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Former Avon Park police officer indicted in child's death

Mother indicted on two felony charges

Jenifer Sue Short, 28, the mother of 22-month-old Kaedyn Short, has been indicted on two felony charges. Avon Park Police Officer James Parker was also indicted for first-degree murder in connection with the child’s death.

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By BRAD DICKERSON

Highlands Today

Published: June 24, 2009

Updated: 06/25/2009 12:22 pm

James Hilton Parker

SEBRING - Jenifer Sue Short, 28, the mother of 22-month-old Kaedyn Short, has been indicted on two felony charges of failure to report child abuse and neglect of a child causing great bodily harm.

Two day care workers, Sara Vasquez and Linda Payne, have also been indicted for failing to report child abuse.

A Highlands County grand jury returned an indictment late this afternoon charging former Avon Park police officer James Parker with the murder of 22-month-old Kaedyn Short.

The grand jury also charged Parker, 32, with aggravated child abuse. He is set for a first appearance Thursday and still remains in the Highlands County Jail in lieu of a $250,000 bail stemming from his initial child abuse charge.

Short died May 27 at a hospice home where she was being cared for in her final days. She was the daughter of Parker's former live-in girlfriend and had been on life support at a St. Petersburg hospital for some time after being hospitalized for severe injuries she suffered March 29.

If she had have lived, doctors said she would have been in a vegetative state, said attorney Richard Pipkin, who spoke on behalf of the family at a May bond hearing for Parker.

On March 29, deputies with the sheriff's office were called to Highlands Regional Medical Center after Short, then 20 months old, was brought into the emergency room with multiple bruises and an apparent skull fracture.

Her mother was at work at the time of the incident and Parker was watching the child, according to the Highlands County Sheriff's Office.

Parker has been with the APPD since 2006 and was previously with the department for 20 months between 2002 and 2004. He was placed on administrative leave without pay.

On Saturday, the interstate chapter of American Bikers Aiming Toward Education (ABATE) organized a poker fun so bikers could offer financial support to the family of "Baby K" and to send a message saying child abuse was not acceptable.

Word of the indictment was news to Nancy Short, the child's grandmother, who had not yet been informed as of 5:15 p.m. Wednesday. She and her husband, John, president of the Gainesville ABATE chapter, were in Sebring this past weekend to help raise money for the family.

"That is exactly what he should be charged with," Nancy Short said. "I want him charged with the strongest penalty that he can get."

John's thoughts on the indictment were virtually the same.

"I'm very happy about that," he said.

Highlands Today reporter Brad Dickerson can be reached at 863-386-5838 or bdickerson@highlandstoday.com.

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