Jennifer Short · Ronan Farrow · R. Kelly
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A new podcast seeks to solve the abduction and death of a 9-year-old girl and her parents. It’s been 17 years since Michael and Mary Short were found dead in their Oak Level, Virginia home, shot in a manner police described as “execution style.” Their daughter, Jennifer, wasn’t in the home, but was found in a North Carolina creek six weeks later.
The case was haunting enough that it prompted Kevin Daniels, the news director of WGHP to launch a podcast on the case. “I was in the newsroom the day of the Short murders and Jennifer’s abduction 17 years ago; I was the assistant news director at the time,” he tells the Martinsville Bulletin. In the pod, he says that reporters tracked down “some new voices” and “I think we went pretty aggressively at the FBI, and the lead investigator, who hasn’t previously talked.”
So far, the show’s one episode in -- and it’s tightly produced and solid, clocking in at about nine minutes. No major revelations, thus far, but I have to admit that I found myself wanting to listen to the next ep, which for me is as high as praise can get in these days of Peak True Crime. It’s a low investment (again: nine minutes), you can give it a shot here. -- EB