Prime Crime: Solved Murders - Solved or Unsolved? The Death of Ned Doheny Pt. 1

Episode Date: November 30, 2022

Ned Doheny found himself embroiled in a huge bribery scandal. On behalf of his father, oil baron Edward Doheny, Ned illegally obtained drilling leases from the US government. His close friend and personal secretary, Hugh Plunkett, was present for the transaction and would likely have to testify. But before either man could even walk into a courtroom, they would wind up dead. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Due to the graphic nature of this murder case, listener discretion is advised. This episode includes dramatizations and discussions of murder, suicide, and assault. We advise extreme caution for children under 13. The night of February 16, 1929, was cool and cloudy. The mountains around Los Angeles were nearly empty. The Hollywood sign cut through the trees, but at the time it read Hollywood Land, advertising a local real estate development. The city was growing fast in the suburban lowlands,

but if anyone looked up at the hillsides, they'd see huge washes of chaparral and sagebrush. A little to the west lay a cluster of mansions, Beverly Hills. And one of these grand houses especially stuck out. It loomed over Sunset Boulevard, looking more like a medieval fortress than a breezy Californian estate. It was angular, old-fashioned, and elegant, with walls covered in smoky limestone,

That's how it earned its name, Greystone. On some nights, the mansion's glowing windows could be seen for miles. It was only natural for Angelinos to wonder what was going on inside. Of course, they all knew who resided there. Ned Doheny, the son of the city's most prominent oil baron. But hardly anyone could imagine how someone like that lived, and no one who glanced up at Greystone that night would have guessed that Ned Doheny was dead.

Hello, listeners, it's Carter. Wendy and I love to bring you stories about the many ways in which murder investigations can go horribly wrong or wonderfully right on our show's Unsolved Murders and Solved Murders. But every once in a while, we come across stories that don't fit neatly into either category. Sometimes a closed case gets blown wide open. Questions we thought had been answered get thrust back into the public. eye. The ensuing controversy transforms what we thought was a simple murder story into something else entirely. For the next two weeks, we want you to join us in asking one very important question.

Is this case solved or unsolved? You can find episodes of solved murders, unsolved murders, and all other Spotify originals from Parcast for free, exclusively on Spotify. This is our first episode on the deaths of Ned Doheny and his personal secretary, Hugh Plunkett. This week, we'll learn about the Doheny family fortune and the national scandal that might have played a role in the men's deaths. Next week, we'll follow along as detectives try to find answers and are blocked at every turn. We have all that and more coming up. Stay with us. Own it all. Pay off your home. Travel for life. Drive a Ferrari. In celebration of the world premiere of the Monopoly, big board buck slot machine by aristocrat gaming, Yamava Resort and Casino

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This should be tons of fun. Marvel Television's Daredevil, Born Again, now streaming only on Disney Plus. Ned Doheny lived his entire life in the shadow of his father, Edward. And to be fair, Edward Doheny's shadow was massive. He was one of the most influential industrialists in the 20th century. At one point, he had more money than John D. Rockefeller and was often referred to as one of the richest men in America. But he didn't start out that way. Edward was born to working class parents in 1856.

He grew up in Wisconsin and graduated at the top of his high school class. Despite that, Edward had no aspirations of going to college. He worked for the U.S. Geological Survey Department for a few years, which gave him his first taste of the American West. Like many young white men at the time, Edward believed that the West was there for the taking. So when he heard rumors about gold deposits in South Dakota, he quit his job and started prospecting. He spent the 1880s trying to strike it rich and eventually moved to Kingston, New Mexico, a rough and tumble town next to, a silver mine. His days were long and sweaty, and his nights were filled with barroom brawls and poker games. According to Dark Side of Fortune, Margaret Leslie Davis's biography of Edward,

he was often in debt, and his attempts to buy and sell mining claims were generally unsuccessful. Amid all this, Edward Doheny decided to start a family. He married Carrie Wilkins in 1883 and greeted their daughter Eileen in 1885. Kingston wasn't a great place to raise a child, though. Little Eileen spent most of her early years locked inside, and her mother showed signs of depression and paranoia. Edward's bank account dwindled, even as his former business partners and friends hit it big.

