GREENEVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) – After learning his son Christopher was murdered at a Greeneville laundromat, Alan Short died the next day after suffering a heart attack.
Short died on Oct. 3. Stanley Eric Mossburg, 35, is suspected in the murder of Christopher Short on Oct. 2 at a Greeneville coin laundry. Mossburg, who evaded law enforcement for 12 days, is now the suspect in two more murders following his arrest Tuesday in Winter Haven, Florida.
“I couldn’t believe it. I mean, I was like, you’re joking. This isn’t real. This seemed surreal. It took about 6 or 7 airs for everybody to even grasp what had happened,” Wayne Short, Christopher Short’s uncle said. “I have a hard time thinking it was just one person that did all of this.”
Two lives cut short in just two days.
“You have one that was stolen from you. When somebody is murdered, they actually stole that life. Then the second one was taken from you because of the first one. So, the killer actually killed two people. That made it twice as bad. To have two deaths in two days. I mean, it was pretty rough,” he explained.
Wayne Short said that Christopher, a 33-year-old Kingsport native, moved to Greeneville three years ago, after marrying his wife, Heather Short.
Short said, “He wouldn’t swat a fly, he never argued, he never said anything bad about anybody. You could just say he was a big 10-year-old, and he was just nice as can be.”
Wayne, Christopher and Christopher’s dad Alan were all very close.
Short said he remembers watching Christopher grow up. He said he had a lot of hobbies including fishing, sports and cars.
“He liked hotrods because in our family, we tend to work on cars a lot and stuff. They were kind of in the hotrods, building models and all kinds of stuff,” he said. “He was good in school. He always worked hard.”
Upon learning his son was murdered, Alan could not bear the news. He suffered a heart attack and died on October 3; the day after his son was found murdered.
“He said it was the worst pain he had ever felt. he said it was worse than when his mom and dad died. That he didn’t know if he could make it. The very next morning, he had a heart attack and died,” Wayne said. “The stress just was too much for him, over the taking of his youngin’. Also, we discussed that nobody wants to live longer than their youngins.”
Wayne said that Alan Short died on October 3rd.
He said Alan was the type of older brother anyone would have ever wanted.
“We worked together like 10 different jobs. I was his(Alan) younger brother, so a lot of times, when he’d get a job somewhere, he’d get me a job somewhere,” he said. “Even though we were a little rambunctious, we were always a really tight family. If you were arguing with one of us, we’d take up for the other one. We were always together no matter what.”
Now that his older brother, Alan, is no longer on this earth, he said it is hard to come to terms with accepting he is gone forever.
“He only lived like five or six houses from me. We were neighbors for the last, probably 18 years. So, I miss him a lot because I was used to driving by his house everyday,” Short said.
In a time where family is important to be around, Short says he is thankful for the support.
“Not to do it by yourself. Not to be alone. Not to dwell on it a lot, but be with your friends, and remember a lot of the good stuff over the bad stuff first,” Wayne said. “They reached out to us and offered help. The fact that you have all of these people behind you, actually helps you cope with it because you got friends.”
Short said he is trying to cope but does not feel any aggression towards the suspected killer, Stanley Mossburg.
“The people in my family. Most of them, they get real angry when they hear about. Me, I kind of understand it and I’m angry but you know, I’m not going to express my feelings as anger. It’s more like, I just want justice.”
Funeral arrangements for both Christopher and Alan are set for this Friday.
