Friday, December 28, 2012

Who Killed Melissa Trotter? Laurie Lee Trembly


September 26, 1986
Each school day for the previous month, 15-year-old Laurie Lee Tremblay would rise early for school.


She would exit the Whittfield apartment complex parking lot through the main gate, turn right, and begin walking east along Whittington Boulevard.


After a quarter mile, she would turn left on South Dairy Ashford Road.


After another quarter mile, she would arrive at the corner of Dairy Ashford and Westella Drive. There she would wait for the Houston Metro Bus that would take her on the first of two bus rides to her school.


Anthony Allen Shore lived nearby.

October 25, 2003
From the police interrogation of Anthony Allen Shore by Houston PD Sergeant John Swaim. All ellipses are in the original.

Swaim: Let's start with, let's just start with the killing.

Shore: First is Laurie Ann Tremblay.

Laurie's middle name was Lee, not Ann.

Swaim: Okay.

Shore: I was living in Alfred's house at the time. I was working for Southwestern Bell as a marketing representative. Actually, it might have been a service rep at the time. I was in the business office. Every morning, I'd be going to work. Every morning this little girl asked me for a cigarette and I couldn't stop laughing. I asked if she need a ride. Then I gave her a ride. Then a couple of days went by, she saw me, I gave her a ride again, to school. She had a long freakin' ways from where she had to catch the bus. She was only, way up on Whittington in these apartments. She and I became more than just friends and that's not braggin', it's stating fuckin' facts 'cause I understand she was not of age. And I've also been through a lot of sex offender treatment therapy at this time and I'm starting to understand some of the psychopathology behind my preoccupation. I know it is.

By "therapy at this time", Shore is referring to the time of the interview, not the time of the killing. Shore underwent sex offender therapy as part of his plea bargain for molesting his daughters. That plea bargain was in  January of 1998, after his last acknowledged killing.

Shore: She and I had become involved, at least in the sense of two things: I load her bags and I started to give her a ride on a semi-regular basis. Then, one morning, uh, she got to the bus really early, you know, and we got to ride around. There's times I even stopped and we bought kolaches, but we had time to ride around and kick it.

A kolache is pastry with fruit on top surrounded by a puffy ridge.

And, if they got off of work a little early, if got to be a fairly regular thing giving her a ride. Then there was, uh, something happened. I don't recall what with her, a couple of weeks there she didn't want a ride. So, I guess she was, decided this was a fucked-up kind of little relationship that's fucking juvenile but, anyway, she decided not to.

Swaim: Right.

Shore: Then one day it was misting rain, she saw me, asked me for a ride, and I didn't want her to get more involved in this because it needed stopping. It started off okay and then she was freaked out ... and I won't deny it I was a sick puppy 'cause I was --

Swaim: What kind of vehicle did you have back then?

Shore: Cadillac Cimarrron. It was light in color. Had a dent in the panel on the driver's side rear door.

Generic Light-Colored Cadillac Cimarron
Swaim: Okay. I was just curious. I'm sorry, go 'head.

Shore: So, it got out of hand and she started freakin' out and I begged her, I said "Please don't." She's like "no." I freaked out. I don't know what came over me. What kind of sickness. I freaked out. I had a wife, I had two daughters, living in this reasonably decent house that needed a lot of repairs but it was a nice neighborhood and all this stuff. And I had a life and I couldn't see it all thrown away. And I freaked out. And, uh, just wanted it to just stop. Take a cotton cord that time.

Swaim: Okay.

Shore: I remember it was cotton 'cause ... I tried to calm her down. She wouldn't calm down. I remember trying to knock her out and I hit her in the back of the head.

Swaim: Where were y'all at, in your car?

Shore: Yeah, in the neighborhood somewhere between Briar Forest and Westheimer. I'm not sure what streets, cross streets, but if I had to estimate, probably around Wilcrest, maybe, or even further up, maybe ... I dunno. Somewhere in that ballpark.

Swaim: Move on.

Shore: [Loud sigh]

Swaim: And then what happened?

