Troy Houghton: The Minuteman

I've always found the Neuman idea interesting. I still have a cherished, large stack of Mad magazines from that period. An ambiguous, mysterious character, one whom would have made for a very good taunt by Z. An unintentional coding mistake, maybe, but geez only 13 characters.

Caused me to look him up on Wiki, had no idea there was so much history behind him.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_E._Neuman

In the" "My Name is - " letter, Z asks, "By the way have you cracked the last cipher I sent you?"

Cracked Magazine was similar to MAD but not as good. I read somewhere that Cracked Magazine's major fan base consisted of people who didn't make it to the store before MAD sold out!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cracked_%28magazine%29

Yeah, MAD used to be really funny. Too bad all those great writers are gone.

You're all busy looking for the killer, and he's right here and you don't even realize it. I've been silent because there's nothing left to do or say about this case. When it's solved, you'll find out what I already know: it's Troy Houghton. There are so many reasons why, and it's all here.
For those who find it difficult to believe that a "family man" could call his wife to tell her he'll be home and never be heard from again, read this story:
http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/nicholas-francisco-family-man-disappears-revealed-leading-double/story?id=11145043
The key to how this can happen and no one sees it coming is that this man lived a double life. Precisely what TH lived and had been living for years.

I'm not all that busy anymore, actually..

How do you figure on it being solved (as TH) if you are not going to do any more and no one else around here apparently cares to? Is LE actively pursuing it?

nope. But I figure one day someone will have the brains to find TH's prints and compare them to Z's prints. But maybe not. All I know is that, if the case is solved, it will be TH. No doubt in my mind. If the case isn't ever solved, well, why waste my time with it? I have hundreds of reasons why it's TH and they're all here. What more can I do at this point? I don't think LE cares at all about this case or solving it. What can I do to change that? All I did was solve the case. If they don't want to verify it, oh well... I can't do everything. Given all of TH's arrests, his prints should be somewhere.
What I can say is that all other POIs that will be checked out by LE will turn out to be false leads. Z was a very quirky guy. He left so many clues about the type of person he was. And TH fits everything about Z to a tee. None of the other POIs come close to fitting what we know about Z. None of them explain things we don't already know. The fact that someone was a convict at Deer Lodge Prison doesn't make them a good suspect. One could reasonably argue that it excludes them.

LE not interested in the Z case? Perhaps. They have been interested enough to pursue Tarrance's DNA recently, as well as Mr. X, Perez, etc. It almost seems that if you make enough of a splash, TV appearances, press releases, etc., then they follow up. Of course they could be following other leads behind the scenes we know nothing about.

Tarrance, Mr. X., Perez They have their collective heads up their ...es

If KevinB is being honest, you should hook up with his people. You two seemed to hit it off, and if they are listening to him they should listen to you.

Houghton seems to be a good suspect, imo. Also an interesting character, in his own right. So maybe you could consider writing a Z book? I'll buy a copy! Been wondering why you haven't posted lately. Anyway, hope you hang around more often and tell us anything else you can find out about this guy.

Rand,
Persistence is the key in everything. Keep at it and gather all info you can. More TH printing or an associates', proof he didn't get killed, there's always more to dig up. Stay on it .

I can pick virtually anything that Z gave us as evidence and show clues linking it to Troy Houghton. The other day I thought of this rather obvious one. Z sent the following card:



It pictures two riders who could very well be miners and the word BLAST, whicih Z has written in prominent letters.

Troy Houghton owned the Trojan Mining and Blasting Co. How much more obvious can you get?

What about the dragon? Paul Revere and the Minutemen were associated with the famous Green Dragon Tavern in Boston:
"...in the tavern met the activitsts of the day, including Samuel Adams and Paul Revere. It was here that many of the decisions were made regarding the legendary dumping of East India Company tea into Boston Harbor on December 16, 1773. It was from here that came John Hancock and Paul Revere's plans to warn the American colonists and minutemen of the British march to Lexington and Concord."
http://teresa-knudsen.suite101.com/the-green-dragon-in-history-and-literature-a145545

Here's a convenient list of the times Z gave his identity as TH is ME or IM TH or Troy H or MY NAME TROY:

The fingers on the skeleton point to TH and ME:


The figure on the back of the card is composed of a t and H:


Zodiac says: In fact it's just one big thirteenth. But look at this part of the card:



Notice he adds a "TH" at the end of 13: One big thirteenth. He's making several points with the word "thirteenth": 13 bullet holes, 13 punched holes and TH for Troy Houghton. He also adds a cross or "t" under the number 13: t for Troy.

