Did LBJ Murder His Own Sister? 

At 3:15 a.m. on Christmas morning 1961, Ysefa Johnson was found dead in her bed in her Fredericksburg, Texas home. She was 49 years old. The official cause of death, cerebral hemorrhage, brain bleeding, natural causes. But there was a problem, several problems. First, under Texas law, any sudden or suspicious death requires an autopsy.

Josepha’s death was sudden. She’d returned from a Christmas party at her brother’s ranch just a few hours earlier at 11:45 p.m. 4 hours later, she was dead, but no autopsy was ever conducted despite state law. Second, the death certificate was signed by a doctor who never examined the body. He simply wrote cerebral hemorrhage based on what? No medical examination, no investigation, no questions asked.

 Third, Josepha was imbalmed immediately on Christmas Day within hours of her death before any family members could object, before anyone could demand an autopsy, before evidence could be preserved. Fourth, she was buried the next day, December 26th, one day after her death, rushed into the ground at the Johnson family cemetery in Stonewall, Texas.

 And fifth, perhaps most disturbing, her brother didn’t attend the funeral. Lyndon Baines Johnson, vice president of the United States, didn’t go to his own sister’s funeral. If you want to understand one of the darkest allegations against Lynden Johnson, that he murdered his own sister to silence her, hit that like button.

 This is the story of Joseph Johnson, a woman who knew too much. A woman who drank too much, a woman who talked too much, and a woman who died at exactly the moment she became a liability. Let’s start with who Joseph Johnson was. Because understanding Hosefa means understanding why she might have been killed. Josepha Hermine Johnson was born May 16th, 1912 in Stonewall, Texas.

 She was one of five children of Samuel Elely Johnson Jr. and Rebecca Baines Johnson. Her older brother was Lynden Baines Johnson, born in 1908. From the beginning, Josepha and Lyndon were similar. Both had huge personalities. Both loved attention. Both were ambitious. But while Lyndon channeled his ambitions into politics, Josepha channeled hers into other activities.

 Josepha married young, divorced in 1937, married again in 1940 to Willard White, a lieutenant colonel in the US Army. That marriage ended in divorce in 1945. In 1955, she married James B. Moss. They had a son, Rodney. But Joseph’s life wasn’t defined by her marriages. It was defined by her reputation. Wild, promiscuous, alcoholic, drug user, party girl.

 According to multiple sources, Josepha worked at Hattie Valdez’s private club on South Congress Street in Austin. The club was known for entertaining Texas lobbyists and legislators. Hosefa was part of what insiders called the Blondes Brigade, women who provided company to powerful men when they visited Austin. Josepha loved politics.

 She helped her brother during his 1948 Senate campaign, the stolen election involving box 13. She knew the players. She knew the deals. She knew the secrets. And that’s what made her dangerous. Because Joseph didn’t just know about politics, she knew about murders. In October 1951, a man named John Douglas Kinszer was shot and killed at his miniature golf course in Austin.

 The killer was Malcolm Everett M. Wallace, Lynden Johnson’s personal hitman. But Kzer wasn’t just any victim. Kzer was having an affair with Yosefa Johnson, and according to some accounts, Kinszer had asked Ysefa if she could arrange for her brother to loan him money. Lyndon Johnson interpreted this as blackmail. Kinszer knew things, things had told him, things about Johnson’s corrupt dealings during his Senate campaign, things about illegal activities, things that could destroy Johnson’s career.

 So Johnson ordered M. Wallace to kill Kinszer, and Wallace did. On October 22nd, 1951, Wallace walked into Kinszer’s golf course and shot him. Wallace was arrested, convicted of firstdegree murder. But thanks to Johnson’s lawyer, John Kofheer, the same attorney who defended Johnson during the stolen 1948 election.

 Wallace received a suspended sentence. 5 years suspended. He walked free immediately. And Josepha knew. She knew Wallace had killed her lover. She knew Johnson had ordered it. She knew exactly how the system worked. But that wasn’t the only murder Josepha knew about. In June 1961, just 6 months before Joseph’s death, another man was killed.

 Henry Marshall, a US Department of Agriculture official investigating Billy Saul Estes, a Texas con man connected to Lynden Johnson. Marshall had discovered massive fraud involving Estes and Johnson, federal programs, illegal cotton allotments, millions of dollars, and Marshall was about to blow the whistle. According to testimony from Billy Saul, Estes years later, Lynden Johnson, Cliff Carter, Johnson’s aid, M.

