PITTSBURGH — A jury has convicted a man accused of killing a pregnant woman in McKeesport.
On Friday evening, Isaac Smith was found guilty of the murder of Karli Short.
Short was killed in McKeesport in September 2021 while she was 17 weeks pregnant. Her body was found in an alleyway near her home.
She was the daughter of former Penn State and NFL football player Brandon Short.
Smith’s trial began on May 19.
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Lab results shown in court showed that Smith was not the father of Short’s unborn child. Prosecutors argued Smith was trying to hide his relationship with Karli and her pregnancy from other women he was involved with.
Detectives eventually charged Smith when they discovered the bullet found in Karli’s head matched a gun Smith pawned days after she was killed.
Smith’s attorney argued that there wasn’t a motive for his client to kill Karli.
Prosecutors were originally seeking the death penalty against Smith. Nearly a year ago, the Allegheny County District Attorney took that off the table.
“There’s a sense of closure. Justice is done,” Karli’s father, Brandon Short, told Channel 11 after the verdict was read.
“Thank God that justice prevailed, and now we can start to heal,” he said.
Short described how the process has affected his family.
“It’s been a purgatory. This verdict, although happy it came back guilty and we have the person who did this, committed this crime, it doesn’t bring Karli back. It doesn’t bring our grandchild back,” he said.
Short told Channel 11 that his daughter has been with him through this ordeal.
“She’s always with me. It’s her strength. The person everybody would go to in difficult times, she’s the one we’d lean on. I’m still leaning on her right now,” Short said.
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