True Crime with Kendall Rae - The Murder Mystery of the Greystone Mansion

Episode Date: October 24, 2023

On the night of February 16th, 1929, Lucy Doheny, wife of Ned Doheny (son of the oil baron Edward L. Doheny) heard a gunshot in her home – The Greystone Mansion – at about 11:30 PM. She called the family doctor, and only when he arrived did she go investigate the noise. She and the doctor made their way to the source of the noise, where they discovered Hugh Plunkett, Ned's childhood friend, distraught, holding a gun. When Plunkett saw the two, he ran into Ned's room, and another gunshot was heard. Mrs. Doheny and the family doctor rushed in to find both Ned and Plunkett dead on the ground. The official story in the papers the next day was that Plunkett let himself into the mansion (he had a key), had shot Ned, then himself. Case closed. Or was it? Archive episode disclaimer: This is an older archive episode, so the production quality is going to sound different compared to newer episodes. And since this is an older recording, it’s possible that certain updates may not be included. Donate to NCMEC through my campaign! https://give.missingkids.org/campaign/kendall-rae/c438796 This episode is sponsored by: Quince Check out Kendall's other podcasts: The Sesh & Mile Higher Follow Kendall! YouTube Twitter Instagram Facebook Mile Higher Zoo REQUESTS: General case suggestion form: https://bit.ly/32kwPly Form for people directly related/ close to the victim: https://bit.ly/3KqMZLj Discord: https://discord.com/invite/an4stY9BCN CONTACT: For Business Inquiries - [e-mail]

Hey everyone, it's Kendall Ray. I just wanted to jump in here with an editor's note. This is actually an older archive episode, so the production quality is going to sound a bit different from my newer episodes. And since this is an older recording, it's possible that certain updates may not be included. Now onto the episode. Hello everyone, and welcome back to my channel. I am very excited to tell you about this one because this is like a classic mystery. This is kind of like, it reminds me of the board game clue. Like, who done it in the mansion, which room and who did it in with what? Very interesting story here.

So I'm excited to tell you guys about it because chances are a lot of you don't know about it. But anyway, let's get right into our story for today. So on November 6th of 1893, Edward Dohenny Jr. was born in Los Angeles, California. And he actually went by the name Ned. His parents were Edward Donnie Sr. and Carrie Luella Wilkins.

He had an older sister named Eileen and she was born in 1885. And his father was an extremely successful person in the oil industry. And back then that was like where it's at, I mean, I guess it's kind of still today, but obviously there's money in oil. And back then that was where a lot of people were making like huge fortunes from. Edward Sr. actually became really wealthy when he struck oil in L.A. and that was in 1892.

And Edward Sr. actually did really well in the oil industry. By the start of the 20th century, he was already making enough to rival John D. Rockefeller, who was like the oil man. I mean, if you listen to my podcast, you've definitely heard me talk about the Rockefeller family. So, I mean, he was doing well. He was making lots of money if he was even rivaling him So needless to say the Dohenny family became very very wealthy and very well known and respected among people in the community But when Ned was six years old his parents got a divorce and this is very very sad But his mom ended up committing suicide in 1901 after losing Ned in a custody battle. So Ned ended up getting raised by his stepmother, who was also named Kerry Weirdly Enough.

Later on in his life, Ned found love, and he got married to a woman named Lucy Smith in 1913. From 1913 to 1916, he attended USC, and that's where he earned a degree in business, and he was later elected to the Board of Trustees as the President of the Alumni Association. And he also served as a lieutenant in the US Navy during World War I. Eventually, he joined into the family oil business.

I mean, his dad was Edward Dohenny, so he became vice president, pretty easily slid into that position. So things were going pretty well for him, but then something kind of crazy happened. Ned ended up getting involved in one of the biggest political scandals to happen until like water gate happened, you know, years later, but at the time it was crazy and it was called the T-pop dome. So basically what happened was in 1921 Ned's father asked Ned to go to the bank and take out $100,000 in loans.

So Ned and his secretary withdrew this money, his secretary was named Hugh Plunkett, and they hopped on a train and went to Washington, DC. And this is when they met up with a man named Albert. Albert was the secretary of the interior for US President Warren Harding, who is not a very well-liked president. But basically, the purpose of these loans were to give them to the US government in exchange for the ability to drill for oil. Basically they wanted to set up massive drilling and plumbing on government land in California

and teapot dome Wyoming. This is a specific area in Wyoming that has a rock called the teapot dome, hence the name. So all through the 20s, the teapot dome scandal was a huge deal. It filled up court houses and really consumed a lot of people. Many people during the trial said that Hugh, Hugh Plunkett, who was Ned Secretary, who assisted him in all of this, was starting to act insane. Apparently Ned even tried to get him to admit himself into a mental hospital, so I mean it was pretty intense, but despite the fact that Ned and Hugh did this, they eventually got acquitted. But jumping forward in time here a bit to 1926, Ned's father gave him a really nice piece of land with a gorgeous view and a ton of space. And this was his wedding gift. It was a total of 12 acres and had amazing views of the city.

And this was also kind of a way for him to apologize to his son Ned for, you know, getting him involved in all of this legal trouble and this huge political teapot scandal. So in 1927, Ned and his wife Lucy decided to start building their dream house. Now, the cost for this house to be built fully was three to five million dollars. We're not sure of an exact number, but that is an insane amount of money for back then, you guys. And this house was decked to the nines. It took over three years for it to be done being built.

