Officers were called to check on the welfare of the family after Megan Short failed to appear for a pre-arranged lunch date with a family member, which caused concern.
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Officials also discovered that there had been “domestic issues” between Megan and Mark.
Police responded to family’s home near Reading, Penn. about 2 p.m. Saturday after a relative asked to check.
40, Megan Short, 33, and their children – 8-year-old Lianna, 5-year-old Mark Jr., and 2-year-old Willow – were all found dead of gunshot wounds.
A family has been found dead in an apparent murder/suicide after they struggled for years with their youngest child’s heart defect. The family dog was also shot dead.
They didn’t say who they believe was the shooter, but note the parents had had “domestic issues”.
The Sinking Spring Borough Police Department said that all family members died as a result of gunshot wounds. Yet processing a refill takes about seven days, making it touch and go whether the new shipment will arrive before the old one runs out. The pharmacy mailed the rest of the medication overnight, but Short told the New York Times that it left her “rattled”.
Detectives spent more than eight hours combing through the scene after the family’s bodies were discovered.
The district attorney’s office is leading an investigation into the deaths with assistance from police from Sinking Spring and Spring Township.
“This is an apparent tragic domestic incident”, Adams said Sunday, Aug. 7.
The Short family had gained national fame past year after their medical struggles were highlighted in the New York Times.
In a blog post on Philly at Heart in April, Megan expressed the “overwhelming anxiety” she felt bringing Willow home from the hospital the first time, and how she suffered from PTSD as a mother, fearing that “any little germ would kill” Willow. In July 2015, The New York Times published a feature story on the family detailing the family’s struggles obtaining anti-rejection medication for Willow.
Megan Short went on to explain that she even felt survivor’s guilt when other children with problems like the one Willow faced would die.
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The Short family have garnered media attention before. “As I work on my own mental healing, I wanted to share my experience so that other heart parents know they are not alone”.
