Here's Why It's Especially Dangerous To Hike SoCal Mountains Right Now, How 4 Words Upended A University's Journalism Program, And Stirred A Reckoning Over Race, What A Popular Yoga Teacher's Descent Into Conspiracy Theories Says About The 'Wellness To QAnon Pipeline', Ancient Lung Disease Strikes Countertop Cutters In LA, The Groundbreaking Suicide Squad That Tested Early Rockets And Flirted With The Occult. Jeana stood up, moved closer to the tube. Drinking, driving. The school was a block away from Nashs place. During one special engagement, Thorson danced with the Rockettes. Both cars slowed, pulled even in the middle of the street. Oh, shit, she thought, but she didnt say anything. jackson falls santa paula. I had to take them there., I took them there. Will Dominion-Fox News lawsuit be different? When I got out, he said, Lets go, and we drove toward home. Holmes, meanwhile, had gone back to making films. Drawings of the dog, of me. One search of the premises yielded a cardboard box containing 4,000 counterfeit Quaaludes. Youre probably going to be saving him.. Christ, she thought, John. I didnt know what was going to happen, but I knew what might, she says. Holmes was one of the greats in the business. Girls' Singles. Alex Murdaugh Found Guilty of Murdering Wife and Son Holmes went on to say that he wanted to be best in the world at something, and that he thought pornography was it. Holmes started in the business around 1968, a time when porn was just beginning to surface from the underground of peep shows and frat houses into mainstream acceptance. I trusted you! He wasnt specific, but it really didnt matter anyway. At the end, there were six working at once on his penis. By 1978, Holmes was freebasing cocaine all the time. Thread marks found on walls, skulls, skin. You know, says Detective Lange, theres no mystery here. Nobody ever came over, says Laurie. John continued to make films, but he made Laurie stop. In the face of a drier future, that iconic piece of Americana is on its way out in Southern California. He dunked his head, put a steaming washcloth over his face. Invalid memorial. She was in intensive care with a severed finger and brain damage. Police, however, believe that Holmes actually took part in the fatal beatings. In a career that would span twenty years, Holmes made 2274 hard-core pornographic films, had sex with 14,000 women. Edward SutterEdward Robert Sutter, 93, of Millstadt, Ill., born March 26, 1919, in Millstadt, Ill., passed away Tuesday, June 26, 2012, at the Columbia Rehab . They made him beg for his life. Then he sat up. We scattered his ashes over the ocean.. It is such a quintessential L.A. story of the 80s: drugs, sex, excess, night clubs, gangsters, and porn stars. When we came back, the door was locked, says Jeana. I was involved. Its like Raymond Chandler on crack. He weighed ninety pounds, his fingernails were two inches long. His defense was simple: John Holmes was the sixth victim of the Wonderland murders, and Eddie Nash was evil incarnate. Ladies and gentlemen, his lawyer told the jury at the outset, unlike some mysteries, this is not going to be a question of Who done it? This is going to be a question of Why arent the perpetrators here? . This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). For the last several years, Nash had rarely left his white-stone ranch house in Studio City. Blond and bearded, Launius had served federal time for drug smuggling. February 1988, seven years after the murders. Then what?, I leave the sliding door unlocked this one, said Holmes, pointing to the floor plan, here, in the back. Remember me?. In the still unpublished official version of his life, Holmes is quoted as saying that he was held at gunpoint at another house while the killers, whose names he did not know, went to the home on Wonderland Avenue. Dead were Joy Miller, Billy DeVerell, Ron Launius, Barbara Richardson. At the height of his popularity, he earned $3,000 a day on films and almost as much turning tricks, servicing wealthy men and women on both coasts and in Europe. Some were quite attractive. Why did you choose to publish the book on Lulu.com. You had an accident in the Malibu?. Ill teach them a lesson! He was willing, even eager, to murder a helpless woman who was no physical threat to him. I know Eddie. Holmes was telling people that doctors had removed sixteen feet of his large intestine. Los Angeles, Column: Did the DOJ just say Donald Trump can be held accountable for Jan. 6? Lulu Press offers a very affordable set-up with generous royalties. Launius' wife, Susan Murphy, also claimed that she and Launius were involved in a drug deal gone wrong in Mexico in 1972 or '73, during which she was taken hostage but saved by her husband when he killed her captors. Two years later, Ricks was ordered held against his will for psychiatric observation. Sometimes he worked