Victims 4+ Name Anthony Shore | Country United States | |
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Other names The Tourniquet KillerThe Strangler Span of killings September 26, 1986–July 6, 1995 | ||
Criminal penalty Capital punishment Date apprehended October 24, 2003 Died January 18, 2018 (aged 55) Huntsville Unit, Huntsville, Texas, U.S. Similar John Battaglia, Coy Wayne Wesbrook, Timothy Wilson Spencer | ||
Anthony Allen Shore (June 25, 1962 – January 18, 2018) was a serial killer and child molester who was responsible for the slayings of one woman and three girls. He operated from 1987 to 2000, and was known as the "Tourniquet Killer" because of his use of a ligature with either a toothbrush or bamboo stick to tighten or loosen the ligature. The instrument was similar to a twitch, a tool used by farmers to control horses.
Contents
- Background
- Laurie Lee Tremblay
- Maria del Carmen Estrada
- Selma Janske
- Diana Rebollar
- Dana Sanchez
- Investigation
- Trial and conviction
- Execution
- References
Background
Shore's parents were both with the United States Air Force; he was born in South Dakota where his father was stationed. Because of his parents' enlistments in the military, Shore's family moved nine times before he entered high school. He had two sisters. Although he possessed much musical talent, he did not pursue a career in music, but instead became a telephone lineman. He married and had two daughters Tiffany and Amber, but later divorced and was given custody of his two young girls. He later married and again divorced.
Laurie Lee Tremblay
Shore's first known victim was fourteen-year-old Laurie Tremblay, who was killed in September 1986. Shore had attempted to sexually assault her. She was strangled.
Maria del Carmen Estrada
Maria del Carmen Estrada, 21, was killed in April 1992. She had been sexually assaulted and strangled. She was a Mexican immigrant from the state of Guerrero. She was a small, petite woman, standing at a height of 5 feet 1 inch and weighing 104 pounds. She worked as a nanny with her best friend, Rosa. On April 16, 1992, Carmen's half-naked body was found in the back of a Dairy Queen.
Selma Janske
On October 19, 1993, Shore entered the home of fourteen-year-old Selma Janske, then bound and sexually assaulted her; however, he did not kill her, and instead fled the scene on foot.
Diana Rebollar
Diana Rebollar, 9, was killed in August 1994. She had been beaten, sexually assaulted and strangled. She lived in the Heights area of Houston, at the front of a small duplex. One day, she went to the neighborhood store to buy a bag of sugar. Employees of the store saw her leave the store safely, but she never returned home. She was found the next day on a loading dock behind a building. One lead for police was given by a neighbor who described a van that frequented the area. She was connected to the Carmen Del Estrada case by the killer's MO: a rope with a bamboo stick attached was found around her neck.
Dana Sanchez
Dana Sanchez, 16, was killed in July 1995. Shore offered her a ride in his van. He made advances to her, which she resisted; she was then strangled. Seven days later, an anonymous telephone call to a local news station, actually made by Shore, directed police to her body.
Investigation
Shore had been convicted of molesting his two daughters Tiffany and Amber, and as a result he was required to provide police with a DNA sample. This was done in 1998. In 2000, detectives pulled Carmen Del Estrada's case from the cold files, tested DNA evidence from underneath Carmen's fingernails, and received a full genetic profile. The results were not immediately matched to Shore because of problems at the lab. As a result of an audit, the lab was closed in 2002; certain samples, however, including those taken from Estrada's nails, were sent to another laboratory for retesting. The results were not matched until 2003. Shore was arrested for Estrada's murder.
Eleven hours into his interrogation, Shore confessed to the murders of Carmen Del Estrada, Diana Rebollar, and Dana Sanchez. He also confessed to the 1987 murder of fourteen-year-old Laurie Tremblay and the 1994 rape of a fourteen-year-old girl. Tremblay was walking to school when she was killed and dumped behind a Mexican restaurant. Detectives had no way of linking this killing to the other three murders because Tremblay was strangled with a ligature. When asked why he switched to a tourniquet, Shore replied, "because I hurt my finger while murdering Tremblay."
Trial and conviction
Despite Shore's confession to the murders of four people and the rape of another, prosecutor Kelly Siegler decided to charge Shore for only Estrada's murder, because it contained the most forensic evidence. His trial began in late October 2004. The jury found Shore guilty of capital murder. During the sentencing phase, Shore's only surviving victim testified. After less than an hour of deliberations, the jury recommended that Shore be put to death, which Shore himself had asked for. He was sentenced to death on November 15, 2004.
Execution
Shore was executed by lethal injection on January 18, 2018, at 6:28 pm (CST), and was the first person executed in the United States in 2018. He was 55 years old. Before the execution he confessed that "I made my peace" and his last words were "Ooh-ee, I can feel that!".