Houston's 'Tourniquet Killer' Scheduled To Die In October

HOUSTON, TX — The murders were heinous, and went unsolved for years. In one case, a 9-year-old girl was kidnapped, raped, and strangled to death; she had been on her way to a store to buy sugar for her mother. The long and sordid tale could soon be over, however.

Anthony Allen Shore, 55, known as the "Tourniquet Killer," is scheduled to die by capital punishment in October, and if the U.S. Supreme Court declines to hear his appeal, the execution will end the story.

"There's a reason we have the death penalty in Texas and Anthony Shore is a poster child for why," Andy Kahan, Houston's victim advocate, told the Houston Chronicle.

Shore carried out his crimes in Harris County in the '80s and the '90s, and in each murder used a handmade tourniquet to strangle his victims. He was found guilty in 2004 of one count of capital murder, and on Thursday a district judge scheduled his execution for October 18.

He is a "true serial killer, a person deserving of the ultimate punishment," Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said in a statement on Thursday. "His crimes were predatory, and his victims the most vulnerable in society — women and children. For his brutal acts, the death penalty is appropriate."

His attorney, Houstonian K. Knox Nunnally, said the appeal currently before the U.S. Supreme Court is a last-chance plea.

"I would certainly say that the odds are not in our favor," Nunnally said. "But we believe that we have a strong argument."

Shore was caught and tied to the murders only after being arrested for the molestation of two young girls, relatives of his. DNA taken from him at the time was found to be a match for DNA found under the fingernail of one of his murder victims.

He confessed to four murders, beginning with the 1986 killing of Laurie Tremblay, who was 14. In 1992, he raped and killed Maria del Carmen Estrada and left her body in the drive-through of a Houston Dairy Queen. Two years later, 9-year-old Diana Rebollar became his victim, followed by Dana Sanchez in 1995.

Nunnally's appeal hinges on the possibility that Shore suffered brain damage before the spate of murders began.

"In the course of our appeal we discovered he suffered a traumatic brain injury prior to the times he committed the crimes he was accused of," Nunnally said. "That possibly could have affected his reasoning and determination of what is right or wrong."

A documentary on Shore, made after his arrest, was made by A&E.

See the story at the Houston Chronicle

— Image: Anthony Allen Shore (Texas Department of Public Safety)

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