Who Killed Melissa Trotter: Dana Sanchez

Warning: At the end of this post are two graphic and gruesome death-scene photos. They are not suitable viewing for all readers.

Dana Lizette Sanchez was 21 years old. The first picture below shows her when she was a bit younger. The second picture is cropped from her "Missing" poster.

Dana was living with a girlfriend and that girlfriend's boyfriend. They lived within the apartment complex located along the 600 block of Cavalcade in Houston.

Dana was two months pregnant. On the evening of 6 July 1995, she planned to tell her boyfriend who lived some 15 miles away. Around 7 PM, she walked to a pay phone outside the nearby Mr. Qwik's to arrange a ride. That convenience store was located at the corner of Cavalcade and Airline. It was only two-tenths of a mile from where Dana lived. It was only six-tenths of a mile from where Anthony Shore lived.

Shore: Last and final case. Dana Sanchez.

Swaim: Right.

Shore: I got that name from the newspaper. She told me her name was Ruby. I don't know where Ruby came from. And she told me when her birthday was. I was driving --

Swaim: Do you know when her birthday was?

Shore: I don't remember now.

Swaim: Or what she told you?

Shore: But it also never came out in the paper, um, it's verifiable but I'm telling you --

Swaim: Okay. I believe you.

Shore: I was driving, at that time I was driving a Ford Econoline van, old piece of shit, beat up, green --

Swaim: '78?

Shore: How in the world you get '78 from?

Swaim: Nah, whatever.

Shore: That I don't know. All I know is that it was an older model van about an '88. It was green, not Army green but like a dark metallic green. It was beat up.

Swaim: You traded it in?

Shore: Yeah, I traded it in. I think I traded it in for the, uh, Dodge custom conversion van that I ended up buying.

Swaim. Do you know where you traded it in?

Shore: Yes, the Auto Sales on Shepherd somewhere between 11th and 15th. Somewhere on --

Swaim: Okay.

Shore: Anyway. One of the things that you can put in your report, I had done the interior with Berber carpet which is uncommon.

Swaim: Alright.

Shore: I was driving around and I saw this girl, I'm gonna say she was wearing white coveralls and a striped shirt underneath and she was mad. She had this look that she was angry and upset and she was at a pay-phone.

Swaim: Where was this at?

Shore: Corner of Cavalcade and Airline.

Swaim: Okay.

Shore: And she, I guess, had called somebody from the pay phone. She started storming off and I was making the "Say, hey. ..." She said "Man, I'm going to see my boyfriend" somewhere. Forget where she told me.

Swaim: No problem.

Shore: And we went driving and we had [a] conversation and I had this sick fantasy going through my mind like there could be something, relationship there, or some type of thing between us. I was flirting with her heavily. At the time I had really long hair. I though I looked good or maybe I just looked like a freak. I don't know. But, she was real friendly, you know. Talking about, I think she said she was a runaway. Don't know what happened.

Swaim: She's a Hispanic girl, also?

Shore: Yeah. She is Hispanic. But she wasn't Hispanic in the sense, she spoke good English. And we drove, if I remember correctly, 45 North. I have no idea where she wanted to go. I don't remember where she wanted to go. 34th sticks in my mind. I don't recall. And she told me her name was Ruby. Why she told me that, I don't know, but, I remember she told me her birthday and we drove somewhere off of 45. She never even questioned why I was taking so long getting where I was going. She was just happy to have conversation and everything. So, I thought, "What the hell. I'll go for it." I pulled into this parking lot. I started flirting with her and pettin' on her. She was jokingly "No, no, no, I gotta boyfriend" this and that. So, I grabbed her, pulled her into the back of the van, and she cried. She bit me hard. Drew blood, I forget. My chest, hold on a sec.

Swaim: Mmm, hmm.

Shore: So, I restrained her, tied her hand with, I wanna say duct tape. I can't remember but I think duct tape. I remember that I taped her.

Swaim: Alright.

Shore: And she was fighting so hard. And I was there and getting sick about this whole thing. Oh. I'm with the psychopathology [and its] craziness is ... and I just knew that this was fucked up and I didn't want it to happen and once again I knew that I couldn't stop. I knew there was nothing I could do to get out of this. And I used a ligature.

Swaim: In what way?

Shore: I wanna say it was a yellow twisted nylon rope, but I don't remember. I think that's right. Like the boat rope. Ski rope. Nylon.

Swaim: What color?

Shore: Yellow, I wanna say.

Swaim: Okay.

Shore: And, uh, there wasn't gonna be any sex with her. I had these sick, sick notions.

Swaim: Did you use any kind of tool to cut on there, Tony?

Shore: Same, same thing. I don't recall, I just remember the yellow rope. I'm not even positive about that. Just the whole thing. I was getting sicker in my brain. I just couldn't, at this point I was almost in like a state of shock or dream state. I just, I wanted the shit to stop. I didn't want to keep not knowing what was going on. I just knew that I couldn't get caught but I wanted it to stop. And, I uh, couldn't get aroused, I remember that I was so sick in my brain and I knew in my mind I knew that something had change in my head. This wasn't at all what I bargained for. So I drove and drove and drove and drove.

Swaim: With her in it?

Shore: With her in the van in the back. I don't remember for sure.

Swaim: Mmm, hmm.

