Rotten Mango - #17- The Alice in Wonderland Murders

Episode Date: September 30, 2020

A quadruple homicide An adult film star (known for his spectacularly large "asset") at the center of the murder investigation The police compared the brutality of the crime with that of the Manson murders... and it left everyone wondering... What actually happens in Wonderland?  To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Okay, I'm sorry. If you feel uncomfortable with me saying boobs, penis, porn, porn stars, sex, um, semen, all of these things. This one might not be the one for you because we've got a porn star at the center of a massive murder investigation. And we are talking about a lot of porn. I mean, it's just part of the research. It's for research purposes.

Scientific reasons only I watched copious amounts of hours, I'm just kidding hours of porn for this one. I'm kidding I'm kidding but I did look up some pictures and I'll explain why in a minute. He looks shocked. Why are you so shocked? What's going on? So we are talking about what? Yeah I mean well I mean it's just such a complex story so this is called the Wonderland murders and it really begs the question of you know What's going on in Wonderland are people on drugs are people just having sex with each other? Why are people getting murdered in Wonderland?

What is Alice like Alice in Wonderland? Yeah, sir and Wonderland is in our backyard. It's in Los Angeles. Well, that's what people say. It's a real place. Mm-hmm. I'm just kidding. I don't know why I felt the need. That was really aggressive.

Like, just high school job. I don't know what just. Before we get started, I guess we really just have to talk about adult movie theaters because, you know, I don't know how old you guys are. I'm hoping that you guys are over the age of 18 when you're listening to this. But before the days of VHR, VCR, DVDs, those tapes, okay I'm 24 so I know DVDs. I'm really familiar with DVDs. I had a Lizzie McGuire movie DVD.

I rewatched that like 10 times. My mom didn't want to buy me a lot of DVDs. So that was like the only DVD I really had for the longest time, you know. You want to explain to the Janzies what DVD is? Yeah, so it's like this CD. What about what is CD? It's like this circle shiny aluminum

and you put it into like this box that's connected to your TV What is a TV? It's like this screen on the wall. It's like a bigger iPad. Yeah All right, and you play a movie So they don't download it. They don't download it. They don't stream it honey who the fork downloads. You know what I'm in I'm just kidding You know before DVDs before internet, before you have a pocket just full of porn in your pocket at all times, if you watch porn on your phone, I guess.

Where do you think people watched porn? Because porn didn't come about when DVDs came about. Porn didn't come about when the internet came about. So where would people go and watch porn? Take a gander. Didn't you say movie theaters? Oh yeah, adult movie theaters. I mean, this, I don't know why I don't know a lot about this.

I mean, this sounds right up my alley, not a place that I'd probably go, but it just sounds like fascinating stuff that I'd be interested to learn about, right? But apparently, there's adult movie theaters, even to this day. There's a couple, I mean they're very rare to find these days I hear. There's not as many as they are used to be in the 60s and you go and they just play porn, like an hour and 30 minute long porn movie and it's not like your typical porn that you would see on the hub. It's not just gonna be like 10 minutes of like, I mean, we're just not gonna go there, but you get it like a random title. There's usually a plot to it, you know? Like a real plot.

Like a real plot. Not a good idea. A lot of it was like a detective plot, you know, there's some private investigators who are like, oh my god, how did I find myself in this predicament? You know, all of these things. So you go there and you watch porn. I mean, it started in California.

By 1960, there was about 20 private theaters that really only showed porn on a daily basis. From 8 in the morning to, like, however long at night, they only played porn. And within 10 years, by 1970, there was over 750 porn theaters in the nation. Yeah, so it seems like the nation really liked porn. They were like like give us more

You know there was lots of chains like you know how we like What's it with a chain we like AMC? Well, there's chains for porn theaters. They're called pussycat theaters Yeah, one of them was like called deja vu theater, you know, there's a lot and at its height pussycat theaters I mean they were a mogul. They were in adult movie theater mogul, they owned about 30, 30 different locations, that's crazy honey. And then we'll have the hub just... The hub took over. I feel like there was the blockbuster moment and it was like you know these other moments. Yeah. And now it's really the hub, so I was actually reading about this. I mean this part has kind of a little bit to do about the rest of the case, but I wanted to know more about

adult movie theaters and there was this former manager who was interviewed and he said it's kind of crazy because most of the time you're constantly sponge-mopping the walls. Wait what? The walls. You have to mop the walls in the theater. Yeah People went in to like these closed down theaters with you know those blue lights to see how much oh God it's like you know those little splatter paintworks that you do it was like that So they said that constantly the smell in there is like this strong industrial cleaner. It just smells like that cleaner, but they said that you can kind of always smell. Oh, so nasty under the scenes. Like, you just don't know what it is, but it's there.

And in the 60s, it was not. Like, these days, it's really reserved for, you know, some people will go and have their bachelor parties, bachelor rette parties there. Just like a, yeah, like a, yeah like a moment, like a funny moment, you know, they're like, oh my god, like there's a theater and we're watching porn, you know. There's actually still going on. And then lots of couples will still go once in a while because it kind of has that like, warrior aspect where you're maybe having sex in front of other people, but technically it's not the most illegal thing in the world.

Yeah, so here's the thing with adult movie theaters. Technically it's illegal to have sex in there, but the owners have an incentive to not really bust you on it, like while you're bust in. Because then you won't come back and then people will be like, oh, that movie theater is lame, like they just don't even let you do anything while you watch this porn. That's insane. So back in the day in the 60s, there would be sometimes orgies they said of like 20, 25 people. And it was crazy because like you think adult movie theater like 2020, we think of it as

like this crazy. Oh my god, it's like this sex party, like these sex fiends. But the manager said in the 60s, yous, because porn was so hard to get by, you just had to go to these movie theaters. It was super normal. Like if you just covered up your eyes and didn't see the genitals of everyone, it just looked like a regular PTA vibe.

Like everyone was just, you know, like parents after a long day that come in here and watch some porn. He's blinking, he's confused. And there would be lots of, so that I don't know how it is now, but back then in the 60s, they would have these sections. So they would have a couple section where couples can only go in if you're a couple. Like you'd have to have a partner, right? You go in and you can do stuff there and then they have a single section for single men who just like go by themselves and then just jerk off right. Yeah, but apparently like that's when you saw like you know how if people are addicted to porn today

which there's a lot of people it's a real addiction right. If they're addicted to porn today it might be difficult for an outsider to realize oh this person has a porn addiction right but back then I mean like they would go from 10 in the morning to 10 p.m. just watching Be Runs of the same film. That is weird. Yeah, it's because they were just so addicted to it. And I don't know if it was the experience of like, you know, you know, to do it like, you know what I mean? Or whatever it was.

So the rules technically was that you can't masturbate, but it happens. You know, people would ejaculate onto tissues into bottles, just about anywhere. At one point, half of Times Square in New York City, yes, the Times Square, now that's like forever 21 and just billboards, right? It used to be half porn shops and adult theaters. Times Square?

Yeah, and then they got a new mayor, but then his last name's Giuliani, Rudolph Giuliani, and then they got a new mayor, but then his last name is Giuliani, Rudolph Giuliani, and he just like made it so that it was banned. And now there's a bunch of laws that you have to be, I think you can't be within like a thousand, I don't know if it was Miles or Feet within a church, a park, or a residential area or something like that. So they got rid of a lot of these theaters. Now for the big screen, who's on the big screen? Well, let me tell you a big pain, okay, I'm sorry.

I'm sorry. So today's story is about John. Now his name is John Holmes and he was a porn star and he was probably one of the biggest porn stars at the time. People said what Michael Jackson is to music is what John Holmes was to the porn industry. I don't know how credible that is, okay?

