He had ties to the criminal underworld and was known to be dangerous -- it just so happened that he crossed someone even more dangerous than himself, and lost his life for it. We were real friendly. Considering employee opinions. Except for the . I have been fascinated by the Wonderland case ever since co-producing the documentary Wadd: The Life and Times of John C. Holmesin 1999. Holmes had nothing to do and nowhere to go. A California cop called him one of the coldest people I ever met.. He quickly racked up a rap sheet, including gun and drug charges. Apparently, Holmes had made good his promise and stopped doing drugs. Thorson, who was waiting to be sentenced on a drug-related armed robbery, had sought a deal with police. The school was a block away from Nashs place. Holmes and Jeana watched from the bed. Another woman who had a lengthy intimate relationship with Holmes told The Times recently of a separate, parallel admission made by the actor shortly after the killings, an account she gave to police in 1981. After she left, my husband called on the telephone at the farm and said to come home immediately. Early in 1983, Holmes was shooting Fleshpond at a studio in San Francisco. They picked up a six-pack, went to a park, sat by a pond. One of Nashs friends and overnight guests was, according to a law-enforcement official, an Israeli with a military background, the so-called reputed godfather of the Israeli Mafia. A report by the California State Department of Justice revealed that the Israeli Mafia was active in California during the late Seventies and early Eighties and was involved in drugs, arson, extortion, gunrunning and a number of murders, including the death and dismemberment of two Israeli nationals at the plush Bonaventure hotel in downtown L.A. During his six or seven years of heavy drug use, said the attorney, Nash lost over a million a year directly attributable to drugs. Holmes was an inveterate collector of junk. Why would I confront her? Remember Eddie? If you could live in any neighborhood or specific house in LA, where/which would you choose? She wasnt happy. Holmess parents separated when he was three, and Mary moved the family into a housing project in Columbus. His family had owned several hotels before the creation of Israel in 1948. Names of mobsters, drug dealers, prostitutes, pimps. What he may have been referring to was the imprisonment, that very same morning, of Eddie Nash, on charges of dealing drugs. Nolan Miller Usually, they smoked freebase and had sex. I had to take them there., I took them there. The first man to win the X Rated Critics Organization Best Actor Award, Holmes was an idol and an icon, the most visible male pom star of his time. According to one Los Angeles law-enforcement official, Ed Nash was a very well-known figure in the Sixties around Hollywood with police, and it was never an antagonistic relationship.. Lt. Ron Lewis discounted speculation that the slayings could be 'random killings' such as the Tate-LaBianca murders committed by the Manson Family in 1969. He has just published his latest project about one of Los Angeles's most well known murder cases in the 80s. There were two-way mirrors in the bedroom, anything you wanted would be made available. You sound close., Well, I, I, ah, came with a friend. Suddenly, Johnny Carson was telling Deep Throat jokes on The Tonight Show. A girl entered stage right. This is a man who pimped out his underage girlfriend to Eddie Nash in exchange for drugs and that's just the beginning of his sins. John? It was Thursday, July 2nd, 1981. She was twenty, an army brat. Launius, Deverell, and Miller, along with the girlfriend of an accomplice, Barbara Richardson, died from extensive blunt-force trauma injuries. In truth, Holmes was operated on for hemorrhoids. He remained addicted to coke. He made films nonstop, and he took eighty to ninety telephone calls a day. Allan MacDonell October 2, 2003. John and Jeana painted the Malibu gray with a red top. I stood there against the wall. