In 2003, a film titled "Wonderland" was based on the events surrounding the murders. Police say Brady Oestrike, 31, killed 25-year-old Charles Oppenneer and his pregnant girlfriend, 18 . In the small hours of July 1st 1981, four people were murdered at a house located at 8763 Wonderland Avenue. 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. Thomas Glen Lundgren, 13, who was brutalized by twice-paroled sex offender and violent child molester Bill Bonin and his accomplice Vernon Butts. The podcast will take the listener behind the scenes of this infamous case and look at it from angles never seen before. Scroll down to see the Wonderland Murders photos. The podcast picks up from there and chronicles his descent into drug addiction and crime, all while haunting the dark underground of Hollywood. [13] One month before he died, two LAPD detectives visited Holmes at the Veterans Administration hospital where he was convalescing to question him about the murders. Let's take a closer look at the bloody, shady history of the Wonderland Murders. Journey back to 1981, when four people were brutally murdered in their home in the Hollywood Hills. LEXINGTON The word came without warning, its suddenness jolting the big courtroom. In fact,as the Los Angeles Times tells us, the police have considered the case essentially solved for quite a while even though a conviction hasn't materialized. Victim two, Ron Launius was bludgeoned to death on his bed. Evidence shown to the jury included police bodycam footage taken from first responders at the family's home on June 7, 2021. The police searched the home and interviewed neighbors, who later admitted that they had heard screams in the early hours of the morning, around 3:00 a.m. Be careful! You can cancel at any time. The blood is Susans. He was charged $250,000 and given a four-and-a-half-year prison sentence. Compartilhar isto. Ada Larson is the mother of Sonja Larson, one of five college students in Gainesville, Florida, who were killed in 1990. Named for the street in Laurel Canyon where the murders took place inside the house of a small-time drug gang, its a gruesome crime that reflected its time, disrupted a mythology and tells a broader story of Los Angeles, the American dream machine, and when justice does and doesnt work. A drug user like her husband, she largely absented herself from gang activities. Though Holmes presumably didn't take part in the actual robbery, he was allegedly instrumental in the plot, and purposefully left a door at Nash's house open in order to allow the Wonderland Gang to enter. We have a verdict, the bailiff announced. [10], Although neighbors would later report having heard loud screams around 3:00a.m., no phone calls were placed to the police until 4:00p.m. on July1, over twelve hours later, when furniture movers working at the house next door to the crime scene heard Susan moaning and went to investigate. A key person when it comes to the Wonderland murders is nightclub owner Eddie Nash. The video, believed to be taken within minutes of his murder, captured Paul at the very same kennels and a third voice, believed to be Alex, was heard in the recording. His only sentence was 110 days in jail after being in contempt of court. Offers may be subject to change without notice. As theyd been working at the house next door to 8763 Wonderland, theyd heard desperate, pained moans coming from the drug house. However, the injuries she suffered in the incident caused her brain damage. AsLA Weeklytells us, a 2003 crime drama based on the movie,Wonderland, had some considerable star power behind it, with Val Kilmer as John Holmes, Kate Bosworth as Dawn Schiller, and Dylan McDermott as surviving Wonderland Gang member David Lind. It is exciting to be releasing this podcast on Audible, a company Ive had a long and fruitful association with. Bettmann/Getty ImagesScott Thorson at the age of 24 in 1983. Metropolitan Nashville Police spokesman Don Aaron told CNN that the two men, both reportedly 22 years old, were in a dispute that ended in fatal . Grace Beahm Alford/The Post and Courier/Pool Grace Beahm Alford/The Post and Courier/Pool Diagram of crime scene. Wonderlandis a very compelling look at the darker side of Hollywood and those that wield power. [13], In 1990, Nash was charged in California state court with having planned the murders, and Diles was charged as a participant. 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. People were afraid he was going to inform. But what really happened that day, and how did things escalate to a point that left four people dead on the floor of a house on 8763 Wonderland Avenue? She narrowly survived the Wonderland murders, being beaten so badly that she could not remember anything about the incident. 2023 Michael Connelly. According toLos Angeles Times,the authorities believe he was an active party, and the porn star himself told a biographer that he was forced to witness the murders while one of the culprits was threatening him with a gun. Don't come back to us complaining about how you don't like looking at such things. Boris Yaro/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images. A video recording taken from his cellphone revealed Paul at the same location. The Story Of The Gruesome And Still Unsolved Wonderland Murders. True Crime story about the Four on the Floor Wonderland Murders that have never been solved. The Murder. Blood on the floor of the feedroom where Paul Murdaugh was shot dead. Daily. There was nothing at all half-hearted about Ron Launiuss criminal enterprises, though. When the killing rampage was over, no fewer than four would be killed and 1 near-mortally wounded. The Wonderland Murders & The Secret History Of Hollywood will be made into a docuseries by MGM+ (formerly Epix). Coordinates: .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}340642N 1182310W / 34.1117N 118.3861W / 34.1117; -118.3861. Alex claimed that he was not home at the time of the killings and insisted that he spent a prolonged period of time visiting his elderly parents at their home the night his wife and son were killed. Involves Porn Star John Holmes, Eddie Nash a Drug King Pin, and the sorid life of LA in the 80's. He was but 43 years of age. Both then and now, watching again for this piece, I cannot help but think its a very effective true crime film. Numerous television shows have covered the Wonderland murders, such as: On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. 