Bought Guns for Roommate, Friends Say : Shooting Victim Called Kind but Naive

Friends of Mary Myrldeen Allison, 66, who was found shot to death in a closet in her Garden Grove home, described her as a kind woman who helped others but who also was “naive” enough to buy guns for a boyfriend who frequently abused her.

Allison’s boyfriend and roommate, Richard Montanez, 53, was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of murder in the shooting.

Hattie Purkiss, 56, a neighbor and 20-year friend of Allison, said Wednesday that Allison was a widow who had received a “sizable” inheritance about 3 1/2 years ago and “did not know what to do with it.”

About six months later, Allison met Montanez, a disabled veteran, at a dance and fell in love, Purkiss said.

At first she bought him expensive clothes, shoes, jewelry and even guns, Purkiss said. She also put up with his volatile temper, she said.

“He was like dynamite,” Purkiss said. But she “wanted to rehabilitate him.”

Lately the couple had argued vehemently, mostly over Montanez’s spending, Purkiss said. After an argument with Montanez in March, Allison called Garden Grove police to evict him from her house at 12252 Falling Leaf St., Homicide Detective Ron Shave said.

Call Made to Police

On Tuesday, police received a call from a female relative of Montanez, who said he apparently had shot someone at his home, Shave said.

Police surrounded the house and at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday arrested Montanez without incident, Shave said. Montanez was sitting in his car outside Allison’s house and had a short-barreled handgun in a waist band when he was arrested, Shave said.

When they searched the house, police found Allison’s body in a closet. She had been shot in the head once. The couple’s German shepherd, Saubra, had also been shot to death and left next to Allison’s body.

Shave said Allison had died about 1 a.m. Tuesday.

Montanez is being held at Orange County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail.

Purkiss said Allison had filed a missing persons report with Garden Grove police on Monday after Montanez had failed to return home for almost a day. When he showed up that night, he needed help to get out of his car and appeared drunk or ill, Purkiss said. She said she later saw Allison remove a jug of wine from the trunk of the car. Purkiss said she was surprised because Montanez was a recovering alcoholic and a diabetic.

‘Cutting Off His Supply’

Purkiss also said the couple had argued a few days before the shooting because Allison had taken a gasoline credit card from Montanez after he “ran up a lot of money.”

“She was cutting off his supply,” Purkiss said. “She had told me in the past that if he didn’t stop mistreating her, she would evict him,” she said. Purkiss said Allison had told her that Montanez physically abused her and had threatened her on a number of occasions.

Montanez had once bragged to Purkiss and her husband, Austin, that he had stuck a gun under a salesman’s chin when he came to the door and was persistent about selling something, she said.

Purkiss said she told Allison that she was “naive” because she had bought guns for Montanez despite his erratic behavior.

“She was the kindest person and was always for the underdog. She liked to pull someone out of the slime and rehabilitate him. And she told me she loved (Montanez),” Purkiss said.

The Purkisses said Allison, whom they called Deen, was an energetic woman who loved to dance and frequently helped neighbors who were elderly or disabled.

Steve Letham, 69, who lived next door to Allison, said she would bring him food and clean his house whenever he was sick.

Property Inherited

Allison had retired from her job as an aide at a local hospital about seven years ago to take care of her late husband, who was a diabetic and had a history of strokes, Purkiss said.

She inherited her home on Falling Leaf Street and part ownership of another one in Long Beach when her mother-in-law died, Purkiss said. Before that, her stepfather left her a “sizable amount of cash,” along with a pickup truck and a mobile home she later sold for $18,000, Purkiss said.