A California cop called him one of the coldest people I ever met.. I played in the water. John Holmes recounted how he led three thugs to the tightly secured drug house on Wonderland Avenue, escorted them in, and stood by as they bludgeoned the five people inside, spattering Holmes with blood. And (that they) made him watch.. Caring about employees. Only Launius' wife Susan survived the attack, allegedly masterminded by organized crime figure and nightclub owner Eddie Nash. Ill have them on their knees! Nash ranted to Thorson. By the mid-Seventies, Ed Nasrallah had become Eddie Nash and had amassed a fortune. Nashs house was raided three times. COOPER: (Reading) And when the new year's sunshine . Susan Launius was severely beaten in her bed, but she narrowly survived, albeit with amnesia, head injuries, and the loss of a finger. He told me that he had set up the robbery. He wanted to be the Arab man in his tent. If anything, one of the themes in Eddies life has always been control. 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. The pivotal event in porn history was the release of Deep Throat, starring Linda Lovelace and Harry Reems, in 1972. Soon after, the courtship of Jeana began. There were backhands, lectures, drunken rages. In the weeks before the killings, Coen told the jurors, Holmes ferried property stolen by the Wonderland Avenue gang to Nashs heavily secured home in Studio City, where he exchanged it for drugs. 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. Are you an introvert or an extrovert? . Police said Holmes was involved in an unreported robbery of cash and drugs at the Studio City home of nightclub owner Adel Nasrallah, also known as Eddie Nash, three days before the bludgeon slayings at a Laurel Canyon home. Latest Videos; Emmy Awards - Show Clips - Winnerviews - Presenterviews . Thorson, who was waiting to be sentenced on a drug-related armed robbery, had sought a deal with police. or learn more. Theres somebody out there who wants to kill me, Holmes told Sharon, his wife of 16 years. 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. Just recently, he had begun training to be a uniformed security guard. The Wonderland case was still open. Your mother? If you could live in LA during any era, when would it be? Tell me where you are. Up to this time, Holmes had been doing mostly photo layouts, stag films and 8-mm bookstore loops. 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. Mrs. Kraft was a former registered nurse at Memorial Hospital, former administrator at Memorial Convalescent Center and owner of Toddle Town Inc, comprised of Toddle Town, Toddler House and Learning Journey. Wonderland Gang - WikiMili, The Best Wikipedia Reader At midnight, the Wonderland people scraped together $400, and Holmes, whose pretense for entrance would be buying drugs, drove off to Nashs house. The motive is not suspected to be robbery as his diamond ring and watch were found on the body. By the mid-Seventies, Nash held thirty-six liquor licenses, owned real estate and other assets worth over $30 million. March 3 (UPI) -- A Massachusetts library said a book was recently returned with a note apologizing for the tome being 56 years overdue. Amerson says Holmes spent most of his time playing cards and shooting darts. Blood! I think they call it a taxi cab. After a while, I said I didnt want to go out on the beach anymore. And the AIDS thing was just starting to come out. Frequently he brought him girls. Holmes thought Nash was the most evil man hed ever met, but he couldnt quite figure him out, so he respected him. What's different Dole said there's no question that Trump lost his reelection race - narrowly but fair and square. 10 Dec 2013. There were contracts out on their lives. 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. 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. An hour before, Holmes had run into Diles. Whatever. Now she shook her head slowly, walked around the car to the passenger side. He was dying. In your opinion, what's the best alternate route to the 405? 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.. You cant do this to me, he said. In 1981, Ron Launius and his gang of thieves and drug dealers, with assistance from porn star John Holmes, robbed the home of businessman and gangster Eddie Nash. susan launius interviewduskull evolution arceus. FILM REVIEW; A Film Stud Who Loses His Luster Is Sent to Graze on Seedy He wanted new names for Sharon and Jeana, too. Inside was her husband, John. Two weeks later, it was reported that hed lost only seven pounds. He quit the ambulance service and got work stirring vats of chocolate at a Coffee Nips factory in Glendale. 