Court documents: Police investigating Germantown man’s death as suspected homicide

GERMANTOWN — A man found dead by a family member in the basement of a Germantown house Tuesday was shot in the head and no weapon was located nearby, according to police in court documents obtained by News Center 7.

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Joshua Shortt, 29, of Germantown was identified Wednesday as the man found dead inside a house in the 300 block of North Main Street, according to Montgomery County Coroner Dr. Kent Harshbarger. Shortt’s official cause and manner of death are still under investigation, Harshbarger said.

A 911 caller reported finding Shortt dead around 11 a.m. Tuesday. The caller, who identified herself as the victim’s mother, reported a bloody scene where she found the body, according to the call obtained in a public records request by News Center 7. The woman reported to police she was last in contact with Shortt Sunday night and went to the house to check on him.

Police who arrived to investigate found him on the basement floor of the house with a gunshot wound to his head, officers detail in the court documents also obtained in a News Center 7 public records request. Shortt was covered in a blanket and there was no gun seen in the immediate area near the victim, officers said.

Court documents also allege an SUV, a 2001 red Honda CR-V, was stolen from the house. The SUV, owned by Shortt, was later recovered at a Dayton gas station Tuesday night, according to court records and a Dayton police incident report.

The SUV was located at the Clark gas station in the 3400 block of East Third Street in Dayton around 10:30 p.m., dispatch records show. Footage from the scene shows both Dayton and Germantown police on the scene investigating.

East Third Street Gast Station Investigation Police located an SUV in Dayton belonging to a man found dead in Germantown just hours before. Another man was taken into custody.

Dustin D. Cooper, 35, was arrested at the gas station by Dayton police on charges of receiving stolen property, illegal conveyance of weapons and drug possession, online jail records indicate. Cooper is not facing any charges connected to the death investigation and its unknown if he’s considered a suspect or person of interest.

Germantown police declined to provide additional details and comment to News Center 7 Wednesday.

We’ll continue to update this story as we learn more.

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