfriend currently is, I mean, hopefully for a while, I didn't have a phrase.

I, he's great. But in this moment, in this moment, no, he was coming over my house in the morning because we were going to go to do something later today. But came over the morning, I was like, just call me or text me when you get here. I'll get up and unlock the door because I was asleep.

Like I knew I'd be asleep when he got there. So I'm not getting up for you. No, let me know. I'll come and lock the door.

You can hang up on my bed. I'm kind of like, I'm exelized. But he gets to my house, texts me. I don't answer because I'm asleep.

Does not call me because he's like, I think you had, you'd been sick and I didn't want to wake you up. So he leaves my house, goes to get a biscuit at the bojangles, comes back, sits in his car and eats his biscuit until I wake up to let him into my house. He is a good man. I'm like, Oh, why did you call a call me?

He is a good man. He is a good man. I'm here to say this. Yeah, he's pretty good.

I mean, you're trying your damnedest to shoot him off, but I tell you what, he is a good man because I got my track record. Yeah, he's pretty good. Well, no, I mean, you're like, you suck at hosting is like, you know, I'm getting up with that. Like, you're just amazing.

Yeah, he's great. He has to be with all those guys. That's a lot to put up with. She's a spicy ginger.

So Chris similarly is like, eat his biscuit in the car. He's like, Oh, my gosh. He actually, he walks into the carport just looking around and he sees Michael laying on the couch. So at first, he's like, Oh, Michael's sleeping.

So kind of tip toes. Oddly to sleep. Well, you know, you think about like he was working really late on the truck. Yeah, I lay down.

You know how some people can sleep anywhere. I can do that. Not me. Yes, but some people can.

So I'm gonna get a sleep anywhere. Yeah. So upon closer inspection, he discovers, however, some blood and what appears to be a gunshot wound to the back of Michael's head. Oh my God.

He freaks out instantly finds a phone and calls 911. Yeah, when the Henry County Sheriff's Department arrives on the scene, they try to calm Chris down a little bit and gather as much information as possible. Chris tells the police that Michael has a wife and a young daughter whom he last saw go into the home to go to bed. Chris recalls his story of working on the car and leaving the home around midnight.

Police move about the property and confirm that Michael's short was deceased and it did appear that the cause of death was from a gunshot wound to the back of the head execution style. Oh my God. Near Michael's body was a 22 caliber spent shell casing. So they knew what kind of job was used as the Henry County police entered the home they found Mary short in her bed covered in blood.

She too had been shot in the head execution style and was deceased. They also found a 22 caliber shell casing near Mary's body. Okay. So at this point police are fearing, oh my God, the entire family has been wiped out.

They fear the words to say approach nine year old Jennifer's bedroom. They open the door to find a pillow on the floor and the mattress move slightly, but Jennifer is nowhere to be found. Oh wow. Didn't see that coming to you.

That's not I was like I even thought she said too. Police initially assumed that Jennifer may have seen or heard her parents be shot and ran into the woods behind the family's home for which that would for sure be a go to like if you know right that she's been taken or kids don't think like adults do right like adults are like let me make sure everybody's okay kids are like let me get out of here. I think sometimes they run to their parents right kind of thing, but maybe she saw this person and she ran off. So that's what they're thinking largely because there didn't appear to be anything disturbed really in the house.

So they thought like maybe she heard this and or maybe the killer saw her and like they all kind of ran. I don't know. So there didn't appear to be any sort of struggle. Okay.

It was thought that the parents were sleeping when the killer came up and shot right. The police searched the woods but there was no sign of Jennifer. Back in the home of a friend that team joined the officers and the house was swept for fingerprints DNA and thoroughly examined. They found $600 in cash, 400 of it laying on the kitchen counter.

They also found jewelry, electronics and two guns. So it's pretty evident early on that theft was not a motive in this case. The big question now was where was Jennifer? If not a robbery perhaps Jennifer was kidnapped for ransom or in an attempt to get back at her parents.

Did someone have a bridge against Michael Shorter? His wife Mary? Did Jennifer see or hear what had happened and she was kidnapped or was she the intended victim all along? These were all the questions that the police had.

So the police put out an amber alert for Jennifer and her disappearance soon garnered national attention. Details of Jennifer's appearance, age, height and weight were noted but no one knew what clothing she had last been dressed in because no one had seen her. Jennifer's family went on television and pleaded with the public to help them bring Jennifer home safely. Flyers went up throughout the community that read, please find Jennifer.