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. A girl entered stage right. He showed up at the house in the early evening. The Malibu was idling. She hadnt heard from him in, what, six months? Big mystery. All the sugar helped him come down. On weekends they went to swap meets and yard sales. '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. One on One Interview with Manson Follower Susan Atkins - YouTube Hed have a big glass of milk, and wed turn on the cartoons, and then hed go to bed in Sharons room. Bring me their eyeballs in a bag, and I will forget what you have done to me! What he was famous for was his penis. With all the publicity from the murders, John Holmes had achieved almost mainstream celebrity. He stared straight ahead, unblinking. Marriage & Divorce. Blond and bearded, Launius had served federal time for drug smuggling. By Steve Helling. Launius actually went to shoot her and his partners had to stop him. For her sister Terry, who was fourteen and overweight, he brought what he called Terry food, pounds and pounds of candy. Overdue book returned to Massachusetts library after 56 years. This stuff makes me feel funny too. Thorson had been addicted to cocaine for several years. 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. Ill pick you up.. They called it Louise. There was a garage on the first floor; the second and third floors had balconies facing the street. He was prepared to testify that Eddie Nash had sent Holmes and Diles to Wonderland Avenue and that Nash felt responsible for the bloody mess that resulted. LAist is part of Southern California Public Radio, a member-supported public media network. Sharing the house with Miller and DeVerell was Ronald Launius, 37. Eversz is one of the best unsung novelists in the crime genre we have working today. At the moment, on this evening of June 28th, 1981, Wonderland Avenue was quiet. When asked by Holmes' attorney what she remembered after that, she replied, 'nothing.'. Why? Captain Conan 10y. Firefighters hoist horse stranded in backyard swimming pool. His black club was like a Hollywood Harlem, jazz and pinkie rings and wide-brimmed straw hats. From then, wrote Schuyler, in a letter to a judge many years later, Ed Nasrallah began a courtship that was as old-fashioned as they come. If you were forced to live in a neighboring county, which would you choose? When theyd finish work, hed make sandwiches. He went fucking crazy, says Amerson. We did it in the van. When Holmes returned to his car hours later, two armed men ordered him to drive to Nashs home, he said. You said something about blood., Holmess eyes bulged. After a while, the news. to tell them who it was, Sharon Holmes said. She was a teenager, and her parents had just divorced. We cut him loose.. Holmes nodded his head, put out his cigarette, closed his eyes. How you doing, John? said the man in the gray suit, leaning over the safety rail of the bed. 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. Some were quite attractive. Which movie about the entire John C. Holmes story accurately captures the Holmes milieu- "Wonderland" or "Boogie Nights" ? John continued making films for a while. His business empire totally atrophied as a result of the coke. Two years later, Ricks was ordered held against his will for psychiatric observation. Her brother Chris, 16, lived in Oregon. Survivor under guard as star witness Death in the Fast Lane 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. How do other people see you? DeVerell, Launius and McCourt, all heroin addicts, were out cold. Ive lived in L.A. since 1979 and currently reside in Glendale. Holmes was telling people that doctors had removed sixteen feet of his large intestine. Finally he came out and said, You know what? how much does a cfl general manager make Nolan Miller Holmes drove to Nashs again to make sure the sliding door was still open. We sat on the rocks, the moon was just right. He knew we wouldnt have a life together.. Sharon, a registered nurse, rummaged through a well-stocked medicine cabinet, brought out iodine and cotton swabs. Holmes rolled down his window, McCourt rolled down his. The time was right, he told Lind. 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. Nash had clubs of all kinds; he catered to all predilections. Launius, Deverell, and Miller, along with the girlfriend of an accomplice, Barbara Richardson, died from extensive blunt-force trauma injuries. Come with us, Sharon., It can be the three of us, Sharon, like old times.. Um, I lifted the trunk of the car, and I gave myself a nosebleed yesterday. Dickman and Throbbin, a lampoon of Batman and Robin. When asked by Holmes' attorney what she remembered after that, she replied, 'nothing.'. The setup, the robbery, Nashs threat to kill his whole family, Sharon included. Then you guys take him down.. Ive waited outside that house. 