susan launius interview

Holmes drove to Nashs again to make sure the sliding door was still open. March 3 (UPI) -- A Kentucky man who stopped to buy some breakfast said he lost his appetite when he won $50,000 from a scratch-off lottery ticket. His surgery wouldnt heal up, either. We were really broke. One day in 1970, Holmes met Hawaiian producer Bob Chinn. I mean, come on: Ventura, Orange, San Bernardino - those are choices? But the new accounts cast doubt on the story Holmes told a biographer before his death March 13. The word in the industry was that he had colon cancer. Police said Holmes was involved in an unreported robbery of cash and drugs at the Studio City home of nightclub owner Adel Nasrallah, also known as Eddie Nash, three days before the bludgeon slayings at a Laurel Canyon home. Nash was acquitted. . John was doing a lot of drawing. A poster for the 1977 John Holmes film The Jade Pussycat., NBA 'Investigating,' Team Suspends Ja Morant After Allegedly Flashing Gun on Social Media, Alex Murdaugh Juror Says Cellphone Video, 'Big Liar' Testimony Led to Guilty Verdict, She Used the Bathroom And Became a Target of the Culture War, Here's How LaRussell and Intuit are Helping Independent Artists Understand How to Achieve Their Financial Ambitions, Alex Murdaugh Sentenced to Life in Prison for Murder of Wife and Son, Glastonbury Co-Organizer Promises Female Headliners in 2024 After All-Male Top Billing This Year, See the Beths Deliver Refreshing 'Expert in a Dying Field' Mini-Set on 'CBS Mornings', Netflixs Sex/Life Is Back to Satisfy Your Softcore Desires. 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. Going up there right now isn't safe, but here are some places where you can enjoy the view and snap a pic. Anywhere on Los Feliz Boulevard adjacent to Griffith Park. I suspect that Launius may have been involved in other violent crimes. The judge in the case was Everett E. Ricks Jr. Theres a floor safe in the closet, right over here.. His mistress, Jeana, whod been with him since she was fifteen, was turning tricks to support his habit. Nancy J. Kraft, nee Launius, 69, of Smithton, Illinois, born Friday, August 4, 1939, in East Saint Louis, IL, died Wednesday, November 5, 2008 at Memorial Hospital in Belleville, IL. Can I come in?, They went to the bathroom. It was like he was doing a movie. John and Jeana painted the Malibu gray with a red top. This button displays the currently selected search type. Holmes nodded his head, put out his cigarette, closed his eyes. A year ago, shed been busted for dealing drugs out of the Wonderland house. Then he sat up. jaydubya2009 10y. After bathing at Sharons, Holmes had come here, to this motel in the Valley. 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. Women asked him to deflower their daughters. If you could live in any neighborhood or specific house in LA, where/which would you choose? By 1973, John and Sharon were sharing the same house, even the same bed, but they were no longer having sex. Diles shoved, Holmes skidded across the carpet. He had a full erection. Shed gotten a job at a nursing home and was paying her mom rent, trying to rebuild her life. Will Orange County's Fledgling Clean Power Agency Survive? Like all porn actors, John had been paid per day and had signed away the rights to his own films. A look at years past when snows creeped into our citified neighborhoods, away from the mountains and foothills. I never get tired of what I do because Im a sex fiend. That first time, we didnt get to work together, says Laurie, but we were attracted. When we came back, the door was locked, says Jeana. Shed never seen him look scared before. The murders, he said. He said, Would you make love to me? I literally shook to death. He lost his virginity at age twelve to a thirty-six-year-old woman who was a friend of his mothers. They deserved what they got.. No one was injured. Atty. He went out of his life denying, said Sharon Holmes, (saying) I had no involvement., Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Texas congressman who broke with GOP is censured, Hong Kong court convicts activists behind Tiananmen vigil, Election conspiracies fuel dispute over voter fraud system, Desperate mountain residents trapped by snow beg for help; We are coming, sheriff says, Newsom, IRS give Californians until October to file tax returns, Californias snowpack is approaching an all-time record, with more on the way. Copyright 2023 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. With the release the same year of The Devil in Miss Jones and Behind the Green Door, porn became part of popular culture. He had ties to the criminal underworld and was known to be dangerous -- it just so happened that he crossed someone even more dangerous than himself, and lost his life for it. She was living in Hollywood while her autistic son attended the Belle Dubnoff School for Brain-Damaged Children. It was like being in a movie or something., By late 1984, John was working as an executive at Amersons VCX films. Nash and Diles were well known on Sunset Strip. They went to the beach. Then, in the summer of 1985, John tested positive for AIDS. He worked for others for a time, then opened Beefs Chuck, a hotdog stand on Hollywood Boulevard. She was nowhere to be found. Get em, boys!. Fine. Nash liked having him around. Jeana was scared to death. 