The Wonderland Murders is the tale of a violent home invasion robbery and the revenge rampage that followed. As for Nash, he went to court for the murders in 1990, but a single dissenting juror caused a hung jury and a mistrial. The house on Wonderland Avenue still stands to this day, but the bloodstains of history will never be scrubbed clean. Drug paraphernalia from the Wonderland house, documented in the Wonderland murders video that recorded the crime scene. The family's patriarch, Alex Murdaugh . 17. A drug user like her husband, she largely absented herself from gang activities. AIDS. August 19, 2022 By Sabina Stent. Character actor Eric Bogosian takes on the role of the ruthless Eddie Nash. Journey back to 1981, when four people were brutally murdered in their home in the Hollywood Hills. Newly released photos and police body camera footage taken after Maggie, 52, and Paul Murdaugh, 22, were murdered at their family's private hunting ranch painted a gruesome scene of chaos and confusion in South Carolina's Low Country, RadarOnline.com has learned. After his left palm print was found at the crime scene on the Launius' headboard, he was arrested and charged with four counts of murder in March 1982. Katie Serena is a New York City-based writer and a staff writer at All That's Interesting. The prosecution attempted to disprove Alex's alibi using the time stamp from the cellphone video as well as testimony from Alex's parent's caretaker, Michelle "Shelley" Smith, who claimed Alex showed up unexpectedly that evening and stayed for less than 20 minutes. One neighbor woke to the screams of a man who was begging for his life. Nash, 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. Paul's body is blurred and covered with a tarp outside the dog kennels. Let's take a closer look at the bloody, shady history of the Wonderland Murders. Director James Cox effectively weaves true crime into a narrative to present an unsanitized depiction of Hollywood and the once King of Porn. On June 29, several days before the Wonderland murders, four members of the Wonderland gang robbed the home of notorious club owner and gang leader Eddie Nash. The Story Of The Gruesome And Still Unsolved Wonderland Murders. Scott Thorson, the former lover of Liberace, had also been present at Nashs house. A free man. Nash died in 2014. The police arrived at the house to find a destroyed, blood-filled den and the bodies of Barbara Richardson, Ron Launius, Joy Miller and Billy Deverell in various rooms. Victim three, Audrey Miller was beaten to death on her bed. Over his years of increasing fame, he developed amassivecocaine addiction, which took a toll on his professional life. The film itself didn't have a scene that was based on the Wonderland Murders, but there was once a scene that was loosely based on the robbery of Nash. Oh, and by the way, also below are some photos of John Holmes's penis that is reported to be 12 inches long. After a publicized three-week trial, Holmes was acquitted of all criminal charges on June 26, 1982. The photos show his wife, Molly Martens Corbett, and her father, Thomas Corbett. "It was pretty much the best day of my life," said Goleta resident . He was but 43 years of age. In the neighboring bedroom, Ron Launius was dead, bloodied and beaten almost beyond recognition. After reading about the Wonderland Murders, check out the unbelievable true story of the Lizzie Borden murders. You've been warned! [8], Neither Lind nor McCourt was present during the attack. His cult statues was assured up until his involvement in one of the most horrific murders of the last thirty years. It is exciting to be releasing this podcast on Audible, a company Ive had a long and fruitful association with. Ada Larson is the mother of Sonja Larson, one of five college students in Gainesville, Florida, who were killed in 1990. There is a line in the film where one of the LAPD Officers tells his partner: heres a guy who has been under investigation for arson for the last five years, yet he still goes out to dinner with the fire commissioner twice a week. Holmes was all too aware of Nashs dark side, and although he on occasions referred to Nash as his brother and kin, Holmes would also call Nash the most evil man I have ever known.. Nov 24, 2016 - Explore Maryanne's board "Wonderland Murders", followed by 112 people on Pinterest. Sure he is introduced with an almost rock-star glow. He was charged $250,000 and given a four-and-a-half-year prison sentence. She said Holmes never told her the names of the three other assailants. Nash walked free until 2000, when he was charged with drug trafficking and money laundering. The 54-year-old attorney is standing trial on two counts of murder in the shootings of his wife and son at their Colleton County, S.C., home and hunting lodge on June 7, 2021. Prosecutors claimed that Alex changed his clothes after he allegedly opened fire on his wife and son. Bettmann Archive/Getty Images. Major Traffic delays, WB 10 . Warning, Graphic Content: Crime Scene Photos from the Corbett Case. After tying her up, he strangled her with a pair of pantyhose. Bettmann/Getty ImagesPorn star John Holmes, dressed in a prison jump suit, leaves Superior Court on his way back to the Los Angeles County Jail. The blood is Susans. 