The bodies of the parents, two daughters and son were all found Saturday afternoon, shot to death.
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Police found 40-year-old Mark and Megan Short, 33, along with their three children and the family’s dog, all dead of gunshot wounds in the living room of their home in the Berks County Borough of Sinking Spring on Saturday.
Police said they also discovered a handwritten “murder-suicide” note. Details on what the note said have not been released, but investigators said the note lead them to believe the incident was a murder-suicide.
Willow, the youngest child, was in the news after receiving a heart transplant following her birth. A New York Times article a year ago says the family had trouble obtaining anti-rejection medication for her.
Assistant Chief Deputy Coroner Michael Fizz said a post-mortem examination for Mark Short will be carried out but none were planned for the mother or her children. She was overwhelmed by the amount of responsibility it would take to keep her daughter healthy without the assistance of doctors and nurses by her side. “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”.
She added, “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. He was a man trying desperately to hold on to his family”, said Michael Short.
Willow, along with her sister, brother, and parents, were shot to death in an apparent murder-suicide, the Berks County, Pennsylvania, District Attorney said Sunday. “A family lost their sweet baby and gave Willow the greatest gift that we could never repay them for”.
Megan Short apparently told a neighbour in a social media exchange that she was leaving her husband.
“She’s still the most lovely girl that I’ve ever met”, he wrote.
Angie Burke, a neighbor who lives near the deceased family, said Megan Short had posted on Facebook about needing help moving out of her house on August 6 ― the same day police uncovered the grisly scene during a welfare check.
An investigation, however, revealed that the Short couple had domestic issues, according to NBC10.
She wrote that she suffered from “anxiety and nightmares” triggered by smells, hallways, or even the beeping sound of a phone. “Soaking in every single minute of her joy”.
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“I don’t think PTSD ever truly goes away but, with therapy, medication, and the right support, I have begun to loosen its grip on me”, she said.
