Candace Lynn Montgomery (née Wheeler; born November 15, 1949) is an American woman who was accused of murdering her former lover's wife, Betty Gore. The killing took place in Wylie, Texas, on June 13, 1980. During the assault, Gore was struck 41 times with a wood splitting axe. Montgomery pleaded not guilty to charges of murder on the basis of self-defense, alleging that Gore confronted her about the affair she had with Gore's husband and attacked her with the axe. She was acquitted.
On the day of Gore's killing, Allan Gore was out of town. When he was unable to reach his wife on the telephone, he requested that their neighbors go to investigate. After forcing their way into the family residence, they discovered Gore's body. Her daughter, Bethany, who had been sleeping in her crib in another room at the time of the incident, was awake, crying and covered in her own feces after being left for 13 hours unattended.
The crime was investigated by Steve Deffibaugh with the Collin County Sheriff’s Department.
Montgomery underwent a polygraph test prior to the trial, which indicated that she was being truthful. District attorney Tom O'Connell argued that Montgomery could have fled the scene instead of attacking Gore. He also argued that attacking 41 times was disproportionate. Montgomery was subsequently found acquittal on October 30, 1980, by a jury consisting of nine women and three men, after deliberating for just over 3 hours.
As far as I'm concerned, justice will be served. She has to live with it ... I wouldn't say I was happy with the verdict. We don't know what happened and we never will know what happened.
In the 1990 CBS Television film A Killing in a Small Town, based on the Montgomery case but with names changed, Barbara Hershey won the Emmy award and the Golden Globe award portraying the lead character, named Cathy Morrison.
Jessica Biel portrays Montgomery in the Hulu series Candy, which debuted in May 2022.
Montgomery was portrayed by Elizabeth Olsen in the Max series Love & Death, which debuted in April 2023.
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