Miss Miller's shiny white 1969 Mercedes 280 SL was used to deliver narcotics to her customers, detectives said. I was there., It was my fault, John said, his eyes welling with tears. He was picking on a kid that didnt know any better. Deep in Laurel Canyon, the Wonderland Gang was planning its last heist. A bloody mess. Just blood. Memorial has already been merged. Barbara's cousin tells me this info. Also while in college, he said, he danced nude modern jazz ballet and drove an ambulance. Are you awake? Holmess eyelids fluttered. 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. See that car over there? Browse by collection. Management asked Jeana to leave. 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. His black club was like a Hollywood Harlem, jazz and pinkie rings and wide-brimmed straw hats. You cant do this to me, he said. The Wonderland case was still open. Now things were not so friendly. Then he designed a massive gold and diamond ring in the shape of a dragonfly, and a gold belt buckle, measuring eight by five inches. March 3 (UPI) -- A New Brunswick couple who initially thought a burglar had broken into their home discovered the invader was actually a panicked deer. He was in so much pain, you couldnt touch him. Go back to that house! . Accident car um he stammered. John leaned up against the back bumper, smoking a cigarette. Susan Launius. Oh, shit, she thought, but she didnt say anything. John was really sick by this point, says Laurie. A few months later, Jeana moved into the guest room of the house. Hed underestimated Nash once, but hed never do it again. With the release the same year of The Devil in Miss Jones and Behind the Green Door, porn became part of popular culture. Sharon cooked dinner. You just had to ask, and hed give., According to court testimony, Nash had a fancy for young girls, whips and a game with a revolver called Russian roulette. He said, They stuck a gun to my head and they made me go back in (to the Wonderland Avenue house) and open the door. Thats what he told me. She was living in Hollywood while her autistic son attended the Belle Dubnoff School for Brain-Damaged Children. One on One Interview with Manson Follower Susan Atkins - YouTube If you could live in any neighborhood or specific house in LA, where/which would you choose? John Holmes himself never offered a public account of what happened on that July night. Launius punched Holmes in the stomach. how much does a cfl general manager make He beat the shit out of me, then walked back up to the room. He was dying. At the moment, on this evening of June 28th, 1981, Wonderland Avenue was quiet. Whenever he returned from days or weeks away, Holmes would bring gifts: stuffed animals, roses, a ring. Though the movie, when it began to appear at theaters around the country, was branded as obscene and closed down almost everywhere it played, its producers contested the charges in the courts and eventually won. Holmes was an inveterate collector of junk. Every weekday, you'll get fresh, community-driven stories that catch you up with our independent local news. I watched them beat them to death., It was them or me. We were real friendly. Thats bullshit. John Holmes didnt go to his grave with anything but a very bad case of AIDS. John eased into the tub. Her husband watched from the closet. . My husband hired a girl to follow us. An argument ensued. How do you handle this conflict? Except for the . The drugs affected his penis; he couldnt get it up, he couldnt work in porn. John was carrying two suitcases when he met her. His gay clubs were the first in L.A. to allow same-sex dancing. myers park country club lawsuit; turkey hill frozen yogurt discontinued. 5 Questions Every Manager Needs to Ask Their Direct Reports By Steve Helling. Theres no mystery. We sat for a long time, and he was very, very quiet. When expanded it provides a list of search options that will switch the search inputs to match the current selection. Finally he came out and said, You know what? Now, in the breakfast nook, a tall, gaunt man with curly hair and a sparse beard pointed to the floor plan he had sketched. Its time, Holmes said, and then he smiled and raised his fist. His drug of choice was freebase; sometimes he mixed the crack with heroin. We closed up the office and went to the beach. 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. 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. She didnt have any money. After his release, Nash told a friend that jail had saved his life. Ronald S. Coen, now a Los Angeles Superior Court judge, argued that the fatal beatings were intended to avenge the humiliating armed robbery of Los Angeles nightclub owner Adel Nasrallah, also known as Eddie Nash. After leaving California, Jeana and John had gone to Vegas, then Montana, then headed south, visiting the Grand Canyon, the Painted Desert. Nash was leafing through a little black book that Diles had taken from Holmess pocket. Sharon had watched through the window as he picked them from the neighbors front yard. He has just published his latest project about one of Los Angeles's most well known murder cases in the 80s. 