She was later unable to identify her attackers. How could you do this thing! Eddie Nash screamed. He was picking on a kid that didnt know any better. I loved the schmuck. Wed have dinner with other people at the hotel, go to movies. They were always looking for an opportunity. They took back his key to Wonderland, and Launius punched him out, then hit Holmes with his own blackthorn walking stick. Holmes hadnt paid for the room. Now he was a drug delivery boy for the Wonderland Gang. Updated on November 15, 2022 10:05 AM. For many months he took me out to dinner, introduced me to his mother and other relatives. There was a lot of traffic, all day, all night, says a neighbor. susan launius interview american airlines core competencies June 21, 2022. the most poisonous snake in the world . The cost of the ISBN - to get your title into other markets like Amazon and bricks and mortar book stores - comes out of the author's own pocket but that's a small price to pay, literally, for everything else Lulu does for authors, such as providing a storefront free of charge. When Holmes returned to his car hours later, two armed men ordered him to drive to Nashs home, he said. He was marketing Holmess old films on video. This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Jeana was afraid to look at John. Salary in 2020. It was like he was doing a movie. And so the plan was fixed. What really cracks me up is people believe he was a dope dealer. Web Design & Digital Marketing 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. I was just taken off my feet. Launius' wife, Susan Murphy, also claimed that she and Launius were involved in a drug deal gone wrong in Mexico in 1972 or '73, during which she was taken hostage but saved by her husband when he killed her captors. All Rights reserved. He made films nonstop, and he took eighty to ninety telephone calls a day. After bathing at Sharons, Holmes had come here, to this motel in the Valley. She was the sole survivor of the attack - suffering severe head injuries, amnesia, and a severed finger. He hardly knew what Holmes was saying. Too bad youre so young, he said finally, then left. Behind him was his partner, Mac McClain. Court records and pllice statements indicated two of the four victims were under prosecution for dealing in cocaine, heroin and Quaaludes. At the moment, on this evening of June 28th, 1981, Wonderland Avenue was quiet. DeVerell, 42, was also a heroin addict. We sat on the rocks, the moon was just right. On July 10th, Police knocked down the door of their motel room and arrested Jeana and Holmes. A host of musicians, actors and artists make their homes in the rustic canyon. Pharmaceutical cocaine was one of the ingredients. 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. One search of the premises yielded a cardboard box containing 4,000 counterfeit Quaaludes. At night, she baby-sat for David and Karen. We want to talk to you about Eddie Nash, said McClain. A look at years past when snows creeped into our citified neighborhoods, away from the mountains and foothills. Thanks for posting though. In time, Jeanas father went back to Miami and took Terry with him, and Jeana moved in with Johns half brother and his wife, David and Karen. Well, kind of, Video shows Memphis jailers beating Black inmate before his death, Skin lesion removed from President Bidens chest last month was cancerous, doctor says, CPAC shows the GOP has deep divisions heading into 2024, Abortion clinics crossing state borders not always welcome. jackson falls santa paula. He served in the signal corps, spending three years in Nuremberg, Germany. Then another. One summer day in 1968, Sharon came home a little early from work. Whatever. He said, Im gonna die! and drove off., When he came back, says Laurie, he was laughing about it. The time was 2:30 in the afternoon. We were really broke. First his forehead, then his cheeks, then his neck. Jailers said other inmates were giving him candy bars. He keeps a sawed-off shotgun under the blanket Here, this is Nashs room. Too many. Or the local TV says its a big mystery. In February, Holmes was admitted to the VA hospital in Sepulveda. Christ, she thought, John. Laurie worked as a secretary. Since the late Sixties, Holmes had traded on his natural endowment. His last film was The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empress, starring Ilona Ciccolina Staller, a member of the Italian Parliament. I was really charmed, says Jeana. He was in so much pain, you couldnt touch him. Everything from Volkswagens to a Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow. So you go in, Launius was saying to Holmes, reviewing the plan. He introduced him to all his guests. A girl from the dorm recommended him. Jeana sat very still on the edge of the bed, watching a TV that was mounted on the wall. Holmes was doing sex pictorials, dancing in clubs. Holmes rolled down his window, McCourt rolled down his. Holmes was wearing a ring that had been stolen from the boss. They made a run to McDonalds for hamburgers. 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. Laurel Canyon had long been a prestige address, an earthy, woodsy setting just minutes from the glitter and rush of Tinseltown. 