Shocking Crimes That Happened on June 13 Inspired These 2 Hulu Series

Last year, while producing the Haunting American True Crimes season of the podcast, the year 1990 jumped out at me. It seemed to be a popular year for ghosts to solve their own murders. After watching two series that Hulu recently released, it happened again. I noticed that both of the shocking true crimes that inspired each series happened on the same day, June 13.

They didn’t happen during the same year, however. One was on Monday, June 13, 1977. The other took place on Friday, June 13, 1980.

And Friday the 13th was interesting. For obvious reasons because, hey. What day is more steeped in superstition than that one? But also because the date Friday the 13th partially inspired the Haunting American True Crimes season.

You see, at first, I fell down a rabbit hole in search of haunted summer camps or scary campfire stories that were based on actual events. (Thanks again, Priscilla Bettis.) That’s how I learned about the Camp Scott Murders, which happened on June 13, 1977.

Those awful murders didn’t happen on a Friday, though. However, I wondered if the unsolved true crime had inspired Friday the 13th the movie.

No, but the case instantly haunted me, so much so that I felt compelled to create the podcast’s first serialized season. It also ended up being the subject of said season’s first episode.

But that case also haunted someone else. (Besides all those intimately connected to it, of course.) It ended up inspiring the first Hulu series based on a June 13 true crime that we’ll take a look at.

Keeper of the Ashes

Keeper of the Ashes: The Oklahoma Girl Scout Murders started streaming on Hulu on May 24, 2022. It examines the murders of Lori Lee Farmer (8), Michele Guse (9), and Doris Denise Miller (10), whose bodies were discovered early in the morning on June 13, 1977, at Camp Scott in Locust Grove, Oklahoma.

It details the events of that case from start to finish, including the girls’ arrival at camp, the discovery of their bodies, the manhunt that ensued for the killer, the capture of Gene Leroy Hart, his trial and acquittal, and what’s happened in the years since to try and finally close this case. Because there will never be justice, but could advancement in DNA finally yield conclusive results as to the killer’s identity? Was it really Hart?

Kristin Chenoweth, who grew up in Oklahoma and was supposed to attend that year’s camp until she got sick, hosts the four-episode docuseries. It weaves photos and videos from the time with testimony from the parents, camp counselors, law enforcement, reporters, and attorneys to provide an intimate and in-depth look at the case. Along the way, it reveals some surprising details.

Among them is that Hart was acquitted of the crimes at the time, but that might not have been the case if the same DNA technology existed back then as does today. Advancements made it possible to retest blood, hair, and semen samples once thought too degraded. It ruled out every other suspect except one: Hart.

The series isn’t getting bad ratings, but it’s also not getting as high as I’d expect. I thought it was exceptional. Then again, I’m biased because I became obsessed with the case the second I learned of it. I thought they did a great job honoring Lori, Michelle, and Denise, whose lives were senselessy snatched from them far too soon.

Candy

The next June 13 true crime-inspired Hulu series is Candy. The first episode in the five-part drama series premiered on the streamer on May 9. It’s based on the Friday, June 13, 1980 murder of Betty Gore.

Candace “Candy” Montgomery and Betty Gore lived in Wylie, Texas. They attended the same church, their daughters were friends, and eventually Candy and Betty became friends too. Close friends. But unbeknownst to Betty, until later, was that Candy was having an affair with Betty’s husband.

Did Betty threaten Candy, as Candy claimed? Did she kill Betty in self-defense, or did something else trigger Candy to butcher Betty with an ax? (She did hit Betty with it 41 times, after all.)

The limited series details the events that led up to the murder, and then briefly shows the trial, in which a jury acquitted Candace Montgomery.

I actually wasn’t all that interested in seeing this series at first, but after Keeper of the Ashes I was looking for something else to watch and gave it a shot. It’s told in such a way that instantly intrigued me. I knew the outcome but was curious to see how it would wind up where it did.

The stellar acting helped make it binge-able too. I see now why Jessica Biel’s portrayal of Candy drew so much acclaim. But Melanie Lynskey as Betty Gore, Pablo Schreiber as Allan Gore, and Timothy Simons as Pat Montgomery also deliver stellar performances. And the costumes, makeup and sets really invoke the spirit of the late 1970s/beginning of the 1980s. To the point it’s like they time-traveled to shoot the series!

 

The Other June 13 Similarity

Besides the fact that both crimes that inspired these series happened on the same day (again, not in the same year, though), the cases share something else in common. Both cases resulted in arrests. Gene Leroy Hart never confessed to the murders of Lori Farmer, Michelle Guse, or Denise Milner, but Candy did confess to killing Betty Gore. Except she claimed it was in self-defense.

Both were also high-profile cases at the time and each went to trial. That’s where the other similarity comes in. Juries acquitted both defendants in each case.

Candy fared better than Hart though. She went free. That’s not to say she didn’t suffer consequences though. In addition to divorcing her husband, she changed her name and ended up moving. Because honestly. After that, life for her was never going to be the same in small-town, conservative, Wylie, Texas.

Hart was an escaped convict at the time he was arrested for the Girl Scout murders. So even though he was acquitted, he still had to serve his hefty sentence for his original crime (which involved the rape and attempted murder of two women). But he also faced additional charges for his escape.

However, he died of a heart attack just shy of two years after the girls’ murders and only a few months after the trial ended. For obvious reasons, some believe that was Divine Justice intervening. And maybe (hopefully) it was.

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