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. He also collected animal skulls. Now, in an exclusive interview with the Observer, . At Christmas, they decorated it with colored lights. Theres a floor safe in the closet, right over here.. It had a tropical motif, a menu of special drinks, a Polynesian revue, sometimes belly dancers. I loved him. It was Thursday, July 2nd, 1981. ', In time, John and Laurie moved in together at Amersons. They moved to a house on five acres in wooded, rural Pataskala, Ohio. He cooked coke all night long. Court records and pllice statements indicated two of the four victims were under prosecution for dealing in cocaine, heroin and Quaaludes. Its business.. No longer the leading man, he was now the featured oddity. He went to garage sales and bought old furniture. Edward Sutter Obituary (1919 - 2012) - Millstadt, IL - Belleville News There was one hitch. Holmess half brother and his wife lived there; this little community was the personal fiefdom of John Holmes. or learn more. Susan Launius - Net Worth March 2023, Salary, Age, Siblings, Bio Lulu Press offers a very affordable set-up with generous royalties. But the new accounts cast doubt on the story Holmes told a biographer before his death March 13. His defense was simple: John Holmes was the sixth victim of the Wonderland murders, and Eddie Nash was evil incarnate. Ladies and gentlemen, his lawyer told the jury at the outset, unlike some mysteries, this is not going to be a question of Who done it? This is going to be a question of Why arent the perpetrators here? . Holmes said hed had sex in airplanes, helicopters, trains, elevators, kitchens, bathrooms, on rooftops, in caves, storm cellars, bomb shelters in Europe, under a table in a restaurant filled with people, fifty feet underwater while wearing scuba gear. Then he left.. Holmes broke into cars along the way. 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. He hardly knew what Holmes was saying. He keeps a sawed-off shotgun under the blanket Here, this is Nashs room. Neighbors in the canyon, where a conversation at night can be overheard blocks away, said they were used to rowdy, all-night parties in the house. On weekends they went to swap meets and yard sales. Coughing into the microphone, Ricks called Nash a danger to the public and maxed him out. 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. He cut Holmes off, canceled his insurance. It is such a quintessential L.A. story of the 80s: drugs, sex, excess, night clubs, gangsters, and porn stars. 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. John Holmes was a porn star. For the latest national news from NPR and our live radio broadcast, visit LAist.com/radio. 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. Bring me their eyeballs! Two years later, Ricks reduced Nashs sentence to time served, and Nash was released. He introduced him to all his guests. At 98, Bob Dole reckons with legacy of Trump, ponders future of GOP The actors wife paused. Venice Beach boardwalk to the Santa Monica Pier. Caring about employees. Holmes was to run it. So, how much is Susan Launius worth at the age of 70 years old? 22nd Emmys Golf Classic. Holmes had nothing to do and nowhere to go. he didnt know what the truth was anymore; about himself, about anything, Sellers said. Where are you calling from? Considering employee opinions. He boiled it clean in a pot on Sharons stove. Now he was a drug delivery boy for the Wonderland Gang. Jailers said other inmates were giving him candy bars. One summer day in 1968, Sharon came home a little early from work. John was terrified that I was going to confront her. LOS ANGELES -- The lone survivor of the massacre of four people in the swank Laurel Canyon home of an attractive blonde woman suspected of dealing in drugs was under a 24-hour hospital guard Friday as the star witness in the case. Ronnie Launius - Ancestry.com Then another. Updated on November 15, 2022 10:05 AM. The top story was something about a mass murder. Get my property! 