7-year-old baseball umpire seeks Guinness World Record. Now, home early from her office, Sharon left her purse in the foyer, squeaked down the hall on white rubber soles to the bathroom of their one-bedroom apartment in Glendale. The top story was something about a mass murder. She cut her eyes slowly, caught his profile. He refused anyway. 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. He could repair anything, liked sketching and working in clay. Your mother? In high school, Holmes said, he slept with all but three girls in his class. Get my property! Number 8763 Wonderland Avenue had some history of its own: Paul Revere and the Raiders once lived there. They came even though, at the time, there was no music industry in Los Angeles. His penis, when erect, according to legend, measured between eleven and fifteen inches in length. Would Jeana want to be the live-in baby sitter? 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. He knew we wouldnt have a life together.. He remained addicted to coke. But Holmes kept calling. U.S., Newspapers.com Marriage Index, 1800s-current. Her left leg is paralyzed because of the head injuries. [5] Barbara Richardson Thats probably why he always came back. The man who owned the house was named Adel Nasrallah. Aftermath Lind and McCourt were both away from the scene at the time of the murders, so they were able to survive unharmed. In 1960 he opened a hot-dog stand on Hollywood Boulevard. Wearing jewel-bedecked livery, he would chauffeur Liberace onto the stage in a glittering mini-Rolls-Royce open the door, take his masters fur coat. According to one Los Angeles law-enforcement official, Ed Nash was a very well-known figure in the Sixties around Hollywood with police, and it was never an antagonistic relationship.. The color drained from his face. Hed never met them, but he had, through Holmes, given them a $1,000 loan. John looked down at Sharon. What compels you to revisit the slayings and what does the story say about Los Angeles, in the 80s and now? He has just published his latest project about one of Los Angeles's most well known murder cases in the 80s. Are you awake? Holmess eyelids fluttered. A girl entered stage right. He introduced him to all his guests. All Marriage & Divorce results for Ronnie Launius. Facilitating a sense of purpose. I told where the robbers lived and how to get there. Its like Raymond Chandler on crack. Submissions should outline a mystery and provide a link to a more detailed review of the case such as a Wiki article or news report. It was Sunday evening and the drugs were gone, the money was gone, the situation was desperate. His voice had a smooth Arabic lilt. Its business.. The aunt sent him to fencing school, dancing school, a school of etiquette. True Crime Writer in Las Vegas. Now, as McCourt turned right, off Laurel Canyon Boulevard onto Dona Pegita, he saw Holmes driving back toward them. Sharon had watched through the window as he picked them from the neighbors front yard. He weighed ninety pounds, his fingernails were two inches long. He lost his virginity at the Florida house, when he was six, to his Swiss nursemaid, Frieda. We scattered his ashes over the ocean.. It was Thursday, July 2nd, 1981. More from Medium For years, a Boy Hung a Photo on his Bedroom. Holmes was an inveterate collector of junk. Holmes was into Nash for a small fortune. Miss Miller's shiny white 1969 Mercedes 280 SL was used to deliver narcotics to her customers, detectives said. I said yes. She was in intensive care with a severed finger and brain damage. John kept his porn money and spent it on himself. Holmes was wearing a ring that had been stolen from the boss. Or that show out of New York, you know, A Current Affair. Run me a bath, will you? he said. Invalid memorial. Jeana sat in the front seat, Thor in her arms. We were like a normal couple. Ill teach them a lesson! Sharon looked at him. We want to hear it. For the last several years, Nash had rarely left his white-stone ranch house in Studio City. We had a big fight. Harold drank a lot. 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. Holmes was one of the greats in the business. Ricks even came in from his sickbed to sentence Nash. Built in 1925, in the then fashionable Spanish Revival style, it sits in the leafy hills above the Los Feliz neighbourhood, at the fringes of Griffith Park and with a panoramic view of the city. He knew he was dying. His eyes blinked rapidly. 