He was frustrated, lost, and broke. He wanted a fresh start. In 1891, he moved further west to Los Angeles. The city only had about 50,000 residents at that time and had just experienced a real estate boom. Edward hoped to make some quick cash buying up land and reselling it. Once again, however, his luck failed him. He arrived just as the real estate bubble popped

and had to move into a cheap boarding house downtown. The family lived there for several months while 35-year-old Edward tried to find a job. These months were some of the lowest in his life. No one seemed to be hiring. Carey's mental health took another nosedive. Eileen developed health issues too. Things seemed hopeless.

Then in the spring of 1892, Edward glanced down at the street below his hotel and noticed a truck driving by. It was loaded up with a sticky brown goo. He called after the driver and asked about the cargo. The man called it Brea, which means pitch in Spanish. He said it came out of a hole in the ground a bit further west. Local crews burned it as a cheap alternative to coal.

When he heard this, Edward could barely hold back his excitement. It seemed like some kind of petroleum. If it was seeping out of the ground, there was probably oil nearby. And oil could make him very, very rich. He couldn't get too ahead of himself, though. He needed to find the stuff first. Edward called up an old business partner and asked for help. The two of them bought some swamp land close to modern-day Dodgers Stadium and got to work.

First, they needed to dig a well. This was easier said than done. 36-year-old Edward spent weeks pawing at the earth with a pick and a shovel. He knew his life was about to turn around. He could literally smell the oil below the ground. He just had to hit pay dirt. But in the months, Edward Doheny was in his digging frenzy. Seven-year-old Eileen withered away.

In December of 1892, she died from heart disease. Edward was devastated. He felt guilty for being away from home so much. The oil field hadn't produced anything yet, so he couldn't even afford a coffin. A friend paid for the funeral, and just moments after Eileen was buried, Edward went back to work. He spent three more months trying to find the deposit. When it became impossible to dig by hand, he used four-by-fours to build a ramshackle oil rig and pushed further down. On April 20, 1893, the drill got stuck on something.

When Edward pulled it back up, it was covered in black, glistening oil. Edward stood there for a moment, completely stunned. Then his face broke out into a grin. He was about to be rich. He ordered his crew to grab as many barrels as they could. They spent weeks filling one after the other, selling them for $2 a piece. But Edward wasn't satisfied with just one well.

He used the profits to buy more land and find more deposits. Oil fever spread throughout Southern California, and he reaped the rewards. But every dollar he made felt tainted by Eileen's death. Edward blamed himself. If he'd been able to afford a doctor's care, maybe she'd still be alive. All the money in the world couldn't make a lot.

up for a loss like that. Haunted as they were, the Dohenies decided to try again. In November of 1893, Carrie gave birth to his son, Edward Doheny Jr., who usually went by Ned. Edward held the baby in his arms, promising he wouldn't let the boy down. He would give Ned the best of everything. Not even a dreamer like Edward could imagine what would happen next. As Ned grew, so did his family's fortune. By the time the boy was five, his father had drilled 81 oil wells in California.

That equated to hundreds of thousands of barrels and loads of money. But all the success had a price. Ned's parents hardly spoke to each other and they divorced in 1890. Edward remarried in August of 1900, about a month, After the wedding, Ned's mother died by suicide. Seven-year-old Ned felt essentially orphaned. His father was never at home, and his mother was dead. That left only one person to care for him, his stepmother, Carrie.

We'll call her by her middle name, Estelle. Ned quickly grew attached to Estelle and even called her mommy, but he spent most of his childhood yearning to see his dad. As soon as he could write, he started to start. started mailing affectionate letters to Edward. It's not that Edward Doheny didn't miss his family. He definitely did. But he was still haunted by his daughter's death

and didn't want anything like that to happen to Ned. He viewed money as the key to survival. But by 1901, 45-year-old Edward had already reached a staggering level of wealth. He purchased a 10,000 square foot mansion at 8 Chester Place, near downtown Los Angeles. He told Estelle to add a bowling alley and a zoo, complete with a live ant eater. Over the years, Edward made good on his promise