Shore: And I found this area way out in, got some streets in 'em --

Swaim: You remember what area?

Shore: I don't. Off the north freeway somewhere. It was way out, way out.

Swaim: Alright.

Shore: And during that time I was thinking, "God, this is so fucked." And I remember seeing it in the paper for some type of thing she made or something ... and I was just, I thought I was in a different county. I just knew I was way the hell out, so ...

Swaim: Mmm, hmm.

Shore: ... I pulled her out into a field and [took off] like a bat out of hell. I was scared to death.

Swaim: How far out in the field? Did you drive out in the field or not?

Shore: No, I just pulled up to the side. This was like an area that was so overgrown with trees and --

Swaim: Trees were removed? The streets were cut or something.

Shore: Yeah, they look like they were putting in a subdivision or something.

Once again, Shore deviates from what would otherwise have seemed a pattern. He did not dump the body behind a nearby building. He dumped the body of Dana Sanchez in a field well north of where he abducted her.

"So I drove and drove and drove and drove," and ended up 15 miles away near the exit of I-45 and Ritchey.

Shore:  It was remote enough. I just, as fast as I could, probably a hundred feet, maybe off the road. 

Note that the area was being developed at the time. The roads had been cut, but the buildings were apparently not yet constructed. The field would have appeared even larger and more isolated than it appears in the image above.

Shore: I jumped in the van, sped away scared to death and anytime I think I had taken every identifiable thing I could think of: clothing, jewelry, all of that. I wanted to sit it up and I didn't know what to do with it. I didn't throw it in a Dumpster this time. I drove around somewhere away, way away from where she was at but still way north and I don't even know where I was at. I was in a shock state. My brain wasn't the same. It's just everything is something or nothing. I was scared and I knew I was fucked. And I remember seeing another area similar where the streets cut in and the big utility easements cut out and it was overgrown and stuff.

Swaim: Was it on the same side of the freeway or on the other side of the freeway?

Shore: It was on the other side of the freeway but I don't remember for sure. This time I drove an off-road and I threw all the shit out and I drove back.

Swaim: What kind of ... clothes?

Shore: Clothes and duct tape and --

Swaim: Whatever she had?

Shore: Whatever she had.

Swaim: So, she was like completely naked?

Shore: As I recall. I can't remember because my brain wasn't straight that day.

Swaim: Okay.

Shore: And the jewelry I didn't throw it in the same area. I threw that out on the freeway behind my back.

Swaim: And that was that one? Do you know how her body got found?

Shore: Yes, I do. An anonymous phone call.

Swaim: And who made that phone call?

Shore: I did.

Swaim: And what did you say? Who did you call?

Shore: I was in the area of T.S.U. [Texas Southern University], Third Ward. I was a telephone main installer and repairman. So I used an effects box and tapped into one of those college campus lines and I couldn't be traced.

Swaim: Right.

Shore: I don't remember what I said.

Swaim: Who did you call?

Shore: I talked to Crime Stoppers, it wasn't Crime Stoppers. Crime Stoppers wouldn't give me the time of day. I want to say it was "Tips." The 222-TIPS, "Please use this line," something. Whatever, it is you call --

Swaim: They wouldn't take your call?

Shore: At first Crime Stoppers didn't, they didn't, they thought I was full of shit and didn't listen. That's two calls I made. The second one was to TIPS and I changed my voice and I remember telling them where to find her and I remember telling them her name and I remember telling them her birthday.

Swaim: You remember who you were talking to? A male or a female?

Shore: Honest to God, I don't recall. I want to say female but I don't recall.

Swaim: You told them what? I'm sorry I interrupted you.

Shore: I told them where they could find her and at what time I had a better recollection of approximately where it was and I told them her name was Ruby and I told them what her birthday was so they could identify here. There was a part of me that just wanted to be caught and stopped.

From Corey Mitchell's Strangler:

The officers got back into their cars and headed over to Northview Park Drive, off Richey Road. At the end of the wide concrete road, Detective Valerio exited his cruiser and made his way over to the nearby field overgrown with tall green grass, acutely aware of the oppressive heat that had marked this unreasonably hot summer, even for the notoriously scorching Houston. 

Taber and Wedgeworth pulled their vehicle up next to Valerio's. Taber headed toward the west side of the street while Valerio checked the east side. 

The familiar, acrid smell caught Detective Taber's attention. 

"Valerio, get over here!" Taber hollered. Valerio sidled up to the edge of the field. He noticed that the green grass was blotted with a large twenty-foot-long pathway of dead brown grass. At the upper portion of the dead grass path was an image that would forever be etched in the mind of the thirteen-year veteran detective. It was the severely composed body of a human being. It appeared as if a scarecrow had been blown off its perch by a tornado, its clothes and hat ripped off in the process, revealing nothing but the skeletal remains. 

As Valerio stepped closer to the body, combating the stench and controlling his gag reflex, he noticed a full head of black hair, almost like a wig, atop a human skull. The skull was not completely shorn of all its all its flesh. It appeared as if the skull were wearing a Leatherface mask from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It was a grayish tan color. Bits of the skull peeked out at certain points. The victim's eyeballs were missing and the ears were halfway chewed off.

The condition of Dana's corpse proves that Larry Ray Swearingen did not kill Melissa Trotter. One need only compare the advanced state of her decomposition after only eight days in a field against the near absence of decomposition of Melissa Trotter's body.

