the brutal Murder of Betty Gore in the hands of her best friend and neighbor, Montgomery candiesIt’s one of those crimes where we never knew exactly what happened. There was only a suspect, the housewifethere a verdict: innocent. Evidence, fingerprints, and motive pointed directly to this devoted woman, but the case was closed with no culprits.
This is the story that HBO Max led in serial format with love deathProtagonized by Elizabeth Olsen (“Scarlet Witch”) and produced by Nicole Kidman, which opens April 27. Before her, there was Jessica Biel in Candy (Disney+) and Barbara Hershey in A murder in a small town playing the role of Candy Montgomery, the devoted housewife who will forever be branded an ax killer.
Who was Candy Montgomery?
Elizabeth Olsen in Candy Montgomery. / HBO Max
At the end of the 70s, Candace ‘Candy’ Lynn Montgomery (30) he seemed to have his life settled. Years before he had married Pat Montgomery, an electrical engineer, with whom he had a son and a daughter. All together, like a big family, moved to Collin County, Texas (USA) and with whom he regularly attended a Methodist church in the area.
There he met Betty Gore, a high school teacher with whom he developed a close friendship. It was through her that he met her husband allanfather of two children and with whom he had a romantic relationship.
the morning of Friday, June 13, 1980, when Allan was out of town for work, neighbors heard her baby’s inconsolable cries and, after receiving a worried call from her husband, they went to her house to see if anything was wrong. So they came face to face with Betty’s corpse a few hours after Montgomery came to pay him a short visit.
Nobody really knows what happened, but the forensic report revealed that the low-key Betty had received 41 blows all over the body with a blunt object… an axas collected Texas monthly. “These are brutal blows to the body, face, arms, head, torso, even the legs,” said former Dallas physical testing manager Dr. Irv Stone. Broken.
But the murder weapon wasn’t the only important detail, as were the clues left by the killer at the crime scene: bloody footprints on the shower mat, tiles and hair in the sink. Everything indicated that the murderer he had showered after committing the crime but he had been somewhat clumsy in hiding the evidence.
At first, nothing seemed to indicate that Candy was suspicious, and certainly not so guilty, since the whole neighborhood was talking about this devout woman and her good relationship with the murdered woman. However, shortly after Allan Gore’s first interrogation, he seemed to feel guilty and confessed to his affair with Montgomery.
In fact, he pointed out to officers that the idea of his affair it was from her: “Would you be interested in having an affair?”. But almost a year later, Allan decides to put an end to their idyll. This testimony and the fingerprints taken were enough to arrest the housewife on June 27, 1980.
During the media trial, the accused alleged that acted in self-defense after an argument with Betty about her relationship with her husband in which they both fought to get the axe. After taking a polygraph test, it turned out that Montgomery was telling the truth. Her defense also alleged that in the discussion, the defendant relived trauma from her childhood and, as a result, acted violently and uncontrollably.
So, four hours later, the jury found Candy Montgomery not guilty; she was therefore ultimately acquitted of all charges. However, in the eyes of public opinion, she was the killer of one of the most beloved women in her community.
What happened to Candy Montgomery and where is she now?
After learning their verdict, the Montgomerys could no longer live in Wylie and moved to Georgia, although it wasn’t long before the couple divorced and, since then, Candy uses her maiden name, becoming Candy Wheeler.
As reported by Daily mail from the UK, currently works as a therapist in a child and adolescent mental health clinic.