MOUNT PLEASANT, Tenn. - A Mount Pleasant missing person's case has turned into a possible homicide investigation nearly 13 years after it was first reported.
Charles Monroe Sharp, or Shorty as he was known around town, lived on Goodloe Street with his father.
On August 21, 2002 Shorty’s father left the house to go to the square just a few blocks away. When he returned, Shorty was gone. No one has seen or heard from him since.
Two days later, his family reported him missing.
“I want to think he's not dead but after 13 years you don't know,” his brother Donald Ray Sharp said. “He was always jolly, got along with people. I don't know why anybody would want to hurt him.”
Detectives decided to reopen their investigation after an audit revealed the disappearance of Shorty Sharp was still an active missing person's case. However, now authorities believe it could've been a homicide.
“Documentation and things that I can't discuss at this moment that leads us to believe that there's been something other than a missing person,” said Sgt. Terry Chandler with the Mount Pleasant Police Department.
They've recently dug up some wells on the south side of town looking for more evidence. Detectives wouldn’t elaborate on what or if anything was found.
Sharp was 4-feet 4-inches tall with a slight hump back and was well known around town.
“Just can't find anyone to say anything bad about him. [He] liked to hunt and fish and he was everybody's friend,” Chandler added.
Which is what makes Shorty's disappearance so baffling to investigators and so painful for his family.
“We just want closure to this. You know it's been almost 13 years since this happened. Somebody has got to know something,” Donald Sharp said.
The family no longer lives at the Goodloe street home. In 13 years a lot has changed -- people have moved away, others have passed away but detectives still believe someone will come forward with information that will crack this cold case.
Anyone with information was asked to call either to the police department or sheriff's office.