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. In a recent interview with The Times, Sharon Holmes, who divorced the late actor in 1984, described for the first time the story her husband told her less than three weeks after the July 1 killings. Go!. Susan Launius Remote Medical Transcriptionist for Cardiology Center Of Amarillo Altus, Oklahoma, United States 95 followers 96 connections Join to view profile Cardiology Center Of Amarillo Altus. Then one day Harold threw John down the stairs and came after him. Theyd been married sixteen years. She cleared her throat John?, You had this dream. This would lead, in the mid-Seventies, to Holmess most successful role, as Johnny Wadd, the hard-boiled detective, porns parody of Sam Spade. Only Launius' wife Susan survived the attack, allegedly masterminded by organized crime figure and nightclub owner Eddie Nash. . Too many. Now Holmes owed the Wonderland Gang, too. Based on my research, "Wonderland"arrives closest to the truth but in both films an apologist's tone creeps in with reference to Holmes. What now? she thought. She was nowhere to be found. He wanted me to view his body and make sure that all the parts were there, says Laurie. One night Holmes told Jeana to meet him at the van. Youve got to be joking. 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. She was later unable to identify her attackers. 159K views 3 years ago #NBC #NBCLA NBC News talked one on one with Manson follower and convicted killer Susan Atkins over a decade after her conviction. Everybody was just shocked.. Like all porn actors, John had been paid per day and had signed away the rights to his own films. Do you find the threat of earthquakes preferable to the threat of hurricanes and long winters? . Id like you to meet Mr. John Holmes, hed say. 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. How do other people see you? 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. Jeana said nothing. In 1962 he joined the USAF and served in the Vietnam War, but was caught smuggling heroin and discharged in 1972. Why? Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts, https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/430cdk/four_bloody_unsolved_wonderland_murders/. Holmes, in those days, was a string bean, six feet tall, 150 pounds, hair still cut in a military buzz. Susan Lanius (unlucky) wife of Ron Lanius played by Christina Applegate in the movie Wonderland. The consumption of alcohol and drugs was an ongoing, everyday affair, says an attorney who is a longtime acquaintance of Nashs. Nash was a big fan of porn. They made a run to McDonalds for hamburgers. In Too Deep. He was also a drug dealer and a heavy user. MAJOR GENERAL WILLIAM E. OVERACKER > Air Force > Biography Display - AF I said yes. She didnt know where. He treated me very special. John was thirty-one, she was fifteen. At the hospital, as he came out of anesthesia, he said to Mary, Ill never have to work again. He didnt. All three of them are sleeping in the same bed. A California cop called him "one of the coldest people I ever met." The house at 8763 Wonderland rented for $750 a month.. Later, in the Sixties, the canyon attracted writers and artists, rock stars and gurus. . You sound close., Well, I, I, ah, came with a friend. Each time, drugs, money and weapons were seized. She didnt know what to do. He said, Im gonna die! and drove off., When he came back, says Laurie, he was laughing about it. The letters "IC" pronounced properly can say "icy" meaning very cold. susan launius interviewduskull evolution arceus. Laurie was nineteen; she came from a small town outside Vegas. He was involved in one murder and a suspect in at least one more. Susan Launius Biography, Age, Height, Wife, Net Worth, Family (John) was so much of a liar . He told us certain things. John continued to make films, but he made Laurie stop. Finally he said, Ive got to tell you Ive been doing something else, and I think I want to make it my lifes work.. Pairings for the UIL tennis tournament - chron.com His eyes were open, says Laurie, and it looked like he had looked up to Death and said, Here I am. It was the most peaceful look I ever saw in my life. Susan A. Murphy married Ron Launius in Carson City, Nevada on 16 April 1971, and the two of them were heavy drug users. He weighed ninety pounds, his fingernails were two inches long. Editors picks Wearing jewel-bedecked livery, he would chauffeur Liberace onto the stage in a glittering mini-Rolls-Royce open the door, take his masters fur coat. Holmess parents separated when he was three, and Mary moved the family into a housing project in Columbus. . Since the late Sixties, Holmes had traded on his natural endowment. Here he is, he has two women with him. Men asked him to autograph their wives breasts. On his sixteenth birthday, Holmes joined the army. 'I was laying down on the bed. 