Troy Houghton: The Minuteman

rand wrote:

5. The two people most responsible for the story of TH's death were, as it turns out, related to TH. One was his step sister, Nedra, the other was her husband, Lester Molyneaux. Nobody knew this fact until Seagull discovered it. Not even Bettie, TH's wife, knew that Nedra was TH's step sister. (I told her over the phone and she was dumb founded).

Have you been able to verify that Nedra was actually his step sister? I have seen seagull's research info on this subject.
It kinda jumped to some conclusions imo. It may be true but seems wrong to tell his wife this as a fact.
I sure hope you had some sort of verification before you told her. I would hate for her to think her husband never
told her about a step sister based on a wild fantasy theory. Not blaming seagull, the research was solid and she did
not call his wife without more proof.

Nedra was his step-sister. TH and her shared the same father. Now if you're going to say that this claim "jumps to conclusions" and that I did something nefarious by telling Bettie (as you always imply -- and now go so far as to suggest that my cipher solutions and "assumptions" make me a "lunatic" on another thread), then you ought to be specific about why, right?

rand wrote:

Nedra was his step-sister. TH and her shared the same father. Now if you're going to say that this claim "jumps to conclusions" and that I did something nefarious by telling Bettie (as you always imply -- and now go so far as to suggest that my cipher solutions and "assumptions" make me a "lunatic" on another thread), then you ought to be specific about why, right?

OK, can you show me some proof that Nedra and TH had the same father?

Birth certificate?
Anything showing TH's father as definitely being Nedra's father?

This is Seagull's research on the subject. There was more, but this is what I can find of it:

Here's the scoop on Nedra.

I found Nedra Houghton on a ship's manifest. It seems she was born in Idaho and ancestry does not have birth indexes for Idaho.

Here are the Houghton's on the manifest:

USS General HW Butner (AP-113)
There is a wiki page for this ship

Iola J Houghton age 34 Birthplace- Idaho
3727 Bigler Way
Sacramento, CA

Nedra J Houghton age 11 BP-Idaho
William L Houghton age 7 BP-California
Jack G Houghton age 4 BP-California
Frank H Houghton age 2 BP-California
Leilani H Houghton age 6 mos BP-Oahu TH

The ship was a troop and dependents transporter. Daddy Houghton was no doubt in the service and the family traveled with him. Daddy would not necessarily have been on the same ship as his family, he is not listed on the manifest. Troy would have been about 18 years old at this time.

I was able to look up William L Houghton as he was born in California.

William Loren Houghton
DOB August 25, 1943
Sacramento, CA
MMN- Hale

As you can see William and presumably the rest of the kids did not have the same mother's maiden name as Troy. Iola Houghton was 34 on this trip and that would have made her 15 or 16 when Troy was born. I suspect that Iola was a step-mother to Troy and these are all half-siblings. I'll know more when I receive Troy's birth certificate.

More about Nedra.

I did not find a Nedra Molyneaux in ancestry but I did find Nedra Houghton.

Lester and Nedra could have divorced because I found a listing for a-
Nedra Houghton
6932 S 725 E
Midvale, UT

Utah does not have their records listed at ancestry either so if they divorced there, it wouldn't be at ancestry. Both Lester and Nedra live in Utah, so I bet it's the right people. The Mormon connection to the Minutemen seems prevalent as well as a Seventh Day Adventist connection.

Also, I found a listing for Iola.

Iola J Houghton
557 N Ridge
Idaho Falls, Idaho 83401-1201
(1993)

I did not find Iola in the Social Security Death Index so I assume she is still living.


I found a Lester Molyneaux at zabasearch. There were two entries.

60 400 E
Lehi, UT 84043

and

60 400th
Lehi, UT record created 2003

There as no phone number or birthdate on either one.

Then I went to ancestry.com and looked him up. There was no Lester but there were quite a few Molyneaux. The name, save one entry, is exclusive to California.

I checked out all the California births with the Molyneaux name associated. There were quite a few who had Molyneaux as their mother's maiden name.

This will Blow you away...

There is a birth record for:
Liesah N Molyneaux
DOB- Dec. 22, 1957
San Diego

Mother's Maiden Name: Houshton

I thought, wow that's close, wonder if it's an error. Then a little farther down if found:

Molyneaux (no first name)
June 13, 1961
Male
Los Angeles

MMN: Houghton !!!!!

There were actually two of these entries, twin boys, I'm thinking.

Houghton and Molyneaux were related, probably brothers-in-law.

And this proves?????

Seriously, do you not see the problem with telling his wife
that Nedra was his step sister?

