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Patrick Duffy’s mother was doing a crossword when two gunmen returned to the bar she and her husband owned in Montana, and one of them shot her husband. Moments later, she rushed towards him and was also shot and killed.
The “Dallas” star, 77, recalled the final moments of his parents’ lives during an appearance on the “Still Here Hollywood” podcast, revealing how the double murder unfolded and how he found the strength to carry on.
The murders took place almost 40 years ago, on November 18, 1986.
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Patrick Duffy was playing Bobby Ewing on the hit television series “Dallas” when his parents, Terence and Marie Duffy, were shot and killed during a robbery at their Montana bar on November 18, 1986. (CBS via Getty Images)
“My parents were murdered when two young men robbed the bar my parents owned in Montana,” the actor told host Steve Kmetko. “My dad had kicked these two boys out because they were drunk and rowdy. He just kicked them out of the bar, and they went somewhere, finished what they were drinking, and the anger boiled over and they went back.”
Sean A. Wentz and Kenneth A. Miller were both 19 at the time, People magazine reported. Duffy’s parents, Marie and Terence, were the only ones in the bar when the gunmen returned.
From left: Charlene Tilton, Linda Gray, Larry Hagman, Patrick Duffy and Sheree J. Wilson won the TV Land Pop Culture Award for “Dallas.” (L. Cohen/WireImage)
“It was very late at night,” Duffy said. “There was no one in the bar except my mom and dad, and they came in with their shotguns. As soon as my dad saw them, court testimony showed, my dad turned to them and apparently took a step toward them and said, ‘I told you to…’
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Duffy’s father never finished his sentence.
“…That’s when they opened up on him and killed him,” Duffy said. “And then my mom was at the other end of the bar doing a crossword and took a few steps running towards Dad. And they shot her too.”
“And then, as if that wasn’t stupid enough, instead of just running, they jumped over the bar to the cash register, took the money and a few bottles of alcohol, then left.”
Patrick Duffy attends a photocall for ‘Bold and Beautiful’ during the 62nd Monte-Carlo Television Festival in Monte-Carlo, Monaco on June 19, 2023. (Getty Images)
The Los Angeles Times previously reported that Terence and Marie’s bodies were found by a group of people who had stopped for drinks after finishing work at the nearby Montana Developmental Center. A woman spotted Marie on the ground, but initially thought she might have passed out. When she saw blood on Terence, she went outside and called a friend for help.
Linda Gray and Patrick Duffy pose at Foxtel’s SoHo launch of ‘Dallas’ at The Loft in Sydney, Australia on August 19, 2014. (Wireframe)
Duffy learned of her parents’ deaths the next morning.
“…My sister called, she was completely devastated,” he remembers. “…She was a police officer and she was on her way to Montana. By the time I hung up, there were camera crews at the door.”
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Patrick Duffy (left) is seen here opposite Larry Hagman (right) on the set of “Dallas.” (CBS via Getty Images)
Duffy said Lorimar Television, the production company behind “Dallas,” arranged for her transportation and other support services after the killings.
“Lorimar (television) called, everyone called, (the) support team came and said, ‘We have the jet ready. We’ll fly you to Montana. We’ll take care of everything. We’ll send a PR person with you to take care of it.'”
Patrick Duffy appears as Bobby Ewing in the CBS soap opera “Dallas”, which premiered on April 2, 1978. (CBS via Getty Images)
Duffy said his Buddhist faith helped him cope with the loss. It also gave him the strength to tell his sons, Padraic and Conor, that their grandparents had been killed.
Actor Patrick Duffy and his sons Padriac and Conor attend the opening night of “Joan Rivers: A Work in Progress By A Life in Progress” at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles on February 13, 2008. (Wireframe)
“Buddhist philosophy is part of the ongoing life cycle of your entity,” Duffy explained on the podcast.
“…The first thing I did was right when the boys were getting up to go to school, very young, and I said, ‘…I’m going to sing with you,’ because we always sang before they left for school. I said, ‘We have to sing for Grandma and Grandpa because they were both killed, and we have to sing for them because they’re going to understand it and hear it.'”
Actors Julie Gonzalo, Brenda Strong, Jordana Brewster, Larry Hagman, Linda Gray and Patrick Duffy and executive producers Cynthia Cidre and Michael M. Robin speak onstage during the Dallas panel at the 2012 Turner TCA in Pasadena, California on January 14, 2012. (Wireframe)
Miller and Wentz were convicted of the murders and sentenced to prison, according to People magazine. Nine.com.au reported that Miller was released on parole in 2007 and that Wentz was granted parole in 2015.
Miller and Wentz were convicted of the murders and sentenced to prison, according to People magazine. Australian media outlet 9News reported that Miller was released on parole in 2007 and Wentz was granted parole in 2015.
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Patrick Duffy and Linda Purl attend the red carpet premiere of “Hollywood Grit” at The Grove in Los Angeles on August 21, 2025. (FilmMagic)
Duffy previously told Closer Weekly that he still remembers his parents as “fairly ordinary, pleasant people” who were “very sociable” before the murders.
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“When my parents were murdered, I experienced all the emotions of that horrible event – the shock, the anger and everything in between – but I never felt disconnected from (my parents),” Duffy said. “I never felt this immediate loss. I didn’t know why, but in retrospect it was a result of being a Buddhist.”
From left: Patrick Duffy, Linda Gray and Larry Hagman pose at the 18th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, broadcast at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on January 29, 2012. (Kevin Mazur/WireImage)
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“There was something about the eternity of life that had sunk into me,” he also told People magazine in 2020. “As horrible as it was, I didn’t feel disconnected from them.”
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