Notice also that he carefully placed the capital T for Them over the H for Horrible here:



Now if we read the PS message that's upside down, we get another IM TH:





Does this look familiar? Check out the 2nd page of the 408, the last two letters:






Here, the author capitalizes the TH at the outset but nowhere else:

rand wrote:

troy H

FLASHER

PEEK-A-BOO!



FL for FLASHER and four dots for 4 TEENs. Zodiac Flashed FOUR TEENS.

So I came across Troy Houghton as a POI for very good reasons, but I don't want to discuss them here. The point is that well AFTER I uncovered TH as a POI for good reasons, I found out that he had been convicted twice for indecent exposure: once for flashing two teens in LA in 1957; the other time for flashing two teens outside a mall in Wyoming in Jan. 1966. So TH flashed four teens. The Halloween Card says: You ache to know my identity, so let me clue you in...

Zodiac leaves three signatures on the Halloween Card: (1) the strange symbol; (2) a crosshair symbol; and a (3) Z.



The FL symbol I explained above as FLASHER of 4 TEENs.
The Z obvously stands for The Zodiac.
The crosshair symbol is for Minutemen.
Compare the MM symbol with Zodiac's crosshair:



So three signatures at the bottom of the HC (clues as to Z's identity), and all three are integrally related to Troy Houghton's identity: he was a flasher of four teens; he the Westcoast leader of the Minutemen; and he was the Zodiac. Show me another POI who explains (so compellingly) all three signatures at the bottom of the Halloween Card. And I found this out AFTER I had very good reasons (dozens of them) for pointing to TH as a suspect in the case.


Serial killers often have arson in their past. They start out as arsonists.



TH's attorney dies in a fire only weeks after he failed to get Troy off on a weapons charge. TH had said his attorney sold him up the river, then he mysteriously dies.




Look at Houghton's arrest record from 1961 and compare it to Z's tampering of vehicles in the CJB and KJ cases:



In CJB murder, the killer was outside the library waiting for her after he tampered with her car:



Z threatened to shoot the tires out of a bus: TH shot the tires out of a car while a woman he didn't know was inside the car:



TH's best friend said that Troy would drive around California for weeks at a time with a gun in his car without telling anyone, including his wife, where he was going or why. He probably claimed that he was recruiting new Minutemen or getting them to pay their dues. What a perfect job as a cover for a serial killer! Z said that LE and the press had only uncovered the obvious murders he'd done in Southern California; there were many more of them down there. I couldn't agree more. TH lived in LA and San Diego until his disappearance in May 1967.

Regarding the strange symbol...



...this is what I found in the 2007 California lifestock brand ID book:



It is not a perfect match, and the owner's name also doesn't match the My-name-is-cipher. However it shows how close we eventually can get. There are about 3-5 comparable symbols in the book, none of them matching perfectly.

Assuming this book is the 2007 edition, we should have a look into the Californian lifestock ID book from the 1970 year. At least did Z put the symbol on the envelope exactly where the return address should be.

Has anybody a source for an older edition of the lifestock ID book? Bit difficult to get that one in Europe..btw, the four dots could result from the supporting rod holding the branding iron.

