If you have watched Hulu’s Candy or HBO Max’s Love & Death, you already know the outline of one of the most talked about true crime stories of the last few decades. A church going Texas housewife named Betty Gore was killed with an ax by her friend Candy Montgomery in 1980, and the events leading up to that killing revolved around an affair Candy had with Betty’s husband, Allan Gore.
What most viewers want to know after finishing the show is simple. Where is Allan Gore now, and what happened to him once the trial ended and the cameras stopped rolling? This article pulls together the verified facts about Allan’s life today, explains how his real story compares to his on screen portrayals, and answers the questions people keep searching for.
Who Is Allan Gore
Allan and Betty Gore met in college in Kansas, where Allan worked as a teacher’s assistant in a class Betty was taking. The two started dating soon after and married in January 1970, while they were still in their early twenties.
The couple eventually settled in Wylie, Texas, a small community in Collin County, where Allan worked at an electronics company in nearby Richardson. They had two daughters together, Alisa and Bethany, and became active members of the First United Methodist Church of Lucas. It was through that church community that they met Candy Montgomery and her husband, Pat.
On the surface, the Gores looked like a typical young family building a life in the suburbs. Behind closed doors, though, the marriage had its share of strain, including periods of distance and dissatisfaction that would later become central to the story everyone now recognizes from television.
The Affair That Changed Everything
In late 1978, Candy Montgomery proposed the idea of an affair to Allan after a church volleyball game. Allan later testified that he hesitated for a couple of months before agreeing, and the two began meeting periodically at a motel in Plano or over lunch.
The relationship continued quietly for about a year. According to reporting from Texas Monthly, which conducted some of the most detailed original interviews on the case, Allan eventually pulled back from the affair after his wife gave birth to their second daughter, Bethany, in mid 1979. Not long after, he and Betty attended a marriage counseling retreat called Marriage Encounter, and by most accounts their relationship was genuinely improving heading into 1980.
That improvement makes what happened next even harder to process. Allan and Betty had reportedly reached a better place in their marriage right before tragedy struck.
The Murder of Betty Gore and Allan’s Role in the Trial
On June 13, 1980, while Allan was away on a business trip in Minnesota, Candy Montgomery visited Betty at their home in Wylie under the pretext of picking up a swimsuit for her daughter. What followed was a violent confrontation that ended with Betty being struck with an ax more than 40 times.
When Allan could not reach Betty by phone that evening, he grew concerned and called Candy, since she had been watching their daughter that day. She told him she was not sure where Betty was. Allan then called neighbors and asked them to check on his wife, which led to the discovery of her body.
Because of his cooperative response and the evidence gathered by investigators, Allan was never seriously considered a suspect. However, his admission that he had an affair with Candy became a key piece of the case, since it gave prosecutors a motive to point to during her trial that fall. Allan testified about the affair in court, and Candy was ultimately acquitted after her defense argued the killing was an act of self defense during a psychological breakdown.
What Happened to Allan Gore After the Trial
Life for Allan changed dramatically once the trial concluded. According to reporting from the Dallas Morning News, Allan remarried fairly quickly in the window between Betty’s death and Candy’s trial.
That marriage reportedly ended in divorce sometime later, though public records on the exact timeline are limited since Allan has largely avoided media attention for over four decades. What is well documented is that Allan did not retain custody of Alisa and Bethany. Instead, the girls were raised by Betty’s parents, who took over as their primary guardians after the murder.
For a period of time, Allan reportedly became estranged from his daughters, a detail that has drawn attention from viewers who feel the shows only lightly touch on this part of the story.
Where Is Allan Gore Now
So where is Allan Gore now, decades after the case that made international headlines? Based on multiple credible reports, Allan currently lives in Sarasota, Florida.
He is reported to be retired and living quietly with a domestic partner, having stepped away entirely from public life. Unlike Candy Montgomery, who has occasionally resurfaced in interviews and documentaries over the years, Allan has consistently declined to speak publicly about the case since his trial testimony in 1980.
This is a meaningful distinction worth noting. Much of what circulates online about Allan’s current life comes from limited public records, old news archives, and glimpses from his own social media presence rather than direct interviews. That means some details, like the exact status of his second marriage, are based on secondhand reporting rather than confirmed statements from Allan himself.