to give Ned the best of everything, at least in the material realm. These luxuries couldn't make up for one simple fact, though. Ned Doheny wanted to see his father. Yet no matter how many times Ned and Estelle asked Edward to come home, he refused to listen. The oil business was booming and the family's fortune ballooned alongside it. In the first decade of the 20th century, the Model T automobile was invented,

and thousands of Americans bought it as their first car. Those cars needed gas, and tycoons like Edward Doheny were more than ready to sell it to them. By 1910, his company found new massive wells near Tampico, Mexico. One of them produced up to 70,000 barrels of oil every day. It gushed out of the ground so fast that workers had to burn thousands of barrels just to maintain storage space. Edward built a pipeline to the port of Tompico and flooded the North American market with high-quality Mexican product. He was a bona fide oil baron now. In Margaret Leslie David's biography of Edward, she cited one estimate of his wealth at this point.

he may have been taking in at least $10 million every year and had potentially accrued up to $75 million total. Still, Edward knew he couldn't run this company forever. Though he was in good health, he was getting on in age, and the oil business didn't seem like it was slowing down. He needed to start training a successor, and his son was the obvious choice. By 1912, Ned had become a confident teenager. He wasn't exactly studious, but paid close attention to his father's business and seemed intent on taking over one day. After graduating from high school in Los Angeles, he and his private chauffeur drove north to Stanford University. But he didn't stay in Palo Alto for very long. Ned dropped out after a single semester.

Edward was not happy with this choice. He never had the opportunity to get a college education, and now his son seemed to be turning up his nose at it. Ned had to get a degree if he wanted any part of the Dockini fortune. But Ned may have just wanted to be closer to home. He was still dating his high school sweetheart, Lucy Smith, and intended to make her his wife. It's possible he just couldn't bear the separation. 19-year-old Ned eventually agreed to finish his schooling

at the University of Southern California. The campus was close to 8 Chester Plythe. place where he'd grown up. It seemed like the perfect compromise. Ned could continue his studies and his relationship with Lucy. The two of them were married about halfway through his schooling in the summer of 1914. It was a predictably over-the-top wedding, complete with a dress from Paris and massive floral arrangements.

Ned and Lucy were already popular socialites in Los Angeles, but the wedding cemented their status in the city's upper crust. The guest list was a who's-who of Southern California businessmen and politicians, but there was one guest who stuck out in the polished crowd. 17-year-old Hugh Plunkett was one of Ned's dearest friends. Lucy had actually introduced them. Her father operated an automobile service station downtown, and Hugh worked there as a mechanic.

The two men struck up a conversation, and they'd been close ever since. They seemed like a strange, pair for sure. Ned was the sion of one of the most powerful families in America, and Hugh was a mechanic. Still, they were thick as thieves, and their bond only got tighter as the years went on. Hugh was later hired as one of the family's many employees and became one of Ned's closest confidants. Their friendship was solidified after Ned graduated from USC. They both enlisted in the Navy around 1916 and served in the First World War together. 20-year-old Hugh ended up as a mechanic in a submarine chaser, while 23-year-old Ned was sent to an armored

cruiser off the coast of Florida. But it seems like Edward Doheny wasn't very comfortable with the idea of sending his only heir to war. He insisted that Ned remained safe. And he pulled a few strings to make sure of it. Edward secretly communicated with the higher-ups on Ned's ship, making them promise he wouldn't get hurt. Soon after that, Ned was transferred to a cushier administrative job in Washington, D.C.

We don't know if these events are directly related, but we do know that Hugh wasn't offered anything of the sort. He became a chief machinist's mate and spent the entire war in a cramped ship's hull. Luckily, he came home uninjured. So did Ned, obviously. After his January 1919 discharge, he immediately started working for his father's business. Right before Ned went off to war, Edward had given the company a new name, the Pan American Petroleum and Transport Company. It was one of the largest oil outfits in the United States and only seemed to get bigger over time. The war had created a huge demand, and the United States required more than a million.

barrels per day. This meant that 62-year-old Edward Doheny was well on his way to becoming one of the wealthiest men in the United States. Soon enough, 25-year-old Ned would have access to that money, too. If he played his cards right, he would be the next head of Pan-American. He was determined to do whatever it took to succeed. He was willing to do anything for his father. Even something that might kill him. Coming up, Ned Doheny and Hugh Plunkett take a fateful business trip. Behind every missing person is a story to be told. Look closely at the details and you may just find the answers.

