Afterwards he would brag about doing sexual stuff with the girls whether they consented to it or not. Gina felt bad about helping lure them. She said Tony saw nothing wrong with any of this and "it was just what all the guys did in the '70s." Deanna remarried when Tony was 17, he didn't like her new husband, and decided to leave home. Shore attended community college, dropped out, went back to Texas in 1983, got hired by Southwestern Bell, and got married the following year, to a woman named Gina. They became the parents of two daughters, Amber and Tiffany, born only 14 months apart. According to his sister, he continued prowling for high school girls despite being a married man in his 20s with children of his own.

On September 26, 1986, Laurie Tremblay, 15, left her house to catch a city bus to her school for troubled kids in Montrose. One hour later, her strangled body was found behind a restaurant three miles from home. Police were confused by the murder since the girl wasn't raped and none of her money was taken, even though she only had enough cash for a one-way fare. However, none of the regulars on the bus route had ever seen her riding it before. Tony Shore was not considered a suspect. Some of Shore's relatives noticed he was acting strangely as of late; his mother-in-law wondered if he wasn't on drugs.