'When you're talking about the star witness in a case like this I think you can safely assume that we've got her pretty well guarded,' a pllice spokesman said. This is an archival story that predates current editorial management. Didn't expect my day to start by downloading #microsoftedge or willingly going to #bing to see #openai's new #gpt4 model. U.S., Newspapers.com Marriage Index, 1800s-current. James M. Eisenman, a Century City attorney who represents Holmes estate and his second wife, said he doubts Sharon Holmes story. I said, John, how could you? For a time, John Holmes was silent. Sharon went to the bedroom, laid down, read a magazine. Eruption, a porn remake of Double Indemnity. At the moment that Diles barged through the door with Holmes in tow, Thorson was with Eddie in his bedroom, doing hits. Sellers had no particular plan; Glendale sounded just fine. The cast of characters would go from two or three to ten or more. John? Her husband watched from the closet. He walked through the door, flopped on the bed, passed out. Susan Orlean tells the story of the suspected arson in The Library Book. Now the police wanted Holmess testimony. And the AIDS thing was just starting to come out. All three of them are sleeping in the same bed. Two years later, Ricks reduced Nashs sentence to time served, and Nash was released. This article is based on information obtained from interviews with more than seventy people including law-enforcement officials, porn-industry insiders, attorneys, court officials, family members and eyewitnesses connected with the Wonderland case. For the first few months, while she was in Oregon with her mother, Jeana had refused to take Holmess calls. John was into Save the Whales. master splinter death. One of the customers was Scott Thorson. . Holmess half brother and his wife lived there; this little community was the personal fiefdom of John Holmes. He graduated from UCLA with majors, variously, in physical therapy, pediatric physical therapy, medicine and political sciences. He was supposed to be doing sales and preproduction, writing and editing, in addition to acting. Sharon Holmes said she is convinced that her former husband was at least present when the murders took place. 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. Lets face it, she says. Go!. Finally, he replied: The murders . . For extra money, Jeana solicited tricks on the beach. I really dont recall. Thorson was the live-in lover of the entertainer Liberace. The armed intruders robbed Nash and his 300-pound body guard, Gregory Diles, of $10,000, two plastic sacks of cocaine and other property. Sydney Pollack's adaptation of Horace McCoy's "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" Holmes finally called on the afternoon of the 29th, after the Wonderland Gang kicked him out. Your mother? By the time they pulled into the apartment complex managed by Sharon Holmes, it had been decided. Take care of him, Sharon said. 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. 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. When asked by Holmes' attorney what she remembered after that, she replied, 'nothing.'. There was a lot of screaming going on, Holmes told his wife. We sat for a long time, and he was very, very quiet. 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. John, theyre coming, Laurie said in a stage whisper. Nash was a big fan of porn. Writer and documentary producer. You knew these people.. He had the biggest pile of coke Id ever seen in my entire life, says Jeana. Hed underestimated Nash once, but hed never do it again. Jewelry, wads of money. Im very lusty.. 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. The 200 Greatest Singers of All Time One night Holmes told Jeana to meet him at the van. Early in 1983, Holmes was shooting Fleshpond at a studio in San Francisco. She even had to have part of her skull surgically removed as a result of her injuries. Addled synapses played him a picture: Eddie Nash. They lived in London, Paris, Michigan, Florida. I know it sounds trite and predictable but "Chinatown" has to be the best L.A. movie ever made. Hurricanes and tornadoes are scary as all hell because you usually have a few moments to contemplate what's about to hit you. He invited them in for coffee. Miller, De Verell and Launius needed drugs every day. Can I come in?, They went to the bathroom. The woman took her to her house, put her to work painting a wall. The 100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time Basically, he said, Im going to have to run, Sharon Holmes recalled, And I said, Youre going to have to tell me. . John looked down at Sharon. here. Sellers agreed to talk to The Times on the condition that the paper not reveal her true name. She actually saw it. Florida woman runs ultra-marathon distances for 23 consecutive days. Laurie was nineteen; she came from a small town outside Vegas. The couple ended up in Miami, at a small run-down hotel on Collins Avenue. She was living in Hollywood while her autistic son attended the Belle Dubnoff School for Brain-Damaged Children. Thorson had been addicted to cocaine for several years. He was like the old John. Latest Videos; Emmy Awards - Show Clips - Winnerviews - Presenterviews . 