Find the answers, find the truth. I'm Sarah Turney, host of Disappearances. Every Thursday, join me for a deeper look into history's most gripping missing persons cases. tracking timelines, analyzing clues, and piecing together as many answers as possible to find the actual truth. From the tragedies of Amelia Earhart and Charles Lindbergh Jr. to the mysterious circumstances surrounding Tierra Williams and the Iguala mass kidnapping, each week on disappearances were spotlighting the stories you thought you knew and the ones you'll be shocked to discover. Because no one just vanishes into thin air. The truth is out there.

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Investing involves risk to principle regardless of the strategy used. Task performance does not guarantee future results. And now, back to our story. By 1921, Ned Doheny had come into his own. He'd been a junior executive at his father's company for more than two years, and had amassed a tremendous personal fortune. He and his wife, Lucy, bought a mansion for their growing family. down the road from 8 Chester Place.

The handsome 27-year-old's comings and goings were meticulously covered in the society pages of Los Angeles newspapers. He spent a lot of time on the road, making deals and checking in on partners, and wherever he went, Hugh Plunkett came along too. The 25-year-old had risen and rank from family mechanic to personal secretary. He was fiercely loyal to Ned and rarely left his side. In November of that year, the two men left Los Angeles on one of their many business trips. They were headed for the East Coast to meet with one of Edward Doheny's oldest friends, a politician named Albert Bacon Fall.

Ned's father had actually met Fall during his rough-and-tumble prospecting days in New Mexico. They played poker together in some of Kingston's rowdy as saloons. After both men moved out of the mining business, they probably assumed their paths would never cross. again. But while Edward was making his fortune in California, Fall was climbing up the political ladder in New Mexico. Fall eventually became a Republican U.S. Senator and reconnected with Edward due to their shared views on foreign policy, particularly when it came to the fraught relationship between the United States and Mexico. At the time, Mexico was in the midst of a revolution, and President Woodrow Wilson refused to intervene. The instability

in the country was a clear threat to Edward Doheny's empire. He personally urged the president to align himself with one of the warring factions. When that didn't work, he testified in a series of Senate hearings about the issue at the personal request of Albert Bacon Fall. While this didn't do much to change policy, it led to more favors between Albert Bacon Fall and Edward Doheny. This relationship became particularly important in 19, when Fall became Secretary of the Interior under President Warren G. Harding.

As a key member of Harding's cabinet, Fall was in charge of managing federal land and the natural resources held there. This brought him even closer to Edward. See, by the 1920s, many of North America's oil reservoirs were drying up. Some of Pan-American's petroleum wells had gone from gushers to tricklers, if they were producing oil at all. Edward knew that global demand was rising, but he worried his supply couldn't keep pace. But he also knew there were large, untapped oil deposits under certain swaths of federal land. These were earmarked as reserves for the U.S. Navy, but Edward and his fellow oil barons saw them as a potential source of profit. Luckily enough, Edward's friend, Albert Bacon Fall, just happened to control these naval reserves.

and after a prolonged battle with conservationists, he'd convinced the federal government to lease them out to private companies, companies like Pan American. It was under these circumstances that Ned Doheny and Hugh Plunkett paid fall a visit in November 1921. Even though fall was based in Washington, D.C., the young men traveled to New York City first. There, Ned made a stop at the bank and withdrew $100,000

from his account, in cash. The teller handed him five thick stacks of bills and wrapped them in brown paper. He probably knew better than to ask what it was for. Ned tucked the money into his bag. He boarded a train for D.C. soon after, with Hugh right by his side. When they arrived in Washington,

the two men made a beeline for Albert Bacon Falls suite at the Wardman Park Hotel. They handed over the cash and watched as Fall counted it on the kitchen table. A few hours later, they headed back to New York. In later years, both Albert Bacon Fall and Edward Doheny would claim that this money was a personal loan between friends. Fall even gave Ned a promissory note, which shows he intended to pay the money back.

