The Wonderland Murders
(aka Four on the Floor Murders)

(UPDATE:  Be sure to join the Wonderlands message board.)

Twelve years after the nearby Manson murders, 8763 Wonderland Avenue in Laurel Canyon was the site of a drug-related multiple-murder (a few websites misstate the address as 8764).  Four people were beaten to death with a steel pipe on July 1, 1981.

The major suspect in the case was Eddie Nash (also known as Adel Gharib Nasrallah, born circa 1929) but the best known suspect was John Holmes.

Holmes, thanks to his 13-inch penis, had appeared in over 2,500 pornographic movies and was known as "Johnny Wadd."  Holmes and Nash became friends somewhere along the line.  Nash could allegedly supply the coke and Holmes had the connections to the wild lifestyle of the porn-industry.

Along the way, Holmes picked up a $1,500 per day cocaine habit which greatly effected his ability to work.  He turned to robbery to sustain his coke habit and reportedly began running drugs between Nash and the Wonderland Gang.

The most commonly stated series of events has Holmes setting up Nash to be robbed by the Wonderland Gang in a home invasion style robbery.  Stolen, allegedly, was cocaine, heroin, money and jewelry.  Present in the house at the time was Nash along with his bodyguard, 300-pound Gregory DeWitt Diles.  Nash knew Holmes was involved.

Scott Thorson (gay lover of pianist Liberace) arrived at the Nash residence to pick up some drugs.  Upon his arrival, Nash told him he had been just been robbed.  Thorson witnessed Diles bring Holmes into the house and beat him horribly until Holmes admitted the Wonderland Gang was behind the robbery.  Nash threatened to kill Thorson if he ever repeated what he witnessed.

Holmes reportedly helped Nash's crew to enter the Wonderland house where four of the residents were slaughtered brutally on July 1, 1981.  A fifth victim survived.  At best, Holmes watched the murders.  At worst, he helped swing the pipe.

Shortly after the murders, police arrested Nash when a raid found $1 million worth of cocaine in his house.  He spent two years in prison.

In 1982, John Holmes was put on trial for the murders.  His lawyers convinced the jury that Holmes was just another victim and he was acquitted.  Holmes later found he was HIV-positive but continued to perform in porn.  In 1988, he died from AIDS-related illnesses.

Over the years, Scott Thorson remained friends with Nash although his own life had been threatened.  Thorson had broken up with Liberace and experienced drug problems.  He claims to have lost most of his possessions to Nash in exchange for drugs.  When the state of California eventually brought murder charges against Eddie Nash, Thorson made a deal with the District Attorney to have unrelated criminal charges dropped in exchange for his testimony.

Nash's 1990 trial ended when the jury hung on a vote of eleven to one.  Later, it would be alleged Nash had bribed the holdout.

Thorson entered the Federal Witness Protection Program but later left it.  Thorson was shot five times in a 1990 robbery but lived.

In 1991, a second trial acquitted Nash.  His bodyguard, Diles, passed away in 1995 at age 48.

1997 saw the release of the movie "Boggie Nights."  The characters Dirk Diggler and Rahad Jackson were based upon John Holmes and Eddie Nash.

On May 19, 2000, a federal indictment named Nash, Holmes, Diles and three others as suspects in racketeering, bribery, drug trafficking, money laundering and the Wonderland Murders.  Nash was 71 at the time of the indictment.  In poor health and suffering from emphysema, Nash was tested and found to be infected with tuberculosis.  The remaining three people named in the indictment were convicted of wire fraud and tax evasion.  Nash pled guilty to conspiracy to commit the Wonderland murders.  He was sentenced to 37 months in federal prison and now lives in the Los Angeles area.

In the Fall of 2003, Lions Gate Films released a movie ("Wonderland") about the case starring Val Kilmer, Kate Bosworth, Lisa Kudrow and Dylan McDermott.

Trivia:

Mark Lindsay of Paul Revere and the Raiders lived in both the Sharon Tate house and the Wonderland house.

John Holmes was born on August 8, 1944.  Exactly 25 years later, members of the Manson Family would leave Spahn Movie Ranch to commit five murders at Cielo Drive (just after midnight on August 9).  Gregory Diles was born on August 7.

Manson shot Bernard "Lotsapoppa" Crowe on July 1, 1969.  The Wonderland murders were exactly twelve years later on July 1, 1981.

The last name of victim Barbara Richardson's father was Easton.  Manson victim Jay Sebring lived on a street named Easton.

Paul Caruso represented Eddie Nash and Susan Atkins in separate cases.

LAPD investigator Tom Lange was involved in the case.  He is better known for his detective work in the O.J. Simpson murder case.

Victims:

William "Billy" Ray DeVerell (born 2-14-37 in California)
Ronald "Ron" Lee Launius (born 5-18-44 in Illinois)
Joy Audrey Miller (born 5-14-35 in Illinois)
Barbara Lee Richardson (born 10-17-58 in California)
Susan Launius (survived, wife of victim Ron Launius)

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