He was involved in one murder and a suspect in at least one more. I mean, come on: Ventura, Orange, San Bernardino - those are choices? Sprinklers were ticking water across lawns. He felt like he was an example.. This is an archival story that predates current editorial management. What he may have been referring to was the imprisonment, that very same morning, of Eddie Nash, on charges of dealing drugs. That first time, we didnt get to work together, says Laurie, but we were attracted. Nancy J. Kraft, nee Launius, 69, of Smithton, Illinois, born Friday, August 4, 1939, in East Saint Louis, IL, died Wednesday, November 5, 2008 at Memorial Hospital in Belleville, IL. On Mulholland Drive, silently watching as the city falls down and taking a naturalist's notes. Now, in an exclusive interview with the Observer, . In the meantime, here's an interview with Bren: 1. He offered the police secrets. Please enter a valid Memorial ID. Now, in the breakfast nook, a tall, gaunt man with curly hair and a sparse beard pointed to the floor plan he had sketched. The setup, the robbery, Nashs threat to kill his whole family, Sharon included. Soon after, the courtship of Jeana began. The word in the industry was that he had colon cancer. In the business she was billed as Misty Dawn, the anal queen of porn. Then, when Eddie Nash got out of jail, John was very, very worried. We want to hear it. Susan Launius is beaten but not killed. A naturalized American, Nash came to California from Palestine in the early Fifties. Theyll never steal from anyone again!, Thorson was excused, and Nash closed the door. Dickman and Throbbin, a lampoon of Batman and Robin. Diles shoved, Holmes skidded across the carpet. Browse by collection. After a while, the news. She didnt know where. Sellers agreed to talk to The Times on the condition that the paper not reveal her true name. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts, https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/430cdk/four_bloody_unsolved_wonderland_murders/. The Starwood, on Santa Monica Boulevard, featured cutting-edge rock & roll. Nash and Diles were well known on Sunset Strip. Holmes buzzed an outside intercom box and asked someone inside to let him in. Nash would kill him and his family if he talked, he was certain of it. Focusing on employee strengths. Is there something wrong? Can I come in?, They went to the bathroom. I loved him. John looked down at Sharon. The next day, while Holmes was at work, a delegation of residents came to see Jeana. A doctor of dubious practice prescribed a salad of different drugs to aid the weight loss. But Holmes kept calling. He didnt want part of him ending up in a jar somewhere. Miss Miller's shiny white 1969 Mercedes 280 SL was used to deliver narcotics to her customers, detectives said. Jeana dropped out of Glendale High School. March 3 (UPI) -- A sheep spotted wandering loose on a British highway was given a lift back to its owner by a concerned bus driver on her first day on the job. In court testimony years later, he would say, in answer to this and many other questions, I dont recall. We were really broke. Amerson says Holmes spent most of his time playing cards and shooting darts. For his part, Holmes did anything he could for Nash. John? Oh, shit, she thought, but she didnt say anything. They mix poorly, and yet they're inexorably linked. . Holmes remained in jail, however, on his outstanding burglary case. A gate was unlocked, and Holmes walked up the stairs to the entrance with the gunmen concealed behind him. Dismiss. Ricks cited Nashs need for delicate surgery to remove a sinus tumor. The 43-year-old actor died as a result of complications arising from his infection with the AIDS virus. He knew that Nash had a lot more than that lying around the house. Its time, Holmes said, and then he smiled and raised his fist. . Salary in 2020. This time, the gang decided not to wait for his return. On his sixteenth birthday, Holmes joined the army. He wasnt threatening. Once, Sharon says, he got a human head from UCLA. If you're enjoying this article, you'll love my daily morning newsletter, How To LA. He beat the shit out of me, then walked back up to the room. He was very upset about the business. You just had to ask, and hed give., According to court testimony, Nash had a fancy for young girls, whips and a game with a revolver called Russian roulette. Christ, she thought, John. The couple ended up in Miami, at a small run-down hotel on Collins Avenue. Sellers had no particular plan; Glendale sounded just fine. He was marketing Holmess old films on video. . At midnight, the Wonderland people scraped together $400, and Holmes, whose pretense for entrance would be buying drugs, drove off to Nashs house. Then another. Everybody was down there. This would lead, in the mid-Seventies, to Holmess most successful role, as Johnny Wadd, the hard-boiled detective, porns parody of Sam Spade. In the end, Deep Throat was massively consumed by an enthusiastic public. 