The Wonderland Murders. The police arrived at the house to find a destroyed, blood-filled den and the bodies of Barbara Richardson, Ron Launius, Joy Miller and Billy Deverell in various rooms. Read about John Holmes and the Wonderland Murders here. Schedule; Mobile Apps; Watch Live; Stream on discovery+; Shows. On July 1, 1981, four people were found murdered in what cops called a cornucopia of "dope, porn, sex and drugs and organized crime". In fact,as the Los Angeles Times tells us, the police have considered the case essentially solved for quite a while even though a conviction hasn't materialized. To fully understand what events led to the Wonderland murders, you need to look into the life and times of the notorious John Holmes. Only Launius' wife Susan survived the attack, allegedly masterminded by organized crime figure and nightclub owner Eddie Nash. Blood on the floor of the feedroom where Paul Murdaugh was shot dead. 1 Chief Officer, 4 Fire Engines @CHPInland & AMR on scene. While at the crime scene, he is picked up by the same two L.A.P.D. Wonderlandis a very compelling look at the darker side of Hollywood and those that wield power. As investigators descended upon the apartment, one of them picked up a camera and photographed the scene. She said Holmes never told her the names of the three other assailants. WhileWonderlandmakes Holmes connection to the robbery more explicit there is a moment in the film when Lind (played by Dylan McDermott) exits Nashs house, shouting John Holmes says hello! over his shoulder it keeps things slightly ambiguous given the nature of the verdict. Main; . Around 3:00a.m. on July1, 1981, two days after the robbery, an unknown number of unidentified men entered the Wonderland Avenue townhouse and bludgeoned to death Launius, DeVerell, Miller, and Barbara Richardson (Lind's girlfriend who had been visiting). Another warning: John Holmes's penis is below. According toSalon,Nash was the kind of guy who had $1 million in cocaine stashed in his house, which he eventually went to prison for. Crime scene footage of Butterfly Richardson, found in a pool of blood on the floor in front of the couch. By 1981, John Holmes infamous porn career was over. Though he died in 1988, at just 43-years-old, his IMDb page reveals that he had no less than 231 credits as an actor, the vast majority of which were porn. CELEBRITY NEWS. Exactly how things proceeded from Nash figuring out Holmes' connection to the robbery and the Wonderland murders is unclear, but the generally held belief is that the encounter wasn't very pleasant. John Holmes was the lead suspect. Thorson claimed that Nash had been so convinced that Holmes was involved that he had made his injured bodyguard track him down and beat the assailants names out of him. springfield ohio murders 2021 springfield ohio murders 2021 (No Ratings Yet) . All in all, the stories makeNash seem like the kind of guy you definitely didn't want to cross, especially if you were far more small-time than him. Nash walked free until 2000, when he was charged with drug trafficking and money laundering. He was but 43 years of age. They were gruesome, bleak, and looked like photos that the police would have taken for evidence rather than something that would appear on the front page of a newspaper. Working with the Fototeka photo digitation se Its devastating. Ada Larson is the mother of Sonja Larson, one of five college students in Gainesville, Florida, who were killed in 1990. The incident resulted in Nash's bodyguard, Gregory Dewitt Diles, being shot and injured. Wyoming Police this week released photos from the July 2014 case known as the Craiglist murders. Though the exact details remain sketchy, it is believed that on July 1 of 1981 a group of men bent on murder would enter the house at 8763 Wonderland with steel pipes and proceed to bash in the heads of everyone in the house. In 2001, Nash pled guilty to a number of racketeering charges that effectively proved that he was involved in planning the murders, and threatened and bribed witnesses and a juror. In these scenes, DeWitt encourages Holmes to get involved, urging him to contribute to the gruesome violence that night. YouTubeCrime scene footage showing the bloodstain in the bedroom of Susan and Ron Launius. The podcast picks up from there and chronicles his descent into drug addiction and crime, all while haunting the dark underground of Hollywood. According to Salon, they were a loose collective of drug dealers, evidently named after their base of operations on 8763 Wonderland Avenue. Alex Murdaugh's shoes taken from the night of Maggie and Paul's murders. His only sentence was 110 days in jail after being in contempt of court. Major Traffic delays, WB 10 . As part of a plea deal, he admitted to having bribed the single dissenting juror in the original trial. [8], Neither Lind nor McCourt was present during the attack. Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window), Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window), Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window). Rene Ballard and Harry Bosch work together to hunt the killer who is Boschs white whalea man responsible for the murder of an entire family. Paul Thomas Anderson's 1997 drama Boogie Nightstells the story of a Holmes-esque character called Dirk Diggler (Mark Wahlberg), whose downfall stage involves a creepy encounter with a shady drug dealer calledRahad Jackson (Alfred Molina). It became a vicious circle: lack of fewer work opportunities only increased drug use. 3. Reports would later paint him as a reluctant criminal, one who regretted that his long track record of heroin abuse and resulting arrests made it difficult for him to find and hold other jobs. Bettmann Archive/Getty Images. Listen to three excerpts from Episode 3: The Man Who Knew Too Much. His cult statues was assured up until his involvement in one of the most horrific murders of the last thirty years. Recently a friend and I gained access to the residence in the Hollywood Hills where the infamous "Wonderland Murders" took place. This picture was taken by serial killer Robert Ben Rhoades. Sign up for my newsletter to be among the first to learn of upcoming titles! Crime Scene Photographs From The 1920s Give A Glimpse Into America's Dark Past. The fourth victim, Billy DeVerell as he died on the floor of the 3rd floor bedroom. BREAKING. There is a line in the film where one of the LAPD Officers tells his partner: heres a guy who has been under investigation for arson for the last five years, yet he still goes out to dinner with the fire commissioner twice a week. Holmes was all too aware of Nashs dark side, and although he on occasions referred to Nash as his brother and kin, Holmes would also call Nash the most evil man I have ever known.. The Death Of Lana Clarkson. Due to reasons that will become obvious in a moment, Holmes' exact role in the Wonderland murders of 1981 is unclear. Still, they did not call the police; they only arrived approximately twelve hours later when removal men at another property heard a brutally beaten Susan Launius moaning in anguish with blunt trauma to the head. . The massacre gained infamy, not only for the gruesome events but for the names associated with the murders. This was also the bed where Holmes left a hand print which . Boris Yaro/Los Angeles Times via Getty ImagesEddie Nash was arrested in a 7 a.m. raid on his Laurel Canyon home. Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) detectives Tom Lange and Robert Souza led the murder investigation, and searched Nash's home a few days after the crime. From this point on, the events are going to be pretty much peppered with "allegedly" and "as the story goes," simply because the law has neverofficiallybeen able to make sense of things. Nash sent Diles to retrieve Holmes for questioning; Diles supposedly spotted Holmes walking around Hollywood wearing one of Nash's rings and brought him back. The prosecution argued that he had retaliated against the Wonderland gang after feeling slighted by the division of the spoils from the Nash robbery. "I became the butt of jokes, which traveled around like wildfire. 2023 Michael Connelly. WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES Disturbing new crime scene photos show the moments after Austin Harrouff, 19, allegedly murdered John Stevens and Michelle Mishcon outside their Florida home and chewed on . However, arguably the most interesting version of the story comes from John Holmes' wife, Sharon, who says that the broken man told her the real story a few weeks after the incident. It is exciting to be releasing this podcast on Audible, a company Ive had a long and fruitful association with. Worley claimed she swabbed 10 different areas in Alex's vehicle that returned presumptive positive tests for blood. Perhaps the most horrifying sight was Launiuss wife, Susan. Susan A. Murphy married Ron Launius in Carson City, Nevada on 16 April 1971, and the two of