Court documents: Man bragged about slaying, is indicted
A 27-year-old man was indicted Monday on nearly 20 felony charges, including murder, in the February shooting death of a Germantown man he reportedly bragged about killing to fellow jail inmates.
Christopher Edward Debord is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday in Montgomery County Common Pleas Court for four counts of aggravated murder and two counts each of murder, aggravated robbery, aggravated burglary and felonious assault, each with three-year firearm specifications. He also is charged with grand theft (motor vehicle), three counts of tampering with evidence and for having weapons under disability for a prior drug conviction.
The charges are in connection to the death of 29-year-old Joshua Shortt.
Germantown police responded just after 11 a.m. Feb. 15 to a house in the 300 block of North Main Street on a report of a deceased person.
Officers found a man, later identified as Shortt, on the basement floor with a gunshot wound to his head.
Investigators determined Shortt’s red 2001 Honda CR-V was missing, along with a pellet gun, small safe with about $2,000 in cash and some illegal narcotics.
The next day, Germantown police received a call reporting that someone at a Dayton apartment building was cleaning out a red Honda CR-V that was shown in the news, and that the trash was full and at the curb for pickup. When police responded, they round three bottles of cleaners, a T-shirt with possible blood stains, a tire cover for a Honda CR-V and a restaurant receipt. After receiving a search warrant, officers found a bag with drugs inside as well as burned documents that belonged to the victim in a fire pit near the front door, records show.
Debord was arrested Feb. 17 by parole officers and was interviewed the following day by Germantown police. He admitted he was at the North Main Street house on Feb. 13 with Shortt. He said he was upstairs when he heard five gunshots and left.
Two inmates at the Montgomery County Jail in March reported having information on a Germantown murder case. Both told Germantown detectives Debord admitted to shooting the victim multiple times, according to court records.
“Inmate 2 said that Debord was bragging and telling this story to all who would listen inside the jail and that Debord was acting as if this was no big deal,” an affidavit read.
Debord remains in the Montgomery County Jail.