This case reads like a bad 80’s slasher movie. There’s a 3 foot axe, it occurred on Friday the 13th, just a month before the very first Friday the 13th movie was released. A newspaper at the scene was opened to an ad for The Shining, and the victim’s last name was Gore. Then there’s a shocking outcome – it is nuts! Sit back, relax, and let me tell you this unbelievable story…
June 13th of 1980 in Wylie, Texas-
Betty Gore had been a 5th grade teacher and loving mother living in a small northern Texas town. Her husband, Allen, traveled a lot for work. Betty suffered from depression, and she thought she was pregnant again which had not been the best of situations considering she’d had such a rough time with postpartum depression. Though Betty had been very lonely, her marriage had seemed solid enough – but as we know, things are not always as they seem…
So on this particular day, Betty’s best friend, Candace “Candy” Montgomery, had asked that Betty’s oldest daughter, 5 year old Alisa, come stay the night. Candy had also been married, with a little girl of her own; the two women’s daughters were close friends as well, and it was not unusual for Alisa to spend time at Candy’s home.
By nightfall Betty’s husband, Allen, began to grow concerned; he had been trying to phone Betty for several hours and she’d not answered. This was concerning as Betty did not go out alone at night, not ever. Allen became so worried that he called a neighbor to go and check on his wife.
That neighbor was in for one hell of a shock: the front door had been left unlocked, and the baby was screaming in her crib; the poor thing was filthy and starving. Betty’s corpse was found in the home; it was first believed that she had committed suicide with a firearm, her face was just obliterated. But it wasn’t a suicide, and it certainly wasn’t a gun; the murder weapon, a bloody axe, was also located inside the home.
Betty had been hacked to death; a definite case of overkill as Betty had sustained 41 whacks. Most of the wounds had been to her face, specifically her eyes; this type of murder usually means hate, rage, and very possibly jealousy had been a factor. This killer had wanted to rob their victim of her beauty, once and for all. Investigators knew that the motive had certainly not been robbery as there was no forced entry and a $20 bill had been left lying in plain sight. Whoever did this was not too worried about getting caught, they had taken a shower in Betty’s bathroom.
Police originally surmised that the killer would likely be a man with great upper body strength; you can imagine their surprise when they realized all of the evidence pointed to a female murderer! A bloody foot print had been left at the scene, a petite woman’s footprint; a bloody thumb print was traced back to Betty’s best friend, Candy Montgomery – the woman who’s been keeping Betty’s oldest child all night. Come to find out, Betty’s husband, Allen, had been carrying on an affair with Candy for the past year or so.
Candy was prosecuted for Betty’s murder. Just days into the trial Candy took the stand and straight up admitted to having killed Betty – in self defense, of course! The defendant had claimed that she’d returned to Betty’s house that afternoon to grab Alisa’s forgotten bathing suit; Candy said that everything had been fine, but Betty just turned on her. The victim had somehow known all about the affair, and a screaming match had ensued. Betty came at Candy with the axe, and Candy screamed; when she screamed, Betty had placed a finger to her lips and actually shushed her! Candy claimed this is when she herself snapped; she overpowered her friend, snatched the axe away from Betty, and murdered her bestest friend. On the stand she stated, “I hit her. I hit her. And I hit her. She fell slowly, almost to a sitting position. I kept hitting her. And hitting her. I felt so guilty, so dirty. I felt so ashamed.”.
When Betty was dead, instead of calling police, Candy has taken a shower; she’d left the screaming baby in the crib, and had simply driven back home to take care of Betty’s child as if nothing had happened.
It sounds like a load of garbage, right?
Well, after this testimony, the defense called an expert witness to testify that Candy had been abused a her mother who used to shush her when she would cry. So, when Betty “shushed” Candy on that day, the killer dissociated from herself – meaning that she had no control over her own actions. Incredibly, the jury bought this story hook, line, and sinker; Candy the admitted axe murderer was found not guilty!
Though it is believed by just about everyone that the murder had been planned out by both Candy and Allen, nobody ever could prove it. Allen lost custody of his two girls, Betty’s family raised them; just months after the murder trial Allen married another woman. Candy divorced her husband, Pat, and she moved to Georgia. She began using her maiden name, Candy Wheeler, and became a therapist of all things! As far as I know this is what she’s still up to today; matter of fact, she specializes in treating those suffering with depression! Utter craziness!
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