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. Launius estranged wife, Susan, who was visiting, survived the assault but suffered severe head injuries. A host of musicians, actors and artists make their homes in the rustic canyon. Things started to click. Will Dominion-Fox News lawsuit be different? Jailers said other inmates were giving him candy bars. So Holmes summoned his wife into the bathroom, drew steaming water into the tub, slipped in, and began to talk. By June, she was thinking, Well, Im not doing anything here. On June 27th, two days before the robbery at Nashs, she flew to Los Angeles. A mother and daughter offered to help. The man who owned the house was named Adel Nasrallah. A naturalized American, Nash came to California from Palestine in the early Fifties. Nash hadnt slept in ten days. He was like the old John. Nobody ever came over, says Laurie. The Week in Photos: California exits pandemic emergency amid a winter landscape, Hidden, illegal casinos are booming in L.A., with organized crime reaping big profits, Look up: The 32 most spectacular ceilings in Los Angeles, 19 cafes that make L.A. a world-class coffee destination, David Lindley, guitarist best known for work with Jackson Browne, dies at 78, Best coffee city in the world? The murders, he said. John Holmes didnt go to his grave with anything but a very bad case of AIDS. Susan Launius, who lay wounded with severe head injuries for hours before being discovered in the house by neighbors last July 1, testified during Holmes' preliminary hearing that she could. I ran out the door, down to the pool, and he ran after me, the fool. His clothes were ripped, he was bloody from head to toe. . Laurel Canyon had long been a prestige address, an earthy, woodsy setting just minutes from the glitter and rush of Tinseltown. Which memorial do you think is a duplicate of Ronnie Launius (29045828)? Please enter a valid Memorial ID. He stayed in there like three hours, and Im just sitting there, you know, twiddling my thumbs. That version of the story, Sharon Holmes said, is fiction. Nash and Holmes had met three years earlier at the Seven Seas. Susan A. Murphy Launius, then 30, while not an official member of the gang, was married to gang member Ron Launius and had a drug habit. John Holmes died on March 13th, 1988. Armed guards in the lobby, in the hallway. Just recently, he had begun training to be a uniformed security guard. Someone held a gun to my head. The bodies were discovered by workmen next door; theyd heard faint cries from the back of the house: Help me. Nash was a drug dealer and a heavy user. Um, I lifted the trunk of the car, and I gave myself a nosebleed yesterday. Dead were Joy Miller, Billy DeVerell, Ron Launius, Barbara Richardson. Nash was very upset. Two years later, Ricks reduced Nashs sentence to time served, and Nash was released. -, Press J to jump to the feed. Edmund Brown Jr. owns a house about a mile from the scene of the murders. Big mystery. I loved the schmuck. Based on the material given to us by John Holmes (for the book), that version of the facts is not an accurate one, Eisenman said. We scattered his ashes over the ocean.. He couldnt walk. 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. Holmes went on to say that he wanted to be best in the world at something, and that he thought pornography was it. So, how much is Susan Launius worth at the age of 70 years old? On the afternoon of Wednesday, July 1st, 1981, Eddie Nash was again consuming drugs at an alarming rate. . Frequently he brought him girls. So much blood! Holmes was having a nightmare. Then, in the summer of 1985, John tested positive for AIDS. It is such a quintessential L.A. story of the 80s: drugs, sex, excess, night clubs, gangsters, and porn stars. She cut her eyes slowly, caught his profile. Everybody was just shocked.. Fine. He looked like a guy in a dive bar in El Paso, according to a neighbor. . A day or two later, Holmes gave a compressed, but similar account of what happened to Sellers, she told The Times. It was 8:30 Monday morning. It was really nice. In addition, more than 3,000 pages of court and police documents and newspaper reports were reviewed. One day, Jeana was visiting a neighbor when Holmes came by to deliver a bag of pot. And like the leading men of yesteryear, what was known of him was mostly myth. Hed sent two of his minions out to score more drugs, but they hadnt yet returned. For the latest national news from NPR and our live radio broadcast, visit LAist.com/radio. Everybody was down there. This is an archival story that predates current editorial management. When we came back, the door was locked, says Jeana. He did not testify at his trial, and his later secret testimony before the Los Angeles County Grand Jury remains sealed. Youd walk into the house, there were various girls walking around in various states of undress. His eyes were open, says Laurie, and it looked like he had looked up to Death and said, Here I am. It was the most peaceful look I ever saw in my life. He wasnt specific, but it really didnt matter anyway. Sharing the house with