Pennsylvania dad took kids to amusement park before murder-suicide, DA says
SINKING SPRING, Pa. -- Prosecutors on Monday said a Pennsylvania father was responsible for a murder-suicide that also left his wife and their three children dead. Authorities also released new details about the killings.
Mark Short Sr., 40, died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the Berks County District Attorney's Office announced.
Short was found dead Aug. 6 inside his home in Sinking Spring, about 70 miles northwest of Philadelphia. A gun was found next to him, and a note with an apparent confession was discovered on a table.
Also near Short's body were those of his wife, 33-year-old Megan, and their three children: 8-year-old Lianna, 5-year-old Mark Jr. and 2-year-old Willow.
At a news conference, authorities released details about the days and weeks leading up the deaths.
In early June, security personnel at a Philadelphia hotel responded to a domestic dispute in a room in which Mark Short Sr. and his wife, Megan, had been staying.
That was followed by a police response to their home on July 18 for another domestic dispute, but no charges were filed.
The next day, according to police, Short purchased a handgun and ammunition from a store in nearby Lancaster County.
The day before the killings, the D.A. said, Mark Short took his three children to Hersheypark, an amusement park in Hershey.
On Aug. 6, Megan Short's mother called police after her daughter failed to show up for a lunch date, according to prosecutors.
Megan Short had also been set to move to an apartment in Yardley that same day, the D.A. said.
Police responded to the family's home and found the bodies inside.
Neighbors said Megan Short had posted on social media before her death that she planned to leave her husband.
A funeral Mass was held Friday.