But there are some other factors to consider, like the fact that Fall never actually fulfilled this promise, or that he gave Edward Doher. the lease to two of the naval reserves just a few months later. When those facts come into play, this meeting between Ned, Hugh, and Albert Bacon-Fall looks a bit like a bribe. They might have gotten away with it, though, if Fall didn't lease another one of the naval reserves to a different oilman named Harry Sinclair. While Pan-American got access to the land in California, Sinclair's company was allowed to drill

on a piece of land that's now considered in. infamous. Teapot Dome, Wyoming. Both companies were given exclusive rights to these reserves in April of 1922. But within a few weeks, the word got out. People started questioning how these oil tycoons secured the land and why other companies weren't given the opportunity to submit competitive bids. Before long, the Senate launched a formal inquiry into Teapot Dome, as well as Edward Doheny's California leases in Elk Hills and Buena Vista.

The whole thing seemed to stink of corruption, and it looked like Albert Bacon Fall was at the center of it. Fall denied any wrongdoing, but he resigned in March of 1923. In the eyes of investigators, this seemed like a tacit admission of guilt. It only gave them more reason to look into his deals with Edward Doheny and Harry Sinclair. In August of 1923, the Senate inquisitors found evidence that at least Sinclair had bribed Fall. According to a reporter in New Mexico, Fall was deep in debt with 10 years in unpaid property taxes when Sinclair paid him a visit in the winter of 1921.

After Sinclair left, Fall's financial status changed dramatically. He paid the back taxes on his ranch, bought another piece of land, and spent at least $40,000 on home improvements. Clearly, he'd gotten a windfall of cash while Harry Sinclair was staying with him. They couldn't confirm if Sinclair actually gave him the money, but the correlation seems suspicious. The Senate hearings officially opened on October 23, 1923. They mostly focused on Harry Sinclair's alleged bribery. At first, Albert Baconfall denied the allegations.

He claimed there was a bidding. process on the naval reserves, but it was kept secret as a matter of national security. 67-year-old Edward Dohini echoed that sentiment when he was called to the stand in December. He claimed that he'd taken the Elk Hills lease to support his country. At this point, the Senate committee didn't know about the $100,000 that Ned Doherini gave Albert Bacon Fall, but that would soon change. On December 26, 1923, Fall submitted a written statement that tried to explain where he'd gotten the sudden influx of cash. The former Secretary of the Interior claimed that he never took any money from Edward or Sinclair.

He said he'd gotten a $100,000 loan from someone named Ned McLean. Ned McLean was a real person. He actually owned and operated the Washington Post at the time. but as soon as the investigators looked into this story, they smelled a rat. At first, McLean confirmed that he gave $100,000 to Albert Bacon Fall in the fall of 1921. But when he was questioned again, he said that Fall never cashed the checks. McLean said that Fall actually returned them because he'd received $100,000 from someone else. The investigators weren't sure who this person was, but they had some guessing.

While there isn't much information available about the inner workings of the Doheny family at this point, we can guess they were getting pretty nervous. It seemed like only a matter of time before the committee found out about Ned and Hughes' trip to D.C. When Edward was called to testify again in January of 1924, he did his best to get ahead of the allegations. He copped to giving Albert Bacon fall the $100,000 and said, that he asked his son to deliver it in cash. According to him, it had nothing to do with his business affairs.

He'd been friends with Fall for years and wanted to help him purchase some land next to his ranch. This was a personal loan, nothing more. The Senate investigators didn't seem to quite buy the story. The transaction looked awfully secretive for something so innocent. Edward tried to swat this question away by reminding the committee of his wealth. He said that $100,000 was pocket change to him.

Even though the loan looks huge to the average person, it was the equivalent of loaning a friend $25 to cover their dinner. He also admitted that there wasn't any official documentation of the loan. When he showed Falls' promissory note to the Senate, the portion with Fall's signature had been ripped off. It all looked pretty suspicious. After the hearings wrapped up in spring of 1924, the Senate Democrats demanded formal trials for Harry Sinclair, Albert Bacon Fall, and Edward Doheny.

