Documentary Reveals 1990 Murder of Porn Star Billy London

A new documentary has helped illuminate a decades‑old murder case from the American gay porn industry. The new documentary “My Brother’s Killer” by filmmaker Rachel Mason reexamines the death of porn star Billy London—and ultimately leads to a confession. The film premiered at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas. When the film will arrive in Germany is not yet known.

London, who was born Bill Newton, was murdered in October 1990 in Los Angeles. Parts of his body were later found in a dumpster on the Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood. The case remained unsolved for decades.

Mason, while researching for another project, came across old newspaper reports about the crime and began digging with archivists and amateur investigators. In the process, she examined extensive material from the porn scene of that era. Some of these video archives proved to be surprisingly important clues, because they showed people who had connections to London.

The trail eventually led to DarraLynn Madden. The trans woman, who at the time lived under another name and was active in the right‑wing Skinhead scene, was interviewed by Mason in prison. She is serving a life sentence for another homicide. During the conversations, Madden eventually confessed—a breakthrough in a cold case that had remained unsolved for more than three decades. She will not be charged, as she has already received a life sentence for the other crime.

For Mason, however, the film’s focus is not limited to the criminal history. The documentary also seeks to humanize London and to preserve the memory of a performer whose death for years lived on the margins of the industry’s memory.

“Gay pornography is a form of history”

Mason told the Hollywood Reporter that she usually leans more toward “characters and subcultures.” While working on her Netflix documentary Circus of Books, she realized that “gay pornography is actually a form of history.” “Before the 1980s, gay life was basically absent from television,” Mason said. “Pornography was one of the few places where these lives existed visually. So I began to think: there must be incredible stories hidden in this world. Billy’s story turned out to be one of them.”

“My Brother’s Killer”—a title that figuratively captures the idea of chosen family within the queer community—signals a broader aim beyond the crime story. It seeks to illuminate the life of London, a performer whose death for years was chalked up as a mere sidebar in a radically changing industry.