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. Jeana packed her suitcase, gathered up her Chihuahua. She even had to have part of her skull surgically removed as a result of her injuries. No one was injured. I used to be a Web Developer in the Newsroom, now I spend my time in coffee shops researching murder. . As the 1980s began, and Holmes became more heavily involved in cocaine, his absences grew longer. SIMON: For more than 40 years, people have been reading and performing Susan Cooper's poem "The Shortest Day" to celebrate the winter solstice. Ron Launius was a known associate of Weiss and also a suspect in his murder. He invited them in for coffee. His bodyguard, Gregory De Witt Diles, was a karate expert and convicted felon who weighed a blubbery 300 pounds. He felt like he was an example.. Harold drank a lot. And then, just as we got to this intersection, he slammed on the brakes. he didnt know what the truth was anymore; about himself, about anything, Sellers said. Hed have Jimmie, the cook, prepare these elaborate spreads. He looked like a guy in a dive bar in El Paso, according to a neighbor. 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. Under Review. We went to a motel, had a nice reunion. 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. Then what?, I leave the sliding door unlocked this one, said Holmes, pointing to the floor plan, here, in the back. John and Laurie stayed home a lot and watched videos. When we came back, the door was locked, says Jeana. He graduated from UCLA with majors, variously, in physical therapy, pediatric physical therapy, medicine and political sciences. On April 29, 1986, fire tore through Los Angeles' Central Library more than one million books were damaged or destroyed. Get em, boys!. He could not be reached for comment on the killings. He weighed ninety pounds, his fingernails were two inches long. John? 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. Together, the womens descriptions of what Holmes told them largely corroborate the Los Angeles Police Departments theory of what happened on Wonderland Avenue. 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. The daughter had a kid and a job. 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. His lawyer lent him a Volkswagen Beetle and $100, and Holmes showed up at his friend Amersons house. 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. Chris caught up. You could walk up, whisper something in his ear, and hed make it available. L.A. is too far flung to be any kind of social magnet outside of one's own neighborhood and community. It was a simple ceremony. Diles smacked Holmes, threw him across the room, shoved him against a wall. The color drained from his face. John bought himself an El Camino pickup and a large diamond solitaire that became his trademark in films. For extra money, Jeana solicited tricks on the beach. Later it was reported that Holmes interrupted his fast, ate a meal, then continued his fast. The jury found him innocent. Diles got seven years on charges stemming from the drug raids. How do you handle this conflict? But Sharon Holmes and Jeanna Sellers insist that it is true. He wore the buckle when he and Sharon sold bumper stickers door-to-door. John was a shy and lonely kid who kept to himself and had perfect attendance at Sunday school. 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. He was freebasing one hit of coke every ten or fifteen minutes, swallowing forty to fifty Valium a day to cut the edge. The man was a poster child for sociopathic behavior. Every weekday, you'll get fresh, community-driven stories that catch you up with our independent local news. Susan Launius's income source is mostly from being a successful . I said No and I meant it., Over the next year, Nasrallah brought her grape leaves, hummus, pots of Turkish coffee. She cleared her throat John?, You had this dream. Kentucky man stops for breakfast, wins $50,000 lottery prize. Teenage Cowgirls, Liquid Lips, China Cat and Tapestry of Passion. Ricks cited Nashs need for delicate surgery to remove a sinus tumor. Diles leveled a gun at his head. Major General William E. Overacker is chief of staff, Headquarters Military Airlift Command, Scott Air Force Base, Ill. General Overacker was born in Cleveland. Whos this in Ohio? Nash screamed. Accident car um he stammered. Theyll never steal from anyone again!, Thorson was excused, and Nash closed the door. Invalid memorial. He dunked his head, put a steaming washcloth over his face. The aunt sent him to fencing school, dancing school, a school of etiquette. He was willing, even eager, to murder a helpless woman who was no physical threat to him. And so the plan was fixed. 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. I've endured both earthquakes and hurricanes. He lost his thumb and three fingers. We went on twenty-four-hour watch. He introduced him to all his guests. By this time, Sharon had befriended Jeana. By the time they pulled into the apartment complex managed by Sharon Holmes, it had been decided. His last film was The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empress, starring Ilona Ciccolina Staller, a member of the Italian Parliament. Holmes went to work for a construction company, painting a hotel down the strip. The car was on the other side of Santa Monica Boulevard, across six lanes of traffic. Isnt that where John gets his drugs?. The couple ended up in Miami, at a small run-down hotel on Collins Avenue. The door was open. There was one hitch. 