The Wonderland Murders: Inside the Brutal Crime that Inspired Hollywood

Los Angeles may be a city of dreams, but it’s seen its fair share of tragic crimes, from the Manson Family killing spree to the Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman double homicide. Less known are the Wonderland murders, which not only caused the deaths of four individuals but also became a Hollywood cultural touchstone, inspiring everyone from Paul Thomas Anderson to E! Entertainment Television.

On the early morning of June 29, 1981, Ron Launius, Billy Deverell, David Lind and Tracy McCourt—known as the “Wonderland Gang,” after the street where they shared a row house—invaded the home of prominent organized crime figure Eddie Nash. The gang trafficked cocaine in Los Angeles and sometimes committed armed robberies against rival drug dealers. After invading Nash’s home and assaulting both him and his bodyguard, the gang got away with more than $1 million in drugs, cash, jewelry and antique guns.

However, the victory was short-lived, as Launius, Deverell, Deverell’s girlfriend Joy Miller and Lind’s girlfriend Barbara Richardson were brutally murdered on July 1. The sole survivor was Ron’s wife, Susan Launius, who was so severely beaten that she suffered brain damage, required parts of her skull and finger removed and couldn’t recall much about the assault. Neither Lind nor McCourt were present during the July 1 murders.

One person had ties to both the Wonderland Gang and Nash: the “king” of pornographic films, John Holmes.

Holmes lived in Los Angeles with his first wife, Sharon Holmes, working odd jobs that ultimately contributed to a collapsed lung. During recovery, Holmes made connections within the adult film industry during the “Golden Age of Porn,” effectively launching his career; marketing efforts helped in his ascent to fame by emphasizing his reportedly extra-large penis.

Despite his success, Holmes was addicted to cocaine by the late 1970s. To support his drug habit, he committed petty theft, groomed a 15-year-old named Dawn Schiller into prostitution (according to her later accounts) and sold drugs for gangs like the one on Wonderland Avenue. Holmes also became close friends with Nash to the point where Holmes learned where Nash stored his valuables—and mentioned this fact to the Wonderland Gang. Holmes’ role in the 1981 theft, according to investigators and later accounts, was allegedly leaving a door unlocked at Nash’s house for the gang to enter through.

Holmes wasn’t present during the burglary, but there was enough evidence after the murders—like a palm print left at the crime scene—for police to charge him in March 1982, after Holmes had been on the run in Florida for five months with Schiller. Prosecutors claimed Holmes was a willing participant in both the planning of the robbery and the killings, while the defense argued he’d been forced to help the assailants into the Wonderland Avenue row house. Holmes was ultimately acquitted due to lack of evidence in June 1982, though he served 110 days in jail for refusing to cooperate with authorities.

Given the Wonderland murders’ notoriety, it’s no wonder E! Entertainment Television, Travel Channel and MGM+ made documentaries about the killings. These specials tend to focus on Holmes’ role or how the murders fit into the mythos of Los Angeles.

The 2003 film Wonderland takes a Rashomon-style approach. Flashbacks show events leading up to and during the homicides, as told by Schiller (Kate Bosworth), Holmes (Val Kilmer), Lind (Dylan McDermott) and Sharon (Lisa Kudrow). There are deliberate inconsistencies between stories, as some individuals only know certain details or make themselves out to look better than others recall. Wonderland received insights from the real-life Schiller and Sharon, especially in terms of telling Holmes’ side of the story accurately.

But the Wonderland murders’ most memorable influence may be a scene toward the end of Paul Thomas Anderson’s 1997 film Boogie Nights, when protagonist Dirk Diggler (Mark Wahlberg) and two of his friends visit the opulent home of drug dealer Rahad Jackson (Alfred Molina). Jackson acts like a more crazed Nash, down to the hefty bodyguard and loose temper. The scene is less than 10 minutes, but it is notable for its tense build-up. Boogie Nights is an extension of 1988’s The Dirk Diggler Story, a short “mockumentary” Anderson made as a teenager that portrays a fictional Holmes’ life but doesn’t mention the Wonderland gang, Nash or the murders.

Holmes died from AIDS complications in 1988 at age 43. Soon after, Sharon revealed he’d visited her home the night of the Wonderland murders, covered in blood and saying he’d been forced at gunpoint to let three men into the usually secure row house. Other sources claim Holmes was taken to Nash’s house after the robbery and threatened with his life and those of his loved ones unless he revealed the burglars’ identities.

In 1990, Nash was charged with planning the murders as retaliation for the robbery, while his bodyguard was charged with carrying out the murders. The trial resulted in a hung jury, and a second trial in 1991 ended in acquittal. In 2001, after taking a plea bargain for money laundering indictments, Nash admitted to jury tampering during the 1990 trial and ordering associates to retrieve his stolen property from the Wonderland Avenue row house, though he claims any violence that may have occurred was unplanned. Nash died in 2014 at age 85.

The Wonderland murders technically remain unresolved, as authorities have no definitive answer as to which weapons were used or even how many individuals committed the crime.