The Wonderland Gang Murders

The Wonderland murders, also known as the Four on the Floor Murders and the Laurel Canyon Murders, are four unsolved homicides that took place in Los Angeles on July 1, 1981. Investigators believe that the targets were the five Wonderland gang members named after Wonderland Avenue, where they rented a house. Yet, only three were there at the time of the assassinations, along with one known associate and the gang leader’s wife. That evening, unknown assailants broke in and bludgeoned four of the occupants to death with hammers and pipes, leaving the fifth barely alive.

The Wonderland Gang

The Wonderland members consisted of Ronald Lee “Ron” Launius, William Raymond “Billy” DeVerell, David Clay Lind, Tracy Raymond McCourt, and Joy Audrey Gold Miller. Known associates were Susan Murphy Launius, Ron’s wife, and Barbara Lee “Butterfly” Easton Richardons, David Lind’s girlfriend.

The Wonderland gang derived its name from Wonderland Avenue in Laurel Canyon, where the two-story townhouse leased to Joy Miller served as the gang’s headquarters. In addition to being regular drug users, the Wonderland gang also dealt in the Los Angeles cocaine trade of the late 1970s and early 1980s.

In 1981, David Lind moved from Sacrament to Los Angles at Ron Launius’s behest, Wonderland’s leader. Ron wanted David’s help in growing their drug distribution empire. Ron and David had met while in prison, where the pair became friends. David brought his girlfriend Barbara “Butterfly” Richardson, and they…