Candy Montgomery: The Most Famous House in Wylie, 43 Years Later
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As depicted in the HBO miniseries “Love and Death,” tale of Candy Montgomery is the salacious news story that our CandysDirt.com readers can’t get enough of. Anyone who lived in North Texas in the early 1980s remembers the shocking death of Betty Gore, and the murder trial of Candace Montgomery, the woman who killed her with an ax. Then, as now, the case enthralled us.
Candy and Betty Gore were friends, having met at the First United Methodist Church of Lucas. Candy had eyes on Betty’s husband, Allan Gore, and propositioned him after a church volleyball game. “Would you be interested in having an affair?” Candy cavalierly asked her friend’s husband, according to a Texas Monthly report.
For 10 months, Candy and Allan carried on their extramarital affair, unbeknownst to their respective suspicious spouses. Seven months after the affair ended amicably, Candy — still friends with her lover and his wife — stopped in the Gore house for an errand when Betty allegedly confronted her about the affair. Betty attacked, and Candy killed her friend with 41 blows from a three-foot ax. Candy claimed self-defense and, after a speedy trial, was acquitted.
As renewed attention has come to this sensational North Texas crime, we’ve used our unique real estate lens to give context to the parts of the story often neglected: the home, the neighborhood, and the community surrounding the trial. CandysDirt.com founder Candy Evans covered the criminal trial of Candy Montgomery when she was a television reporter for Fox4 News in Dallas.
In 2014, she wrote a story about how Betty Gore’s former home in Wylie was listed for sale. A decade later, this story by Candy about Candy is still soliciting comments from readers — looking to discuss the crime itself and the acquittal that shocked North Texas (plus some tongue-lashing about some wayward typos that we’ve since edited). Even this story’s comments section has housed an interesting debate about whether a frequent commenter defending Candy could be, in fact, Candy herself.
Candy Montgomery, Based on a True Story
The fascination with this North Texas murder hasn’t faded over time. In 1984, Texas Monthly’s Jim Atkinson and John Bloom wrote a definitive two-part article titled ‘Love and Death in Silicon Prairie,’ which became the roadmap for Hollywood’s adaptations, including two that came out this year. One of Candy’s attorneys, Robert Udashen, consulted on both series, the Lakewood Advocate reported.
[P.S. What is the Silicon Prairie? And what does it have to do with Candy Montgomery? The Silicon Prairie or tech corridor, located on the border between Northeast Dallas and Richardson, was named for its proximity to leading technology hardware and software companies like Texas Instruments and Nortel, and the computer science-geared University of Texas at Dallas. It was near Allan’s workplace, where Candy would pick him up for their bi-weekly trysts at the nearby Como Motel in Richardson.]
Both Elizabeth Olsen and Jessica Biel have played the axe murderer in two different limited series about Candy Montgomery. Olsen, 32, was cast as the lead in HBO Max’s ‘Love and Death,’ while Biel, 41, starred in the Hulu series ‘Candy.’
The Real Estate Angle
When Hulu’s ‘Candy’ miniseries first aired, we looked at two houses of particular interest: Candy Montgomery’s dream house and Betty Gore’s nightmare home.
Where Is Betty Gore’s Home?
Drive down Dogwood Drive in Wylie, just a couple of blocks off the city’s historic downtown, and you wouldn’t know a brutal axe murder had occurred on this quiet residential street in 1980.
Betty and Allan Gore lived at 410 Dogwood Drive, a 1,697-square-foot three-bedroom, two-bath home built in 1974. The home features vaulted cedar-beamed ceilings and an open living area with a fireplace, plus an adjacent breakfast nook that connects the family room with the eat-in kitchen.
The most recent Dogwood Drive listing describes the home as a “hidden gem” with granite countertops, stainless steel kitchen appliances, vaulted ceilings, and a wood-burning fireplace. The 8,000-square-foot lot has a backyard patio, and the location is minutes from President George Bush Turnpike.