Nedra Houghton was married to Lester Molyneaux. Both Nedra and Lester were with TH as MM members. Are you suggesting that it is mere coincidence that Nedra Houghton and Troy Houghton shared the same last name? I told Bettie that I believe Nedra was Troy's half-sister, okay. Live with it. It has little or nothing to do with TH as a Z suspect. Since you seem to think that TH is a terrible POI, I'm wondering why you read this thread and make so many posts.

rand wrote:

Nedra Houghton was married to Lester Molyneaux. Both Nedra and Lester were with TH as MM members. Are you suggesting that it is mere coincidence that Nedra Houghton and Troy Houghton shared the same last name? I told Bettie that I believe Nedra was Troy's half-sister, okay. Live with it. It has little or nothing to do with TH as a Z suspect. Since you seem to think that TH is a terrible POI, I'm wondering why you read this thread and make so many posts.

I have never said that I though TH was a terrible POI. The Nedra deal is important to the TH case the way you have presented it.
You have posted numerous times about her being Troy's stepsister. I just don't see them having the same last name and her being
on a ship for military dependents as being enough to call her his stepsister without digging a little deeper.

You can call her if it's that important to you. I don't see it as either terribly important or controversial. But if you think it is, go for it.

rand wrote:

You can call her if it's that important to you. I don't see it as either terribly important or controversial. But if you think it is, go for it.

Not important to verify something as fact before you post it as such?????????

It looks factual to me. But I'm only human. If I've made a mistake, and I don't see one, it happens. I've provided documentaton for this minor detail. You apparently aren't convinced by it. It isn't "airtight" I suppose. How many things in life are provable beyond all ambiguity. Sure, a Nedra Houghton married to a Lester Molyneaux in California might not be the Nedra and Lester Molyneaux who were Troy Houghton's comrades in arms. What are the odds of that being the case? How many Nedras were married to someone named Lester Molyneaux in California in 1967? I wouldn't imagine there were too many. Nedra and Lester Molyneaux are not common names like Jim Jones and Lisa Smith.

What I don't understand is why you are so gullible about things said regarding other suspects, and so stringent in your requirements regarding my case against TH. There is no doubt in my mind that an extreme double-standard exists regarding my research and "solutions" to ciphers. I put forth a fairly good amount of documentation about a minor detail and it's not nearly good enough for you. In fact, I'm ridiculed for it. Yet, Blaine makes wild, baseless accusations about a man with no record of misdeeds and you defend him against my charges of lunacy. I offer a very reasonable solution to the 340, and you call it lunacy. I ask anyone to compare my solution to all other so-called solutions and explain to me how a reasonable person could reach the conclusion that my solution is absurd by comparison or in any way. It's straightforward and makes sense with respect to the case and what Z himself said. Other solutions not only have no relevance to the case but don't make any sense AT ALL with respect to anything. Yet, I'm singled out for lunacy by you. Oh well...I'm not losing any sleep over it.

So it is ok to post as fact without proof if it is a minor detail?
Again, she may very well be related to Troy. But nothing
says stepsister in the stuff you have shown.

We disagree about what is a fact here.

I guess we do.

Do we know who said that TH's stepsister and brother in law was the ones who said TH was dead and to who they related this info?

Did TH marry outside of the families church or was Betty not of the same church?

I am just wondering why his stepsister would not at some point talk to Betty after thinking TH was dead, but having some personal experience with befriending a young woman who was raised in one of those previously mentioned churches, I know that she was completely shunned and thrown out by her family when she decided to go to my sons church once. I met her cause she was basically homeless and had no place to go for Thanksgiving that year. After a few years...she finally went back into her family's influence and was not allowed to communicate with me although I had taken her in and helped her get on her own and was unrelated to her personal attempts to go to another church.

So perhaps there was some social reasons for not communicating with Betty. Obviously TH didn't tell Betty other things in his past like volunteering his groups services to a anti-castro group in New York...so it wouldn't be too hard to believe that he wouldn't tell her about step family members.

All good questions, MS, but I don't have the answers unfortunately.
Here's something interestng that's puzzles me.
Notice that Harry quotes Troy Houghton as saying "playing a cat and mouse game."




On the second page of her letter to Harry, Bettie wrote something after she signed off (why didn't she type it?) at the bottom of the letter. Notice that she says that DePugh is playing a "cat and mouse game" with her:



Cat and mouse game is not all that common (i rarely hear it or use this term). So a red flag went up with me.
Now compare "Bettie's" handwriting at the bottom of the letter to this envelope from Troy Houghton to the Judge Elmo Hunter in 1967:




My point is this: either Bettie wrote out the envelope for Troy to the judge, or Troy wrote the envelope and the bottom of "Bettie's" letter to Harry, using the phrase "cat and mouse" which we know, given Harry's quote of him, that TH used.
Why would TH send a letter to Jones about his disappearance? Because he knows that Harry is a journalist covering the case for the KC Star and this is a way to lend credibility to the story that Troy is missing (and possibly killed by DePugh). Who better to publicize this, which is what the MM wanted, than Harry Jones, Jr.? Just a theory, but I thought I'd throw it out there and see what people think.

