Martin Short was the one who initiated the welfare check culminating in the discovery of his daughter’s body.
Katherine Short, a social worker and NYU graduate, died by suicide at the age of 42 earlier this year.
On February 23, her funnyman father grew concerned and asked a friend to check in after not hearing from her for more than 24 hours, according to an autopsy report released by the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner and obtained by US Weekly. When he arrived at her residence, Short’s friend discovered “multiple notes” left by Katherine, which she “posted on the door,” causing him to phone 911.
Police responded and forced entry into Katherine’s bedroom, where they found her dead in the bed with a Glock 19 9mm pistol under her chest. The medical examiner has since concluded she suffered from self-inflicted wounds and her death was ruled a suicide. Her autopsy further notes she had a previous suicide attempt in 2017 involving pills, as well as a “history of depression and other mental health illnesses.”
Short also had benzodiazepines in her system when she died. According to the Cleveland Clinic, the drug is a class of prescription medication “that slow down activity in your brain and nervous system.”
Born on Dec. 3, 1983, Katherine was the adopted daughter of Martin Short and his and his late wife, Nancy Dolman, who died at age 58 in August 2010 after a battle with ovarian cancer. She and Short had been married since 1980.
The couple also shared adopted sons Oliver, 39, and 36-year-old Henry.
The “Only Murders in the Building” actor recently reflected on losing both Dolman and his daughter, revealing they said similar things to him in their final moments together.
“Martin, let me go,” Short recalled her saying as paramedics raced into their bedroom.
Sixteen years later, “Katherine was saying: ‘Dad, let me go,’” Short told the New York Times, “I don’t see any difference between mental illness as a disease and cancer as a disease. In some cases, both are terminal. And in some cases, both are survivable.”