The national attitude toward him seemed to shift overnight. Once upon a time, he'd been seen as a gentle, grandfatherly American hero. Now the press called him a crooked oil millionaire. Even Edward's own stockholders were angry with him and filed a civil suit. In June of 1924, the Dohenies received, yet another crushing blow. The federal government indicted Edward on charges of bribery and conspiracy,

which was expected, but they also indicted Ned. Ned was nearly 31 years old at that point, though he'd played a major role in the alleged bribe, he'd mostly been able to stay out of the teapot dome scandal. He was Edward's golden child and the future of Pan American Petroleum, so it makes sense that his father tried to shield him from harm.

Now, Ned's luck had run out. He was charged with bribery, which carried a minimum sentence of 15 years. The young oil executive was forced to contemplate living behind bars. But he couldn't have known his life would be cut short before he even set foot in the courtroom. Coming up, the pressure builds within the Doheny family, and someone finally snaps. Now back to the story.

Doheny spent his entire life in the lap of luxury. But in the summer of 1924, he started to worry it could all slip away. Word of his federal indictment got out quickly, and the 31-year-old became the target of gossip and speculation. Many of his fellow socialites turned on him. Even his alma mater, the University of Southern California, almost removed him from the board of trustees. He did his best to write out the scandal, hoping, it would die down soon enough. He presented a strong face to the world and doted on his children. Only one person probably saw the full extent of his anxiety,

his private secretary Hugh Plunkett. But Hugh couldn't help him much, because he was crumbling under the pressure too. The 27-year-old former mechanic hadn't been indicted in the federal case, but he probably thought it was only a matter of time. After all, only three people were in the room at the Wardman Park Hotel when Ned handed over the cash. He was one of them.

Even if Hugh didn't get charged with anything, he knew he'd be called to testify in one of the upcoming trials. That presented a serious dilemma. If he told the truth, he could endanger his best friend and employer, Ned Doheny. If he lied to protect Ned, he could be held in contempt of court. Hugh had already given up a lot for the Dohini family. He'd been married in 1915, but hardly ever saw his wife and preferred to spend time on the road with Ned. Despite his devotion, Hugh probably knew he was somewhat disposable.

He didn't have the resources to build out a legal team, and he could be thrown under the bus at any time. Ned cared about him deeply, but he might care about the family fortune more. Hugh had to move carefully and show his loyalty however he could, even if it meant burning himself out. The secretary's nerves probably weren't soothed when the first of many trials began in October of 1924. To be clear, this proceeding didn't have anything to do with the federal indictments. It was a civil suit from the government that aimed to get rid of the Elk Hills lease,

but it would set the tone for the criminal trials looming on the heart. horizon. Edward's lawyers spent 10 days in the courthouse. They claimed the entire teapot dome scandal was a political plot and that Edward hadn't participated in any kind of fraud or conspiracy. This line of argument was surprisingly effective, at least for the general public. Within hours, newspapers were saying that Pan American would surely win its case. They just needed to wait for Judge Paul McCormick's official verdict.

A week passed, then two. McCormick didn't say anything. The mood inside Eightchester Place became tense. Weeks turned into months, and the family was forced to celebrate New Year's Eve with no idea of what 1925 would bring them. Edward Doheny eventually accepted that a verdict wasn't coming anytime soon. He spent the early months of 1925

mounting an unprecedented public relations campaign to recuperate his family's image. He rubbed elbows with William Randolph Hearst and hired former journalist to help with his media strategy. He also paid a writer to draft a positive biography of Albert Bacon Fall. Edward even tried to tell his story in a new medium, The Movies. He organized a luncheon with silent film director Cecil B. DeMille and begged him to make a movie about the, quote, real story behind the teapot dome scandal. When DeMille rejected the idea,

Edward Doheny was left to sit and wait for Judge McCormick's decision. It finally came on May 30th, 1925. It was not in the family's favor. The district judge ruled that Pan American used fraud and improperly secured the Elk Hills lease. He suspended the company's right to drill on the Naval Reserve and insisted the land be returned to the federal government. This was bad news for the Dohenies.

The judge had officially stated that the transactions be nullified. Edward's criminal trial for fraud and conspiracy was scheduled for November of 1996. As the date ticked closer, it felt like the eyes of the entire country were trained on Aitchester Place. The family, especially its younger members, craved an escape. Luckily, Edward had just the thing.

