What is the most horrific story in your town? Just learned- Ax murder of a teacher on Friday the 13

Some in Wylie don't know of 1980 ax slaying; others can't forget


Long before TV had its desperate housewives, Wylie had Candy Montgomery and Betty Gore - and the bloody killing that catapulted the small town into national attention.

If their story had been fiction, it would have been overwritten. Too many flashy details: The 3-foot ax, the 41 wounds, the salacious affair, the improbable defense, the astonishing verdict. Even the date of the killing seemed ripped from a bad crime novel. Friday the 13th, June 1980.

"Teacher hacked to death in Wylie home," shouted The Dallas Morning News that Sunday. "A 5th-grade teacher at R.C. Dodd Middle School was hacked to death by an ax-wielding killer who took a shower afterward."

The brutal death and the trial and acquittal of Montgomery became the singular focus of the community. At the time, Wylie was a town of 3,700 people. Last year, about that many folks showed up for the annual downtown Halloween party. Have the echoes of that killing vanished?


snip

"Start with the Friday the 13th date. That was also the week in 1980 when the first "Friday the 13th" movie opened, featuring ax-spattered gore. The Gores' house was the 13th from the corner. From the time of the death until the body was discovered took about 13 hours. From the day of the death until Montgomery was arrested took 13 days."


Full read here-
https://www.dallasnews.com/news/news/2010/06/11/some-in-wylie-don-t-know-of-1980-ax-slaying-others-can-t-forget