Miller and DeVerell was Ronald Launius, 37. Nobody had gotten it yet, but it was still in the back of our minds. master splinter death. You said something about blood., Holmess eyes bulged. COOPER: (Reading) And when the new year's sunshine . Firefighters hoist horse stranded in backyard swimming pool. He felt like he was an example.. After leaving California, Jeana and John had gone to Vegas, then Montana, then headed south, visiting the Grand Canyon, the Painted Desert. John was terrified that I was going to confront her. Joy Audrey Miller, 46, held the lease. Get the fuck out of here! he screamed. Susan Lanius (unlucky) wife of Ron Lanius played by Christina Applegate in the movie Wonderland. He wanted witness protection, a new name, money, a home. Would Jeana want to be the live-in baby sitter? The consumption of alcohol and drugs was an ongoing, everyday affair, says an attorney who is a longtime acquaintance of Nashs. March 2 (UPI) -- A Florida woman earned a Guinness World Record when she completed 23 ultra-marathon runs -- 31.1 miles -- in a 23-day period. The buckle depicted a mother whale swimming in the ocean, her baby nursing beneath. Ronald S. Coen, now a Los Angeles Superior Court judge, argued that the fatal beatings were intended to avenge the humiliating armed robbery of Los Angeles nightclub owner Adel Nasrallah, also known as Eddie Nash. He said, I had to stand there and watch what they did, Sharon Holmes recalled. ''Wonderland,'' directed by James Cox, is part of a curious, somewhat unsavory subgenre of movies that involve washed-up, sort-of-famous people and death by bludgeoning. See that car over there? Management asked Jeana to leave. Are you afraid its withering and dying? she said, laughing. When Holmes was eight, his mother married Harold, a manic-depressive who worked for the telephone company. After bathing at Sharons, Holmes had come here, to this motel in the Valley. Writer and documentary producer. 'I was laying down on the bed. He boiled it clean in a pot on Sharons stove. Some heard a woman's screams coming from the house Tuesday morning, but ignored them in the belief someone was playing a joke, partying or having a nightmare. Susan Launius was severely beaten in her bed, but she narrowly survived, albeit with amnesia, head injuries, and the loss of a finger. Nash was on the job day and night, wearing a tall white chefs hat, waiting tables himself. Sellers agreed to talk to The Times on the condition that the paper not reveal her true name. Nash was extremely hospitable. John bought himself an El Camino pickup and a large diamond solitaire that became his trademark in films. Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. That first time, we didnt get to work together, says Laurie, but we were attracted. Ive waited outside that house. Then he sold shoes, furniture, Fuller brushes door-to-door. Now, in an exclusive interview with the Observer, . In the meantime, here's an interview with Bren: 1. Edit your search. In 1960 he opened a hot-dog stand on Hollywood Boulevard. This stuff makes me feel funny too. At an alarming rate.. They were living out of the trunk of his estranged wifes Chevy Malibu. Not only did the Black Dahlia murder occur in '47 but the town was full of soldiers returning from the war with scarred psyches. And the AIDS thing was just starting to come out. jaydubya2009 10y. He hardly knew what Holmes was saying. Bring me their eyeballs! On Mulholland Drive, silently watching as the city falls down and taking a naturalist's notes. U.S., Newspapers.com Marriage Index, 1800s-current. Nash was acquitted. He had the biggest pile of coke Id ever seen in my entire life, says Jeana. A pimp tried to pick her up. The jury found him innocent. Finally he came out and said, You know what? He said, Would you make love to me? I literally shook to death. At the moment, on this evening of June 28th, 1981, Wonderland Avenue was quiet. Holmes hired the sisters to do gardening around the complex. Or that show out of New York, you know, A Current Affair. Holmes remained in jail, however, on his outstanding burglary case. Holmes, meanwhile, had gone back to making films. He knew he was dying. This is Susan Launius. We did it in the van. Ricks even came in from his sickbed to sentence Nash. Around that time, he also began developing complications related to AIDS. He said, They stuck a gun to my head and they made me go back in (to the Wonderland Avenue house) and open the door. Thats what he told me. John? 