Original subtitles

- [Narrator] Barbara Richardson, Ron Launius,

Joy Miller and Billy DeVerell known to their partners

and rivals in tandem as the Wonderland gang

were occasional sneak thieves

and semi successful drug dealers

in the late 1970s, early 1980s Los Angeles County.

Their miniature cocaine and heroin empire was cut short

by an unexplainable unsolved murder

on the first of July 1981.

Leaving all who knew them across Laurel Canyon

and Los Angeles at large grasping for answers

in a sea of evidence that drowned us all in doubt.

As a hope to provide more substantial reasoning

built upon observable evidence and situational analysis,

this is an examination of the four on the floor murders

and the harrowing mystery on Wonderland Avenue.

This is "Cold Case Detective".

(dramatic music)

The first victim of the Laurel Canyon murders and leader

of the infamous Wonderland gang was Ronald Lee Launius

born in Sacramento, California in 1944.

One of the last members of the silent generation

in the western United States,

Ron ventured off to the war in Vietnam in the late 1960s.

Serving in the United States Air Force,

his military career went south when he involved himself

in the drug trafficking trade in Vietnam.

He was eventually caught smuggling heroin back into America

via stashing paraphernalia on the bodies

of deceased US soldiers.

This led to his dishonorable discharge,

to which he responded by moving back to Sacramento

and getting mixed up between 27 separate

homicide investigations throughout the early 1970s.

Ron almost wound up in jail himself in 1971

when he was convicted of murdering

a police informant a year prior.

Of course, through a sick sense of irony,

the prosecution's key witness was murdered

in an unconnected police shootout

and Ron avoided a life sentence somewhat and luckily.

Over the next few years, Ron found himself

in an and out of prison for smaller crimes

such as smuggling more drugs across the US Mexican border.

Without a doubt though, he was planted

into the consciousness of the law enforcement at large.

Some police claim he was the coldest,

most calculated person they ever met.

Others wondered if a trash can

would replace his coffin after death.

Regardless of how authorities felt about him,

they nor any of his associates

could deny Ron's unparalleled calm demeanor.

Fellow Wonderland gang member, David Lind,

once said his pulse never went above 70 beats per minute,

even with a gun at his temple and despite all the infamy,

darkness, and legendary misconduct,

Ron still married before his murder, marrying Susan Murphy,

the only surviving gang member at the scene

of the Laurel Canyon murders on April 16th, 1971.

The second victim was Valentine's Day baby William Raymond,

Billy DeVerell, born on February the 14th, 1937,

the right hand man to Ron

and second in command to the Wonderland gang.

Billy was raised in a modest world

until the seduction of the drug world drew him

into an inescapable addiction

of the easy money from drug dealing.

During working hours, Bill disguised himself

as an overhead crane operator,

but by night was a skilled criminal

and burgeoning presence on the street.

His illicit actions took a toll on Billy's psychology

as he suffered from intense periods

of depression, guilt, and self loathing.

In fact, these mental hurdles

often pushed Billy to the limit,

almost forcing his hand to quiet the life of crime

and using drugs all together.

Yet when he went under the watchful wing of Ron Launius

and was made first mate of Wonderland,

he folded at the fork in the road

tucked to his old ways and eventually find himself

on the wrong path towards destruction.

The third victim was the lease holder

of the townhouse that ended up being

the murder mansion at 8763 Wonderland Avenue

as well as the girlfriend of Billy DeVerell.

Joy Audrey Gold Miller.

Joy came from a luxurious previous life.

The ex wife to a lawyer in Beverly Hills

and mother of two children.

Yet turned to heroin after the walls of gold crumbled

and she found herself consumed

by the drug culture of 1970s California.

It was through these efforts

that Joy met the Wonderland gang and joined their collective

getting arrested seven times throughout the preceding years.

Despite contracting breast cancer,

physical health declining or not,

Joy invested in her drug use and the gang at large.

Literally signing the lease away on her

and her partner's lives.

The fourth and final victim was not

an official member of the Wonderland gang,

but rather a close associate.

Born on the 17th of October 1959,

Barbara Richardson was quite young

when killed on the first of July 1981,

yet still led a reckless life up until that shocking moment.

