Filmmaker who helped crack gay porn actor's gruesome Hollywood killing wins SXSW premiere

Not agelong aft documentary filmmaker Rachel Mason began looking into the gruesome 1990 cold-case execution of cheery porn histrion Bill Newton successful Hollywood, Newton’s erstwhile boyfriend, Marc Rabins, showed her a cheery paper from the time, afloat of obituaries.

There was Newton’s young, handsome face, but besides the faces of different young men, each of whom had died of AIDS.

“AIDS, AIDS, AIDS, murder,” Mason said successful a caller interrogation with The Times. “I was truthful disgusted. Like, no, you can’t person a execution successful this oversea of radical already dying — that’s not right, not fair. We can’t fto this go.”

And she didn’t.

Instead, Mason helped convene a squad of amateur sleuths to doggedly analyse the case, and successful a stunning twist cleanable for the true-crime documentary she was filming each on the way, helped pb Los Angeles constabulary detectives to a caller fishy — who confessed to sidesplitting Newton, who went by “Billy London” successful films, earlier his caput and feet were recovered successful a dumpster.

“It’s beauteous astounding,” Mason said. Others intelligibly agree.

On Wednesday, organizers of the SXSW Film and TV Festival announced that Mason’s documentary — titled “My Brother’s Killer” and featuring a chilling on-camera interrogation with the confessed slayer — volition satellite premiere astatine SXSW successful March.

“The unsolved execution of Billy London, a cheery big movie performer brutally killed successful West Hollywood, was an municipality fable for 33 years. A documentary intended to grant his beingness took an unexpected crook erstwhile members of the assemblage joined forces to uncover overlooked clues, and question a solution to the enigma of who killed him,” the festival announcement teased.

“Drawing connected a uncommon trove of VHS and idiosyncratic footage,” the announcement added, “the movie reveals a chilling overlap betwixt the unfortunate and immoderate of the suspects who were captured connected camera successful films made successful the constrictive model of Billy’s death.”

Mason said she is thrilled with the festival’s enactment of her film, conscionable arsenic she was by The Times chronicling the sleuths cracking the lawsuit successful a front-page communicative successful 2023, which the movie highlights.

Before then, Newton’s communicative had lone truly been told successful smaller cheery publications, Mason said. Now, it’s being featured astatine a “major, mainstream festival” astatine a clip erstwhile LGBTQ+ rights are nether onslaught crossed the country, which is “a large deal.”

“The larger representation of this movie is, if anything, a constituent of optimism, you know? A beacon of anticipation successful immoderate acheronian times,” she said. “A assemblage solving a murder!”

A slayer film

Mason is known successful portion for a erstwhile Netflix documentary she made called “Circus of Books,” astir the big bookstore connected Santa Monica Boulevard wherever her parents spent years selling cheery porn and LGBTQ+ literature.

That movie was successful portion an ode to West Hollywood, and truthful is “My Brother’s Killer,” which talks astir Los Angeles’ gayborhood with some reverence and a dose of world — acknowledging its relation arsenic a harmless haven for cheery radical facing favoritism and its seedier broadside arsenic a drug-heavy enactment country successful decades past.

Rachel Mason successful 2023 successful Hollywood.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

The movie captures Newton’s struggles with that scene, including with methamphetamine, but besides his saccharine side, featuring interviews with household and friends who recalled a benignant but unsettled 25-year-old who’d faced rejection astatine location successful Wisconsin and tally distant arsenic a teen to find acceptance. It besides captures what the cheery porn manufacture was similar successful West Hollywood arsenic AIDS ravaged and stigmatized the community.

The movie introduces assorted members of Mason’s investigative squad, including Clark Williams, a stay-at-home dada with a inheritance successful societal enactment who besides hailed from Wisconsin. Williams developed the pb that convinced LAPD detectives to caput to an Oklahoma penitentiary successful hunt of answers from their caller suspect, DarraLynn Madden.

And it is with the instauration of Madden — a erstwhile cheery porn histrion and skinhead successful Hollywood and present a transgender inmate serving a beingness condemnation for sidesplitting different cheery antheral years aft Newton’s execution — that the movie truly hits its stride.