I don't really know my history on porn. I would just say that's a really, really high standard to set, okay? So John Holmes, he was specifically known for having a humongous penis. Yeah, I mean, you know, I'm 24. I can say it. I'm gonna say it with my chest. Why am I acting like that's such a bad word? It's a medical word.

He had a big penis. We gotta feel weird. I can feel it in the appropriate. Okay. So he was on his big ween was on the big screen. Okay. So his large penis was known for the largest, the thickest, the hardest, and the longest lasting penis in the industry. Wow, that's mouthful. I get all, that was such a good one. That was such a good one.

Now, unfortunately, in one area, he was not the first, you know. In a lot of aspects, he was the best, but he was actually the second best in seminal volume, seminal volume, which is exactly quantity of how much semen comes out. There's a competition. There's a competition in the point in history. There's a chart because you know, at the money shot, you want a lot to work with.

You don't want like a little trap job. You don't want to sprinkle. you want a lot to work with. You don't want like a little chopped up. You don't want a sprinkle. You want a freaking brainstorm. Interesting. Yeah, so he was only the second hire. So it was a little bit of a downer there. OK, also did you guys know the speed of ejaculation is 30 miles per hour?

I'm just learning. I just felt like you should know this. My fiance is incredibly uncomfortable right now. I wish you could see his face. He's just like, why are we talking about this? I love it. I love it. All right.

So John Holmes, he was born in Asheville, Ohio. So he really didn't just like up in one day decide to become a porn star. He actually wanted to do a lot in Los Angeles. So he's born in Ohio and he was born in this super rural town and he was the youngest of four children. So ever's born in Ohio and he was born in his super rural town and he was the youngest of four children. So ever since he was young, there's a lot about his kind of family life that's very just strange, like not just, it's not completely normal, right? So his mom's name

is Mary and his biological dad was Carl, but he didn't know that. He thought his entire life almost that his biological dad was Edgar Holmes. He even had the same last name as Holmes and he didn't know that. He thought his entire life almost that his biological dad was Edgar Holmes. He even had the same last name as Holmes, and he didn't find out until he was way older and he was applying for passport to go travel to Italy when they were like, hey, in order to get a passport, you need to show me your birth certificate.

He's like, hey, mom, can I get my birth certificate? And it says, Carl Estes as the dad. So he's like, what the fuck is Carl? Like my dad's anchor. And his mom was like, well, no, he's not. And so I mean, I don't know if there was trauma associated with that, I can only imagine that to be kind of, I would just be really confused, right?

So we had three older half siblings, which he considered his full siblings, and that's what he believed. I mean, also, he probably just didn't really even care, right? He loves them. There are his three older siblings, and his mom had a really toxic relationship with Edgar Holmes. Like, they got married and divorced three times, and then they finally got married again. And the first time that they got married, Mary was only 17 years old, and Edgar was 35.

So it's just constantly like, married, divorced,, married, divorced and then so on and so forth. And I think they finally stayed together after their fourth marriage together. So fourth times the charm, not third, okay. And there was a lot of turmoil in the house. So dad, Edgar, always drunk. I mean, he was a bit of an alcoholic. He would even kind of like stumble into the house like just slurring his words saying some nonsense because he was so drunk and then

vomit on the children. Like he would just accidentally throw up all over the children, which is like it's not funny but it's like really dude like you can't even dodge a little yeah, aim somewhere out. Yeah, like what is that? And so every time that they would get divorced Mary would take all of the kids and they would go live in this low income apartment that was government run. So they're called projects, right? And she would waitress to support the kids and she really did a lot to try to support her children. But I mean it's just really difficult being a single mom more so than now, right?

And so at 15 years old, he gets his mom's permission. He's like, hey mom, I want to go to the army. So his mom's like, okay, I just have to write you a letter and say that I'm okay with you being in the army. I don't know if you can do that now, can you? That sounds a little crazy. And so he takes this little permission slip that his mom gives them and he joins the army and he serves three years in West Germany, same place that Jeffrey Dahmer served. I guess there was just a lot of bases in West Germany, right? And he was honorably discharged.

It didn't seem like he had any major problems. I'll use them to the army. Now from the army, he also decides, listen, I want to go back to Ohio. I don't know what is in Ohio for me. I'm 18. I got a live my own dream. I got a live my own life. I'm going to Los Angeles.

The city of angels. The city of angels the city of dreams Wonderland is what people call it, right? We live in LA. It's a lot of fires It's a lot of rent and a lot of fires, but it's a very romantic experience, I guess. I mean, that's why we moved here years ago man take experience I guess. I mean that's why we moved here years ago. So with the same same little dream in the backpack he moves to LA okay. God I want to bust out in that Miley Cyrus song. What song? Party in the USA. Go ahead. I can't. Everyone would literally stop listening right now. That's true. So he moves to LA and he starts getting a bunch of odd jobs which I feel like honestly is the experience everyone has when they move here, right?

So he's like a door-to-door salesman and then he starts working at a coffee factory and then he became like an ambulance driver. So he was really resourceful at finding these job applications. He was like, you know what, nothing is too weird for me. So he was just switching around a lot. Now when he was an ambulance driver, that's where he meets his first wife who was a nurse. Her name was Sharon and At 21 years old he married a beautiful Sharon and that's when he gets a new job He said listen, I don't want to be an ambulance driver anymore. I want to go be a four-clift driver at a meat packing warehouse

So he goes and he does that now That's when I think like the couple's health just was deteriorating specifically John's Now that's when I think the couple's health just was deteriorating, specifically John's. So he had this idea that constantly breathing in that hot dry air that California has in the summer and then going into this really cold freezer air three times, you know, like just constantly for hours and then coming back out into the desert air, he felt like it was doing something to him. And actually three times during two years, he got something called NUMO THORACTS, NUMO THORACTS, which is pretty much an abnormal collection of air between your

lung and your chest walls. So it's not typically, it's not deadly, but it causes a lot of pain in your chest and usually one side of your chest and then shortness of breath. Wow. So he suffered that three times during two years. So he was like, listen, I can't do this anymore. So one day, this is how it's said that he was found. Like, you know how in LA, you just want to be found. You want to be discovered. You want to be walking down the mall. And then a producer is like, do you

want to be in the next remake of Gossip Girl? You know, like that's what everyone wants to do. Or like, you're humming at Whole Foods. You're like, and everyone's like, you should be the next starry on a garden day. Like that's what everyone wants, right? Like why else do we live here? Me? I go into Whole Foods and I'm like, and then she was stabbed 15 times. I'm just waiting to become a true crime podcaster. Like to get scouted. No one wants me to become a true crime podcaster. Okay, so porn career. This is how he gets discovered.

It's kind of crazy. He was peeing at a urinal and a photographer who was peeing next to him. I mean, I feel like that breaks bro code because you're supposed to like separate a couple stalls, but he was like, now I'm gonna just get right up next to him. So he's peeing in the urinal next to him and he looks over and he's like, that's the biggest penis I've ever seen. And he was like you know, I-

He's a photographer. He's a photographer. Sometimes he works film sets for porn. So he's like I need to hook you up with my director. I don't know why I'm laughing. Okay. Speaking of... I swear! I swear this was completely a hundred percent planned. Listen, ladies, this one is for you. It's been weird just staying at home all day, not going outside. I haven't been on an adult movie theater or anything. It's hard.

Every time you look on news, everything's just so sad. Every time you do anything, it's just kind of lackluster. Life in general seems really anti-climactic, right? And sometimes we bring that vibe, that energy, that experience to the bed. And that's not cool, because I don't want anti-climactic experiences in bed. I want very, very climactic experience.

