Skull, bones determined to be 9-year-old Virginia girl missing since August

<br>WENTWORTH, N.C. (AP) _ Bone fragments and a skull found on a rural property are the remains of a 9-year-old girl who vanished after her parents were fatally shot in their home seven weeks ago, authorities

Friday, October 4th 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

WENTWORTH, N.C. (AP) _ Bone fragments and a skull found on a rural property are the remains of a 9-year-old girl who vanished after her parents were fatally shot in their home seven weeks ago, authorities said Friday.

Investigators said they have not made any arrests but would like to talk with a man whose rented house and mobile home in Rockingham County were recently searched.

The remains were discovered Sept. 25 near a home in Stoneville, N.C., about 30 miles south of Jennifer Short's home.

Jennifer had been missing since Aug. 15, when the bodies of her parents _ Michael Short, 50, and Mary Short, 36 _ were found in their Bassett, Va., home. Investigators had said they believed the girl had been abducted.

``The skeletal remains in Rockingham County have been determined to be a positive match with the DNA profile of Short and are hers,'' Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page said.

The investigation and search for the little girl had been emotionally difficult, said Sheriff Frank Cassell of Henry County, Va.

``She's gone now and she's safe now and no evil can befall her,'' he said.

Tests by a lab in Roanoke, Va., showed Jennifer had been shot, Page said. Neither sheriff would say whether evidence indicated she had been raped.

``I am saddened. I am heartbroken for this little girl and her family,'' Cassell said. ``But at least it's important for them to know she's not out there being abused or hurt.''

Rockingham County sheriff's deputies seized nine maps, one of which was marked to show the location of the Shorts' home, on Saturday from the trailer east of Madison, according to court records. The house was searched in August.

Court records said Garrison Storm Bowman, 60, owned the mobile home and rented the house from another man. Bowman was last seen by the house's owner the day after the Shorts' bodies were found.

Page said investigators would like to speak with Bowman, but he is not believed to be in the United States.

``He has not been listed as a suspect but we do need to talk to him. We know where he's at and we will be interviewing him at a later time,'' he said.

An affidavit accompanying the search warrants said Bowman had threatened to kill a man in Virginia in a dispute over moving the mobile home from one site to another in Rockingham County, the News & Record of Greensboro and The Roanoke (Va.) Times reported Friday. The man was not identified in the affidavit.

Michael Short owned and operated a mobile-home moving business in Virginia.