Florida woman runs ultra-marathon distances for 23 consecutive days. The finish was drippy and streaked, but it didnt matter. He was also a drug dealer and a heavy user. He even had the Holy Rollers sister smoking., In the morning, they went out to get food. John eased into the tub. Holmes was to run it. 10 Dec 2013. Updated on November 15, 2022 10:05 AM. He could repair anything, liked sketching and working in clay. His attorney told reporters that hed changed his mind because of certain arrangements that had been made and certain circumstances that had arisen. Sometimes he worked around the apartments as the handyman and gardener. Everything from Volkswagens to a Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow. One was abruptly interrupted on the morning of July 1, 1981, when a shaken John Holmes crawled into their Glendale bedroom, bleeding, and told his wife that he had been in an accident. In the business she was billed as Misty Dawn, the anal queen of porn. 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. I stood there and watched them kill those people., I was involved in a robbery, John began, and he told the story. Funny, she thought, no cuts, no abrasions. He was great. In the still unpublished official version of his life, Holmes is quoted as saying that he was held at gunpoint at another house while the killers, whose names he did not know, went to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. Um, I lifted the trunk of the car, and I gave myself a nosebleed yesterday. Atkins was convicted for her involvement. It's a yellow - sometimes green - vehicle with four tires and a Middle Eastern man behind the wheel. Are you awake? Holmess eyelids fluttered. Diles smacked Holmes, threw him across the room, shoved him against a wall. All the sugar helped him come down. He has a fascinating style and I liken him to Raymond Carver if Carver had decided to write about L.A.'s slumming angels. A doctor of dubious practice prescribed a salad of different drugs to aid the weight loss. We went to a motel, had a nice reunion. Tom Mix and Harry Houdini once lived there among the quail and scrub pine and coyotes. 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. Not only did the Black Dahlia murder occur in '47 but the town was full of soldiers returning from the war with scarred psyches. McCourt drove up the hill on Laurel Canyon Boulevard, across Mulholland Drive, over the crest of the Santa Monica Mountains, down into the Valley. 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. She had two daughters, had once been married to a Beverly Hills attorney. Launius served 4 years and was released in 1978. In a career that would span twenty years, Holmes made 2274 hard-core pornographic films, had sex with 14,000 women. Nash hadnt slept in ten days. He told me that he had set up the robbery. The murderers were brought to justice. A porn documentary of his life, made in 1981, was called Exhausted. 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. John was doing a lot of drawing. Jeana was afraid to look at John. At night, she baby-sat for David and Karen. Police sources said Vlick, who is charged with plssessing drugs and stolen property, is a 'fringe guy' in organized crime circles. 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. 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. Tell me where you are. Hurricanes and tornadoes are scary as all hell because you usually have a few moments to contemplate what's about to hit you. She walked the streets, tried to think. And then, just as we got to this intersection, he slammed on the brakes. We were really broke. Ive lived in L.A. since 1979 and currently reside in Glendale. . 7-year-old baseball umpire seeks Guinness World Record. How you doing, John? said the man in the gray suit, leaning over the safety rail of the bed. We moved around a lot because the rent kept going up. He wore the buckle when he and Sharon sold bumper stickers door-to-door. In Too Deep. There were piles of cocaine in front of you. He looked like a guy in a dive bar in El Paso, according to a neighbor. Soon after, Detectives Lange and McClain called the hospital. Lets face it, she says. On their first date, hed brought a bottle of Mateus and a handful of flowers. Once, Sharon says, he got a human head from UCLA. I said, John, how could you? Holmess parents separated when he was three, and Mary moved the family into a housing project in Columbus. The car was on the other side of Santa Monica Boulevard, across six lanes of traffic. He thought one porn person in the family was enough, she says. It had a tropical motif, a menu of special drinks, a Polynesian revue, sometimes belly dancers. He invited them in for coffee. Holmess half brother and his wife lived there; this little community was the personal fiefdom of John Holmes. When I got out, he said, Lets go, and we drove toward home. Holmes thought Nash was the most evil man hed ever met, but he couldnt quite figure him out, so he respected him. John and Laurie stayed home a lot and watched videos. . 