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And your partner is gonna love it too. Partner? Say something. It's a hundred percent edible. So Oshot CBD is now offering my listeners 20% off of Oshot. The discount also applies towards any product on their entire website. So just go to OshotCBD.com and EnterCodeRotten to get 20% off the whole O-shot site wide. So his porn career just starts taking off. So the first feature film that he did was a series where he became a private investigator and he was known as Johnny Wad. That just took off.

Like all of these theaters are like, we need, we're gonna show Johnny Wad. That just took off. Like all of these theaters are like, we need, we're gonna show Johnny Wad a million times, a bajillion times. So many people love Johnny Wad. They love that he was an actual army veteran in real life because he had served three years in West Germany. They love the fact that he was tall. He had this big pin, primarily.

That's what they really like, right? And he was known to be very outgoing and charismatic even off camera, so it really translated well in these feature films. So almost immediately after that series, they followed up with some very, very interesting names of flesh of the lotus, was his next feature film? What's that? Is the title of his porn? Flesh of the lotus. Flesh of the lotus.

Can I get two tickets for Flesh of the Lotus, please? That's very arty. Yeah, it sounds really arty. I'm sure we see a lot of pain in that one. Okay, and he was killing it. So he was making it about $13,000 a day. And that's with calculated and inflation. So back in the day, he was probably making I think $3,000 Yeah, or something like that, but it was $13,000 a day and that's when he really started getting into cocaine now cocaine is really intense I mean this around this time cocaine was really intense everywhere, but it was really really intense in the entertainment world Hollywood porn everyone was on cocaine. It was like the newest thing, right? So they were like yes, we love cocaine So he starts snorting up cocaine all the time and he gets arrested

Now he's arrested for all of the gray area of porn So porn is like this is like the golden age people said when porn was just coming out like the movie deep Throughout came out or something and everyone was just oh my god Like there's the best thing that's ever happened in the entertainment industry. At one point, porn stars were more famous than regular stars. Like they were the A-listers. Are they not today? I feel like they're not like A-listers. Like if I gave you a porn star name versus Brad Pitt, you'd probably notice Brad Pitt first

now. I don't know any porn star names. Me either. And so because they didn't really know like specifics of like, okay, is this even legal to film people who are just having sex and then like the police were kind of confused. So he was arrested by LAPD at one point for pimping and pandering. So pandering is like trying to either get prostitutes or to sell your services, right? So he was arrested for that

and he made a deal in jail to become an informant for the LAPD. Now, I don't really think he did anything like he didn't really inform anyone about shit, but it gets weird later. That's when he meets Don Schiller and now everything. So why is he not, he's not no longer in the point industry?

No, he is, he's just doing some cocaine and being in porn And he's doing some other shit. Yeah, so we're gonna get into that it gets real sad So that's when he meets Don Schiller. He's a busy bee, you know He like he he'll film a feature film and then he'll go and he'll do some shit, right? That's when he meets a 15 year old Don Schiller now Don she had just moved into this apartment complex with her family and this apartment complex was at the time being managed by his then wife, Sharon. So he would stop by the apartment complex to visit Sharon at work and that's when he was like, oh my god, this 15 year old is quite attractive. Disgusting. A legal, right? But he just was, um, very taken by Don. Now Don had moved from Florida recently

and she was feeling really alone. Like when you're 15, you just move, um, very taken by Don. Now, Don had moved from Florida recently, and she was feeling really alone. Like, when you're 15, you just move, you leave all your friends, and now you're in California, and you're like, what the fork am I doing here? Parents, I didn't want to be here. And then, like, her parents were so stressed about the move that they just were not paying her enough attention. So that's when John just swooped in,

and was like, hey, Don, you want a tour of California? And she was like, yeah, I would love a tour. So he would literally drive her around in his fancy car car and be like, look at these palm trees, look at this, look at that. wife doesn't know. no, I mean, later they get a divorce, yeah. But in the beginning, she didn't know. And then he would bring her all these presents all the time, just jewelry gifts. I mean, just not stuff you should be doing with a 15 year old.

how old was he old was he then? He was old like 30s, I believe. Oh wow. Yeah. So now he would even bring her to an adult movie theater where his film was playing. Oh my God. And everyone in that theater was just like, oh my God, dude, like that's your big pain on that big screen. Can I get a big, a big pain autograph, you know?

And he was just getting swarmed by all of the fans inside of that movie theater. And of course, when you're 15, this isn't alarming for you. You like when you're 15, you're not gonna be like, oh my god, I'm getting groomed. Like you're like, wow, this is cool. Like people really love him.

Like he has fans. He is, you know, he's so nice to his fans. Like she was just kind of swept up in it. She was like, this is like a crazy life. Like what the heck is going on? And he's so nice to his fans. Like, she was just kind of swept up in it. She was like, this is like a crazy life. Like, what the heck is going on? And he's so nice and he's always buying me gifts. And he really, in the beginning, never made her feel uncomfortable.

Like, he didn't like try to pressure into doing anything. So she just felt completely like under his wing, like under his spell. And then slowly, he would get more serious. He would tell her things like, no, I love you. No, like you're just mature for your age, which I'm just going to be honest. No 15-year-old is mature for their age.

When a dude tells you that, don't believe it, run. When a dude that's not 15, tells you that, okay? Just run. And so he would always say these things to her and she felt really special now This also coincident like it was a coincidence that her parents were really busy at the time So she just was getting a lot of that attention from John So when she's 16 her family decides to move to Oregon and for whatever reason her parents were totally chill with her staying in LA with John Holmes

So the dad gives her a hug, says goodbye, and hands down a $20 bill and tells her good luck. And just leaves. What kind of fucking parents is that? I know, really bad. And that's when she said everything just flipped a switch. So before all of this, you know, John would just take her out on these lavish gifts,

lavish trips, which would just be so nice. Like, would say all these things, like, I love you so much, like, you were blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, and she would just be like, wow, I found my prince chiming, right? And then immediately after the parents were gone, he became incredibly abusive and controlling. He would not let her talk to anyone. Like, you can't call your parents, you can't talk to your friends that you made an L.A. You can't even talk to the postman, don't talk to him, why are you fucking talking to the postman? Like he was becoming so possessive that it was scary. And that's around the time when his cocaine addiction was really just racking it up.

Like he was constantly high and that really caused him to have this crazy, just, scary, erratic behavior. So this was really bad for Don because she would never know what's gonna happen because he's always doped up on cocaine. Now it would be really bad at work because he's supposed to be working with all, it's a very sensitive workplace.

You have a lot of naked, vulnerable people, you have cameras, you've got lots of things going on, right? And erratic behavior is the last thing directors want. Like it's not a thing directors want. Like it's not a free for all like directors even in the porn industry they're like no, we're super professional. I actually we had friends who were producers in porn. So they were like the filmographers and they said it's literally not what you think. Like we're not just like oh yeah, like do that do this. It's like all very professional and all very scripted and everything is done

to the teeth, the angles are planned beforehand, you know? Like erratic behavior is not okay. So his director start kind of getting a little bit mad at him and then it really starts to fall apart because cocaine makes his peen soft. You can get it up. And I mean like in most workplaces that would really, that would be the opposite of a problem, right? But it was a massive problem. No really a massive problem. I'm sorry, I'm not getting my jokes. So he started getting fired off of these film sets because they're like, you can't even

get hard. Like, we can't work. And now because we can't even depend on you to get work, like, we rented this spot, we're paying everybody else all the crew and Hello, anybody home, you know, and so they were getting really upset with him and that's when he started getting more just Into cocaine. He was like whatever. I'm not even working anymore So he kind of stops working at that time in the porn industry and he just starts Just taking up more cocaine and he's selling drugs He's even prostituting himself so he he would either sleep with men or a woman.

