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. By the mid-Seventies, Nash held thirty-six liquor licenses, owned real estate and other assets worth over $30 million. He said he was told he would be killed and people in the book would be killed if (Holmes) didnt do what (Nash) wanted. Barbara's cousin tells me this info. Harold drank a lot. By May, Jeana began taking his calls. After a while, I said I didnt want to go out on the beach anymore. It was like he was doing a movie. He cooked coke all night long. Sharon sat on the wood-covered commode. 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. A subreddit dedicated to the unresolved mysteries of the world. Above all, he said, he loved his work: A happy gardener is one with dirty fingernails, and a happy cook is a fat cook. . He was picking on a kid that didnt know any better. $1 Million - $5 Million. John eased into the tub. If you could live in LA during any era, when would it be? June M. Schuyler, an elementary-school teacher from Santa Barbara, remembers meeting the nice-looking, very-light-skinned foreign man at Beefs Chuck. At the end, there were six working at once on his penis. 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. Susan Flores, the mother of Paul Flores, the sheriff's prime suspect in the investigation into the disappearance of Kristin Smart, spoke to KSBY News on Tuesday for her first-ever media interview. Suddenly, Johnny Carson was telling Deep Throat jokes on The Tonight Show. Memorial has already been merged. But Sharon Holmes and Jeanna Sellers insist that it is true. Miller, De Verell and Launius needed drugs every day. Then hed swallow a few Quaaludes and return. A few months later, Jeana moved into the guest room of the house. Ill never forget that as long as I live, she said. Will Orange County's Fledgling Clean Power Agency Survive? Both cars slowed, pulled even in the middle of the street. Too many. 'I was laying down on the bed. Ron Launius had an extensive criminal history before coming to a bloody end. or learn more. Now it was December 4th, and she hadnt seen Holmes in two weeks. only "shadows". . There was a lot of screaming going on, Holmes told his wife. His drug of choice was freebase; sometimes he mixed the crack with heroin. There was a security system at the house. Lets face it, she says. 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. . In truth, Holmes was operated on for hemorrhoids. 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. In the meantime, here's an interview with Bren: 1. If anything, one of the themes in Eddies life has always been control. You cant be uptight about this, John said, a refrain she would hear for the next fifteen years. He sent flowers, presents, photos of them with the dog. He wanted to be the Arab man in his tent. When Sharon and John were first married, she says, he was very naive, looking for the perfect relationship. You know, when you were sleeping? He quit the ambulance service and got work stirring vats of chocolate at a Coffee Nips factory in Glendale. It was like being in a movie or something., By late 1984, John was working as an executive at Amersons VCX films. He tried to think. I've endured both earthquakes and hurricanes. Room service. Launius and four of his associates were found dead in their townhouse on Wonderland Avenue, in Laurel Canyon on July 1, 1981. I come back to Wonderland. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. Holmes, meanwhile, had gone back to making films. The house at 8763 Wonderland rented for $750 a month. Holmes went on to make more than 2,000 movies. Holmes told his wife that he rode with three armed men to the address on Wonderland Avenue. master splinter death. They lived in London, Paris, Michigan, Florida. He was known as Eddie Nash. 7-year-old baseball umpire seeks Guinness World Record. He dunked his head, put a steaming washcloth over his face. Nash reciprocated with a quarter ounce of coke. You could walk up, whisper something in his ear, and hed make it available. . One of the actresses in the cast was Laurie Rose. He knew that Nash had a lot more than that lying around the house. He invested in movies, leased office space to several porn-related operations. Let him scream? . . susan launius interviewduskull evolution arceus. He boiled it clean in a pot on Sharons stove. There are other suspects that we feel are involved. At the same time, Holmes was acting as an informant on matters of porn and prostitution for Sergeant Tom Blake, an L.A. vice detective. Things started to click. He was freebasing one hit of coke every ten or fifteen minutes, swallowing forty to fifty Valium a day to cut the edge. He even had the Holy Rollers sister smoking., In the morning, they went out to get food. She was nowhere to be found. Others looked like theyd been sucking on the pipe a little too long. I stood there and watched them kill those people., I was involved in a robbery, John began, and he told the story. The buckle depicted a mother whale swimming in the ocean, her baby nursing beneath. Sellers agreed to talk to The Times on the condition that the paper not reveal her true name. Hed come home from one of his movie premires, take off his boots, peel down his socks and take out a wad of large bills. I wouldn't doubt it. He was marketing Holmess old films on video. There were two-way mirrors in the bedroom, anything you wanted would be made available. You knew these people.. . For her sister Terry, who was fourteen and overweight, he brought what he called Terry food, pounds and pounds of candy. On July 10th, Police knocked down the door of their motel room and arrested Jeana and Holmes. 