1999.

MAD TV .

The head writer and executive producer was Brian Hartt of Kids in the Hall fame.

The creative consultant was Martin Short's brother Michael.

Pictured above: The Short Family, circa 2002.

The Shorts were known as an ‘nice, average family’. Michael (50) and his wife Mary (36) owned a mobile home moving business and were raising their daughter Jennifer (9) in Bassett, Virginia. The trio was described as a private, but happy family. According to acquaintances, the Short family tended to be on the quieter side, and they were not known to cause drama. Due to all of this, community was incredibly shocked when Michael and Mary were found shot to death at their home on the evening of August 15th, 2002. The police were called that evening after a co-worker who drove by the Short’s home spotted Michael laying in a pool of his blood inside their enclosed carport. One police arrived on the scene, they found Mary shot to death in the couple’s bedroom. Their daughter, Jennifer, was nowhere to be found. An Amber Alert was issued, and a search for the young girl quickly ensued.

All of the searches by professional search teams unfortunately came up empty. Then, over a month later, on September 26th, 2002,  a gruesome discovery was made. A man’s dogs found human remains in a creek in Rockingham County, North Carolina. The remains were located approximately 35 miles away from the Short’s home in Virginia. The remains were sent to the lab for forensic testing and were later confirmed to be that of Jennifer Short. She had also been shot in the head. It was clear at this point that the Short family had been executed—but so many questions remain, such as: who would want the Short family dead? Why was Jennifer taken to a different location? Was she held captive for a period of time before she was killed? Perhaps the most haunting question, though, is the motive. Why did someone kill this entire family?