It really didn't matter to him as long as he got paid. So he became a prostitute. He did credit card fraud. He did petty theft. I mean, he even went as far to go to LAX and go to baggage claim and steal people's luggage to try to sell the contents of it. So he was spending more than $13,000 a day on cocaine.

So he's desperate for money, for drugs. Oh, desperate. Yeah, and the place that he gets his drugs is in Laurel Canyon, which is in the hills. We know Laurel Canyon, we've drove by, it's a really nice, boozy area. And it's like a hilly community. And at the time, it's like a hilly community and at the time it was like the place to be. Like that's where all the celebrities were living, you know. And he said it was going to Wonderland and that's what Dawn said. That they're

going to Wonderland. Because the house that he bought to cocaine from was actually 87 63 Wonderland Avenue. Wait, wait, wait, who's going there? John and Don. Oh, he's taking her too. Yeah, so he buys cocaine from 87, 63 Wonderland Avenue. Is that a house? Yeah.

And so it's called Wonderland Avenue. This is known as the Wonderland murders, just because of everything involved. So, I mean, it's obviously a play on the name of the street, but it's also a play on like the, this is exactly what people think, like Alice in Wonderland is like drugs, sex, just weird characters, you know, because you've got so many different types of people

in this story that's very confusing. And then it's almost like this, like people kind of see LA of that life as like this vortex. Like you go in and then it's like a completely different world and you're just like swarming about like what the fork is going on here and why is everyone in yoga pants you know like it's just weird so he goes to Wonderland to get his drugs and inside of that house there's about four people living there so Joy Miller was the person who was leasing this town home and she was a

complete heroin addict now prior to leasing this town home and she was a complete heroin addict. Now prior to leasing this place, she actually was married to a super wealthy man and lived in this like beautiful Beverly Hills place and she ended up falling in love with Billy Devarol, which was a drug dealer. And they even called their whole gang, the Wonderland gang. And they even had like gang members outside of this townhome that like helped them sell drugs, right? So Billy Deverell was the second in command to the Wonderland gang and he was kind of like just, he was a drug dealer, ex-convict. He wasn't known particularly to be evil. He was kind of known to be like, hey, I got addicted to drugs, I sold drugs, and now I can't get any more jobs because

I am a felon, so now I have to keep selling drugs and doing more drugs because I get sad that I'm still selling drugs, right? So he seemed more of like a victim of circumstance unless of like this really evil, just drug-dill and, you know, nest and ass day, right? Mm-hmm. Now Ron, on the other hand, Ron was a different breed. So Ron Lonious, he was the leader of the Wonderland Gang and he also lived in this apartment or this townhome and he has a huge criminal history. I mean, he was a violent dude.

So he actually joined the army and he went to war in the Vietnam War and he decided, hey, I'm going to deal, I'm going to bring back a bunch of drugs from Vietnam because it's cheaper here. I'm going to bring it to the US and I'm going to sell it. And he's like, well, how do I do that? Like, I'm gonna deal. I'm gonna bring back a bunch of drugs from Vietnam because it's cheaper here. I'm gonna bring it to the US and I'm gonna sell it. And he's like, well, how do I do that? Like, I'm in the army. Like, they're gonna check my bags. So he's like, I'm gonna stuff it

into the dead bodies of these US army men who had died. Cause they bring the bodies back. Like, if you die in war and they can find your body or they see your body, they bring your body back so that your family can put you to rest. So he was like, yeah, I'm gonna put the drugs in these bodies and then take them out. Cause no one's gonna do like a search

on these dead bodies, cause that'd be disrespectful. That is so extreme. Yeah, so he was real nasty. Like that just kind of shows you his character, right? So he would do all of these things. He was actually a person of interest in the LAPD for over two dozen homicides. So he was really just...

But wasn't arrested? No, but just a real nasty dude. So he was almost arrested and he was going to get a court recently for the murder of somebody. But the key witness just died. Oh lord. Just died. Like cool. That's not suspicious at all. But do you want to. That's not suspicious at all.

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when you sign up at Grammarly.com slash Rotten Mango. That's g-r-a-m-m-a-r-l-y.com slash Rotten Mango. Thank you, Grammarly, for sponsoring today's podcast. Now back to the story. And then the fourth character who lived there was David Linde and he was also a gang member and a biker, and they called themselves the Wonderland Gang. So that's everybody that lived primarily at the Wonderland House, and Don was never allowed in. So she would just wait outside in the car, she would look at this town home, and she would

just sit there, and she would say, like, if I had a pee, I would have to pee in a coke bottle. Like, I just couldn't do anything. She was so scared. And she asked, you know, why can't I just go inside and use the restroom? Like, I don't really like peeing in this Coke bottle. And John was like, listen, this gang is so freaking dangerous. Like, you can't know.

Like, no one needs to know that you're even here. No one needs to know that you would exist. Like, this is for your safety. Is he, so he's actually trying to protect her? Kind of. So it's a mixture of he wants to protect her, but also he is so disgustingly possessive. Like, he wants to keep her around as this little like sex thing that nobody knows about.

Got it. Which is just weird. And to be honest, I mean, the safety part in this sense made a lot of sense because the Wonderland gang, they treated John Holmes like a freaking punk like they really did so Ron Lonnie is the leader he hated him so much for no reason that anytime John would come around as he's like snorting up Coke he would just smack him around on the face like just like you're a little bitch and just slap him around and John took it because he was like I literally don't care I I just need drugs.

Wow. Drugs will do some crazy things, guys. And then in comes another character by the name of Eddie Nash. I know. Like, it's a lot of names, but it's a lot of like crazy people in today's story. Okay. So Eddie Nash was known to be the King of Nightlife in LA. He was a multi-millionaire, I mean just loaded. But he wasn't always like this, so let me give you a little bit of details. Let's spill the tea on Eddie Nash. So he was actually born in Palestine. And the Nash family was really well off at the time. They owned about 48 hotels.

He was really business savvy. But then a lot of things happened at the time, and he ended up in a refugee camp. So then he ends up immigrating to the United States when he's in his 20s and he had $7. Like just in his hand, $7.00, that's about it. That's it, he just moves to the US and he starts working in Hollywood,

he becomes an actor at one point, he does some stuntman stuff. He was an expert horseman because he did grow up in a very well-off family before tragedy struck, right? And so he would do all of these things get paid and then eventually like he even had a hot dog stand on Hollywood Boulevard. Yeah, real PewDiePie vibes right there, right? Could he used to be a hot dog stand person, PewDiePie, before he became a YouTuber. Yeah, so he had a hot dog stand in Hollywood Boulevard.

And then he expanded his business to opening up several night clubs Restaurants and strip clubs. I think he had over like 20 like close to 20 at one point and he Dominated nightlife and he was such a master marketer. He had a nightclub or a restaurant for everyone Your heterosexual your home is sexual. You've got a weird fetish. That's really unique He's got it off for you. You will have a place to feel comfortable and have fun. Sounds like a nice dude, right? Yeah.

No. So, at the same time, he was a drug dealer, so he would sell through all of these clubs, right? Okay. So, he had more power than the police department at one point than the LAPD, which is intense. He sold tons of narcotics. He sold, he made massive parties and his little mansions and they were just, he was kind of sex crazy and he was weird. He was a weird dude.