Once again, I quote from Strangler, this time presenting Corey Mitchell's summary of the coroner's findings.

Dana Sanchez was literally a bag of bones. Her total body weight was now only twenty-five pounds. Dr. Bellas noted that the majority of her skin had been eaten away by maggots. There was no skin on her pelvic, neck, head, chest, and abdominal area. Additionally, there was no skin on her face and her eyes were missing. What little skin remained was in a nearly mummified state, due to advanced decomposition.

She weighed only twenty-five pounds. Assuming she weighed at least a hundred pounds before her murder, she lost at least 75% of her body weight in only eight days.

Melissa Trotter's body, by comparison, weighed 105 pounds, nude. During her previous doctor's visit, she weighed 109 pounds, presumably clothed or partially so. Melissa Trotter's body lost approximately 4% of her body weight as it lay there in Sam Houston National Forest. The State of Texas insists the body was laying there for 25 days and plans to execute Larry Swearingen based on that claim.

In order to believe that Larry Swearingen is guilty, you must believe that Melissa Trotter's body decomposed only 2% as quickly as did Dana Sanchez' body.

4% / 25% x 8 days / 25 days = 0.017 = 2%

Put another way, in order to believe that Larry Swearingen is guilty, you must believe that Dana Sanchez body decayed 59 times faster than did Melissa Trotter's body.

1 / 0.017 = 59

I recognize that Dana Sanchez was killed in the summer and Melissa Trotter was killed in the winter. I realize as well that bodies tend to decompose faster when the temperature is higher. Here's the trial testimony of ME Joye Carter during Swearingen's trial on that very issue.

Temperature will somewhat, well, a cool temperature somewhat slows down decomposition. Warm temperature will accelerate, speed it up, usually.

Recall that Joye Carter was no friend of the defense. Au contraire! She was going out of her way to help the prosecution convict Swearingen. Though she gave no estimate of how long Trotter had been dead when she wrote her autopsy report, she gave an overly precise and darn convenient estimate of 25 days during her trial testimony. That estimate, never previously published, put Trotter's death on the very day the State claimed Swearingen killed her. Had it been even a few days later, Larry Swearingen would likely have been found not guilty. He was jailed on 11 December, 22 days before Trotter's body was discovered in Sam Houston National Forest. If Trotter had been there fewer than 23 days, Swearingen could not have been the person who dumped her body.

After the medical experts begin to explain, post conviction, that Trotter's body could not possibly have been decomposing for anywhere near 25 days, Joye Carter wrote an affidavit recanting her estimated date of death, and faulting others for not providing her with enough information at the time. Her affidavit helped win Swearingen another hearing on his case to consider the post-conviction medical evidence. During that hearing, Joye Carter recanted her recantation of the date of death she presented at trial after failing to identify one in her autopsy report. It is on such terribly shaky evidence that Texas intends to execute Larry Swearingen.

At trial, Joye Carter needed to give some explanation why the body was not more seriously decomposed. She therefore pointed out that the decomposition process was probably delayed by the cold winter weather. Even then, when she needed an explanation to bail the State of Texas out of a decompositional jam, she could only bring herself to say that cold weather would slow down the decomposition "somewhat".

In my book, "somewhat" in no way corresponds to a factor of 59.

Using the historical data from the Weather Underground website, I reviewed the weather data for the two areas over the relevant time periods. First I found that the temperature on the day Dana Sanchez' body was discovered was not as remembered by Detective Valerio and related by Corey Mitchell.

Detective Valerio exited his cruiser and made his way over to the nearby field overgrown with tall green grass, acutely aware of the oppressive heat that had marked this unreasonably hot summer, even for the notoriously scorching Houston. 

Instead, the maximum temperature that day was 92 degF compared to an average maximum for that day of 91 degF.

On the other hand, the December in which Trotter's body supposedly lay in the Sam Houston National Forest had some unseasonably warm days. On 21 December 1998, the maximum temperature was 77 degF.

During the eight days that Sanchez' body laid outside, the maximum temperature averaged 95 degrees. During the eight warmest days that Trotter's body allegedly laid outside, the maximum temperature averaged 71 degrees.

None of that comes close to explaining a factor of 59 difference in the decomposition rates between the two bodies.

This point is so important that I've decided to show a comparison of the two corpses. The images are already available on the internet elsewhere. They have, however, never before been displayed side-by-side for comparison.

On one hand, I'm reluctant to present them. They are gruesome. There is no way that they cannot be painful to friends and family. On the other hand, a man's life is at stake.

Though the rate of decomposition comparison is just one of many powerful arguments of why Larry Swearingen cannot be guilty, I think the side-by-side comparison of the two bodies provides a clear, easy-to-understand explanation of why I describe Larry Swearingen as The Most Innocent Man on Death Row.

That is Dana Sanchez' body on the left, after 8 days in a field. That is Melissa Trotter's body on the right. In order for the State of Texas to be correct, in order for Larry Swearingen to be guilty of murdering Melissa Trotter, her body had to be laying there in the Sam Houston National Forest for 25 days.

Clearly she was not. Texas is once again on the verge of executing an innocent man.

Who Killed Melissa Trotter: Diana Robellar

Diana Robellar was nine years old. She was four feet, eleven inches tall. She weighed sixty pounds. She was just a little girl.