22nd Emmys Golf Classic. Going up there right now isn't safe, but here are some places where you can enjoy the view and snap a pic. Holmes, in those days, was a string bean, six feet tall, 150 pounds, hair still cut in a military buzz. It had a pool and a sunken living room, a white stone faade. Bring me their eyeballs in a bag, and I will forget what you have done to me! Just after the murders, Nash and Diles had found themselves in a world of shit. I had to let her know there was another world out there, that John was not God Almighty. YouTube: Susan Wojcicki, YouTube's chief executive and one of the most prominent women in Silicon Valley, is stepping down from her longtime role leading the internet's most popular video service. He keeps a sawed-off shotgun under the blanket Here, this is Nashs room. Jewelry, wads of money. . Bring me their eyeballs! To get better results, add more information such as Birth Info, Death Info and Location even a guess will help. You little Jeana stood, walked away. This anecdote right there tells me that Launius has a body count. You cannot merge a memorial into itself. Sharon went to the bedroom, laid down, read a magazine. You sound close., Well, I, I, ah, came with a friend. Porn star John Holmes in 1981, shortly after four people were bludgeoned to death in what came to be known as the Wonderland Murders. When Detectives Bob Souza and Tom Lange entered the home, nestled in the hip L.A. enclave of Laurel Canyon, they found pills and pipes scattered all over the flooralong with four dead bodies whose. Copyright 2023 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Hed made all these people millions and millions of dollars. $1 Million - $5 Million. But its one thing to tell someone something, says Lange. Blood! The poor girl was emaciated, Sharon says. Remember Eddie? According to the law, he had to talk. Ive waited outside that house. Hey, its cool, said John Holmes, 36, the man with the plan. Gregory DeWitt Diles, six feet four, 300 pounds, barged through the front door of the house on Dona Lola, dragging John Holmes by the scruff of his neck. John was really sick by this point, says Laurie. Pharmaceutical cocaine was one of the ingredients. March 2 (UPI) -- A Maryland woman scored a $100,000 prize from a scratch-off lottery ticket less than 12 hours after she scored an $11,000 jackpot at a casino. Youd walk into the house, there were various girls walking around in various states of undress. Sharon cooked dinner. Too bad youre so young, he said finally, then left. Sydney Pollack's adaptation of Horace McCoy's "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" Florida woman runs ultra-marathon distances for 23 consecutive days. His business empire totally atrophied as a result of the coke. But Sharon Holmes and Jeanna Sellers insist that it is true. Nash had clubs of all kinds; he catered to all predilections. People are after John, and they think youre with him. Hanson said Holmes never told his attorneys what happened the night of the killings. Even Near The Hollywood Sign, Authorities ID Man Arrested In Killing Of LA Auxiliary Bishop David O'Connell As Husband Of Housekeeper, Another Missing Hiker Has Been Found Dead In San Gabriels As Search For Actor Julian Sands Continues. Then, says Laurie, the third time I went up there, he came up to me with the mirror and said, You want a hit? and I turned to him and said no. When Detectives Bob Souza and Tom Lange entered the home, nestled in the hip L.A. enclave of Laurel Canyon, they found pills and pipes scattered all over the flooralong with four dead bodies whose. Chris didnt have a drivers license. The murders are believed to be retaliation for the Wonderland Gang's robbing of Eddie Nash's home two days earlier. I just didnt like what he was doing.. When asked by Holmes' attorney what she remembered after that, she replied, 'nothing.'. Nolan Miller . Two years later, Ricks was ordered held against his will for psychiatric observation. Room service. He stroked us, jacked us around. Thursday, July 2nd, 3:30 a.m. Sharon Holmes switched on the porch light, spied through the peephole. There were contracts out on their lives. He introduced him to all his guests. All Marriage & Divorce results for Ronnie Launius. [5] Barbara Richardson They told him to make good. Sharon had been a virgin when theyd met. A girl from the dorm recommended him. Gov. It was a simple ceremony. He cooked coke all night long. John swung and knocked his stepfather out. Is this your brother? For the last several years, Nash had rarely left his white-stone ranch house in Studio City. In time, the surgery was completed, and Thorson was made into a young vision of Liberace. Show your