So he would come out of the bathroom after taking a poo-poo. Yeah, and he wouldn't wipe. And he would find the most desperate girls who were just addicted to drugs. You know, because that was primarily who was hanging out around him was people who were addicted to drugs trying to score their next hit. And that's who he surrounded himself by, and he loved that. He wanted to take advantage of people.

So he would come out of there not wiping his butt, and he would say, listen, ladies, you lick my butt clean, and I'll give you cocaine. And so they would lick his butt clean. And he would give them little bits of cocaine. And he would always have around eight college girls living with him at any given time. He wanted to be like the next Hugh Hefner, that was his dream.

And lots of people in LA said that he was a sociopath, like he was a narcissist, sure, he has lots of clubs, sure, American Dream Story, Wawa, but people think he was just nasty. The people who genuinely knew him. Now what's very interesting is that he also was addicted to porn. He was like, I love porn and I am Johnny Wad's biggest fan. So he loved the Johnny Wad series. So then one day, one of his little minions comes up and is like, hey, boss, you know how you love Johnny Wad? Well, John Holmes was recently in one of our clubs,

Eddie bought drugs. And so he was like, really? Bring him to my home. I wanna hang out with Johnny Big Pined Wad. What? Yeah. Uh-huh. Oh, some weird people.

Yeah, and so Eddie meets John Holmes and Eddie at first, he was star-struck. He was like, God damn! He loved his sexual prowess, he said. He just wanted to be around John the whole time. Now, John, he was star-struck too, by all the cocaine, by all the power, by all the money, by all the, oh my god, like this could be my next thing, right?

And so John Holmes just constantly was trying to prove himself towards Eddie Nash, and so he even decided to connect the Wonderland gang who were primarily heroin dealers to connect with the Nash gang so that they could kind of Nash could supply for the Wonderland, Wonderland could sell, you know. What do you call it? Drug deal and I'm just like, you know, you know, supply into me. I don't know what I'm saying. Okay, like, you know, they were just going to get connected so they could all make more money. And this actually got him a lot of respect from both sides. The Wonderland gang were like, your friends with Eddie Nash, holy shit. Maybe your not lose are right. And then Eddie Nash was like, man,

you're bringing me business, shit. Like you could connect with some big players, huh? Like good for you, right? Now at first, it seems that John Holmes liked Eddie, was kind of admiring Eddie for everything he had accomplished, everything he had. And then it turned to dislike, because you know, Eddie's really just not a likable person,

to be honest. I think it'd be really hard to stay with him long-term and really just be like, what a good dude, right? And so he just started to fear him more than anything. Like any feeling he had about Eddie Nash was just fear. Fear, fear, fear, that's it. He was just so scared. But he's still around here?

Yeah, because he's still around here? Yeah, because he's so addicted to cocaine. But then every day that he would spend with Eddie Nash, he would be more scared of just how scary and how powerful Eddie Nash is. So does Eddie still like him though? Is Eddie still treating him nice? Eddie is treating him nice, but Eddie is not someone who really likes anyone like that. He likes people, but he's really Eddie Nash before anyone type of dude.

So if you cross him, that's it for you. Right. So he was receiving drugs from him, but he just, John just always wanted a little bit more. Now, Don, Don was a secret from Eddie. He just said, listen Don, Eddie can never know about you because he's one of the scariest people you'll ever meet. He will kill everyone if he wanted to. He can.

If he randomly wakes up and wants to kill me, he's going to do it. Like that's how scary he is. Even though Eddie was supplying him cocaine, he just wanted more. So this is where you're going to get mad. That's when he forces Don into prostitution. Wait, wait. John Holmes. Why is that?

Because Eddie Nash was giving him cocaine, but it just wasn't enough, you know. And Eddie Nash isn't trying to give him $13,000 worth of cocaine for no reason every day. So he was like, this is not enough cocaine for me. So he forced Don into prostitution and if she said no or she resisted, he beat her. One day he starts beating her at the motel that they're staying at and the security hears. So he busts through the door and he arrests, he calls the police and they arrest John Holmes. Now here's the thing, he cannot, he calls the police and they arrest John Holmes. Now here's the thing, he cannot afford to bail for any of this, right? So immediately as he's getting arrested, he's like, fuck, this is the only option.

He tells Don to call Eddie Nash and say that your brother is in jail and he needs to bail him out. So she's scared. She's like, what do you mean? Like you told me that this is the scariest person on earth and now you want me to talk to him while you're in jail? Like, what do you mean? Like, you told me that this is the scariest person on earth. And now you want me to talk to him while you're in jail. Like, what do you want me to do? So she calls him and he says, okay, I'll be right there. And he bails John Holmes out.

Now here's the thing. Now John owes him. Yeah. And Eddie's not the type that's like, hey, you're like family. I'll forget about it. Don't worry, I'ma just bail you out of jail. They're not best buds. You know Eddie now. She's a master Marketer and just a master business man like he's business Abby. He does not do anything for free nothing

And so they come to a common agreement Which is that they both really like young girls. So Dawn was 19 at the time and Eddie who had spoken to her on the phone said, you know, why didn't you ever tell me about this girl? I didn't know you had a girlfriend. And so he was like, oh, she's not really a girlfriend. I've been taking care of her since she was young and he was just trying to downplay it. And that's when Eddie says, well, just give me her for the night and we'll call it even.

So Dawn became a peace offering between John Holmes and Eddie Nash. So on Christmas day, John delivers Dawn to Eddie. Drops her off at his house and she was terrified. I mean all of the things that he would come home and say about Eddie and now she's to sleep with him first of all. I mean, I can't even unpack the trauma of every part of this, right? But she was just so nervous. Now, she did recall that John said that she was going to be tested. He didn't know how Eddie was going to test her, but she was going to be tested. Almost everyone that enters Eddie's house is tested. So Don enters the room and he leaves her in the living room and there was on the little coffee table a gold watch a stack of money

a money clip a bag of weed and Just right in front of her and he said I'll be right back now She did remember that John told her that there's a two-way mirror and he likes to test people without mirrors So he leaves all these valuables out and if you even touch it, like you will end up in the desert, he said. That's what John Homes said, you know, that's what happens to people. Like you never make Eddie feel like he can't trust you, because he gets so mad about it. So she sat there for over an hour while she was being tested and then she hears Eddie calling her name to the bedroom. So, you know, we can all, we know what happened, right? So John Holmes picks her up the next morning

and he starts asking her what happened. So she tells him about the test and then she tells him about this and then she tells him about the part where, you know, they spent the night together. And John gets so mad that he just punches her in the face And it seems like he wasn't mad at Don It seems like he was mad at Eddie and the fact that he was powerless and he felt like he had to offer Don as a peace offering

Which by the way like how forked up is even that thinking right? But it seems like he punched her just in full anger Now four days later Eddie's like listen, I want Don again. And this was on her birthday. So she was turning 20 years old. And she just remembered feeling so sad, because she just was like, she said all she could say all day to John was, but it's my birthday. Like, but it's my birthday. And so she went, because she felt like she had no choice. And then afterwards,

she said there was like this moment where she was so scared because she was looking in the mirror and there was like this weird disconnect. And she was like, what the forks going on like this is weird. This is so weird. So she immediately just like, it's like, I can't do this anymore. And she leaves to be with her parents in Oregon. And that's when John turns on his little charm and he calls her every single day while she's with her parents and is like, baby, I love you. I'll never do that to you ever again. This is crazy. He was going back to the first John that she ever met when she was 15.

