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. In 1960 he opened a hot-dog stand on Hollywood Boulevard. Bring me their eyeballs in a bag, and I will forget what you have done to me! There were two-way mirrors in the bedroom, anything you wanted would be made available. The three went back to Sharons house. Nash loves me. During the dispute, Sherrill shot and killed Moore and Launius helped Sherrill dispose of the body and conceal evidence. Thats bullshit. First his forehead, then his cheeks, then his neck. During the day, she worked in a nursing home. Because hed already been tried, Holmes would not be able to invoke the Fifth Amendment. The murderers were brought to justice. It's a yellow - sometimes green - vehicle with four tires and a Middle Eastern man behind the wheel. On their first date, hed brought a bottle of Mateus and a handful of flowers. 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. John continued making films for a while. ''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. Browse by collection. Hed say, Count this. Were talking $56,000 in two boots.. I said, Please, just let me get my clothes and my dog and well leave.'. But Sharon Holmes and Jeanna Sellers insist that it is true. Focusing on employee strengths. Suspected burglar inside New Brunswick home was a panicked deer. Hed made all these people millions and millions of dollars. Susan Orlean tells the story of the suspected arson in The Library Book. He was consuming it. He began spilling to Blake in 1973, after he was arrested on a movie set. By the time it was released, in 1987, Holmess health had already begun to slide. In time, the surgery was completed, and Thorson was made into a young vision of Liberace. He sounded a lot like Eddie Haskell on Leave It to Beaver and bore some resemblance to the actor who played him. I suspect that Launius may have been involved in other violent crimes. Twenty minutes later, Holmes walked into the room. The attack was allegedly masterminded by organized crime figure Juan Nel 8kfollowers More information Removing Bodies From Wonderland- This Day in History: Jul 1,1981: The Wonderland murders Murder Stories John Holmes Forensic Psychology Laurel Canyon Unsolved Serial Killers True Crime This story has not been verified. Susan Hayward | Television Academy Interviews But Detective Tom Lange of the Los Angeles Police Department, the lead investigator on the case, said, There is no mystery, because we know who is involved and we know why. She was nowhere to be found. Which movie about the entire John C. Holmes story accurately captures the Holmes milieu- "Wonderland" or "Boogie Nights" ? 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. How could he rent a car? Drinking, driving. The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time Related Stories (But) we have a certain set of rules to follow that the people who go out and perpetrate crimes dont.. His clothes were ripped, he was bloody from head to toe. The car was on the other side of Santa Monica Boulevard, across six lanes of traffic. He was sweet. They shared an apartment with another divorced woman and her two children. Eddie Nash was a drug lord. Not only did the Black Dahlia murder occur in '47 but the town was full of soldiers returning from the war with scarred psyches. Inside was her husband, John. Remarks by neighbors in the trendy, secluded area above the Sunset Strip and court records revealed the occupants of the stucco house on Wonderland Avenue lived in Southern California's 'fast lane' -- a lifestyle surrounded by drugs, flashy cars and trouble with police. Then hed swallow a few Quaaludes and return. In addition, more than 3,000 pages of court and police documents and newspaper reports were reviewed. Early in 1983, Holmes was shooting Fleshpond at a studio in San Francisco. Are you an introvert or an extrovert? He was willing, even eager, to murder a helpless woman who was no physical threat to him. Holmess half brother and his wife lived there; this little community was the personal fiefdom of John Holmes. After leaving California, Jeana and John had gone to Vegas, then Montana, then headed south, visiting the Grand Canyon, the Painted Desert. Do you find the threat of earthquakes preferable to the threat of hurricanes and long winters? When expanded it provides a list of search options that will switch the search inputs to match the current selection. Tom Mix and Harry Houdini once lived there among the quail and scrub pine and coyotes. In the meantime, here's an interview with Bren: 1. The bride wore white. Eight years in prison, a $120,350 fine. Rush hour was on. They told him to make good. On July 10th, Police knocked down the door of their motel room and arrested Jeana and Holmes. The 200 Greatest Singers of All Time The Top 5 newsletter catches you up with LAs top 5 stories in just 3 minutes. Then she ran into a woman preaching fire and brimstone on a corner. Soon after, Detectives Lange and McClain called the hospital. The Starwood, on Santa Monica Boulevard, featured cutting-edge rock & roll. how much does a cfl general manager make Ron Launius was born in 1944 in Shawneetown, IL. L.A. is too far flung to be any kind of social magnet outside of one's own neighborhood and community. One search of the premises yielded a cardboard box containing 4,000 counterfeit Quaaludes. Joy Audrey Miller, 46, held the lease. 