around the apartments as the handyman and gardener. By the mid-Seventies, Nash held thirty-six liquor licenses, owned real estate and other assets worth over $30 million. Based on my research, "Wonderland"arrives closest to the truth but in both films an apologist's tone creeps in with reference to Holmes. Built in 1925, in the then fashionable Spanish Revival style, it sits in the leafy hills above the Los Feliz neighbourhood, at the fringes of Griffith Park and with a panoramic view of the city. Police sources said Vlick, who is charged with plssessing drugs and stolen property, is a 'fringe guy' in organized crime circles. Come with us, Sharon., It can be the three of us, Sharon, like old times.. Holmes slept fitfully for a few hours, Sharon Holmes said, and moaned about blood and pain. They threw brown bags of dope off the balcony. Barbara's cousin tells me this info. 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. With the preliminary hearing transcript, the Wonderland groupies for lack of a better term can get a glimpse into what really went down on the night of July 1, 1981, in the words of those who were there: Susan Launius, the sole survivor of the attack; David Lind, a slick, smooth-talking hood who was one of the trigger men in the robbery of reputed mobster Eddie Nash that preceded and instigated the murders; and Tracy McCourt, the petulant wheelman in the Nash heist. LAist is part of Southern California Public Radio, a member-supported public media network. Learn more about merges. Send us a tip using our anonymous form. Latinx Files: In praise of Jenna Ortega, Aubrey Plaza and moody, deadpan Latinas, Arizona governor wont proceed with execution set by court, Civilians flee embattled town of Bakhmut as Ukrainian pullout looms. Whatever. All of them! Tossing and moaning, punching and kicking. On the . The finish was drippy and streaked, but it didnt matter. 'I was laying down on the bed. 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. That house, she thought. Related Stories He knew we wouldnt have a life together.. 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. His bodyguard, Gregory De Witt Diles, was a karate expert and convicted felon who weighed a blubbery 300 pounds. Hed say, Count this. Were talking $56,000 in two boots.. In truth, Holmes was operated on for hemorrhoids. When VCX cut off Holmess salary, Amerson put up money to start Penguin Productions. par | Juil 2, 2022 | mitchell wesley carlson charged | justin strauss net worth | Juil 2, 2022 | mitchell wesley carlson charged | justin strauss net worth By 1973, John and Sharon were sharing the same house, even the same bed, but they were no longer having sex. A gate was unlocked, and Holmes walked up the stairs to the entrance with the gunmen concealed behind him. He would have to take them to the house.. Ive waited outside that house. A doctor of dubious practice prescribed a salad of different drugs to aid the weight loss. Three hours later, everyone was finally awake. They came even though, at the time, there was no music industry in Los Angeles. The armed intruders robbed Nash and his 300-pound body guard, Gregory Diles, of $10,000, two plastic sacks of cocaine and other property. A girl from the dorm recommended him. Let him scream? The case against Holmes was built largely on two pieces of evidence: An admission that Holmes allegedly made to Los Angeles Police Detective Frank Tomlinson after his arrest in Miami in December, 1981, and a bloody palm print left by Holmes on the rail of a bed on which one of the victims, drug dealer Ronald Launius, died. Whenever he returned from days or weeks away, Holmes would bring gifts: stuffed animals, roses, a ring. Mary was a Bible-thumping Baptist John remembered screaming, yelling, his father puking all over the kids. Number 8763 Wonderland Avenue had some history of its own: Paul Revere and the Raiders once lived there. Dismiss. Get em, boys!. His lawyer hired a young associate to stick Nash with a pin whenever he nodded off in court. Basically, he said, Im going to have to run, Sharon Holmes recalled, And I said, Youre going to have to tell me. . Hed underestimated Nash once, but hed never do it again. We have estimated Susan Launius's net worth, money, salary, income, and assets. He played it for all it was worth, then he said he wouldnt testify. Things at the house were always hopping, someone was always showing up with a scam. He was marketing Holmess old films on video. He looked like a guy in a dive bar in El Paso, according to a neighbor. Wednesday afternoon, July 1st, two days after the robbery. In jail, Holmes went on a hunger strike. Is this your brother? 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. I mean, come on: Ventura, Orange, San Bernardino - those are choices? We believe when reliable local reporting is widely available, the entire community benefits. 