Candy Montgomery

The story takes place in the small God fearing town of Wylie Texas back in the '80s. It seems one summer day Alan Gore called home while on a business trip to check on his wife, Betty. When he couldn't get an answer he asked his neighbors to check on her. When they did they walked into a crime scene.. Betty was laid out on the floor with 41 axe blows to her face and body (Shades of the infamous Lizzy Borden case).

The circumstances of the murder were ironic to say the least. This happened on Friday the 13th, the Gore house was the 13th from the end.. and the name on the mailbox.. Gore. People all over Texas were assuming a crazed Cult killing had taken place. Adding to that fuel was the fact that at the crime scene a blood covered newspaper was open to a new movie in town.. "The Shining" about a crazy Axe Murderer. Also there was a fingerprint in blood in the refrigerator.

Well as it turns out Betty's husband had had an affair with her next door neighbor Candy but had called it off two years earlier, thanks to a church sponsored marriage counseling group called Close Encounters that spent weekends at local motels to discuss their problems, which only added to the scandal. The morning of the murder Candy had went over to Betty's house to talk about Betty's upcoming vacation. Without warning Betty accused Candy of having an affair with her husband, walked out to the garage and got an axe and began attacking Candy with it. Candy screamed and said she didn't want Betty's husband but Betty would have none of it and kept up the attack yelling that she was going to kill Candy. Candy finally got the axe away and managed to strike Betty ending her life.. in self defense.

Candy hired a local civil attorney from her church to represent her in court. The man had never tried a murder case in his life though he did have the good sense to bring his seasoned partner into the case. So here she is heading to trial with her primary lawyer never having tried a murder case in his life, with a fingerprint in blood and a confession against her. During her trial she took the stand in her own defense and her lawyer took the blood covered axe and thrust it at her at which time she screamed and held her arms up to shield herself from it.

A physiologist then testified that as a child Candy had cut herself on a piece of glass and when her mother took her to the Doctor she wanted to cry but her mother kept going shhhh which enraged Candy but she wasn't allowed to cry. She had kept this pent up anger for 25 years until the day Betty attacked her and then it all came out.

Finally, although she had confessed to the police, she was found not guilty by a Jury of her peers which set a new standard for larger than life criminals in the state of Texas. Cries of "Murderess" started on the courthouse steps as Candy was leaving. Shortly after the trial Candy left town never to be heard from again. Alan married another neighbor just three months after the trial.