It was the second largest house in California at 56,000 square feet. And this house had literally everything, including 55 bedrooms, stables, athletic facilities, tennis courts, gyms, swimming pools, theater, bedroom, ballroom, and bowling alley. So, Ned and Lucy and their five children and 15 staff members takes a lot to run a mansion, moved into the house in 1928 when it was done. As I've gotten older, I have learned that quality is more important than quantity when it comes to my closet and what I wear every day.

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According to Lucy, that night Ned was having his friend Hugh over Hugh Plunkett, the one who was kind of having a mental breakdown during the trial. According to Lucy, he showed up at their house around 9.30. And he actually was there all the time. So he had his own key to the house. He was basically part of the family.

So when he just came in their house and wasn't invited, it wasn't anything abnormal. No one thought it was weird. So then Ned and Hugh were having a business meeting in his office for about two hours. And Lucy was in another part of the house reading magazines and she heard a really loud noise. That sounded like a gunshot.

She said it was around 11 o'clock and it really freaked her out. So immediately she called their doctor to come over, which I thought was a little strange, um, but maybe it was really common to like call a doctor and an emergency of allowed noise back then I don't know. What do you guys think about that? I thought that was a little weird. So when the doctor arrived He started approaching the room that everyone was in and this is when he saw Hugh with a revolver in his hand Apparently at this point Lucy said don't come in here and ran in the guest room with him

and shut the door. And then there was a sound of another gunshot. Turns out that Hugh had killed himself. So once the doctor got in there, he realized that Hugh and Ned were dead on the ground with gunshot wounds. Now, this could just be, you know, a crazy guy who went crazy in his business partner,

killed him and then killed himself. But there's also a lot of conspiracies that there might be a cover-up to this story. The way that they handled this case from the jump was really sketchy and suspicious. Apparently, three hours had gone by from when the shooting happened to when they actually called the police.

Additionally, the police noted that when they got to the scene, it looked as if the bodies had been moved before the police got there. They also weren't immediately able to figure out who the killer was. They found a gun underneath you, but when they looked at this gun, they realized that whoever had shot it had wiped the fingerprints off it. Another thing that was discovered is that Ned actually had a little bit of gun powder on his head, and this kind of signified to them that he was shot very close up, and Hugh actually did not have any gun powder on his head. And this is probably the strangest part. The bullet wound on Hugh was in the back of his head.

Now why would someone shoot themselves in the back of their head? I mean, I guess you could. It doesn't make a lot of sense. Maybe he was trying to add drama to it or he just wanted to do it that way. Or maybe he was trying to throw off someone in the scene or confuse people. I don't know, nobody knows. Now despite the fact that there was a lot of sketchiness going on, the police decided to close this one up

and say that he was temporarily insane, shot Ned and then shot himself, as Lucy and the doctor's story went. But there were a lot of rumors going around that the two of them were having an affair, but this is just a rumor and it was never 100% confirmed. One theory that people have though is that maybe Ned actually killed himself

and the family somehow knows about this because there is an old rule in Catholicism and this family was pretty Catholic that, and this I don't think is really practiced anymore, but it used to be that if someone committed suicide, they would often be denied a burial, like a proper Catholic burial. And their family had like their own specific memorial site

that they are all being buried at, like they're doing any family spot. And Ned is not buried there. He is buried alone at forced lawn and Glendale. So that made a lot of people think that maybe Ned did the shooting and that he wasn't buried with this family because he killed himself. And then a lot of people think that maybe Ned did the shooting and that he wasn't buried with this family because he killed himself. And then a lot of people think that Lucy could have done it.

Did she kill one of them or both of them maybe? A lot of people suspect that maybe Ned and Hugh were in a secret relationship and Lucy walked in on them and freaked out. A lot of people think maybe that Hugh killed Ned and when Lucy found out she was so mad, she decided to kill Hugh. Later on in 1935, Dohenny Sr.

passed away of natural causes. Lucy ended up moving on and getting remarried to this banker. And Lucy ended up moving into the mansion with her new husband and her kids. And she lived there until about 1955 when she decided to downsize to a 22 bedroom house, nice and modest. So what has become of this mansion today?

Because as we know, when old crimes happen in old mansions, they seem to become haunted. Grace Don't Mansion is actually now a public park. It's also used as a location for special events. The mansion holds feeder arts, drama camps run by the Beverly Hills Parks and Recreation, and the mansion is also used for performances of the play of the Manor written by Catherine Bates. And what's really interesting is the plot of the Manor is actually a fictionalized story of the Dohenny family, involving senior Dohenny's involvement

in the Tea Pot Dome scandal and then his son's murder. The Greystone mansion is also now the location of the annual Hollywood Ball ball where hundreds of celebrities gather each year for a fashion show dinner and auctioned to raise money for the Pure Foundation and helping children in need around the globe. The Million Dollar Gathering also includes live performances by leading artists. The estate is also a popular filming location due to its beauty and size and manicured lawns. Now of course people say that the mansion is haunted. I have no idea of knowing for myself. I think people just like to say things are haunted sometimes but I do believe in things being haunted. I just don't know if everything is. But people have claim to have seen like shadowy figures looking out the windows of like Ned and you know basic stuff like that people looking out the windows. That's

pretty much all people have ever seen though. But I'm very curious about what you guys think about this case. Who do you think actually did it? It's definitely one of those ones where, I don't know, I have this feeling that Lucy did it, but I don't know why she would. Maybe she wanted to have the house to herself

and I really, I really don't know. [♪ music playing in background, playing in background, is going to be it for me today, guys. Thank you for joining me for another episode. And make sure you follow the show on Spotify and Apple Podcast. It really does help me out. If you want to watch the video version of this show, you can find it on my YouTube channel, which will be linked, or you can just search Kendall Ray.

I will be back with another episode soon, but until then, stay safe out there.