Wonderland Murders

The Wonderland murders, also known as the Four on the Floor Murders or the Laurel Canyon Murders, are four unsolved killings that occurred in Los Angeles on July 1, 1981. Five of the six targeted to be killed in the known drug house on Wonderland Avenue were present, and four of the five died from extensive injuries: Joy Miller, Billy DeVerell, Ron Launius, and Barbara Richardson. Launius' wife, Susan Launius, survived the attack. The attack was allegedly masterminded by organized crime figure and nightclub owner Eddie Nash. Porn star John Holmes was arrested, tried, and acquitted for his involvement in the murders.

The Wonderland Gang was centered around the occupants of a rented townhouse at 8763 Wonderland Avenue in the Laurel Canyon section of Los Angeles: Joy Audrey Gold Miller (whose name was on the lease[citation needed]), her live-in boyfriend William Raymond "Billy" DeVerell, David Lind, and the gang's leader, Ronnie Lee "Ron" Launius. All four were involved in drug use and drug dealing.
On June 28, 1981, the group met with friends Tracy McCourt and John Holmes, a porn star and known drug addict. They had decided to rob the home of Eddie Nash, né Adel Gharib Nasrallah, wealthy owner of several Los Angeles-area night clubs and drug dealer. Holmes, whom Nash had befriended, visited the house, ostensibly to buy drugs. While at Nash's home, Holmes unlocked a back door for the gang to enter later. Holmes then went back to Wonderland in order to report back to Launius and the others.
The next morning, June 29, DeVerell, Launius, Lind, and McCourt went to Nash's house. While McCourt stayed with the car, a stolen Ford Granada, the other three entered through the unlocked door. Invading the home, the trio handcuffed Nash and his live-in bodyguard, Gregory Diles. During the course of the subsequent robbery, the group took money, drugs, and jewelry; threatened to kill Nash and Diles; and accidentally grazed Diles with a bullet. They then went back to the Wonderland Avenue townhouse to split up the money.
Nash suspected Holmes had been involved and ordered Diles to bring Holmes to his house. Diles found Holmes on a street in Hollywood wearing one of the rings that had been stolen from Nash and brought him back to Nash. Nash directed Diles to beat Holmes, and Nash threatened to kill Holmes and his family, until Holmes identified the people behind the robbery. The beating was witnessed by a former boyfriend of Liberace's, Scott Thorson, who was buying drugs at Nash's home.
In the early morning of July 1, 1981, two days after the robbery, an unknown number of assailants entered the Wonderland Avenue townhouse. DeVerell and Launius were present, along with Launius' wife Susan, DeVerell's girlfriend Joy Miller, and Lind's girlfriend, Barbara Richardson. Each occupant present was bludgeoned repeatedly with what was later determined by the medical examiner and detectives to be a striated steel pipe. Susan Launius was the only one in the home who survived, albeit with serious injuries. A left palm print belonging to John Holmes found on the bed railing above Ron Launius' head gave homicide detectives reason to believe John Holmes was present at the site of the murder. Holmes denied participation in the killings or being there when the murders happened. Later, however, he admitted to his ex-wife Sharon Holmes and girlfriend Dawn Schiller that he was forced to watch the killings, but he denied participating in them.
According to court testimony, David Lind survived because he was not at the house at the time of the murders, having spent the night at a San Fernando Valley motel with a prostitute and consuming drugs there. Shortly after the news media reported the murders, Lind contacted the police and informed on Nash and Holmes, thus giving them a start to their investigation