Wallace, and Estes himself met to discuss the Henry Marshall problem. Johnson said, “Get rid of him.” On June 3rd, 1961, Henry Marshall was found dead on his farm. He’d been knockedunconscious, fed carbon monoxide from a truck exhaust, then shot five times with a 22 caliber rifle. Five times in the chest.

 The local justice of the piece, under Johnson’s influence, ruled it a suicide, despite the five gunshot wounds, despite the carbon monoxide, despite the impossibility of shooting yourself five times with a bolt-action rifle. Henry Marshall’s death was murder. Everyone knew it, but officially it was suicide. And Josepha knew about it. She knew M. Wallace did it.

 She knew Johnson ordered it. She knew because she was still involved with Mac. Wallace. Even after he’d killed John Kinser, her own lover, she was still sleeping with Wallace. That’s the kind of woman Joseph was. Reckless, self-destructive, and dangerous. By 1961, Josepha Johnson had become a serious problem for Lynden Johnson because Ysefa didn’t keep secrets, especially when she was drunk, and she was drunk often.

 According to multiple sources, Joseph would attend parties and when intoxicated, start talking about John Kinser’s murder, about Henry Marshall’s murder, about M. Wallace, about her brother’s dirty dealings. Researcher Bar Mlen, author of Blood, Money, and Power: How LBJ Killed JFK, documented Joseph’s indiscretions. Mlelen wrote that Joseph, especially when she was high, disclosed personal information and stories about Lyndon.

She talked about Johnson’s sexual affairs, about his corrupt deals with Texas contractors, about kickbacks, about murders, things that could destroy a vice president. And Lynden Johnson was vice president in 1961. Just one heartbeat away from the presidency. He couldn’t afford scandals. He couldn’t afford a sister who might drunkenly confess to murders at a cocktail party.

 Josepha was a ticking time bomb. And Johnson knew it. In late 1961, something happened. A fight between Josepha and Mac. Wallace. According to accounts that would emerge later, Josepha and Wallace had an argument. Josepha threatened to go public. She was tired of the lies, tired of the murders, tired of protecting her brother.

 She told Wallace and possibly others that she was going to expose what she knew about Kinszer, about Marshall, about all of it. M. Wallace reported this to Lynden Johnson, and Johnson made a decision. Ysefa had to die. According to Billy Saul Estes in testimony and letters written decades later, Lynden Johnson ordered M.

 Wallace to kill Josepha Johnson’s own sister, his flesh and blood. Because for Lynden Johnson, nothing was more important than power. Not family, not loyalty, not morality. Power was everything. And anyone who threatened that power, even his sister, had to be eliminated. On Christmas Eve 1961, Lynden Johnson hosted a party at his ranch near Stonewall, Texas.

 Family, friends, neighbors. A typical Johnson Christmas celebration Joseph attended. She drank, she socialized, and at 11:45 p.m. she left for home. Her house in Fredericksburg was just a short drive away. 4 hours later, she was dead. The official story is that Joseph went home, went to bed, and suffered a cerebral hemorrhage.

 Brain bleeding, sudden, tragic, natural. But Billy Saul Estes told a different story. In 1984, Estes wrote to the US Department of Justice. He claimed that Lynden Johnson, Cliff Carter, M. Wallace, and himself had been involved in multiple murders, including Josepha Johnson. Estes said Cliff Carter told him that Joseph had been poisoned at the Christmas party.

 Poisoned, not a natural hemorrhage. Poisoned. Think about the logistics. Josepha was at her brother’s ranch. She drank. She ate. She was surrounded by Johnson’s people. Carter, Wallace, others loyal to LBJ. Someone could have easily put something in her drink. Something that would take effect hours later.

 Something that would mimic a brain hemorrhage. fast acting, untraceable without an autopsy, and there was no autopsy. Under Texas law, sudden and unexplained deaths require investigation, an autopsy, a medical examiner’s report. Especially for a relatively young woman, 49 years old, with no history of stroke or aneurysm. But Lynden Johnson was vice president.

He had influence. He had connections. He had control over local officials in Texas. and no autopsy was performed despite state law, despite the suspicious circumstances, despite protests from family members. Instead, Joseph’s body was imbalmed on Christmas Day within hours of her death. Inbalming destroys evidence.

