Laurel Canyon had long been a prestige address, an earthy, woodsy setting just minutes from the glitter and rush of Tinseltown. The floor plan before them showed a three-bedroom, high-end tract house on a cul-de-sac in the San Fernando Valley. John Holmes died on March 13th, 1988. Its like being a carpenter. In truth, Holmes was operated on for hemorrhoids. Everybody was just shocked.. 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. This stuff makes me feel funny too. The consumption of alcohol and drugs was an ongoing, everyday affair, says an attorney who is a longtime acquaintance of Nashs. He said he was told he would be killed and people in the book would be killed if (Holmes) didnt do what (Nash) wanted. Get my property! He stayed in there like three hours, and Im just sitting there, you know, twiddling my thumbs. He boiled it clean in a pot on Sharons stove. 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. They did hits off Eddies pipe, eyed the door. Then one day Harold threw John down the stairs and came after him. Men asked him to autograph their wives breasts. 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. He has a fascinating style and I liken him to Raymond Carver if Carver had decided to write about L.A.'s slumming angels. Or perhaps he had flown from Las Vegas. Hed underestimated Nash once, but hed never do it again. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. He greeted reporters, had dinner with his lawyer, then called Sharon. They lived in London, Paris, Michigan, Florida. 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. 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. They moved to a house on five acres in wooded, rural Pataskala, Ohio. Soon after, the courtship of Jeana began. You could walk up, whisper something in his ear, and hed make it available. This story has not been verified. Two weeks later, it was reported that hed lost only seven pounds. Ill never forget that as long as I live, she said. 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. An hour before, Holmes had run into Diles. 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? Up to this time, Holmes had been doing mostly photo layouts, stag films and 8-mm bookstore loops. Murdoch has survived scandal after scandal. You cant do this to me, he said. Jeana, Ive got to tell you. 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. . One woman survived the attack. . She hadnt seen him in three months. Hard Candy, a 3-D thriller. Los Angeles is often stereotyped as a hard place to find personal connections and make friends. Then, when Eddie Nash got out of jail, John was very, very worried. McCourt drove up the hill on Laurel Canyon Boulevard, across Mulholland Drive, over the crest of the Santa Monica Mountains, down into the Valley. We cut him loose.. 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. For the next three days, John, Jeana and Sharon were held in protective custody in a luxury hotel in downtown Los Angeles. You cannot merge a memorial into itself. I said No and I meant it., Over the next year, Nasrallah brought her grape leaves, hummus, pots of Turkish coffee. 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. 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Theyll never steal from anyone again!, Thorson was excused, and Nash closed the door. Contribute to chinapedia/wikipedia.en development by creating an account on GitHub. All Marriage & Divorce results for Ronnie Launius. 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. Ricks cited Nashs need for delicate surgery to remove a sinus tumor. I was working as a computer programmer. Laurie was nineteen; she came from a small town outside Vegas. Finally, he replied: The murders . Get em, boys!. There was a garage on the first floor; the second and third floors had balconies facing the street. . Latest Videos; Emmy Awards - Show Clips - Winnerviews - Presenterviews . DeVerell, Launius and McCourt, all heroin addicts, were out cold. This story has not been verified. The word in the industry was that he had colon cancer. Now it was December 4th, and she hadnt seen Holmes in two weeks. Though, she didn't survive unscathed. 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. Holmes was one of the greats in the business. This was it. Mrs. Launius, whose husband, Ronald, was killed in the attack, told the court doctors removed a large portion of her skull during surgery following the beating. The murders, he said. 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. Then I leave. At midnight, the Wonderland people scraped together $400, and Holmes, whose pretense for entrance would be buying drugs, drove off to Nashs house. He lost his virginity at the Florida house, when he was six, to his Swiss nursemaid, Frieda. So Holmes summoned his wife into the bathroom, drew steaming water into the tub, slipped in, and began to talk. He was known as Eddie Nash. She was a teenager, and her parents had just divorced. It was Thursday, July 2nd, 1981. No one was injured. When the cops got to his hotel, Holmes was there. 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. For like three weeks, one of us had to be awake at all times. How do other people see you? Whatever. The poor girl was emaciated, Sharon says. Hed have Jimmie, the cook, prepare these elaborate spreads. . The master, the giver of hospitality. That's not a stereotypical statement in the least. Prioritizing employee development. Her daughter was born by emergency C-section. Holmess character, said Al Goldstein in Screw magazine, was a thin, bony, trench-coated shamus, outrageously horny, bedding down with client and quarry alike. In Goldsteins opinion, it was a goofy, crudely made series, but it was wildly successful. They told him to make good. Rush hour was on. The Kit Kat was a strip club. Jeana hung up the phone. Before them were two pairs of handcuffs, a stolen police badge, several automatic pistols and a dogeared sheet of paper, a floor plan. Finally, on the afternoon of November 22nd, 1982, Holmes relented and testified. 