in 1980 an axe murder on friday the 13th
rattled a small sleepy town in texas the
victim was struck 41 times the killer's
identity shocked the community
no one expected her to get away with it
but she did this is the true story
behind the murder of betty gore
on june 13th 1980 bubbly churchgoer
candy montgomery killed best friend and
school teacher betty gore the story was
sensational and captured the attention
of wily texas partially because it began
with the soapy love affair between
montgomery and gore's husband the two
began a liaison that lasted nearly a
year just as they thought they had
gotten away with it their transgressions
caught up to them and eventually
resulted in a murder trial the real life
horror is now being adapted by two
different streaming services jessica
beale stars as candy montgomery and
hulu's five-episode miniseries candy
while elizabeth olson will play the same
part for hbo max's love and death here
is the true story behind the macabre
murder of betty gore
according to texas monthly the
montgomeries and the gores were so close
that on the day candy montgomery killed
betty gore their kids spent the day
together chauffeured around town by
montgomery herself even in the thick of
montgomery's affair with alan gore she
continued her friendship with betty she
threw a surprise baby shower for the
pregnant gore during a church choir
dinner a month before her due date the
two were devoted members of the
methodist church of lucas's choir and
because their lives revolved around
church they had an easy bond but
friendship ultimately turned to hatred
montgomery claimed the gore came after
montgomery with an axe after her affair
with alan was discovered even when gore
had slipped and lay helpless her head
bleeding from a hit montgomery gave her
early on montgomery kept attacking her
according to the dallas morning news
most of the hits came when gore was
already unconscious
candy montgomery and alan gore
approached their affair in such a
perfectly planned way that it made their
unconventional relationship even more
offbeat they had only known each other
for nine months when they met at their
church volleyball court she decided to
pursue a covert affair with him
patiently waiting for him to come around
to the idea gore was surprised and
flattered by the attention he received
from her and agreed to the affair
before they had actually begun an affair
montgomery set up a pros and cons list
afterwards they set up rules to abide by
which included avoid becoming too
emotionally invested meet only on
weekdays at como motel divide all
expenses equally montgomery would be
responsible for lunch and if it became
too risky the affair would have to end
their affair lasted nearly a year and
ended soon after gore's second child was
born if either of us start to develop
feelings for the other it's over but
right then in there i mean that's how
you get caught
betty gore born betty pomeroy was a
likable and popular girl from the small
town of norwich kansas alan gore was her
math teacher in college he was shy and
plain looking and their decision to
marry was met with some raised eyebrows
betty's personality seemed to change
during married life she became
emotionally dependent on gore whose job
at rockwell international required him
to travel betty became an unhappy
schoolteacher who regimented her and
alan's sex life in order to plan her
next pregnancy allen became unhappy as a
result betty's fear of abandonment grew
stronger and she resented her husband's
traveling and business trips that came
with a new job it's also possible she
was suffering from postpartum depression
around the same time candy montgomery's
and alan's affair deteriorated after
betty gave birth to their daughter
bethany betty and alan started attending
a marriage counseling program called
methodist marriage encounter it was an
intense weekend getaway program where
couples were expected to bond far away
from distractions like television or
routine life here allen admitted that he
no longer felt close to betty and hoped
to patch up their marriage betty shared
her personal shortcomings and some
ominous feelings although she never
feared for her own safety with alan
around she reportedly hated being alone
candy montgomery born candy wheeler was
an army brat as a child her family was
constantly moving which probably
affected montgomery's later boredom and
her stable marriage to pat montgomery
she was confident and upfront and was
responsible for initiating the affair
with alan gore her marriage had grown
stale and she sought something exciting
she's said to have been considered the
most attractive woman at their church
like alan gore she loved kids and was
always involved in the community and
when news of montgomery's grisly murder
spread throughout town a friend of hers
told the dallas times herald that
montgomery didn't have a dinner to
commit such a crime she was so
well-liked that after she had been
released on bail she and her family
received numerous messages of support
from their friends and the church
montgomery took the time to respond to
hallmark cards from people she hadn't
seen in years
during her brawl with betty gore in
which they both tried to gain control of
the acts candy montgomery had nearly
escaped the room she had hit gore in the
head drawing blood and found an
opportunity to bolt for an accident but
gore didn't let her go according to
montgomery's testimony in court during
the struggle montgomery said she
switched to attack mode grabbed the axe
from gore's hands and rained 41 blows on
her 28 of the swings came down on gore's
head
in court montgomery cried while
retelling the incident and didn't deny
killing her former friend
she shrieked in agony when presented
with the axe in court and begged not to
be forced to look at it lester gaylor
the gore's next door neighbor who went
to check in on betty at alan gore's
request said the crime scene was the
worst he'd ever seen i've seen a lot of
people dying in a lot of different ways
but that's the worst i've ever seen he
recalled seeing blood everywhere and axe
marks as high as the ceiling he
remembered seeing montgomery the next
day and said she acted normally as if
she had not been involved
after candy montgomery killed betty gore
she went about her day as usual she even
cleaned herself at gore's house before
she left leaving the gore's one-year-old
baby alone crying in her crib according
to the dallas morning news she went home
to change her clothes and bandage a cut
