On Tuesday, March 28, 2023, the murder case of Betty Sue Short was shown for the first time on ID’s latest real-crime show, “Murder in My House.” At 9 p.m. ET, the show aired an episode called “No Remorse.”
The episode summary says, “Police find Betty Sue Short dead in her own home. The killer has turned down the air conditioning to keep the body cool, and there’s no sign of a murder weapon. The scene is similar to a recent murder in the area.”
On October 17, 2011, the body of a 65-year-old woman who lived with her son Scott in Kingsport, Tennessee, was found beaten to death in the flat they shared.
There were no signs of a break-in, which showed that she knew who did it. Investigators arrested Jonathan Slemp because he was seen at the scene of the murder of Betty Sue Short by witnesses.
Slemp said he and Betty had agreed to trade pills, which is what brought him to her house that night.
Betty Sue Short murder case – How did she die?
Betty was born in February 1946, and when her kids were young, she got a divorce. She had diabetes, and her kids were her number one priority.
When Scott got home on October 17, 2011, he found his dead mother sitting on the couch with a sheet over her face.
Authorities found that the right side of her head had been severely hurt by a blunt force. The thermostat had been turned down to a low temperature, but nothing was taken from the house.
Scott lived with his mother because he had just been let out of prison, but on the night of the murder, he was at his girlfriend’s house.
Scott told the police that a toolbox with three guns was taken from his bedroom.
According to what witnesses said, Jonathan Slemp often went to Betty’s flat and was also there the night she was killed.
Jonathan said that he and Betty had agreed that he would give her Percocets in exchange for Valium. He went to her house to make the trade, but he left after 15 minutes.
Jonathan said that he was living with his ex-wife at the time of the incident and that he got home around 9:15 pm.
A witness, though, said that Jonathan came back after 10:30 pm with a gun that fit the description of one of the missing guns from Scott’s toolbox.
Also, Jonathan had a plastic bag that looked like the one Betty kept her drugs in.
Even though Jonathan’s stories didn’t match up, there was no physical evidence that linked him to the murder.
The police looked into the killing of Gary Layon Jones in Kingsport in November 2010 and found that it was similar to the killing of Betty.
Gary was stabbed more than 20 times, and his body was covered with a coffee table, just like Betty’s face was covered with a bed sheet.
Who was the culprit behind the Betty Sue Short murder?
Chris West, who was in prison because he had been caught with drugs, offered to help with the investigation and told the police what he knew.
Chris knew Jonathan, so he hung out with him to learn more. Jonathan eventually admitted to killing Betty, which led to his arrest.
Jonathan Slemp was found guilty of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, and especially aggravated robbery in September 2015 because of what happened to Betty. He was given a life sentence with the chance of parole.
Jonathan admitted to killing Gary in October 2015 and got another life sentence. The fact that Jonathan Slemp died in prison has been written down, but no one knows what killed him.
