After 2 years, suspects head to trial in brutal slayings of grandma, son, granddaughter

This week Columbus will learn the extent to which pretrial publicity has affected potential jurors summoned to hear the murder case against three young men charged in the brutal 2016 slayings of a grandmother, son and granddaughter in the Upatoi area.

More than 300 jurors are being called to the Columbus Government Center on Monday, not only for the Upatoi case, but also for three other criminal courts expected to be in session.

Prospective jurors have not been surveyed to determine what they’ve heard about the Jan. 4, 2016, slayings of Gloria Short, 54; her son Caleb Short, 17; and granddaughter Gianna Lindsey, 10. Charged with murder are Rufus Lanard Burks, Raheam Daniel Gibson, and Jervarceay Tapley.

Burks, the youngest defendant who was only 15 when the homicides happened, is represented by attorney Jennifer Curry. She has asked for a change of venue, arguing the case has drawn so much publicity her client can’t get a fair trial here.

Judge Gil McBride has told her he’ll wait to hear how potential jurors respond to questions about media coverage during jury selection.

The oldest defendant, Raheam Gibson, was 19 in January 2016. He’s represented by law partners Mark Shelnutt and William Kendrick, who have tried to make a deal to gain their client more leniency, arguing Gibson’s cooperating with police was crucial to detectives’ cracking the case.

The third suspect, Jervarceay Tapley, was 16 at the time of the crime. Investigators have said he’s the suspect most closely tied to the victims. His attorney is Shevon Sutcliffe Thomas.

The prosecutors are Chief Assistant District Attorney Al Whitaker and Assistant District Attorney Christopher Williams.

Tapley knew the Shorts because Gloria Short’s brother was his grandmother’s boyfriend, and he lived with the couple at 4125 Calhoun Drive, police said. Cellphone records showed Tapley called Caleb Short on Jan. 3, 2016, the night the three suspects are believed to have traveled about 20 miles from Tapley’s Calhoun Drive home to the Shorts’ house at 3057 Bentley Drive, off McKee Road in east Columbus, detectives said.

The three got there on a bicycle and a moped, or motorized bike, taking turns on each conveyance, police said. Gibson’s attorneys claim Tapley and Burks went inside after Caleb opened the door for them, and Gibson waited outside and never entered.

Investigators have not gone into detail on what they believe happened overnight in the Bentley Drive home.

At 8 a.m. the next day, the first Monday of January 2016 when many people were just returning to work after the New Year’s holiday, Gloria Short’s husband Robert Short Sr., a nurse, found the bodies when he came home from working the night shift at a local hospital.

Authorities said autopsies showed each victim had “extreme blunt-force trauma to the head,” and Gloria Short and Gianna also had “multiple stab wounds.”

Missing from their home were two vehicles, a green 2004 GMC Envoy and silver 2014 Volkswagen Beetle, both found abandoned later that day in the Oakland Park neighborhood off South Lumpkin Road.

Two days later, on Jan. 6, 2016, Gibson’s mother called police to report her daughter had told her Gibson was involved in the case. Gibson implicated Tapley but could not immediately identify Burks, whom he knew only by the nickname “Quez,” police said.

That same day, Gloria Short’s brother, Robert Averett, 68, who lived with Tapley and Tapley’s grandmother Margaret Williams, died of a heart attack.

After Gibson identified Burks as the third suspect by picking his picture from a photo lineup, police searched the youths’ homes for evidence.

They found Caleb’s clothes thrown over the northeast corner of a fence outside Tapley’s Calhoun Drive home, some of it matching an outfit Caleb wore in a video produced at Shaw High School, where he was a junior, detectives said. They found more clothing and jewelry from the Shorts’ home in Tapley’s bedroom, they said.

In Burks’ home at 1653 Edgechester Ave., they found Nike sneakers, an LG cell phone and a motorcycle helmet, they said. A detective said witnesses reported seeing Burks riding a moped through the neighborhood, and an informant told them Burks had the PlayStation 4, Nike Air Jordans and “Grand Theft Auto” game.

Other loot taken from the Shorts’ home included video games, $600 in coins stashed in a box made for storing wine, an Adidas jacket, camouflage pants, polo shirts, and several pairs of Nike sneakers, police said.

Investigators never found the moped and bicycle Gibson told them the trio used to get to Upatoi. Gibson said they hid the bike in the woods near the Georgia driver’s license bureau off Macon Road and left the moped near 8280 McKee Road, but both were gone when police came looking for them.

Police jailed Gibson the following Jan. 12; Tapley on Jan. 14; and Burks on Feb. 3.

A 30-count indictment charges them with 10 counts each: three counts of malice or intentional murder; three counts of felony murder for allegedly killing the three victims while committing the felony of aggravated assault; two counts of auto theft; and one count each of kidnapping and first-degree burglary.

The burglary charge accuses the suspects of entering the Shorts’ home with the intent to commit theft. The kidnapping count lists Caleb as the only victim, alleging the three suspects “did unlawfully steal away Caleb Short without lawful authority or warrant and held such person against his will, said act resulting in bodily injury.”

The trial could take three weeks, attorneys said, with the first week just for jury selection. If convicted, each defendant faces life in prison.

The victims’ family declined to comment.

At a previous court hearing, Shameika Averett, Gloria Short’s daughter, Gianna’s mother and Caleb’s sister, spoke of the difficulty in hearing the evidence.

“As far as being in there and seeing the suspects, that’s hard because it takes you back to the beginning, because you hear some things about what happened to your loved ones that you don’t want to hear, and unfortunately you have to sit through that. ... That’s the hardest part for us.”

This story was originally published January 27, 2018 at 9:00 PM with the headline "After 2 years, suspects head to trial in brutal slayings of grandma, son, granddaughter."