'We have interviewed her but we're not going to say anything about it.'. He also renovated the house, outdoing himself in the master bathroom, recreating a backwoods outhouse, complete with a quarter-moon cutout, a shingled roof over the bathtub and a rough-hewn box around the commode. Learn more about merges. Above all, he said, he loved his work: A happy gardener is one with dirty fingernails, and a happy cook is a fat cook. 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. jaydubya2009 10y. He was sweet. Almost everything publicly known about porn king John Curtis Holmes is apocryphal, anecdotal, secondhand or informed by conjecture. He excused himself, left the room and unlocked the sliding door. Holmes hired the sisters to do gardening around the complex. I suspect that Launius may have been involved in other violent crimes. The cast of characters would go from two or three to ten or more. One summer day in 1968, Sharon came home a little early from work. His penis, when erect, according to legend, measured between eleven and fifteen inches in length. Jeana said nothing. For like three weeks, one of us had to be awake at all times. Wonderland murders - Wikipedia Hed been in jail eleven months in all, 110 days on the contempt charge. She walked the streets, tried to think. The word in the industry was that he had colon cancer. She wasnt happy. Shed gotten a job at a nursing home and was paying her mom rent, trying to rebuild her life. March 3 (UPI) -- A Kentucky man who stopped to buy some breakfast said he lost his appetite when he won $50,000 from a scratch-off lottery ticket. Susan Hayward | Television Academy Interviews She hadnt seen him in three months. 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. Hed never met them, but he had, through Holmes, given them a $1,000 loan. In the business she was billed as Misty Dawn, the anal queen of porn. John looked down at Sharon. That's not a stereotypical statement in the least. Like all porn actors, John had been paid per day and had signed away the rights to his own films. Theres no mystery. 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. Hey, its cool, said John Holmes, 36, the man with the plan. He wouldnt even let me meet the people he worked with.. pillsbury company net worth; does gotomeeting work in china; tanner mark boots website This anecdote right there tells me that Launius has a body count. Diles shoved, Holmes skidded across the carpet. . In the summer of 1981, Sharon Holmes said, she and John Holmes were living together as the managers of a small Glendale apartment complex. He said, Would you make love to me? I literally shook to death. He stayed in there like three hours, and Im just sitting there, you know, twiddling my thumbs. John Holmes, who was tried for and acquitted of the crimes, never told his wife the names of the assailants, she said. Or the local TV says its a big mystery. She was later unable to identify her attackers. John continued to make films, but he made Laurie stop. This story has not been verified. So I told him everything, John said. There never was a sexual relationship between us. Get my property! A pimp tried to pick her up. It was dark, and there wasnt any traffic. One day in 1970, Holmes met Hawaiian producer Bob Chinn. Launius is also known to have been an associate of Horace McKenna, a former CHP officer and strip club/nightclub owner with connections to prostitution, drug-smuggling, and gambling in the L.A. area. He was also a drug dealer and a heavy user. He wasnt specific, but it really didnt matter anyway. I was working as a computer programmer. Or perhaps he had flown from Las Vegas. What does the print-on demand delivery system offer over other, similar systems like iUniverse.com? automotive swap meets in missouri 2022 - veasyt.immo After mustering out of the army, at age nineteen, Holmes went to work as an ambulance driver, and soon thereafter he met Sharon Gebenini. There were two-way mirrors in the bedroom, anything you wanted would be made available. . At an alarming rate.. John? 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. 