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. susan launius interview american airlines core competencies June 21, 2022. the most poisonous snake in the world . Susan Launius was severely beaten in her bed, but she narrowly survived, albeit with amnesia, head injuries, and the loss of a finger. They had a few questions for John Holmes. A doctor of dubious practice prescribed a salad of different drugs to aid the weight loss. Hed have a big glass of milk, and wed turn on the cartoons, and then hed go to bed in Sharons room. Hours passed, John woke. arcane traps mousehunt; digital readout for sliding table saw Im very lusty.. My husband hired a girl to follow us. Theres somebody out there who wants to kill me, Holmes told Sharon, his wife of 16 years. Too bad youre so young, he said finally, then left. Nash was extremely hospitable. John picked up Sharons two dogs and Thor from the kennel. Finally he said, Ive got to tell you Ive been doing something else, and I think I want to make it my lifes work.. Holmes broke into cars along the way. Now he was a drug delivery boy for the Wonderland Gang. Nobody knew wherewe lived. The setup, the robbery, Nashs threat to kill his whole family, Sharon included. The 100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time The Wonderland Gang. The Seven Seas was a bus-stop joint across Hollywood Boulevard from Manns Chinese Theaters. The Holy Roller was up in the balcony, waving a Christian flag, praying and hollering, singing We Shall Overcome. She said John had cut some coke with an old tarot card and she believed it was a sign from the devil. Copyright 2023 Penske Business Media, LLC. We moved around a lot because the rent kept going up. It was obvious from his comments that Ricks, a hard-liner, considered Eddie Nash a plague. Susan Launius is beaten but not killed. Then he left.. Wednesday afternoon, July 1st, two days after the robbery. And the AIDS thing was just starting to come out. Bob Gregory, 62, went missing the same day as Sands. Sharon stood with arms crossed. Susan Goldberg, MBA on LinkedIn: There's a Mental Health Crisis At Work He received a bachelor's degree in chemistry and mathematics from Emory . In a way, Holmes was everymans gigolo, a polyester smoothy with a sparse mustache, a flying collar and lots of buttons undone. With the release the same year of The Devil in Miss Jones and Behind the Green Door, porn became part of popular culture. Los Angeles is often stereotyped as a hard place to find personal connections and make friends. I've always found the Wonderland story so intriguing. You sure about this, donkey dick? asked Tracy McCourt, the gangs wheelman. His attorney told reporters that hed changed his mind because of certain arrangements that had been made and certain circumstances that had arisen. 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. They mix poorly, and yet they're inexorably linked. Sharon was a nurse at USC County General, working on a team that was pioneering open-heart surgery. 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. You cannot merge a memorial into itself. Susan Lanius (unlucky) wife of Ron Lanius played by Christina Applegate in the movie Wonderland. With Holmes, it was like he was center stage and the lights and the camera were on, says a detective who was present. It is such a quintessential L.A. story of the 80s: drugs, sex, excess, night clubs, gangsters, and porn stars. He told us everything initially, right after it happened. It was a strange and violent time and men wore double-breasted suits and snap-brim Fedoras. In the summer of 1981, Sharon Holmes said, she and John Holmes were living together as the managers of a small Glendale apartment complex. Survivor under guard as star witness Death in the Fast Lane She hadnt seen him in three months. Holmes remained in jail, however, on his outstanding burglary case. By this time, Sharon had befriended Jeana. 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. How do other people see you? 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? Nashs and Diless attorneys maintain their clients innocence and question the credibility of witnesses for the prosecution. . I said yes. One of Nashs friends and overnight guests was, according to a law-enforcement official, an Israeli with a military background, the so-called reputed godfather of the Israeli Mafia. A report by the California State Department of Justice revealed that the Israeli Mafia was active in California during the late Seventies and early Eighties and was involved in drugs, arson, extortion, gunrunning and a number of murders, including the death and dismemberment of two Israeli nationals at the plush Bonaventure hotel in downtown L.A. During his six or seven years of heavy drug use, said the attorney, Nash lost over a million a year directly attributable to drugs. 