The home sold in March 2022 by Darla McMullen with Monument Realty for $344,900. Interior photos show recent updates throughout the kitchen and bathrooms, as well as the utility room, the scene of the June 13, 1980 crime.
By Texas law, a seller has “no duty to disclose a death from natural causes, suicide, or an accident unrelated to the property’s condition,” however, a violent death, such as a murder, must be reported if known to the seller. The seller’s agent indeed disclosed the home’s history, noting in the listing’s private remarks shown only to other Realtors in the MLS.
The utility room at 410 Dogwood, where Betty Gore was found dead on June 13, 1980
The Wylie murder home, more accurately known as a stigmatized property, has had no problems on the market. Although “murder homes” may take longer to sell, it last sold in March 2022 after just four days on the market, then again in Aug. 2020 after two days on market. The fact that a brutal murder took place here hasn’t dissuaded at least two buyers.
Allan Gore, as an individual and executor of the Betty Gore estate, sold the home in May 1982 for $23,000, Collin County records show. But Allan and their two children didn’t live in the home for those two years after the murder. Gore remarried soon after Betty’s death and purchased a home with his new wife and former neighbor Elaine in March 1981, county records show.
Where Is Candy Montgomery’s House
On the other spectrum, let’s look at the architectural dream home that Pat and Candy owned. We sat down with Stephen Chambers to understand more about the Fairview house built in the late 1970s for Candy and Pat Montgomery.
Past the winding roads of Lucas and into the community of Fairview, the Montgomerys’ home on Arroyo Blanco Street is a rare architect-designed home full of purposeful architecture and design. Chambers had just started his architecture firm in 1975 when a few years later, he was approached by the Montgomerys.
The $70,000 home was described as having “a cathedral look, open and airy, with a lot of exposed beams and skylights, the children’s rooms isolated from their own, an oversized double garage, and a workshop and study for Pat.”
The architect tells a story of Candy coming into his office, concerned that the blueprints show a home that’s just too big for them. The square footage needed to be cut down.
“‘You’ve got to cut it!’” Chambers said she shouted at him, then pulled a hatchet out of her purse.
“Really?” listeners gasp as Chambers tells the story.
He laughs.
“No, that didn’t happen,” he says. “She was nice. She was normal.”
The scene of the crime, 410 Dogwood Lane, is still standing. Presumably, so is Candy’s former architectural dream home. But a more public remnant of this murder’s storyline — the extramarital affair between Candy and Allan — also remains at the Como Motel. They met at the “sleazy” motel, just north of the Richardson/Central Expressway TI entrance, every other week for a year. You can still see the Como Motel sign, looking as it did in the 1980s, from Central Expressway.
The motel was recently sold to a neighboring developer, who expressed their desire to tear it down. But preservationists have been vocal in their desire to keep the classic example of Midcentury Modern commercial architecture alive.
How Candy Changed Collin County
Hollywood has given us two mini-series depictions of Candy Montgomery, but digging up archive photos from June 1980 and local media coverage tell an interesting story as well.
Before police had a suspect in Candy Montgomery, the town of Wylie thought they had an axe murderer on the loose as seen in this KXAS news clip from June 16, 1980.
Like a scene from ‘Stranger Things,’ kids on bikes rode up to the Wylie Police Dept to learn what was happening in their usually quiet town. Suddenly, residents in Wylie, the comfortable Collin County suburb that was considered out in “the country,” as Texas Monthly writers described in detail, were locking their doors at night.
Meanwhile at the Sheriff’s Office
When Candy arrived at the Collin County Sheriff’s Office, she surrendered to sheriff’s deputies without incident — on her part. Charged with murder, Candy was placed under $100,000 bond.
Her attorney Robert Udashen shared these interesting details of Candy’s arrest in the Lakewood Advocate:
“Once they got a warrant for Candy, I negotiated an agreement with the district attorneys, and I drove her up to McKinney. I was gonna take her to the sheriff’s office and they weren’t supposed to notify the press, because we were just trying not to have a bunch of cameras and reporters there. But there’s all these people. They completely violated their agreement,” Udashen told the Advocate.