Shore: I undid her bra. Everything got outta hand. She freaked out. I remember we got into ... I tried to know her out because I just really freaked out. It's not right and I just find it hard to talk about. Took this cotton cord and I tried to make sure she would never, ever tell anybody. Even though I knew that was insane and I knew there was probably no chance in hell that I wasn't going to get found out 'cause I was stupid. The number of ride that I had given her, surely somebody seen us together, surely something. And the cotton cord broke more than once. It wasn't working. That's all I know.

Swaim: Did you use your hands?

Shore: I used a cord, a ligature.

Swaim: I know, but did you use your hands on it?

Shore: I used my hands. I injured my fingers.

Swaim: You did that in the car, is that correct?

Shore: I panicked. Daylight come on and I didn't know what to do. And I looked, I mean there was no way to make this go away. I stepped over the line. I knew I was fucked. I needed, this is a, I'm fucked for life and there's nothing I can do about it.

Swaim: Right.

Shore: I was sick to my stomach. I even stopped at one point and threw up because I was sick. I had people passing by. I couldn't believe nobody fucking saw shit. Nobody stopped to find out what was going on, anything.

Swaim: Okay.

Shore: So I drove up behind the Ninfa's there and I pushed her out of the car. I just wanted to get away from the situation.

Swaim: Mmm, hmm.

Shore: And I noticed one of her shoes had come off. I picked it up carefully. I think I used the index finger of my right hand to pick it up knowing full well I put a print on it but honestly, at that point, someone's gonna go look for her ... and I threw the shoe out.

Swaim: By her?

Shore: Her shoe. Threw 'em off. In the car.

Swaim: Oh, in the car.

Shore: In the car and I pushed her out and her shoes were, I took the shoe, lifted it by my index finger so you will find the print, probably, if you look for it.

Swaim: Oh.

Shore: I threw it out of the car. I remember then I tried to go and accidentally ran over some part of her. I don't know what. There was not, I mean people around the parking lot but here was cares coming and going There was a car wash or some shit and there was people standing around outside and I couldn't believe this. I was almost in a dream world. I was fucking shot, freaked out, I couldn't think straight. I remember having to go to class. I don't know what kind of class it was. It was off Westpark.

Swaim: You were talking about her bra was undone?

Shore: Yeah.

Swaim: In the back or in the front?

Shore: From the back.

Swaim: From the back? Okay. Did you take anything from her?

Shore: I still had just her school books and that kind of stuff. I didn't take anything else from her.

Swaim: When you left did you have her property in the car?

Shore: Yes, I did.

Swaim: What was it?

Shore: I don't remember. School books, lunch, something. Just some general stuff. Wadded up paper bag.

Swaim: What happened to that stuff?

Shore: Stuck it in a Dumpster somewhere at an apartment complex somewhere.

Swaim: See, I'm confused. She had a shoe missing, bother her shoes were there? You just threw one out, is that right?

Shore: I threw one out.

Swaim: So she had both her shoes there?

Shore: Both shoes. One was till on her foot and --

Swaim: Oh, and one wasn't. I got you.

Shore: That never hit the papers so there's no way I'd now that --

Swaim: Oh, I know it's true. I know it's true. I was there.

Shore: I was sick. I was scared to death. I was paranoid for days. I just knew this was, this was, God, there's no way I could change or have that. I was sick. I didn't want to lose everything. My wife, my kids, my house, and everything and so I tired to put an end to it the best I could that I was in a state of shock for a long time. For months. I promised myself nothing like this would ever, ever, ever, ever happen. Promised, no fucking way. then I had crazy ... crazy thoughts. I mean I had, I don't know if you call 'em dreams, people talk about voices in their head. I felt like there were voices, almost like my own voice ... and I'd have fantasy trips which has to do with the preoccupation, which I haven't talked about in sex offender treatment class but I'm aware of it. And I had these fantasies and I had this one girl that I picked up and I was tying her and --

Swaim: Okay. On that case, that's about it?

Shore: That's all I can remember.