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It was a strange and violent time and men wore double-breasted suits and snap-brim Fedoras. John would just stay home. His legs and feet would swell up, his ears would bleed, he had infections in his lungs. The cops were calling it the Four on the Floor Murders. Web Design & Digital Marketing I really dont recall. Thorson was the live-in lover of the entertainer Liberace. His first porn film was made while he was working his way through college. A pimp tried to pick her up. So much blood! Holmes was having a nightmare. There are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people living and working in L.A. who have never given thought to writing a screenplay. Susan Launius. He thought one porn person in the family was enough, she says. Then he sold shoes, furniture, Fuller brushes door-to-door. No one but Holmes has ever been charged in the murder case. The bodies were discovered by workmen next door; theyd heard faint cries from the back of the house: Help me. Sharon looked at him. Meanwhile, Jeana called Holmess answering service and left the number. 26th Hall of Fame. To get better results, add more information such as Birth Info, Death Info and Location even a guess will help. Ten inches long! Holmes talked a while, looked Jeana up and down. At the moment that Diles barged through the door with Holmes in tow, Thorson was with Eddie in his bedroom, doing hits. He was also a drug dealer and a heavy user. Except for the . 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. They came even though, at the time, there was no music industry in Los Angeles. You want to play baseball? hed ask his ever-present guests, lighting his butane torch, offering a hit off his pipe. Holmes went to work for a construction company, painting a hotel down the strip. jaydubya2009 10y. Blood and brains splattered everywhere, even on the ceilings. Almost everything publicly known about porn king John Curtis Holmes is apocryphal, anecdotal, secondhand or informed by conjecture. They had a few questions for John Holmes. The murder weapon was a steel pipe with threading at the ends. Sharon sat on the wood-covered commode. Shed gotten a job at a nursing home and was paying her mom rent, trying to rebuild her life. I come back to Wonderland. Um, I lifted the trunk of the car, and I gave myself a nosebleed yesterday. Listen. He was picking on a kid that didnt know any better. We closed up the office and went to the beach. He treated me very special. John was thirty-one, she was fifteen. He stroked us, jacked us around. His last film was The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empress, starring Ilona Ciccolina Staller, a member of the Italian Parliament. Holmes told his wife that he rode with three armed men to the address on Wonderland Avenue. Once, Sharon says, he got a human head from UCLA. For a time, John Holmes was silent. It was obvious from his comments that Ricks, a hard-liner, considered Eddie Nash a plague. Ill pick you up.. SIMON: For more than 40 years, people have been reading and performing Susan Cooper's poem "The Shortest Day" to celebrate the winter solstice. That's not a stereotypical statement in the least. His words to me were Friends can get you killed. We were very careful. They were going underground. He had made a name for himself during the Vietnam War when he was dishonorably discharged from the army for smuggling drugs back to the United States in the bodies of dead servicemen. His black club was like a Hollywood Harlem, jazz and pinkie rings and wide-brimmed straw hats. 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. I said, John, how could you? 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 only recall seeing 'shadowy figures.'. When he became established as a porn star, Holmes said, he had a half dozen agents pulling in work for him. The cast of characters would go from two or three to ten or more. She'd gone into the pregnancy with a plan, knowing Black mothers like herself were at higher risk. Murdoch has survived scandal after scandal. There were two-way mirrors in the bedroom, anything you wanted would be made available. Names of mobsters, drug dealers, prostitutes, pimps. Funny, she thought, no cuts, no abrasions. Holmes and Jeana watched from the bed. Do you find the threat of earthquakes preferable to the threat of hurricanes and long winters? The murders were so brutal that police were comparing the case to the Tate-LaBianca murders by the Manson Family. Officers made casts of the victims' wounds to help determine the weapon or weapons used in the attack. After she left, my husband called on the telephone at the farm and said to come home immediately. John Holmes, who was tried for and acquitted of the crimes, never told his wife the names of the assailants, she said. 