The infamous Wonderland Murders are one of the most horrific and bloody murder scenes in the history of all of Los Angeles. The alleged planner of the murders, Eddie Nash, never explicitly admitted to committing them, but he did eventually confess that he sent his associates to the house to retrieve stolen property. This was, of course, in 2000, almost twenty years after the fact. Nash passed away shortly after, but not for the reason you might think.
The murders are sensational enough on their own, but they also include copious drugs, jewelry, and a past-his-prime porn star named John Holmes. It really is one of the strangest and most violent things to happen anywhere. Before we get into Nash’s death, let’s take a look back at how the Wonderland Murders went down.
What are the Wonderland Murders, and why did they happen?
The story of the Wonderland murders begins with the story of adult film star John Holmes. In his prime, Holmes made hundreds of adult movies and pioneered the salacious field of adult entertainment. Of course, he loved that lifestyle to the fullest and, in the process, developed a monster cocaine habit.
He would freebase the drug, a habit that reportedly cost him almost $2,000 a day. He was so high that he couldn’t even do his job and eventually stopped getting cast in movies altogether. As Holmes tells it:
“In the middle of a scene, I would disappear for long stretches, but my co-workers knew where to find me: in the bathroom doing freebase.”
Enter Eddie Nash. Nash was a nightclub owner and big-time drug dealer and very, very wealthy (and dangerous). How they met isn’t clear, but they became fast friends. Of course, the scales of the friendship were tipped in Nash’s favor; Holmes was a desperate drug addict, and Nash had everything he needed to feed his habit. This led to Holmes being indebted to Nash and having to sometimes do unsavory tasks for him.
Holmes was the connection between Nash and the so-called Wonderland Gang, a loosely affiliated group of dealers who lived on Wonderland Avenue. They weren’t big time by any means, but Holmes was desperate, in debt, and no one would sell him drugs because he would never pay for them.
Holmes would later say that he would take stolen property from the Wonderland Gang to Nash to trade for drugs. That arrangement was just fine, but Holmes was reckless and chained to his addiction, so things didn’t stay that way.
Holmes mentioned to the gang that Nash was “ripe for robbery.” While he didn’t take part in the robbery itself, he did visit Nash that morning and leave a door unlocked. The haul was a good one: the robbers got away with at least $10k, with some reports saying it was as high as $1 million.
Nash reportedly had to beg for his life, something that made him feel humiliated. Things get pretty dicey from here, but basically, Nash figured out who the robbers were and how Holmes was involved (considering he was there that morning).
Less than two days later, four people were brutally murdered: William Deverell, Ronald Launius, Joy Miller, and Barbara Richardson. Susan Launius survived but was brain-damaged from the attack. The victims were massacred and beaten with pipes, so much so that their faces and heads were crushed.
The scene was horrible. Bodies were slumped around the apartment, covered in blood, and a bloody hammer and several metal pipes were all over. Holmes was reportedly there to witness the crime, but Nash didn’t want Holmes dead – he just wanted him to witness the brutality.
The murders are still unsolved to this day. Well, technically unsolved. Which brings us to:
What was ‘Wonderland Murders’ criminal Eddie Nash’s cause of death
First of all, it’s believed that Nash sent his henchman to commit the murders. After the murders, police searched Nash’s home and found his huge stash of cocaine. He was sentenced to eight years in prison but released after two, supposedly due to his poor health.
There are rumors that he bribed the judge. In 1990, he was put on trial for the murders, but the result was a hung jury – with 11 jury members wanting to convict him and one holdout. Nash later said he bribed the holdout juror. He was tried again and was acquitted.
The government kept coming after him, and in 2000, he was arrested on RICO, money laundering, and conspiring to commit the murders. He admitted to sending his cronies to get his stolen property back, but he denied saying he planned the murders.
Nash was in his seventies and had feeble health at this point. He suffered from emphysema and several other health problems, the result of a life of drugs and partying. He got four-and-a-half years in prison, including time served.
There’s not much else known about the end of his life except that he died in 2014 at the age of 85.
Published: Nov 9, 2023 07:04 pm