A Quick Snapshot of Allan Gore Today
- Location: Sarasota, Florida
- Status: Retired
- Relationship: In a domestic partnership
- Public profile: Largely private, no known interviews since the 1980 trial
- Relationship with daughters: Reportedly reconnected in recent years
Allan Gore and His Daughters Today
One of the more emotionally complex parts of this story involves Alisa and Bethany, the daughters Allan and Betty had together. After losing their mother in such a violent way, the girls were raised by their maternal grandparents rather than their father.
For years, Allan appears to have had limited contact with them. However, more recent glimpses from social media, including his own accounts, suggest that the relationship between Allan and his daughters has improved, and that they are back in touch after a long period of distance.
Neither Alisa nor Bethany has spoken extensively in the media about their father or their childhood following Betty’s death, which is understandable given the sensitivity of the subject. Their privacy has largely been respected, even as public interest in the broader case has surged again with each new adaptation.
Real Life Allan Gore Versus His TV Portrayals
Part of why people search for what happened to the real Allan Gore is because the two major adaptations, Hulu’s Candy and HBO Max’s Love & Death, present slightly different versions of him.
In Hulu’s Candy, Allan is played by Pablo Schreiber and is portrayed as somewhat withdrawn, a husband who is present but emotionally distant from Betty during much of the marriage.
In HBO Max’s Love & Death, Jesse Plemons plays Allan with a bit more nuance, leaning into his awkwardness and shyness, which matches how Texas Monthly writers Jim Atkinson and John Bloom originally described him in their 1984 profile as a man who could come across as stern or aloof.
Both shows dramatize the affair and the aftermath, but neither spends significant time on Allan’s life after the trial. That gap is exactly why so many viewers turn to search engines afterward, since the shows end the story right around the trial while Allan’s actual life continued for more than 40 years beyond that point.
Why Allan Gore Has Stayed Out of the Spotlight
It is worth pausing to consider why Allan Gore has chosen silence over the decades, especially as interest in the case has repeatedly resurfaced with each new book, documentary, or streaming series.
Unlike Candy Montgomery, whose actions were the central legal and moral question of the case, Allan was never charged with a crime. His only public role was as a witness whose personal choices became part of the courtroom narrative. Staying private has allowed him to move forward without being permanently defined by a single, painful chapter of his life.
This also explains why reliable information about Allan is harder to find compared to Candy, who has given interviews and cooperated with some documentary projects. Respecting that privacy is part of why many of the existing articles on this topic rely on the same handful of older sources rather than new reporting.
Conclusion
The real story behind Candy and Love & Death did not end when the credits rolled or when the jury reached its verdict. Allan Gore, the man at the center of the affair that set off one of the most infamous true crime cases in Texas history, has spent more than four decades rebuilding a private life far from the public eye.
Today, Allan is reportedly retired and living in Sarasota, Florida, in a domestic partnership, and appears to have reconnected with his daughters after years of estrangement. While he has never spoken publicly since his 1980 trial testimony, the pieces of his story that have emerged paint a picture of a man who chose quiet privacy over public commentary, even as his past has been dramatized on screen more than once.
If there is one practical takeaway from Allan’s story, it is this: not everyone connected to a headline grabbing case chooses to stay in the public conversation, and that choice deserves to be respected even as curiosity about the case continues.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where does Allan Gore live now?
Allan Gore reportedly lives in Sarasota, Florida, where he is retired and living with a domestic partner.
Did Allan Gore get custody of his daughters after Betty’s death?
No. His daughters, Alisa and Bethany, were raised by Betty’s parents rather than by Allan.
Is Allan Gore still in touch with his daughters?
Recent reports and social media activity suggest that Allan and his daughters had a period of estrangement but appear to be reconnected in recent years.
Was Allan Gore ever considered a suspect in Betty’s murder?
No. Investigators did not seriously consider him a suspect due to his cooperative response and the evidence gathered during the investigation.
Has Allan Gore spoken publicly about the case since the trial?
No. Allan has not given any known public interviews since testifying at Candy Montgomery’s trial in 1980, and he has kept his personal life private ever since.
