Morbid - Episode 310: The Wonderland Murders Part 2

Episode Date: March 29, 2022

Part two of the Wonderland murders has arrived! We open up with one of the most gruesome crime scenes in Hollywood's history and then go down a rabbit hole trying to figure out who exactly was involved and how each event led to the next. By the time we’re done two men will have been arrested multiple times, one will have gone on the run and the other left to avoid prison time.  ***Pre-Order The Butcher and the Wren: Here *****  Check out our next virtual live event The Dapper and the Flapper    Book mentioned: Malice in Wonderland by Robert Souza and Tom Lange   As always, thank you to our sponsors: HelloFresh: Get sixteen free meals, plus three gifts, with code morbid16 at HELLOFRESH.com/morbid16 Purple: Go to Purple.com/morbid10 and use code morbid10. For a limited time you can get 10% off any order of $200 or more. Native: Get 20% off your first order by going to NativeDeo.com/morbid, or use promo code morbid at checkout. Modern Fertility: Right now, Modern Fertility is offering our listeners $20 off the test when you go to ModernFertility.com/MORBID Stamps: For a special offer that includes a 4-week trial, free postage, and a digital scale go to Stamps.com, click the microphone at the top of the page, and enter code MORBID See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey, Prime members, you can listen to morbid, early, and ad-free on Amazon music. Download the app today. You're listening to a morbid network podcast. Whether you're running errands on your daily commute, or even at home, you can enjoy all your audio entertainment in one app, the Audible app. As an Audible member, you can choose one title a month to keep from the entire catalog. This includes the latest bestsellers and new releases. Plus get full access to a growing selection of included audiobooks, audible originals,

and more. If you've been wanting to form good habits, break bad ones, and improve motivation, atomic habits written and narrated by James Clear is a great lesson. It'll reshape your mindset on progress and success by helping you develop strategies to transform your habits. New members can try audible free for 30 days. Visit audible.com slash wondery pod or text wondery pod to 500-500 to try audible for free for 30 days.

That's W-O-N-D-E-R-Y-P-O-D. Audible.com slash wondery pod or text wondery pod to 500-500 to try audible for free for 30 days. Angie has made it easier than ever to connect with skilled professionals to get all your home projects done well. Whether it's routine maintenance and emergency repair or a dream project, Angie lets you browse home on her reviews, compare quotes from multiple local pros, and even book a service instantly. So the next time you have a home project, just Angie that and start getting the most out

of your home. Download the free Angie mobile app today or visit Angie.com. That's ANGI.com. What if you were trafficked into a cult over shot nine times or fell in love with a vampire or went into a minor surgery and woke up one week later, paralyzed? What would you do? I'm Whit Missildine, the creator of this is actually happening, a podcast from Wondry that brings you extraordinary true stories of life-changing events, told by the people who lived them.

From a young man that dooms his entire future with one choice, to a woman who survived a notorious serial killer, you'll hear their firstperson account of how they overcame remarkable circumstances. Each episode is an exploration of the human spirit and personal discovery. These haunting accounts sound like Hollywood movies, but I assure you this is actually happening. Follow this is actually happening wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to ad-free on the Amazon Music or Wonder app. Hey, weirdos, I'm Alena. I'm Ash and bit more excited about this.

Your, uh, Elena was like very cute. You were like, I'm Elena. I'm Elena. Is somebody out of cloud nine over there? I am, I'm just very happy. I don't know if anybody can tell, but I've been like floating on a cloud. I won't take up too much of your time

because I'm gonna, I just keep shoving the sandwich throughout and I don't want you to like, shut the fuck up. No, everybody's time, because I think you said last time, like I'm gonna keep shoving the sandwich throughout. Everybody was like, please do. Okay, cool.

I appreciate it. I won't take up too much of this episode though. Don't worry. If you are looking for a book to read, come September 13th of this year. You can pre-order my book, The Butcher and the Ren right now should do it. It's awesome. It's got a serial killer. It's got a female medical examiner that's like kind of about us. I got to say a lover.

And it takes place in New Orleans in Louisiana area and like the buy you and it's like dirty and it's grimy. It's hot and it takes place in like the woods where nobody should be. And I think you'll dig it. I want you to read it,

because I wrote it with you guys in mind. So yeah, go pre-order that book everybody. There's gonna be fun stuff up until September about the books. Get ready for it. Hit us with the link one more time. tinyurl.com slash the butcher and the rent. Do you win?

I love you so much. Got my signed copy this weekend and now I have gotten about 458 good-gillion messages asking if there's a special way to get a signed copy. I think there is going to be some signed situations going on. We're just trying to, I can't say anything yet, but we're going to be, we're talking about things we're going to do anything yet, but we're gonna be, we're talking about things we're gonna do up until September and beyond. Okay. So trust me, there will be ways, there will be things going on.

I'm gonna do as much as humanly possible to make it like a really cool experience for you guys because this is fun. I love that. And we have some cool ideas. Everybody's been asking about the audio book, Hangtite, that's all I can say. She has a really cool idea. I got an idea, but just Hangtite that she has a really cool idea But just hang tight because we're everything's in motion. So I love you guys rock you rule you never change We do all of it hags have a great somewhere

In addition to this b-otch being a whole pass-offer We also have a whole last virtual live event coming up this Thursday I do and this is really exciting. I'm excited for it. Okay. Are we saying location or no? pass-offer. We also have a whole last virtual live event coming up this Thursday. I do and this is really exciting. I'm excited for it. Okay. Are we saying location or no? We can say where it is, like with like the place. Okay. Not the actual address. Yeah. I won't be like, we're gonna be at 4.50 to notice getting.

So we have a virtual live event coming up. It's the Dapper and the Flapper. Yeah. Who knows which is gonna be who knows. Who is gonna be who. Who knows, a real surprise. You guys are gonna be shocked, I think. But it's gonna be a super fun event. We're doing it in Salem. Yes.

Which is super exciting. Guys, I was so excited. We haven't been to Salem since Caleb visited in June. Oh, I miss Caleb. I miss Caleb too, but he's coming back in June again. I'm from a bird's-ais. We're next to you. I'm excited. But yes, if you want tickets to this virtual live event, the Dapper and the Flapper, you can get them at momenthouse.com slash morbid.

It's going to be a ton of fun. It is. It's going to be like a like a dirty 20s theme. Mm-hmm. It's going to be great. Yeah. Dressing up. I'm going to have a flask tucked into my boot. There you go. I'm just kidding a flask tucked into my boot. There you go. I'm just kidding. I have no plans for that actually. It's gonna be fun, guys. And you guys have been so receptive and awesome

about the virtual live shows that we just appreciate you trying to make them fun. We're actually already planning the next one after the art. So, get ready. All right. Well, with all that being said, I think we should dive into part two.

I need part two. I did leave you on a serious, serious cliffhanger. I'm hanging off the side of a cliff. I'm gonna give a couple trigger warnings throughout the episode, but I did just wanna give one big one in the beginning. This one is definitely gonna focus on a lot of brutality, just so you know, like this is a very graphic crime scene that I'm very graphic.

Going to pretty much tell you all about. And then the second trigger warning I wanna give is for domestic violence. There's a little bit more of it in this episode. So if you don't wanna hear about that, that's like triggering for you then skip forward. And I'll let you know when it's gonna come up as well. So when we left off in part one, five members of the Wonderland gang had just pulled off a major

robbery at the King of Clubs house at least. A haste if you will. They made a fool of him as they tied him up, shoved a gun into his mouth and made him beg for his life while simultaneously stealing about a million dollars worth of drugstoolery and the guns that had led them to this whole situation in the first place. You just made a dude very angry. You made him real mad and those guns were the antique ones that I mentioned in part one. As quickly as it all started, it was over. And the fact that this literally happened on a Monday morning, that's really scary.

