Brutal homicides spawn fear, speculation within community

It's not the first time Columbus was shocked by the sheer brutality of a triple homicide, and it likely won't be the last.

Still the horrific slayings on Monday of a grandmother, her son and granddaughter in Upatoi have dominated not only the news, but also the conversations of everyday residents, who wonder who could have committed such a brutal crime and why, and whether the perpetrators might do it again.

That fear has prompted some folks to buy guns and others to pull the guns they already own out of closets and cabinets to keep close at hand. Neighbors who once neglected to leave their motion-activated outdoor lights and burglar alarms on at night are neglecting their home security no more.

With police releasing few de

tails of what they found Monday morning at 3057 Bentley Drive -- far out on the panhandle of Muscogee County off McKee Road north of Macon Road -- rampant speculation spread this week on social media, prompting investigators to request the public stop spreading rumors.

Meanwhile police have maintained custody of the crime scene where 56-year-old Gloria Jean Short, her 17-year-old son Caleb Robert Short Jr., and her 10-year-old granddaughter Gianna Lindsey were found beaten to death around 7:50 a.m.

Gloria's husband, Robert Short Jr., found the bodies when he got home from working a 12-hour night shift at a local hospital.

Without citing specifics, police Maj. Gil Slouchick said investigators are using their most advanced technological equipment to gather evidence, borrowing some gear from another agency.

Detectives also continue to examine two vehicles that were stolen from the Bentley Drive home and abandoned in Columbus' Oakland Park neighborhood off South Lumpkin Road, Slouchick said.

Those vehicles were a silver 2014 Volkswagen Beetle and a green 2004 GMC Envoy. The VW was found in Rigdon Park on Howe Avenue and the Envoy at Broadmoor Drive and Cindy Drive, police said.

Two Columbus detectives traveled to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation crime lab in Decatur this week to be present during the victims' autopsies, said Slouchick, who added his teams of investigators have been working around the clock on the case.

Some are working on their off time, the major said.

"There's a lot of work to be done on this case," he said.

No homicide is easy, but a triple homicide involving the death of a child is particularly unsettling to those tasked with the investigation, Slouchick said.

"It takes the investigation to a whole new level."

With the autopsies completed, the victims' bodies have been released to the family for burial.

But the autopsy report has not been forwarded to Muscogee County Coroner Buddy Bryan.

State medical examiners were to meet to discuss their findings before submitting the report.

Bryan said he thought they were being "extremely cautious" because of the significance of the case. They want to ensure the report is precise and properly worded, he said.

The delay in getting the autopsy reports will not interfere with his issuing death certificates, which surviving family members need to file any insurance claims and proceed with funeral arrangements, Bryan said.

He can go on and issue the certificates with autopsy results pending, he said.

Funerals are set for 11 a.m. Monday at Cascade Hills Church in Columbus.

Some old enough to remember the 1980s have compared the brutality of the crime scene to the Curry bush-ax murders of Aug. 29, 1985, Bryan said. "A couple of people stated that."

Also in a middle-class east Columbus neighborhood north of Macon Road, that crime involved the bloody killings of an eight months' pregnant woman and her two children, a girl age 4 and a boy who was only 20 months old. Each was hacked to death with a tool designed for clearing heavy brush.

That case also sparked rampant speculation in an age before social media, back when rumors had to be spread in person or over the phone.

A quarter-century passed before husband and father Michael Curry was convicted of the murders in April 2011.

Thirty years ago, people here also feared that whoever killed the Curry family was still on the loose, and might strike again.

Slouchick said he couldn't blame residents for being wary about their own security.

"You should always be secure in your home," he said.

This story was originally published January 8, 2016 at 10:29 PM with the headline "Brutal homicides spawn fear, speculation within community ."