Dallas star Patrick Duffy became emotional as he revisited the night his parents were murdered four decades ago.
The actor, now 77, said his parents, Terence and Marie Duffy, were shot dead at the tavern they owned in Boulder, Montana, on November 18, 1986. Two 19-year-old men armed with shotguns had ambushed the couple.
Sean A. Wentz and Kenneth A. Miller were charged with deliberate homicide and later convicted.
Wentz, who fired the fatal shots, received a 180-year prison sentence but was released on parole in 2015. Miller, described as his accomplice, was paroled in 2007.
Speaking on the Still Here Hollywood podcast with Steve Kmetko, Duffy struggled to contain his emotions as he described the final moments of his parents’ lives.
He explained that his father had removed the two men from the bar after they became intoxicated and disruptive. The pair later returned after their anger escalated. It was late at night, Duffy recalled.
Patrick Duffy became tearful while recalling the 1986 murder of his parents during an appearance on the Still Here Hollywood podcast with Steve Kmetko (source: YouTube/Still Here Hollywood Podcast w/ Steve Kmetko)
Terence and Marie Duffy were killed inside the tavern they owned in Boulder, Montana, in November 1986. The family is pictured together in an undated photograph
According to testimony presented in court, nobody else was inside the tavern. Duffy said his father saw the men enter with their shotguns and moved toward them, apparently telling them, “I told you to.”
The men then opened fire, killing him. Marie was at the opposite end of the bar working on a crossword puzzle. When she ran toward her husband, the attackers shot her as well.
Duffy said the teenagers then climbed over the bar, stole cash and several bottles of alcohol, and fled. In his view, the robbery made the crime even more serious than the killings alone.
He noted that the murders occurred during the commission of a felony, as the men were robbing the bar, and said both were subsequently sent to prison.
Asked how he managed the grief, Duffy said his Buddhist faith helped him understand that losing his parents did not erase his bond with them.
He had been practicing Buddhist chanting for 15 years by then. Duffy said the Buddhist philosophy of an ongoing cycle of life helped shape his understanding of death and loss.
He remembered receiving the news in the morning after his sister called. She was a police officer and was devastated as she prepared to travel to Montana.
Duffy also recalled having to tell his young sons, Padraic, then 11, and Conor, six, that their grandparents had been killed.
Sean A. Wentz, left, and Kenneth A. Miller, right, were convicted in connection with the 1986 killings. The men are shown in undated mugshots and have both since been released
On the Still Here Hollywood podcast with Steve Kmetko, Duffy described the final moments of his parents’ lives (source: YouTube/Still Here Hollywood Podcast w/ Steve Kmetko)
Duffy said his Buddhist beliefs helped him cope with his parents’ deaths. He is pictured as Bobby Ewing in Dallas in 1986
In 2017, Duffy experienced another sudden loss when Carlyn Rosser, his wife of 43 years, died from cancer at age 77. They are pictured in 1987, months after the murders of his parents
He said the boys were getting ready for school when he sat down with them to chant, as they did every morning before leaving the house.
Duffy told them they needed to chant for their grandparents because both had been killed, adding that their grandparents would understand and hear them.
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The children accepted the explanation, he recalled.
In 2017, Duffy, best known for playing Bobby Ewing on the hit CBS series Dallas, endured another devastating loss when his wife of 43 years, Carlyn Rosser, died of cancer at 77.
Duffy said his faith taught him that death marks the end of one chapter, not the final end of everything he held dear.
He described the idea as something he absorbed through years of Buddhist practice rather than formal study. While his parents had been in Montana and he was living in Los Angeles, he had still known where they were and felt connected to them.
The same was true of his wife when she was in another room, he said. Duffy explained that he continued to feel her presence, as well as that of his parents, even when he could no longer see them or share their physical surroundings.
Duffy has been in a relationship with Linda Purl since 2020. They are pictured in 2023
For Duffy, the connection continues as people gather experiences throughout their lives.
After Miller was paroled in 2007, Duffy said he had come to terms with the decision. “He’s already been punished,” the actor previously said, explaining that Miller’s imprisonment or release no longer defined his feelings about the crime.
Duffy described his parents as sociable, ordinary and kind people. During the years following their murders, he relied heavily on his wife for support.
“It was a surprise when she passed,” he said in a 2019 interview. “There was no indication. So that was the big adjustment.”
Their two sons, now 51 and 46, also supported him after Rosser’s death.
Duffy said his sons remained steadfast, although he recognized that he may have been more prepared for the loss than they were.
“You reach a certain age and realize the road ahead is much shorter than the road behind,” he said.
Even years after Rosser’s death, Duffy said he still feels close to her.
“I can hear her. I can see her,” he said. “I know what she would expect of me, and I try to live up to that.”
“I still consider myself a married man.”
Although he has continued moving forward for himself and his family, Duffy said he remains committed to honoring his wife’s memory.
He said he believes life offers the chance to repair damaged relationships and find meaning in past experiences, provided a person has enough time to do so.
Duffy added that he had worked hard to make the most of his life and felt it had ultimately treated him well.
Since 2020, Duffy has been in a relationship with actress Linda Purl, 71.
Duffy became one of television’s biggest 1980s heartthrobs through Dallas. Viewers famously saw his sculpted physique during the shower storyline in which Bobby Ewing was revealed to be alive after previously being killed off.
Purl also became familiar to American television audiences during the same decade, playing Ashley, the girlfriend of Henry Winkler’s character Fonzie, on Happy Days.