So bananas. I don't like's really scary. So bananas. I don't like that at all. So creepy. But Eddie Nash was left to figure out what the fuck had just happened to him. Now, in part one, I definitely mentioned that the Wonderland gang were the kind of people you did not want to mess around with.

But Eddie Nash was no different. He had connections all over the place. Some people believe that he actually held more power than the police. Oh wow. And he's definitely got like police connections because he gets out of a lot of shit. It makes sense.

And once he started to put the pieces together of what happened to him that Monday morning, he had his eyes dead set on vengeance. So no one's entirely sure how Eddie Nash put two and two together and realized that it was John Holmes and the Wonderland gang who did this damn. There's a couple of different stories. I've seen some sources say that Gregory Diles, who was Nash's bodyguard, was out one day like right after everything happened and he saw John Holmes wearing a pinky ring that belonged

to Nash. So he was like, obviously you must have been part of the robbery. How else would you get that? And then there were other sources that said Nash pretty much knew right away, most likely because John had come back to the house on more than one like instance that day of the robbery. Oh, yeah. And for some reason, he must have been like trying to leave that entry point open. Yeah. He wasn't being very sly about it. He was not being pretty sad for a white guy. Now, either way, John Holmes was acting sus and Nash was going to get to the bottom of it.

Gregory Diles got a hold of John and brought him back to Eddie. And the rest of the account is actually confirmed by a man named Scott Thornson, who was most notably known as Liberace's partner. Wow. Yeah, that's pretty notable. Crazy. Liberace had actually become somewhat of an investor in Eddie's clubs, so that is why

this guy Scott was at Eddie's place the night that Gregory Diles dragged a terrified looking John Holmes into the house. Oh no. He was there, Scott was picking up their share of the club's earnings, and also buying about a pound of coke for his personal use. Eek. Now as soon as John Holmes entered the room, Eddie asked Scott to get up and go into the living room, and he said, I'll be with you in just a moment, but you need to get out of here. Please leave. And Scott was like, I, I, Captain. I need you to have deniability. Exactly, goodbye. So Scott stepped out, but he heard a wild fight ensue.

He said there was definitely furniture being thrown around that Ramo Dam. He heard yelling and screaming, and he could tell that John was getting the shit kicked out of him. And he was yelling about how he was going to teach these people a lesson and that they'd never steal from him again.

But then Scott Thornson heard four words come out of Eddie Nash's mouth that would haunt him for the rest of his life. He said, kill everyone that's there. Woo! Yeah. Now that was the night of July 1st, 1981. Just about 48 hours after Eddie had been robbed. So this was like a bang, bang boom. Oh yeah, he's fully high on emotion right now. And a lot of other things. I was just gonna say that and drugs and also all the drugs. Yeah. So that was about 48 hours after he had been robbed and then Scott saw Gregory Diles and John Holmes head out. And then he was still there when they came back and they were covered in blood when they came back. Yeah, but so no one knows exactly what happened the rest of that night, but people have their

ideas and they're all pretty much confirmed. Now the police were not called to Wonderland Avenue until about 4 p.m. on July 1st. There were people actually moving out of one of the homes next door because of all the ruckus that had been constantly going on. I had the 8, 7, 6, 3 wonderland of. So the furniture movers were loading their truck up and they heard moans coming from that house. And they also saw three men run out of the house and one yelled back at them. There's dead bodies inside. What? It's a casual. Very casual. Now the person moaning inside sounded obviously like they were in pain and it's kind of sounded like they were saying help me but it was like very muffled and like they thought that's what they're hearing that while moving just at like in the middle of the afternoons.

The middle of the of the afternoon you just hear pain and moaning right inside of a house and somebody just ran out of the house saying there's dead bodies in there So one of the movers had it over and jogged up the stairs to see what was going on But as soon as he opened the door He saw a scene that he would probably never get out of his get his head again as long as he left Nothing could prepare you for that scene. No knowing what I know about it. I cannot you for that scene. No. Knowing what I know about it, I cannot fathom walking into that unprepared. Oh, no. Because nothing would prepare you for it, but not even having a no-shany idea. And what could be in there is, and we'll get into it in the second, but there were like people that

like just walked in there and thought nothing of it. Crazy. Hi, I'm Lindsey Graham, the host of Wondery's podcast American scandal. We bring to life some of the biggest controversies in U of it. Crazy. Hi, I'm Lindsey Graham, the host of Wondery's podcast American scandal. We bring to life some of the biggest controversies in US history. Presidential lies, environmental disasters, corporate fraud. In our newest series, we look at the kids for cash scandal,

a story about corruption inside America's system of juvenile justice. In Northeastern Pennsylvania, residents had begun noticing an alarming trend. Children were state of Illinois, the state of Illinois, the state of Illinois, the state of Illinois, the state of Illinois, the state of Illinois,

the state of Illinois, the state of Illinois, the state of Illinois, the state of Illinois, the state of Illinois, the state of Illinois, the lives of countless children and force a heated debate about punishment and America's criminal justice system. Follow American scandal wherever you get your podcasts.

You can listen ad-free on the Amazon music or Wonder App. Apply. So immediately this furniture mover calls 911. And while the police made their way out to the scene, they had no idea what they were gonna walk into. This crime scene goes down in true crime history, especially because of the video that was taken up the scene. And I found out in my research that.

This is interesting. I told Elena this before we started. The video actually later made its way into the trials, and it was actually the first time in California state history that a crime scene video was submitted and cleared as evidence. Yeah, that's wild. Isn't that cool? I don't know.

That was really cool. So Robert Sousa and Tom Lang were the lead detectives on the case, and Robert Sousa said of this scene, quote, there was more blood in that scene than I had ever seen. It was such an overkill that we knew there was something a lot more to it than just a dope rip off. They had pissed somebody off. This just smacked of revenge. Oh, yeah.

And then he went on to compare the scene to the Tatl, the Bianca murders, which we all know are some of the most gruesome in, like, history. Yeah. 100 of it. And I can see the comparison there. Oh, absolutely. You look at which, like, just fair warning. Fair warning, because I know a lot of people are going be Googling it because, like, you are like us. Just fair warning, it's, like, a real rough scene.

Yeah, I'm sure. Even blurred out, it's a terrible scene. Even blurred out, it's rough. But, man, the amount of anger, oh, and brutality in the scene. Right. Wow. Just, like, wow.

And over material items and drugs. Wow. It's just like, wow. And over material items and drugs. Yeah. Like, man, why would you like fuck with someone that way? Like someone who, like, I just feels like you, like, obviously none of this is justified. That's what I'm saying. Like, the initial, the initial heist. It's like, you, you, that's something, like, you're all unstable human beings.

Right. This is an unstable man. Right. Who has way too much power and way too much money and way too much of everything and you just humiliated him in his own home and stole stuff from him. It's like, guys, what does everybody do in here?

Like how did you think that was gonna end there? And then like what is he, it's just like so many bad decisions every way you look. Right. And people getting involved with really bad people is like, they stop. Like even at E Nash, it's like, how did you think it was gonna end? Exactly.

Like, you didn't think it was gonna end there. There's no, every step of this situation, starting with John Holmes in the way beginning is just bad decision after bad decision after bad decision. It really is. This story is almost like a cautionary tale. Like I'm gonna tell this to my children when they're old enough to hear it.