August 7, 1994

Around noon, Diana's aunt asked her to walk to the Wing Fong Market and buy a bag of sugar. The store was just two blocks up the road.

Diana began her walk near the point shown below, somewhere along the 6600 block of North Main Street in Houston.

She walked along the right hand sidewalk. About halfway to her destination, she passed the C&F Drive In. She was a bit of a regular there. Sometimes she would purchase groceries. Sometimes she would sell Chiclets. This time she just passed by as she walked to the Wing Fong Market just another block up the road.

The Wing Fong Market was on the corner of North Main Street and 29th Street, just at the freeway. The store is no longer there. Just a fenced in vacant lot now.

A store employee later confirmed that Diana had made it to the store, purchased a bag of sugar, and left.  Another witness confirmed that she had crossed 29th Street and was walking back along North Main towards her home.

Referring to the photo above, she walked down the sidewalk on the left hand side. She made it as far as the C&F Drive In.

Anthony Shore was there also, at that same place, at that same time. He was driving a van that belonged to the father of his live-in girlfriend. He saw the little girl walking along the sidewalk, carrying a bag of sugar home for her aunt.

October 25, 2003

Swaim: Do you know what street you're on?

Shore: I wanna say Main Street. North Main somewhere around 21st to 26th. I'm not really sure where in there. I know there is a parking lot and I pulled in and I talked to her and ... there wasn't anybody around and I don't know what the hell. I'm sitting there going ... the girl. I just picked her up, put her in the van. Nobody saw shit. And I told her to be quiet --

Swaim: Did you wrap anything around her or anything or just took her into --

Shore: I just threw her in initially and I told her to be quiet and that it was a kidnapping and that she wasn't going to get hurt, this and that. She made like she was gonna not cooperate so I remember using duct tape to bind her. Hands and feet. Then we drove around. I don't know where we ended up. I remember it was a big, big parking lot and a building. Looks like it had been vacated.

1440 North Loop West, Houston, TX

Rear View of Building where Dana Robellar was Murdered

Shore: And, uh, in the bay area where the trucks come back up and stuff. And I was going to molest her and she fought like hell. Strangely, she fought like hell. Just couldn't go on with anything. .. And I knew it wasn't going to happen, and she was so afraid, I'm sure. ... She fought and fought and I don't recall what type of cord or strand, a piece of wire or something. And the same thing, I knew I was fucked and I don't know why the shit kept happening. I couldn't stop it. I could say "Yeah, there are voices in my head," but it's my own sickness. [Ellipses in this paragraph are mine]

Swaim: You don't remember what, it was a cord, or --

Shore: But then I tried to have sex with her but it wasn't happening, wasn't happening. She just fought so bad, and she's so small, and I just said, "God, you sick fuck. What the hell is wrong with you? Why have you lost your fucking mind? And I just wanted, I just wanted it to end. I just couldn't, every time I'd tell myself, I'd just kept saying, "Oh, this has gotta stop. I'm a sick, sick puppy." There wasn't anyone around. I could've taken time. I could've done this or I could've done that and I had this sick, sick [thought] going through my head but I just wanted it to be over. I just wanted to get away from there. I knew I couldn't just let her go because I knew that, well obviously, she's gonna tell and then my life would be all fucked up. Just selfish, self-centered, fucked-up thinking, I know. So I did the ligature ... I drove around with [her stuff] the day before I got rid of it. And, once again, I threw it in a trash bag and I threw it in a Dumpster somewhere. [Ellipses in this paragraph are mine]

January 2, 2013

Anthony Shore claimed in his interview that he was unable to molest Diana Robellar. Once again, that was a bold-faced lie or a grand illusion. Little Diana had been violated both vaginally and anally. The coroner, however, found no semen. Perhaps Shore had begun to worry about leaving his DNA in his victims, and had begun to wear a condom.

Clearly this attack was substantially different than all the others. The age of the victim continued to drop. There was no pretense of building a relationship. There was no soothing talk to convince the victim that everything was going to be okay.

Shore went hunting for a victim. He had a van, not a car. He had duct tape to bind his victim, as he had the last time. He had a string and wooden dowel tourniquet at the ready. This time, he did not intend to fool around. He grabbed her off the street, raped her, strangled her, and dumped her body.

Every time it was different. Next time would be no exception.

Who Killed Melissa Trotter: Selma Janske

Selma Janske is a pseudonym for the fourteen year old girl that Anthony Allen Shore raped in her home. The girl's actual identification has been kept secret  I know of no one other than Corey Mitchell, author of Strangler, who uses the pseudonym. I therefore presume that he created it. Whoever created it, I've adopted it for this series.

I tell Selma's story mostly via her trial transcript during the penalty phase of Anthony Shore's trial for the murder of Carmen Estrada. I follow that with Anthony Shore's confession regarding his attack against her. The comparison will give you a sense of how much you might be able to trust the word of Anthony Allen Shore.

Selma Janske was questioned by Assistant District Attorney Terese Buess.

October 22, 2004
Buess: I want to go back in time. I want to go to October 19, 1993.

Janske: Yes.

Buess: How old were you back then?

Janske: I was fourteen.

Buess: Where were you going to school?

Janske: Lamar High School. I was a freshman.

Buess: Tell us what kind of activities you were involved in at Lamar High School back then.