“I made arrangements to have a bondsman post the bond before I ever drove Candy up there. The sheriff wouldn’t take the bond and let her out. Then we had a hearing on that, and we finally got her out.
“After we get her out, two days later, Judge Ryan orchestrates this hearing, which was supposed to be about a gag order. I took Candy up there and the judge does impose a gag order, but then he launches into a hearing on whether Candy’s bond was sufficient. It was clear that the judge, district attorney, and sheriff are all prepared for this hearing. No one bothered to tell me about it. Then they throw Candy in jail again.”
The Candy Montgomery Murder Trial
The murder trial lasted eight days, and it was the hottest ticket in town. To provide additional seating space at the sensational trial, Collin County officials had to move the criminal trial from the new Collin County Courthouse (built in 1979) to the old Collin County Courthouse, located on the McKinney downtown square (built in 1876 and renovated in 1927).
Representing Candy were civil law attorney and member of Candy’s church, Don Crowder, who years later died by suicide, associate attorney Elaine Carpenter, and the young defense attorney Udashen.
Candy pleaded self-defense, alleging Betty first attacked her, following a confrontation about the affair. She testified in court that she was compelled to use an axe after Betty attempted to strike her moments before with the same weapon. Candy underwent a polygraph test prior to the trial which indicated that she was being truthful, as well as a hypnosis was claimed she disassociated from herself from previous trauma.
District attorney Tom O’Connell argued that Montgomery could have fled the scene instead of attacking Gore so violently. He also argued that Candy striking Betty 41 times with a wooden axe was a disproportionate action. In turn, Candy’s attorneys argued childhood trauma, revealed by a hypnotist, was to blame.
After just three hours of deliberation, a Collin County jury of nine women and three men acquitted Candace Montgomery of the charge that she murdered Betty Gore, a Wylie schoolteacher, with a 3-foot ax.
Where Is Candy Montgomery Today?
After her acquittal, Candy Montgomery and her family moved to Georgia, where she is believed to have changed her name to Candace Wheeler (her maiden name), split from her husband, and is said to now work as a mental health counselor or therapist; however, she has stayed out of the public eye since the trial.
Even though the case involving Candy Montgomery and the tragic murder of Betty Gore remains a haunting chapter, in crime, there isn’t much information available about Candy’s life after the trial. Over the years, it seems unlikely that we will receive any updates on her situation. Since the trial in 1980, Candy Montgomery and her spouse have successfully evaded attention. Their present location and activities remain undisclosed, as they have intentionally chosen to lead a secluded life away from media scrutiny.
There is a true story, however, of a reporter knocking on Candy’s door for an interview.
She opened the door with a knife in her hand. She smiled and said, “Don’t worry, I’m not dangerous.”
40 Comments
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Candy needs to die for what she did she killed betty out of rage and jealousy for nothing. She could have left her husband candy murdering betty was cold and calculeted.
I lived in Rowlet Texas in 1980, and I heard about the crime when it hit the news. Candice Montgomery should have been prosecuted for this crime, if she knew what she was doing all thru out her years at the church and ask to have an affair, Amazing how the mind works. for the bad and not the good. being bored is not a reason to take another woman’s husband and lost her’s too.
By the way my daughter lives wylie Texas today.
Sorry, but unfortunately I don’t speak English well. I live in Europe.
Today is the anniversary of that terrible crime. Horrible and disturbing! We heard about it not only in the USA but also in Europe. We saw the movie series, it was shocking!
It wasn’t self-defense!! Candy is a psychopath or a sociopath!!!!!!!! Candy certainly had previous signs of psychopathy in her personal life!!! A normal person would run away or call the police and not leave the baby alone!!! In similar cases, the perpetrator has always been proven to be abnormal. The court would definitely convict her today. It is sad and deeply disturbing that Betty was not served justice!!! In Europe we respect and look up to the USA police and the FBI. We don’t understand why Candy is free??????