He owned 400 acres out in Beverly Hills, which was barely developed at the time. But now he wanted to turn it into a proper estate for Ned, Lucy, and their children. It's possible that Edward worried about going to jail and wanted to give Ned one last present before his federal trial. Even if Edward was found innocent,

it seemed obvious that Ned would be leading Panama American soon enough. He was about to become an oil magnate and deserved a house to match. So Edward Doheny gifted his son, 12.5 acres of land, for only $10. He also hired a famous architect to design the mansion, which would eventually be known as Greystone. Dozens of contractors, landscapers, and designers were hired to start work on the house. Someone had to wrangle all of them, and Ned only trusted one person. for the job, his right-hand man, Hugh Plunkett. Before long, Hugh was entrusted with planning and supervising the construction,

on top of his other duties as Ned's secretary. He was even allowed to sign checks from Ned's accounts. Managing any kind of construction project is a difficult task, but this wasn't just any old building. The house itself was going to be more than 46,000 square feet. The floor plan included 55 rooms with a private movie theater, a speakeasy style bar, and another two-lane bowling alley. There was a custom wine cellar, a walk-in fur closet, and a room just for wrapping gifts. But the mansion was just the beginning. Multiple outbuildings also had to be built. The Dohenies wanted their own fire station and a garage complete with a mechanic shop. And Hugh Plunkett had to coordinate all of it. Needless to say he was overwhelmed, but he knew he couldn't say no to the Dohenies,

especially now. He got to work in late 1926. He probably stayed in Los Angeles, while Edward and Ned traveled by train to Washington, D.C., for Edward's first civil trial for conspiracy against the U.S. government. There's not that much to say about this one, which ended in mid-December. It was basically a rehash of the original Senate hearings and ended with a small victory for the family. Edward was ruled not guilty of conspiracy, which was a relief, but his impending trial for bribery was more of a problem because it implicated Ned too.

Ned's upcoming trial for bribery was probably all Hugh could think about as Greystone's construction began in early 1927. It only seemed like a matter of time, before he was called to testify. For the next 18 months, Hugh immersed himself in the construction of Greystone. He completely ignored his wife and wasn't too surprised when she left him in August, 1927.

The 30-year-old moved out of their shared home and into an apartment closer to Greystone. His stress levels only heightened from there and may have hit an all-time high in April of 1928. That month, Ned was ordered to appear in Harry Sinclair's criminal trial for conspiracy. Federal prosecutors wanted Ned to testify about the $100,000 he'd given Albert Bacon Fall. This was an issue. If Ned described the transaction to the court, he would essentially be admitting to bribery.

Because his trial was still on the horizon, his lawyers pleaded the fifth. He couldn't be compelled to testify against himself, even if that, testimony was in someone else's trial. The federal prosecutors were desperate to secure a conviction against Harry Sinclair, and they thought that Ned's testimony could increase their odds, so they offered him a deal. If Ned participated in the case against Sinclair, they would drop his bribery charges, not his father's, just his. Ned's legal team accepted the offer.

He took the stand in late April of 1928 and told the jury, about his meeting with Albert Bacon Fall in 1921. The federal prosecutors were mostly interested in proving that Fall was open to taking bribes, so they didn't get into many details. Ultimately, Ned's testimony wasn't enough to sway the jury. They acquitted Harry Sinclair of conspiracy charges on April 21st. This caused a nationwide uproar, but for the Dohenies, it was good news. Ned was off the hook, and it seemed like a sign that Edward Doheny would also be cleared of his remaining charges.

For the first time in a while, it looked like the family might make it out of the scandal. That didn't mean anything for Hugh Plunkett, though. He knew that two big trials still remained. The first was Albert Bacon Falls for accepting a bribe. The second was Edward Doheny's for offering it. Hugh was certain that he and Ned would be called to speak against Fall. If either of them admitted to delivering the cash, they could be sent to jail. Or rather, Hugh could be sent to jail.