Janske: Mostly, I played soccer. I played soccer most of my life. And doing school and hanging out with my friends.

Buess: Was your brother living with you at the time?

Janske: No, he had gone off to college that year.

Buess: So, in your home, tell me who was living in your home that day.

Janske: My mom, my dad, and myself.

Buess: Just the three of you?

Janske: Yes.

Buess: Tell us how you got back and forth to school.

Janske: I had a car pool with three or four of my friends. Our parents took turns driving us to and from school.

Buess: What time did you normally get home from school with the car pool?

Janske: About three-thirty, or right around then.

Buess: And how would you get into the house at that point?

Janske: I had a key. I'd just let myself in through the front door.

Buess: And when you came home, would either your mom or dad be home at that time?

Janske: No, they worked.

Buess: What time would they normally get home?

Janske: Somewhere in between five-thirty or six-thirty usually.

Buess: And would they both come together or separately?

Janske: No, separate.

Buess: When you would come home from school on a regular school day, what would you normally do once you got home?

Janske: I would usually come in and get a snack, probably watch some TV, do some homework.

Buess: TV first, then some homework?

Janske: Right.

Buess: Typical freshman in high school. Okay Selma. On October 19, 1993, did you come home from school on that day?

Janske: Yes.

Buess: It was a school day?

Janske: Yes.

Buess: Got home at the regular time, about three-thirty, with a carpool?

Janske: Yes.

Buess: How did you let yourself into the house?

Janske: I let myself in like normal.

Buess: Do you recall what you had with you at the time?

Janske: I always had a backpack with me at school, and that's probably it.

Buess: Tell me on the day what you were wearing.

Janske: I had on jeans, I think, tennis shoes and just a T-shirt of some kind.

Buess: Do you remember what color the T-shirt was?

Janske: I believe it was blue.

Buess: Underneath your shirt, what did you have on?

Janske: A bra.

Buess: Underneath your jeans, what did you have on?

Janske: Underwear.

Buess: Let's talk about what you did when you came home. You said you came through the front door.

Janske: Yes.

Buess: And tell me what you were doing at that moment.

Janske: I was checking the mail because the mail slot is in the front door and it goes on the floor. So I would always walk in and just pick it up.

Buess: What were you looking at?

Janske: There was a catalog in there. I had sat down on the couch and started flipping through it.

Buess: What did you do next?

Janske: I started walking through the living room and I had walked through the dining room and was walking into the kitchen watching the clock.

Buess: So, are you in the kitchen or almost there?

Janske: I'm walking through the doorway of the kitchen.

Buess: And what happens next?

Janske: I heard a noise behind me. It was a voice. I think he said, "Hey," and I turned around and saw a figure standing where the table usually sat.

Buess: Let me stop you right there. Let me back you up a little bit. We're going to go slowly so we don't have to do it again. Okay? In its place, what was there?

Janske: There's a man standing there.

Buess: When you looked at him, did you look at him in the face?

Janske: Yes.

Buess: Could you see his face?

Janske: No.

Buess: Why not?

Janske: His face was covered with a bandanna or something on his head.

Buess: Could you see any part of his face?

Janske: I could see his forehead, maybe his eyes.

Buess: What could you tell from seeing that much of him?

Janske: That he was white.

Buess: When he spoke to you and he called your attention, do you recall the words he used?

Janske: I can't remember if he said "Hey" or if he just made a noise to get my attention.

Buess: Aside from noticing the white forehead and the eyes, tell us what he was wearing.

Janske: He was wearing large, baggy clothes. When I first looked at him, I thought he was a scarecrow-type-looking figure.

Buess: Was it a shirt or a jacket? What was it on top?

Janske: It was a shirt of some kind.

Buess: How about the pants? Could you tell what kind they were?

Janske: Blue jeans, I believe.

Buess: Did you look at his feet?

Janske: No.

Buess: Tell the jury, when you hear that noise, when you hear him talking to you or saying something and you turned around and saw him, tell us what's going through your mind right then.

Janske: I thought it was a joke. I thought someone was trying to scare me.

Buess: What did you do?

Janske: I just stood there. I didn't, I didn't know what to do.

Buess: Did you notice or learn anything about his hands?

Janske: He was wearing surgical gloves on his hands.

Buess: How did you know that?

Janske: I just saw them as he was walking up to me.

Buess: What did you think when you saw those gloves?

Janske: I wasn't thinking at that point?

Buess: Tell us what happened next. What does he say to you?

Janske: He said he was just breaking into the house. He wanted to steal something. He was just breaking in to find money. He didn't know that I was going to be there and it was an accident.

Buess: When he says that to you, what kind of voice is he using?

Janske:  It was very calm, very soothing almost.

Buess: [Did he say] "I'm just here to rob your house?

Janske: Yes.

Buess: I'm not here for you?

Janske: Right.

Buess: Does that make you feel any better?

Janske: I believed him.

Buess: So what happened next?

Janske: I was just standing right inside the kitchen. He came over, and he said he was going to put duct tape around my eyes so that I couldn't see him and couldn't identify him. And he kept saying over and over again, "I'm just breaking into your house. It's an accident that I'm here when you're here. And so I let him. And he wrapped my whole face around in duct tape, over my mouth, around the back of my head.

The Pseudonymous Selma Janske Being Comforted Soon after the Attack

Buess: What about your nose?

