After Howard Hughes's death, a thorough search was conducted for his Last Will and Testament. Speculation spread that Hughes might have written a holographic will, which was recognized in the states where he had assets. Two weeks after his passing, an envelope containing three handwritten pages dated March 19, 1968, and signed "Howard R. Hughes" was discovered on the desk of an official at the headquarters of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City.
The Church, along with Rice University, the University of California, the University of Texas, the University of Nevada, and the Boy Scouts of America, was granted a 1/16th share of Hughes's $2 billion fortune through the "Mormon Will." Gas station owner Melvin Dummar recounted that in December 1967, he picked up a man along U.S. Highway 95, who asked for a ride to Las Vegas. When Dummar dropped him off at the Sands Hotel, the man claimed to be Howard Hughes, but Dummar did not believe him.
The "Mormon Will" was riddled with errors, including misspellings. It referred to the H-4, a massive military transport plane Hughes flew in Long Beach Harbor on November 2, 1947, as "The Spruce Goose," a moniker Hughes disliked. The will also named ex-wives Ella Rice and Jean Peters beneficiaries, despite their divorce settlements disallowing them from claiming his estate. Additionally, it named Hughes's cousin, William Lummis, a beneficiary, despite Hughes having no connection with his relatives.
The will also named Noah Dietrich, whom Hughes had fired in 1957, as the executor. Furthermore, written on the envelope was a request that David O. McKay, President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, deliver the will to the Clark County (Nevada) District Court upon Hughes's death; McKay passed away in 1970.
Despite the discrepancies, The Church filed the will for probate with the Clark County District Court on April 29, 1976. After the FBI found his thumbprint on the envelope containing the will, Dummar initially denied any prior knowledge of the document. However, he later claimed that a "mysterious man" had dropped the envelope off at his gas station, and he had read the contents before delivering it to The Church.
The "mysterious man" was identified by Dummar's attorney Roger Dutson as LeVane Forsythe, who claimed to have been Hughes's "secret courier" for years. On June 8, 1978, a jury found the will to be a forgery after deliberating for just 11 hours.
In 2004, Guido Deiro, son of Guido Deiro, claimed that he flew Hughes to the Cottontail Ranch brothel, 150 miles north of Las Vegas, on December 29, 1967. Deiro said he napped while Hughes enjoyed himself, and after awakening, the madam, Beverly Harrell, told him that Hughes had left. Dummar claimed to have found Hughes 7 miles south of the Ranch. Inexplicably, Deiro did not search for Hughes but flew back to Las Vegas.
Upon his return, Deiro said that a subordinate of Hughes executive Frank Gay ordered him to surrender his flight log to erase any evidence of the trip. Bolstered by Deiro's story and a book by Gary Magnesen, Dummar sued Lummis and Gay's estate for fraud and conspiracy to conceal evidence that the "Mormon Will" was genuine. On January 9, 2007, the United States District Court for the District of Utah dismissed the suit.
Melvin Dummar's story was the basis for the 1980 film Melvin and Howard. He passed away on December 9, 2018, at a hospice in Pahrump, Nevada.