she received on her foot during her
fight with gore she then picked up her
kids along with the gore's daughter
elisa from church she told a friend that
she had seen gore earlier in the day and
spent so much time chatting that it left
her no time for other errands later that
afternoon montgomery took her kids and
alisa to the movies and watched the
empire strikes back that night elisa
slept over montgomery even lied on the
phone with gore's husband allen allen
was concerned since betty was not
answering her phone all day and even in
candy's version of events she knew
exactly why betty wasn't picking up the
phone
to convince the jury that candy
montgomery acted in self-defense
montgomery's lawyers painted a picture
of a confrontational and vengeful betty
gore gore had just put her baby to sleep
when montgomery arrived at her house
montgomery intended to ask gore about
taking her daughter elisa to her swim
class since elisa wanted to join the
montgomerys for their trip to the movies
but gore invited montgomery into her
living room where she confronted
montgomery about her affair with her
husband allen montgomery admitted to it
and gore excused herself from the room
and returned with an axe they argued for
a few minutes and montgomery apologized
her expression of remorse may have set
off gore because she then pushed
montgomery into the utility room of her
home she held her axe threateningly in
the air warning montgomery to stay away
from her husband montgomery assured her
she didn't want to be with alan but gore
was determined to kill montgomery she
hit gore on the head once and two women
began to jostle for control of the acts
since candy montgomery admitted that she
was the last to see betty gore alive and
because alan gore disclosed their affair
to investigators montgomery became the
top suspect it didn't take long for her
to be charged with murder the fact that
she had an affair with betty's husband
was considered as a compelling motive
and she was arrested on june 27 1980 but
montgomery denied all charges her lawyer
enlisted the help of a psychiatrist and
a clinical hypnotist to probe into her
version of the incident the session must
have been intense because a witness who
was sitting in the waiting room recalled
hearing several shrieks from the
doctor's office
dr fred faizon conducted three strenuous
hypnosis sessions from which they pieced
together a narrative about what happened
at gore's home her non-hypnosis account
sometimes clashed with her hypnosis
account after which her lawyer don
crowder worked to straighten out the
facts what amounted from her hypnosis
was a confession which led to her
self-defense plea
what emerged from candy montgomery's
hypnosis was a tale of childhood trauma
she recalled a moment from when she was
four years old that would end up
affecting her for the rest of her life
after losing in a race to another child
montgomery threw a jar in anger her
mother responded to her emotions by
shushing her according to montgomery's
court defense justice gore was losing
her fight against montgomery she had
already been struck in the head by
montgomery she regained control of the
axe put one finger to her lips and
shushed her flooding her with memories
from the childhood incident that noise
dredged up the childhood trauma in one
moment montgomery took back the acts and
made the fatal blows against gore's body
montgomery was thereafter motivated by
hate and her own indignation against
betty's attempted revenge the
justification served a purpose
self-defense can be accounted for with a
few hits but how do you explain a total
of 41 axe blows to the jury
candy montgomery's self-defense and
childhood trauma explanation was
sufficient for the jury she was found
not guilty the deliberation took less
than four hours montgomery was reported
as having no emotion when her verdict
was read montgomery had struck a woman
41 times and had gotten off scot-free
shocking her community as montgomery
rushed to her attorney's car after the
trial she was surrounded by angry people
and subjected the chance of murderer
well i've been here for almost a whole
trial and i can't believe it everybody's
in shock
soon after her acquittal candy
montgomery told reporters that she
wanted to move on and return to her
usual life she did as much of that as
she could her family moved to georgia
and she later got divorced allegedly
reverting her last name back to her
maiden name wheeler according to the
dallas morning news she became a
certified family counselor but despite
her efforts to fade into obscurity a
past like montgomery's is virtually
inescapable according to collin county's
local profile montgomery's counseling
practice gets bad reviews online with
people decrying her as a bad person 20
years after the incident the dallas
morning news reached out to montgomery
for comments but she rebuffed them
saying i'm telling you in big bold
letters i'm not interested initially
there were mixed feelings about
montgomery's freedom betty gore's father
bob pomeroy wasn't pleased with the
verdict but knew montgomery would have
to live with her actions gore's
next-door neighbor lester gaylor who
still lives in the same home that he did
at the time told cbs news that he
believes justice wasn't served and that
montgomery killed gore because her
affair was discovered
alan gore remarried shortly after the
trial but that eventually ended in
divorce he also lost custody of his two
daughters who were reportedly raised by
betty gore's parents several years after
the trial candy montgomery's attorney
don crowder said that the faces of
gore's family still haunted him he was
afraid that they didn't comprehend his
job in defending their daughter's killer
he also had mixed feelings about the
legacy of that case on his career saying
that case was maybe the zenith of an
extraordinarily successful career or the
demise of what could have been crowder
committed suicide in 1998 seemingly
motivated by other perceived failures in
his life and career the killing also
affected the small town of wiley texas
not much happened usually in wiley so
when a schoolteacher was murdered with
an axe fear overtook the town and stores
began to close down early the paranoid
atmosphere continued even after
montgomery's arrest
fire marshal steve deffenbaugh who had
been at the crime scene told the dallas
morning news that he still thinks about
the killing every june 13th check out
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