I'm gonna tell them the tale of the Wonderland murders. I am. Yeah, the round children. Don't do drugs. So the one person found alive inside Wonderland was Ron's wife, 25 year old Susan. Wow. She may have been found alive, but she was hanging on by a thread.

She was slummed on the floor next to her in Ron's bed, and she had actually been beaten so badly over the head with either a hammer or a steel pipe, which were both found at the scene, that she actually had to eventually have part of her skull surgically removed in order to survive. Wow. So she survived this attack

and then was in like a coma for multiple, multiple days and probably weeks and then ended up having to have part of her skull surgically removed to live. God. Because it's probably, there was probably so much pressure that's what I was thinking. And also one of her fingers had been completely severed in the attack. Yeah. So she was quickly rushed out of the home and brought to Cedar Sinai. She suffered brain damage, and she really didn't have any recollection of the crime,

other than just seeing shadowy figures moving about. And at one point, she did remember hearing someone walk over her and just say, she's going to die anyway, because they could hear her moaning, and they were like, you should get her again. And the guy was like, no, it's fine. She she's gonna die anyway. Because they could hear her moaning and they were like, you should get her again. And the guy was like, no, it's fine. Like she's gonna die anyway. Like look at her.

Holy shit. Her husband, Ron, the leader of the gang, was found in the same room just dead in his bed. He was beaten so aggressively that they were barely able to identify him. Wow. David Lynn's girlfriend, Barbara Butterfly Richardson, was just 22 years old. Didn't have any like criminal record whatsoever.

And she was found bludgeoned next to the couch that she had been crashing on. She and David had been visiting for a few weeks, and he actually wasn't even home when this all went down. Wow. He was with a sex worker in a motel room doing drugs. Okay. While this happened. All right. Now Joy Miller and her boyfriend, Billy DeVarro, were found in their bedroom, also bludgeoned to death. Joy was in bed and investigators found a bloody hammer wrapped up in the sheets. This was one of a hammer.

Hammer is always like, oh my god. For some reason it's like the hammer. Because it's used for like, it's not, it's not. It's a structure. It's a household item that like, it's something the hammer, because it's used for like, it's not- It's a structure. That was the whole item that like, it's something about a hammer, just to me is so, so, so brutal. Oh my god, I know.

I know. And it's also like, this might sound weird, but it's shorter too, which makes it feel more, more like personal, and you have to get so close to the person, and it has to be this like very personal thing. Yeah, and just to be able to do that to somebody is unreal. Yeah.

Oh, yeah. But that was one of a few bloody weapons found in the room. And Joy was beaten so badly that all the sources I read said that from in between her eyebrows to the back of her head was flat when they found her. She had beaten that badly. Wow. Yeah. Now Billy was at the foot of the bed

leaned against a TV stand. And on the floor in front of him were actually several bloody metal pipes. Wow. And it was clear that he had actually put up a fight against whoever had attacked him. The entire upper half of his body was just drenched in blood.

And his hands actually showed defensive wounds. It seemed like he was the main one who had tried to fight off the attackers. And I guess you could assume most likely that joy in him were the last ones attacked because he had time to get up and kind of realize what was going on. He was trying to fight back.

Right, because when this happened, it was like the early morning hours, probably around three in the morning. Jeez. Now, the house had been completely ransacked. In addition to blood spatter and brain matter that covered just about every surface inside, there was also drug paraphernalia, clothing,

and other random things that had been tucked away in dressers and closets, just thrown in the middle of the floor, and enjoy Miller's case onto her body. My God. Now the police were so cold. Oh, and it's blooded. Cold blood and murder, and then like cold blooded after this too, because the police were certain

that this house had been ransacked by more than just the people who had killed its occupants. They figured that it obviously must have taken a good amount of time to get these four people killed the way that they were killed. Yeah. And that obviously the culprits would have wanted to get out of there pretty quickly after doing so. Yeah. And they later found out that their suspicion was right because the three men who had yelled to the movers about the dead bodies inside, they were customers of the Wonderland gang. And instead of calling the police when they discovered

the dead gang, they ransacked the place looking for drugs and any other valuables they could get their hands on. Oh my god, I knew you were going to say that. So they were literally ransacking the closets. That's why there was clothes on top of Dreamy-Layer's body. Because they were just tossing things about the drugs. Walking through, and I don't want you to look at this scene because it's what nightmares are made of, but if you feel like you can, I don't want you to look at the scene because it's like what nightmares are made of but if you feel like you can I don't know how anybody walked through this scene and just

Went about their business and then was like this dead bodies inside this scene We're even dead bodies for the rest of your existence on the seraph and beyond those were like I don't even know what they were they were Brutalized bodies drugs are a hell of a thing. They really are. Like that right there shows you the kind of hold that the death date goes on. How desperate you can get that they will just zero in on what we can get free drugs out of this one seeing one of the most

gruesome crime scenes in history. And this is not the only time that this will happen. We'll get to another instance of this happening a little bit later. So as the police walked around the scene and took it all in, there were many notes to be taken. First and foremost, whoever had done this had to have some kind of connection to the gang because they would have had to have that gate unlocked for them. They also must have been somewhat familiar with the dogs at the residence or else they would have had to have that gate unlocked for them. They also must have been somewhat familiar with the dogs at the residence

or else they would have been deterred. Yeah. But on that same note, the police were wondering how would nobody heard anything coming from the scene in the middle of the night? Why didn't we get any calls about this? So the investigators started going around the neighborhood and asking questions.

And they found out that people had heard screaming around three o'clock in the morning, but nobody really gave it a second thought because they were used to this house just buzzing at all hours of the night. I was gonna say that. Yeah. When you first said that, I was thinking in my head, I'm gonna be honest. I wouldn't get involved in this. Nope. Like, I'm sorry. I don't know what the hell's going on in there. Like it seems like this place was constantly having things going on. And it's like, and if you know that those people

are involved in like all this shady underworld stuff, nope, not touch that with the 10-foot pull-up. Sorry. They didn't know that their neighbors were being brutalized. They may have assumed even that their neighbors were doing this to somebody else. Well, that's the thing. It's like you got a, I mean,

you got to weigh your risk thing here. Exactly. To me, that sounds like a scary thing, especially, I'm sure there have been times where people have fucked up a drug deal there. And gotten the shit kicked out of them or something. They've probably heard these things before. John Holmes was one of those people. Exactly.

And they didn't think that this was any different. Like somebody's being brutally murdered. And there they were probably just like, yep, that's what happened. But he fucked up a drug deal. Yeah. Right. It's scary. And it's so sad. Like it's so sad that this is the way that these people were living. But it is fortunately, I can understand what the neighbors kind of kept their distance. I do too. In the situation, one neighbor actually said, and it just kind of explained it and like laid it out for you. He said, there was a lot of traffic all day, all night. Everything from Volkswagen's to a Rolls Royce Silver Shadow. They threw bags of dope off

the balcony. There was shouting, laughing, rocket roll 24 hours a day. Oh god. So they were awful. I know. And even the neighbors, like the movers who heard Susan in the beginning, like Susan, Susan in the beginning, like they were moving out of their house because of the wonderland craziness. Right. So if you've ever had shitty neighbors, like you know, exactly. But when she goes down, usually you're like, well, that's how they are. Exactly.

So all this screaming and commotion was going on inside the Wonderland House and the neighbors just thought it was another night over there. Yeah. So that meant that Susan had been laying on the floor, clinging to life for at least 12 hours. Wow. The fact that that woman is still alive is fucking bonkers.

