Inside Candy Montgomery’s life after housewife found not guilty of killing neighbor Betty Gore with 41 blows from an ax
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CANDY Montgomery was acquitted of killing her neighbor with 41 blows from an ax after a childhood trigger word sent her into a disassociative rage, it emerged during her explosive trial.
Although the married housewife confessed to Betty Gore's gruesome killing under hypnosis and had an affair with her husband, Allan Gore, Candy was found not guilty by a jury on October 29, 1980.
Candy recounted their fatal encounter during explosive sessions with a psychiatrist Dr. Fred Fason, according to a 1984 report from .
She claimed that Betty attacked her first with the ax and cut her toe on June 13, 1980, when a violent confrontation between the two women erupted over her affair with Allan.
Dr. Fason testified that Candy started to hit Betty with an ax and only stopped "at the point of utter exhaustion" because her friend told her to "shush" as they tussled over the ax.
Candy was reportedly overtaken by rage when Betty told her to be quiet as it was a childhood trauma trigger that sent her into a disassociative rage state.
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Fason described “a connection” between Candy's mother telling her to "shush" and Betty hushing her when she tried to leave her friend's house, reported .
“I didn’t think,” Candy reportedly . “I didn’t think at all. I raised it and I hit her, and I hit her, and I hit her, and I hit her.”
Fason claimed that he sent Candy into a trance during hours-long hypnosis sessions, making her re-state the events in Betty's bloodied utility room again and again.
In , Jim Atkinson and John Bloom reveal how Fason found "the trigger of Candy Montgomery’s rage" by the end of their first session.
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Candy was found not guilty after her defense team successfully argued that she did not mean to kill her neighbor in a grisly that inspired Hulu's Candy, which is set to air on May 9, 2022.
Atkinson and Bloom describe how Candy was "bored crazy" with her husband Pat Montgomery and desperately seeking excitement elsewhere when she struck up a romance with Allan.
They met at the Methodist Church of Lucas on a volleyball court and began their secret relationship in 1978 - eight years after Allan married Betty.
According to Atkinson and Bloom, the affair went on until Allan started giving signs that he wanted to work on his marriage with Betty.
The Evidence of Love states that Candy responded: "Allan, you seem to be leaving it up to me. So I’ve decided, I won’t call. I won’t try to see you. I won’t bother you anymore."
Betty, an elementary school teacher, was found dead on June 13, 1980, by her neighbors Lester Gaylor and Richard Parker.
Her body was found mutilated with 41 ax wounds and the murder weapon was found in the Texas home she shared with Allan and their children.
KEY EVIDENCE
The evidence of fingerprints and footprints found at the crime scene led to her other neighbor, Candy, and her arrest on June 27, 1980 - she was charged with Betty's murder.
When Candy's trial commenced in October 1980, she confessed to killing Betty in self-defense.
On October 29, 1980, Candy was acquitted of all of the charges brought against her due to her pleas of self-defense.
Following the dismissal of the charges brought against the assailant, her whereabouts are shrouded in mystery.
claimed Candy and her family moved to Georgia.
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Sometime during the reported move to Georgia, she and her husband - Pat Montgomery - allegedly got divorced.
It was also reported by The Daily Mail that Candy worked as a mental health therapist for some time.
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