The way that she was groomed, Don loves. She thinks she loves John. She thinks it's a true love. It's not just grooming, it's not abuse, it's love in Don's eyes. So she gets lured back to LA. So June of 1981 she flies back to LA and John says, listen, I promised over the phone that we're gonna have an amazing future together and trust me, we will. Because I just have to do one last deal. One last deal we're gonna make some money and we're gonna disappear forever and live in peace away from Eddie Nash away from the Wonderland gang just having a good time.

Speaking about having a good time listen I've been having a great time. I'm not just talking about the O-shot I'm just just kidding. I'm also talking about Filo. Listen, we got a TV in our bedroom and at first my fiance was so hesitant. He was like, why? Why do we need a TV in our bedroom? I don't want to pay a bajillion dollars so that we can have like 25,000 different channels that they're not even playing what we want to watch all the time. And I said, listen, if I can find a way that it's not a bajillion dollars, we're getting a TV in our room. And Filo is the way to do it. Listen, I love TV. I hate the

size of cable bills. And if that's you, Filo is your solution, okay? It's the TV for everyone. It's live and it's on demand for just $20 a month. And if you guys love watching true crime stuff like I do, like they have investigation discovery, they've got lifetime, they've got A&E, they've got Nickelodeon, you want to watch Killing Eve, the Daily Show, 90 Day Fiancé, The Walking Dead, or it's 3am, your fiance falls asleep and for some reason, you have to watch Love and Hip Hop, okay? Like, I don't know what it is, it's just like the right time for Love and Hip Hop. That's me, and Filo is is amazing and the best part is it's cord-free, commitment-free, hassle-free and it has amazing customer service and

you can DVR unlimited. So you can choose what time works for you. You never have to be like oh my god I gotta go watch this show. You can just download it. It saves all your shows. You can watch it on your own schedule and you can create multiple profiles for multiple streams. So nobody has to fight over what to watch anymore. You can watch from your phone, your laptop, your tablet, your TV. I mean, it's really amazing. So now more than ever, TV really shouldn't cost an arm

and a leg, okay? So make sure to go sign up at phylo.tv slash rotten and you'll get 25% off your first too much. Munch. My hungry? Two months, which is insane because it's $20 a month. That's phyl.o.tv slash ROTTEN. So he says, one last deal, baby.

So John Holmes leaves and he's gone for about a day and a night and he comes home the next day with the largest pile of cocaine that Don has ever seen in her entire life and she doesn't really ask what's going on right so they smoke a little bit and that's when John reveals listen the plan is we're gonna sell all this cocaine and we're gonna run with that money we're gonna leave town we're gonna go wherever you want. Where do you wanna go? We can go to Florida. We can go to Texas. What do you wanna do, baby?

The world is ours. And so she's getting excited and she's like, oh my god, this is a great idea, right? And so he's like, okay, all I have to do now is I have to go sell all of this cocaine. So she says, okay, and he says, maybe it's gonna take me about a day. Okay, I mean, that's not too bad.

That's a lot of cocaine for a day, like that's good, so maybe we can leave like earliest in a couple days, that's great, right? And she's getting a little bit excited and he leaves with all of the cocaine to sell. And he doesn't come back for like a couple days, like much later than they agreed on. And she sees that something's weird.

I mean the moment that he got out of his car, he's moving weird He's moving a little bit slow his eyes are completely red and blood shot. There's like no color in his face She doesn't know how to describe it other than like all the blood was drained from his face But not in a natural way it just was so weird and so he immediately enters the motel room He pops a bunch of valiams. It's a really intense enters the motel room, he pops a bunch of valiums. It's a really intense sedative that treats anxiety, muscle spasms, and seizures, but it's a controlled substance, so it's a really intense one. So I'm sure it's very very strong. So he

takes a valium, or multiple valiums, actually she said, and he goes to bed, and he's just tossing and turning the whole day. Like he's sleeping during the day, right? And he's having these nightmares. He's screaming. And in one of those screams, he literally said, so much blood. So she's like, okay, like this is a little bit weird, but whatever. She's just kind of trying to help him through it while she's watching TV on the bed next to him. And she's just flipping through the channels. When all of a sudden, she sees a house that she recognizes. On TV?

She's like, wait, isn't that Wonderland? And that's in the news anchor says, Four bodies were found inside of the Wonderland Avenue townhome. A young woman, bloody beaten, gashed in the forehead, has been alive and taken to the hospital. So you've got four bodies and one survivor. So you've got five victims. Holy shit.

And she's just kind of watching this like, wait, what? And apparently what they said on the news was that these furniture movers in the townhouse next to Wonderland heard a bunch of moaning, and they looked into it and they saw that there was a bloodied woman trying to get help inside of the Wanderland townhome. So they called the police.

I mean, this is just all so crazy. So it seemed like it happened, you know, hours ago, right? So she's like, okay, this is, this is a little bit weird. So she starts kind of just sitting there watching it. John wakes up and he just stares at the TV. And she said it's almost like you looked paralyzed. That's all she can kind of describe it, just frozen watching the TV. And the police even said, you know, it's as if someone walked through the house, which is buckets of red

paint or blood and just threw it everywhere. I saw the crime scene photos. I never want to see those photos ever again. It's really intense. You almost your brain almost makes you feel like they're not real. Like it feels like, oh, this is probably like a made for TV remake because there's no way. Like it was so much blood. Oh my god, so much blood. It was a grizzly murder scene. But how did that happen? Oh, they don't really know yet. So the police end up spending over 24 hours at the crime scene to gather evidence They're gathering fingerprints. They're gathering all of this stuff I mean it was really extensive because you're talking about A gang lives there with lots of drugs and shit. So they're like, uh, is this evidence? Maybe probably right?

So they're just logging all of these and the victims were the four well, they weren't the four Okay, so let me tell you the victims, okay? They were all savagely beaten with steel pipes So there was no gunshot wounds, there was no knife slashings. I mean, this was a brutal murder. So people were actually considering this, the second man's and murders, is what everyone called it, because the man's and murders happened not too long before this, and this was almost just as bloody, they said. So they're like, what's going on in LA? Like, what is happening in California, right? So Joy Miller was one of them and she was unrecognizable. She was attacked on the head. Her boyfriend Billy was also attacked on the head. He had broken ribs and broken fingers.

So that indicated that he tried to fight back. Now, Ron, the head of the gang, his head was, these are the police where it not mine, obliterated. His head was obliterated. David Lind, the fourth gang manber, wasn't home at the time. But his girlfriend Barbara Richardson, a 22 year old, with no criminal record at all, she was at the house, and she died. Now who is the survivor then, right? Her name is Susan, and she's Ron's estranged wife.

So they were married, but they weren't really talking at the time. And Ron had wanted to patch things up, you know, smooth talk Susan, so he invites her over, she goes over, and then this happens. That's the day. Yeah, and she survives. I mean, she does have permanent amnesia, so she can't recall that night. But the crazy thing is, six to eight customers came in to buy drugs to the Wonderland Ganghouse,

and they saw the crime scene and left. Because they were like, dude, I'm buying drugs. Like, there's no way I can call the cops and tell them, hey, I'm trying to buy some heroin. And I think my drug dealer is dead. Six people. Yeah.

So they saw that scene and they just left, right? And then there was about 12 hours that Susan just laid there, like, moaning for help. And the neighbors were all questioned. They were like, you know, this is Laurel Canyon. This is a really bougie area. This is not really a place where you constantly hear beatings and shootings and screaming and tortured screens.

