MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Texas – The execution date for Anthony Allen Shore, also known as the "Tourniquet Killer," has been reset for Jan. 18, 2018. He was scheduled to be put to death Wednesday.
On the eve of his scheduled execution, Shore told investigators that a fellow inmate attempted to persuade Shore to take responsibility for the December 1998 abduction and killing of 19-year-old Melissa Trotter.
Larry Ray Swearingen was convicted of Trotter's murder and is scheduled to be executed on Nov. 16.
Shore, who confessed to four slayings, was scheduled to be executed Wednesday evening, but the date has been reset while an investigation can be conducted.
Montgomery County District Attorney Brett Ligon said investigators from his office spoke with Shore on Tuesday and he told them he decided to expose the scheme and not cooperate with Swearingen.
The prosecutor said Swearingen tried a similar scheme before his trial for Trotter's killing.
The U.S. Supreme Court refused an appeal from Swearingen last October. His attorneys have long wanted additional DNA testing of evidence they say could show he didn't kill Trotter.
During Tuesday's interview, Shore told investigators he initially refused Swearingen's request, but the two eventually became friends and he decided to try to exonerate Swearingen as a favor.
Shore told investigators that Swearingen gave him a hand-drawn map of the location where Swearingen left physical evidence of Trotter's murder.
Ligon asked Gov. Greg Abbott to grant Shore a single 30-day reprieve in order to process the contents of Shore's cell.
On July 21, authorities discovered a folder in Shore's cell containing approximately 10 items pertaining to Trotter's murder, including copies of court exhibits and scene photos, a hand-drawn page of a calendar for the month of December 1998 with handwritten notations regarding weather conditions, and a hand-drawn map which appears to depict the location where Trotter's body was found. The handwriting on the map appears to be Swearingen's, authorities said.