Janske: Well, I could still breathe.

Buess: So your nose isn't covered?

Janske: Right.

Buess: How about your eyes?

Janske: Yes.

Buess: You say he went all the way around?

Janske: Yes.

Buess: Back then, what kind of hair did you have?

Janske: Pretty much like I have today, long.

Buess: What did he do with your hands?

Janske: He said that he was going to tie my hands behind  my back so that I couldn't come after him. And so he tied my hands real tight behind [my] back.

Buess: What did he tie your hands with?

Janske: Well, it was a wire of some kind. And later I found out that the alarm clock in my room wasn't working anymore, and he had cut the wire from that and split it down in two so it was long and thin.

Buess: Just so we have a good picture of you at this point in time, your eyes are covered, your mouth is covered, you can breathe.

Janske: Yes.

Buess: Can you see anything at the time?

Janske: No.

Buess: And are your hands behind you?

Janske: Yes.

Buess: He left your feet alone?

Janske: Yes.

Buess: What happened next?

Janske: He started walking me into the bedroom through the kitchen.

Buess: How is he doing that?

Janske: He's leading me from behind with his hand on my -- on my back.

Buess: So, he just kind of guided you forward.

Janske: Yes.

Buess: Because you can't see, right?

Janske: We went through the kitchen and turned right into my bedroom.

Buess: On the walk through the dining room, through the kitchen into your bedroom, is he silent or is he talking?

Janske: No. He was -- he talked the whole time.

Buess: What's he saying?

Janske: Just repeating over and over again that it was an accident that I was there when he was there.

Buess: Did he tell you he wasn't going to hurt you?

Janske: Yes.

Buess: Did you believe that?

Janske: I had to.

Buess: You said his voice was calm and soothing. Is it still the same way?

Janske: Yes.

Buess: Tell us, Selma, when you realized that it really was about you.

Janske: When we were walking back into the bedroom, he lifted up my shirt and just grazed my side. And that was the first realization that I had that it might not be just about the house, that it might be about me too.

Buess: So, now you're in the bedroom. What happened next?

Janske: He sat me down on the bed.

Buess: So are you at the foot of your bed?

Janske: Yes, with my knees over the end of the bed.

Buess: What does he say?

Janske: I don't remember. He started taking off my pants.

Buess: Did he tell you why he was talking your pants off?

Janske: He said he didn't want me to chase after him.

Buess: Are you still thinking that maybe if you go along, it's going to be okay?

Janske: I don't remember. I didn't have a choice at that point.

Buess: Did you let him take your pants off?

Janske: I think I struggled a little bit.

Buess: Did your pants come off?

Janske: Yes.

Buess: So, now at this point you've got your panties on?

Janske: Yes.

Buess: Your T-shirt?

Janske: Yes.

Buess: And your bra?

Janske: Yes.

Buess: And you're sitting on the edge of your bed?

Janske: Yes.

Buess: Okay. Tell us what happens next.

Janske: He used a knife to cut my panties off.

Buess: Selma, how did you know it was a knife.

Janske: Because he -- I don't remember if he told me at that point, but at some point he told me that he had a knife that he would cut me with.

Buess: So, when he cut off your panties, did you feel that knife on your body?

Janske: I don't remember if I felt it, but I knew that's how he did it.

Buess: When he's cutting off your panties, did he say anything to you?

Janske: I don't believe so.

Buess: At this point, with your panties off and your jeans off, are you still sitting upright in your bed?

Janske: I don't think so.

Buess: Where are you now?

Janske: I'm laying on my back on the bed, but my legs are still hanging off of the bed.

Buess: Off of the edge of the bed?

Janske: Yes.

Buess: And you're laying back flat?

Janske: Yes.

Buess: Where is he?

Janske: He was standing at my knees.

Buess: Is he still talking to you?

Janske: I believe he was.

Buess: Do you recall what he was saying at this point?

Janske: He started talking, telling me to just relax, and he spread my legs open.

Buess: How is he spreading your legs open?

Janske: Using his hands.

Buess: And you said that you think you struggled at one point.

Janske: Yes.

Buess: What do you recall doing?

Janske: Tying to close my legs and screaming?

Buess: At that point the tape that's around your mouth, is it still in place?

Janske: It's a lot looser by then because the moisture from my mouth and moving around.

Buess: So, it's come a little bit loose?

Janske: Yes.

Buess: In your screaming, can you hear yourself screaming?

Janske: Yes.

Buess: Can he hear you screaming?

Janske: Yes.

Buess: Tell the jury, please, as you're screaming, what changes with him?

Janske: As I was screaming, he got upset. He was telling me that I was being too loud, that I needed to be quiet. At that point he was threatening me with the knife, that he had a knife and he was going to cut me.

Buess: And at that point you knew he had a knife, right?

Janske: Yes, because he had cut my panties with it.

Buess: So, with that knife and the threat of being made, did you believe that he was capable of doing that to you.

Janske: Yes.

Buess: Of killing you?

Janske: Yes.

Buess: You said you were screaming. When he told you to be quiet, did you stop or did you continue?

Janske: I think I did quiet down for a little bit.

Buess: What happens next?

Janske: He was able to open my knees.

Buess: And what happened next?

Janske: That's when he raped me.

Buess: Did you ever hear him unzip his pants?