12 hours she was flying there. With her skull caved in. How did she not bleed out? That's I don't know I guess. I have no idea. That's outrageous. She was even like throwing up blood at one point. Oh, yeah, I'm sure. I have no idea how she survived. She's So while the investigators did their due diligence John Holmes was sleeping in a motel room next to Don who suspected that something was up with him Yeah, he kept yelling out in his sleep. Something about blood and a lot of it. Oh, and he had come back to the motel that night after being gone for a long time. She didn't know it yet, but he had been to Sharon's place. His wife there. He showed up to Sharon's

early on the morning of July 2nd, and she said he looked like something out of a movie. His clothing was torn and he was covered in blood head to tell. He looked like that he was just like somewhere else entirely in his mind. Like he had this blank face and she was like, what the fuck happened to you? Like what? What? I'm anxious for her. Like I feel physical symptoms of anxiety for work.

I know. I'm like that shows up at your door in like the early hours of the morning. I'm sorry. No, like, no, we're not together anymore. And this is exactly why, not not my situation again. She is a rider, Dibbett. She truly is.

And I think she just cared so much for the person that she had fell in love with. And somehow maybe she just saw like a piece of him in there somewhere. Because I mean, that's the thing. It's like I can say all I want. I'd be like, bye. But you don't know. And you don't know.

And you don't know when you care about someone. Right. Like, it changes everything. I can't imagine Drew showing up in years on my doorstep. Looking like this. No, I can't even. But I also don't know that I would turn him away. Yeah, that's like, thanks.

I love him. It's, I love him. I love him. I would be concerned if John showed up that way, but. Yeah. And Sharon was, she was like, what the fuck are you doing? Yeah, looking like this. And he was like, I got an Acar accident.

And she was like, okay. She's like, wow, you might be dying now. Yeah, that's a lot of blood. Exactly. Well, so he said that he was in a car accident and he asked her if he could take a bath at her house. And Sharon later told an interviewer, John has a habit where if he has something

unpalatable to pass off, he gets into the bathtub. I mean, I guess that's like a common thread that runs through all of you. I was like, I hate that I have something in common with John Holmes. Yeah, that's not great. But like, you have to, bad shit. Take a tub.

Yeah, take a tub. A tub, you know? Take a tub. John Holmes needed a tub. He needed a tub. So she was used to his antics by this point too. So she went to the bathroom and she started drawing the bath. But something about his story did not add up.

She was a fucking nurse. Yeah, she's like, you don't have wounds. Well, that exactly. That's a big red flag to me. She had treated plenty of people who had been in car accidents. They usually had cuts, abrasions, bruises, a scratch at the very least. John didn't have any of them. I just had blood. He was simply covered in blood and Sharon started to worry that it was not his own blood. Yeah. Because she was like, it doesn't have a source.

Yeah. There's no source for this. So who's blood is this? So who's blood is this? The source is out there somewhere. Yeah. Now as she got him into the bath, she was like, you need to tell me the truth.

Because I'm going to drown you if you don't. And for one reason or another, he broke down and told her almost everything. Wow. He didn't name names, but he basically told her exactly what happened. And she didn't know what to do, and she wouldn't speak about the night again until long after John Holmes was dead.

Wow, Sharon. Yeah. Didn't his story like look up to play by play of what happened? No, not really. He's just kind of like an overview. It very much an overview. OK. And we'll get to it. OK. But I got to set my scene. You had set in the scene?

So back at the motel, set in the scene, Don was lying next to John, which also Don John is just like funny, trying to distract herself from his sleep screaming. And as she's trying to do so, she's just watching TV, and she flicks to the news. And as John wakes up, the two of them sat there silently as the story about the Wonderland murders flashed across the TV.

Uh-oh. Now, Don knew this house as soon as they showed it on the screen. She was like, I know that house. Like that's, I've sat outside of that house for hours and hours upon hours. Yeah, you big turd. So she looked over at John and she said he turned the

pale-ish shade of pale a person could turn. Like she watched the color just ooze from the face. She was too afraid to ask him anything too specific though because remember he beats her regularly. So instead of this, she mentioned his sleep screaming about the blood. She was like, you were having a nightmare. Like. Are you okay, sweetums? We're talking about blood. And he just brushed her off and he said he had a blood he knows earlier that week and that was probably why. Yeah. But that would be so.

But that would be so. Don would find out the truth. During their investigation, the police learned that one eddy Nash had been robbed just days before the Wonderland gang was taken out. Uh-oh. Nash had been robbed just days before the Wonderland gang was taken out. Uh oh. Now their source was unexpected, but turned out to have pretty much all the information that they needed to get this case moving. They became connected to one David Lind, through a call in tip by a man named Howard Cook. Howard Cook called in a couple days after the murders, and he said he was with somebody who had valuable information and

that they were actually at the crime scene right now. Oh, yeah, okay. So the cops were like, pocket there, we'll be there in a sec. Now as they arrived, Howard was outside on Wonderland Ave and he said the person he had promised had good information was actually inside upstairs and he was like, I told him not to go up there so like, please don't look me into this, but he did go up there. So a few cops, including lead detectives,

Robert Sousa and Tom Lang, headed back into the crime scene and found David Lindt on all fours, just scooping up various pills that have been left strewn on the floor. What the fuck? Yeah. Yeah. Drugs, man.

This is like wild. This is a case of crazy shit. He was quickly placed under arrest because he had just invaded a fucking crime scene. He brutal crime scene. At that. And on his way down to the station, he explained why he was there in the first place.

Now this is really sad, but also, like I don't wanna feel bad for this man and I don't really. But so he explained the reason why he was there in the first place. The murders had been all over the news, but the names of the victims hadn't been released yet. So people knew that one person survived, but they didn't know who. Now David was convinced that his girlfriend Barbara must have been the woman who survived the attack because she, quote, never did anything to deserve this, which she didn't. But that sentence alone let investigators know that their original hunch was right. These murders were revenge-based. Yeah.

If Barbara hadn't done anything to deserve this, did that mean that everybody else had? Yeah. So David, what did you say? Right. Like, what does that mean? So David, Lynn, tough guy, biker, member of the Aryan Brotherhood, and man with a rap sheet, multiple pages long. Yeah, I don't feel bad for that, I'm a little bit of a fan.

No, no, no, no. And it's like, oh, I'm sorry, you were looking for your girlfriend. Well, and it's like, you brought her into this situation in the first place. Exactly. And then you went and scooped up pills at the crime scene. Yeah.

You must have been very devastated. Yeah, and you were basically cheating on it. So it's for not the sudden. So yeah. But he was beside himself at the loss of Barbara and the detectives knew that they were going to have to plan his emotions to get where they needed. Yeah.

So they did. And he spilled. He explained the entire story about robbing Eddie Nash and then named a few names that the detectives hadn't heard quite yet. Treesy McCourt, who had driven the car and John Holmes, who had laid out the entire Eddie Nash house for the gang. Now David told all the detectives that Tracy and John were pissed about their cut of the loot being so much smaller than everybody else's. Because John Holmes got a cut of what they took from Eddie Nash's house.

Wow. His brother Eddie Nash. Wow. And he was pissed because I think he only ended up getting about like two grand or something like that. And David also explained that Ron had wanted to kill Eddie Nash. Remember in the beginning we were like, why did they leave them alive? Like it just doesn't really make a lot of sense. No. So Ron had wanted to kill Eddie Nash, Gregory Diles, and actually a woman who had been staying

at Eddie's, but that it was himself, David Lind, and Billy, who urged him not to. Because this was just one robbery that they'd committed recently. They had been going on a string of robberies before this, and they David himself and Billy there felt like escalating to murder would just get the cops heavier on their faces. So they were like, no, don't do that. I mean, that's our answer. There you go.