Our deepest sympathies go out to Betty’s family even today! <3 God bless America and Betty's family!!! <3 <3
Greetings: Dori
You do not know what happened in that house on June 13, 1980. You do not know what Montgomery’s motivation was for striking Gore with an axe. The only living person who does know is Candy Montgomery. That means that her account must be evaluated for truthfulness, but it does NOT mean that every Tom, Dick, Harry, and Jane gets to make up his or her own story and put it out as “what really happened”, which is what you’ve done here.
Candy Montgomery was prosecuted for hitting Betty Gore enough times with an axe to kill her. She was acquitted. However, perhaps that misses the point. You seem to want her prosecuted for the crime of having an affair with another woman’s husband while married herself, not for the death of Betty Gore. But adultery is not now a criminal offense in Texas, and was not a criminal offense in 1980, so it appears you will have to content yourself with revenge fantasies.
I have evaluated Candy Montgomery’s testimony as to what occurred on June 13, 1980 and found it to be truthful, and find that her actions WERE self-defense. So did the jury.
There is no evidence whatsoever that Candy Montgomery is or ever was a sociopath or psychopath. When she left the infant alone in the house, her mind was in such a state of shock that she forgot the infant was even there. She testified to that and I believe her, if for no other reason than that she did admit that she remembered several hours later that the baby was alone in the house. If all she had wanted to do was whitewash her behavior as much as possible, she would not have admitted to that.
Candy Montgomery has NEVER been “proven to be abnormal” during all of the 45 years which have passed since Betty Gore’s death, or during any time previous to Gore’s death. She has committed no further acts of violence and been arrested for no further crimes.
I think that anyone who wants to judge Montgomery for not calling the police right away and explaining what happened to them is putting too great a burden upon her. I believe it would be a natural reaction of many people to want to run from the situation, hide from it, and pretend it never happened.
As for your comments about American justice, it was not “a court” that acquitted Montgomery. It was a jury, and there is no guarantee whatsoever that a jury would reach a different verdict today. Although in some cases an individual can waive a trial by jury and have a judge reach a verdict instead, a trial by jury is guaranteed to every US citizen by the Sixth Amendment and is a cherished right.
What happened here is simple. Montgomery pled not guilty by reason of self-defense. The prosecution called its witnesses. The defense was allowed to cross examine them. The jury listened to their testimony. Then the defense called its witnesses. The prosecution was allowed to cross examine them. The jury listened to their testimony. In the American justice system, no defendant can be forced to testify. However, a defendant can choose to do so, and if he or she does, he or she opens him or herself up to cross examination by the prosecution. Montgomery chose to testify and endure the cross examination of the prosecution.
The jury heard all of the evidence from all of the witness. which few members of the general public have been exposed to, retired. and then at some point, they all agreed that Montgomery was not guilty due to its being self defense (as do I). They believed her when she said that Betty Gore was the first one to go for the axe (as do I.) They believed her when she said she spent some minutes just trying to get away from Gore and the axe (as do I.) They believed her when she testified that she finally felt she had no choice, in order to defend her life, than to hit Gore with the axe (as do I.) They believed her when she testified that her mind became so traumatized that she could not judge at exactly what moment she needed to stop hitting Gore because Gore was no longer capable of hitting her (as do I.)
They believed that Betty Gore brought her death upon herself. So do I. They may have had sympathy for Gore’s family, but none for Gore herself (and I do not either).
That’s the American justice system and that’s the beauty of it—-it can reach the right conclusion even when that conclusion is unpopular among the masses. As an American, I’m proud of the job the jury did in this case.