She was dating the aforementioned David Lind at the time,

who was also an Aryan Brotherhood motorbiker.

The couple took to heavy drug use soon after meeting

and through a complex set of circumstances,

wound up as police informants.

After their criminalistic lifestyles took a return,

they moved to Los Angeles to join the Wonderland gang

as legitimate members, but never made it past initiation

when lightning struck Laurel Canyon that summer of '81.

(soft music)

In the later years in the 1970s,

five unlikely criminals band together

in Laurel Canyon Los Angeles, California.

Ron, Billy, David, Tracy, and Joy.

They see the unparalleled riches stemming

from the cocaine trade market

and decide to cut their own slice of the pie.

Together, they set up base camp at 8763 Wonderland Avenue,

known as the Wonderland gang thereafter.

Before the calendar flipped to 1980,

however, the Wonderland gang garner their first

and most infamous customer in John Holmes,

a former porn star known for his body

more than his character.

By the time he found the gang,

he was thousands of dollars poorer

after spending his paper on drugs

from the crazed crime lord himself, Eddie Nash.

Over the next couple of years leading into the early 1980s,

the Wonderland gang is frequented by close associates,

Susan Murphy and Barbara Richardson.

Together they became the shameful seven

and make a reputation for themselves

unlike Los Angeles has ever seen.

By the spring of 1981, the Wonderland gang's operation

is pulling in serious cash.

Smooth sailing for the shameful seven

with a lot of promise for the future.

Their only headache was John Holmes,

a leech at the 8763 Wonderland Avenue property.

The gang doesn't mind him too much

using him as a petty errand hound and finding amusement

in the former celebrity's crumbling social status,

but his fatal effects are yet to take full force.

As the heat of summer in Los Angeles in 1981 ratchets up,

the gang starts to realize their potential with Holmes

and his connections to Eddie Nash.

Holmes agrees they should act

on his dissolving relationships

and they begin plotting a hit on Nash's treasure trove

of a mansion in Studio City, California.

Their target, cocaine, heroin, drug paraphernalia,

boatloads of cash and antique guns

that once belonged to the gang.

In the early morning hours of June 29th, 1981,

John Holmes ventures to Nash's mansion

as if it was any normal day.

He buys his usual order of crack cocaine,

taking notes of the location of the desirable,

but forgets to leave the patio door unlocked.

Holmes returns later in the evening

and successfully secures the door open

for the planned robbery.

When he goes back to the Wonderland base camp,

he finds the gang high on heroin

and waits for their recovery,

drawing a map of the mansion for their heist.

As late morning arrives on the 29th, Holmes feels paranoid,

and that too much time has promised,

and goes back to Nash's mansion once more

to solidify the unlocked patio door.

Once Holmes returns, Ron, Billy,

David and Tracy journey to Studio City to make the hit.

Tracy McCourt stays put in a stolen Ford Granada

as look out man while the other three

enter the unlocked doors claiming to be the authorities.

Nash's 300 pound body guard Gregory Dials

is first to approach the Wonderland trio,

but is quickly overtaken and handcuffed.

In the scuffle to detain Dials,

one of the men's handguns misfires

and hits Dials in the back.

The noise of the gunshot wakes Eddie Nash from another room

and he enters to find his muscle man handcuffed

and his valuables under siege.

It's not long before Nash realizes

the severity of the situation and begs for mercy.

He drops to his knees, pleads to be spared,

and opens the safe containing most of the goods.

The crew acts fast hauling away their treasure

and escape Studio City with what would later be valued

at $1 million worth of drugs, weapons, and cash.

In the afternoon of June 29th, 1981,

the Wonderland gang returns to 8763

to divide the whole amongst the members.

However, they give lesser shares to Holmes and McCourt,

low balling their efforts, infuriating the two men.

Nevertheless, Holmes takes some of the stolen jewelry

and goes about his day.

Over the next 24 hours, Eddie Nash swears his revenge

on those who humiliated him and his personal legacy.

He sends his goons out into the city of Los Angeles

looking for possible suspects.

One of his right hand men spots Holmes

strolling through Hollywood wearing a notable ring

that belongs to Nash.

