Love & Death: Where is Candy Montgomery now? (Is she still alive?)

HBO Max has a new addicting crime drama viewers are sure to get hooked on. Love & Death stars Elizabeth Olsen as the real-life figure Candy Montgomery, a housewife from Texas who kills one of her friends with an axe. How did all of this happen? No one in town would’ve ever suspected Candy to be a murderer, but when she’s pushed too far and feels like her life is being threatened, she snaps.

The HBO Max series is the second example of Montgomery’s story being depicted on TV, with Hulu releasing a show called Candy all about the same story starring Jessica Biel in 2022.

Spoilers ahead for the real-life story of Candy Montgomery.

As we learn in Love & Death, Candy and her husband Pat are active members of the Methodist Church, where they befriend another couple named Betty and Allan. Bored and unsatisfied with her marriage, Candy asks Allan to have an affair, and they sneak off to a hotel to have sex for the duration of months.

On June 13, 1980, Candy murdered Betty in her home with 41 blows using an axe and was later arrested. In court, Candy claimed the incident was self-defense, and she was found not guilty in October of 1980. So what happened to her after the case? She’s gone on to live a pretty quiet life.

Where is Candy Montgomery now?

At the time of this writing, Candy Montgomery is still alive. As reported by PopSugar, she relocated her family to Georgia after the trial and became a family counselor. She and Pat eventually divorced, and it’s believed that she’s changed her name, though this hasn’t been confirmed. She’s now 73 years old.

During an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Jessica Biel said that Montgomery was “not interested” in having a conversation with her as she prepared to take on the role in Candy. Given this, we can assume Montgomery doesn’t want to be involved in any depictions of her story onscreen, and it seems like she’d rather not be in the spotlight again.

New episodes of Love & Death drop every Thursday on HBO Max.