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CNN Live Today

Leads Scarce in Virginia Girl's Whereabouts

Aired August 20, 2002 - 11:17   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: We have now the latest on that frustrating search for Virginia schoolgirl, Jennifer Short.
Let's go to CNN's Jeanne Meserve, who is standing by this morning in Collinsville, Virginia.

Hello -- Jeanne.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Leon.

For the first time today, we heard from the relatives of Jennifer Short. The aunt, Ruby Young, came before the cameras and pleaded with whoever has the girl to let her go. And then, she directed a few words directly to the girl.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUBY YOUNG, JENNIFER'S AUNT: Jennifer, we miss you, and we love you very much. Please don't give up, because we will never give up until we find you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MESERVE: It was five days ago that young Jennifer was discovered missing. Her parents, Mary and Michael Short, each discovered murdered with a single bullet shot to the head. An extensive search has turned up nothing. Nationwide publicity has turned up no promising leads.

For now, the investigation boils down to good, old-fashioned, gum-shoe work, interviewing various acquaintances of the Short family, trying to find some explanation for what remains an inexplicable crime.

The obituaries for Mary and Michael Short appeared in the local newspaper today. Each of them is listed as being survived by a daughter, Jennifer. And the family is asking that donations go to the search-and-rescue squad, which spent days scouring the countryside here, looking for any clue, any hint of the missing girl. They found nothing -- Leon.

HARRIS: Jeanne, what is the next step here? Are the police officers there being at least a little bit more forthcoming in private when they talk to the press about what's going on there?

MESERVE: They are not. They are being very circumspect about this investigation, refusing to talk at all about any of the forensic evidence that they have gathered. The only clues we have gotten as to what they are looking at came yesterday, when we got the inventory from the searches of the Short home.

But they really just say what it comes down to is that interview process. They describe this as being sort of a ripple effect. They go to one friend of the Shorts. Then they find out about five others. So then, they interview those. And from those interviews, they may discover another 10. They interview those people.

It's just this ongoing, very laborious process, trying to figure out who knew these people, who might have had a gripe with these people, who might know anything about their activities that could shed some light on this -- Leon.

HARRIS: Yes, right. We can see how frustrating it is to -- in some cases, it's just as frustrating to have too many people to talk with as having no one to talk with about information in a case like this.

Jeanne Meserve, thank you very much -- Jeanne Meserve reporting live for us from Collinsville, Virginia.

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