QT

But QT: why would we want to go in another direction to explain the symbol when the explanation I've put forward makes perfect sense and fits the rest of the details on the card. To reiterate: the F and L stand for FLASHER; the four dots stand for the 4-TEENs Z mentions, and the FLASHER OF 4-TEENs explanation (1) fits the general image on the Halloween Card of a flasher and (2) TH flashed four teenagers. Indeed, the flasher symbol echoes the hands and head of the flasher skeleton above it. Couple these items with the other two signatures, the crosshair and the Z, and we've got Z's three signature identities. Ask yourself: Why, if the crosshair stands for Zodiac, did the author of the card draw a Z as well. It's redundant, right? The problem, as I've been saying all along, is the common but misplaced belief that the killer intended for the crosshair symbol to stand for the Zodiac. He didn't and it doesn't. When Z originally drew the crosshair symbol, he did not call himself the Zodiac. My guess is that the crosshair originally stood for Minutemen. Z changed it to the Zodiac quickly because he realized that he had given too much away. And Z is making this perfectly clear by putting a Z next to the crosshair symbol. He's saying: the crosshair stands for something other than the Zodiac.

Anyhow, it makes no sense to me why I or anyone else would go from a compelling explanation that fits all the facts of the card (and, incidentally, points to the person I'm positive was Z) to something else, like a lifestock brand that doesn't fit the rest of the card. Sure, the symbol looks somewhat like the lifestock brand that you put forth. So? The knee-jerk reaction to put something else up as an explanation when a perfectly good one exists is precisely why this case will never be solved. It also explains why many people aren't convinced that TH was Z. The problem is that they are not considering all the "coincidences" in combination that point to one person: Troy Houghton. But what can I do? All I can say is that, if and when this case is ever solved (and I'm starting to doubt it will be solved), the person will be Troy Houghton. I have no doubts whatsoever.

Hi Rand,

first - I fully accept what you think about your symbol, however I don´t see a flasher on the card. Rather only a skeleton among some other things.

Also the symbol imho is not definitely a 'F+L', it could also be interpreted otherwise. Even if it was F+L, it doesn´t automatically lead me to a FLasher.

The crosshair symbol may come from minutemen (could you please explain / give a source of the picture?), or may come from a rifle's fadecross or even from Bruce Davis' Process church activity. (http://www.thezodiacmansonconnection.com/davis.html).

And Zodiac had used a Z in other letters as well. What I liked was the 4dots=4teens issue. Anyway, may main intention is still to find a lifestock brand ID register which might match such a symbol, maybe even leading to the my-name-is-cipher (still hoping).

QT

Should I comment on some of your, ahem,...."leaps of logic" and hijack this thread as you seem to do EVERYTIME I post anything????

Can't you just focus on Houghton and not say anything if you have nothing but self aggrandizing back slappery to share with us??

Any dissent, discussion or divergent thought shouldn't matter though.......you and Kevin Brooks have both "solved" these crimes already

When you talk to Kevin next, let him know that I am still waiting for my apology and ask him how hard his "last laugh" was??


PS: Dont worry Morf.....I wont post here again about anything other than Troy Houghton, unlike my learned colleague!!

Regarding the Brand Symbol...Lake Herman road is in an area, as well as all around there,
where there were many cattle ranches, like American Canyon. Who and what ranch was this
symbol registered to and when? Do you have that? Is it in California?

The one I found is from California, however unrelated to the case. Some similar symbols can be found

http://www.cdfa.ca.gov/ahfss/livestock_id/2007_brand_book.html

but the one I picked matched best. Interesting match would be the Spahn/Barker Ranch? Bruce Davis would still be a nice one

- LA/SF connection
- .22 weapons of Shorty Shea (however .22 was used earlier)
- Process Church faded cross
- rumors say he lived + worked at Riverside when CJB died
- Doreen Gaul connection (Bonnie Brae Street)
- lived near Pat Tan
- was identified by Brenda Harrison (claiming to be an officer)
- could´ve had blond hair when younger, darker/wavier hair when older,
- ev. using glasses of Paul Stine
- Sandra Garcia + John Franklin Hood (CM flat at Bath Street available, Santa Barbara)

plus many other reasons, however it is said he was ruled out for the LHR attack (stayed + killed in London), same with Isobel Watson (as he was arrested earlier). Various modi as well:

- Car trick (wobbling/flat tire, distributor)
- Knife/shooting attack at the beach/lovers lane

Seem to be at least two completely different killers anyway.

Other symbols may be found as well, sometimes used in the Z ciphers:






QT

In Bonus Fides wrote:

Should I comment on some of your, ahem,...."leaps of logic" and hijack this thread as you seem to do EVERYTIME I post anything????

