For nearly 40 years, Patrick Duffy has carried the memory of one of the most devastating nights of his life.
The Dallas star was just 37 when his parents, Terence and Marie Duffy, were shot and killed inside the tavern they owned in Boulder, Montana.
Now, as the 40th anniversary of their deaths approaches, the 77-year-old actor has revisited the tragedy in an emotional podcast appearance.
Ordered them to leave
Patrick Duffy is best known to television audiences for playing Bobby Ewing on the hit series Dallas. He later starred as Frank Lambert in the sitcom Step by Step, alongside Suzanne Somers.
But behind the familiar television roles, however, is a man who experienced a devastating family tragedy that has stayed with him for decades.
Speaking with Steve Kmetko on the Still Here Hollywood podcast on November 9, Duffy became visibly emotional as he revisited some horrific events of November 18, 1986 – a night that changed his life forever.
It all began when his father, tavern owner Terence Duffy, threw two unruly teenagers out of the family-owned bar. But instead of letting the incident go, the young men returned later that night, armed with shotguns.
According to Duffy, the two young men had been drinking and causing a disturbance. His father eventually ordered them to leave.
”My dad had thrown these two boys out because they were, you know, drunk and boisterous, and he just threw them out of the bar, and they went somewhere, finished whatever they were drinking, and the anger boiled up, and they went back in. It was very late at night,” Duffy recalled.
Patrick Duffy’s father’s last words
What happened next would change his family forever.
”There was nobody in the bar except my father and my mother. And they walked in with their shotguns,” he said.
Duffy then recounted the moments described in court testimony.
When his father saw the two men enter, he reportedly stepped toward them, beginning to say, ”I told you to…”
But he never got to finish the sentence.
”And then that’s when, uh, they opened up on him and killed him,” Duffy said.
His mother, Marie, had been at the other end of the bar, working on a crossword puzzle. When she saw what was happening, she ran toward her husband.
”And they shot her too,” Duffy recalled.
The Duffys’ bodies were later discovered by a group of workers who stopped at the bar for a beer during a shift change at a nearby institution for people with disabilities.
The men behind the crime
The men responsible for the brutal murders were eventually caught after one of them confessed his involvement to his girlfriend.
The two teenagers, Sean A. Wentz and Kenneth A. Miller, were both just 19 years old at the time.
They were convicted of deliberate homicide. Wentz, who fired the fatal shots, received a 180-year prison sentence and was later released on parole in 2015. Miller was released on parole in 2007.
Duffy also described how the men took money from the cash register and bottles of alcohol before leaving the scene. He reflected on how the robbery became part of the crime and the charges that followed.
Residents of Boulder, where the murders took place, said the tragedy was particularly shocking because Duffy’s Bar had always been known as a quiet, welcoming place where trouble was rarely seen.
It was the last place anyone would expect trouble – a quiet spot where people could enjoy a drink. The Duffys themselves were known as quiet, respectable people who made sure to keep troublemakers and riffraff away. Both Terrence and Marie were in their 60s at the time of the murders.
How he found a way through the grief
Losing both of his parents in such a brutal and violent way was an unimaginable tragedy for Duffy. At the time, he was one of television’s biggest stars, and the shocking murders quickly attracted widespread media attention.
Duffy had been a tremendous source of pride for his parents. They even had an entire wall of photographs of him displayed in their bar and often spoke about their children with friends and customers.
”They never missed one episode of Dallas and they always taped it,” close friend Bobby Sutherlin told the Daily Sentinel shortly after the murders.
During the podcast conversation, Duffy spoke about the role his Buddhist faith played in helping him process what had happened.
By the time of the murders, he had already been practicing Buddhism for 15 years.
”By that time I had been chanting my practice of Buddhism for 15 years,” he explained.
He went on to describe the Buddhist understanding of life’s continuous cycle, a philosophy that had become an important part of how he approached grief and loss.
Nearly four decades have passed since that terrible night, but the loss of his parents remains a defining part of Patrick Duffy’s life.
While his career brought him fame and success, the tragedy he endured away from the cameras was something no amount of success could erase.
Rest in peace, Terrence and Marie.
READ MORE
- Patrick Duffy’s girlfriend Linda Purl poses in swimsuit and sparks reactions about her legs
- Pete Hegseth’s three-word remark to soldier sparks backlash