 It makes toxicology testing impossible. It ensures that no one will ever know what caused the death. And the next day, December 26th, Joseph was buried at the Johnson family cemetery. One day after her death, barely 24 hours, no investigation, no questions, no delay, just bury her and move on. Lyndon Johnson didn’t attend his sister’s funeral.

 The vice president of the United States, her own brother, didn’t go. Why? Johnson claimed he was too busy. Government business, vice presidential duties, he couldn’t make it. But witnesses said Johnson seemedrelieved. Not sad, not griefstricken. Relieved. According to dramatizations based on research like the miniseries American coup, the day democracy died, Johnson was on the phone with M.

 Wallace shortly after Josepha’s death. Business as usual. Then he hung up and returned to chatting with Texas oilmen in his office. Not mourning, working, calculating, moving forward. Because for Johnson, Hussepha’s death wasn’t a tragedy. It was a solution. She’d been a problem. Now she wasn’t. But the truth wouldn’t stay buried, literally.

 In 1984, 23 years after Joseph’s death, attorney Douglas Caddy wrote to Steven S. Trot at the US Department of Justice. Caddy included information from Billy Saul Estes, who had decided to come clean about the murders he’d witnessed. Estas claimed that Lynden Johnson, Cliff Carter, M.

 Wallace, and himself had been involved in multiple murders. John Kzer 1951, Henry Marshall, 1961. Josepha Johnson, 1961. Harold Our 1962. Ike Rogers 1962. Coleman Wade 1962, and others. Esta said all of these murders were ordered by Lynden Johnson to protect his political career. M. Wallace was the hitman. Cliff Carter was the coordinator and Estess witnessed it all.

Specifically regarding Josepha, Estess said she was poisoned. Carter told him directly. The plan was executed at the Christmas party and Johnson approved it. The Justice Department investigated sort of, but by 1984, everyone involved was dead. Johnson died in 1973. M. Wallace died in 1971 in a suspicious single car accident. Cliff Carter died in 1971.

Josepha was long buried. No evidence remained, so the case went nowhere. Estus’s testimony was dismissed as unreliable. He had a criminal record. He was a convicted fraudster. Why would anyone believe him? But here’s the thing. Estus knew details, specific details, names, dates, methods, things only someone who was there would know.

And independent researchers confirmed many of his claims. John Kinser’s murder documented. M Wallace’s trial documented. Henry Marshall’s suspicious death documented. The carbon monoxide, the five gunshot wounds, the suicide ruling. Estus wasn’t making everything up. Much of what he said was verifiable. So why would he lie about Joseph? Let’s look at the evidence, not proof.

 Because proof requires investigation, and no investigation occurred. But evidence, suspicious circumstances, patterns, motive, motive. Josepha knew about multiple murders. She was talking. She was threatening to go public. She was a liability. Opportunity. Josepha was at Johnson’s ranch, surrounded by Johnson’s people. Easy to poison.

 Easy to cover up. Timeline. Josepha died in December 1961, 6 months after Henry Marshall’s murder. While Johnson was vice president and couldn’t afford scandals. Cover up. No autopsy. Despite state law, immediate imbalming, quick burial, no investigation. Behavior. Johnson didn’t attend the funeral. He seemed relieved, not grieving. Confession.

 Billy Saul Estes claimed Josepha was poisoned on Johnson’s orders. Estes had inside knowledge of other murders that were later confirmed. None of this is proof, but it’s a hell of a lot of circumstantial evidence. Now, let’s address the counterarguments. People who defend Johnson, and there are some, argue that Joseph’s death was natural.

She was an alcoholic. She used drugs. She had health problems. She’d been hospitalized multiple times. A cerebral hemorrhage at age 49 is tragic, but not impossible. They argue that Estas was unreliable, a con man, a liar, someone who would say anything for attention or to reduce his sentence.

 They argue that the lack of autopsy proves nothing. Maybe local officials were lazy. Maybe they just didn’t think it was necessary. Maybe it had nothing to do with Johnson’s influence. But that doesn’t explain the rush, the imbalming on Christmas Day, the burial the next day, the fact that Johnson, the vice president, didn’t attend his own sister’s funeral.

 And it doesn’t explain the pattern because Joseph wasn’t the only person connected to Lynden Johnson who died suspiciously. John Kinser, murdered by McWallace in 1951. Wallace convicted but released with a suspended sentence thanks to Johnson’s lawyer. Henry Marshall, murdered in 1961. Five gunshot wounds ruled suicide. Harold Our died in 1962, supposedly committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning in his car.

