Dawn Schiller was the daughter of an American career soldier and a
young immigrant from Germany. During the 1960s, her father served two
tours in Vietnam and was seriously injured. After he returned to his
family, they moved to Florida. However, her parents' marriage fell
apart when she turned 15 and her father won custody. To start a new
life, he moved to Glendale into an apartment managed by Sharon Holmes, wife
of notorious adult film star John Holmes. Her father was traumatized by his
experiences and distraught over his divorce. To make some extra money,
she helped the Holmes' around the place, doing gardening and other odd
jobs. John would often provide her with a drive to and from school and
they became friends.
She initially wasn't taken with him, but he gradually won her over and
they became lovers. At the same time, he started becoming possessive of
her. At this time, Holmes was at the peak of his popularity among adult
film fans, but he kept that life separate from his home life and young
Dawn was never involved or knowledgeable about his film career. At one
point, she actually moved in with Holmes wife, who not only tolerated
the affair but helped her husband's mistress grow up and provide her
with a home life. Holmes sank deeply into drug addiction and, to
maintain control of her, got Dawn addicted, as well. In 1981, Holmes
had become involved in grisly murders of a group of people who lived in
Laurel Canyon on Wonderland Drive (Bill DeVerell, Ron Launius, David
Lind, and Joy Miller). Holmes, who owed them money, had persuaded them
to rob a gangster named Eddie Nash, whom Holmes had become friendly with.
The robbery succeeded, but Nash had quickly learned of Holmes'
connection to it. He forced Holmes to help his bodyguard and two or
three persons (who remain unknown to this day) break into the house. I
the house asleep were DeVerell, Lanius, Miller, and two other people
who were visiting, Lanius's estranged wife Susan, and her friend
Barbara Richardson. Nash's henchmen proceeded to savagely bludgeon
them, with only Susan Lanuis surviving. Holmes told Dawn about it,
claiming that he witness the murders but didn't participate. A short
time later, facing murder charges, he skipped town and moved to Miami
under an alias, and took the terrified Dawn with him. There, he forced
her to commit prostitution, severely beating her multiple times.
Finally, during the winter of 1981, she escaped from Holmes and turned
him in to the police.
During this time, her father recovered from his depression and bought a
hotel in Thailand. Fearing for her life, Dawn fled there and attended
college, earning a degree in Gemology and learning to speak some Thai
in the process. With the Wonderland Murder investigation dormant and
Holmes dying of AIDS, she returned to Los Angeles with a new sense of
confidence and purpose. For several years, she worked in the legal
profession as a paralegal and law librarian. Finally, she moved to the
Pacific northwest. She remains friends with Sharon Holmes, who was very kind
to and protective of her during her involvement with her husband, and
often seeks her advise. She is very active in helping abuse victims and
also does volunteer work for drug rehabilitation and other community
affairs. She recently finished a memoir, called "The Road Through
Wonderland."