0. Where is Deniz Aydiner Now? (Orlando Police Department) The events that took place inside happened just 40 hours after Nash was robbed, and they were hardly muted. Toned image with added film grain. Susan A. Murphy married Ron Launius in Carson City, Nevada on 16 April 1971, and the two of them were heavy drug users. She narrowly survived the Wonderland murders, being beaten so badly that she could not remember anything about the incident. N.C. Supreme Court will decide whether to uphold murder convictions of Molly Corbett and Thomas Martens. While John didn't actually reveal the names of the culprits, he said that he knew them and that this meant he was in mortal danger. Involves Porn Star John Holmes, Eddie Nash a Drug King Pin, and the sorid life of LA in the 80's. Schedule; Mobile Apps; Watch Live; Stream on discovery+; Shows. I-10 West/ Wildwood Canyon. Even further in the nightclub owners palm, and owing him a debt, Holmes was drawn into Nashs revenge plan to wreak destruction on the Wonderland Gang. Maggie (right) was fatally shot a short distance from the dog kennels. 25 Feb/23. [13], In 1990, Nash was charged in California state court with having planned the murders, and Diles was charged as a participant. "There were all these mysterious other people John was about to rat on. ", The exact circumstances of the first meeting between John Holmes and Eddie Nash are unclear, but asLA Weeklytells us, the two soon became close enough that Nash was known to refer to Holmes as his brother. WARNING: GRAPHIC IMAGES Disturbing new crime scene photos show the moments after Austin Harrouff, 19, allegedly murdered John Stevens and Michelle Mishcon outside their Florida home and chewed on . But be forewarned! The photos, taken by police investigators throughout the 1920s-1960s, toe the line between morbid historical artifacts and illuminating objets d'art. Editor's note: Annika Bahnsen, a Westmont College student, joins the News-Press this week as an intern reporter. As the bodycam rolled, police could be heard discussing the perplexing nature of the crime scene with one repeatedly commenting on the number of shell casings on the ground, even though the victims suffered single shots to their heads. 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 found on the bed. Police didnt think theyd missed their chance, though; by the summer of 1981, Launius was a person of interest in as many as two dozen other homicides. At 4 p.m. on July 1, police received a panicked phone call from a pair of furniture movers. She was an associate of the Wonderland Gang, hanging . During the robbery, as Nash was being made to open the safe, Lind accidentally shot and wounded Diles. (Photo Courtesy of District Attorney Garry Frank). While he claimed she "kissed the gun" and that it was an accidental suicide, others - including . [11] Shortly after the murders, in her first newspaper interview in July 1981, Holmes' first wife, Sharon Gebenini Holmes, stated he had told her he had known the people in the Wonderland Avenue townhouse, and had been there shortly before the murders occurred. As part of a plea deal, he admitted to having bribed the single dissenting juror in the original trial. Eddie Nash was arrested in a 7 a.m. raid on his Laurel Canyon home. Read about John Holmes and the Wonderland Murders here. Due to reasons that will become obvious in a moment, Holmes' exact role in the Wonderland murders of 1981 is unclear. The Davidson County Sheriffs Office has released photos of the Corbett home taken the night Jason Corbett was bludgeoned to death in his bedroom. In the footage, incessant barking and wailing from the family's dogs could be heard as police investigated the crime scene outside Moselle's dog kennel area. Alex was believed to be captured on camera leaving Moselle an hour before he made the 911 call. "We are talking about five people that were bludgeoned with a metal pipe, beaten, having their heads beaten in, having their faces beaten in,"Deputy District Attorney Carol Najera described the damage. A video recording taken from his cellphone revealed Paul at the same location. Murder Crime Scene (staged Fake theatrical blood used) Staged murder crime scene scene with blood splats and streaks . Nothing on the outside suggests that on July 1, 1981, four bodies were discovered there, so beaten and bloody that the LAPD compared them to the Tate-Labianca murders. Det. It is a story of a fallen idol, a crime lord, and a dark side of Hollywoods history, one of many dark instances and the flip side to the star-studded Boulevard. Crime scene footage showing the bloodstain in the bedroom of Susan and Ron Launius. Bettmann/Getty ImagesPorn star John Holmes, who would later go to trial for the Wonderland murders. The four alleged Santa Barbara gang associates charged in the shooting death of an innocent bystander Dec. 9 on Stearns Wharf entered not guilty pleas at their arraignments Monday, prosecutors said. YouTubeA close-up