Anthony Allen Shore (a.k.a. The Tourniquet Killer) was a pedophilic serial killer and serial rapist, found guilty and executed for, among other crimes, the rapes and murders of four women and girls across Houston, Texas in the late 20th century.
Background[]
Shore was born on January 25, 1962, in Rapid City, South Dakota, to Robert and Deanna Shore, active military parents who moved the family around a lot until they settled in Houston, Texas. By Shore's account, Robert beat him regularly and Deanna sexually abused him when he was 13. The parents were known for fighting and extramarital affairs, until they divorced in 1976. Shore himself would harass and sexually abuse numerous girls he knew as a child, including classmates, friends, and even his little sisters Laurel and Gina; Shore also once killed a neighbor's cat. Shore married twice, to Gina Worley in 1983 and Amy Lynch in 1997, both ending in divorces. Lynch reported Shore for abuse during divorce proceedings, and Shore's daughters through his marriage to Worley, Amber and Tiffany, were sexually abused by Shore as well, usually after he drugged them. The girls also recounted Shore forced them to wear revealing clothes and overwhelming makeup, and that the home's squalor and problems with hygiene led to the sisters getting bullied at school.
Murders and Aftermath[]
Shore began killing on September 26, 1986. Shore saw Laurie Lee Tremblay, 15, walking to school and attempted to rape her, but he strangled her with a ligature when she fought back. Shore left her dead behind a Mexican restaurant, where she was later found the same day. Shore said hurting his finger while killing Tremblay was his reason for later choosing to kill women and girls with makeshift tourniquets. Shore nevertheless didn't attack again until 1992, where on April 16, he raped and murdered Maria del Carmen Estrada, 21, a Mexican-born woman working locally as a nanny. She was found dead behind a local Dairy Queen later that day, the murder weapon still tied around her neck. On October 19, 1993, Shore broke into the home of Selma Janske, tied her up, and raped her, before leaving her alive and fleeing the scene on foot. Janske is the only confirmed surviving victim of Shore's timeline of attacks. On August 9, 1994, Diana Rebollar, 9, was found beaten, raped, and strangled to death on a loading dock, with the tourniquet that killed her, a bamboo stick on a rope, still tied around her neck. She disappeared the day before, after leaving a grocery store near her home in Houston Heights. A neighbor noticed Shore's van cruising the area and described it for police. Shore's final confirmed murder was on July 6, 1995, when he lured into his van, raped, and murdered Dana Sanchez, 16. Shore said he had a sexual advance at Sanchez, killing her when she rebuffed him. As she wasn't found for a week at the Harris County field where Shore left her, he called a local news station and lead police to her.
Amber and Tiffany finally reported Shore for sexually abusing them, leading to his conviction and imprisonment. Shore was required to provide a DNA sample, and in 2000, crime labs pulled full genetic profiles from under Estrada's fingernails. They weren't identified as Shore's until 2003, as the lab was closed in 2002 from an audit, and numerous samples and profiles had to be transferred to other labs for retesting. After Shore was charge for Estrada's murder, he confessed to all four of his confirmed murders and the rape of Selma Janske. Shore was only charged with Estrada's murder, due to be conclusively identified through DNA evidence. In 2004, Shore was tried and found guilty of Estrada's murder in the first degree. Shore requested the death penalty, Janske testifying against him during sentencing. The jury sentenced Shore to death in less than an hour of deliberations.
In 2017, Shore's execution was rescheduled within hours of its original arrangement, as he confessed to the murder of Melissa Trotter, for which Larry Ray Swearingen was sentenced to death. His lawyer, Knox Nunnally, communicated to the prosecution Shore wanted Nunnally to provide written confessions to more murders after his execution. The D.A.'s office argued the confession was false and still upheld Shore's death sentence. Shores tried again to stay his execution with two more confessions: the murder of Aurora Rojas in 1995, when her skull was found in a Polk County field, and an unspecified murder near the Texas Killing Fields, a location infamously known for where victims of serial killers are found. On January 18, 2018, at the Huntsville Unit, Shore was executed by lethal injection at the age of 55, the first executed inmate in the United States that year.
Modus Operandi[]
Shore targeted underage girls across Houston, with the exception of Maria del Carmen Estrada, who was in her early 20s. Shore abducted the victims from public streets, except for Selma Janske, whose home he went to on foot and broke into, and Dana Sanchez, who he lured into his car by offering a ride home. Shore alleged he also sexually harassed Sanchez, then snapped when she rebuffed him. Shore attempted to rape the first victim, Laurie Lee Tremblay, but strangled her with a ligature when the attempt failed. Shore would then employ homemade tourniquets made out of ligatures and sticks or rods in his later murders, which he used to choke victims to death after raping them. The victims would be found dead in outdoor locations, including public businesses and open fields, with the murder weapons still tied around their throats as a signature. Shore made an exception with Janske, who he bound and raped before leaving her restrained as she was. Shore also called a local news station after murdering Sanchez to lead police to her remains. Shore took a break for years after murdering Tremblay, then, as is confirmed, killed or attacked a victim every year starting in 1992 and ending in 1995. When Shore raped his daughters, he usually forced them into provocative clothes and excessive makeup not meant for their age, also incapacitating them with drugs.
Known Victims[]
Confirmed[]
- Unknown dates:
- Numerous unnamed girls (sexually abused)
- Laurel and Gina Shore (his sisters; sexually abused)
- Unnamed cat (killed)
- Amy Lynch (his second ex-wife; abused)
- Amber and Tiffany Shore (his daughters; drugged and raped)
- Houston, Texas
- September 26, 1986: Laurie Lee Tremblay, 15 (attempted to rape; manually strangled)
- April 16, 1992: Maria del Carmen Estrada, 21 (the murder he was convicted of)
- October 19, 1993: Selma Janske, 14 (broke into her home, bound, raped; left alive)
- August 8, 1994: Diana Rebollar, 9 (was found on August 9)
- July 6, 1995: Dana Sanchez, 16 (also lured into his van and sexually harassed; was found on July 13)
Alleged[]
- Texas:
- Unknown date: Unnamed victim
- December 8, 1988, Houston: Melissa Trotter, 19
- July 24, 1993, Polk County: Aurora Rojas, 28 (her skull was found in October 1995)
- Note: Shore offered confessions to multiple other murders, including of Melissa Trotter, for which Larry Ray Swearingen was convicted; Shore was never charged with additional crimes. Shore's lawyer stated he would release written confessions by Shore after his execution, but it's unknown what came from this.
On Criminal Minds[]
While never directly mentioned or referenced in the franchise, Shore appears to be an inspiration for the following unsubs:
- Season One
- Tim Vogel ("Extreme Aggressor") - Both were serial killers and rapists with sociopathic behaviors exhibited in their childhoods, targeted female victims, abducted and raped them, killed them by ligature strangulation, established their M.O.s after their first murders, left the victims dead in outdoor locations, left the murder weapons tied around their throats after they were dead, and killed four victims each, with one survivor.
- Jacob Dawes ("Riding the Lightning") - Both were serial killers and rapists who were sexually abused by their mothers, were active and later imprisoned in Southern American states, targeted teenage girls (though Shore targeted other victims as well), were suspected of killing more victims who were never identified or found, and made false confessions before their impending executions.