First, pb detective John Lamberti discusses securing a confession from her.

“We initially conscionable said that we were determination to speech astir an aged lawsuit from L.A., and it was Madden who really brought up Billy first, and said, ‘Oh good yeah, and determination was this 1 lawsuit wherever somebody’s caput and feet got recovered successful a dumpster,’” Lamberti says successful the film. “And I’m conscionable sitting determination trying to support a poker face: ‘Oh, OK, archer maine more.’”

“The information that I walked retired of determination with a confession was conscionable mind-blowing,” helium says.

Then Madden recounts successful harrowing item the sidesplitting successful an on-camera interrogation Mason arranged aft striking up a written correspondence with her.

Bill Newton, a.k.a. Billy London, was a Wisconsin transplant to L.A. and cheery porn histrion whose caput and feet were recovered successful a Hollywood dumpster successful 1990.

(Marc Rabins)

Madden tells Mason that she and immoderate skinhead friends saw Newton “in a spot america skins frequented to hunt and to execute acts of violence,” and that she “laid the program down to get out, enactment my limb astir him and fto him cognize this is what we’re gonna bash — oregon else. We’re going to locomotion to this car and we’re conscionable going to instrumentality a ride.”

Madden describes the radical punching, kicking and elbowing Newton — “He was benignant of similar a prize pinata astatine the time. I cognize that sounds horrible” — and taunting him for being cheery and high. She past describes strangling him with a cord, and deciding to chopped up his body.

“The lone happening we could deliberation of to get retired of the flat arsenic clandestine arsenic we perchance could was to dismember Billy, which was not an casual task,” Madden says.

Full ellipse for sleuths

Mason’s movie — which she made independently with exertion and shaper Dion Labriola — gives important clip to her chap sleuths, including Williams and Christopher Rice and Eric Shaw Quinn, who person pored implicit the lawsuit connected their podcast “The Dinner Party Show.”

After watching Mason’s interrogation with Madden, Rice says successful the film, “I ever harbored a suspicion that possibly it was a mendacious confession, but that’s not a mendacious confession.”

Rice besides contemplates Madden’s ain troubled upbringing, her struggling successful a satellite wherever some cheery and transgender radical look tremendous discrimination, and what helium sees arsenic Madden projecting her ain self-loathing onto Newton.

“Yes, the queer assemblage has villains, we person radical who are seeking to oppress us,” Rice says successful the film. “But if we indulge our ain self-loathing, it tin spell down a roadworthy arsenic acheronian and twisted arsenic this.”

Rabins, Newton’s fellow who constabulary erstwhile suspected of being the killer, says successful the movie that proceeding Madden’s confession marked a turning constituent successful his mourning process: “Up until that moment, I ever felt Bill’s beingness astir me. And aft that, I consciousness similar he’s flying free.”

Prosecutors declined to bring charges against Madden, citing a deficiency of grounds beyond the confession and Madden already being down bars for beingness successful Oklahoma. Madden could not beryllium reached for comment.

Williams has since worked connected a twelve different cold-case homicides crossed the state and helped prosecutors physique a lawsuit against a caller fishy successful a 1991 execution successful Michigan. That fishy is present headed to proceedings for murder.

Rachel Mason with Clark Williams successful 2023, soon aft the LAPD announced they were closing the probe into Billy Newton’s execution aft securing a confession.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

Williams said helium was capable to ace Newton’s sidesplitting by wholly immersing himself successful Newton’s life, and that Newton truly came live for him done that process. “Billy became a idiosyncratic to maine that I knew and loved,” helium said.

Because of that, helium is simply a small apprehensive astir Madden appearing successful Mason’s film, helium said.

“I recognize wherefore she’s a cinematic figure, but I don’t similar DarraLynn Madden,” He said. “In fact, I loathe DarraLynn Madden.”

That said, Williams said helium trusts Mason to bash the communicative justice, and is excited to spot the film.

“I’ve ever believed that Billy Newton reflects a full procreation — my procreation — of cheery men who came of property successful the 1980s and 90s,” Williams said. “I’m truly blessed that that communicative gets to beryllium told.”