 Ike Rogers, killed in 1962 when his car exploded. Coleman Wade died in 1962 when his plane crashed. Sam Smithwick found hanged in his prison cell in 1952 ruled suicide. But Smithwick had written to Ko Stevenson saying he had evidence about the 1948 stolen election. He died before he could testify. And then in 1963, John F. Kennedy assassinated in Dallas.

Lyndon Johnson becomes president. One death is a tragedy. Two is suspicious. But 6 7 8 that’s a pattern. And the pattern points to one man, Lynden Baines Johnson, the man who would do anything for power. M. Wallace, the suspected hitman, lived until 1971.On January 7th, 1971, Wallace died in a single car accident near Pittsburgh, Texas.

 He apparently fell asleep at the wheel, but according to Bar Mlen, Wallace had to be eliminated. Wallace knew too much. He’d killed for Johnson. He could testify. So, after visiting his daughter, Wallace went to an office in Long View, Texas, where allegedly his car’s exhaust was rigged to flow carbon monoxide into the vehicle.

 Wallace died of massive head injuries when his car crashed. Officially, accident, unofficially, murder, just like Henry Marshall. Carbon monoxide. Then a crash. Cliff Carter, Johnson’s aid and alleged coordinator of the murders, died in 1971, age 53, shortly after Wallace’s death. Both men dead within months of each other. Both men knew everything about Johnson’s crimes. Both men could have testified.

Both men died before they could. And in 1973, Lynden Johnson died of a heart attack, age 64. at his ranch in Texas. The same ranch where Josepha attended her last Christmas party in 1961. Everyone’s dead. All the witnesses, all the participants, all the victims, dead and buried.

 Most without autopsies, most without proper investigations, and the truth buried with them. But we know this. Josepha Johnson died under suspicious circumstances. No autopsy, rushed burial, immediate imbalming. a brother who didn’t attend her funeral. We know she knew about murders. John Kinser, Henry Marshall, probably others. We know she was talking, threatening to go public.

 We know she died at exactly the moment she became a liability to Lynden Johnson. And we know that Billy Solstz, who witnessed multiple Johnson murders, claimed Joseph was poisoned. Does that prove Johnson killed his sister? No. But it raises the question, how far would Lyndon Johnson go for power? He stole an election in 1948. Box 13, 200 fraudulent votes, suspended sentence for his hitman who murdered John Kzer.

 Henry Marshall shot five times and ruled a suicide. Johnson faced the Bobby Baker scandal, the TFX scandal, the Billy Saul Estes scandal. He was about to be dropped from Kennedy’s ticket in 1964. He was about to lose everything. And then Kennedy died and Johnson became president. and all investigations stopped. A man who would steal an election, who would order murders to protect his career, who would do anything for power, would that man kill his own sister? The answer is probably yes.

 Because Lynden Johnson’s entire life was about one thing, power. Acquiring it, keeping it, using it, and anyone who threatened it, friend, enemy, or family, was expendable. Josepha Johnson knew that better than anyone. She knew her brother. She knew what he was capable of. She knew the murders he’d ordered. And on Christmas Eve 1961, she went to his ranch. She drank at his party.

 And 4 hours later, she was dead. Coincidence or cold-blooded murder? You decide. But remember, history doesn’t repeat, but it echoes. and the echoes of Yosepha. Johnson’s death, the rush, the cover up, the lack of investigation sound a lot like murder. If this story made you question everything you thought you knew about Lynden Johnson, do something powerful. Hit that like button.

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 True crime, true conspiracy, true history. Now, I want to hear from you. Drop a comment. Did LBJ murder his own sister, or was Joseph’s death just a tragic coincidence? Are you in the US, Europe, Middle East, Asia? Our community spans the globe. Share your thoughts. Share your city. Keep this conversation alive because some deaths are natural, some are accidents.

 But some, like Josepha Johnson’s, are too suspicious to ignore. Thank you for watching. And remember, when someone knows too much, when they talk too much, when they threaten the wrong person, sometimes they don’t live to see another Christmas. Josepha Johnson, Christmas 1961, died at 3:15 a.m. No autopsy. Buried the next day.

 Her brother didn’t attend the funeral. The question isn’t whether she died. The question is