All things Troy Houghton

Lets discuss former Minutemen leader & Zodiac suspect, Troy Houghton.

More pics of Houghton













Troy is the short chubby one with the bald spot. Robert DePugh is far right.



This is from Look Magazine

An old car of Houghton's that had 13 bullet holes in it.

March 1962
The wise words of "Jack"

Nov. 12, 1961



And we know he did not end up resigning.

TROY HAROLD HOUGHTON
Born: Sept. 30, 1933 (raised in Los Angeles)

Parents: Harold E. Houghton and Vahl Houghton (maiden name Alderman)

Marriage: Married Bettie Jones in 1954. They had 3 children together.

Known Arrests:
March 1, 1957 on a charge of indecent exposure.
Nov. 11, 1961 for failure to register as a sex offender.
1966 for possession of a gun with a silencer. Sentenced to 3 years in prison, but disappeared before the sentence was carried out.
*There are other arrests that I have to find the details on*

Aliases: Troy Haughton, Dan Alderman, Troy Boyle, Troy Epick. He also used the name "Jack" while giving a speech near UCLA once to hide his identity, but most of the people in attendance knew it was Houghton.



"Troy Houghton, at thirty-four years of age, cut a commanding figure in the land of southern California palm trees, sun, surf and smog with his heavy head of dark, flat-topped hair, horn-rimmed glasses and demeanor of intense purpose. Aggressive and frequently articulate, the Minutemen's West Coast coordinator is sometimes inclined to outbursts of temper, acts of mischief, a wide, indefatigable range of suspicions and a certain inability to please law-enforcement officers, as his long and somewhat bizarre police record illustrates.

Houghton lived in a tidy, one-story home in San Diego with his pretty, dark-haired wife, the former Bettie Jones of southern Iowa farm upbringing, and their three little boys. Troy and Bettie Houghton were married in 1954 while he was a service-station attendant and she an art student in Los Angeles. Soon, Troy was on his way to the Panamint Mountains on the west edge of Death Valley, intending to prospect for uranium. Their interest turned to tungsten soon after their arrival in the mountains. At the time, the government was paying a good price for tungsten, but by the time they had mined a sizable amount and were ready to sell, the price had dropped to unprofitable depths. Their many months in the wilderness had gone almost for naught. They earned enough to pay for their bread and butter, but little more.

The Houghton's moved back to Los Angeles in 1956 and Troy did some part-time work with a UCLA geologist before leaving again for the mountains with Bettie, this time to mine for silver and lead. A flash flood from a cloudburst washed out their camp, destroying much of their equipment. This time the Houghton's abandoned the mining business for good. [Soon afterward] Troy had become interested in the need, as he puts it, "to establish an underground army ahead of the Communist take-over." In 1961, after they had settled in San Diego, Bettie said, the newspapers, not Troy, informed Bettie of the nature of Troy's new interest -- guerrilla warfare and the Minutemen."

Houghton was short and stocky and had the widow's peak, matching what most people believe the Zodiac looked like. He also has a "large face" that matches up with the description of the killer. And, of course, he had the horn-rimmed glasses. The Minutemen used the cross-hair symbol before the Zodiac. The Minutemen also had a "little list," which the Zodiac said in one of his letters - "I have a little list."


Troy's wife last heard from him in May 1967.

An FBI document I found said that Houghton's garage was filled with bins that contained several types of paper, different sized envelopes, stamps, various types of stationary, pamphlets etc. The man who told this to the FBI was an employee of Houghton's father at a printing company.

Whoa... just found a photo of Houghton, age 9, getting a blood test in school.

1961 photo of DePugh and Houghton...