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. During the day, she worked in a nursing home. After mustering out of the army, at age nineteen, Holmes went to work as an ambulance driver, and soon thereafter he met Sharon Gebenini. His bodyguard, Gregory De Witt Diles, was a karate expert and convicted felon who weighed a blubbery 300 pounds. L.A. is too far flung to be any kind of social magnet outside of one's own neighborhood and community. Could Ron Launius (victim of the Wonderland Murders of 1981 - reddit John was doing a lot of drawing. After Holmes negotiations for an immunity deal with police and prosecutors fell apart, the actor made plans to leave town with Sellers. Prioritizing employee development. Diles smacked Holmes, threw him across the room, shoved him against a wall. Launius' years of operation: 1972-1973 (after he returned from Asia and before prison), 1978-1981. ''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. The lone survivor of a bloody attack at a - UPI Archives Come with us, Sharon., It can be the three of us, Sharon, like old times.. Amerson, meanwhile, accused his friend of embezzling $200,000 from the company. A naturalized American, Nash came to California from Palestine in the early Fifties. This time, the gang decided not to wait for his return. Salary in 2020. John was a shy and lonely kid who kept to himself and had perfect attendance at Sunday school. After she left him, according to a court affidavit, I took the children to Oklahoma to my aunt and uncles farm, together with my parents. It helps that Susan Boyle has made her Asperger's public. We did it in the van. Things started to click. The color drained from his face. He could repair anything, liked sketching and working in clay. Wed have dinner with other people at the hotel, go to movies. June M. Schuyler, an elementary-school teacher from Santa Barbara, remembers meeting the nice-looking, very-light-skinned foreign man at Beefs Chuck. In a way, Holmes was everymans gigolo, a polyester smoothy with a sparse mustache, a flying collar and lots of buttons undone. Jeana was doing freebase too, almost every night. Pharmaceutical cocaine was one of the ingredients. Funny, she thought, no cuts, no abrasions. His last film was The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empress, starring Ilona Ciccolina Staller, a member of the Italian Parliament. He looked shocked. In the end, both Diles and Nash went to jail. Holmes buzzed an outside intercom box and asked someone inside to let him in. There were backhands, lectures, drunken rages. Above all, he said, he loved his work: A happy gardener is one with dirty fingernails, and a happy cook is a fat cook. I believe that cocaine paranoia created within him the desire to stay within that closed environment that he had control over. The house at 8763 had passed from a raucous group of women neighbors recall naked women being tossed from the first-floor balcony to the members of the Wonderland Gang. 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. On their first date, hed brought a bottle of Mateus and a handful of flowers. They came even though, at the time, there was no music industry in Los Angeles. Shed often take her son there for lunch. Chris didnt have a drivers license. She didnt know what to do. To get better results, add more information such as Birth Info, Death Info and Location even a guess will help. Nashs and Diless attorneys maintain their clients innocence and question the credibility of witnesses for the prosecution. Then you guys take him down.. 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. Launius' estranged wife, Susan, who was visiting, survived the assault but suffered severe head injuries. For the first few months, while she was in Oregon with her mother, Jeana had refused to take Holmess calls. He went out of his life denying, said Sharon Holmes, (saying) I had no involvement., Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Texas congressman who broke with GOP is censured, Hong Kong court convicts activists behind Tiananmen vigil, Election conspiracies fuel dispute over voter fraud system, Desperate mountain residents trapped by snow beg for help; We are coming, sheriff says, Newsom, IRS give Californians until October to file tax returns, Californias snowpack is approaching an all-time record, with more on the way. It is debatable about $3,000. Nine days later, Holmes was picked up in a Sherman Oaks motel in the company of Jeanna Sellers, a 20-year-old neighbor. A doctor of dubious practice prescribed a salad of different drugs to aid the weight loss. Ill never forget that as long as I live, she said. But its one thing to tell someone something, says Lange. Over the years, theyd become like mother and daughter. german apple cake recipe milk street. Remember me?. Sharon had been a virgin when theyd met. Thread marks found on walls, skulls, skin. He said he was told he would be killed and people in the book would be killed if (Holmes) didnt do what (Nash) wanted. Nobody ever came over, says Laurie. We