Yeah. Because that was very confusing to me. Me too. Because I was like, this is like really going far and like humiliating him in the process, making sure it was like the most like fucked up situation. Right. Making sure he felt like the tiniest person ever.

And then you just leave and leave him like stewing. And you know who he is. And you know who he is. He controlled half of the downtown. Yeah, that just didn't make sense to me at first. I was like, what the fuck, I'm gonna move is that. But then again, the entire move is an idiotic move. So it's like nothing in this logic has to make sense.

No place here. But. So he told them all of that. And the cops figured that they were gonna have to keep him in their good graces because not only was he a valuable source But he was somebody who would probably be good to bring to trial if the time came Imagine having to rely on a man from the Aryan brotherhood. No, I know I would not that would be such a compromising

And having to be like nice to him because having to completely turn off every bit of your natural instinct inside your body. That's the thing because I meant to mention this in the beginning actually. I, for the second part of this, I ended up finding a book that was a fucking treasure trove of information written by the two lead detectives on the case. Oh yeah. It's called Malice in Wonderland. I'm going to link it in the show notes. I want to read that.

But they discreet, you should read it. It's really good. You would love it. And they have like all these notes and stuff. It's like really interesting. But they were explaining this whole scene of like getting David Linden to the interviewing room and everything. And he still had all those pills in his pockets. And he was like on one when they got him. And he started just like ripping them out of his pockets and naming what each one was and just like popping them. So they were like trying to get information out of him. So they were letting him do that

because they were like, as soon as we stop him, our information is done. You can flip out. Yeah. But then he started getting more and more incoherent. Of course. So they were like, we gotta let him go, but we can't let him go go.

Yeah. So it was this big thing. So they did eventually let him go. He was free to go. But they told him he needed to stay in town and that if they needed to reach him, they wanted to be able to do so in one phone call, like one ring, like I don't want to have to fucking chase you.

That's strange. Strangely enough, he obliged. I was gonna ask that because I'm like, that's a bold mood. It was, and they knew it too, like the detectives right about into the book, but they had their hunch that it was gonna work and it didn't. They went with it. Because he strangely enough really did seem to love Barbara.

And was like very, very affected by her death. That's wild. He probably felt guilty. I hope, yeah. I imagine. So just a few days after their chat with David Lind, Robert Sousa, and Tom Lang, got a call from the LA Narcotics Department explaining that they were about to serve a search warrant at Eddie Nash's place and did they want to come along with them. Oh boy. So they recently had an informant over to Eddie's place to buy some Coke and I gave them their inn. Now the warrant was served on July 10th and the cops walked out with a similar loot to the one that the Wonderland crew had walked out with just a week earlier. There was about a million dollars in cocaine seized, as well as some of the jewelry and some guns stolen from Nash now back in his possession.

Well, in the cops' possession, but you got what I'm saying, you get it. Now that same day, so Eddie Nash got arrested right then and there, he ended up saving four years in prison. But that same day, the cops tracked down John Holmes and arrested him and Don at the motel they were staying at. Now, for security purposes, they set John Don and Sharon who ended up joining them at some point, up at the Bon Adventure Hotel, and they

start talking to John. But pretty quickly, the team who was in charge of making sure this was a secure location, because they wanted to keep their start witness safe. They decided the hotel that they were at was not secure enough. So they actually had the trio moved over to the presidential suite of the Bill Morrowtel. The presidential suite of the Bill Morrowtel. And the Bill Morrowtel is such an iconic, oh yeah, iconic place.

It's actually interesting in the book that I just mentioned, Manless and Wonderland. They, so the two detectives actually had a connection with like an old security guard that worked at the built-more and that's how they got this room. But one of the detectives had worked on a case in the years past where the room directly

underneath the presidential suite had like this crazy, like crime story associated with that. I don't wanna go too far into it because we'll get off the rails, but. But just the built more is like a real rich with true crime history. Yeah, it truly is. But so yeah, they had the move over there.

And John was happy because he thought the previous room was too small. Oh, okay, good. And it's all about your comfort, John. Yeah, definitely. All about John Holmes. It was comfort level. And literally, John. Johnny Watt over there. I Bein. All about John Holmes. So this comfort level. And literally, Johnny Watt over there.

I can't. The festing. Gris. I accidentally saw his penis in the second part of my research. Oh, no. I was just looking for sources that I hadn't looked at yet and I pulled one up and it was literally like, hubonga.

Oh. And I was like, oh. Oh. I was like, that's not for me. That's not for me. I don't receive that. I do not receive that. I don't, oh. Oh. I was like, that's not for me, that's not for me. I don't receive that. I do not receive that. I don't receive it.

I don't receive this negative energy. So yuck, snow, thank you. I'm good. So just for that warning. I was going to say, before warrants, that if you look into some weird sources, you might see a scumble upon. Cheyent dick.

I hate dick. Drew was probably like, what are you doing? Drew's like, uh, I can't always speak. You're in my living room, like what the fuck? Drew's like, Ash, you're in the fucking living room. My God. I was like, three search, okay? So anyway, he was allowed to order all the room service

that he wanted to in the hopes that keeping him well fed and happy would lead to more information. And he's- Now, I'm flaking all these dickwads. That's the thing. I can't imagine how frustrating this must have been. For me, it's everyone involved. Because you're just like, get fucked.

I'd be out. Like it's like in that, I'm sure somebody remembers episodes of TV shows like I do. Like I exist. Remember it now right now? It's not. I wish I could connect this to Sabrina, but actually I'm kind of glad I can't.

Yeah, but in an episode of Parks and Rec, where like Andy, Ben, and I don't know who else are talking to, what's his Dennis Fine's team, the Cologne and Perfume guy. Oh, okay, yep. And they're trying to play Kate him to get money from him, so we'll write a big check. And at one point, Andy just goes,

you're a dick. And then they lose everything. That would be like, I don't know. I can't. And every time I watch it, I'm like, I get you, dude. You're like, that would be me. This is how I feel like I would be in this situation. I could only go with it for so long,

and then I just feel like you're a dick. Oh, I can't. I'm actually like really good at shit like this. Like I can play it like on people's things to get information out of them. So I think I'd be good at this. I end up just wanting to just leap. I'm like, fuck off.

Yeah, you got like red in the face. And you might have said, I can't hide my like, disdain for people. Yeah. I don't believe me. It wouldn't work. I mean, you've been around longer too. So you've had more disdain to walk through.

I just got layers on me. So he did eventually reveal that he had helped set up the robbery at Eddie Nash's place by drawing up that map and then going over to leave the sliding door open and he said that he had been coerced, quote, unquote, to leave the door of Wonderland open the day that the murders happened. All right. Mm-hmm. All right.

Now once he gave that final piece of information to the tech tips, they wanted more, but he wouldn't give anything else. Wow. Nothing else. That's shocking. I thought he would sing like a canary. Well, he wouldn't say if he knew who the killers were, he wouldn't say if he had been at Wonderland longer than just leaving the door open. And at some point, he just stopped talking completely.

So for someone who had just been begging to be placed in the witness protection program alongside Don and Sharon, he certainly did seem to be giving a whole lot for what that would get him. Like that protection. Because not earned that yet. Before this, he was begging the detective there. He was like, I need to be in the witness protection program. If I'm going to tell you anything, yeah. And the guy was like, well, like, that's not, I can't tell you.

Like, definitely that you'll be in that. But I'll do everything in my power to make that happen. And he's like, you have to like, give us information for that. Exactly. But he wouldn't go past that because Nash had threatened to kill his entire family if he had sent anything. So he never spoke against Nash. Wow.