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. His drug of choice was freebase, home-cooked crack cocaine, and he was smoking it at the rate of two to three ounces a day. A pimp tried to pick her up. Chris didnt have a drivers license. When you met with Eddie, you met at his place, on his terms. He drove a forklift at a meatpacking plant in Cudahy until his lung collapsed from working in the freezer. Invalid memorial. In the end, the most damaging evidence the prosecution could produce was a palm print on a headboard above one of the victims. On October 25, 1994, Susan Smith told . 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. 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. Except for the . Tell you its all clear. The couple ended up in Miami, at a small run-down hotel on Collins Avenue. Later, the women dyed Johns hair black. We were like a normal couple. ', Nash is said to have had political, police and crime connections. 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. He looked like a guy in a dive bar in El Paso, according to a neighbor. His lawyer hired a young associate to stick Nash with a pin whenever he nodded off in court. Teenage Cowgirls, Liquid Lips, China Cat and Tapestry of Passion. He made films nonstop, and he took eighty to ninety telephone calls a day. It was a big ordeal for him, says Laurie. An hour before, Holmes had run into Diles. You cant be uptight about this, John said, a refrain she would hear for the next fifteen years. how much does a cfl general manager makeduskull evolution arceus His first porn film was made while he was working his way through college. He cooked coke all night long. When Amerson raised their rent to $400, they got their own place in Encino. Dismiss. John said he felt like he was chosen to get AIDS because of who he was, how he lived. Their attorneys question the credibility of prosecution witnesses and maintain their clients innocence. Five men and two women were meeting in the breakfast nook, sitting in swivel chairs, leaning against walls. He had a tape measure in one hand, his penis in the other. Only Launius' wife Susan survived the attack, allegedly masterminded by organized crime figure and nightclub owner Eddie Nash. A Prison Interview With Scott Thorson, Wonderland Murders Witness and In California Valley Girls, for instance, he had one scene. They picked up a six-pack, went to a park, sat by a pond. susan launius interview - vccsrbija.rs These are my tools, I use them to make a living. Then I leave. Isnt that where John gets his drugs?. 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. 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. I marketed him. GitHub export from English Wikipedia. Frequently he brought him girls. Lulu Press offers a very affordable set-up with generous royalties. Wonderland murders - Wikipedia . 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. I think they call it a taxi cab. The Hippie 'Flower-Child' Revolutionaries & Their Ties To The Military Youre going to get hurt. Youd be left in a room for hours, and then youd be called in. He wasnt threatening. They threw brown bags of dope off the balcony. Hed have me make these peanut-butter chocolate-chip brown-sugar butter cookies. Names of mobsters, drug dealers, prostitutes, pimps. Wake him? There was a garage on the first floor; the second and third floors had balconies facing the street. 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. He showed Chinn his portfolio of stills, then stripped. I believe I was watching TV and it seems like a bunch of people were coming in and out,' Mrs. Launius said. Big mystery. Some were quite attractive. Another officer commented, upon hearing of Launius' death, "I suppose they won't need many pall bearers". I played in the water. Meanwhile, Jeana called Holmess answering service and left the number. Susan Launius, 25, Ron Launiuss wife. Holmes' Confession in Bathtub: Told Wife of Role in 4 Murders What compels you to revisit the slayings and what does the story say about Los Angeles, in the 80s and now? But here we are. Accident car um he stammered. Its time, Holmes said, and then he smiled and raised his fist. WEARS WAR has moved to a new website! - WordPress.com His legs and feet would swell up, his ears would bleed, he had infections in his lungs. John? Sharon, a registered nurse, rummaged through a well-stocked medicine cabinet, brought out iodine and cotton swabs. Now it was December 4th, and she hadnt seen Holmes in two weeks. His family had owned several hotels before the creation of Israel in 1948. Susan Goldberg, MBA Expand search. March 3 (UPI) -- A sheep spotted wandering loose on a British highway was given a lift back to its owner by a concerned bus driver on her first day on the job. About this time, Sharon says, Holmes began working as a courier for the Mob. He went to garage sales and bought old furniture. This anecdote right there tells me that Launius has a body count. They lived in London, Paris, Michigan, Florida. Sellers agreed to talk to The Times on the condition that the paper not reveal her true name. Ill never forget that as long as I live, she said. 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.