appreciation with the gift of Flickr Pro. If anything, one of the themes in Eddies life has always been control. Sharon always knew when he was lying. My husband hired a girl to follow us. They wanted to see Holmes. Mrs. Launius, whose husband, Ronald, was killed in the attack, told the court doctors removed a large portion of her skull during surgery following the beating. DeVerell, Launius and McCourt, all heroin addicts, were out cold. A few months later, Jeana moved into the guest room of the house. June M. Schuyler, an elementary-school teacher from Santa Barbara, remembers meeting the nice-looking, very-light-skinned foreign man at Beefs Chuck. Suddenly, Johnny Carson was telling Deep Throat jokes on The Tonight Show. After bathing at Sharons, Holmes had come here, to this motel in the Valley. When he did coke, says Jeana, hed do it until it was all gone, and then hed scrape the pipe and smoke all the resin he could find, and then hed take a bunch of Valium. John was terrified that I was going to confront her. He invited them in for coffee. Most people find it hard to believe, but I'm an introvert. While Holmes was in jail, Amerson had started a company called John Holmes Productions. He walked through the door, flopped on the bed, passed out. Susan Lanius (unlucky) wife of Ron Lanius played by Christina Applegate in the movie Wonderland. British bus driver stops to give loose sheep a lift. Another victim, William DeVerell, 44, who lived at the house, had an arrest record in the 1950s, mostly for narcotics but had not been arrested in the recent case. Launius actually went to shoot her and his partners had to stop him. The color drained from his face. There was a lot of traffic, all day, all night, says a neighbor. Later, the women dyed Johns hair black. Net Worth in 2019. Launius was Wonderland's king, and he was as cold as ice. John kept his porn money and spent it on himself. A porn documentary of his life, made in 1981, was called Exhausted. here. He invested in movies, leased office space to several porn-related operations. Sharing the house with Miller and DeVerell was Ronald Launius, 37. Remember me?. A look at the notorious convicted murderer's life in prison after she drowned her two sons in 1994. Holmes went to work for a construction company, painting a hotel down the strip. Blond and bearded, Launius had served federal time for drug smuggling. Would Jeana want to be the live-in baby sitter? In the end, the most damaging evidence the prosecution could produce was a palm print on a headboard above one of the victims. The attack was allegedly masterminded by organized crime figure Juan Nel 8kfollowers More information Removing Bodies From Wonderland- This Day in History: Jul 1,1981: The Wonderland murders Murder Stories John Holmes Forensic Psychology Laurel Canyon Unsolved Serial Killers True Crime I marketed him. She was an associate of the Wonderland Gang, hanging around the Wonderland apartment, where she was savagely beaten by criminals with lead pipes on the night of 1 July 1981. There was a telephone at the entrance, an electronic deadbolt on the gate, two pit bulls sleeping on the steps. One day in 1970, Holmes met Hawaiian producer Bob Chinn. His attorney told reporters that hed changed his mind because of certain arrangements that had been made and certain circumstances that had arisen. Like all porn actors, John had been paid per day and had signed away the rights to his own films. Now it was midnight in the parking lot at the Safeway in Glendale. She was twenty, an army brat. Barbara's cousin tells me this info. After she left, my husband called on the telephone at the farm and said to come home immediately. The day after the robbery, someone who knew Nash apparently spotted Holmes in Hollywood, wearing a piece of jewelry that had been stolen from Nashs home, he told his wife. This is Susan Launius. Accident car um he stammered. Why? I'll sidestep Nathanael West's blistering "Day of the Locust" to applaud some more recent works like Michelle Huneven's "Jamesland" and the Nina Zero private eye novels by Robert Eversz. We're in a period of seismic drought in L.A. Where do you want to be when the Big One hits? Usually, they smoked freebase and had sex. . Didn't expect my day to start by downloading #microsoftedge or willingly going to #bing to see #openai's new #gpt4 model. All the sugar helped him come down. LOS ANGELES -- The lone survivor of a bloody attack at a Laurel Canyon home last summer testified today she does not recall seeing porno star John Holmes in the house the night she was attacked and four others were bludgeoned to death. Blood! He hardly knew what Holmes was saying. Which movie about the entire John C. Holmes story accurately captures the Holmes milieu- "Wonderland" or "Boogie Nights" ? She was the sole survivor of the attack - suffering severe