Wonderland murders

Coordinates: 34°06′42″N 118°23′10″W / 34.1117°N 118.3861°W / 34.1117; -118.3861

The Wonderland murders, also known as the Four on the Floor Murders^[1] or the Laurel Canyon Murders, are four unsolved murders that occurred in Los Angeles, California, USA on July 1, 1981.^[2] It is assumed that five people were targeted to be killed in the known drug house of the Wonderland Gang, three of whom were present. All three of them, Ron Launius, Billy DeVerell, and Joy Miller, along with accomplice Barbara Richardson, died from extensive blunt-force trauma injuries. Only Launius' wife, Susan Launius, survived the attack, allegedly masterminded by organized crime figure and nightclub owner Eddie Nash. He, his henchman Gregory Diles,^[3][4] and porn star John Holmes were at various times arrested, tried, and acquitted for their involvement in the murders. LAPD detectives were on record saying the crime scene was bloodier and more gruesome than that of the Tate-LaBianca murders.^[5]

Nash robbery

The Wonderland Gang was centered on the occupants of a rented townhouse at 8763 Wonderland Avenue, in the Laurel Canyon section of Los Angeles, California: leader Ronald Lee "Ron" Launius; second-in-command William Raymond "Billy" DeVerell; and DeVerell's girlfriend Joy Audrey Gold Miller, who was also the lease holder for the townhouse; Tracy Raymond McCourt and David Clay Lind. All five were involved in drug use and drug dealing.^[6]

On June 29, 1981, Launius, DeVerell, Lind, and McCourt committed a brutal home invasion and armed robbery at Eddie Nash's home, resulting in Nash's bodyguard, Gregory Dewitt Diles, being shot and injured. Nash suspected that porn star John Holmes had been involved, as he had been at his house three times on the morning of the attack (to leave the sliding door open). 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. Scott Thorson, Liberace's former boyfriend who was in Nash's house to buy drugs, claimed he witnessed Holmes being tied to a chair and repeatedly punched until he revealed the assailants' identities.^[7][8]

Wonderland Gang murders

Around 3:00 am, on July 1, 1981, two days after the Nash robbery, a number of unidentified men entered the Wonderland Avenue townhouse and bludgeoned to death Launius, DeVerell, Miller, and Richardson (Lind's girlfriend who had been visiting); the weapons were believed to be hammers and metal pipes.

Richardson's bloodied body was found in the living room beside the couch where she had been sleeping for the night. 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 also found on the bed). Launius was found beaten to death on his bed with his gravely injured wife, Susan, beside him on the floor; both bedrooms had been thoroughly searched. Despite suffering severe brain damage in the attack, Susan ultimately survived and recovered, although she was left with permanent amnesia regarding the night of her attack, had to have part of her skull surgically removed, and lost part of one finger.^[9] Neither Lind nor McCourt were present for the attack, as Lind was consuming drugs with a male prostitute called Shilo Watts in a motel, and McCourt was at his own home.^[10] Lind died of a heroin overdose in 1995 and McCourt died in 2006.^[11][12]

Although neighbors would later report having heard screams around 3:00 am, no phone calls were placed to the police until 4:00 pm on July 1, over twelve hours later, when furniture movers working at the house next door to the crime scene heard Susan moaning and went to investigate. The house was notorious for round-the-clock mayhem and debauchery;^[5] and when questioned, neighbors said the Wonderland Gang's drug-fueled parties often included loud, violent screaming and disruptive noise, so when they heard the murders occurring, they simply believed another party was taking place.^[5]

Police action and trials

LAPD detectives Tom Lange and Robert Souza led the murder investigation and searched Nash's home a few days after the crime. There they found more than $1 million worth of cocaine, as well as some items stolen from the Wonderland house.