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. We scattered his ashes over the ocean.. I was involved. I watched them beat them to death., It was them or me. After a while, I said I didnt want to go out on the beach anymore. Wed have dinner with other people at the hotel, go to movies. Now it was midnight in the parking lot at the Safeway in Glendale. He had a tape measure in one hand, his penis in the other. Youre probably going to be saving him.. They had a few questions for John Holmes. Its like Raymond Chandler on crack. Above all, he said, he loved his work: A happy gardener is one with dirty fingernails, and a happy cook is a fat cook. At the moment, on this evening of June 28th, 1981, Wonderland Avenue was quiet. Nash was very upset. They took back his key to Wonderland, and Launius punched him out, then hit Holmes with his own blackthorn walking stick. Too many. She didnt know what to do. Not only did the Black Dahlia murder occur in '47 but the town was full of soldiers returning from the war with scarred psyches. 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. He offered the police secrets. On his sixteenth birthday, Holmes joined the army. During one special engagement, Thorson danced with the Rockettes. Earthquakes are sudden and arrive without warning, unless you monitor the USGS earthquake maps on the web every day - which I do. Everything from Volkswagens to a Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow. Too bad youre so young, he said finally, then left. Why? She was later unable to identify her attackers. She'd gone into the pregnancy with a plan, knowing Black mothers like herself were at higher risk. I really dont recall. Thorson was the live-in lover of the entertainer Liberace. Four bodies. A host of musicians, actors and artists make their homes in the rustic canyon. Its time, Holmes said, and then he smiled and raised his fist. A sign on the box, written in blue Magic Marker, said, FOR DISTRIBUTION AT BOX OFFICE. She had two daughters, had once been married to a Beverly Hills attorney. In the car were De Verell, Launius, McCourt and a man named David Lind, a friend of Launiuss. Each time, Nash made bail. House tossed by assailants. Rodger Jacobs is an author, journalist, documentary producer, blogger and familiar gadfly in the LA blogosphere. Jeana was afraid to look at John. Holmes buzzed an outside intercom box and asked someone inside to let him in. 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. The video boom was just beginning, and Holmes became a kind of Marlon Brando of porn. Over the years, theyd become like mother and daughter. Harold drank a lot. Susan Lanius (unlucky) wife of Ron Lanius played by Christina Applegate in the movie Wonderland. Atty. Or the local TV says its a big mystery. If anything, one of the themes in Eddies life has always been control. 2023 Southern California Public Radio - All Rights Reserved, Wadd: The Life and Times of John C. Holmes, Southern California's Snow-Capped Mountains Are Beautiful. We sat on the rocks, the moon was just right. I stood there against the wall. Her husband watched from the closet. John Curtis Holmes was born to Mary and Edward Holmes on August 8th, 1944, in Pickaway County, Ohio, the youngest of three boys and a girl. Jobs People Learning Dismiss Dismiss. There wasnt any trouble. He went to garage sales and bought old furniture. Dear reader, we're asking you to help us keep local news available for all. There was a telephone at the entrance, an electronic deadbolt on the gate, two pit bulls sleeping on the steps. He knew that Nash had a lot more than that lying around the house. 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. [5] Barbara Richardson And the AIDS thing was just starting to come out. He was freebasing one hit of coke every ten or fifteen minutes, swallowing forty to fifty Valium a day to cut the edge. Here he is, he has two women with him. He invested in movies, leased office space to several porn-related operations. myers park country club lawsuit; turkey hill frozen yogurt discontinued. So, how much is Susan Launius worth at the age of 70 years old? Suddenly, Johnny Carson was telling Deep Throat jokes on The Tonight Show. Mary went to work on an assembly line at a Western Electric plant. John leaned up against the back bumper, smoking a cigarette. Susan Orlean tells the story of the suspected arson in The Library Book. Launius' years of operation: 1972-1973 (after he returned from Asia and before prison), 1978-1981. I just didnt like what he was doing.. These are my tools, I use them to make a living. Five men and two women were meeting in the breakfast nook, sitting in swivel chairs, leaning against walls. The bride wore white. Sharon sat on the wood-covered commode. She couldnt call Sharon. A pimp tried to pick her up. Nash was a big fan of porn. Thanks for posting though. Porn star John Holmes in 1981, shortly after four people were bludgeoned to death in what came to be known as the Wonderland Murders. Gov. She cut her eyes slowly, caught his profile. Under Review. They deserved what they got.. His drug of choice was freebase; sometimes he mixed the crack with heroin. There was a lot of traffic, all day, all night, says a neighbor. Why would I confront her? Launius punched Holmes in the stomach. Nash would kill him and his family if he talked, he was certain of it. 