A reported 911 dispatch call is shedding new light on how Martin Short’s daughter, Katherine Hartley Short, was discovered dead in her home.
TMZ reported on Tuesday, February 24, that it had obtained audio in which a police dispatcher noted that the person who called 911 said they were at Katherine’s home in the Hollywood Hills but unable to enter a bedroom on the property.
The Los Angeles Police Department confirmed to Us Weekly that officers responded to a radio call of a possible suicide attempt on Monday, February 23, at 6:43 p.m. The LAPD said responding officers found a deceased female at the location. A cause of death has not yet been determined.
Martin’s family confirmed Katherine’s death in a statement to Us on Tuesday. She was 42.
“It is with profound grief that we confirm the passing of Katherine Hartley Short. The Short family is devastated by this loss and asks for privacy at this time,” the actor and comedian’s rep said. “Katherine was beloved by all and will be remembered for the light and joy she brought into the world.”
Martin, 75, adopted Katherine with his late wife, Nancy Dolman. The couple also shared adopted sons Oliver, 39, and Henry, 36. Nancy died at age 58 in August 2010 after a battle with ovarian cancer.
Some of Katherine’s neighbors in the Hollywood Hills remembered her on Tuesday, with a next-door neighbor describing her as a “great neighbor and gardener.”
“She was very nice, but this is a quiet neighborhood, and to be fair, we don’t see too many neighbors usually out,” said another neighbor, who added that Katherine was a respectful neighbor who didn’t throw parties and wasn’t loud.
Martin previously opened up about the impact of his wife’s death on the Short family.
In a 2012 interview with The Guardian, the Only Murders in the Building star said “it’s been a tough two years” for his children.
“This is the thing of life that we live in denial about, that it will ever happen to us or our loved ones, and when it does, you gain a little and you suffer a little,” Martin said at the time. “There’s no big surprise.”
In 2014, the Emmy winner shared more details about how he and his family remembered Nancy after her death.
“[Nancy] had once said to me, ‘I don’t want a funeral and I don’t want a memorial. Throw a party, or not.’ She just was so irritated that she was losing this battle, she didn’t want to think about it,” Martin said on The Meredith Vieira Show. “So I just followed her wishes. We went up, we had a party with about 30 close friends and family. She was cremated. The kids and I went into a boat, we sprinkled the ashes into the water, and we jumped into the ashes.”
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