them were heavy drug users. It is assumed that five people were targeted to be killed in the known drug house of the Wonderland Gang, three of whomRon Launius, William "Billy" Deverell, and Joy Millerwere present. The Wonderland murders happened onJuly 1, 1981, when the killer(s)stepped in the Wonderland Gang'sden without any sign of breaking and entering, as theLos Angeles Timestells us. Lind was consuming drugs with a prostitute in a motel and McCourt was at his own home. Cocaine wasnt the Wonderland crews only source of revenue. He immediately pointed the finger to Holmes, who had visited Nash three times in the days up to the robbery and allegedly left a sliding door open on the last occasion. They were murdered, up on Wonderland.. 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Newly released photos and police body camera footage taken after Maggie, 52, and Paul Murdaugh, 22, were murdered at their family's private hunting ranch painted a gruesome scene of chaos and confusion in South Carolina's Low Country, RadarOnline.com has learned. Both bedrooms had been thoroughly searched and ransacked. The "Wonderland Murders" remains one of the most high profile cases in Los Angeles; gruesome and unsolved. 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. Looks like a perfectly nice home in the Hollywood Hills, but this apartment building was the scene of a gory 1981 mass murder. The Wonderland Murders Crime Scene Photos. Holmes was in serious debt, and pretty much no one would sell him drugs anymore, so he had to work in whatever circles he still had access to. Five people are dead, Sharon. "Nash was about as mysterious as [Holmes], and I think that mutual mystery attracted them to each other.". Of course, that was just a childrens tale, but the real-life Wonderland wasnt far off: a drug house on Wonderland Avenue, high above the Sunset Strip, that hosted the seedy side of LAs up-and-comers. While John didn't actually reveal the names of the culprits, he said that he knew them and that this meant he was in mortal danger. Notice the blood on the walls. She narrowly survived the Wonderland murders, being beaten so badly that she could not remember anything about the incident. Given that the house had a reputation for loud and disruptive behavior at all hours, the neighbors had just assumed the gang was having a party and hadnt bothered to call the cops. Today, the Wonderland killings are remembered as one of Hollywoods most gruesome moments a horror story whose images and video have continued to haunt long after the bodies were buried. While he claimed she "kissed the gun" and that it was an accidental suicide, others - including . . Never miss a story sign up for the RadarOnline.com newsletter to get your daily dose of dope. Listen to an excerpt from Episode 1: The Unreliable Narrator, Listen to an excerpt from Episode 2: It Was A Bloodbath. Nov 7, 2015 - Explore Libby Youtcheff's board "Wonderland Murders" on Pinterest. On February 3, 2003, she was found dead of a gunshot wound in the mansion of famed record-producer Phil Spector. Below you can see the photos that were taken by police at the scene of the crime. DAILY. It involves a drug-fueled gang of criminals, a crazed crime kingpin -- and the world's most famous porn star on a downward and deadly . Holmes spiralling ways led to debt and a circle of drug dealers and criminals, and he caught the attention of nightclub baron Eddie Nash, who he soon owed money to. Sister of Irish businessman Jason Corbett said Davidson DA won't retry Molly Corbett and Thomas Martens. Nash and Holmes history, chequered and with multiple run-ins, is where the Wonderland Connection comes in. Miller was found on her bed, with DeVerell at the foot of the bed in an upright position leaning against the TV stand; a hammer was found on the bed. [13] One month before he died, two LAPD detectives visited Holmes at the Veterans Administration hospital where he was convalescing to question him about the murders. Today, 8763 Wonderland Avenue in Laurel Canyon is home to a neat little split-level with a carport, an iron-framework balcony, and a family with a minivan. ", The Wonderland murders remain unsolved to this day, though asSalonpoints out, it's not because people don't know who did them it's just because there's no official conviction. Joy Miller was found dead in her bed, while DeVerells body was slumped at the foot, leaning against the TV stand. 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