Melvin Dummar

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Melvin Earl Dummar (August 28, 1944 – December 9, 2018) was a Utah man who became famous for claiming he saved Howard Hughes in the Nevada desert in 1967 and that Hughes promised him a part of his vast estate. His story led to a long legal fight that ended with a ruling against him.

In 1968 a handwritten document appeared in Salt Lake City that became known as the "Mormon Will." It supposedly left Hughes’s fortune to various groups and people, including The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Hughes’s ex-wives, and several others. The will also left one small share to a real person named Melvin DuMar from Gabbs, Nevada. The document was filled with misspellings and odd details, and Hughes’s family and others questioned its legitimacy.

A Las Vegas jury in 1978 ruled that the "Mormon Will" was a forgery, and Dummar did not receive any portion of Hughes’s estate. No criminal charges were filed against Dummar or his wife.

Dummar’s tale inspired a 1980 film, Melvin and Howard, in which he was played by actor Paul Le Mat.

In 2005, a former FBI agent, Gary Magnesen, claimed new evidence supported Dummar’s story, suggesting Hughes had interactions and business dealings that backed Dummar’s claims. Others, including Hughes’s former bodyguard, disputed these claims.

In 2006, Dummar filed a lawsuit in Utah against William Lummis and Frank Gay, alleging they conspired to deny him a share of the Hughes estate. A federal judge dismissed the suit in 2007, saying the case had already been decided in 1978.

Melvin Dummar passed away in December 2018 in Pahrump, Nevada. His case remains a notable example of a disputed will and a modern American hoax surrounding a famed industrialist.