Inside were his drugs, his glass pipe, baking soda and a petri dish for cooking cocaine powder into rock base, a bottle of 151 rum and cotton swabs for lighting the pipe. LAist is part of Southern California Public Radio, a member-supported public media network. . The police wanted to know who killed the Wonderland Gang. Nash reciprocated with a quarter ounce of coke. Soon after, Detectives Lange and McClain called the hospital. Launius actually went to shoot her and his partners had to stop him. He told us certain things. Based on my research, "Wonderland"arrives closest to the truth but in both films an apologist's tone creeps in with reference to Holmes. Nash was acquitted. How could you do this thing! Eddie Nash screamed. He lost his virginity at age twelve to a thirty-six-year-old woman who was a friend of his mothers. In the meantime, here's an interview with Bren: 1. He wore the buckle when he and Sharon sold bumper stickers door-to-door. After a preliminary hearing in January 1989, at which Thorson, among others, testified, Nash and Diles were bound over for trial this summer; they are currently being held without bail in the Los Angeles County Jail. In the end, the most damaging evidence the prosecution could produce was a palm print on a headboard above one of the victims. Thats what its all about. In time, the surgery was completed, and Thorson was made into a young vision of Liberace. Number 8763 Wonderland Avenue had some history of its own: Paul Revere and the Raiders once lived there. After leaving California, Jeana and John had gone to Vegas, then Montana, then headed south, visiting the Grand Canyon, the Painted Desert. If you could live in LA during any era, when would it be? The pivotal event in porn history was the release of Deep Throat, starring Linda Lovelace and Harry Reems, in 1972. Whos this in Ohio? Nash screamed. His family had owned several hotels before the creation of Israel in 1948. He moved to a modest condo in Tarzana and set about rebuilding, taking college business courses at night. The house at 8763 had passed from a raucous group of women neighbors recall naked women being tossed from the first-floor balcony to the members of the Wonderland Gang. Coughing into the microphone, Ricks called Nash a danger to the public and maxed him out. Both cars slowed, pulled even in the middle of the street. You want to play baseball? hed ask his ever-present guests, lighting his butane torch, offering a hit off his pipe. Sharon sat on the wood-covered commode. Everything from Volkswagens to a Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow. An hour before, Holmes had run into Diles. DeVerell, 42, was also a heroin addict. Then Holmes hit on a more direct way to make money. Now, in the breakfast nook, a tall, gaunt man with curly hair and a sparse beard pointed to the floor plan he had sketched. Sellers picked up a hitchhiker who was going to Glendale to see his girlfriend. I was involved. But Sharon Holmes and Jeanna Sellers insist that it is true. Diles smacked Holmes, threw him across the room, shoved him against a wall. I called up and said I had some things for the people inside and to let me up. -, Press J to jump to the feed. Jeana was tucked into another hotel in the Valley. He didnt want part of him ending up in a jar somewhere. Except for the . But Holmes kept calling. What he was famous for was his penis. A subreddit dedicated to the unresolved mysteries of the world. I watched them beat them to death., It was them or me. Its the cops.. Venice Beach boardwalk to the Santa Monica Pier. After Holmes negotiations for an immunity deal with police and prosecutors fell apart, the actor made plans to leave town with Sellers. John Holmes died on March 13th, 1988. Your tax-deductible financial support keeps our stories free to read, instead of hidden behind paywalls. We want to talk to you about Eddie Nash, said McClain. She testified in a halting voice that the last thing she recalled was seeing shadowy figures in the bedroom where she lay with her husband. Updated on November 15, 2022 10:05 AM. He panicked, walked in circles around the doctors office, threw his briefcase down. Susan Launius Remote Medical Transcriptionist for Cardiology Center Of Amarillo Altus, Oklahoma, United States 95 followers 96 connections Join to view profile Cardiology Center Of Amarillo Altus. For his part, Holmes did anything he could for Nash. 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. John would just stay home. Whos Mary? It helps that Susan Boyle has made her Asperger's public. Six months ago shed had a double mastectomy. The murders are believed to be retaliation for the Wonderland Gang's robbing of Eddie Nash's home two days earlier. She was moving to a house. Jeana sat very still on the edge of the bed, watching a TV that was mounted on the wall. Jeana sat in the front seat, Thor in her arms. I marketed him. He quickly racked up a rap sheet, including gun and drug charges. Joy Audrey Miller, 46, who rented the house, had a record of six arrests -- three for peddling dope -- and had been under surveillance since Jan. 7, 1980, by narcotics officers who saw her selling drugs in front of the house at least eight times, affidavits said. Her lover was Billy DeVerell. But I had no reason to confront her. By 1978, Holmes was freebasing cocaine all the time. Thanks for