played our favorite songs, walked, talked. The case against Holmes was built largely on two pieces of evidence: An admission that Holmes allegedly made to Los Angeles Police Detective Frank Tomlinson after his arrest in Miami in December, 1981, and a bloody palm print left by Holmes on the rail of a bed on which one of the victims, drug dealer Ronald Launius, died. He had the biggest pile of coke Id ever seen in my entire life, says Jeana. John Holmes was famous, at least in some circles. She was the sole survivor of the attack - suffering severe head injuries, amnesia, and a severed finger. There was a garage on the first floor; the second and third floors had balconies facing the street. Jeana was afraid to look at John. The buckle depicted a mother whale swimming in the ocean, her baby nursing beneath. Chris caught up. Christ, she thought, John. So much blood! Holmes was having a nightmare. She even had to have part of her skull surgically removed as a result of her injuries. Shed gotten a job at a nursing home and was paying her mom rent, trying to rebuild her life. Atty. He didnt want part of him ending up in a jar somewhere. Why did you choose to publish the book on Lulu.com. Ive lived in L.A. since 1979 and currently reside in Glendale. In 1974, Sharon became the resident manager of a ten-unit apartment court in Glendale. He greeted reporters, had dinner with his lawyer, then called Sharon. What he was famous for was his penis. Everyone there was on some kind of slide. John continued making films for a while. I wouldnt want to be operated on in San Quentin Prison, Ricks said sympathetically. He and Sharon settled into a strange hybrid of domesticity. Their attorneys question the credibility of prosecution witnesses and maintain their clients innocence. He knew he was dying. John kept his porn money and spent it on himself. Dismiss. (But) we have a certain set of rules to follow that the people who go out and perpetrate crimes dont.. . 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. 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. Latest Videos; Emmy Awards - Show Clips - Winnerviews - Presenterviews . 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. Holmes was wearing a ring that had been stolen from the boss. First his forehead, then his cheeks, then his neck. Writer and documentary producer. here. It's been many, many years since we saw this much snow in our mountains. Here, this back bedroom, thats Diless room, he said. How can you spell cold with only 2 letters? - Answers 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 only recall seeing 'shadowy figures.'. Um, I lifted the trunk of the car, and I gave myself a nosebleed yesterday. One woman survived the attack. March 3 (UPI) -- A 7-year-old Louisiana boy with a firm grasp of baseball rules is seeking a Guinness World Record as the world's youngest umpire. What he may have been referring to was the imprisonment, that very same morning, of Eddie Nash, on charges of dealing drugs. If you were forced to live in a neighboring county, which would you choose? One search of the premises yielded a cardboard box containing 4,000 counterfeit Quaaludes. Youre going to get hurt. Now the police wanted Holmess testimony. Remember Eddie? It's a yellow - sometimes green - vehicle with four tires and a Middle Eastern man behind the wheel. At an alarming rate.. Holmes told his wife that he rode with three armed men to the address on Wonderland Avenue. 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. The Kit Kat was a strip club. Liberace called him Booper, treated him like a son, a lover, a pet. In a career that would span twenty years, Holmes made 2274 hard-core pornographic films, had sex with 14,000 women. Sometimes he worked around the apartments as the handyman and gardener. Holmes was one of the greats in the business. Wonderland murders | Historica Wiki | Fandom And, as Holmess supply of coke dwindled, his conscience was overruled by his jones. Another woman who had a lengthy intimate relationship with Holmes told The Times recently of a separate, parallel admission made by the actor shortly after the killings, an account she gave to police in 1981. He played it for all it was worth, then he said he wouldnt testify. Done. The time was 2:30 in the afternoon. Not only did the Black Dahlia murder occur in '47 but the town was full of soldiers returning from the war with scarred psyches. susan launius interview - vccsrbija.rs Abraham Lincoln : TV NEWS : Search Captions. Borrow Broadcasts : TV After a while, the news. Nash and Diles were well known on Sunset Strip. It was a strange and violent time and men wore double-breasted suits and snap-brim Fedoras. 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. The Interviews 25th Anniversary.