The case centered on the 2021 death of Karli Short and her unborn child.
PITTSBURGH, Pa. — Prosecutors used phone records, gun evidence and Smith’s own police interview to win a murder conviction Friday against Isaac Christopher Smith in the killing of pregnant McKeesport woman Karli Short.
The jury found Smith, 30, guilty of two counts of first-degree murder after a weekslong trial in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court. Short, 26, was shot once in the head in the early morning hours of Sept. 13, 2021. She was five months pregnant when a neighbor later found her body behind a McKeesport house.
Deputy District Attorney Ryan Kiray told jurors that Smith’s burner phone was the last phone to call Short before she died. Prosecutors also said a revolver Smith bought six weeks before the killing and pawned two weeks later was the murder weapon. Kiray described the case as one about “clear motive” tied to Smith’s fear that Short’s pregnancy would expose his private life.
Short had told Smith she believed he might be the father, prosecutors said. During trial, prosecutors said DNA later showed the baby was not Smith’s. They argued that Smith did not know that when Short was killed. Kiray said Smith was in a serious relationship with another woman and did not want that relationship damaged.
Smith went to Allegheny County Police headquarters in Green Tree after Short’s body was found and denied involvement. Jurors saw video from that interview. Detective Mark Restori testified that police initially believed Smith was telling the truth, but investigators charged him weeks later as the case developed.
Defense attorney Thomas N. Farrell said Smith was innocent and told jurors the investigation focused on him too quickly. Farrell said Smith had used a condom when he was with Short and believed the child was not his. He also said Smith, who was adopted, valued life and had no reason to kill Short or her unborn child.
The verdict brought the case to the sentencing stage nearly five years after Short’s death. The district attorney’s office had once sought the death penalty, but prosecutors later withdrew that request. Under state law, Smith faces two mandatory life sentences without the possibility of parole.
Judge Kevin G. Sasinoski is set to sentence Smith at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday. Farrell said the defense would review the case after the verdict.
Author note: Last updated May 31, 2026.