Television icon Patrick Duffy is bravely opening up about the tragic killing of his parents, which happened 40 years ago.
Patrick Duffy Opens Up About the Loss of His Parents
The “Dallas” actor appeared on the “Still Here Hollywood with Steve Kmetko” podcast and discussed how his parents, Terence and Marie Duffy, were murdered on November 18, 1986. The couple was in their tavern in Boulder, Montana, when two teenagers, Sean A Wentz and Kenneth A Miller, attacked them, the Daily Mail reports. Wentz and Miller were both 19 at the time of the killings.
They were both charged with deliberate homicide and later convicted. Wentz was paroled in 2015, and Miller was paroled in 2007. Of their crimes, Duffy said: “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.”
When Wentz and Miller entered the tavern, only Terence and Marie were in it. Duffy recalled how testimony revealed that his father had attempted to tell them to leave, when “They opened up on him and killed him.” He continued, “And then my mother was at the other end of the bar doing a crossword puzzle and took a couple of steps running towards dad, and they shot her too. If that wasn’t stupid enough, and 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. So what they did was compound what could have been, you know, manslaughter.”
Patrick Duffy’s Grieving Journey
Duffy bravely shared how his Buddhist faith had helped him through this grieving journey, and he holds that “the Buddhist philosophy is one of the continuous life cycle of your entity, if for the want of a better word.” But one of the most heartbreaking things about this case is that the actor had to tell his two young sons that their grandparents had been murdered.
“The first thing I did was, it was just as the boys were getting up to go to school. I said, ‘Padraic, Conor, we have to go in now. I’m going to chant with you,’” he recalled. Chanting before school was a regular thing for the family, but this time, Duffy told them: “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.” Padraic was 11 at the time, and Conor was six.
Miller was the first to be paroled, and Duffy shared his thoughts. “I’m okay with that. My point of view is he’s already been punished. You know, whether he’s in prison or out of prison,” he said.
Duffy’s interview was shared on YouTube, giving fans a chance to react. “Tears on the death of his mom and dad,” a comment reads. “I remember when his parents passed and he always said as much as he missed them his Buddhism helped him through it,” another person shared.
A third comment reads, “This was a fantastic interview. I really enjoyed it thank you so much.”
‘Dallas’ Star Patrick Duffy Bravely Reflects on the Devastating Loss of His Parents at the Hands of 2 Teenagers