1947 was a pivotal year in L.A.'s history. The armed intruders robbed Nash and his 300-pound body guard, Gregory Diles, of $10,000, two plastic sacks of cocaine and other property. Holmes drove to Nashs again to make sure the sliding door was still open. They watched some more TV. Get em, boys!. 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. How could he rent a car? James M. Eisenman, a Century City attorney who represents Holmes estate and his second wife, said he doubts Sharon Holmes story. Lind and his girlfriend had come down three weeks earlier from Sacramento to stay at Wonderland. Then another. Some were quite attractive. Women asked him to deflower their daughters. His first porn film was made while he was working his way through college. He tried to think. Then I leave. 'I was laying down on the bed. 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.'. With the release the same year of The Devil in Miss Jones and Behind the Green Door, porn became part of popular culture. Mary was a Bible-thumping Baptist John remembered screaming, yelling, his father puking all over the kids. Too many. Then one day Harold threw John down the stairs and came after him. Holmes was wearing a ring that had been stolen from the boss. Thats bullshit. He had sex onscreen with two generations of leading ladies, from Seka and Marilyn Chambers to Traci Lords, Ginger Lynn and Italian member of Parliament Ciccolina. Nashs three coconspirators in the insurance scam were found guilty. When he did coke, says Jeana, hed do it until it was all gone, and then hed scrape the pipe and smoke all the resin he could find, and then hed take a bunch of Valium. Theyll never steal from anyone again!, Thorson was excused, and Nash closed the door. We sat for a long time, and he was very, very quiet. Recently, Holmes had been drifting from job to job, trying to find a niche. They were living out of the trunk of his estranged wifes Chevy Malibu. Tell you its all clear. He thought, Well, if Im going to take a chance, thats enough. . Sharon had watched through the window as he picked them from the neighbors front yard. In the end, both Diles and Nash went to jail. Nash told a friend that he missed the moonlight and the olive trees of his homeland, that hed spent time in a refugee camp, that his brother-in-law was shot by Israeli soldiers. Twenty minutes later, Holmes walked into the room. I'll sidestep Nathanael West's blistering "Day of the Locust" to applaud some more recent works like Michelle Huneven's "Jamesland" and the Nina Zero private eye novels by Robert Eversz. He could not be reached for comment on the killings. At Holmes murder trial, Tomlinson testified that Holmes told him that after the robbery had occurred at Ed Nashs house, that Nash had made (Holmes) tell him who the people were that robbed him. He sent flowers, presents, photos of them with the dog. I've endured both earthquakes and hurricanes. After seven years, the district attorney was reopening the Wonderland case, based, in part, on testimony from Scott Thorson, Liberaces ex-lover. Six months ago shed had a double mastectomy. Jeana Sellers (not her real name) arrived in Holmess life in 1976. 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). Not long after, Launius, Sherrill, and another associate named Junior Ballard were arrested for smuggling heroin and pills across the Mexican border into the US. The first man to win the X Rated Critics Organization Best Actor Award, Holmes was an idol and an icon, the most visible male pom star of his time. Up to this time, Holmes had been doing mostly photo layouts, stag films and 8-mm bookstore loops. Because hed already been tried, Holmes would not be able to invoke the Fifth Amendment. He made films nonstop, and he took eighty to ninety telephone calls a day. Sharon Holmes said she is convinced that her former husband was at least present when the murders took place. He wasnt threatening. June M. Schuyler, an elementary-school teacher from Santa Barbara, remembers meeting the nice-looking, very-light-skinned foreign man at Beefs Chuck. In 1973, in Yuba City, CA, Ron Launius and associate Carroll Evan Sherrill had taken some "bad dope" and Ron confronted another associate, Gary James Moore, whom he accused of being a "snitch" or informant. This is an archival story that predates current editorial management. Atty. Its time, Holmes said, and then he smiled and raised his fist. 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. Nash loves me. I called up and said I had some things for the people inside and to let me up. 