Gruesome murder of gay porn star solved 35 years later with help from director
A documentary director 'inadvertently' solved a homicide case within the Los Angeles gay porn scene that had lain dormant for over 30 years.
Rachel Mason first hit headlines in 2020 following the release of her debut project, Circus of Books, a programme focused on the West Hollywood adult bookstore her parents owned.
Following the success of her first film, Mason turned her attention to the case of Billy Newton, who was murdered in 1990.
Hailing from the Midwest, he'd moved to Los Angeles in 1984, where he became embroiled in the LGBTQ+ erotic film industry under the title, 'Billy London'. By October of the year he was killed, Newton had made plans for a fresh start in Vegas.
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Tragically, however, parts of his dismembered body - specifically, his head and feet - were discovered in a dumpster in Hollywood before he got the chance to leave.
It would take 35 years for Newton's killer to be identified, with Mason playing a major part in bringing them to justice.
She'd set her sights on shining light on the case for a new documentary several years ago, working alongside the LAPD and delving deep into gay porn archives from the area. Realising at the time that another group of amateur sleuths had been digging into the same case, she partnered up with its leader, stay-at-home dad, Clark Williams.
In doing so, the pair came across a police interview dating back to the 90s with a member of a white supremacist skinhead group that had been undertaken in relation to another crime.
Darrell Lynn Madden had confessed at the time to carrying out a homophobic killing in Baltimore, and another in Los Angeles.
Looking into their history, Williams discovered that Madden had also previously appeared in a number of gay porn movies in the 90s.
He and Mason found a video tape from a memorial award show filmed during the same era.
"It’s basically a time capsule of that era," the filmmaker recently told The Hollywood Reporter. "And in that footage, you see someone who later became the suspected killer actually walk on stage.
"It’s chilling."
Madden was being held at Oklahoma penitentiary - where they were now living as a transgender woman - and serving two life sentences for other killings, when Mason and Williams came across them,
Speaking to them about Newton's killing, the pair caught Madden's confession on camera, which will now air in her new documentary, My Brother's Killer.
Reflecting on the conversation with Madden, Mason told the publication: "When I talk to her, it’s almost like entering a different psychological space. She talks about violence with a level of familiarity that’s very unsettling.
"I’ve asked detailed questions about the killings because Billy’s family wanted answers. Those details matter to them. But understanding someone like this really requires psychological experts."
My Brother’s Killer premieres at SXSW on March 13.
Topics: Crime, True Crime, Documentaries, TV And Film, True Life, Real Life, LGBTQ,
Rhianna Benson