New true crime documentary solves 1990 murder of gay porn star

The Jinx may have rocked the true crime world when Robert Durst infamously said he “killed them all, of course” while wearing a live microphone, but a new documentary about a murder dubbed the “gay Black Dahlia" is set to take the world by storm after helping to catch a killer with an on-camera confession.

Filmmaker Rachel Mason — who first made 2020’s Circus of Books about her parents’ adult bookstore that became the epicenter of the gay community in ‘80s West Hollywood — has made a new documentary about a previously unsolved 1990 homicide within L.A.'s gay porn scene.

The idea for the new doc, My Brother’s Killer, came when Mason was handed an old Advocate article about the murder of Billy London while she was making Circus of Books. This started her down a path that led to her working hand-in-hand with cold-case detectives, getting help from amateur sleuths, and interviewing the killer who ultimately confessed to the brutal murder.

Mason told The Hollywood Reporter that she’s usually more “interested in characters and subcultures,” but while making Circus of Books, she realized that “gay porn is actually a form of history," and this frame of mind came in handy when delving into this true crime.

“Before the 1980s you didn’t see gay lives represented on television,” she said. “Porn was one of the only places where those lives existed visually. So I started thinking: there must be incredible stories buried in that world. Billy’s story turned out to be one of them.”

And gay porn ended up being instrumental in the case. While researching the murder, Mason went through a trove of archival porn footage, and some of it even became evidence in the case.

“There’s a videotape of a memorial award show from the gay adult industry in the early ’90s,” she said. “It’s basically a time capsule of that era. And in that footage you see someone who later became the suspected killer actually walk on stage. It’s chilling.”

While making the documentary, Mason began corresponding with the suspected killer — a transgender woman named DarraLynn Madden, who allegedly killed London prior to transitioning — whom she was able to help the police identify.

“My partner is trans, so hearing that information was like a knife to the heart. The last thing you want is a case like this being used to reinforce harmful stereotypes about trans people,” Mason said of discovering the truth.

But eventually, Mason was able to interview Madden in prison and elicited a confession.

“We were taken into a maximum-security unit. She came out in double shackles with a guard standing extremely close behind her. But what struck me most was how charismatic she was,” Mason said. “The detective who interviewed her said the same thing — she’s very charming, very funny. Someone you could easily imagine having a conversation with over a beer. That makes it even more disturbing.”

Identifying the suspected killer — who had connections to white supremacy and gay bashings — was important, but Mason's main goal was to tell London’s story and provide closure to his family.

“That was incredibly important to me,” she said. “Billy’s partner Marc Rabins had lived with suspicion for years. And Billy’s family never had real closure. After seeing the film, they told me they finally felt they had answers. That meant more to me than anything.”

My Brother’s Killer is currently premiering at SXSW.