And they said, listen, we freaking hate that house. Like, they have ragers all day, every day, every night. So to hear tortured screens coming out of that house is not bear. Like, I know that sounds crazy, but it's like an everyday thing to hear people screaming in that house. What the fuck? So they were like, we just thought it was another party. That's why the furniture movers, they weren't, you know, they didn't know about this house. They didn't know that they had people screaming in there every day,

so they're working on the next townhome and they hear all this like moaning and groaning from Susan 12 hours later, and they see through the window that there's someone dying! So they call the cops. Yeah. Wow. It's crazy. So the police tried to construct a timeline of the murders, and it seems like all of the people in the house took a bunch of drugs and at around 4am they all crashed and went to sleep when several men entered the house armed with metal pipes.

They think that they attacked Barbara, David's girlfriend first in the living room. She was beaten repeatedly, then they went downstairs to Ron and Suzie and then they went all the way upstairs to Joy and Billy, where they were attacked in bed. So they think it's multiple people? Yeah, because there's no way, you know? So they're like, what is going on? Now, John and Don, they're staying in the motel room, and they weren't really talking about it,

but Don knew, I mean, something, there's a weird connection here, right? It's just not normal, okay? Here's what's going on. David Lind returns months later, actually, to the house. And he believes that, you know, everything on the news, he thinks his girlfriend is the one that's alive still. Because the news is like, there's a female survivor.

So he's like, oh, that's my girlfriend, Barbara. But it wasn't. It wasn't at all. And that's when the police get their first lead. Because they're like like I'm sorry Your girlfriend has passed Susan Launius is the one that survived and he's mad and he starts screaming at that police Tell that motherfucker homes. He's dead like motherfucker homes I mean in quotes right homes did this homes did this homes is involved

Why how does he know yet? So they're like what do you mean? Why would he be involved? Do you mean the porn star? And so he's like, yeah, that fucker did it And he's like listen here's the evidence I lay before you right he says so John Homes comes into our house one day And he's like listen guys I'm gonna make you rich and that was June 28th the murders happened July 1st So that was like two days before right? Mm-hmm. He says I'm gonna make you all rich And he says here's my master plan you guys know I'm best buds like two days before, right? He says, I'm going to make you all rich. And he says, here's my master plan. You guys know I'm best buds with any natch, right? Yeah, you do. Well, I know he has tons of drugs and cash at home. And I can open the back screen door. I can unlock it before I leave. And the next day or in the middle

of the night, you guys come in with masks and you steal it all and I get a cut you get a cut We all get a cut and we all get rich So that's exactly what he did he unlocked the sliding glass door that night of June 28th and everyone came over with masks on with guns and stuff at night And they swarmed the house so Eddie Nash always had a bodyguard, but they were both overpowered. Eddie Nash was forced onto his knees and he was forced to beg for his life. He prayed for his kids, he prayed for his life. I mean, it was a very humiliating moment for Eddie, which he, this type of personality does not do well with humiliation, right? And so David Ron and Billion are in there. They end up stealing close to a million dollars worth of cash

Julian drugs a million dollars And does Eddie have any clue who they are he will soon so police immediately when they're hearing this story There's like first of all there's two mistakes even the police know about Eddie Nash They're like first of all robbing Eddie Nash is the first mistake. Second of all, letting Eddie Nash live is your second mistake. You don't rob someone like that and just let them live. Like you kill them. Like if you're gonna do all that, you're a dead man walking if you don't kill them. Like what are you gonna do with all that cash? Nothing, you're dead.

Things are cops like, I'm not even gonna charge you because you're gonna be dead. You'll dumb anyway. We're not trying to do paperwork if we don't have to. Like, he was just like, what? And so, the murders happened July 1st. Just like a couple days later, the police are like, obviously, this is not a coincidence, especially with the personality like Eddie. So, we gotta find John Holmes.

We gotta find John Holmes. It was really not that hard. They end up knocking down the motel door and they take both of them in. So they question John Holmes and they question Don. And John just kind of tells them everything. He's just like, listen, here's what happened. Eddie started putting two and two together. So one of his friends had actually seen me wearing some of the jewelry that we stole

Out in about an LA. Yeah, like in Hollywood. I was wearing like the watch that we stole from him and that Yeah, it was dumb anyways, so Eddie starts putting it together Especially because like right before the murders happened he kept like going to Eddie's like back door and just was being a little bit Suspicious, you know, I'm cut on, right? So Eddie was putting it together that I helped him or these robbers facilitate all of this robbery. So he gets mad at me and he said, listen, John, you need to take care of it. So he sends me with these random three dudes because when you go to the Wonderland ganghouse,

they don't just open the door for anyone. They're heroin dealers, they're not dumb, you know, like it could be somebody else, It could be the cops, you know So they only let it open for people they trust so they said Eddie said John you have to go Pretend it's just a normal day. You're here to just talk about robbing me again And you're gonna let in my three my three Hinchman in with you secretly. They're not gonna know and then you guys are gonna beat them to death and in with you. Secretly, they're not going to know. And then you guys are going to beat them to death. And so John's claim is that he did not beat them at all.

He only watched. He was forced to watch the killing. And the police even asked, you know, it seems more effective to kill people with guns, especially when you have that number of people in a residential area that you probably want to be in and out, right? And he said, well, that's the thing with Eddie, like you probably want to be in and out, right? And he said, well, that's the thing with Eddie. He didn't want to use any guns because he wants to send the right message. Yeah, yeah.

So John claims he watched as they were murdered. He refused to give the names of both the men because he was like, then I'm a dead man walking, dude. And he refused to testify because he was like, again, there's nothing LAPD can do to protect me. Okay, y'all are at joke. So did he say it was from Eddie? Yeah, but he's saying without anything he says, without giving the names of the people who went for Eddie or any of these,

they can't really charge Eddie, you know? And he can't be the one to do it because Eddie's got dudes everywhere Don't what the hell are you confessing? I know. He's a little weird So the police realize they have no evidence of tying John Holmes to the murders so they release him And that's when John and Don run for their freaking life. Okay, they just zip out of there. They said I'm done now Don gets a lot of hope just zip out of there they said I'm done. Now Dawn gets a lot of hope because as they're leaving Los Angeles it seems like John's more relaxed. I mean he's still controlling, he's still possessive, but he's not as mean. And to her that's hope,

you know, because she had been abused for so long she felt like maybe this is the next chapter in our lives. So they drive aimlessly across the country and they end up in Florida where they both find work. So John starts working at a construction site, Don starts working at a motel where she's cleaning the motel rooms. And it's good for a while until John gets back into drugs. So he starts doing more cocaine and then he's like, listen, you cleaning rooms, me being a construction worker is obviously not enough money for cocaine. So you got to be pimped out again. And that's when she was just so upset

and he started beating her. Now this time was different because she was working for the motel that they were staying at and the motel owners really liked Don. So they heard this and that's when they stopped the beating and they convinced her to leave him and stay with one of their friends.

So she ends up going and staying with a friend and Holmes calls her every single day just apologizing like I'll never do it again Baby, I was just I'm sorry like I'll never do it again and this time she rejected him And she said it was so hard because it's like breaking up with someone you love right? It's not just like this person hit me. I hate him. You know, it's so hard, right? And she rejected him and she said it was like a switch John just got so mad and he was mean again and he was like well then fuck you. And she was like oh my god okay. So then she's trying to move on right and as she's trying to move on she gets a knock

at the door from a detective and they said you know why we're here right she's like yeah I mean I think so and they said we tracked you down girl it wasn't easy why we're here, right? She's like, yeah, I mean, I think so. And they said, we tracked you down, girl. It wasn't easy, but we're here for a John. Where's John? And she's like, I don't know. No, Don, you don't want to play this game. Okay, listen, let's sit down. So the police start talking there, and they said,

listen, we found forensics. He has a left hand print above Ron's bed. So that kind of the position of that hand print was on the wall above his headboard. It looks like it's someone was bracing up against the wall while beating with their dominant hand. Does that make sense? Yeah, yeah.

