Anthony Allen Shore
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Anthony Allen Shore (June 25th, 1962 – January 18th, 2018) was an American serial killer and child molester who was responsible for the slayings of one woman and three girls. He operated from 1986 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. Shore was sentenced to death in 2004, and executed by lethal injection on January 18th, 2018.
Biography[edit]
Shore was born in Rapid City, South Dakota, to Robert and Deanna Shore. His parents were both in the military, and the family, which grew to include Shore's two younger sisters Laurel and Gina, moved frequently; they eventually settled in Houston, Texas. Shore's parents fought constantly and engaged in extramarital affairs before finally divorcing in 1976. He later claimed that his father frequently beat him, and that his mother molested him when he was 13. He exhibited antisocial behavior from a young age, killing a neighbor’s cat and harassing and molesting his female classmates and, sometimes, younger friends of his sisters.
He married Gina Lynn Worley in 1983; they had two daughters. They later divorced and Shore was given custody of his two young girls. He married Amy Lynch in 1997, and divorced after Lynch accused him of abuse.
In 1998, Shore was convicted of molesting his two daughters, Tiffany and Amber, and as a result he was required to provide police with a DNA sample. In 2000, detectives pulled Maria del Carmen Estrada's case from the cold files, tested DNA evidence from underneath Estrada'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, which led to Shore's arrest for Estrada's murder.
Eleven hours into his interrogation, Shore confessed to the murders of Maria del Carmen 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. 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."
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 15th, 2004.
Shore was executed by lethal injection on January 18th, 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!".