A small follow-up to what I posted yesterday: To clarify, the jury acquitted Candy Montgomery. A jury of twelve people found her “not guilty”. Also in the US, we have laws against double jeopardy. This means that, with a few exceptions for very specific crimes which can be prosecuted on both a federal and state level, a defendant, once acquitted of a charge, cannot be be prosecuted again for that charge. The death of Betty Gore did not meet any of the criteria to be a federal crime, therefore, Montgomery has never had to worry again about being charged with Gore’s death. That’s the US judicial system. We don’t like government harassment.
I agree 100%. Poor Betty was an unhappy, unstable woman. Candy’s no Saint but she didn’t pick up thr are. Betty went after her.
Everyone needs to shut up about all this. It’s so disgusting how three biopics were made of this incident. We’re a society of rubber necking, self righteous losers. None of you know her, nor were there. Ands NONE OF OUR BUSINESS. Of course she’s going to seem evil…because. Slut shaming. Had Betty been the one having the affair, then Candy would have been deemed a hero by you people. Now grow up and watch other things Elizabeth Olson and Jessica Biel were in like Wandavision or Total Recall
For anyone to defend and justify the brutal and bloody slaying of a woman who was —no longer a threat— after being chopped just ONE time with an axe, is beyond me. The mental gymnastics one has to engage in, in order to justify such a truly heinous and disgusting crime is mind boggling to me. I fear for the mental health, and potential danger to others, of such a person. After Betty was struck, even one time with that axe, this was no longer a case of “self defense”.
It was, quite simply, a crime fueled by HATRED, RAGE, and JEALOUSY/ENVY, that Betty’s husband had chosen her, and rejected her lover, choosing to end the affair. Period.
Allan was done with Candy, after they had both mutually used eachother, and his ability to easily move on, his dismissal of her, and of her feelings, was something that her ego just could not handle.
It had been months since the affair ended, but Betty bringing up the affair that day, confronting Candy, and reclaiming her husband for herself, opened fresh the wound to her ego, and threw Candy into a fit of jealous rage. She had very likely always looked down on Betty, and still couldn’t believe Allan had chosen to work on his marriage with this “miserable woman”, over continuing to pursue a romantic relationship with her.
Anyone who defends and justifies Candy’s brutal, heartless, and hateful actions that day should seriously self reflect, and maybe consider getting a mental health evaluation.
To Gine:
“After Betty was struck, even one time with that axe, this was no longer a case of self defense.”
This is just plain INCORRECT. When a person is attacked with an axe, their mind and body become flooded with adrenaline, and if he or she can manage to hit the attacker with the axe instead of allowing the attacker to hit him or her, at no time does the onus switch to the attacked to determine at exactly what moment the attacker is no longer able to attack and stop hitting at that exact moment. It requires no “mental gymnastics” to know this. To believe that the opposite is true, as you evidently do, is illogical and shows no understanding of how the human mind and body work.
You have absolutely no knowledge and no proof that Betty Gore’s death was a “crime fueled by HATRED, RAGE, and JEALOUSY/ENVY”. You have no knowledge or proof that Candy Montgomery was, in June 1980, still hurt or upset by Allan Gore’s decision, which had come months earlier, to end their affair. Candy Montgomery testified that it was not motivated by any of these things, and I have evaluated her testimony and find it believable. You believe this about hatred, rage, and jealousy/envy for no reason other than it is what you WANT to believe.
Likewise, you have no knowledge of or proof that the fact that Betty Gore asked about a possible affair “threw Candy into a fit of jealous rage”. Again, you believe this simply because you want to believe it, and that’s not good enough. I, on the other hand, believe Montgomery’s testimony because I have read it and evaluated it. Montgomery testified that she confirmed the affair to Betty Gore, that she felt nothing but pity for Betty, that Betty initially stayed calm about it, and that Betty lost her temper only when Candy expressed pity for her. This shows a knowledge of the human mind and human behavior that no layperson could manufacture. That is why I believe it.