And so she was like, what? And then they were like, listen, yeah. I mean, it's really bad. We've got this forensic evidence. We're going to charge him for murder, whether you help us or not. So she tells them where the police can find John. And he was arrested, flown to LA to be tried for the Wonderland murders.

Four counts of murder, one count of attempted murder, and he pled not guilty. So there was no three men allegedly? Yeah, so this trial was gonna be intense. So the police knew that he didn't do it alone. The police knew that there had to be other people in the house that night, but they couldn't get anything And they were under a lot of pressure to at least charge someone at least try someone So it doesn't look like to the whole world like, God, what's wrong with California? You know Yeah, and so they were like, God, it's too much pressure. So they charge him now

The police know that Eddie Nash is the mastermind, but because John doesn't testify, they have no evidence against Eddie, they just have nothing. And the trial was just a weird, weird trial. Like, imagine, like the prosecutor knows that he's probably not the only person that committed this murder.

And he was, I don't wanna say a victim too, but just not the most evil person of the murder, right? There's no way they could catch Eddie. Yeah, there was nothing. And they said it was so crazy because in a trial like this, where even John's like defense attorney was trying to say, well, there's this person named Eddie, you know, and getting the jury confused, Eddie now shows up in the back of the courtroom. I was almost like this

intimidation tactic. And if it can work. Wait, so is it true that Eddie was behind this? Later he does get convicted. But way later in like 2000s, something. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Yeah. So it was just weird like Susan ends up testifying. She's the only survivor, but she doesn't remember anything She just says shadowy figures, you know, and that was just so rough like they said watching her kind of like limp to the stand and just the trauma Oh God now this is what's shocking the jury ends up acquitting him They said when we're gonna give him an acquittal. He was acquitted Why is that word sounds so weird? Yeah, they believed that John was also a victim.

Wow. This was a shock. The police were shocked. The prosecutor was shocked. And a bunch of the jurors, at least one of them, had actually called the police and told them the next day, hey, I kind of regret the acquittal. Is there anything I can do?

And the prosecutor was like too little too late. Like, no, there's nothing. Wow. So they believe that John Holmes was acting under severe duress. So he was also a victim. He did end up serving about 110 days for a contemptive court, which means like you're not doing what the courts asking you like we're asking you for to testify like we're

asking you to name the three men and you won't so they charged him for that now once he gets out of jail this is where it's like so freaking weird he becomes a born-again porn star like a celebrity because think about it wonderland murders like these were almost as big in LA as the Manson murders everyone was talking about it and a porn star at the center of the investigation then he gets acquitted and now everyone's looking at him as this victim, they're like, let me S. U. D. Yeah, so he just, his film career just kick started again and it was intense. Now he was definitely not making as much money as he did before because it was no longer the golden age of porn.

This is when porn became incredibly saturated. And I believe today it's more similar to this where it's really saturated and unless you are at the top, it's not the easiest, right? So he just was just living life like that. He meets a woman that he really likes. He's on and off on drugs, and Don was shocked. I mean, to her, this was the biggest slap in the face. You know, by this point, she realized what had been done to her, she had been abused, she had been groomed, and now people are almost

idolizing this dude, kind of seeing him as the victim of this whole situation and she's like, whoa, I mean what? She just was really disgusted and she just that caused a lot of trauma in her too. Now right after he starts his new film career, it didn't really last long. So six years since the acquittal he ends up dying of AIDS. So he contracts AIDS, which the police that were interviewed actually said it was ironic because if he had been proven to be guilty of the murders then he would be in jail where he couldn't get AIDS and then he'd still be alive to this day. But because he got the acquittal and he went out and he did all these things he ended

up contracting AIDS and dying. He ended up hiding like the last few porn films that he was in that he had an HIV positive test and that caused an uproar. I don't think he spread it to anyone, but people were pissed. I mean, it was bad. Before he died, he married his second wife by the name of Lori who knew that he had AIDS and they get married and then he ends up dying. Now that's when the name of Lori, who knew that he had AIDS, and they get married

and then he ends up dying. Now that's when the police are like, listen, this is really bad. Like this is looking really bad on us. Like so much shit has happened. People are like so many is to pay for these Wonderland murders, right? So they start just searching the house of Edd Edi Nash, and they find about a million dollars worth of cocaine. He ends up spending two years in prison, which is crazy because he was actually charged to be in prison for eight years because a million dollars worth of cocaine he ends up spending two years in prison which is crazy because he was actually charged to be in prison for eight years because a million

dollars with a cocaine is insane you know I feel like some people just have like a little tiny speckle of cocaine and they're like life in prison for you mother forker right so a million dollars he gets sentenced to eight years but he allegedly bribes a judge with $100,000 and gets released in two years. What? So then in 1990, he gets charged with conspiracy to commit murder. So very different from murder. They're just saying, you plotted this, okay? We're not saying you murder them,

but it's like murder for hire, right? Yeah. And he was like, okay, whatever, let's go to trial. That's when he decides to bribe one of the jurors with $50,000 And it became a hung jury with an 11 to 1 the one bribe juror and he got Equittle so there was another second trial and then he got acquitted of that So then now the police are like, okay, we can't do this on ours like with ourselves LAPD come on So they came up with the FBI and they charged him in 2000 with federal charges.

So they said, listen, you are charged with racketeering, drug dealing, money laundering, jury tampering, and bribery. And he says, okay, well, how about this? I will say, I will say that I'm guilty of sending my henchmen to get back my stolen property, but I'm not guilty for plotting murder. All I did was send these henchmen to get back my jewelry and maybe a fight in suit.

I did not tell them with the goal of murder to go to the Wonderland house. So for some reason, the judge accepted it, and he was sentenced to four and a half years with a $250,000 fine This guy just don't give up. Holy shit. And he was released and lived till 2014 where he died at the age of 85 And he's buried in Culver City What a wildlife. Yeah

Sometimes I mean like he's like the scary Hollywood or whatever LA figure. Like one of those real, unreal. It really does feel like, Wonderland, like it's just so weird. You don't even know what kind of world this is. It doesn't even feel like the world that I know. I'm like, what? I mean, 2020 is kind of... Oh, that's so true. I wonder if in 10 years, we're just like, what the fork was that? Are we getting so used to it now though? Yeah, for now, but imagine our kids. That's the wonderland age. They were in Wonderland. Just getting we're at home. The whole year. Literally, we never left. Okay, sorry. Wow. Yeah. It's yeah, it's really sad. When you look at it, you've got six victims. But then just the scope of everything with Eddie Nash and just all of

this and like how many victims could be associated with this story. How many victims of one is she? Is she still alive? Yes, very traumatized, very angry that people idolize John Holmes. And even, you know, she said even to this day, there is a lot of like made for TV remakes. And they really kind of make John almost seem like a victim to it all too. But he wasn't. So I get her anger for sure.

I mean, I don't get it, like, to the level that she has, but I see exactly why she would feel that way. Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, I'm Wonderland's dangerous guys. Don't go. I mean, what even is Wonderland? I think I'm losing it. I think I'm losing it.

Let me know what are your thoughts on this case. I mean, what I feel like every aspect of this case was kind of mind-boggling today. To our case. It's a wild one. It's a ride. It's a ride. And I hope you guys enjoyed today's episode of Rotten Mangle hosted by St. Weedon even.

I'm Stephanie. And that's my side hoe over there. And we'll see you guys next week. Bye. Bye.