Ned had immunity now, which gave him more of an incentive to tell the truth. Hugh knew that he would have to bear the consequences. Still, the secretary couldn't give up on Greystone. He pushed himself harder than ever through the summer of 1928, and finished up construction in September. Ned and Lucy Doheny were delighted by their new home, but Ned was worried about Hugh. According to later statements, Hugh wasn't sleeping regularly.

He developed a reliance on barbiturates and seemed more nervous with each passing day. The completion of Greystone didn't seem to alleviate Hugh's issues either. His wife officially divorced him in October, claiming that he deserted her. The Doheny family physician, Dr. Ernest Clyde Fishbaugh, later said that Hugh developed a painful issue with his jaw and began to suffer from tremors. He fainted at the family's Christmas Eve gathering and was ordered to stay in a guest room at Greystone for his own safety. According to Dr. Fishbaugh, he was suffering a mental breakdown.

It soon became apparent that Hugh Plunkett needed a lot more than a few days' rest. As 1929 began, he spiraled further. The Dohenies tried to convince him to take some time off and go to a sanatorium for a few weeks. Hugh resisted this idea at first, but in February of 1929, he seemed to change his tune. Records indicate he bought new clothes and got his car serviced on February 2nd. His roommate later remembered Hugh saying he'd be out of town soon.

He claimed he was planning an extended. vacation, but it definitely could have been a hospital stay. A few weeks later, Hugh got cold feet. He had a long meeting with Ned, Lucy, and Dr. Fishbaugh on the afternoon of February 16th, 1929. When the doctor brought up the sanatorium, Hugh stormed out of the room and drove home to his apartment. Several hours passed.

Ned and Lucy Doheny worried about Hugh. When the couple finished their dinner, they decided to be. to talk to him one more time. He was Ned's closest friend, and he needed help. But the Dohenies might have also had less charitable reasons for visiting Hugh that night. If Hugh went to the sanatorium, he could be excused from Albert Bacon Falls' trial. That meant he wouldn't have to testify against the family. We don't know if Hugh was aware of this, but we do know that the meeting at the apartment did not go well. Ned and Hugh got into an argument, perhaps about the hospital.

It seems likely that Hugh said once and for all that he wasn't going. It's hard to parse what happened next. Here are the established facts. Ned and Lucy left the apartment and went to a movie theater. When they got back to Greystone sometime before nine, Hugh called. He needed to talk to Ned. Lucy tried to calm him down, but Hugh insisted on driving up to Greystone. Around 9.30, he led himself into the house.

Ned was already in his pajamas, but offered to meet with you in the guest bedroom. The two men spoke for over an hour. Then, around 11 p.m., Lucy and the servants heard loud bangs from the guest room. Just a few minutes later, both Hugh and Ned were found dead. The Doheny family would go on to state that Hugh snapped and shot at Ned and then took his own life. It seemed like the upcoming trials paired with his mental health struggles had pushed him over the edge. But according to one of the investigators on the scene, that wasn't anywhere near the truth. Thanks again for tuning into our solved or unsolved crossover special.

Next week, we'll hear the Doheny's full. explanation of what happened that night and meet the detective who dared to question it. For more information on Ned Dohini, amongst the many sources we used, we found Dark Side of Fortune, triumphant scandal in the life of oil tycoon Edward L. Dohini by Margaret Leslie Davis, extremely helpful to our research. You can find all episodes of solved murders, unsolved murders, and all other Spotify originals from Parcast for free on Spotify. We'll see you next time.

Solved murders, true crime mysteries, and unsolved murders, true crime stories are Spotify originals from Parcast. They are executive produced by Max Cutler. Sound design by Michael Langsner, with production assistance by Ron Shapiro, Nick Johnson, Trent Williamson, and Carly Madden. This episode was written by Kylie Harrington, edited by Maggie Admire and Tara Wells, fact-checked by Lori Siegel, researched by Mickey Taylor, and produced by Freddie Beckley. It stars Wendy McKenzie and Carter Roy.

Hi listeners, I'm Sarah Turney, host of disappearances. In 2020, I use social media to help bring justice to my sister Alyssa's nearly two decades-long disappearance. Now, every Thursday, I'm exploring the many reasons people disappear, and finding that the truth may be even harder to locate. than the person. Follow the Spotify original from Parcast Disappearances. Listen free only on Spotify.