head injuries, amnesia, and a severed finger. Thorson, who was waiting to be sentenced on a drug-related armed robbery, had sought a deal with police. He meant nothing to me in that way.. Jeana said nothing. . She actually saw it. Schuyler said that Ed loved her son exceedingly and that he offered to fix it up for you to take him to a top brain surgeon. The 200 Greatest Singers of All Time 7 May 2013. Are you an introvert or an extrovert? She was later unable to identify her attackers. Launius was a reckless thief and he went after wealthy targets, not just down-and-dirty drug dealers and bikers, so I'd look for possible victims with either have money or look like they have money, who turned up dead after a home invasion. Thats what its all about. A subreddit dedicated to the unresolved mysteries of the world. He always had large quantities of coke, heroin, Quaaludes and other drugs at the house. All of them! He wanted new names for Sharon and Jeana, too. Lind and his girlfriend had come down three weeks earlier from Sacramento to stay at Wonderland. Eddie Nash assumed he deserved a certain amount of respect, says one denizen. When I got out, he said, Lets go, and we drove toward home. There wasnt any trouble. You could walk up, whisper something in his ear, and hed make it available. After a while, I said I didnt want to go out on the beach anymore. Holmes slept fitfully for a few hours, Sharon Holmes said, and moaned about blood and pain. The Wonderland Gang. It was owned by the pediatrician she worked for; she and Holmes lived rent-free in an adjacent house. Ron Launius had an extensive criminal history before coming to a bloody end. His legs and feet would swell up, his ears would bleed, he had infections in his lungs. She opened the door, folded her arms against her chest. John Holmes himself never offered a public account of what happened on that July night. Jeana stood up, moved closer to the tube. . Now, as McCourt turned right, off Laurel Canyon Boulevard onto Dona Pegita, he saw Holmes driving back toward them. He thought, Well, if Im going to take a chance, thats enough. . He looked like a guy in a dive bar in El Paso, according to a neighbor. Sports promoter Vic Weiss was found murdered in the trunk of his Rolls Royce in a Hollywood hotel parking lot in 1979. (Taken from Wikipedia on Wonderland Murders). After she left him, according to a court affidavit, I took the children to Oklahoma to my aunt and uncles farm, together with my parents. Susan A. Murphy married Ron Launius in Carson City, Nevada on 16 April 1971, and the two of them were heavy drug users. But Detective Tom Lange of the Los Angeles Police Department, the lead investigator on the case, said, There is no mystery, because we know who is involved and we know why. Over the years, theyd become like mother and daughter. She didnt know what to do. Five men and two women were meeting in the breakfast nook, sitting in swivel chairs, leaning against walls. One regular trick had him barge into her bedroom while she was watching TV, then tie her up and rape her. At least two of the four people beaten to death at the yellow two-story house in rustic Laurel Canyon had narcotics records and the blonde woman who rented the house delivered drugs in her shiny white Mercedes, court records indicated Friday. They picked up a six-pack, went to a park, sat by a pond. Holmes was to run it. More from Medium For years, a Boy Hung a Photo on his Bedroom. Prioritizing employee development. Recently, Holmes had been drifting from job to job, trying to find a niche. We were real friendly. Detectives said they had talked to Susan Murphy Launius, 29, at Cedars Sinai Medical Center, where she is in critical condition with gashes in her head and neck. He was freebasing one hit of coke every ten or fifteen minutes, swallowing forty to fifty Valium a day to cut the edge. She was scheduled to appear in court this month on drug charges. Susan Launius. John, theyre coming, Laurie said in a stage whisper. John Holmes was a porn star. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click He tried to think. One day, Jeana was visiting a neighbor when Holmes came by to deliver a bag of pot. Susan A. Murphy Launius, 30, while not an official member of the gang, was married to gang member Ron Launius and had a drug habit. Two days later, Coen alleged that Holmes, acting on Nashs orders, led the killers to the Wonderland Avenue address and then helped murder the occupants. Learn more about merges. In a way, Holmes was everymans gigolo, a polyester smoothy with a sparse mustache, a flying collar and lots of buttons undone. Whatever. Every weekday, you'll get fresh, community-driven stories that catch you up with our independent local news. Then she ran into a woman preaching fire and brimstone on a corner. Since the late Sixties, Holmes had traded on his