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A Familicide In Berks County, Pennsylvania, Leaves Five (plus The Family Dog) Dead

Anosmia

Anosmia

Active Member
Link: http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news...rks-County-389398512.html?_osource=nbcnews_fb

What's weird is that there was a big familicide in Minnesota last year (in August/September, too) and that family was named Short as well.

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A family of five, including three small children, found dead in their Berks County, Pennsylvania, home on Saturday along with what authorities described as a handwritten "murder-suicide note" grappled with a child's illness, post-traumatic stress and strife in their home in recent years.

Police in Sinking Spring, just outside Reading, responded to the family's home on the unit block of Winding Brook Drive about 2 p.m. Saturday after a concerned relative asked them to check on the family, according to the Berks County District Attorney's Office.

Inside the home, police found 40-year-old Mark Jason Short Sr., his wife, Megan L. Short, 33, and the couple's three children, 8-year-old Lianna, 5-year-old Mark Jr. and 2-year-old Willow, along with the family's dog, all dead of gunshot wounds. Authorities said Megan Short was supposed to meet a relative for lunch Saturday, but never showed up and never answered her phone, leading the relative to contact police.

The Berks D.A.'s office also said Sunday morning that responding officers discovered what appears to be a handwritten "murder-suicide" note in the home, as well as a handgun "near one of the deceased adults."

Authorities have not said what the note said or which parent they believe did the shooting, but they said that an investigation revealed there had been "domestic issues" between Mark and Megan Short. They did not specify the nature of those problems.

Their deaths are not the first time the Short family has been in the news.

Articles in The Reading Eagle in 2014 and The New York Times in 2015 profiled the family after Willow, the youngest of their three children, underwent a heart transplant as an infant. The news stories detailed the family's difficulties obtaining anti-rejection medication for Willow.

A blog post Megan Short wrote in April about her family's ordeal treating Willow's heart condition sheds some light on the struggles they faced.

In a post titled "Learning to Heal: My Experience with PTSD" on the Philly at Heart blog, Megan Short wrote of watching her daughter undergo heart surgery as a baby, and of the lasting impact the traumatic experience left on her.

"There are very few moments when you can clearly see your life as separated into the before and after," Megan Short wrote in the beginning of the post. "Having a child born with a severe congenital heart defect has been the most significant shift of my life."

In the post, Megan Short goes on to write about how she wasn't able to hold Willow until three days after she was born, before sending the baby to surgery.

"I can still feel the emotions and fear as the doctors told me that she would not survive the massive bleeding she was experiencing post-surgery," the mother wrote. "I still see her tiny heart beating through the dressing used to cover her open chest and all the tubes and wires and machines as I wondered if they would be able to keep her alive until a donor heart became available."

The mother chronicled the heartbreaking struggles she and her family faced as Willow underwent treatment for her heart condition and eventually came home, and she wrote about the affect it had on her as a mother and as a person.

"I have anxiety and nightmares. Certain smells and hallways trigger memories every single time ... None of this ever got easier," she wrote, adding that she began taking medication and going to therapy for PTSD.

"As I work on my own mental healing, I wanted to share my experience so that other parents know they are not alone," Megan Short wrote. "Sometimes you will feel even worse during the process, but keep going. It is worth it."

Despite the family's struggles, Mark Short's Facebook profile shows the couple and their three blond-haired children smiling in dozens of photos.

One one picture of him with his wife he posted in December, the two grin in black and white.

"She's still the most beautiful girl that I've ever met," Mark Short Sr. wrote in a comment on the photo. "I'm the luckiest guy in the world to have her as my life and the mother of my three amazing children."
 
I don't think the mum blog rules out the father they were equally under financial stress of medical care/medications,
Either way it's fucking awful kids look so sweet
21oyk3l.jpg
 
http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/15/us/pennsylvania-family-murder-suicide/

Megan Short was all set to leave her husband and move with her three children into a new home on August 6.

She had leased a residence in Yardley, Pennsylvania, and relatives were waiting there for her that day. All that remained to be done was for her estranged husband, Mark Short, to rent a moving van and help her move belongings from their Sinking Spring home.

But Megan Short and her children never made it there.

Mark Short killed his 33-year-old wife and the couple's three children, 8-year-old Liana, 5-year-old Mark Jr., and 2-year-old Willow, before turning the gun on himself, Berks County District Attorney John Adams said at a news conference Monday. Willow survived a heart transplant at 6 days old, and her story made national headlines.

The couple had "domestic and marital problems," some of which led to police calls, Adams said. But none of them resulted in charges or arrests, and Megan Short declined to obtain protective order against her husband, Adams said.

"This was a very, very unfortunate incident," he said.

An investigation revealed a timeline of troubling signs.

In June, security in a Philadelphia hotel was called to respond to a domestic dispute in a room the Shorts were staying in, Adams said. He did not specify whether any charges resulted from the encounter.

On July 18, Sinking Spring police officers responded to a domestic dispute at the Short home. No physical injuries were found and no charges were filed.

The responding officers told Short how to get a protection from abuse order order, "but she chose not to," Adams said.

Mark Short purchased the .38-caliber five-shot revolver handgun and a stock of ammunition from a licensed gun dealership on July 15. Ten days later, Megan Short leased the Yardley home and began making plans to leave.

Mark Short was "demoted" at his job on August 1, Adams said. Four days later, the day before he killed them, he took his three children to Hershey Park, an amusement area, Adams said.
Megan Short's mother called Sinking Spring police after her daughter did not show up on August 6.

Police found their bodies and the family dog in the family's Sinking Spring home, dead from gunshot wounds, Adams said. Mark Short left a note admitting to buying the gun and killing his family, likely written after he killed his family, Adams said.
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http://time.com/4452939/mark-short-murder-suicide-hershey-park/

A Pennsylvania father took his three children to Hershey Park one day before he fatally shot them, their mother and their family dog in a murder-suicide earlier this month, authorities said.

Mark Short Sr. and his family were found dead with gunshot wounds in the living room of their Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania home on Aug. 6, according to prosecutors.District Attorney John Adams said Monday that the 40-year-old father was the shooter and that he had penned a suicide note after killing his 33-year-old wife Megan Short, their children — 8-year-old Lianna, 5-year-old Mark Jr., and 2-year-old Willow — and their dog.

Each child suffered one gunshot wound and they were found on the floor in their pajamas near blankets and pillows, officials said during a news conference Monday.​

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My friend's teen daughter runs a pizzeria in Hersheypark and is wondering now if she served them. How creepy that would be, as it would be one of their final meals.
 
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