So the detective who had been sent to interview him was named John Helvin. He was a senior detective with a lot of experience. And he reminded John that he would likely be arrested for these murders down the road if he didn't talk. But John Holmes did not seem to give a shit of experience. And he reminded John that he would likely be arrested for these murders down the road if he didn't talk. But John Holmes did not seem to give a shit. Wow.

Now detectives laying in Sousa were pissed, not only because this whole operation really didn't get them a lot of anything, but also because they felt like as the lead detectives on the case, they should have been the ones interviewing John. Yeah. But their boss had gone over their heads and put Helvin in charge because of all his experience and seniority. But now John Holmes was walking out the door and likely gonna try to disappear. Just making this whole fucking investigation more complicated. It's like that's so stupid. It doesn't matter about experience and seniority and all that.

It's my case. It's my case. So the two guys working the case, they have all the information. You have all the information. And I guess they went over to their boss like when they found out this was going on. And they were like, is this our case or not? Yeah. And one of them actually almost stepped down, but decided not to. Man, that would be frustrating. I'd be pissed. So pretty much as soon as John walked out of that hotel room, he had the intention of running. Don died his hair black and they

spray-painted Chiran's car to help disguise their identity. Wow. And then John decided that they would make their way down to Florida. So first they stopped in Vegas and then they made their way to Montana and eventually all the way down to Miami Beach. They stayed in super CD hotels along the way and to make money, Don would have to turn tricks and John would break into cars just stealing valuables. Wow. Now when they finally settled in Miami Beach, John got a job as a handyman for the hotel

that they were staying at, and he also worked at some of the other hotels along the strip. Oh yeah, because he was very handy, I forgot. He was very handy, LOL. And the manager of the hotel that they were staying at let Don clean rooms and operate the switchboard. Oh, okay.

What is that? I love that you just asked that. Switch board is like what they would use to transfer calls and stuff. Oh, okay. Like an operator. I tried to figure that out. I don't know. Probably calls from the rooms and such.

That makes sense. Yeah, she would operate the switch board and she would clean rooms. And that would go toward their rent. So she'd do it without pay, but they'd get a room. Yeah. So Dawn said, actually, that things were good for a while in Miami. They made friends with some other people staying in the area, and John's temper kind of even out for a while.

She said like for once they were a normal couple, like going to dinner, movies, stuff like that. You weren't though. No, you were on the run. Yeah. I don't think she necessarily realized that. No, because she's still young. She's still super young.

So things started to look up and Don felt comfortable approaching John and telling him that she didn't want to be involved in sex work anymore. She was like, I just don't want to do this anymore. And she thinks that he's in an approachable place right now. No. John had not changed. She thought he had.

And this is where there's going to be a big trigger warning for domestic abuse. So the two immediately started fighting back and forth, which led John to putting his hands on her for what would be the last time. She ran out of their motel room and down to the pool area with John just chasing behind her. And when the two of them finally made it down to the pool, Don had nowhere to go. And John just beat the shit out of her,

like there wasn't a bunch of people watching this. Oh my God. And when he was done, he just huffed away and stormed upstairs back to the room, leaving her just like lying on the ground in front of all these people. And no one stepped in to help her? Not while it was happening.

So she was terrified, hurt, and absolutely mortified that a bunch of people had just seen this. Yeah, of course. Now luckily the people down there that night were on to John. They had seen how he was with Don, Herified hurt and absolutely mortified that a bunch of people had just seen this. Yeah, of course. Now, luckily the people down there that night were on to John. They had seen how he was with Don and they'd seen her with bruises and stuff like that in the past and they wanted to put a stop to it. So in the next day, I think they were all very scared of John.

Yeah, he's an actual monster. Right. So the next day when he was at work, a few of the people who had seen what went down at the pool went up to Don's room and they offered to help her. There were two women who offered her a job. They were a mom and daughter, and the daughter had just moved into a house and gotten a new job for herself, and she needed somebody to look after her kids, because she had new hours. And she knew that Don had helped out babysitting some of the kids at the hotel in the past, so she offered her not only the job,

but she also said, you can live in my house. Wow. Like while this is all happening. And for this woman to do that, to step in, that's really like risky and brave. Exactly. Absolutely. And just like what a guardian angel for her to have in that way.

So Don accepted immediately. She packed her shirt and she got out of there. Good. She got out there. Good for you, Don. I'm so proud of her. Good for you. So shit and she got out of there. Good. She got out there. Good for you, Don. I'm so proud of her. Good for you. So that was in the beginning of December.

They had gone on the run in like early July. So she had gone through months and months. I mean, that's like me wrapping it up very quickly. But that was at least what is that five months of just a bullshit, a abuse, horrific nightmare. Fuck, John Holmes. So detectives laying in Susa had been working their case against Eddie Nash and John Holmes tirelessly

ever since John had walked out of that hotel room in the beginning of July. Now for the past five months, they were doing their best to dig up any information they could on him. So tips started coming in and from time to time, they were helpful and other times they were just completely useless.

Now they had visited with Sharon a couple times within that span and she confirmed that John was probably traveling with Don, so the detectives figured out a way to get in touch with Don's family to see if they had heard from her. Now during their time on the run, John and Don had actually seen her family very briefly, but what was helpful is that she would call from time to time, and they were finally able to trace some of those calls back to the Miami area. They were, I think, I don't know if it was like payphones or something like that, but they couldn't trace an exact location.

They just knew they were in that greater area. Okay. Now, what was incredibly helpful was that Don's youngest brother was actually willing to help the police out and participate in tracking Don down because they had like a super close relationship and the detectives were like, we need to get her away from this man because not only is he incredibly dangerous, but there are incredibly dangerous people looking for him. Exactly.

Like she's just going to be wrapped up in this. She's going to be collateral damage. That's, I think that's the exact word that they used to one of the things that I watched. Truly. So the brother flew out to Miami and got to work trying to find his sister. And when he finally did get a hold of her, he asked her, like, do you wanna go for a drive, like, meet with me

and let's go for a drive and just catch up. So he picks her up, she agrees, but she realizes pretty quickly that they're being followed by the cops because the cops are trailing behind them this whole time. Oh boy. Now her brother admitted to her that he had helped the cops to get her here, but he explained that she needed to help them or John was gonna end up dead. And if she did stay with him, she was also gonna end up dead. Oh boy. Like I said, there was a lot of people beyond Ed Nash who were pissed off at John Holmes and would jump at the chance to take him out.

He also told her everything they had against John and that they were working on getting him at this point on four counts of murder and one count of attempted murder. Because by this time in the investigation, they actually had evidence against John Holmes. They had his partial palm print that was found in Preston blood on Ron's bed frame. Whoa. So they have a partial palm print. Oh damn. Now, it got evident. We got evidence.

It looked as if John was holding onto the bed frame with one hand to kind of like steady himself while using the other to most likely beat Ron over the head. Wow. Now, John had always made it seem like he was simply there for the murders. At some point or another, he finally comes out and says that he was there with Gregory Diles, or he doesn't actually name names,

but they assumed Gregory Diles. Yeah. And then two other men, and that he just watched everything and somebody held the gun to his head. That's always the case. Always the case. That's just fair.

Now, I didn't actually participate. Yeah. I have my own little theory that he, I don't know if he participated in most of the murders, but I know that when it came time to take Ron out, John definitely joined in because Ron hated John and took every opportunity to make it known that he did. He would hit him, he had abused him, like he fucking hated this guy.