Janske: No.

Buess: When you say "raped," tell us -- I'm sorry to have to ask you this, but we've got to -- the written record has to be clear. What part of him goes into you?

Janske: He put his penis in me, into my vagina.

Buess: And again, just so the jury is clear, he's not on top of you, is he?

Janske: No, he's not.

Buess: How is he at this point?

Janske: He's leaning over me. On me.

Buess: So, he's standing in front of you?

Janske: Yes.

Buess: And your legs are between his legs now?

Janske: Yes.

Buess: Did he stay still or did he move? Just tell us what you recall.

Janske: I think he stayed still.

Buess: Selma, tell the jury, back then when you were fourteen years old on that date, had you even started your period yet?

Janske: No.

Buess: Did you really know anything about sex?

Janske: No.

Buess: Ever had anything enter your vagina before that you know of?

Janske: No. No.

Buess: Tell the jury, when his penis went inside your vagina, what it felt like.

Janske: It hurt.

Buess: When that happened, what did you do?

Janske: I started screaming again.

Buess: And what did he do?

Janske: He told me I was being too loud.

Buess: Did he ever tell you -- aside from the "quit screaming" and "quit being so loud" did he tell you what to do?

Janske: No.

Buess: Did he ever tell you to relax?

Janske: Yes, he did.

Buess: How many times did he tell you to do that?

Janske: I only remember once.

Buess: Did he tell you what would happen if you didn't relax?

Janske: He told me if I relaxed, it wouldn't hurt.

Buess: Did you believe that?

Janske: Well, not at that point. No.

Buess: Tell us what you recall happening next.

Janske: I want to say I started screaming again, and he told me I was being too loud. I remember, suddenly I wasn't able to breathe.

Buess: You said the tape around your mouth is coming a little bit loose and you can hear yourself?

Janske: Yes.

Buess: How about your eyes? Does that come off your eyes?

Janske: At some point I could see just a little sliver of light coming through.

Buess: But you didn't see his face?

Janske: No.

Buess: At any point up to this time, have you ever said, "No. Stop"?

Janske: I don't know that I specifically said "no".

Buess: And while you're laying down on your bed, your arms are where?

Janske: They're still tied behind my back.

Buess: So, you're laying on top of your arms?

Janske: Yes.

Buess: You said you were screaming?

Janske: Yes.

Buess: Are you crying?

Janske: Yes.

Buess: When did you start crying?

Janske: It's hard to say exactly. I mean, probably when I started screaming.

Buess: So, even before he had pulled your legs apart?

Janske: Yes.

Buess: You said you were still screaming and he was upset about it. And then you said it became hard to breathe.

Janske: Yes.

Buess: What was happening?

Janske: I realized that something was choking me.

Buess: Could you see what was choking you, Selma?

Janske: Yes.

Buess: What was choking you.

Janske: His hands.

Buess: Tell us how far that went. That choking.

Janske: I kind of came out of my stupor, I guess, and realized that I had to do something at that point.

Buess: Let me back you up just a moment. You realized that you can't breathe. What's happening to you aside from the realization that you can't breathe. Did you black out?

Janske: No, I don't believe I did.

Buess: What are the thoughts going through your mind.

Janske: If I don't do something, I'm going to die.

Buess: So what did you do?

Janske: I pulled my legs up to my chest and I pushed him off as hard as I could.

Buess: So you kicked him?

Janske: Yes.

Buess: What happened?

Janske: He didn't come back to me. I was really scared that ...

Buess. What did you hear, though, when you kicked?

Janske: I heard him knock into something.

Buess: And you were scared that he was going to come back to you?

Janske: Yes.

Buess: Because you knew he had the knife?

Janske: Yes.

Buess: Did he come back to you right away?

Janske: No.

Buess: What happened?

Janske: I don't think he came back to me at all after that. He started talking to me again.

Buess: What's he talking about now?

Janske: Now he's talking about how he knows everything about me. He had been watching me. He knew I came home from school That he knew I played soccer and where I played soccer at, and that ...

Buess: Specifically, what did he say about where you played soccer that he knew?

Janske: He knew what field I played at.

Buess: Did he name the school that you played at?

Janske: He named my high school that I went to and said he knew I went to school and it was Lamar and --

Buess: How did that make you feel?

Janske: Later it made me feel pretty scared.

Buess: So, he's talking and you're still on your bed?

Janske: Yes.

Buess: Laying flat on your back?

Janske: Yes.

Buess: Where are your legs now?

Janske: I think at that point, once I kicked him off, I think I curled up int a ball on the bed.

Buess: So, are you on your back or on your side?

Janske: On my side.

Buess: And he's talking now?

Janske: Yes.

Buess: Is his voice nice and calm, like it was in the beginning.

Janske: I believe so.

Buess: Can you tell what he's doing?

Janske: I think I hear him putting on his pants or shuffling around.

Buess: Now at this point, are you talking?

Janske: Well, he was making me promise -- he was telling me the description that I needed to give to the police.

Buess: What description was that, Selma?

Janske: That he was a short black man with a New York accent.

Buess: Which was not what he was at all?

Janske: No.

Buess: You knew he was white?

Janske: Yes.

Buess: Did he have an accent?

Janske: No.

Buess: And what did you tell him when he's asking you do do that?

Janske: I swore up and down that I would.