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. Unfortunately, that's exactly what the Wonderland Gang did. 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. She was an associate of the Wonderland Gang, hanging . The photos show his wife . Bianchi said that most of the murders were committed at Buono's home and auto upholstery shop in . All free. [14] A second trial, in 1991, ended in acquittal for both Nash and Diles. The legendary 1970s adult entertainment star John Holmes may have been best known for a certain physical property, but he also developed a bit of a reputation for hanging with the wrong crowd or, rather, two wrong crowds, which apparently didn't get along with each other at all. . The Davidson County Sheriff's Office has released photos of the Corbett home taken the night Jason Corbett was bludgeoned to death in his bedroom. I-10 West/ Wildwood Canyon. Its a shocking, bloody scene as the production crew painstakingly recreated the den as documented in police reports and the coroners photographs. Unfortunately, and foolishly, one of the houses they targeted was Nashs. The podcast follows the nine lives of a man known best as Liberaces lover and confidant, played by Matt Damon in the movie Behind the Candelabra, revealing himself here to be the Zelig of Awful and our tour guide into Hollywoods dark underbelly. The robbers surprised the nightclub owner with his bodyguard, Gregory DeWitt Diles, who received a minor gunshot wound in the process. It is possibly the combination of this reputation and the mess he found himself in that caused a surprising amount of people to go after his head. Somewhat amazingly, and despite Holmes handprint at the scene, nobody was charged for the murders. {{start_at_rate}} {{format_dollars}} {{start_price}} {{format_cents}} {{term}}, {{promotional_format_dollars}}{{promotional_price}}{{promotional_format_cents}} {{term}}, Sexton: Child's words cut deeper than sentence in Corbett murder trial, Jury finds wife, father-in-law guilty in Jason Corbett trial, Closing arguments begin in murder trial of Thomas Martens, Molly Corbett, Molly Corbett, Thomas Martens give exclusive interviews to ABC News' 20/20, Continuing Coverage: Corbett murder trial, Attorneys for Thomas Martens seek to withdraw from Corbett wrongful death lawsuit, Hold off on new trial for Molly Corbett and Thomas Martens, N.C. Attorney General says in petition to N.C. Supreme Court. murder scene; murder victim; murder investigation; dead person; . The house on Wonderland Avenue still stands to this day, but the bloodstains of history will never be scrubbed clean. 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. The Wonderland Murders Crime Scene Photos. [15] Diles died from liver failure in 1997. The living room where the first victim, Barbara Richardson was found. 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. The files below are the crime scene photos and video taken by the police during the Meredith Kercher murder investigation at Via della Pergola 7 where Amanda Knox and Meredith lived for 6 weeks and at the apartment of Raffaele Sollecito at Corso Garibaldi 110. After a publicized three-week trial, Holmes was acquitted of all criminal charges on June 26, 1982. He admitted to having bribed the lone holdout in his first trial with $50,000, and pleaded guilty to the RICO charges and to money laundering. Nash walked free until 2000, when he was charged with drug trafficking and money laundering. Crime scene photos . Scroll down to see the Wonderland Murders photos. We see this side of Nash at various times inWonderland, but mainly when the nightclub kingpin (chillingly portrayed by Eric Bogosian) receives Dawn for an evening after Holmes pimps her out as partial payment for his debts. It was obvious from the time we got in the house that we were over our heads. "There was an interest on Holmes' part toward Nash for the drug culture, and an interest from Nash toward Holmes for the adult-entertainment, fast-lane lifestyle," Bill Margold, who knew both Nash and Holmes, has said. The bloody events of that night are chronicled in a very effective dream flashback as Holmes sleeps, cementing the unfortunately forced involvement of the disgraced star. Wonderland 1981 Real Crime Scene Graphic 18+Copyright Not Intended!Thank You For Watching As a surviving member of the group, David Lind, put it, "the certain type of dope dealer you didn't rob was Mr. [Nash]. For the, List of programs broadcast by Investigation Discovery, Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, "Trial Begins for 2 in Grisly Laurel Canyon Murders of Mid-1981", "Two Acquitted in Second Trial for '81 Laurel Canyon Murders", "Holmes' Confession in Bathtub: Told Wife of Role in 4 Murders", "The Testimony of Susan Launius at John Holmes' Trial", "David Lind, the Aryan Brotherhood and Jerry Brown", "Crime Library: Notorious Murders: Celebrity: John Holmes: The Wonderland Murders", "John Holmes, 43, Dies, Was Star of Sex Films", "Nash Bodyguard Jurors Deadlock, to Try Again", "The New Season/Film; John Holmes's Boogie Life", "LA: Black Dahlia, John Holmes & Wonderland", "Return to Wonderland (With his old pal Eddie Nash to be arraigned Monday in a 19-year-old murder case, the restless ghost of legendary porn star John Holmes once again stalks L.A.)", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wonderland_murders&oldid=1130248544, Organized crime events in the United States, People murdered by American organized crime, Unsolved mass murders in the United States, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from January 2022, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from July 2019, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 29 December 2022, at 07:59. 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