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. There was shouting, laughing, rock & roll twenty-four hours a day.. John swung and knocked his stepfather out. Thread marks found on walls, skulls, skin. Before them were two pairs of handcuffs, a stolen police badge, several automatic pistols and a dogeared sheet of paper, a floor plan. It was dark, and there wasnt any traffic. According to one eyewitness, Diles once chased a man out of the Kit Kat and emptied his .38 revolver into the mans car. How students with Asperger's cope at university. In the summer of 1981, Sharon Holmes said, she and John Holmes were living together as the managers of a small Glendale apartment complex. Susan Launius. 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 His old friend was happy to pick them up. 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. British bus driver stops to give loose sheep a lift. There are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people living and working in L.A. who have never given thought to writing a screenplay. Take care of him, Sharon said. jackson falls santa paula. In 1974, Sharon became the resident manager of a ten-unit apartment court in Glendale. On October 25, 1994, Susan Smith told . Five men and two women were meeting in the breakfast nook, sitting in swivel chairs, leaning against walls. Nashs three coconspirators in the insurance scam were found guilty. Now it was December 4th, 1981. Some were quite attractive. Finally, he replied: The murders . Get the fuck out of here! he screamed. He looked shocked. In the end, the most damaging evidence the prosecution could produce was a palm print on a headboard above one of the victims. Dole said there's no question that Trump lost his reelection race - narrowly but fair and square. Ronald S. Coen, now a Los Angeles Superior Court judge, argued that the fatal beatings were intended to avenge the humiliating armed robbery of Los Angeles nightclub owner Adel Nasrallah, also known as Eddie Nash. Coroner Thomas Noguchi said early autopsy results on the bodies found Wednesday -- 12 hours after the neighbors ignored the screams for mercy -- indicated the victims had been beaten to death. Everybody was just shocked.. You know, says Detective Lange, theres no mystery here. There were contracts out on their lives. I viewed his body nekked, you know, and then I watched them put the lid on the box and put it in the oven. . Four inches around!, Thats great, said Sharon, turning a page of her magazine. It's been many, many years since we saw this much snow in our mountains. Susan Goldberg, MBA Expand search. Coughing into the microphone, Ricks called Nash a danger to the public and maxed him out. 02:26. He thought one porn person in the family was enough, she says. People are after John, and they think youre with him. Holmes told his wife that he was held against a wall, at gunpoint, while the three men beat to death Launius, 37; William DeVerell, 42; Joy Audrey Miller, 46; and Barbara Richardson, 22. He chewed gum and overacted. Nash was leafing through a little black book that Diles had taken from Holmess pocket. Dont worry.. The video boom was just beginning, and Holmes became a kind of Marlon Brando of porn. They were stupid. He was consuming it. 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. His lawyer hired a young associate to stick Nash with a pin whenever he nodded off in court. Her husband, Ron, 37, of the. Here's Where To Maximize The View (And Snap A Great Picture), A Los Angeles Family Seeks Answers And Accountability After Black Mom Dies In Childbirth, A Brief History Of Why It Does Occasionally Snow In LA. He quit the ambulance service and got work stirring vats of chocolate at a Coffee Nips factory in Glendale. Then she ran into a woman preaching fire and brimstone on a corner. She didnt know where. 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. Eddie Nash was fifty-two years old, six feet tall, gray haired, strong and wiry. So I told him everything, John 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. Jeana said nothing. He served in the signal corps, spending three years in Nuremberg, Germany. Now it was midnight in the parking lot at the Safeway in Glendale. 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. What now? she thought. 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. He always called Holmes my brother. Theyd known each other for three years. I won't do an extensive write-up of the Wonderland Murders, as they've been written about on here before: https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/430cdk/four_bloody_unsolved_wonderland_murders/. In the end, both Diles and Nash went to jail. Will Dominion-Fox News lawsuit be different? Officers made casts of the victims' wounds to help determine the weapon or weapons used in the attack. Nash would kill him and his family if he talked, he was certain of it. He even had the Holy Rollers sister smoking., In the morning, they went out to get food. John Holmes, who was tried for and acquitted of the crimes, never told his wife the names of the assailants, she said. I believe I was watching TV and it seems like a bunch of people were coming in and out,' Mrs. Launius said. This is Susan Launius. According to legend largely of his own making Holmes was born in New York and lived with a rich aunt whod been married fifteen times. They told him to make good. Everyone there was on some kind of slide. Whos this in Ohio? Nash screamed. Too bad youre so young, he said finally, then left. In the late Seventies, Los Angeles police averaged twenty-five drug busts a month at the Starwood. At an alarming rate.. His clothes were ripped, he was bloody from head to toe. The Wonderland slayings remain, for all intents and purposes, an unsolved mystery and mysteries without a resolution tend to tantalize and give birth to myth and conjecture. Along the way, in Colorado, Mr. Youre going to get hurt. You cant do this to me, he said. He was very upset about the business. 