The news spreads fast and fire

and Nash brings Holmes back to his estate for questioning.

Confined and threatened, Holmes is forcefully interrogated

until he spills the names of those responsible

for the home invasion reportedly witnessed

by Scott Thorson one of Liberace's former lovers.

What happens between this interview

and the murders is unknown, but at around 3:00 a.m.

on July the first 1981 less than two days

after the Nash mansion robbery, a group of unidentified men

entered the Wonderland gang property in Laurel Canyon.

They prowl from room to room,

targeting individual members one by one,

wielding straightened steel pipes meant for bludgeoning.

The first hit is Barbara Richardson

sleeping in the downstairs living room.

The second hit is Ron sleeping

in the rear downstairs bedroom.

With him his wife Susan,

but the killers only severely injure her

as she would later survive despite horrific brain trauma

and a lacerated finger.

The third and fourth hits are Joy Miller

and Billy DeVerell in the upstairs bedroom.

Joy on the bed and Billy in the corner.

Between 3:00 a.m. and 4:00 a.m. that fateful morning,

neighbors hear plenty of commotion coming from 8763,

but figure the gang is throwing another party

and ignore the noise.

Little do they know some of the most gruesome murders

in Los Angeles history is taking place

right under their nose on that otherwise innocent stretch

of road on Wonderland Avenue forever mystifying the rest

of Laurel Canyon's concerned community

and LA County in total.

(soft music)

When dissecting the entire scene of the crime

and the violent nature of the murders,

it's quite a shock that no viable evidence was retrieved

from 8763 Wonderland Avenue in the forensic analysis

except for a hand print belonging

to John Holmes on the headboard of a bed.

Because Holmes was a frequent guest of the gang,

they couldn't directly link him to the murders.

And with the era in which the crimes were committed,

DNA evidence had not entered the prosecution's sphere

or scientific community in general.

Thus without physical or biological clues,

investigators were scrambling for answers early on.

One of their first orders of business

was finding the surviving members of the gang

who were in their eyes the most likely

to have killed the four victims.

David Lind, who had befriended Ron in prison years prior,

was apprehended and provided the vital piece

of information law enforcement needed.

Claiming to have been in a hotel room

with a prostitute in the San Fernando Valley

on the night of July the first, David Lind explained

he wasn't anywhere close to Laurel Canyon

instead dealing drugs in a small covert unconnected deal.

This led to a more official interrogation by authorities

where they were able to coax more confessions from him.

Lind eventually revealed the dead Wonderlanders

had carried out the massive theft

at Eddie Nash's mansion 48 hours before their demise

with the help of John Holmes.

While it didn't inform anyone's involvement in the murders,

the police finally had a direction

to take their investigation.

It links John Holmes to a multitude of crimes

and anything involving the short tempered frantic Eddie Nash

had to be considered as something sinister.

Without a doubt, had Lind not been in the valley

on July the first and instead was just another victim

of the Wonderland murders, his testimony wouldn't have given

the proper lead to Nash, Holmes, the robbery,

and ultimately one of the most obvious arrests

and shocking acquittals in the history

of true crime murder mysteries.

(soft music)

Without question, the overwhelmingly popular theory

determining who committed the Wonderland murders

revolved around Eddie Nash, Gregory Dials and their goons.

It doesn't take much common sense to connect the dots

between robbing an unstable crime boss

and the likelihood of revenge.

After all, Scott Thorson did write years later

he witnessed Nash himself order a retaliation

after Holmes coughed up the name to the Wonderland gang.

Not only that, but Los Angeles detectives Tom Lange

and Robert Souza found over a million dollars

worth of cocaine in Nash's possession

a week after the killings along with specific artifacts

that were rumored to have belonged

to the Wonderland Avenue residents.

Despite these discoveries, however,

the LAPD first arrested John Holmes

for the Laurel Canyon murders charging him and him alone

without any other suspects in March of 1982.

This arrest sprouted from the discovery

of a single hand print belonging to Holmes on the headboard

from one of the Wonderland's bed frames.

Surprisingly, the prosecution argued

Holmes actually wasn't a lone wolf,

but he was an accomplice in the murders,

acting as a gatekeeper to the Wonderland building

and let the hitmen enter without notice.