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. Holmes went to work for a construction company, painting a hotel down the strip. Behind him was his partner, Mac McClain. This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). He was willing, even eager, to murder a helpless woman who was no physical threat to him. Learn more about merges. By the time Johns half brother was born, John was spending most of his time in the woods, hunting, trapping, fishing, staying away from Harold. The three went back to Sharons house. The murder weapon was a steel pipe with threading at the ends. He was sweet. You little Jeana stood, walked away. Though elaborately secure, the house was paint-cracked and rust-stained, an eyesore in a trendy neighborhood. The time was 2:30 in the afternoon. British bus driver stops to give loose sheep a lift. But Deputy District Attorney Ronald Coen said the prosecution would not attempt to prove Holmes actually killed the victims but was an accessory to the crime. Why would I confront her? In 1974, Sharon became the resident manager of a ten-unit apartment court in Glendale. 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. Nolan Miller The sun was warm and diffuse. Jeana was afraid to look at John. Two days later, Coen alleged that Holmes, acting on Nashs orders, led the killers to the Wonderland Avenue address and then helped murder the occupants. For many months he took me out to dinner, introduced me to his mother and other relatives. I knew the whole picture, says Sharon. All Marriage & Divorce results for Ronnie Launius. First his forehead, then his cheeks, then his neck. Jeana was tucked into another hotel in the Valley. 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. She had two daughters, had once been married to a Beverly Hills attorney. They shared an apartment with another divorced woman and her two children. And like the leading men of yesteryear, what was known of him was mostly myth. 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. Frequently he brought him girls. 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. Holmes hadnt paid for the room. Each time, drugs, money and weapons were seized. The color drained from his face. She didnt know what to do. After a while, the weather report came on. The Starwood, on Santa Monica Boulevard, featured cutting-edge rock & roll. Launius was Wonderland's king, and he was as cold as ice. He and Sharon settled into a strange hybrid of domesticity. And the AIDS thing was just starting to come out. It goes from five inches all the way to ten. COOPER: (Reading) And when the new year's sunshine . As the 1980s began, and Holmes became more heavily involved in cocaine, his absences grew longer. Because hed already been tried, Holmes would not be able to invoke the Fifth Amendment. Ricks even came in from his sickbed to sentence Nash. He lost his virginity at age twelve to a thirty-six-year-old woman who was a friend of his mothers. That version of the story, Sharon Holmes said, is fiction. Holmes wouldnt tell. I was there., It was my fault, John said, his eyes welling with tears. She hadnt seen him in three months. 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. 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. What's your favorite movie(s) or TV show(s) that are based in LA? Its business.. During one special engagement, Thorson danced with the Rockettes. His bodyguard, Gregory De Witt Diles, was a karate expert and convicted felon who weighed a blubbery 300 pounds. How could you do this thing! Eddie Nash screamed. Holmes was stealing luggage off conveyers at L.A. International, buying appliances with his wifes credit cards, fencing them for cash. Nash and Holmes had met three years earlier at the Seven Seas. All three of them are sleeping in the same bed. He began spilling to Blake in 1973, after he was arrested on a movie set. Mr. John bought himself an El Camino pickup and a large diamond solitaire that became his trademark in films. He sounded a lot like Eddie Haskell on Leave It to Beaver and bore some resemblance to the actor who played him. Listen. On his sixteenth birthday, Holmes joined the army. At the hospital, as he came out of anesthesia, he said to Mary, Ill never have to work again. He didnt. For the latest national news from NPR and our live radio broadcast, visit LAist.com/radio. I've always found the Wonderland story so intriguing. His first porn film was made while he was working his way through college. But its one thing to tell someone something, says Lange. Is there something wrong? It was obvious from his comments that Ricks, a hard-liner, considered Eddie Nash a plague. And then, just as we got to this intersection, he slammed on the brakes. Holmes had nothing to do and nowhere to go. Are you afraid its withering and dying? she said, laughing. Nash was a drug dealer and a heavy user. The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time LAist is part of Southern California Public Radio, a member-supported public media network. I trusted you! When I come home at night, the tools stay on the job., You are having sex with other women, said Sharon. He stayed in there like three hours, and Im just sitting there, you know, twiddling my thumbs. Joy Audrey Miller, 46, held the lease. By the time it was released, in 1987, Holmess health had already begun to slide. Its the cops.. Holmes nodded his head, put out his cigarette, closed his eyes. In your opinion, what's the best alternate route to the 