Volunteers helped search the woods near the home but to no avail. A few days after the murders, a funeral was held in memory of Michael and Mary short. Police actually videoed the funeral just in case the killer was among those who came to mourn. Oh wow, yeah.

Yes. All the tactics to find the killer or killers seem futile though. Police began receiving calls and tips from all over the country including places like Florida and as far west as California. Psychics were calling in with their visions as they do.

As they do. As they do. And they pretty much were looking into any tip. I mean they were pretty open at this point.

There were several phone calls from individuals in North Carolina stating that they had seen a young girl matching Jennifer's description with a middle aged man. Some even said they saw him with a gun. Yeah. Investigators tried to hunt down this lead but nothing substantial came from it.

Back at the house, investigators called in support from two different county prosecutors and police. They took boxes full of evidence from the home though none have ever been disclosed to the public. So we don't know what they took. Wow.

Yeah. Okay. We don't know what kind of evidence they have. Extended family members of the shorts told Fox eight news that it took several weeks for them to be allowed to enter the home again.

And when they did, they found it a mess with fingerprint dust all over the walls. Yeah. Particularly in Jennifer's room. There didn't appear to be any reason why this family would have been so savagely attacked.

Right. Police interviewed Chris Thompson, the man who worked for Michael and found them since he was the last person to see the three alive. While Chris wasn't automatically a suspect, police had to interview him and find out more information. Right.

I mean, that could be my first thought. Absolutely. Like you're the last person to see them. Those kind of makes you left at midnight.

Right. I mean, like, that makes you the prime suspect. Absolutely. So Chris recalled everything about that night.

And then included that when he left the home and arrived at his hotel, it was around midnight. He kind of went through the story again. They were able to cooperate Chris's timeline. And I guess maybe security cameras?

Probably. Even though in 2002, that wasn't as everywhere as it is now. Right. But you think probably at a hotel.

Yeah, they probably did. Probably had. I'm like, I probably see them come in. Exactly.

So they were able to cooperate that piece of it. But I mean, who's to say they weren't killed before that. But I guess autopsies would have showed like based on eating and that kind of thing, what time they died. So they learned from Chris that Michael Short hired those who traveled around a lot.

So they found old employees and interviewed them thinking that maybe Michael made someone mad, and this was an attempt to get even. But nothing came from that. Yeah. They received a tip, however, that in 1992, Mary Short was working at a local mill when a colleague began stalking her.

While no formal stalking charges were filed, the colleague was fired. So you've got someone who may have like really been into her. This was a guy. And so maybe he harmed her.

Maybe he had been stalking her again. So this man was swiftly interviewed, but he had no contact with Mary since 1992. And he had no connection to the crime whatsoever. Police received another tip that Jennifer was not the biological daughter of Michael Short.

Interesting. This brought up the idea that perhaps Jennifer was kidnapped by her biological father or someone who at least thought he was her biological father. Interesting. So okay.

So we know we have this other working theory that perhaps Jennifer's biological father decided to kill Michael and Mary and take his child back. Good Michael, no Jennifer wasn't his biological father. Well, we'll get into that. Interesting.

Okay. I'm ready. So but this all feels weird to me. Like she's nine years old.

So why would you just wait nine years to like decide to be a part of her life and why would you kill parents over it? Like, it's very strange. Yeah. So police have DNA from Jennifer's room enough for a profile.

So in order to determine paternity, they have to exhum Michael Short's body, which had only been laid to rest for about 13 days at that while. So yes, he's newly buried. He's fresh. He is fresh.

So that's no. He's a person. It's us. You all know.

Yeah. It's all right. It's all right. They take a DNA sample from Michael's body and they send it to the lab for comparative analysis.

Police received the results and announced to the press that Mary is the biological father of Jennifer. Mary is the father? Michael's father. You want me to say it again?

No, I won't. That right there. We're going to keep that. Mary is the biological mother.

Sorry about that of Jennifer, but they don't reveal who the father is. They leave it ambiguous. Interesting. Okay.

They don't reveal it to the public. What the police and the Short family know though is that Michael is Jennifer's father. It's like an episode of Maury. Doesn't it?

You are the father. Right. And then they just go back and cry in the back room or like lay on the floor and roll around and scream those are my favorites. Yeah.