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. During the dispute, Sherrill shot and killed Moore and Launius helped Sherrill dispose of the body and conceal evidence. The man who owned the house was named Adel Nasrallah. Diles hit him again. A porn documentary of his life, made in 1981, was called Exhausted. The murderers were brought to justice. In Too Deep. The fifty-two-year-old former jurist had been arrested after he allegedly punched his eighty-two-year-old mother and threatened to kill someone if she didnt give him keys to a car. He hardly knew what Holmes was saying. He told us everything initially, right after it happened. Hed messed up a delivery, had a big argument with DeVerell and Launius. only "shadows". Can I come in?, They went to the bathroom. On the morning of June 29, 1981, four men who lived at the Wonderland Avenue address entered Nashs house through a sliding glass door that had been left ajar by Holmes, according to trial testimony. Nash shut the bedroom door. The Kit Kat was a strip club. Holmes remained in jail, however, on his outstanding burglary case. 'When you're talking about the star witness in a case like this I think you can safely assume that we've got her pretty well guarded,' a pllice spokesman said. It was like he was doing a movie. Suddenly, Johnny Carson was telling Deep Throat jokes on The Tonight Show. Holmes thought Nash was the most evil man hed ever met, but he couldnt quite figure him out, so he respected him. Now, in the breakfast nook, a tall, gaunt man with curly hair and a sparse beard pointed to the floor plan he had sketched. Venice Beach boardwalk to the Santa Monica Pier. Get my property! Thats what its all about. Holmes let his hair grow, started wearing three-piece suits. He wanted me to view his body and make sure that all the parts were there, says Laurie. ', In time, John and Laurie moved in together at Amersons. Coroner Thomas Noguchi said early autopsy results on the bodies found Wednesday -- 12 hours after the neighbors ignored the screams for mercy -- indicated the victims had been beaten to death. At trial, his lawyer argued that the $1 million worth of coke was not for dealing, that it was strictly for personal use. He wore the buckle when he and Sharon sold bumper stickers door-to-door. On July 10th, Police knocked down the door of their motel room and arrested Jeana and Holmes. I marketed him. Why? I have been fascinated by the Wonderland case ever since co-producing the documentary Wadd: The Life and Times of John C. Holmesin 1999. He sounded a lot like Eddie Haskell on Leave It to Beaver and bore some resemblance to the actor who played him. 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. He showed up at the house in the early evening. At 98 and facing cancer, Bob Dole reckons with legacy of Trump and ponders future of GOP. . He went to garage sales and bought old furniture. Nash was very upset. He wanted new names for Sharon and Jeana, too. Copyright 2023 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Thats bullshit. John swung and knocked his stepfather out. . His business empire totally atrophied as a result of the coke. She even had to have part of her skull surgically removed as a result of her injuries. A mother and daughter offered to help. I never get tired of what I do because Im a sex fiend. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts, https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/430cdk/four_bloody_unsolved_wonderland_murders/. or learn more. Reportedly, at the time of his death,[3] police investigators throughout California, largely in the Sacramento area, had 27 open homicide cases they believed were perpetrated by Launius. Although he was often away from home, I was his safe place, Sharon Holmes said. Nash was missing part of his sinus cavity, one of his lungs had been removed, and he had a steel plate in his head. House tossed by assailants. Now it was December 4th, 1981. By the Eighties, former California governor Jerry Brown was living on Wonderland Avenue, and Steven Spielberg was building on a lot not far away. . Jewelry, wads of money. It sounds silly, but you know how you can meet someone for the first time and its like you know them already?, After the film, John and Laurie, who looked like Jeana, began dating. The Sixties, the pill, free love, communes, wife swapping, the perverse creativity of mixed-media artists who were pushing the limit, trying to shock all of these things created an atmosphere in which porn could blossom. Their association ended in one of the most brutal mass murders in the history of Los Angeles. 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. His attorney told reporters that hed changed his mind because of certain arrangements that had been made and certain circumstances that had arisen. It goes from five inches all the way to ten. Along the way, in Colorado, Mr. Holmes refused to testify.