After a much scrutinized trial,

Holmes was acquitted on June 26th, 1982

for each count of murder.

Some pertain the acquittal to the success

of Holmes' two court appointed lawyers

who argued Holmes was a victim threatened and scared

into helping the true masterminds without much of a choice.

The self defense proposition swayed enough jurors

to forego the circumstantial evidence,

along with the fact that Holmes did not cooperate

with police, law enforcement, or testify in court at all,

for which he would later spend 110 days in jail for.

Even Holmes' wife, Sharon Holmes,

admitted she was suspicious of him as well.

She had told reporters back in July of 1981

that Holmes had said he knew the men

who were inside the Wonderland residence

the night of the slayings and was at the house

just before they happened.

She also stated years after John Holmes died

that the morning after July the first,

her husband had returned home

with blood splattered on his clothes,

yet he remained uninjured.

This was never approved nor cross referenced

and were the only details Sharon remarked upon,

never assisting either the police or the prosecution.

Unfortunately, John Holmes passed away in March of 1988

due to complications from AIDS,

taking with him the truth he had regarding his involvement

in both the Nash mansion robbery and the subsequent murders.

Holmes wasn't the only suspect to ever find himself

in front of a judge and jury though.

In 1990, nine years after the Wonderland incident,

police were still stepping on the tail of Eddie Nash.

They charged him with the conspiracy

and planning of the murders of Barbara Richardson,

Ron Launius, Joy Miller and Billy DeVerell,

with his bodyguard Gregory Dials charged as a participant.

The prosecution included Scott Thorson as a witness

to testify against Nash and Dials

and seemed to have the two gangsters in a corner,

but when it came to sentencing,

the trial ended prematurely with a hung jury.

Votes coming in at 11 to one for conviction.

Nevertheless, the California Courts kept at them

and tried Nash and Dials again in 1991.

This time the two suspects were acquitted

of all charges and set free.

It would be the last attempt by authorities

to pin Gregory Dials as he died from liver failure in 1997.

His personal accounts of the morning

of July the first 1981 still unknown.

In 1996, both local and federal authorities joined together

and hold a four year investigation

into the totality of Eddie Nash's suspected crimes.

At the turn of the millennia,

the task force arrested and indicted Nash

under the Rocketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act

for money laundering, drug trafficking,

conspiring to murder the Wonderland gang

and even bribing the holdout on the first jury

of the 1990 court case.

During arraignment in September of 2001,

Nash agreed to a plea deal,

most likely due to his age and deteriorating health.

Thus, Eddie Nash pleaded guilty to the juror bribery

and the money laundering charges,

but never admitted to the murder conspiracy.

Rather, Nash stated he sent his associates

including Gregory Dials to the Wonderland residence

only to collect the stolen items.

To which he concluded there was a possibility

of violence without confirming anything.

Nash paid a $250,000 fine, spent four years in prison,

and lived the rest of his life in silence

regarding the events of that bloody summer in 1981.

He died two decades later on August the ninth 2014.

Once Eddie Nash passed away,

it removed the last known major player in both the LAPD

and the general public's agreed upon theory

regarding who committed the Wonderland murders.

But because all three were acquitted,

no physical evidence was ever presented

and their testimonies went to the grave.

The killings still technically unsolved

with no justice imminent.

And while it's highly improbable,

there's a chance Nash, Dials,

or Holmes never actually killed the gang.

Even if Holmes gave up the gang's cover

as the previous heist's thieves

and Nash sent Dials and the goons to reclaim his property,

it doesn't automatically mean they committed murder,

despite the overwhelming circumstantial events.

In fact, there are large groups of interested minds

who look at the missing members

of the Wonderland gang who escaped misfortune

and weren't at the residence on July the first.

David Lind and Tracy McCourt were both

serendipitously absent from Wonderland Avenue

when their peers were bludgeoned to death

and some wonder if it may not have been so accidental.

Lind was in fact the person who gave authorities

their biggest lead in John Holmes going as far as

to admit the gang had robbed Eddie Nash days prior.

Despite Lind's own personal involvement with the heist,

he still snitched to the police,

seemingly to save his own skin.

