HBO’s ‘Love & Death’: Where is Pat Montgomery now, the husband who Candy cheated on?

One of the relationships explored in the new HBO drama about the 1980 murder of Betty Gore is that of accused murderer Candy Montgomery and her husband Pat.

HBO is releasing a limited series in April — the second adaption of the Montgomery case in less than a year. Hulu’s starring Jessica Biel in the titular role, first made its way to the small screen first in May 2022.

Elizabeth Olsen is now stepping into the role of Montgomery, alongside Dallas-born actor Jesse Plemons who plays Allan Gore. Lily Rabe and Patrick Fugit fill in the rest of the core cast as Betty Gore and Pat Montgomery, respectively.

The limited series is based on the book “Evidence of Love: A True Story of Passion and Death in the Suburbs” by Jim Atkinson and Joe Bob Briggs.

“Love & Death” was created by David E. Kelly and directed by Lesli Linka Glatter.

Who is Pat Montgomery?

In the early 1970s, Pat Montgomery was an electrical engineer at Texas Instruments. He married Candy Wheeler, who worked as a secretary at the time, according to Texas Monthly.

The couple, who had a son and daughter, moved to Wylie, Texas, in 1977, where they became friends with Betty and Allan Gore. The Montgomery family led a comfortable life, with Pat making a $70,000 working on military radar systems at TI and Candy staying home to take care of the kids, according to Texas Monthly.

“Pat was providing everything Candy had ever expected from him,” said the 1984 profile.

But Candy Montgomery said she was “bored crazy,” and she and her husband had been arguing more than usual, according to the magazine. One argument happened when Candy brought home A+ papers from her writing class and her husband just glanced at them.

“His insensitivity infuriated her and led to harsh words. To Pat they were arguments over nothing, but to her they represented everything wrong with their marriage,” Jim Atkinson and John Bloom wrote in the Texas Monthly story.

That’s what led Candy to have a 10-month affair with Allan Gore. She wanted “fireworks” amid her “very boring” life with Pat.

“Candy always felt completely normal around Pat, perhaps because she was confident he would never suspect a thing,” Texas Monthly reported.

When the affair ended, the Montgomerys attended the marriage counseling program Marriage Encounter. Later, in a confrontation about the affair, Candy Montgomery killed Betty Gore with an ax. Pat stood by Candy’s side throughout the trial, and she was acquitted after the jury determined she acted in self-defense.

“Pat was heartened by the way everyone stood by them, no matter what new evidence was leaked to the press,” Texas Monthly reported.

[PHOTOS: Candy Montgomery’s 1980 arrest, trial in North Texas over teacher’s ax murder]

Where are Pat and Candy Montgomery now?

After the trial, Candy Montgomery said she wanted “to get all this behind me and be normal again,” according to the Dallas Morning News. The family moved to Georgia, and Candy got certified as a family counselor. Little is known about the family’s whereabouts today. Some reports suggest that Pat and Candy Montgomery divorced a few years later.

[MORE: What happened to Betty Gore and husband Allan’s home in Wylie, Texas?]

Where is Candy Montgomery’s defense lawyer, Don Crowder, today?

Defense attorney Don Crowder, who succeeded in getting Candy Montgomery acquitted, is portrayed by Raúl Esparza in the Hulu series “Candy,” and will be portrayed by Tom Pelphrey in the upcoming HBO series “Love & Death.”

Crowder was a prominent Collin County lawyer and the city attorney for the town of Allen for 22 years. He met Candy Montgomery at the United Methodist Church of Lucas, according to the , and she turned to him when the police found evidence linking her to Betty Gore’s murder. At the time, Crowder was a civil lawyer who had never handled a criminal trial.

After winning her case, Crowder went on to make a bid for Texas governor in 1986, receiving 118,530 votes. In 1991, Crowder opened a sports bar in Plano called Gameday Sport Cafe that later closed. After losing his brother Barry in 1997, Crowder’s mental state declined. On Nov. 10, 1998, the 56-year-old took his own life.

Less than two weeks earlier, Crowder had reflected on the Montgomery trial, reported the Dallas Observer.

“That case was maybe the zenith of an extraordinarily successful career, or the demise of what could have been,” he told the McKinney Courier-Gazette.