Notice also that "Bettie" uses round circles for dots after each letter in P.S., and that "she" uses the + sign for "and":


Everyone knows that Z used a + sign for "and." He also made dots with round circles. Compare "Bettie's" P.S. with Z's L.A. here:

One more similar characteristic (making 3 in total).

"BETTIE"



ZODIAC

Well....HUMMMMM The B of her signature and the B on the envelope is pretty close. It looks to my eye that she probably wrote the envelope and wrote the letter. More interesting to me is why she contacted a journalist. This was either a risky move or a smart move.

The phrase cat and mouse game might have been a common phrase her husband used and she just repeated it. But how many people have the opportunity to even use that phrase in say a year? Why would TH use that phrase enough she would pick it up as a common phrase? Perhaps it is a common phrase for paranoid people. I don't think I have ever had the opportunity to use it. LOL!

I also wonder if she really wrote letters to all the LE areas that she thought might be in the path TH would be traveling home thru. That is alot of work looking up all those areas back then with no internet. Of course a concerned wife would be motivated to do this...but it would have took time at a library I would think to look all the addresses up.

My thoughts as well, MS. Perhaps TH used the phrase alot and she picked it up, and perhaps she wrote the envelope for TH to the judge, but it strikes me as a bit of a coincidence. Even if Bettie wrote the letter, the excessive postage and the envelope itself strikes me as a bit desperate and frantic. Of course, she just had a miscarriage, and her father died, then TH "disappeared." A terrible few months for her, to be sure! But she was not good friends with Harry and wrote him this letter and ended it with a very cryptic message. If you wanted to publicize a fake death (and I think the reasons would have been debts to lawyers etc.), who better than Harry to get it out there and publicized?
Here's the envelope again:

Just came across this and decided to post it here (for no obvious reason). A book called Stray Voltage features a Zodiac/crosshair symbol. I can't seem to figure out why. Is the symbol for stray voltage a crosshair symbol? If so, that would be interesting. Zodiac spoke of picking off stray people. Stray voltage is a nice metaphor for his murderous actions. Here's the cover:

Note: “Conductive surfaces” as used in this definition are intended to include the
earth and/or extensions of the earth such as concrete sidewalks and metal floor
drains.
This note is added to provide clarification that stray voltage can exist between any
conductive surface and the earth, or between two points on the earth.
http://grouper.ieee.org/groups/td/dist/stray/files/StrayVoltageDefinition.pdf

The Zodiac symbol for earth is the crosshair symbol:



So perhaps it is a technical symbol for stray voltage?

It does appear to be ALOT of postage for 1967. I didn't think about trying to duck legal fees as a possible reason for anything. I am sure legal fees were a problem...but they didn't own much for the legal fees to put a lien against so that doesn't seem a valid reason to go underground, but it does seem that Jones perhaps was being "used" to spread information they wanted to spread. What seems to be most telling is that Betty wrote and sent out a MM newsletter months after TH disappeared. IF I thought an organization that my husband possibly got permanently eliminated from...the last thing I'd do is continue to write and publish for that organization. As you said, she was under alot of stress. She had her hands full. Why did she do it?

Manipulating news and media was one of the stated goals of the MM so it is quite possible if TH was alive and she actually knew it...then yes, contacting Jones makes sense that TH would direct her to do so. On the other hand she may have simple been trying to get any info she could and staying in the loop was the only way she could hope to garner any info on TH's disappearance.

Troy Houghton had strong ties to Lancaster and LA. Wesley Swift and Houghton's lieutenant, Dennis Mower, were from Lancaster, CA.



Here's something to think about: Lancaster is home to many employees of Edwards Air Force Base, as well as to employees of Boeing, Lockheed, and Northrop Grumman, all of which have manufacturing facilities at U.S. Air Force Plant 42 which is south of the Lancaster city limits.

Wingwalker boots; "I hope you enjoy yourselves while I have my Blast!"

Im almost thru reading another Minutemen book and it has a Oct 6 1996 interview with DePugh. Published as a thesis in 2007 and the author has some interesting insight of the media and Jones's work done in the 60's.

So this last envelop is not the same one that was sent with comments about Jack Ruby? It is Dec3 1963.

BTW Rand, when you talked with Harry Johns did you ask him upfront if he thought that Troy Houghton or any of the Minutemen were involved in the Zodiac crimes at any time since he stopped reporting on them? I gather from what I read that he didn't know if the MM were involved directly with JFK or Ruby, but that he believed some MM may have been involved in some thing related to the planning or coverup.

If only there were a way to do a viral short video asking for anyone who had any knowledge of where TH was after 4/68 to speak up. Kind of like a Unsolved Mysteries sort of thing but for You Tube.