However, it's worth considering if Lind himself

tipped Eddie Nash to the Wonderland gang's involvement

coming away with both the riches

from his share of the Nash mansion hit

and the gang's empire after their death.

Or Lind killed the other members himself

with the same outcome in mind,

using the Nash heist as a scapegoat.

It would give law enforcement a believable suspect

to pin the murders on and leave Lind to escape untouched.

Or maybe the police knew Lind was guilty,

but still went after Holmes and Nash

in exchange for Lind's cooperation in other investigations.

It was a known rumor in the years

after the slayings that David Lind

became a police informant in Southern California.

Gossip so strong, his position in the criminal underworld

became controversial with rival gang members

who dismissed his credibility in general.

Because confidential informant records are not kept

nor discussed publicly, Lind's greatest role

in an applicable conspiracy is unknowable

as he passed away from an overdose in November of 1995.

Tracy McCourt could have a similar motivation

to offing the other Wonderland gang members.

He was frequently teased.

Called Titmouse Tracy by David Lind even

and left out in bigger gang dealings.

For the Eddie Nash invasion,

McCourt was originally supposed to be part of the robbery,

but after his handgun was taken away by Lind,

he was given no other choice but to be the lookout driver.

Some circles of amateur sleuths believe McCourt

was then given less of a share due to his lesser role

and subsequently angered as a result,

both the short changing and long term disrespect.

Thus, McCourt could've quickly organized

a hit against the gang,

staying home the night he knew the terrors would come down.

Of course if it were true, he would have failed overall

as his biggest transgressor, David Lind,

ended up living through the entire ordeal.

Yet maybe, that could've pushed McCourt away

from the Los Angeles life of crime in the end

as he moved to Colorado afterwards

and wound up in and out of prison

for assault and trafficking charges.

Much like Lind, we'll never know

if McCourt indeed had a role in his friends' demise

as he passed away without known cause in October of 2006.

(soft music)

Before we divulge our hypothesis,

we want to make known our conclusions

presented in "Cold Case Detective"

are purely logical speculation

based on evidence circumstantial and factual subtext.

We are only privy to the same information

presented in each video and we do not attempt

to promise certainty or an expert guarantee

on the findings we reach in closing.

We simply observe, research and report.

Whether you believe in the far fetched conspiracies

or the nearly clear cut conclusions

to Laurel Canyon murders, one thing is certain,

whoever slaughtered the Wonderland gang did so

with a vengeance and intent on causing more than harm,

but also a suffering demise

unlike most people had ever seen.

Based on the gruesome crime scene

and medical examination post mortem,

it's obvious there was an intent to unleash evil.

This was no accidental manslaughter or carefree homicide.

This was revenge served in the coldest of blood.

We believe that while Eddie Nash and Gregory Dials

were acquitted of direct involvement in the murders,

they were certainly responsible

when considering all the players connected

to the Wonderland gang.

They had the most clout, the most resources,

and obviously a motive to inflict such brutal gore.

However, we also conclude that neither man

were likely to have been the actual parties

who assaulted and killed each gang member.

Rather, they were leaders in a band of unknown cronies

who carried out their retaliation.

Dials might have had a physical role in the shakedown,

but considering he had been shot in the back

less than 48 hours prior, he was probably just a motivator.

John Holmes, on the other hand,

was in all likelihood complicit

in allowing access to the Wonderland residence,

but had no clue to the extent to which Nash

and his goons would slaughter the gang.

Was he had the house the night of the murders?

Nearly doubtless.

Was he using one of the pipes?

Probably not.

And the biggest question of all them.

Will we ever discover who actually was?

To put it bluntly, no.

Those secrets went to the grave of all three naysayers

in Holmes, Dials, and Nash.

Their identities will remain silhouettes.

The darkest spots on an incredibly dark moment

in the history of Los Angeles crime.

The identities that will be remembered are those

of Barbara Richardson, Ron Launius,

Joy Miller, and Billy DeVerell,

four humans with despicable pasts,

yet still undeserving of the cruel,

inhumane ending they encountered

on the night of July the first 1981

at 8763 Wonderland Avenue.

That night blood poured thick in Laurel Canyon, California.

This has been "Cold Case Detective".