Can't you just focus on Houghton and not say anything if you have nothing but self aggrandizing back slappery to share with us??

Any dissent, discussion or divergent thought shouldn't matter though.......you and Kevin Brooks have both "solved" these crimes already

When you talk to Kevin next, let him know that I am still waiting for my apology and ask him how hard his "last laugh" was??


PS: Dont worry Morf.....I wont post here again about anything other than Troy Houghton, unlike my learned colleague!!

Ah, Mr. Bonus know-nothing: where have I deviated from talking about Troy Houghton? I hijack your threads everytime you post something? Really? I've made a couple of posts in the last few months. What have I posted on your threads that mentioned TH? that hijacked your thread? (poor, poor Bonus)

Yes, go ahead and comment on my "leaps of logic." What are those? The logic that the HC is the image of a flasher? Oh, you're right, there's no logic in that. Z takes the time to deliberately place a pumpkin over the genital area of the skeleton; then pastes a skeleton inside sans the pumpkin; then writes PEEK-A-BOO! How ever did I come to see that as Z creating an image of a flasher on the HC? That's a real leap of logic on my part.
People like you are simply biting at my kneecaps.

morf13 wrote:

In my opinion, the top left of the postcard is no doubt a return name & address(ending in ST for street), and just below it, we see the address of the Vallejo Times herald. Then, we see the author's name signed at the bottom right of the postcard again. (it ends in TROUT) ...which ends "MY NAME IS"..like the cipher from Zodiac. Can we crack this?

Example: "MY NAMES IS TROUT(looks like the word TROUT anyhow) _______" 5 letters in his first name, and 8 in his 2nd name.

IMO, he lives on a Street because it ends in ST as opposed to LANE or DRIVE, etc. Also the town could be VALLEJO, OAKLAND,or any other 7 letter town around there.



Here is what I have:

the 'M' symbol stand for the letter M
the backwards 'D' symbol stands for letter Y
Crosshair Symbol stands for letter N
The Triangle symbol stands for letter A
The 9 symbol stands for letter E
The 'I' symbol stands for letter I
Backwards Q symbol stands for letter S
the 'B' symbol stands for letter C

Also, I can not see the image well, is there two types of crosshair symbols? One that is is filled in and one that is not, or is that just my eyes?

To me, the last name of this person is 8 letters long, starts with a Y and ends with a E. Any ideas?

I agree with Morf's work here.
Anyone know a POI whose first and last names put together would give you a version of TROUT? Hmmm. Let me think How about Troy Houghton.

The author spells the name Herald as Herold. Anyone know a suspect whose first name was changed to his middle name because he was named after his father, Harold. Hmmm. Let me think.
Troy Harold Houghton was born, Harold Troy Houghton.

The stamp is of Marianne Moore. Her initials are MM. Anyone think of a POI whose organization was abbreviated MM? Minutemen?

Must be another series of coincidences. Like everything in this case. All just a coincidence.

Like how about the dates of the crimes:
1. LHR - The night of Troy's first born son's birthday
2. BRS - July 4th: the most significant day for the Minutemen
3. LB - 3 days prior to Troy's birthday, which fell on a Tuesday
4. Stine's murder - Troy's wife, Bettie's, birthday
Just another coincidence. I got another 50 of them. All coincidence. Couldn't possibly indicate that Houghton was the murderer.

In the above cipher I noticed the use of "n" in three places. There are two similar symbols but one is open and the other two filled-in solid. These are the two "cross-hair" symbols.

Do you think both symbols translate to "n"?

Have you got his DNA compared yet? Seems like you would have by now?

rand wrote:

Ah, Mr. Bonus know-nothing: where have I deviated from talking about Troy Houghton?

How is this not bashing another member? I still do not get the standards on this board?

The Rand/IBF dispute was dealt with a long time ago. Rand if TH has living children get their DNA and we can get it compared to the Napa Zodiac DNA we hope is coming within weeks. I have contacts in LE who I think can do this. Get me the DNA and lets see if Troy was Zodiac or not.