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. First his forehead, then his cheeks, then his neck. He received a bachelor's degree in chemistry and mathematics from Emory . Over the years, theyd become like mother and daughter. The bride wore white. Thanks for posting though. Based on my research, "Wonderland"arrives closest to the truth but in both films an apologist's tone creeps in with reference to Holmes. We sat for a long time, and he was very, very quiet. He said, I had to stand there and watch what they did, Sharon Holmes recalled. In a way Eddie would assess you on what you took or didnt take., In early 1981, Nashs second wife the mother of his two sons, aged eight and five filed for a protection order against Nash. They sat around a glass table in the breakfast nook. He was known as Eddie Nash. There was "a lot of screaming going. We closed up the office and went to the beach. We believe when reliable local reporting is widely available, the entire community benefits. Her husband, Ron, 37, of the. After that I was his.. Atty. He played it for all it was worth, then he said he wouldnt testify. LAist Interview: Rodger Jacobs | LAist He cooked coke all night long. McKenna was murdered in 1989 when ambushed while returning home in his limousine; his killer sprayed bullets into the vehicle, killing McKenna. On Christmas Day 1980, hed even presented Jeana. If you could live in any neighborhood or specific house in LA, where/which would you choose? No longer the leading man, he was now the featured oddity. Nash would kill him and his family if he talked, he was certain of it. The three went back to Sharons house. Its like being a carpenter. Once, Sharon says, he got a human head from UCLA. They were married in August 1965 at Fort Ord, California. Rodger Jacobs is an author, journalist, documentary producer, blogger and familiar gadfly in the LA blogosphere. 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. Gov. 02:26. But the new accounts cast doubt on the story Holmes told a biographer before his death March 13. Wonderland murders | Historica Wiki | Fandom John leaned up against the back bumper, smoking a cigarette. . MAJOR GENERAL WILLIAM E. OVERACKER > Air Force > Biography Display - AF Net Worth in 2021. He did not testify at his trial, and his later secret testimony before the Los Angeles County Grand Jury remains sealed. So much blood! he groaned over and over. It was a strange and violent time and men wore double-breasted suits and snap-brim Fedoras. Holmes muttered something to Nash about the gang. . Launius' years of operation: 1972-1973 (after he returned from Asia and before prison), 1978-1981. James M. Eisenman, a Century City attorney who represents Holmes estate and his second wife, said he doubts Sharon Holmes story. 3 children killed, 2 hospitalized in North Texas domestic incident, At least 5 dead following year's first severe spring weather outbreak, 'Saving Private Ryan,' 'True Romance' actor Tom Sizemore dead at 61, Dozens killed, injured as Jakarta fuel depot fire engulfs neighborhood, Governor of Philippine province, 5 others killed in gun attack. At trial, his lawyer argued that the $1 million worth of coke was not for dealing, that it was strictly for personal use. Didn't expect my day to start by downloading #microsoftedge or willingly going to #bing to see #openai's new #gpt4 model. Then, in the summer of 1985, John tested positive for AIDS. Sharon stood with arms crossed. The consumption of alcohol and drugs was an ongoing, everyday affair, says an attorney who is a longtime acquaintance of Nashs. Behind him was his partner, Mac McClain. Holmes buzzed an outside intercom box and asked someone inside to let him in. I have been fascinated by the Wonderland case ever since co-producing the documentary Wadd: The Life and Times of John C. Holmesin 1999. It is such a quintessential L.A. story of the 80s: drugs, sex, excess, night clubs, gangsters, and porn stars. After his release, Nash told a friend that jail had saved his life. Its business.. The judge in the case was Everett E. Ricks Jr. One woman who had sex with Nash remembers a lot of temptation. The Story Of The Gruesome And Unsolved Wonderland Murders - All That's Sprinklers were ticking water across lawns. Names of mobsters, drug dealers, prostitutes, pimps. Launius was Wonderland's king, and he was as cold as ice. As much as I like "Boogie Nights", it remains a fairly superficial movie. Susan Launius - Remote Medical Transcriptionist - LinkedIn Because hed already been tried, Holmes would not be able to invoke the Fifth Amendment. 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. Holmes was into Nash for a small fortune. 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. He wanted me to view his body and make sure that all the parts were there, says Laurie. Then she ran into a woman preaching fire and brimstone on a corner. He lost his virginity at the Florida house, when he was six, to his Swiss nursemaid, Frieda. I believe I was watching TV and it seems like a bunch of people were coming in and out,' Mrs. Launius said. How could he rent a car? Alex Murdaugh Found Guilty of Murdering Wife and Son Barbara's cousin tells me this info. We moved around a lot because the rent kept going up. She didnt know what to do. I come back to Wonderland. Tell you its all clear. I was really charmed, says Jeana.