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. 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. I knew the whole picture, says Sharon. In the summer of 1981, Sharon Holmes said, she and John Holmes were living together as the managers of a small Glendale apartment complex. Los Angeles is often stereotyped as a hard place to find personal connections and make friends. Mismanagement, Sloppy Hiring Practices, Lack Of Transparency. Get my property! After his release, Nash told a friend that jail had saved his life. Didn't expect my day to start by downloading #microsoftedge or willingly going to #bing to see #openai's new #gpt4 model. Here's Why It's Especially Dangerous To Hike SoCal Mountains Right Now, How 4 Words Upended A University's Journalism Program, And Stirred A Reckoning Over Race, What A Popular Yoga Teacher's Descent Into Conspiracy Theories Says About The 'Wellness To QAnon Pipeline', Ancient Lung Disease Strikes Countertop Cutters In LA, The Groundbreaking Suicide Squad That Tested Early Rockets And Flirted With The Occult. . Kentucky man stops for breakfast, wins $50,000 lottery prize. We closed up the office and went to the beach. While awaiting that trial, he was ordered by a judge to tell the grand jury what he knew about the Wonderland murders. We were real friendly. Nash was missing part of his sinus cavity, one of his lungs had been removed, and he had a steel plate in his head. He knew we wouldnt have a life together.. No drugs. A California cop called him one of the coldest people I ever met.. What compels you to revisit the slayings and what does the story say about Los Angeles, in the 80s and now? When theyd finish work, hed make sandwiches. He was also in Liberaces Las Vegas act. This stuff makes me feel funny too. Drawings of the dog, of me. He was dying. The time was 2:30 in the afternoon. They sat around a glass table in the breakfast nook. Nash and Holmes had met three years earlier at the Seven Seas. On July 10th, Police knocked down the door of their motel room and arrested Jeana and Holmes. If anything, one of the themes in Eddies life has always been control. By the time they pulled into the apartment complex managed by Sharon Holmes, it had been decided. Memorial has already been merged. It was a strange and violent time and men wore double-breasted suits and snap-brim Fedoras. Now he never went anywhere without his brown Samsonite briefcase. Suddenly, Johnny Carson was telling Deep Throat jokes on The Tonight Show. Except for the . They were always looking for an opportunity. Holmes let his hair grow, started wearing three-piece suits. Amerson, meanwhile, accused his friend of embezzling $200,000 from the company. Considering employee opinions. LOS ANGELES -- The lone survivor of a bloody attack at a Laurel Canyon home last summer testified today she does not recall seeing porno star John Holmes in the house the night she was attacked and four others were bludgeoned to death. In the meantime, here's an interview with Bren: 1. Eddie Nash was fifty-two years old, six feet tall, gray haired, strong and wiry. He was marketing Holmess old films on video. The Wonderland case was still open. Together, the womens descriptions of what Holmes told them largely corroborate the Los Angeles Police Departments theory of what happened on Wonderland Avenue. They were stupid. 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. Then, when Eddie Nash got out of jail, John was very, very worried. 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. Nash had clubs of all kinds; he catered to all predilections. 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. He told us certain things. He was frozen. Sharon went to the bedroom, laid down, read a magazine. 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. When Holmes was eight, his mother married Harold, a manic-depressive who worked for the telephone company. He had a slight build, a pockmarked face, a record of thirteen arrests. The daughter had a kid and a job. Inside was her husband, John. Copyright 2023 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. McKenna was murdered in 1989 when ambushed while returning home in his limousine; his killer sprayed bullets into the vehicle, killing McKenna. Its like Raymond Chandler on crack. Deep in Laurel Canyon, the Wonderland Gang was planning its last heist. Shed never seen him look scared before. He said, Would you make love to me? I literally shook to death. Blood! Then Nash was arrested with three others on federal charges of racketeering, arson and mail fraud. 