That's what will happen when we go on and you learn who, you know, your teenage baby daddy is. Gotcha. He was a teenager when, right? He became my baby daddy.

Got it. Got it. Yeah. Yeah.

It's carrot top. No. Interesting. No.

Okay. Wild. 97 was an interesting year. Sounds like it.

It was for a lot of people. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, so we know that the police have this going.

So the whole theory isn't correct of what they're putting out there. However, the police want to present to the public some ambiguity in regards to her parentage because they're thinking like, okay, so what if Mary, you know, have had an affair or something and this guy thinks this is my kid. So let's let them think that and maybe someone will come forward. So this was their mindset, but let me tell you, this was stupid.

Oh, all it did was serve to piss off the Short Family basically because they knew the truth, the police knew the truth, but they were putting out there that, you know, Mary could have had an affair and that Michael wasn't the father and all these things that were sort of left up in the air for people to assume and think and they're like, at this point, we've lost two family members. Jennifer is still missing and now the police are going down this road implying things that aren't true. What's the point of all this really? So no man ever came forward claiming to be Jennifer's father or saying, oh yeah, here she is.

Like, yeah, that did not happen. Right. Recalling that the shorts had their house up for sale, they contacted the family's real estate agent and asked who all had come in for showings. They followed up with all the potential home buyers, but again, nobody stood out.

Police continued to interview locals and heard from several folks that they had observed a flatbed truck parked near the short home in the early morning hours of August 15th. Now, keep in mind, this was a busy thoroughfare and we're also talking about a convenience store that's open 24 hours. So there's a high likelihood that someone could see what's going on across the street. Those interviewed stated that a man in his mid 40s with a weathered face and a baseball cap was sitting in the driver's seat.

Interesting. Police felt this was the best lead they had to go on, but did not release a sketch to the public. At this point, any information that the police felt viable, they held very tightly to the best. After several weeks, the short family was becoming greatly discouraged.

They feared that they would never find Jennifer. They continued to put up flyers and ask the community to look for her and report back anything they saw or recalled. Everyone in the community was terrified and was desperate to find Jennifer. When it, where was this little girl?

Was she safe? Was she hurt? Was she out there missing her family just as much as they were missing her? The community was asking who could have done this and why?

It seemed like Mary and Michael didn't have any enemies. They were just a sweet family. All right. We're going to end here this week, but I want you to tune in next week as we explore some resolutions and some ongoing questions.

Have I made this stressful for you? Sorry. Don't know. Okay.

I'm going to tell you. The care top is not your problem. I'm sorry. Oh, man.

I'm sorry. Yeah. Who would have been into in 19 in the 90s? Let's see.

Oh, God. It's probably somebody from NSYNC. I love about it. Okay.

Okay. Maybe a good one though. Yeah. I don't know.

Justin's lost a lot of his glory now with the whole BNB Britney thing. I don't know. A friend and I were talking about that the other day. Actually a coworker of mine.

We were talking about it. She said, you know, I just don't like the whole. She said at first I really hated him for the whole Britney thing. She was like, but then I thought he was a kid.

Kids are stupid and he was scared and he's a grown ass man now. She did throw out that she's a grown ass woman and that she can like him if she wants. And I was like, yes, you can. It's okay.

She said her kids saw a picture of him and said from from the 90s and said, is that what he used to look like? You know, he's a little jerry curl and she was like, yes. And they're like, wow, he's an old man. Which means so are we.

We are old now too. Wow. She went. Sorry.

He can still bring sexy back. All right. Justin is the father. Okay.

Sure. Sure. Child support. I know she's an adult now, but yeah, but it's very hard to raise her hand.

Back day. There you go. Anyway, if you want to send Haley an email, she would love it. Actually, it probably would be great to just raise her spirits a little bit.

You can do so by emailing us at mountain mysteries dot Appalachian at gmail.com. You can find us on Facebook at mountain mysteries, tales from Appalachia. Shoot us a message on Instagram at mountain mysteries dot Appalachia and patreon patreon.com slash mountain mysteries. That's where you get all that bonus content.

Oh, do you have a shout out today? Sure. With my flim. I have a lot of that going on.

You're so nasty nasty nasty. Let's go Amelia. Oh, hi. That's awesome.

I just popped out. Nice. Well, thank you for listening and don't forget part two next week. See you then.

Bye. Bye.