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. John Holmes, who was tried for and acquitted of the crimes, never told his wife the names of the assailants, she said. The Interviews 25th Anniversary. ", Woman wins $100,000 lottery prize 11 hours after $11,000 casino jackpot. Sharon always knew when he was lying. The Malibu was idling. The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation Presents. Holmes was one of the greats in the business. Theres somebody out there who wants to kill me, Holmes told Sharon, his wife of 16 years. Each time, Nash made bail. He went fucking crazy, says Amerson. Browse by collection. She didnt have any money. Holmes was to run it. Though the movie, when it began to appear at theaters around the country, was branded as obscene and closed down almost everywhere it played, its producers contested the charges in the courts and eventually won. The word in the industry was that he had colon cancer. Its time, Holmes said, and then he smiled and raised his fist. Number 8763 Wonderland Avenue had some history of its own: Paul Revere and the Raiders once lived there. One of the actresses in the cast was Laurie Rose. She was moving to a house. He and Sharon settled into a strange hybrid of domesticity. Holmes nodded his head, put out his cigarette, closed his eyes. Where are you calling from? Prioritizing employee development. Basically, he said, Im going to have to run, Sharon Holmes recalled, And I said, Youre going to have to tell me. . Now the police wanted Holmess testimony. Sharon Holmes said she is convinced that her former husband was at least present when the murders took place. This anecdote right there tells me that Launius has a body count. L.A. is too far flung to be any kind of social magnet outside of one's own neighborhood and community. One summer day in 1968, Sharon came home a little early from work. Sports promoter Vic Weiss was found murdered in the trunk of his Rolls Royce in a Hollywood hotel parking lot in 1979. Jewelry, wads of money. For like three weeks, one of us had to be awake at all times. Holmes wouldnt tell. Barbara's cousin tells me this info. By this time, Sharon had befriended Jeana. On weekends they went to swap meets and yard sales. Now, in the breakfast nook, a tall, gaunt man with curly hair and a sparse beard pointed to the floor plan he had sketched. Tell you its all clear. At home, Harold picked on John. Lulu Press offers a very affordable set-up with generous royalties. Submissions should outline a mystery and provide a link to a more detailed review of the case such as a Wiki article or news report. They told him to make good. He tried to think. Police sources said Vlick, who is charged with plssessing drugs and stolen property, is a 'fringe guy' in organized crime circles. They shared an apartment with another divorced woman and her two children. It was obvious from his comments that Ricks, a hard-liner, considered Eddie Nash a plague. Launius was Wonderland's king, and he was as cold as ice. Focusing on employee strengths. [5] Barbara Richardson [ edit] All the sugar helped him come down. When theyd finish work, hed make sandwiches. . He graduated from UCLA with majors, variously, in physical therapy, pediatric physical therapy, medicine and political sciences. Nine days later, Holmes was picked up in a Sherman Oaks motel in the company of Jeanna Sellers, a 20-year-old neighbor. 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. Holmes was crumpled on the floor. Ron Launius had an extensive criminal history before coming to a bloody end. Four bodies. Let him scream? If you're enjoying this article, you'll love my daily morning newsletter, How To LA. Then Liberace would make a joke about having the only fur coat in the world that had its own limo. We want to talk to you about Eddie Nash, said McClain. They took back his key to Wonderland, and Launius punched him out, then hit Holmes with his own blackthorn walking stick. In time, Holmes became known as the Errol Flynn of porn. Hed made all these people millions and millions of dollars. We have never heard the whole truth (about the killings) and we never will hear the whole truth, said attorney Earl L. Hanson, who, along with partner Mitchell W. Egers, successfully defended Holmes against the murder charges. He told me that he had set up the robbery. She is the sole survivor of the brutal Wonderland attack the night of July 1, 1981; she suffered severe head injuries, amnesia, and a severed finger following the attack. And so the plan was fixed. On October 25, 1994, Susan Smith told . They did hits off Eddies pipe, eyed the door. The time was right, he told Lind. 