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. It was really nice. If you're enjoying this article, you'll love my daily morning newsletter, How To LA. This is a man who pimped out his underage girlfriend to Eddie Nash in exchange for drugs and that's just the beginning of his sins. Thats what its all about. John? Let him scream? Then what?, I leave the sliding door unlocked this one, said Holmes, pointing to the floor plan, here, in the back. 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. Copyright 2023 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. They called it Louise. According to the law, he had to talk. He couldnt walk. Launius' years of operation: 1972-1973 (after he returned from Asia and before prison), 1978-1981. John Holmes himself never offered a public account of what happened on that July night. During recesses in the trial, Nash would go out to his car and smoke freebase. Chris didnt have a drivers license. The bride wore white. 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. That evening, Chinn wrote a three-page screenplay; a partnership was born. For the last several years, Nash had rarely left his white-stone ranch house in Studio City. 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. Jailers said other inmates were giving him candy bars. She was thin, blond, foulmouthed, a heroin addict with seven arrests. Prioritizing employee development. You cannot merge a memorial into itself. jaydubya2009 10y. She survives and is questioned by Nico and Cruz in her hospital bed. In addition, more than 3,000 pages of court and police documents and newspaper reports were reviewed. During Holmes murder trial in 1982, then Deputy Dist. Two customers waited. They did hits off Eddies pipe, eyed the door. His drug of choice was freebase; sometimes he mixed the crack with heroin. 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Jeana stood up, moved closer to the tube. Dont worry.. Launius, Deverell, and Miller, along with the girlfriend of an accomplice, Barbara Richardson, died from extensive blunt-force trauma injuries. 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. 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. Holmes broke into cars along the way. Sellers agreed to talk to The Times on the condition that the paper not reveal her true name. His words to me were Friends can get you killed. We were very careful. John and Jeana painted the Malibu gray with a red top. My husband hired a girl to follow us. Anywhere on Los Feliz Boulevard adjacent to Griffith Park. Along the way, in Colorado, Mr. Sharon always knew when he was lying. By 1973, John and Sharon were sharing the same house, even the same bed, but they were no longer having sex. She hadnt heard from him in, what, six months? More from Medium For years, a Boy Hung a Photo on his Bedroom. The 100 Best Albums of 2022. Holmes, in those days, was a string bean, six feet tall, 150 pounds, hair still cut in a military buzz. They mix poorly, and yet they're inexorably linked. She was a teenager, and her parents had just divorced. Meanwhile, Jeana called Holmess answering service and left the number. 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. They were going underground. For the latest national news from NPR and our live radio broadcast, visit LAist.com/radio. John bought himself an El Camino pickup and a large diamond solitaire that became his trademark in films. Pharmaceutical cocaine was one of the ingredients. 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. So you go in, Launius was saying to Holmes, reviewing the plan. If somebody fucked with him. Arriving back at Wonderland just after dawn, Holmes announced the coast was clear. You cant do this to me, he said. The master, the giver of hospitality. John Holmes was a porn star. The police wanted to know who killed the Wonderland Gang. His last film was The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empress, starring Ilona Ciccolina Staller, a member of the Italian Parliament. The drugs affected his penis; he couldnt get it up, he couldnt work in porn. Called the Wonderland Killings, the brutal murder of 4 people in a Laurel Canyon home. Thorson had driven from Lake Tahoe to score from Nash. Or perhaps he had flown from Las Vegas. jackson falls santa paula. John Holmes, who was tried for and acquitted of the crimes, never told his wife the names of the assailants, she said. He played it for all it was worth, then he said he wouldnt testify. She opened the door, folded her arms against her chest. Holmes was into Nash for a small fortune. They threw brown bags of dope off the balcony. Will Dominion-Fox News lawsuit be different? Holmes muttered something to Nash about the gang. Go back to that house! There were two-way mirrors in the bedroom, anything you wanted would be made available. (John) was so much of a liar . He went fucking crazy, says Amerson. She didnt have any money. Holmes hired the sisters to do gardening around the complex.