Pat Montgomery's Wife, Candy, Murdered a Woman and Walked Away Scot-Free — Did He Stay With Her?

In Hulu's latest dramatized true-crime series Candy, we're invited into a small town in Texas in 1980. However, don't be fooled by the title because the story is anything but sweet. It has all the fixins of a classic crime tale, complete with an unsatisfied housewife, an illicit affair, and a bloody ax.

The woman behind the murder is Candy Montgomery, and all she wanted out of life was a little excitement which she found in Allan Gore, a married husband with two kids. Of course, Candy had everything she should have wanted: a beautiful home, two adorable children, and a husband who gave her almost everything. When Candy murdered Allan's wife, her family was turned inside out. What became of her husband, Pat Montgomery? Here's what we know.

According to Texas Monthly, Pat and Candy got married in the early 1970s. At the time, Pat was "one of the brightest young electrical engineers at Texas Instruments." Candy was working as a secretary and by all accounts was an attractive woman with a high-pitched laugh that you couldn't possibly ignore. With an easy charm and a fun personality, it's easy to see why Pat would want to scoop her up.

Pat and Candy soon had a son and a daughter, and in 1977, the family moved to Wylie, Tex. As an "army brat" who was constantly on the move growing up, getting married and settling down in the country was exactly what Candy thought she wanted. Pat had an amazing job working on "sophisticated military radar systems at Texas Instruments," where he made $70,000 a year (about $332,000 in 2022). Given the era and her husband's salary, Candy stayed home with the children and immersed herself in their church, though she quickly became "bored crazy."

Church is where the Montgomerys met Allan and Betty Gore. Beyond that, Candy and Allan played on a volleyball league together, which is how bored Candy got the idea to ask Allan if he wanted to engage in a strictly physical affair. After much consideration, Allan relented and the two began a 6-month relationship that Candy would eventually break off after Allan recommitted himself to Betty and their marriage.

Candy's husband, Pat, was mysterious, or at the very least he was a shadowy figure in the background of this tragic quasi lust triangle. The most "damning" thing about him was the fact that he didn't understand what Candy wrote in her creative writing class. We always come back to what we know, and what Candy knew was a childhood of instability that consisted of constantly moving and possibly not forming a lot of deep attachments. When she finally got what she thought she wanted with Pat, maybe it just didn't feel like home.

Then, in 1980, Candy murdered Betty Gore with an ax, leaving 41 wounds in her body. Initially she told no one but eventually claimed self-defense during her trial which, in a wild plot twist, actually worked. Candy was acquitted.

Evidently Pat stayed by her side throughout the entire ordeal, but it was reported by The Daily Mail that after moving to Georgia, Pat and Candy divorced. Apparently, Candy returned to her maiden name of Wheeler and Pat seemingly disappeared. Now this story will be told by Hulu, and we want to know who will be playing Pat.

Physically, the casting is a bit off but emotionally we're pretty sure this actor is nailing it. Pat Montgomery is being portrayed by actor Timothy Simons, who's best known as Jonah Ryan from Veep. While Jonah is dorky, often sleazy, but adorably lonely, the character of Pat comes across as a devoted father and husband who, at times, is more like a third child to Candy (played by Jessica Biel).

When we first meet him, he's enthusiastically discussing plans to take the kids to see The Empire Strikes Back. And while the faux confidence of Jonah Ryan is missing here, what we get is the comfortable confidence of a man who's deeply satisfied with his life. Nothing drives that point home harder than when Candy tells Pat he should get more friends and he says, "I'm not 11 years old. I have you." And that's when we start to see the cracks in Candy's life as she realizes she's the sun in the orbit of her family's universe, which cannot last.

Speaking exclusively with Distractify, Timothy Simons opened up about tackling this simple, somewhat oblivious character.

"I would joke around [on set] about how my job is pretty easy in the first couple episodes in that, I just had to play a guy who was uncomplicated and stoked about how things were going," he said.

Of course, things don't stay uncomplicated for long, which means Timothy's job as an actor got a bit more layered and difficult.

"There was one big question in my mind about [Pat]," Timothy revealed. "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? How does somebody who thinks their entire life is set and solved, compartmentalize pretty unbelievable new information?"

The role was a bit of a departure for Timothy, who audiences have become used to seeing in comedies. But, as he told Distractify, it was easy to agree to the miniseries when he got the offer.

"I'm a huge fan of Jessie [Biel] and Mel[anie] Lynskey," he said. "I mean, that's kind of a thing right there. They don't really do anything that's bad, so it makes it kind of an easy "yes" when somebody asks you to do something like this."

Candy premieres on Monday, May 9 on Hulu and will release new episodes each day until its finale on Friday, May 13.