'I was laying down on the bed. 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. Her new boss, a pediatrician, had shut down the office for the afternoon, and shed gone to the market, planned a special dinner for her husband. He couldnt walk. Learn more about merges. In the car were De Verell, Launius, McCourt and a man named David Lind, a friend of Launiuss. Edit your search. Thursday, July 2nd, 3:30 a.m. Sharon Holmes switched on the porch light, spied through the peephole. Now, as McCourt turned right, off Laurel Canyon Boulevard onto Dona Pegita, he saw Holmes driving back toward them. She couldnt call Sharon. I loved him. We scattered his ashes over the ocean.. Tom Mix and Harry Houdini once lived there among the quail and scrub pine and coyotes. Though Holmes had left Wonderland at midnight, he had stayed at Eddie Nashs for six hours, smoking up the $400 hed taken to spend, helping himself to a little more of Nashs largess. Net Worth in 2021. This means absolutely nothing to me. 1947 was a pivotal year in L.A.'s history. His mistress, Jeana, whod been with him since she was fifteen, was turning tricks to support his habit. To get better results, add more information such as Birth Info, Death Info and Location even a guess will help. He took over the kitchen. ''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. Nash was leafing through a little black book that Diles had taken from Holmess pocket. He invested in movies, leased office space to several porn-related operations. At an alarming rate.. In addition, more than 3,000 pages of court and police documents and newspaper reports were reviewed. The fifty-two-year-old former jurist had been arrested after he allegedly punched his eighty-two-year-old mother and threatened to kill someone if she didnt give him keys to a car. We had a big fight. I believe that cocaine paranoia created within him the desire to stay within that closed environment that he had control over. There are other suspects that we feel are involved. Each time, drugs, money and weapons were seized. 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. In Too Deep. Shed gotten a job at a nursing home and was paying her mom rent, trying to rebuild her life. Hed been in jail eleven months in all, 110 days on the contempt charge. Diles got seven years on charges stemming from the drug raids. We were real friendly. Nash was found guilty of possessing two pounds of cocaine for sale. Number 8763 Wonderland Avenue had some history of its own: Paul Revere and the Raiders once lived there. When we came back, the door was locked, says Jeana. I didnt know what was going to happen, but I knew what might, she says. Drugs, inattention, back taxes and lawyers fees had depleted his fortune. The cops were calling it the Four on the Floor Murders. It was like being in a movie or something., By late 1984, John was working as an executive at Amersons VCX films. That first time, we didnt get to work together, says Laurie, but we were attracted. A porn documentary of his life, made in 1981, was called Exhausted. ', In time, John and Laurie moved in together at Amersons. That house, she thought. They sat around a glass table in the breakfast nook. The man in the suit was Los Angeles Police Department detective Tom Lange. Meanwhile, Jeana called Holmess answering service and left the number. Drawings of the dog, of me. I was working as a computer programmer. Holmes hired the sisters to do gardening around the complex. 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. It's a yellow - sometimes green - vehicle with four tires and a Middle Eastern man behind the wheel. . All Marriage & Divorce results for Ronnie Launius. 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. His family had owned several hotels before the creation of Israel in 1948. Why would I confront her? Fine. Sharon stood with arms crossed. After a while, I said I didnt want to go out on the beach anymore. arcane traps mousehunt; digital readout for sliding table saw Gov. They shared an apartment with another divorced woman and her two children. What he was famous for was his penis. It was owned by the pediatrician she worked for; she and Holmes lived rent-free in an adjacent house. Hed messed up a delivery, had a big argument with DeVerell and Launius. National Park Service: 'Never push a slower friend down' in a bear encounter, March 2 (UPI) -- The National Park Service offered some sage advice for park visitors who encounter bears: "Never push a slower friend down. John was a shy and lonely kid who kept to himself and had perfect attendance at Sunday school. Most people find it hard to believe, but I'm an introvert. He always had large quantities of coke, heroin, Quaaludes and other drugs at the house. or learn more. Youve got to be joking. His penis, when erect, according to legend, measured between eleven and fifteen inches in length. On Mulholland Drive, silently watching as the city falls down and taking a naturalist's notes. I was involved. John would just stay home. Its business.. There was one hitch. 