Missing woman’s body found, suspect arrested

By the Mon Valley Independent
The remains of a murdered Dravosburg woman were found in Sewickley Township Wednesday.
Allegheny County police identified Dale Cooper, 36, as the man who allegedly murdered Heather Short, 46, inside a West Mifflin home in November.
McKeesport police launched an investigation Nov. 10 into Short’s disappearance. After exhausting leads, Allegheny County police joined the investigation Nov. 21, according to a press release.
Homicide detectives learned that after Short was killed inside the residence, her body was loaded into her vehicle and dumped in a wooded area along Scott Haven Road in Westmoreland County.
Detectives located Short’s skeletal remains around 10:25 a.m., just a few hundred yards from the Allegheny County line, the release states.
It was determined in an agreement between police, the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office, Westmoreland County Coroner’s Office, Allegheny and Westmoreland county district attorneys and state police that Allegheny County would assume jurisdiction based on the case’s circumstances and history.
Short’s remains were returned to Allegheny County for an autopsy, police said.
Cooper was arrested just before 9 p.m. Wednesday in Homestead and taken to the Allegheny County Jail where he awaits arraignment on charges of criminal homicide, tampering with physical evidence and abuse of a corpse.