posting though. All three of them are sleeping in the same bed. In February, Holmes was admitted to the VA hospital in Sepulveda. Now he was a drug delivery boy for the Wonderland Gang. For the last several years, Nash had rarely left his white-stone ranch house in Studio City. Anywhere on Los Feliz Boulevard adjacent to Griffith Park. Dear reader, we're asking you to help us keep local news available for all. Nash told a friend that he missed the moonlight and the olive trees of his homeland, that hed spent time in a refugee camp, that his brother-in-law was shot by Israeli soldiers. Ricks even came in from his sickbed to sentence Nash. Here's Where To Maximize The View (And Snap A Great Picture), A Los Angeles Family Seeks Answers And Accountability After Black Mom Dies In Childbirth, A Brief History Of Why It Does Occasionally Snow In LA. L.A. is too far flung to be any kind of social magnet outside of one's own neighborhood and community. Sellers agreed to talk to The Times on the condition that the paper not reveal her true name. They lived in London, Paris, Michigan, Florida. They used cans of spray paint. MAJOR GENERAL WILLIAM E. OVERACKER > Air Force > Biography Display - AF That version of the story, Sharon Holmes said, is fiction. For the first few months, while she was in Oregon with her mother, Jeana had refused to take Holmess calls. I believe that cocaine paranoia created within him the desire to stay within that closed environment that he had control over. Her daughter was born by emergency C-section. Holmes buzzed an outside intercom box and asked someone inside to let him in. Are you awake? Holmess eyelids fluttered. He wanted to be in charge. The color drained from his face. Can I come in?, They went to the bathroom. Theyll never steal from anyone again!, Thorson was excused, and Nash closed the door. Holmess half brother and his wife lived there; this little community was the personal fiefdom of John Holmes. Dismiss. Her brother Chris, 16, lived in Oregon. He worked for others for a time, then opened Beefs Chuck, a hotdog stand on Hollywood Boulevard. Then he left.. Each time, Nash made bail. Inside was her husband, John. I played in the water. Prioritizing employee development. Launius punched Holmes in the stomach. I believe I was watching TV and it seems like a bunch of people were coming in and out,' Mrs. Launius said. You talk to Nash, whatever, you tell him you got to take a piss. He took a lounge singers approach to sex, deliberately gentle, ostentatiously artful, a homely guy with a pinkie ring and a big dick who was convinced he was every womans dream. only "shadows". Then Nash was arrested with three others on federal charges of racketeering, arson and mail fraud. Hed been with three governors, two of their wives and one senator, who was really a freak., Holmes said he owned ten different businesses, that he was a gourmet cook, that he had written twenty-nine books, including a how-to manual combining cooking and sex. First, however, Thorson had to lose thirty pounds. You knew these people.. Then Liberace would make a joke about having the only fur coat in the world that had its own limo. In 1973, in Yuba City, CA, Ron Launius and associate Carroll Evan Sherrill had taken some "bad dope" and Ron confronted another associate, Gary James Moore, whom he accused of being a "snitch" or informant. He was also a drug dealer and a heavy user. First his forehead, then his cheeks, then his neck. Ron Launius had an extensive criminal history before coming to a bloody end. Change your mind. . Two years later, Ricks was ordered held against his will for psychiatric observation. jackson falls santa paula. He wanted witness protection, a new name, money, a home. He stared straight ahead, unblinking. Deep in Laurel Canyon, the Wonderland Gang was planning its last heist. Hed been ripped for eight pounds of cocaine, but the Wonderland Gang hadnt found his private stash, and now he was bubbling his glass pipe furiously. Suzanne Launius's birthday is 03/24/1951 and is 71 years old.Suzanne calls Hawthorne, CA, home.Susan Launius are some of the alias or nicknames that Suzanne has used. Class 1A. She didnt know what to do. One regular trick had him barge into her bedroom while she was watching TV, then tie her up and rape her. Launius was Wonderland's king, and he was as cold as ice. His body was recovered near Mount Islip. What compels you to revisit the slayings and what does the story say about Los Angeles, in the 80s and now? Videos . The cost of the ISBN - to get your title into other markets like Amazon and bricks and mortar book stores - comes out of the author's own pocket but that's a small price to pay, literally, for everything else Lulu does for authors, such as providing a storefront free of charge. Then came the late-night news. The car was on the other side of Santa Monica Boulevard, across six lanes of traffic. John? John swung and knocked his stepfather out. One day in 1970, Holmes met Hawaiian producer Bob Chinn. . Its like Raymond Chandler on crack. His gay clubs were the first in L.A. to allow same-sex dancing. As the 1980s began, and Holmes became more heavily involved in cocaine, his absences grew longer. Launius' years of operation: 1972-1973 (after he returned from Asia and before prison), 1978-1981. In court testimony years later, he would say, in answer to this and many other questions, I dont recall. At 98 and facing cancer, Bob Dole reckons with legacy of Trump and ponders future of GOP. But its one thing to tell someone something, says Lange. Nils Grevillius, who's been working on a book on the Wonderland murders, talks in one interview about a robbery committed by the Wonderland Gang (the same robbery, in fact, that Launius got the antique guns that he tried to fence via John Holmes, which ultimately led to the murders). Holmes was stealing luggage off conveyers at L.A. International, buying appliances with his wifes credit cards, fencing them for cash. 