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. 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. Some were quite attractive. Another officer commented, upon hearing of Launius' death, "I suppose they won't need many pall bearers". Holmes was one of the greats in the business. Which movie about the entire John C. Holmes story accurately captures the Holmes milieu- "Wonderland" or "Boogie Nights" ? For her sister Terry, who was fourteen and overweight, he brought what he called Terry food, pounds and pounds of candy. Diles hit him again. Copyright 2023 Penske Business Media, LLC. Just blood. When he got out of jail, Holmes was jubilant. The video boom was just beginning, and Holmes became a kind of Marlon Brando of porn. Then he sold shoes, furniture, Fuller brushes door-to-door. If anything, one of the themes in Eddies life has always been control. After she left, my husband called on the telephone at the farm and said to come home immediately. 7-year-old baseball umpire seeks Guinness World Record. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click Nils Grevillius, who's been working on a book on the Wonderland murders, talks in one interview about a robbery committed by the Wonderland Gang (the same robbery, in fact, that Launius got the antique guns that he tried to fence via John Holmes, which ultimately led to the murders). During recesses in the trial, Nash would go out to his car and smoke freebase. They made him beg for his life. They were going underground. He stayed in there like three hours, and Im just sitting there, you know, twiddling my thumbs. If you could live in LA during any era, when would it be? He was very upset about the business. When you met with Eddie, you met at his place, on his terms. Here he is, he has two women with him. It was Sunday evening and the drugs were gone, the money was gone, the situation was desperate. She tells them (in a near comatose state) that she does not remember anything. They opened the security gate, and the four of us went up the stairs, and when the door opened, they forced their way inside. You had an accident in the Malibu?. Hed have a big glass of milk, and wed turn on the cartoons, and then hed go to bed in Sharons room. Will Dominion-Fox News lawsuit be different? When asked by Holmes' attorney what she remembered after that, she replied, 'nothing.'. A sunny room in the Veterans Administration Hospital in Sepulveda, California. Lulu Press offers a very affordable set-up with generous royalties. So much blood! he groaned over and over. . There were backhands, lectures, drunken rages. She was in intensive care with a severed finger and brain damage. Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. He called some people, and they said, Well help you out. But wed never get the money they promised., On January 24th, 1988, John and Laurie were married in the Little Chapel of the Flowers, in Las Vegas. Hed made all these people millions and millions of dollars. Funny, she thought, no cuts, no abrasions. They were living out of the trunk of his estranged wifes Chevy Malibu. Mary went to work on an assembly line at a Western Electric plant. Arriving back at Wonderland just after dawn, Holmes announced the coast was clear. One day in 1970, Holmes met Hawaiian producer Bob Chinn. An argument ensued. Launius served 4 years and was released in 1978. We went to a motel, had a nice reunion. On their first date, hed brought a bottle of Mateus and a handful of flowers. Hed sent two of his minions out to score more drugs, but they hadnt yet returned. Run me a bath, will you? he said. In truth, Holmes was operated on for hemorrhoids. One day, Jeana was visiting a neighbor when Holmes came by to deliver a bag of pot. 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. Overdue book returned to Massachusetts library after 56 years. In a way, Holmes was everymans gigolo, a polyester smoothy with a sparse mustache, a flying collar and lots of buttons undone. You want to play baseball? hed ask his ever-present guests, lighting his butane torch, offering a hit off his pipe. What's different Armed guards in the lobby, in the hallway. In court testimony years later, he would say, in answer to this and many other questions, I dont recall. 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. Shed often take her son there for lunch. He quickly racked up a rap sheet, including gun and drug charges. At the end, there were six working at once on his penis. Names of mobsters, drug dealers, prostitutes, pimps. It was 8:30 Monday morning. Recently, however, Holmess biggest commodity had been trouble. So I told him everything, John said. Its the cops.. The Kit Kat was a strip club. After mustering out of the army, at age nineteen, Holmes went to work as an ambulance driver, and soon thereafter he met Sharon Gebenini. Though, she didn't survive unscathed. This anecdote right there tells me that Launius has a body count. How do you handle this conflict? He just stared. John Holmes was famous, at least in some circles.