Anthony Allen Shore

Anthony Allen Shore (June 25, 1962 – January 18, 2018) was an American serial killer and child molester who was responsible for the murders of one woman and three girls.

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.

In 1983, Shore married Gina Lynn Worley; Shore and Worley had two daughters, Amber and Tiffany.

The couple divorced a decade later.

He was active from 1986 to 2000, and became 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 garotte or a twitch, a tool used by farmers to control horses.

Shore's first known victim was 15-year-old Laurie Tremblay, whom he killed on September 26, 1986.

Tremblay was walking to school when Shore attacked her.

After attempting to sexually assault her, Shore strangled her.

He dumped her behind a Mexican restaurant in Houston.

He also confessed to the 1987 murder of 14-year-old Laurie Tremblay and a 1994 rape of a 14-year-old girl.

Detectives had no way of linking Tremblay's killing to the other three murders because she had been strangled with a ligature.

When asked why he switched to a tourniquet, Shore replied, "because I hurt my finger while murdering Tremblay."

Shore sexually assaulted and strangled Maria del Carmen Estrada, 21, on April 16, 1992.

Estrada was a Mexican immigrant, working as a nanny.

Estrada's body was found in the back of a Dairy Queen that same day.

On October 19, 1993, Shore entered the home of 14-year-old Selma Janske, then bound and sexually assaulted her; he then fled the scene on foot.

Shore beat, sexually assaulted, and strangled Diana Rebollar, 9, on August 8, 1994.

She lived in the Houston Heights area of Houston, at the front of a small duplex.

On the day of her death, she was seen at a local grocery store.

Employees saw her leave the store safely, but she never returned home.

She was found the next day on a loading dock behind a building.

Police were given a lead by a neighbor who described a van that frequented the area.

She was connected to the Maria del Carmen Estrada case by the killer's modus operandi: a rope with a bamboo stick attached was found around her neck.

Shore strangled Dana Sanchez, 16, on July 6, 1995.

Shore offered her a ride in his van and killed her after she rejected his sexual advances.

Seven days later an anonymous telephone call to a local news station, actually made by Shore, directed police to her body in a Harris County field.

Shore married Amy Lynch in 1997; they divorced after she accused him of abuse.

At his murder trial, Shore's daughters testified that their father drugged, abused, and raped them.

In 1998, Shore was convicted of molesting his two daughters; 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; however, certain samples, 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.

Shore was sentenced to death in 2004, and executed by lethal injection on January 18, 2018.

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 and two younger sisters Laurel and Gina, moved frequently; they eventually settled in Houston, Texas.