On July 21, 2017, representatives of the Harris County District Attorney’s Office conducted an inventory of the contents of Shore’s cell, in anticipation of a potential claim regarding Shore’s mental health. They discovered a folder contain- ing approximately ten items pertaining to the murder of Melissa Trotter, including copies of court exhibits and scene photographs; 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 Melissa Trotter’s body was found. The handwriting on the map is dissimilar to Shore’s distinctive handwriting, but bears similarities to Swearingen’s hand- writing.
The Harris County District Attorney’s Office informed the Montgomery County District Attorney of the discovery of the material in Shore’s cell on September 1, 2017—after the District Court for the Ninth Judicial District issued an order setting an execution date for Swearingen.
District Attorney Brett Ligon immediately commenced an investigation that led to an interview with a woman who had visited Shore at the Polunsky Unit. She said that Shore told her that he expected to take responsibility for Melissa Trotter’s murder shortly before Shore’s execution. She also said that Shore was aware of the location of physical evidence pertaining to Trotter’s murder.
Upon receiving that information, on October 16, 2017, Ligon asked the governor to grant Shore a thirty-day reprieve, in order to allow Ligon time to complete the investigation while Shore was still available to be interviewed.
Ligon does not plan on commenting further on this ongoing investigation until any legal proceedings pertaining to Shore’s execution have been resolved.