Betty Gore got the axe. Betty Gore attacked Candy Montgomery with it. Candy Montgomery spent some minutes trying to get away from Betty Gore and her axe, but was unsuccessful. Both women struggled for control. Finally, Montgomery was able to get control of the axe herself to defend herself, and at that point at no time was any onus upon her to determine at exactly what point Gore was no longer able to strike and at that moment exactly stop hitting. Again, the human mind and the human body just DO NOT WORK THAT WAY.
Thank you, but I am a 65-year-old happily retired mother of two adults and grandmother of five children. I don’t need self reflection, I don’t need a mental health evaluation, and if I were going to be a threat to society, I’m sure this would have manifested itself a long time ago. You make me laugh.
To Buckycore:
You’re absolutely right. Some people do not look at the facts of the case. They are just so eager to see Betty Gore as a murder victim because she was the wronged wife, and so eager to see Candy Montgomery as the villainous murderer because she had the affair with the married man. It is slut shaming. By the way, I wonder how many of these people know that some years earlier, Betty cheated on Allan.
I hope this isn’t too off topic, but I just want to say:
I’ve seen many people defend Betty Broderick, who, without any doubt, shot and killed two sleeping people who posed no threat to her whatsoever. I’ve seen many people defend the Menendez brothers, who, without a doubt, premeditated the murders of their parents, entered a room where their parents were watching TV and posing no threat to the brothers whatsoever, and shot them both to death.
I’ve seen very few defend Candy Montgomery, who was attacked by a mentally unbalanced woman with an axe.
This makes me shake my head.
You won’t see this until later–maybe tomorrow, maybe the next anniversary of Betty Gore’s horrific murder. Murder, is typically not a justifiable thing. To axe someone 41 times–Lizzy Borden style–is not a justifiable thing. To then finishing axing someone 41 times, ignore the baby in the room, then take dutiful time to clean themselves and attempt to clean the scene–is not a state of shock, it’s wickedness to the highest degree. Then following axing Betty Gore, FOURTY ONE TIMES, and abandoning the innocent woman/baby in the house, she went back to her home where her victim’s OTHER child was staying, and continued to lie/smile in everyone’s face for over 48 hours. Is that shock, Janice?
To PSK:
Yes, when Montgomery was attempting (and failing) to clean up the blood from the premises, and when she showered herself, she was still in shock.
I don’t believe she “ignored” the baby, because I believe that she did not, at that time, remember the baby was in the house, due to shock.
I do not believe she was in shock by the time she had to face people at a later time, and had made the decision to try to hide the fact that she’d been forced to kill Betty Gore in self-defense. But I believe that she knew, and was correct in knowing, that few people would accept what really happened, and that the police would slap a pair of handcuffs on her, and that the public in general would be against her. I can’t blame her for trying to hide and pretend that the whole thing never happened. I can’t say that I would not have done the same, unlikely though it was that her role in Gore’s death could stay hidden. I think she knew on some level that this was the case.
Murder may not be a justifiable thing, but self defense IS a justifiable thing, and this was self-defense, pure and simple. I have explained many times how and why Gore’s death was self-defense, only to have people like yourself repeat, as a mantra, “Axed 41 times”, “41 times”, “41 times” as if that disproves self-defense, which it does NOT. I am not going to explain it again, as I know you’ve already seen it, but you just don’t want to believe it for your own emotional reasons.
Have a good day.
I wonder if it’s good old Candace commenting here from time to time. Janice is a nice nickname.
Ha ha, you’re the first person to ever make this genius comment when I defend Montgomery. As if Candy Montgomery, who knew back in 1980 that Gore’s attack on her and its result would follow her for the rest of her life, would come to this rather obscure website after 45 years to defend herself.
No points for originality, I’m afraid.
LOL Janice, Obscure? We’ve won national awards for our stories : )
Okay, I apologize for “obscure”. Just so you know, I initially typed just “obscure” and then after thinking for a few moments, decided to add “rather”. I hope that softened it a little.
Lol we love your comments Janice!
Note to Janice’s husband: don’t leave any axes lying around.