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. . In a career that would span twenty years, Holmes made 2274 hard-core pornographic films, had sex with 14,000 women. With the release the same year of The Devil in Miss Jones and Behind the Green Door, porn became part of popular culture. I gave you everything!. Behind him was his partner, Mac McClain. She told him to get the fuck out of my life. He couldnt call Jeana. There were backhands, lectures, drunken rages. Atty. He was dying. LAist is part of Southern California Public Radio, a member-supported public media network. He looked very scared. Jeana, Ive got to tell you. So much blood! he groaned over and over. He panicked, walked in circles around the doctors office, threw his briefcase down. I'm comfortable speaking to 2,000 people about my work, but drop me into a cocktail party with 50 people, and I'm lost. The cops were calling it the Four on the Floor Murders. As the 1980s began, and Holmes became more heavily involved in cocaine, his absences grew longer. Holmes was telling people that doctors had removed sixteen feet of his large intestine. Susan A. Murphy Launius, then 30, while not an official member of the gang, was married to gang member Ron Launius and had a drug habit. All Rights reserved. Charles Manson was deranged and messianic but John Holmes only cared about himself and didn't care who got hurt - or killed - in his never-ending quest to feed drugs and self-esteem into his wasted system. how much does a cfl general manager makeduskull evolution arceus So you go in, Launius was saying to Holmes, reviewing the plan. Wed have dinner with other people at the hotel, go to movies. John C. Holmes, the worlds premier pornographic film star, sobbed as he sat in a steaming bathtub early one morning in July, 1981. Lind and his girlfriend had come down three weeks earlier from Sacramento to stay at Wonderland. Sharon was a nurse at USC County General, working on a team that was pioneering open-heart surgery. We moved around a lot because the rent kept going up. . I stood there and watched them kill those people., I was involved in a robbery, John began, and he told the story. How could he rent a car? Since the late Sixties, Holmes had traded on his natural endowment. The letters "IC" pronounced properly can say "icy" meaning very cold. But before they headed east, Holmes paid a final, early morning visit to his wife. There were seven of them meeting in the house on Wonderland Avenue, a jaundiced stucco box on a steep, winding road in the hills above Hollywood. He showed up at the house in the early evening. Holmes went to work for a construction company, painting a hotel down the strip. Arriving back at Wonderland just after dawn, Holmes announced the coast was clear. You talk to Nash, whatever, you tell him you got to take a piss. By the mid-Seventies, Ed Nasrallah had become Eddie Nash and had amassed a fortune. One woman who had sex with Nash remembers a lot of temptation. Nash had clubs of all kinds; he catered to all predilections. His last film was The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empress, starring Ilona Ciccolina Staller, a member of the Italian Parliament. He chewed gum and overacted. I was involved. Now they had another idea. Jeana sat very still on the edge of the bed, watching a TV that was mounted on the wall. Blood and brains splattered everywhere, even on the ceilings. All his lawyers I think he had maybe six or seven working on different things all his managers, employees, customers, everyone, would come to him. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts, https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/430cdk/four_bloody_unsolved_wonderland_murders/. It was a simple ceremony. Wednesday afternoon, July 1st, two days after the robbery. March 3 (UPI) -- Firefighters in Britain responded to a home to rescue a horse that had fallen into its owner's swimming pool and was unable to get itself out. Then Nash was arrested with three others on federal charges of racketeering, arson and mail fraud. She is the sole survivor of the brutal Wonderland attack the night of July 1, 1981; she suffered severe head injuries, amnesia, and a severed finger following the attack. During one special engagement, Thorson danced with the Rockettes. Every weekday, you'll get fresh, community-driven stories that catch you up with our independent local news. Only Launius' wife Susan survived the attack, allegedly masterminded by organized crime figure and nightclub owner Eddie Nash.