LOS ANGELES—An Emmy-nominated director is seeking help from the adult community to solve a brutal murder of a 25-year-old gay porn star in 1990 whose head and feet were found in a dumpster.
Rachel Mason, who wrote and directed the widely popular Netflix documentary Circus of Books about a popular adult gay bookstore in West Hollywood, Calif. that was secretly owned by her parents, is seeking help from the LGBT community of the 1990s for her next documentary exploring the death of beautiful blond porn star Billy London.
Mason's partner, the first major trans female-to-male pornstar Buck Angel, is helping to get the word out through his extensive fan base and Instagram account.
"There is a possibility that a serial killer was preying on gay men during this time, and if you were a sex worker, particularly a gay sex worker at the time, it's possible your murder would be forgotten, or overlooked," Angel told AVN. "If anyone has photos from that era, or worked in the industry and knew Billy London, even the smallest detail could help."
The gruesome murder was depicted in the series "The Closer" with Kyra Sedgwick, and mentioned in a Guns and Roses song as well as the indie film "Hellbent."
Mason has already interviewed director Chi Chi LaRue, former AVN Gay & Bi Editor Mickey Skee, London's last boyfriend David Rey, who produced and directed many of his films, and others in the adult industry. She discovered by chance that her parents, Barry and Karen Mason, who ran the renown retail book and video outlet, not only hired David Rey to work at their store, but that Billy frequented the store, too.
The Masons, who were also backers of the prolific Video 10 porn distribution company that distributed some of London's films, decided to retire in 2019 and Rachel documented a very personal story with Ryan Murphy as one of the executive producers.
Circus of Books is now the location of LaRue's second boutique store location in West Hollywood for sex toys, adult paraphernalia and adult titles.
What Mason is looking for includes anyone who may have heard or known or seen anything at the time about Billy London, also credited as Bill E. London and Billy Porter, whose real name is William Newton, and anyone who has photos and video footage of West Hollywood, adult industry parties, Chi Chi LaRue's birthday bashes, street parties, festivals, gay pride events in the late 1980s through 1990.
She also seeks:
* Anyone who might have seen Jeffrey Dahmer, or someone who looked like him, in Los Angeles in 1990.
* Any associates of Billy who may have also worked on his last shoot featuring performer Mark Sage.
* Anyone who worked with Catalina Video, HIS Videos, London-Rey Productions, In-Hand Video, Stud or Stallion Video, Panther Productions, producer Hank Warner, or has knowledge of the catalogue of videos featuring Mark Sage.
Rachel, who won major accolades for her personal documentary of her parents secretly owning a gay adult bookstore, told AVN, "While working on my film 'Circus of Books,' I reached out to the writer Mickey Skee to see if he might have any personal photos of some of the performers who died of AIDS that we could use in the film, and an article from Adult Video News slipped out of a binder. He told me that was a story he had written about a young man who was killed in this evil way, and it was never solved."
The story became very personal to Rachel, adding, "Billy reminds me of all the young men I got to know that worked at my parents' store, they were spunky and amazing. I had never heard of anything so brutal happening in the community, which had already suffered so much death due to the AIDS crisis, so his murder just hit me very hard, and I wanted to commit to helping the effort to solve this case and I know that someone in the community may know something."
Gay novelists Christopher Rice and Eric Shaw Quinn also became haunted by London's murder and on their podcast, "The Dinner Party Show" they explored different theories about the murder on half a dozen of their shows. Rachel Mason was interviewed on their show about her planned documentary.
Because of the renewed interest in the forgotten murder, the Los Angeles Police Department re-opened the cold case. Hollywood Homicide Detective John Lamberti is working closely with Mason to finally solve the case, and is encouraging her documentary, as well as her outreach to the gay and adult communities.
Mason has already interviewed many of Billy's friends and all of his remaining living relatives and his past boyfriend. She has delved into the story interviewing dozens of people in the adult industry, and people who have met and known Billy and his friends.
A twink bottom, London is not to be confused with a recent gay porn performer also known as Billy London. His credits include Head of the Class, Bulge: Mass Appeal, Black Fantasies, Sex Waves, Imperfect Strangers, Sex Drive 2020 and another dozen or so titles.
"I never worked with Billy, but he was always around at industry events, and he seemed very nice," said Chi Chi LaRue. "His murder just shocked the whole industry at the time."
Buck Angel said he thinks the investigation at the time was not taken seriously by police and therefore not fully investigated.
"This is not only a story about one young guy's terrible demise, but it is about how the LGBT world was ignored and forgotten during this time by the media, by the police, and by the world," Angel said. "Rachel Mason is the best person to tell this story."
On a personal note, Billy's father Richard Harriman reached out to me and AVN in 2005 to help renew interest in his son's murder, and AVN published a few stories about the case. Billy's father, who is now deceased, said that Gay Video Guide publisher Sabin and I were probably the last people to see Billy when he visited us on the morning before he disappeared. Sabin shot photographs on Billy's last movie, The Grip of Passion.
At the time, Billy was ready to leave town to see family in Las Vegas. We were living a few blocks from where Billy's remains were found.
If there is any information you are able to provide, please write [email protected].