The woman who muttered “I’m going to kill you!” deserved everything she got. She pushed Candy and attacked Candy after leaving HER CHILD at Candy’s home. Home inconsiderate and it’s called “child endangerment”. She never thought of her own actions. And remember, cheating and murder may be both sinister but one is LOVE and one is DEATH FOR ALL ETERNITY, NO EVERLASTING LIFE. RIP Wherever God chooses for you BETTY. You were no victim, you were a narcissist.
There is ZERO defense for hitting an unarmed woman, in her own home, with her baby in the crib 41 times, then showering and going about your day like nothing happened. This jury must’ve been low IQ. Candy, er, Janice, I’ve met some COLD sociopaths and have learned complete avoidance is the 1st law of self defence. […] REMAINDER OF COMMENT REMOVED BY MODERATOR.
Candy did not go there with any intent to cause harm to anyone. I think if somebody pulled an ax on someone else and started swinging they would’ve done the same. I think the amount of time she was struck with the ax was overkill at the same point had Betty not pulled an ax she’d still be here today.
I’m 100 percent with Janice!!! Every word.
Otterpop, so you’re saying that I’m never going to meet the person who sees a sociopath behind every tree, yet carries a gun just in case s/he needs to kill someone? Well, I’ll try to live with that disappointment.
I initially tried to be lighthearted about Otterpop’s post, but the truth is I feel personally threatened by it. I am surprised it was approved by the moderator. This is my notification to the owner of this website that I do feel threatened by Otterpop’s post. I thought the owner of this website should know this. What action you choose to take, if any, is of course up to you.
Thanks for alerting us to this. We’re evaluating the post comment
Looks like Janice (who posted looks like 12 times) has got a real axe to grind!
Don Crowder was my divorce lawyer in 1998. Unfortunately he killed himself 2 days before my court date. I was left with an appointed count replacement who was clueless which resulted in my ex barely paying child support and left me struggling as a single mom despite my ex owning a custom home building company. Don was a sweet man. He was fighting demons for years from representing Candy. He suffered in the community as well as in his church and family.
Well, let’s go ahead and make it an unlucky 13 comments lol.
I understand that you had a professional relationship with Don Crowder, meaning you met him in person, while I, of course, never have.
Nevertheless, I question your statement “He was fighting demons for years from representing Candy” and its strong implication that his defense of Candy Montgomery was the cause of his suicide.
In the only statement he publicly made about the Candy Montgomery case, a few days before he committed suicide, he indicated that he felt pity and sorrow for Betty Gore’s family members, but added “They didn’t understand that I had a job to do.” He further indicated that at the time, their faces bothered him, and that he hadn’t forgotten them.
The majority of people who don’t understand this case and who want to vilify Candy Montgomery as a horrible axe murderess have jumped on this and, led by their bias, deduced from it that Don Crowder’s life was made miserable solely by guilt over the Montgomery case and that the Montgomery case was the cause of his suicide.
I find this ridiculous. What he said indicated only that he was not a compassionless person, nothing more. One can feel bad for Betty Gore’s family members while also believing that Gore brought her death upon herself and that Montgomery was innocent of murder.
Crowder was suicidal at the time he made the statement, but that doesn’t mean the Montgomery case was the cause of his suicide—a suicidal person sees everything negatively and puts a negative spin on everyting.
As for the suicide, those who knew Crowder best state that many of his emotional troubles began with the accidental death of his brother in August 1997, fifteen months before the suicide, which occurred on November 10, 1998, and the fact that he received a DWI on June 21, 1998.
No attorney who is mentally healthy is going to commit suicide because of a case. That idea is ludicrous. Crowder obviously had mental and emotonal issues which had nothing to do with the Montgomery case.
And if he did indeed suffer in the community as well as in his church and family, that’s extremely unfortunate, since every American citizen should understand that every defendant has a right to a defense and the principle behind it.
