​​Billions in the Balance: Howard Hughes and the High-Stakes Battle Over the Mormon Will ​ 

Date: March 26, 2026

Time: 7 to 8 p.m.

Cost: ​​Free for Museum Members or with Museum Admission​

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​​The eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes died on April 5, 1976—50 years ago this spring—and he didn’t leave a will. Or did he? Just weeks after his death, a handwritten will turned up in Utah. It soon was reported that the will—later dubbed the Mormon Will—had been delivered to a small-town gas station operator named Melvin Dummar. A media firestorm ensued, and a seven-month trial was held in Las Vegas to determine the will’s validity. This panel discussion, led by The Mob Museum’s own Vice President of Exhibits and Programs and Howard Hughes biographer Geoff Schumacher, will delve into the details of the Mormon Will case and its profound implications for Las Vegas. ​ 

Speakers

Geoff Schumacher  

Geoff Schumacher

​Geoff Schumacher, The Mob Museum’s vice president of exhibits and programs, is the author of Howard Hughes: Power, Paranoia & Palace Intrigue. Schumacher interviewed Melvin Dummar extensively, probing his story about picking up Hughes in the desert and later finding the Mormon Will. 

Harold Morse  

Harold Morse

​Harold Morse is a third-generation Las Vegas lawyer. He was a member of the legal team representing the heirs of Howard Hughes in the seven-month trial over the validity of the so-called Mormon Will. He also was lead counsel for a major defendant in the litigation resulting from the MGM Grand fire in 1980 that claimed 85 lives.

Paul Rhoden  

Paul Rhoden

​Paul Rhoden is a son of Harold Rhoden, lawyer for Noah Dietrich and lead proponent attorney in the Mormon Will case. Rhoden visited Las Vegas several times during the trial in 1977-78 and vividly recalls the heady days of his father’s “high-stakes search for the truth.” He taught social studies in public school for many years. Today, Rhoden is an aspiring writer in Eugene, Oregon.​

Paul Winn  

Paul Winn

​Paul Winn, a lawyer and longtime Summa Corporation executive, is one of the last remaining people who worked directly with Hughes, serving as the billionaire’s personal secretary in the early 1960s. After Hughes’s death in 1976, Winn participated in the search for a will.