of the Wonderland houses address, taken by the evidence tech who processed the crime scene and filmed the Wonderland murder video. In the course of their investigation, the detectives dealt with snitches, thieves, drug addicts and porn stars as well as a powerful and connected prime suspect who was able to turn the investigation against them. We recommend not scrolling down if you don't like see such stuff. Porn star John Holmes, dressed in a prison jump suit, leaves Superior Court on his way back to the Los Angeles County Jail. The prosecution claimed that Alex murdered his family members to deflect attention from his financial crimes and brought up past deaths connected to the family in an attempt to prove how low the once-prominent attorney would go in order to preserve his family's tarnished legacy. As theLos Angeles Timestells us, Nash was a fearsome nightlife magnate whom John Holmes once called "the most evil man I've ever known." Situated in Laurel Canyon, a Hollywood Hills neighbourhood where, a coterie of musicians and creatives had called home during the 1960s, the area was not exactly the rough part of town. A bloody hammer was tangled in Millers sheets, and several metal pipes littered the floor. [citation needed]. The living room where the first victim, Barbara Richardson was found. However, Holmes' court-appointed defense lawyers, Earl Hanson and Mitchell Egers, successfully presented Holmes as one of the victims, who had been forced by the real killers to give them entry to the house before the murders took place. This website uses Google AdWords. . YouTubeDrug paraphernalia from the Wonderland house, documented in the Wonderland murders video that recorded the crime scene. He had made a name for himself during the Vietnam War when he was dishonorably discharged from the army for smuggling drugs back to the United States in the bodies of dead servicemen. As the waning adult industry superstar was on good terms with Nash, he became a courier of sorts between the parties. Crime scene photos . Ronald Lee Ron Launius, William Raymond Billy Deverell and his girlfriend Joy Audrey Gold Miller, David Clay Lind and Tracy Raymond McCourt were the Wonderland gangs core. However, arguably the most interesting version of the story comes from John Holmes' wife, Sharon, who says that the broken man told her the real story a few weeks after the incident. Blood on the floor of the feedroom where Paul Murdaugh was shot dead. Exactly how things proceeded from Nash figuring out Holmes' connection to the robbery and the Wonderland murders is unclear, but the generally held belief is that the encounter wasn't very pleasant. Last seen at 10:50 a.m. on May 28, 1979, the nude Reseda youth was found violated, bludgeoned, stabbed, and strangled that same evening in Agoura. However, the injuries she suffered in the incident caused her brain damage. Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) detectives Tom Lange and Robert Souza led the murder investigation, and searched Nash's home a few days after the crime. While getting drunk at a local bar, he hears of his friends' murders at Wonderland on the TV set at the bar and soon discovers his girlfriend was there. Unfortunately, that's exactly what the Wonderland Gang did. 2023 Michael Connelly. In the small hours of July 1st 1981, four people were murdered at a house located at . It is available exclusively to Audible members. The house at 8763 Wonderland Avenue. For refusing to testify or cooperate with authorities, he spent 110 days in jail for contempt of court. Thorson claimed that Nash had been so convinced that Holmes was involved that he had made his injured bodyguard track him down and beat the assailants names out of him. You be the judge. Richarson's body was found on the living room floor in front of the sofa. John Holmes reportedly fell in with the Wonderland Gang because of his own drug habit. Susan Launius had been lying on the floor alive, with her skull broken, for more than 12 hours. According to UPI, the road to the Wonderland murders was paved with bad intentions. Still, they did not call the police; they only arrived approximately twelve hours later when removal men at another property heard a brutally beaten Susan Launius moaning in anguish with blunt trauma to the head. The graphic Wonderland murders video is recorded and narrated by an evidence tech, who moves through the scene and makes note of blood splatters, body positioning, and evidence of ransacking in the Wonderland house. Wyoming Police this week released photos from the July 2014 case known as the Craiglist murders. If that kind of content offends you, I recommend not watching this clip. It housed hundreds of thousands of dollars in drugs, and, on a vengeful leaders orders, became the scene of a quadruple homicide so bloody that it made the news for decades. In this limited documentary podcast series, Michael Connelly returns to his roots in journalism and examines the Wonderland Murders, an iconic and brutal mass murder in a city known for its murders. The photos show his wife . 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