[Boggie]

Murder at Greystone (Doheny Mansion). I am researching a book on Ned Doheny and his valet Hugh Puckett. They were lovers and one shot the other and then committed suicide. Any help or information greatly appreciated.
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Boogie

[Linda]

Hi, Boggy.

The valet/chauffeur/secretary/friend's name was Hugh Plunkett.

A quick search of a few web sites reveals that this is a messy case. You've got suspicious circumstances, conflicting testimony, and, even considering the less sophisticated forensics of the time, some very problematic facts here.

You might want to start your investigation by visiting a couple of web sites (if you haven't been there already):

www.usc.edu/libraries/archives/la/scandals/greystone.html

investigation/discovery.com/blogs/hollywood/feb4/feb4.html

There is also a biography of Edward Doheny, Sr., Ned's father: Davis, Margaret Leslie. *Dark Side of Fortune*. Berkeley: University of California, 1998.

The case is certainly cold, and there was apparently a cover-up of something. You're probably not going to solve it, but you and your future readers may be in for an interesting ride.

BTW, although the case is described as a murder-suicide and Ned's wife, Lucy, does not ever seem to have been a suspect, I would keep an eye on her as a "person of interest." Whatever happened that night, I would bet that she knew more than she told.

The best of luck to you with your project!
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Linda

[SHillary]

[quote="Boggie"] Murder at Greystone (Doheny Mansion). I am researching a book on Ned Doheny and his valet Hugh Puckett. They were lovers and one shot the other and then committed suicide. Any help or information greatly appreciated.[/quo

It would be a considerable injustice to characterize or attempt to sensationalize this case as one of a lovers quarrel murder/suicide. Responsible investigation must include the Tea Pot Dome scandal and Albert Fall. (congressional testimony by Mr. Doheny on the Tea Pot Dome bribery investigation was scheduled at the time of this incident) Mr. Plunkett (not Puckett) was the chauffeur of Mr. and Mrs. Doheny. (not valet) Mrs. Doheny (nee' Lucy Smith) was a gracious and elegant woman who lived to be nearly 100 years of age.

[Boggie]

Dear Mr. or Ms. SHillary ( the ambiguous nature of your name leaves your gender unclear) Yes I am aware Hugh's last name was spelled Plunkett and apologize for the error. That in no way discredits my findings in this bizarre cover-up that remains to this day the only "open murder/suicide case" in the Beverly Hills (Holmby Hills) crime archives.
Mr. Plunkett was of course on call to any adult member of the Doheny family as a chauffeur if needed. Yet his actual job title was secretary/valet to Edward Doheny Jr. (Ned) and place of residency was Greystone.
I find your word "injustice" almost amusing as the word is applied to any situation or occurrence where justice was definitely not carried out.
Also if carrying out unveiling the truth involving a murder is in your view sensationalizing a case then again I say I am amused.
This is 2008 and glbt issues are discussed openly and with candor. The fact that Ned Doheny is entombed at a non-denominational cemetery (Forest Lawn) Glendale California and not at the Doheny vault at Calvary Cemetery (Catholic) in Los Angeles implies he committed suicide and that would keep him from the blessed soil of the Catholic Cemetery. Murder victims are not banished and the Doheny's attempts to allow Ned entry even with the Pope's aid points to one thing and that is Ned murdered Hugh and then shot himself. I have visited the tomb in Glendale and noted the Chapel type canopy that the Pontiff had sent from a small church (Temple of Santa Sabina) in Italy does not show the Doheny name. Also just down the hill to the south is the grave of Mr. Plunkett and also his mother.
Records I have obtained through a one time employee at the Glendale site show the Doheny family paid for Mr. Plunket's grave, casket, burial and headstone and also the disinterment of Hugh's mother from an obscure graveyard in the Midwest, transportation of her remains and reburial near her son.
Now would that be the case if Hugh Plunkett shot and killed their only son? I think not.
Finally the Tea Pot Dome affair does involve both Ned and Hugh, but at this time I have found nothing to connect their actions in this government scandal and the tragic murder by a gay man (Ned) of his gay lover (Hugh) on a cold November night in 1929 at Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills, California.

Footnote: Ned's biological mother Lucy Doheny committed suicide in 1901 by drinking battery acid in San Francisco California after loosing Ned in a bitter custody battle.
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Boogie