The Wonderland Movie & The “Xbox Murders”
Special thanks to MissMouse for sending this to me.
In 1981, this scenario is what a lot of people imagined had happened at Wonderland that night. It was and wasn’t. The Wonderland killings were quick compared to this nightmare. They even killed the dog. The Xbox Murders happened in 2004, a year after the Wonderland movie was released. This guy must have rented it or at least had some good cable channels.
The Wikipedia article is linked below, and it has all of the background info. In short, the ringleader knew some of the victims from their jobs at Burger King. I guess the girl let the main perp stay there at her grandparent’s home as a favor. But, it looks like she later kicked him out for taking advantage. Thus, there was a falling out within this group of people.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
The raging attack was the culmination of events revolving around a nearby vacant home owned by one of the victim’s grandparents and used by squatters, including Troy Victorino, as a party house. He had left some clothes and an Xbox behind.
Mr. Victorino met with Mr. Hunter, Mr. Salas, Mr. Cannon and Mr. Graham at midday before the murders to formulate the murder plan. Each of the five young men agreed to participate in the murders when asked by Mr. Victorino in their group meeting. Apparently he had seen a movie titled “Wonderland” in which a group of men went into a house and killed the occupants with sticks or metal rods. He carefully described the process, outlined the layout of the home on Telford Lane in Deltona to the co-conspirators and assigned each of them tasks. They made arrangements to meet later in the day.
The attackers share two commonalities: a degree of mental illness and troubled, unstable upbringings.
Further reading. Wonderland is mentioned in this Wikipedia article.
Court document. Wonderland is also mentioned in this court document.
criticextraordinaire 5:22 pm on September 3, 2013 Permalink |
These guys had little in common with the perps in the Wonderland case though. The X-Box guys got caught almost immediately. Nobody ever did get convicted for performing the hit at Wonderland.
MissMouse 2:41 am on September 6, 2013 Permalink |
“Supposedly” They had watched Wonderland a few days before the murder and that is where they got their inspiration for the murders. They were going to go and shoot the victims but they couldnt gather the money for a gun. After watching Wonderland they had their Eureka! moment and decided they would go with the cheaper idea of beating them to death with baseball bats. It ended up costing them nothing as they had stolen at least 15 of them from the neighborhood children. There was supposed to be a 5th attacker but after he watched Wonderland with them he freaked out and left the area he wanted no part in it. When the poice caught up with him after the murders, He told them everything.
” Another witness, Brandon Graham, 19, testified he was with Cannon and the three defendants when Victorino outlined a plot to kill everyone at the rental home shared by Erin Belanger and several housemates. Most of the victims, ages 17-34, worked together at a Burger King.
Graham said Victorino had wanted to imitate a scene from the movie “Wonderland” where people are beaten to death with pipes.”
Yes they got caught almost immediately thanks in large part for them running around telling everyone they were going to pull another Wonderland. It horrible no one ever had to answer for what happened in Wonderland. But I do sleep better at night knowing that 2 of the wonderland wannabes are sitting on death row and the other two are locked up nice and tight in their cells.