Dallas and Step by Step star Patrick Duffy recently recounted the brutal murder of his parents, and how he broke the tragic story to his sons.
Videos by Wide Open Country
On the Still Here Hollywood podcast earlier this week, the 77-year-old opened up about the deaths of his parents, Marie and Terence, as the 40th anniversary of their murder approaches.
"My parents were murdered when two young men robbed the bar that my parents owned in Montana," Duffy told host Steve Kmetko of the Nov. 18, 1986 crime. "My dad had thrown these two boys out because they were drunk and obstreperous. He just threw them out of the bar, and they went somewhere, finished whatever they were drinking. The anger boiled up, and they went back in."
Dallas Star Recounts Needless Deaths of His Parents
Sean A. Wentz and Kenneth A. Miller, both 19 at the time, returned to the business when only the Dallas star's parents remained. "It was very late at night," Duffy explained, before adding that later testimony detailed how his father tried to speak with the young men before "they opened up on him and killed him."
"And then my mother was at the other end of the bar doing a crossword puzzle. [She] took a couple of steps running towards Dad, and they shot her, too," Duffy added.
"If that wasn't stupid enough, instead of just running, they jumped over the bar to the cash register, took the money and a couple of bottles of booze, and then left," the veteran actor continued.
While not a law expert, the actor, who appeared on the original run of Dallas back in the 1980s as well as the 2010's era reboot, reasoned that the robbery aspect of the crime made it a felony offense rather than manslaughter. "But it was in the commission of a felony. They were robbing a bar and committed murder. So they went off to prison," Duffy added.
Miller and Wentz were both found guilty of the murders. Miller was granted parole in 2007, and Wentz was granted parole in 2015, according to nine.com.au.
Patrick Duffy Recalls Telling His Young Sons Their Grandparents Were Murdered
Duffy went on to reveal that he was filming Dallas when his parents were murdered. The production company offered to fly him out to Montana to be with his family, which he accepted. However, before flying out, he knew he had to break the news to his young sons, Padraic and Conor. A practicing Buddhist for over a decade, Duffy decided to use his religious teachings to help his young sons cope with the deaths of their grandparents.
"The boys were getting up to go to school," Duffy recalled. "And I said to the boys, I said, 'Padraic, Conor, we have to go in now. I'm going to chant with you.' "
"I said, 'We have to chant for grandma and grandpa because they've both been killed and we have to chant for them because they're going to understand it and hear it,' " he continued. "And they went, 'Oh, okay.' "
Duffy credited his religious beliefs with pulling him through the horrific ordeal.
"The Buddhist philosophy is one of continuous life cycle of your entity, for the lack of a better word," Duffy detailed. "But I didn't study that at all. I was just chanting because it felt good. It felt right. It made my life feel better."