Buess: What else?

Janske: He told me that if I told them, the police, the correct description of him, that he would come back for me and that he would come back and kill me.

Buess: And did you believe it at that time?

Janske: Yes.

Buess: Did he tell you he was leaving?

Janske: Yes.

Shore left.

Selma called 911.

Selma then called her mother.

October 25, 2003

Shore: Talk about another case y'all don't know about.

Swaim: Okay.

Shore: There's a reason I wanna talk about that.

Swaim: Okay.

Shore: There was a girl that I'd never seen before, which once again ... I had fantasies about her. I had seen her several times.

Swaim: Where was this?

Shore: [1900 block of] Portsmouth. I don't know for sure that's the right address.

Swaim. Okay.

1900 Block of Portsmouth Street, Houston

Shore: Girl's name is Selma Janske, I know that. J-A-N-S-K-E. I'm guessing she's probably sixteen, seventeen at the time. I'm not really sure how old. She was young. She was attractive. I was a phone man working outdoors, outside plans, and I worked down this street several times. I'd seen her coming home and I knew she was a latchkey kid. Came home from high school or whatever school she was going to and I wanted to put a stop to ... the taking of life. I didn't want to do this anymore. Hell, I did this, at this time I, it's a sexual union, had something to do with it. The more I'm thinking in retrospect, that it's having to do with possession of a person. Making them ... do ... things. So I broke into the house which wasn't easy. The door was unlocked and I waited for her to get there. She got there. I stole twenty dollars off of the dresser, probably her parents' room. She came in and I wanted to prove to myself that I didn't have to ... take the life. That's the reason I'm telling you this.

Swaim: Okay. That's fine.

Shore: So I had on --

Swaim: Now when was, you think, was that?

Shore: Probably after ... I don't remember the time frame for sure but probably after Diana Rebollar but before Diana Sanchez. [It was after Carmen Estrada but before Diana Rebollar. - tsj]

 Swaim: Okay.

Shore: Okay. So, I ... tied her up with electrical cord. And I took, and, the resistance from the violence that I thought that I was going to do this again but I promised myself that I wasn't going to take any more lives no matter what. As sick and fucked up as it sounds, I really, really, really was trying to get better in a real sick, demented way. I don't discount it. I'm not stupid, but I was trying ... but I promised myself I wasn't going to do it and , uh. In her bedroom, and uh, I told her that I knew how the police would ask her this and that and I told her say that it was a short, fat black man and that if I heard different then I come back and take her family out and I made a lot of threats and uh, when I mentioned the family thing she started fighting and kicking. Now her hands were restrained as she started just going berserk. I really didn't know when everybody else would come home or when somebody could show up. I just knew that it got out of hand and I had to make a decision.

Swaim: At what time? This was when?

Shore: Afternoon. Right after school. 4:00, 5:00 o'clock.

Swaim: Oh, that's right. Right after she got home from school.

Shore: So, I thought I had to make a decision. Once again, I started to strangle her and I thought "No, I just can't. I just need to get the fuck out of here" And I left. Thank God.

Swaim: You take anything?

Shore: Naw.

Swaim: But you didn't, you strangle her at all or you started to --

Shore: I started to and I stopped.

Swaim: Did you have something around her neck to do it?

Shore: On this one, no. I think I was gonna use my hands and I just freaked 'cause I promised myself I wasn't going to do this and all the sudden -- like the pathology and the anger and the freaking out. I kept telling myself, "This isn't necessary. This is not. None of it is necessary." So I bolted. I left. And uh, I walked out, people saw me. There's people walking in the street. Driving by.

Swaim: Normal business.

Shore: Finally walked through the back yard out to the front. I parked my phone truck over on the Whataburger parking lot over at Shepard and Portsmouth or somewhere in that area. Walked right up to my truck, go rid of my shirt that I had on. Went back to work scared to death. I was paranoid. I was afraid because I had left somebody as a witness. Nobody ever came and talked to me. Nobody ever came and arrested me. There was a part of me, I think, that wanted to get caught.

Swaim: That's what I was fixing to ask you ---

Shore: I wanted to be stopped so many times. I just wanted the whole thing to end. That's why I'm talking to you now. and I want to make sure that nothing ever happens again.

January 1, 2013
I provide an updated version of Shore's victim map.

The green pins on the left identify Laurie Tremblay's apartment complex, the bus stop from which she was abducted, and the location where her body was dumped. The yellow pins near the top represent Carmen Estrada's home, the bus stop from where she was abducted, and the location where her body was dumped. The teal pins at the right represent Selma Janske's home and high school.

The yellow house at the right is the location where Anthony Shore was living when the attacks took place.

The red pin at the right is the location where Sandra Charles and Marcell Taylor were murdered.

Clearly the attack on Selma Janske was different in significant details from the attacks on Laurie Tremblay and Carmen Estrada. His next attack will be entirely different from any of its predecessors, and even more hideous, assuming that's possible. As I noted in my last post, each of Shore's attacks seems to have been an experiment of sorts, trying to find the formula that would satisfy his indescribable, irresistible urges.

With respect to the possibility that Melissa Trotter was one of his victims, I took particular note of the following portion of his confession.

The more I'm thinking in retrospect, that it's having to do with possession of a person.

Someone possessed Melissa Trotter for nearly three weeks before killing her.