Hulu’s ‘Candy’: Where is Pat Montgomery now, the husband who Candy cheated on?

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

Hulu’s “Candy” streamed as a five-night event May 9 to 13, starring Timothy Simons as Pat Montgomery. Simons is best known for his role as Jonah Ryan on the HBO comedy series “Veep.”

In the first few episodes, Simons said in an interview with Distractify, he “just had to play a guy who was uncomplicated and stoked about how things were going.” The series explores how that changed during Candy Montgomery’s trial. “How does one compartmentalize this new information about your spouse, somebody who you have, in front of God and family, said that you’ll spend the rest of your life with for better or worse?” Simons said.

HBO Max’s “Love and Death” will be released later this year. Pat will be portrayed by Patrick Fugit, who has appeared in the films “Almost Famous,” “White Oleander,” “Saved!” and “Wristcutters: A Love Story.”

[MORE: The story behind Betty Gore, a Texas teacher killed with an ax in 1980]

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.

Simons, the actor who played Pat in the Hulu series, said in an interview with The List: “I kept thinking, ‘When is Pat going to leave? When is Pat going to wise up? And when’s Pat going to get out of there?’ And when that trial’s over and he’s still around ... that was the thing, I was like, ‘Wait, after all that, he still stuck with her, so what was it about him?’ What was it about him? What was it about Candy? What was it about their life that made him think, ‘Staying here is better than leaving?’”

[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 and 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 Dallas Observer, 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.