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. John Curtis Holmes had the longest, most prolific career in the history of pornography. myers park country club lawsuit; turkey hill frozen yogurt discontinued. Later, in the Sixties, the canyon attracted writers and artists, rock stars and gurus. John was a shy and lonely kid who kept to himself and had perfect attendance at Sunday school. All the sugar helped him come down. You little Jeana stood, walked away. Sports promoter Vic Weiss was found murdered in the trunk of his Rolls Royce in a Hollywood hotel parking lot in 1979. Now, as McCourt turned right, off Laurel Canyon Boulevard onto Dona Pegita, he saw Holmes driving back toward them. Nash and Diles were well known on Sunset Strip. here. People are after John, and they think youre with him. She wasnt happy. They went to the beach. 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. He went fucking crazy, says Amerson. 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. Ronnie Launius - Ancestry.com John eased into the tub. We closed up the office and went to the beach. Theyd been married sixteen years. So I told him everything, John said. Hed been in jail eleven months in all, 110 days on the contempt charge. Around that time, he also began developing complications related to AIDS. Too bad youre so young, he said finally, then left. There was a garage on the first floor; the second and third floors had balconies facing the street. he didnt know what the truth was anymore; about himself, about anything, Sellers said. A day or two later, Holmes gave a compressed, but similar account of what happened to Sellers, she told The Times. Join now Sign in . He felt like he was an example.. Ron Launius was a known associate of Weiss and also a suspect in his murder. 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/. He excused himself, left the room and unlocked the sliding door. 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.'. Get the fuck out of here! he screamed. That we were on the right track, that this is indeed what had happened, that this was the motivation, that this was how it came down. What's different Nobody had gotten it yet, but it was still in the back of our minds. Susan Flores, mother of 'prime suspect' in Kristin Smart case - KSBY Mystery Of A Massive Library Fire Remains Unsolved After More - NPR According to one eyewitness, Diles once chased a man out of the Kit Kat and emptied his .38 revolver into the mans car. Abraham Lincoln : TV NEWS : Search Captions. Borrow Broadcasts : TV There was shouting, laughing, rock & roll twenty-four hours a day.. The consumption of alcohol and drugs was an ongoing, everyday affair, says an attorney who is a longtime acquaintance of Nashs. Things at the house were always hopping, someone was always showing up with a scam. 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. Then you guys take him down.. His mistress, Jeana, whod been with him since she was fifteen, was turning tricks to support his habit. John was terrified that I was going to confront her. He had sex onscreen with two generations of leading ladies, from Seka and Marilyn Chambers to Traci Lords, Ginger Lynn and Italian member of Parliament Ciccolina. John was really sick by this point, says Laurie. He introduced him to all his guests. You had an accident in the Malibu?. I have been fascinated by the Wonderland case ever since co-producing the documentary Wadd: The Life and Times of John C. Holmesin 1999. In time, Holmes became known as the Errol Flynn of porn. Wonderland murders - Wikipedia We believe when reliable local reporting is widely available, the entire community benefits. Six months later, on September 8th, 1988, Diles and Nash were charged with the murders on Wonderland Avenue. DeVerell, Launius and McCourt, all heroin addicts, were out cold. Memorial ID. Now things were not so friendly. There was one hitch. 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. What's your favorite movie(s) or TV show(s) that are based in LA? As much as I like "Boogie Nights", it remains a fairly superficial movie. Susan Goldberg, MBA Expand search. We have estimated Susan Launius's net worth, money, salary, income, and assets. John looked down at Sharon. His voice had a smooth Arabic lilt. They mix poorly, and yet they're inexorably linked. How long have you lived in Los Angeles, and which neighborhood do you live in? Teenage Cowgirls, Liquid Lips, China Cat and Tapestry of Passion. Lind and his girlfriend had come down three weeks earlier from Sacramento to stay at Wonderland. While Holmes was in jail, Amerson had started a company called John Holmes Productions. At trial, his lawyer argued that the $1 million worth of coke was not for dealing, that it was strictly for personal use. Recently, Holmes had been drifting from job to job, trying to find a niche. It had a tropical motif, a menu of special drinks, a Polynesian revue, sometimes belly dancers. Thread marks found on walls, skulls, skin. I told where the robbers lived and how to get there. Where are you calling from? It began, according to Thorsons book, Behind the Candelabra, when Liberace ordered him to have cosmetic surgery. A bloody mess. Atkins was convicted for her involvement. John Holmes was famous, at least in some circles. John Holmes didnt go to his grave with anything but a very bad case of AIDS. GitHub export from English Wikipedia. When asked by Holmes' attorney what she remembered after that, she replied, 'nothing.'