So it would not shock me that he would hit him, he had abused him, like he fucking hated this guy. So it would not shock me that John would want in on this. Of course, and the fact that he showed up at Sharon's house completely drenched in blood, you didn't just get that totally drenched in blood by not actively participating in any race. If you're standing in the corner, you might have a few blood drops on you or even a good amount, but you're not going to be completely covered. No. So in my opinion, and your pom-print is there.

And why else would your pom-print be? Why were you that close to one of the bodies? Why? If you aren't participating in it, doesn't make any sense. So Dawn had a choice to make now. She was scared, but she knew the right thing to do was to tell the cops where John was. It was the right thing to do for countless reasons, and not only so that justice could be served, but in her mind, so that John didn't end up killed, because again, here's a woman who kind of still loves him. Yeah, you know. One of those unfortunate things. She was groomed for most of her. That's the other thing. She was groomed at a very young age. So it's like her mind is just completely

melted into what he wants it to be. Right, because she was not only groomed at a young age, but pulled into such a dark life. Yeah. And pulled from a tough life. So it's like she was really in a spot that she was vulnerable. She was young.

It was the perfect recipe to groom this kid. It really was. To be something that he could abuse and take advantage of. He's a piece of shit. He's absolute garbage. So she told the cops exactly where he was and she also explained that he might look a little different because they had dyed his hair black.

And I think they had the car like put in a garage somewhere or something like that and she also explained that. Not super important, so. But when the cops showed up to his room, John being the fucking asshole smartass that he was, looked at them and asked, what took you so long? Get, fuck off.

Get fucked. Fuck right off into the sun. You know what took us so long? You ran away. Oh, the, you little pussy ass bitch. I love that he's what I would have said. That's what I would have said. Link shut down. Well, in the book that I was reading,

Malice and Wonderland, they were saying that he probably assumed that he was gonna get the same treatment that he had before. So he was like kind of like, so he's like, okay. Like fuck you. And then when he realized that he was actually going to jail and he was being arrested on four counts of murder and one count, one count of attempted murder, he wasn't super excited anymore.

And that big dick energy went away real fast. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So he was arrested immediately, like I said, on four counts of murder and one count of attempted murder and extradited back to California where he was to stand trial. Five-hatch. My, you would think. So the trial began in March of 1982 with the prosecution focusing heavily on the fact that John

was dissatisfied with his cut from the Eddie Nash robbery, and the fact that he was the one to open the door and not only the Eddie Nash robbery, but also for whoever had gone in with him that night to Wonderland. Yeah. Now without John Holmes to open the door, they said these murders may have never happened. It's true, because they wouldn't let anybody up.

Right, exactly, not that night at least. Now, the biggest piece of evidence that they had, like I said, was that partial pompant that belonged to John and was found on Ron's bed. But the defense argued that John Holmes was simply another victim of Eddie Nash's and that he'd been forced by Eddie Nash and his accomplices to leave the door open. John Holmes isn't a victim. Get out of here.

He certainly is not. John refused to testify because he knew what it would entail speaking about Eddie Nash, which he was terrified to do, because I think I said earlier, Eddie Nash had threatened to kill Jon's entire family after the robbery and actually started naming out where different family members lived. Ooh. He was like, your mom, she's here, right?

Your dad, oh yeah, he lives there. Oh, that's terrifying. Like, hate it. I can somewhat understand why he didn't want to testify. Yeah, but you're still a piece of shit. And John knew Eddie Nash was going to make good on his promises. Yeah. For some reason, Eddie Nash wasn't called in to testify,

which is weird, but he actually showed up one day and sat in the back of the courtroom. Oh, damn. Just to be like a... Just to be like an enforcer. Yeah, figure. Yeah. But since John Holmes refused to testify,

the jury really didn't have a super clear sense of, figure. Yeah, but since John Holmes refused to testify, the jury really didn't have a super clear sense of this case, like they quite understand what's happened. Well, there's a lot of moving pieces. There's a lot of moving pieces, and a lot of people not around to really say what happened. Yeah.

So John Holmes ended up being acquitted on all charges in June of 1982. Wow. He did have to serve 110 days in jail for contempt because he refused to testify. being acquitted on all charges in June of 1982. He did have to serve 110 days in jail for contempt because he refused to testify. But strangely enough, the trial ended up leading John getting back into the porn industry. Okay. Yeah. Wilds that facing murder charges would rekindle somebody's celebrity status, but it did.

After like in public, you know, abusing your girlfriend. Yeah, your underaged girlfriend. Yeah, you can just go back to your super great life. Cool. So John's good friend and actually very famous porn producer, Bill Amerson, set up a production company and had John listed as an executive.

I've got the fucker. And they started raking in like serious money again. Awesome. John at that point kind of seemed to be somewhat drug free and was quote-unquote halfway reliable? Halfway reliable. That's what you want to talk about. That's what everybody, that's what you want out of somebody

listed as an executive in your company. Everybody wants to be described as halfway reliable. Put that on your next resume and see how that goes. For sure. But eventually, obviously, he turned back to drugs and according to Bill Amerson, he stole about a quarter of a million dollars from the company. My God. This can't stop. Won't stop. Can't stop. Won't stop. But now he he's gonna stop. He's gonna stop. Because in 1985, he got life-changing news. He was diagnosed with AIDS.

Wow. In the beginning, he didn't tell anyone other than his new girlfriend. And actually still continued acting in different porn films. Oh. So he subjected other people to AIDS knowingly. Yeah. Yeah. Now, the people in the industry just thought that he had colon cancer. That was the story that he told them.

Oh, man. But over the years, his condition and complications with the virus got worse and worse. And finally, it got to the point in 1988 where he was hospitalized and was expected to pass away at any moment. Wow. So in February of 1988, detectives Lang and Suza

went to visit him because he was on his deathbed. Yeah. So they're like, you know, maybe we can get something out of you. And the Wonderland case had been reopened. And Nash now was being looked at as the key suspect. So they hoped that since John again was on death's doorstep, and probably not so worried about what Nash could do to him now, he might say something. But unfortunately, John wasn't in any state to give up information. He was laying in the hospital bed half conscious and nothing he said was coherent. Oh shit. Yeah. He died just a month later on March 13, 1988, taking almost everything he knew

about July 1st, 1981, with him to the grave. Fuck. Yeah. Now, part of the reason why the Wonderland case had reopened was because of somebody that I mentioned in the beginning of this episode, Scott Thornson, he was the one who was with Liberace. Oh, okay. Now, Scott Thornson at this time had recently been arrested on burglary charges, and he was working on a plea deal with the police. If he would testify against Eddie Nash, he would end up with a reduced sentence, which

he was fully willing to do. So, in 1988, Eddie Nash was arrested, along with his bodyguard Gregory Diles, on the same four counts of murder, and one count of attempted murder that John Holmes had faced about six years earlier. Now, not only had Scott Thornson told authorities what he'd seen on the night of July 1st, 1981, but other people came forward and talked about their experiences that they'd had with Gregory Diles in the past. Now, some people who had been kicked out of Nash's clubs said that Gregory Diles actually got violent with them once they were kicked out. Oh, damn. And on more than one occasion and more than one person reported that they were hit with what they described as a Billy Club. Ooh. So years before he got arrested for these murders and people started talking about this,

he actually went to prison because he was pulled over with that Billy Club, which turned out to be a metal pipe. I knew it, I knew it. A metal pipe. And I guess it had like a bicycle handle- You think it was a metal pipe? To one end, yeah. So he served time for possession of a deadly weapon.

Could that have been the same weapon that killed four people on Wonderland Avenue? Probably. Wow. But the world may never know because their first trial for the murders ended with a hung jury. 11 to 1.