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. The 200 Greatest Singers of All Time Dear reader, we're asking you to help us keep local news available for all. We moved around a lot because the rent kept going up. They took back his key to Wonderland, and Launius punched him out, then hit Holmes with his own blackthorn walking stick. Why would I confront her? In jail, Holmes went on a hunger strike. We were real friendly. to tell them who it was, Sharon Holmes said. Whos this in Montana? They wanted to see Holmes. His body was recovered near Mount Islip. One woman survived the attack. Tell me where you are. The cast of characters would go from two or three to ten or more. John Curtis Holmes had the longest, most prolific career in the history of pornography. Police, however, believe that Holmes actually took part in the fatal beatings. She couldnt call Sharon. (John) was so much of a liar . The door was open. You had an accident in the Malibu?. Usually, they smoked freebase and had sex. Like aliens or something. Holmes was stealing luggage off conveyers at L.A. International, buying appliances with his wifes credit cards, fencing them for cash. Youre probably going to be saving him.. Let him scream? One of the actresses in the cast was Laurie Rose. A host of musicians, actors and artists make their homes in the rustic canyon. Or the local TV says its a big mystery. Recently, however, Holmess biggest commodity had been trouble. John Holmes didnt go to his grave with anything but a very bad case of AIDS. The actors wife paused. Its the cops.. The car was on the other side of Santa Monica Boulevard, across six lanes of traffic. Jeana Sellers (not her real name) arrived in Holmess life in 1976. Jeana leaned out the window, and they hugged. Nash had clubs of all kinds; he catered to all predilections. One summer day in 1968, Sharon came home a little early from work. The three went back to Sharons house. His drug of choice was freebase; sometimes he mixed the crack with heroin. Its like being married to a hooker., And so began the loops and the stags, and then Johnny Wadd was born. For extra money, Jeana solicited tricks on the beach. 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. McKenna was murdered in 1989 when ambushed while returning home in his limousine; his killer sprayed bullets into the vehicle, killing McKenna. He spent his early life in Tennessee and Georgia, and graduated from Spalding High School in Griffin, Ga. 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. By May, Jeana began taking his calls. No drugs. 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. Their attorneys question the credibility of prosecution witnesses and maintain their clients innocence. Tabs. Holmes went on to say that he wanted to be best in the world at something, and that he thought pornography was it. Launius and four of his associates were found dead in their townhouse on Wonderland Avenue, in Laurel Canyon on July 1, 1981. 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. Updated on November 15, 2022 10:05 AM. Rush hour was on. He was willing, even eager, to murder a helpless woman who was no physical threat to him. Suspected burglar inside New Brunswick home was a panicked deer. The next day, while Holmes was at work, a delegation of residents came to see Jeana. That's not a stereotypical statement in the least. Here he is, he has two women with him. I was really charmed, says Jeana. Finally he said, Ive got to tell you Ive been doing something else, and I think I want to make it my lifes work.. 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.'. He had the biggest pile of coke Id ever seen in my entire life, says Jeana. On the . Nash was very upset. I've endured both earthquakes and hurricanes. I wouldn't doubt it. Another officer commented, upon hearing of Launius' death, "I suppose they won't need many pall bearers". $1 Million - $5 Million. And so the plan was fixed. . A day or two later, Holmes gave a compressed, but similar account of what happened to Sellers, she told The Times. He wanted me to view his body and make sure that all the parts were there, says Laurie. She actually saw it.

Handcrafted In Mexico Artisan Made Furniture Home Goods, Latravis Gallashaw Release Date, Shelden Williams Disability, Articles S

susan launius interview