natural endowment. If somebody fucked with him. So I told him everything, John said. He called some people, and they said, Well help you out. But wed never get the money they promised., On January 24th, 1988, John and Laurie were married in the Little Chapel of the Flowers, in Las Vegas. Nash reciprocated with a quarter ounce of coke. Holmes refused to testify. Big Rosie, the manager, let Jeana work the switchboard and clean rooms in exchange for rent. Three hours later, everyone was finally awake. Eddie Nash was fifty-two years old, six feet tall, gray haired, strong and wiry. Shed driven out from Miami with her father and younger sister. Venice Beach boardwalk to the Santa Monica Pier. After mustering out of the army, at age nineteen, Holmes went to work as an ambulance driver, and soon thereafter he met Sharon Gebenini. We had a big fight. When asked to elaborate, the policeman explained: "A trash can only has two handles". In your opinion, what's the best alternate route to the 405? ", Woman wins $100,000 lottery prize 11 hours after $11,000 casino jackpot. I said yes. If you could live in LA during any era, when would it be? Jeana said nothing. There was "a lot of screaming going. Your tax-deductible financial support keeps our stories free to read, instead of hidden behind paywalls. Allan MacDonell October 2, 2003. I've always found the Wonderland story so intriguing. At the moment, on this evening of June 28th, 1981, Wonderland Avenue was quiet. March 2 (UPI) -- A Minnesota police officer came to the rescue of a raccoon he spotted running around with a jar stuck over its head. His gay clubs were the first in L.A. to allow same-sex dancing. Ventura County is a wussy answer. We sat for a long time, and he was very, very quiet. He received a bachelor's degree in chemistry and mathematics from Emory . An argument ensued. The Top 5 newsletter catches you up with LAs top 5 stories in just 3 minutes. Called the Wonderland Killings, the brutal murder of 4 people in a Laurel Canyon home gained even more noteriety when authorities discovered that porn star John Holmes had played a mysterious role in the case.Age and Occupation: 46. Finally he came out and said, You know what? Laurie was standing at the door when Lange and McClain appeared down the corridor. Drawings of the dog, of me. She hadnt seen him in three months. Then, in the summer of 1985, John tested positive for AIDS. He was also a drug dealer and a heavy user. Do you find the threat of earthquakes preferable to the threat of hurricanes and long winters? Arriving back at Wonderland just after dawn, Holmes announced the coast was clear. According to legend largely of his own making Holmes was born in New York and lived with a rich aunt whod been married fifteen times. The maid was the only one home, and they tied her up. We closed up the office and went to the beach. Updated on November 15, 2022 10:05 AM. Now the police wanted Holmess testimony. He boiled it clean in a pot on Sharons stove. He panicked, walked in circles around the doctors office, threw his briefcase down. Girls' Singles. He said, Why not? and I said, Because it makes me feel funny and I cant talk. So he went in the bathroom, and he locked himself in. On the . One was abruptly interrupted on the morning of July 1, 1981, when a shaken John Holmes crawled into their Glendale bedroom, bleeding, and told his wife that he had been in an accident. After seven years, the district attorney was reopening the Wonderland case, based, in part, on testimony from Scott Thorson, Liberaces ex-lover. I won't do an extensive write-up of the Wonderland Murders, as they've been written about on here before: https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/430cdk/four_bloody_unsolved_wonderland_murders/. How do other people see you? Another officer commented, upon hearing of Launius' death, "I suppose they won't need many pall bearers". Two years later, Ricks reduced Nashs sentence to time served, and Nash was released. Every time you read something, they say its a big mystery. Who talks about this person. He had a tape measure in one hand, his penis in the other. It was like being in a movie or something., By late 1984, John was working as an executive at Amersons VCX films. She didnt know what to do. He had a full erection. (John) was so much of a liar . He has just published his latest project about one of Los Angeles's most well known murder cases in the 80s. There was a security system at the house. Funny, she thought, no cuts, no abrasions. Launius, Deverell, and Miller, along with the girlfriend of an accomplice, Barbara Richardson, died from extensive blunt-force trauma injuries. Holmes had nothing to do and nowhere to go. The complex had ten free-standing cabana apartments, built around a courtyard. Others looked like theyd been sucking on the pipe a little too long.