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CNN Live Saturday

No Leads in Search for Jennifer Short

Aired August 17, 2002 - 12:01   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Back now to our top story. Law enforcement officials say the kidnapper of a 9-year-old Virginia girl and the killer of her parents was someone the whole family knew. CNN's Jeanne Meserve is at the sheriff's office in Collinsville, Virginia, with the very latest on the case. Hi there, Jeanne.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka. This is the headline: No news on the whereabouts of Jennifer Short, 48 hours -- more than 48 hours after she was discovered missing and her parents discovered murdered in their home.

We did get from officials today some new nuggets of information. Let me share those with you. The sheriff says that he believes that whoever perpetrated this crime was familiar to the whole family. He wouldn't tell us whether this was a hunch, something based on his many years of experience, or whether this was based on physical evidence. He did share with us, however, the fact that there were no signs of physical struggle in the Short home.

He also told us that nothing had been stolen from the home. This would appear to indicate that robbery was not the motive in what happened here. He said that sheriff's deputies had never been called to this household, that the family was unknown to them. He said there was absolutely nothing that they learned that gave any indication there had been any sort of involvement in drug activity. He did say that the investigation is very much an ongoing process.

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SHERIFF H.F. CASSELL, HENRY COUNTY, VIRGINIA: We will be interviewing potential witnesses, people that may have seen anything. We'll be interviewing family members. We'll be interviewing past employees, present employees, associates. This is what we've been doing for the last two days.

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MESERVE: Now, the intense search effort that's been going on around the Short home has been discontinued this morning. Authorities feel they have been over this ground several times. If there was anything there to find, they would have found it. Also we're told that the searchers are very tired and need a day of rest, so that part of operation is down today. However, police officers are continuing to look in the area to see what they are able to see, and as the sheriff indicated, interviews very much a key part of this investigation at this point, as they try to find some clue as to what might have happened to this 9-year-old girl described as "shy" and "quiet" and "just a very nice kid" -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And Jeanne, how much are authorities counting on the Amber alert system?

MESERVE: Well, the Amber alert system was put into effect on Thursday morning. However, Jennifer and her parents have not been seen since midnight the night before, so the abductor or abductors could have had many hours lead time on the authorities here. Also, authorities do not have a suspect. They don't have a description of a suspect. They do not know what young Jennifer was wearing at the time she was taken. So the elements that they've been able to put out for the public to respond to are not that strong. So there is some question about how effective this will be. They say they have gotten leads, they want those leads; they're encouraging people to please, please keep calling.

WHITFIELD: All right. Jeanne Meserve, thank you very much.

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