An initial theory of the murders centered around Holmes. After his left palm print was found at the crime scene on the Launius bed headboard, Holmes was arrested and charged with four counts of murder in March 1982. The prosecutor, Los Angeles District Attorney Ron Coen, attempted to prove Holmes was a willing participant who betrayed the Wonderland Gang after not getting a full share of the loot from the Nash robbery. However, Holmes' court-appointed defense lawyers, Earl Hanson and Mitchell Egers, successfully presented Holmes as one of the victims, having been forced by the real killers to give them entry to the house where the murders took place. After a publicized three-week trial, Holmes was acquitted of all criminal charges on June 26, 1982. For refusing to testify or cooperate with authorities, he spent 110 days in jail for contempt of court.^[13] Shortly after the murders, in her first newspaper interview in July 1981, Holmes' first wife, Sharon Gebenini Holmes, stated that he had told her he'd known the people in the Wonderland house and that he had been there shortly before the murders occurred. She did not divulge any additional information to police.

Holmes died six years after being acquitted, on March 13, 1988, as a result of AIDS complications, at a VA Medical Center in Los Angeles.^[14] One month before he died, two police detectives visited Holmes at the VA hospital to question him about what he knew about the murders. Nothing came out of the visit because Holmes was barely awake, and his responses to their questions were incoherent. Therefore, even on his deathbed, Holmes refused to answer the detectives' inquiries about whether or not he took part in the murders or to divulge anything else about his involvement.^[14] During an interview several years following Holmes' death, Gebenini Holmes stated that Holmes had come to her house the morning after the killings, with blood splattered all over his clothes. He was personally uninjured, and he did not give her any details to explain the condition of his clothing.

In 1990, Nash was charged in California state court with having planned the murders, and Diles was charged as a participant. Thorson testified against them, but the trial ended with a hung jury vote of 11–1 for conviction.^[15] A second trial, in 1991, ended in acquittal for both Nash and Diles.^[16] Diles died from liver failure in 1997.^[17]

In 2000, after a four-year joint investigation involving local and federal authorities, Nash was arrested and indicted on federal charges under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) for running a drug trafficking and money laundering operation, conspiring to carry out the Wonderland murders, and bribing the sole holdout juror of his first trial. Nash, already in his seventies, and suffering from emphysema and several other ailments, agreed to a plea bargain agreement in September 2001. He admitted to having bribed the lone holdout in his first trial, a young woman, with $50,000, and pleaded guilty to the RICO charges and to money laundering. He also admitted to having ordered his associates to retrieve stolen property from the Wonderland house, which might have resulted in violence including murder, yet he denied having planned the murders. In the end, Nash received a four-and-a-half-year prison sentence and a $250,000 fine.^[18][19]

In popular culture

References

Further reading

• Basten, Fred; Holmes, Laurie; Holmes, John C. (1998). Porn King: The John Holmes Story. John Holmes Inc. ISBN 1-880047-69-1. Describes some of the events from John Holmes' perspective.
• Gilmore, John (2005). "Bad Eddie & Other No Good People". L. A. Despair: A Landscape of Crimes and Bad Times. JohnGilmore.com. Includes an account of the Wonderland Murders and the life and death of John Holmes.
• Jacobs, Rodger (1995). Long Time Money and Lots of Cocaine. LuLu Press. Contains the complete transcript of Holmes' February 1982 preliminary hearing.
• King, Larry (August 12, 2002). "Interview with Scott Thorson". Larry King Live. CNN/Transcripts.
• Los Angeles Police Department (February 13, 2002). "News about Nash's federal conviction". LAPDonline.org.
• Lemons, Stephen (June 9, 2000). "Return to Wonderland (With his old pal Eddie Nash to be arraigned Monday in a 19-year-old murder case, the restless ghost of legendary porn star John Holmes once again stalks L.A.)". Salon.
• MacDonell, Allan (October 2, 2003). "In Too Deep". LA Weekly.
• Negron, Chuck (2000). Three Dog Nightmare. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 1-933669-13-6.
• Schiller, Dawn (2010). The Road Through Wonderland: Surviving John Holmes. St. Martins Press. ISBN 9781605420837.
• Sugar, Jennifer; Nelson, Jill C.; Margold, William (2008). John Holmes: A Life Measured in Inches. BearManor Media. ISBN 978-1593933029.