You just stated that this man suffered in the community for defending this woman who was found not guilty for murder. How about the 12 jurors that decided on the case? I am sure they were also criticized, not to mention Candy? This lawyer did his job and he would not have taken on the case if he had any form of a guilty conscience at the time, he would have passed on it. This is what defense lawyers do. They defend guilty people every day and they don’t decide to up and take their own lives because their conscience got the best of them. He clearly had some emotional and mental health issues with the inability to deal with them.
I think Janice could be Candy as well or someone who knows Candy intimately.
Seriously, I am not Candy Montgomery and I have never met Candy Montgomery. I have never even known anyone who knew or knows her.
The closest I have ever come to Candy Montgomery is that once, in 1987, when I was living in East Texas, I met a man at a party who claimed to have interviewed her one time. I asked him one question about Candy, whether or not she was pretty (this was before you could easily pull up photos on the internet and the book “Evidence of Love” did not include any photos). He said she wasn’t pretty and that was the end of it.
There are four basic reasons that I leave so many comments defending Montgomery.
The first is that the view that Betty Gore must have been the Innocent Victim because she ended up dead, and that Candy Montgomery must be an Evil Axe Murderess because she didn’t end up dead, is so simplistic, knee-jerk, and unthinking that it makes me angry.
The second reason is that there is often a strong element of slut-shaming in the “Candy Montgomery is an evil axe murderess” view. She often gets pre-judged for having an affair with a married man while she herself was married, before any aspect of the actual killing is considered. I have read opinions that consist mostly or entirely of judgements about the affair and discuss any other aspect of the case either very little or not at all. This also makes me angry. The woman did not go on trial for violating anyone else’s moral code and she should not be judged guilty of murder because she did so.
The third reason is that, although again I have never known or even met Candy Montgomery, I am close to a person who was accused of a crime she did not commit. Her case never even hit the media, so it was never subject to comments from the public, but I can imagine if it had been, how painful it would have been for her and everyone close to her, if most members of the public had jumped to the conclusion that she was guilty (as the public is wont to do) and made vicious comments. So I guess this makes me extra sensitive about Montgomery and the vicious comments that pop up whenever her case is discussed.
Oh and the fourth reason is that I’m retired and have a lot of time on my hands, lol.
I agree. After reading all of the comments, I think it’s probably her.
At this point, I feel like giving my entire real name, including my unusual maiden name which I use as my middle name, just to prove I am not Candy Montgomery! If you Google my real full name, I think all you’ll find is comments I’ve made on other websites, and that’s fine with me.
My real name is Janice Pavlisko Robinson. I was born in July 1960, making me ten to eleven years younger than Candy Montgomery. In June 1980, when Betty Gore’s death took place, I was a 19-year-old who was excitedly planning her wedding the following month. I was in my home state of New Jersey, half a continent away from Wylie, Texas. I was completely unaware of the Montgomery-Gore incident at the time it occurred. I first heard of it in 1985, when I purchased and read the book “Evidence of Love”.
So unless you think that Candy Montgomery would scour the Internet looking for the name of some random woman who has a record of comments going back several years, all to trick the readers of this website, this should set the record straight: I am not Candy Montgomery and have never met Candy Montgomery.
You can believe I’m wrong about this case, you can believe I’m odd for being as invested in it as I am given that I had nothing to do with it and never knew any of the principals—just don’t believe that I’m Candy Montgomery, because I’m not.
Yes, you go by Candace Wheeler these days 🙂 I’m doing a lot of research on this case and the details help. Thanks
I’m not Candace Wheeler, either. Your thanks are not necessary or deserved, since I haven’t provided any “details” that can’t be found in books, articles, or any other source available to the public. Why are you doing research? Are you going to write book?
To Gine,
No one knows what they are capable of until they are put in that position and for you to say people who believe Candy needs a mental evaluation is just plain retarded and needs to get their head checked. Don’t feel good to be disrespected for what one human believes huh? Betty should have never handled the situation in that matter knowing she had her baby in that home unless she knew in the back of her mind that she could kill Candy.