405? Launius served 4 years and was released in 1978. Its another thing to testify to it in court.. The Sellers would stay there. Holmes was doing sex pictorials, dancing in clubs. Rush hour was on. Copyright 2023 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. A mother and daughter offered to help. Then he sat up. This is an archival story that predates current editorial management. Sharon went to the bedroom, laid down, read a magazine. Jeana packed her bag, gathered up Thor, put Johns gun in her pocketbook. Holmes refused to testify. Susan Hayward. Can I come in?, They went to the bathroom. On Mulholland Drive, silently watching as the city falls down and taking a naturalist's notes. Writer and documentary producer. She came to the farm to find out if a certain man was with me. He wore the buckle when he and Sharon sold bumper stickers door-to-door. He didnt want part of him ending up in a jar somewhere. John? Porn star John Holmes in 1981, shortly after four people were bludgeoned to death in what came to be known as the Wonderland Murders. A sunny room in the Veterans Administration Hospital in Sepulveda, California. He just stared. Six months ago shed had a double mastectomy. He worked for others for a time, then opened Beefs Chuck, a hotdog stand on Hollywood Boulevard. Fine. His legs and feet would swell up, his ears would bleed, he had infections in his lungs. Her brother was in town; something weird was going on. Get em, boys!. She was in intensive care with a severed finger and brain damage. DeVerell, Launius and McCourt, all heroin addicts, were out cold. Not since she was home. Tossing and moaning, punching and kicking. Launius was a reckless thief and he went after wealthy targets, not just down-and-dirty drug dealers and bikers, so I'd look for possible victims with either have money or look like they have money, who turned up dead after a home invasion. John was tired of the whole industry, she says. He was held in the county jail for contempt. On October 25, 1994, Susan Smith told . He quickly racked up a rap sheet, including gun and drug charges. She told him to get the fuck out of my life. He couldnt call Jeana. 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. This was it. Nash was acquitted. Which movie about the entire John C. Holmes story accurately captures the Holmes milieu- "Wonderland" or "Boogie Nights" ? The bride wore white. He went fucking crazy, says Amerson. Two years later, Ricks reduced Nashs sentence to time served, and Nash was released. Shed often take her son there for lunch. 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. Then he left.. There never was a sexual relationship between us. Hed made all these people millions and millions of dollars. I didnt know what was going to happen, but I knew what might, she says. pillsbury company net worth; does gotomeeting work in china; tanner mark boots website Sharon looked at him. Things at the house were always hopping, someone was always showing up with a scam. 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. Whenever he returned from days or weeks away, Holmes would bring gifts: stuffed animals, roses, a ring. 02:26. 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. Your tax-deductible financial support keeps our stories free to read, instead of hidden behind paywalls. Susan Lanius (unlucky) wife of Ron Lanius played by Christina Applegate in the movie Wonderland. Finally, on the afternoon of November 22nd, 1982, Holmes relented and testified. The poor girl was emaciated, Sharon says. Now, in an exclusive interview with the Observer, . Everything from Volkswagens to a Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow. She'd gone into the pregnancy with a plan, knowing Black mothers like herself were at higher risk. All Rights reserved. Twenty minutes later, Holmes walked into the room. 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. Alex MurdaughCalled 'Family Annihilator' by Prosecution in Murder Trial. He has just published his latest project about one of Los Angeles's most well known murder cases in the 80s. Drugs, inattention, back taxes and lawyers fees had depleted his fortune. Diles smacked Holmes, threw him across the room, shoved him against a wall. 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. In jail, Holmes went on a hunger strike. Two years later, Ricks was ordered held against his will for psychiatric observation. They had a few questions for John Holmes. Its like being married to a hooker., And so began the loops and the stags, and then Johnny Wadd was born. Aftermath Lind and McCourt were both away from the scene at the time of the murders, so they were able to survive unharmed. We will review the memorials and decide if they should be merged. Holmes was an inveterate collector of junk. Nash was separately convicted of cocaine possession and served about two years in state prison. John was gone now more and more, making films in Europe, San Francisco and Hawaii, doing private tricks, traveling to film openings across the country. The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Foundation Presents. At 98 and facing cancer, Bob Dole reckons with legacy of Trump and ponders future of GOP. His clothes were ripped, he was bloody from head to toe. Isnt that where John gets his drugs?. The setup, the robbery, Nashs threat to kill his whole family, Sharon included. His surgery wouldnt heal up, either. There were contracts out on their lives. He offered the police secrets. The video boom was just beginning, and Holmes became a kind of Marlon Brando of porn.