Remains probably not Jennifer Short

STONEVILLE, N.C., Sept. 26 (UPI) -- The Henry County, Va., sheriff said Thursday remains found in North Carolina are probably not those of 9-year-old Jennifer Short, who has been missing since Aug. 15 when both her parents were shot to death at their Oak Level, Va., home.

Sheriff Frank Cassell said a hair fragment from the remains were sent to a laboratory in Virginia where a microscopic analysis concluded it was probably not from the little girl.

"However, that is not a definitive answer," Cassell said.

He said there will be further tests, including a DNA analysis.

"Obviously I don't have any answers. We still have hopes of finding Jennifer alive. We hope that this is not Jennifer," he said. "It's been very frustrating. We've had men working on it every day -- a lot of men, the FBI state police -- and we have nothing."

Sheriff Sam Page of Rockingham County, N.C., said if the remains do not belong to Jennifer Short, he does not know whose they are.

"They have found additional remnants, and we'll continue to look," Page said. "We're trying to find the origin, where these bones came from."

He said the bones and other remains are being sent to the state medical examiner's office in Chapel Hill, N.C.

The girl's parents -- Michael Short, 50, and Mary Hall Short, 36 -- were shot at their home on U.S. 220 in southern Virginia about 30 miles north of where the bones were found.

They were found by Eddie Albert who told friends he saw his dogs playing with something three days ago so he went over and investigated. He picked them up with a stick and threw them in the trash.

Then Wednesday he found the skull and some hair and called the sheriff.

Page said he didn't know how long the bones might have been there. He said a check of cemeteries in the area did not reveal any disturbed graves.

There is a $62,000 reward being offered in the case and investigators are looking for a man who tried to confront Mary Short for an undisclosed reason about 10 years ago.