Are you kidding me? Do you want to know why one person couldn't decide whether or not he was guilty? Do I? There was one juror who just wouldn't go along with the decision that the rest had come to and they definitely would have gotten like life in prison for these murders. Yeah. In later years, the authorities learned that Eddie Nash had bribed one juror with $50,000. Are you kidding me? So he and Greg ended up getting retried, but we're acquitted. Wow. Can you believe this? Wow. Tom Foulery. This is exactly Tom Foulery. This is Tom Foulery,

truly. So over the years, Eddie Nash was in and out of jail on different charges. Like I said, right after the murder, the police raided his house and he went to jail for, to prison for four years. But that was not enough to the police, the FBI, anybody involved in this case since the beginning, they were chomping at the bit to get Eddie Nash behind bars for these murder. But since he was acquitted, they were going to have to take a different angle because double jeopardy. You know, so he was arrested again, actually, you know, I mean, after. Yeah. He was arrested again in 2000 on about 16 different federal racketeering charges,

which included running a drug trafficking ring, bribing a juror in his original case, money laundering, and finally, conspiracy to carry out the Wonderland murders. Ooh, we're getting fly here. we're getting crafty with it. Now by this point, Eddie was in his 70s and his health was failing. Gregory Diles actually had passed away in 97 from liver failure.

Damn. So Eddie was on his own for this one. Now, he took a plea deal. And he pleaded guilty to all the charges. But when it came to the Wonderland murders, he said he had simply organized a robbery to get his things back from Wonderland. He said, I recognize the violence during said robbery

may have led to murder, but it was not my intention or my plan to have the people there murdered that night. I do not for one second believe that. Not for one millisecond do I believe. No, no, no. That you were not gonna murder these people. I believe Scott Thorzen, who was probably shitting a brick while he was sitting there listening to you say like,

he also went on and said like bring me their eyeballs. Whoa. Like he wanted these people brutalized. Yeah. Of course he was pissed. It was pissed. It was clear that he was pissed. He had been made a fool of us. There's no way this guy was gonna have them just take back his pissed. It was pissed. He had been made of clothes.

There's no way this guy was gonna have them just take back his shit. No, no, not at all. That's not at all, what was that? And I love that he's like, maybe some people were murdered. I don't know, I don't know. It's like, you know what you do. It's possible.

It happened. Yeah, that just, that happened. There were other people connected to Eddie Nash that would turn up dead mysteriously, and he'd be like, oh, no, I'm not saying. Oh, maybe someone died. We're literally right off to the murders a man died in his house.

And when the police got there, it looked like it was an overdose, but they were like, it very clearly looked like an overdose because somebody wanted it to look that way. But there was no way for us to prove that. So we kind of just had to let it be rolled over. Just go with it. But like this is the kind of man we're talking about. Damn.

So when it came time for sentencing, Eddie Nash was sentenced two, four and a half years and a $250,000 fine. What is reality? And he only spent about two years in prison because of time served. And how old was he? He was like, in his 70s. He flew entirely under the radar once he got out of prison

until 2014 when it was announced that he had passed away at 85 years old. Wow. So four people ended up brutally murdered over drugs and guns, and the two main people involved were really never proven to be guilty. We will never know who else was involved in the Wonderland murders.

And for that reason, the case technically remains unsolved. Wow. But Tom Langs said of the case, there's no mystery. We know who was involved and we know why. Yeah, it's just a matter of not being able to get the full. Exactly. Now some people say that the Wonderland House is haunted, which like duh.

Yeah. They say that John Holmes still hangs around inside the house and that the people who were murdered there join Miller, Billy DeVarral, Ron Lannius, and Barbara Butterfly Richardson still lurk around. No. I couldn't really find too many actual experiences that people have had, but one source claimed

that people have felt like they were being pushed or pulled, especially in the middle of the night. And another source said, don't get too close to the TV, but didn't explain why. I mean, that's just good practice for life, I think. That's just like good for your eyes. Like you should never get too close to the TV. That's bad for your eyes. Yeah.

I was like, so what happens if you do? He's like, I just care about all your vision. That's all. Yeah, I just wanted to let you know. You know, okay. No, it seems like a family lives at the house now. Like literally there's a minivan parked in the garage these days.

Well, but they don't want anything to do with talking about this. Yeah, I don't blame them at all. But wow, what are these spurters, I should say? But isn't that bonkers, bananas, cuckoo nuts? Yeah. Like, there were other people there that night, and they might be walking around. Wow. I mean, what was it was 81, like, old, right? Maybe not if they were in their 20s in the 80s. Oh, I forget that this is 81. Yeah, and not in the early 70s.

Well, it kind of like, it all got John Holmes started in the 70s. But yeah, they're gonna be very well-be people just walk it around who know exactly what happened that night. Damn. But we just won't know because John Holmes is dead, Eddie Nash is dead, Gregory Diles is dead, David Lynn died, and Susan doesn't remember anything.

Holy shit. And the fact that Susan just doesn't remember anything, it's like, oh, I know. I'm honestly, I'm happy for her that she doesn't. It's a blessing for her to not remember that, I'm sure. I can't imagine going on living my life like curing what had happened. Yeah.

But like, imagine if she had actually remembered what happened. If she would have, but holy shit. But I hope she's like thriving. Because she wasn't like part of any of the... No, she wasn't part of the thing. I was just kind of like around. She used drugs and she lived there,

but she was not interested in the activities because she was the one who had been kidnapped in Mexico. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And was like, I'm not interested. I'm not interested. Yeah, and she was 25 on this habit. Wow. She was my age.

That's crazy. Yeah, walkers and like Barbara Richardson literally had never committed a crime. Well, like, it's speculated that she helped David Linn when they were dating, but she didn't have any official charges. Wow. Like, it never committed a crime technically in her life, and this is how she dies.

This is why you got to be careful, man, who you get wrapped up with. And who you get wrapped up with. Yeah, because when they called her family, her family was like, what? Like they didn't really know a lot about David Lind or anything like that. Yeah. It's like, bad people, man, they bring bad stuff. 22 years old. Just be real careful about who you associate with

because it does, it can affect you. And don't agree to do anything that you don't want to do. No. That you think is going to end up in leading to trouble. Yeah. Because it oftentimes does. Yeah, this whole tale is a cautionary tale of who to not fuck around with.

Yeah, it's a cautionary tale from start to finish to be honest. It's a cautionary tale of fuck around and find out. Yeah, for real. Holy shit. So that's the story of the Wonderland murders. I can't recommend Malice and Wonderland enough. It's by Robert Sousa and Tom Lang, and they were the lead detectives on the case,

so they have all the inside scoop. That's also an amazing name. Oh, yeah. Malice and Wonderland, whoever thought of that, just shake your hand. And they go like so far into like little things that I didn't want to take from the book, obviously. So definitely check it out.

We'll definitely link it. And in the meantime, we hope you keep listening and we hope you keep it. Woo-hoo! But not so weird that any of this happens to you because you really shouldn't wrap yourself up with people that are gonna lead you to be in this position because it's just like so scary But so weird that you buy my book

Definitely keep it so weird that you buy the book and world.com slash the butcher in the rent do it And so we're the you come to our live show moment host.com slash more but most importantly tiny URL dot com slash the butcher and the rent I love that one. Oh, this is a bad one. Hey, Prime Members! You can listen to Morvid, Early, and Add Free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen Add Free with Wondery Plus and Apple Podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at Wondery.com slash survey. plus an Apple podcast.

Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at Wondery.com slash survey.