A man in Pennsylvania will spend the rest of his life in prison after he killed a pregnant woman he thought he was expecting a child with because he worried what his new girlfriend would think.
Isaac Smith was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for first-degree murder in the death of Karli Short. Smith, 30, was also found guilty of the first-degree murder of an unborn child because Short, 26, was five months pregnant at the time of her death.
Smith claimed that he and Short had been romantically involved, but their relationship was allegedly only physical a few times. She reportedly believed that she was pregnant with Smith’s baby and she asked him for money and texted him about a gender-reveal party just two days before she was killed, according to court documents viewed by WTAE.
However, Smith had a new girlfriend at the time of Short’s killing and allegedly didn’t want her to find out he was having a child with someone else.
Short was killed on the morning of September 13, 2021, at her home in McKeesport, Pennsylvania. At the time, Short’s uncle reportedly heard her talking to someone on the phone.
“Are you coming to the front or the back?” Short reportedly said on the phone before she walked outside. The uncle then heard a gunshot and found she had been shot in the head. Prosecutors have since argued that Smith lured her to the yard so that he could kill her.
Smith went to the Allegheny County Police Department’s headquarters three hours after the shooting and participated in a three-hour interview. He insisted that he was innocent, as well as acknowledged that he had been intimate with Short and claimed he was willing to be in the child’s life.
Investigators grew skeptical of Smith as the investigation continued, and they learned he was dating a new woman. Allegheny County Deputy District Attorney Ryan Kiray said the relationship seemed serious and confirmed that the new girlfriend had met his parents just days before the shooting, according to Law & Crime.
After learning about his new relationships, prosecutors believed they found a “clear motive” and that he “did not want the double life he was living to be exposed.”
During the sentencing hearing, Short’s father, Brandon Short, claimed that Smart was not the father of his unborn grandchild.
“My grandchild was not murdered by her father,” the father said, according to WTAE. “Her father did not kill her. A murdering coward did.”
Meanwhile, Short’s aunt shared that she was so excited for her niece to have a child. “That was her joy. That was her moment,” she said during the sentencing hearing. “Having to sit in the same room with him is devastating. It’s unimaginable.”