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. He wanted to be the Arab man in his tent. . ''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. jaydubya2009 10y. There are other suspects that we feel are involved. He thinks Im famous.. She was an associate of the Wonderland Gang, hanging around the Wonderland apartment, where she was savagely beaten by criminals with lead pipes on the night of 1 July 1981. She came to the farm to find out if a certain man was with me. One of the customers was Scott Thorson. By the mid-Seventies, Nash held thirty-six liquor licenses, owned real estate and other assets worth over $30 million. That first time, we didnt get to work together, says Laurie, but we were attracted. But its one thing to tell someone something, says Lange. One day in 1970, Holmes met Hawaiian producer Bob Chinn. He always had large quantities of coke, heroin, Quaaludes and other drugs at the house. Holmes was crumpled on the floor. Holmes was telling people that doctors had removed sixteen feet of his large intestine. In the end, both Diles and Nash went to jail. For the latest national news from NPR and our live radio broadcast, visit LAist.com/radio. There is a substantial audience out there hungry for information on the Wonderland murders. 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. He walked through the door, flopped on the bed, passed out. Take care of him, Sharon said. A girl from the dorm recommended him. par | Juil 2, 2022 | mitchell wesley carlson charged | justin strauss net worth | Juil 2, 2022 | mitchell wesley carlson charged | justin strauss net worth Sharon looked at him. The house at 8763 Wonderland rented for $750 a month. Nobody knew wherewe lived. The color drained from his face. She didnt know what to do. On October 25, 1994, Susan Smith told . Sharon always knew when he was lying. Meanwhile, Jeana called Holmess answering service and left the number. The actors wife paused. Her husband, Ron, 37, of the Topanga Canyon area of Los Angeles, was one of the victims. We want to talk to you about Eddie Nash, said McClain. A California cop called him one of the coldest people I ever met.. Ron Launius had an extensive criminal history before coming to a bloody end. She was later unable to identify her attackers. Armed guards in the lobby, in the hallway. I viewed his body nekked, you know, and then I watched them put the lid on the box and put it in the oven. 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. Hed never met them, but he had, through Holmes, given them a $1,000 loan. At home, Harold picked on John. ", Woman wins $100,000 lottery prize 11 hours after $11,000 casino jackpot. 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. It is such a quintessential L.A. story of the 80s: drugs, sex, excess, night clubs, gangsters, and porn stars. No strings attached.. On Mulholland Drive, silently watching as the city falls down and taking a naturalist's notes. Thorson, who was waiting to be sentenced on a drug-related armed robbery, had sought a deal with police. He cut Holmes off, canceled his insurance. This button displays the currently selected search type. Diles got seven years on charges stemming from the drug raids. Caring about employees. He drove a forklift at a meatpacking plant in Cudahy until his lung collapsed from working in the freezer. His bodyguard, Gregory De Witt Diles, was a karate expert and convicted felon who weighed a blubbery 300 pounds. His attorney told reporters that hed changed his mind because of certain arrangements that had been made and certain circumstances that had arisen. The three went back to Sharons house. Haltingly, Holmes confessed to his wife that he had played a central role in four brutal murders earlier that month in a drug dealers hillside home in Laurel Canyon. Together, the womens descriptions of what Holmes told them largely corroborate the Los Angeles Police Departments theory of what happened on Wonderland Avenue. Four inches around!, Thats great, said Sharon, turning a page of her magazine. Sharon, a registered nurse, rummaged through a well-stocked medicine cabinet, brought out iodine and cotton swabs. The man who owned the house was named Adel Nasrallah. Once, he rammed his own hand into a harvesting machine. He was very possessive. The man was a poster child for sociopathic behavior. An ex-convict whod served time for burglary, forgery and assault to commit rape, Lind had been invited to town, he would later tell a court, to practice his profession, committing crimes. Now, in the breakfast nook, a tall, gaunt man with curly hair and a sparse beard pointed to the floor plan he had sketched. Web Design & Digital Marketing On the afternoon of Wednesday, July 1st, 1981, Eddie Nash was again consuming drugs at an alarming rate. His business empire totally atrophied as a result of the coke. He picked wire out of dumpsters and sold the copper. According to legend largely of his own making Holmes was born in New York and lived with a rich aunt whod been married fifteen times. I called up and said I had some things for the people inside and to let me up. John and Jeana painted the Malibu gray with a red top. You want to play baseball? hed ask his ever-present guests, lighting his butane torch, offering a hit off his pipe. 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. Susan Launius is beaten but not killed. Recently, however, Holmess biggest commodity had been trouble. 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. Fine. SIMON: For more than 40 years, people have been reading and performing Susan Cooper's poem "The Shortest Day" to celebrate the winter solstice. All Rights reserved. His last film was The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empress, starring Ilona Ciccolina Staller, a member of the Italian Parliament. . . Youd walk into the house, there were various girls walking around in various states of undress.