. Under Review. The final victim was Barbara Richardson, 22, Sacramento, Calif. Court records revealed that a codefendant in Miss Miller's narcotics case was John 'Ricco' Vlick, 53, who lives in a wood-shingled house only two blocks from the scene of the killings. He showed Chinn his portfolio of stills, then stripped. Jeana said nothing. Neighbors in the canyon, where a conversation at night can be overheard blocks away, said they were used to rowdy, all-night parties in the house. Wed have dinner with other people at the hotel, go to movies. Nash shut the bedroom door. And then, just as we got to this intersection, he slammed on the brakes. He invested in movies, leased office space to several porn-related operations. Pharmaceutical cocaine was one of the ingredients. Recently, however, Holmess biggest commodity had been trouble. Then he sat up. There was a telephone at the entrance, an electronic deadbolt on the gate, two pit bulls sleeping on the steps. 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. Ventura County is a wussy answer. He received a bachelor's degree in chemistry and mathematics from Emory . 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. Everybody was just shocked.. They came from across the countryalthough the Washington, D.C. area was noticeably over-representedas well as from Canada and England, and, in at least one case, all the way from Nazi Germany. Susan Launius's income source is mostly from being a successful . 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. You could walk up, whisper something in his ear, and hed make it available. When Holmes was eight, his mother married Harold, a manic-depressive who worked for the telephone company. 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. When Amerson raised their rent to $400, they got their own place in Encino. She hadnt heard from him in, what, six months? They shared an apartment with another divorced woman and her two children. Everybody at the hotel got to know us, Jeana says. I was working as a computer programmer. By the Eighties, former California governor Jerry Brown was living on Wonderland Avenue, and Steven Spielberg was building on a lot not far away. There were contracts out on their lives. John was into Save the Whales. The Kit Kat was a strip club. Im very lusty.. Holmes told his wife that he rode with three armed men to the address on Wonderland Avenue. Latest Videos; Emmy Awards - Show Clips - Winnerviews - Presenterviews . A California cop called him "one of the coldest people I ever met." The house at 8763 Wonderland rented for $750 a month.. She hadnt seen him in three months. Launius' wife, Susan Launius, survived the attack, which is shocking given the crime scene photos and video. Jeana was somewhere downtown. Susan Launius | Susan Lanius (unlucky) wife of Ron Lanius pl | Flickr A porn documentary of his life, made in 1981, was called Exhausted. 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. Shed driven out from Miami with her father and younger sister. Jeana dropped out of Glendale High School. A naturalized American, Nash came to California from Palestine in the early Fifties. He could repair anything, liked sketching and working in clay. I used to be a Web Developer in the Newsroom, now I spend my time in coffee shops researching murder. Ron Launius was born in 1944 in Shawneetown, IL. At 98, Bob Dole reckons with legacy of Trump, ponders future of GOP Sharon Holmes said she is convinced that her former husband was at least present when the murders took place. Holmes' Confession in Bathtub: Told Wife of Role in 4 Murders Holmes finally called on the afternoon of the 29th, after the Wonderland Gang kicked him out. Lets face it, she says. 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. I had to take them there., I took them there. Since the late Sixties, Holmes had traded on his natural endowment. John tried to make a deal with the cops. . Kentucky man stops for breakfast, wins $50,000 lottery prize. The video boom was just beginning, and Holmes became a kind of Marlon Brando of porn. Why would I confront her? It had a pool and a sunken living room, a white stone faade. Someone held a gun to my head. Edmund Brown Jr. owns a house about a mile from the scene of the murders. It's a yellow - sometimes green - vehicle with four tires and a Middle Eastern man behind the wheel. He hardly knew what Holmes was saying. At the moment, on this evening of June 28th, 1981, Wonderland Avenue was quiet. His first porn film was made while he was working his way through college.
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