Rachel Mason’s Documentary Solves 36-Year-Old Murder Case Through Unprecedented Investigation

Emmy-nominated director Rachel Mason, known for her 2019 documentary Circus of Books, has solved a 36-year-old murder case through her new film, My Brother’s Killer. The documentary traces the brutal 1988 murder of 25-year-old William 'Billy London' Arnold Newton in West Hollywood, California.

Mason first learned about Billy’s case from a 1990 article in The Advocate. “I couldn’t let it go in my own mind,” she says. While producing the documentary, Mason discovered a 2021 episode of The Dinner Party Show podcast, hosted by Christopher Rice and Eric Shaw Quinn, which covered Billy’s murder. The renewed public interest led to a tip implicating Jeffrey Dahmer, prompting the Los Angeles Police Department to reopen the case. Though the Dahmer lead proved unfounded, Mason continued her investigation, receiving multiple tips from the adult film industry.

“I didn’t expect to get involved in the investigation,” Mason explains. “I was just doing what I thought was a portrait of the victim to create a documentary and possibly get leads… What happened while making it was this unexpected, unbelievable confluence of things that led to us solving [the case] while we were making the film.”

The killer’s identity was uncovered through meticulous research, including archival material and interviews—including with Mason’s own mother. “It took years of scraping the internet, digging up VHS tapes from wherever we could… it really took a long and concerted effort to build the fragments of what we could find,” she says.

Beyond True Crime: A Story of Resilience and Recognition

My Brother’s Killer transcends the true crime genre by highlighting the struggles of gay men during the AIDS epidemic while providing closure for those affected. “It was a terribly violent time, and I think that’s another undocumented part of gay history,” Mason says. “…the resilience of gay culture is the most amazing thing. In the sea of death, you also have this vibrancy, and I really wanted to showcase that. It doesn’t always have to be dark; the fight can be joyful in a strange way.”

Billy Newton: A Life of Creativity and Community

Billy Newton, an adult filmmaker, poet, and illustrative artist, was deeply loved by those around him. He lived during a turbulent era marked by violence and alienation but remained a beacon of light and creativity. “Billy, to me, felt like one unthinkable unfairness,” Mason reflects. “It was such an injustice that not only was he murdered, but he was murdered from within this community at this time.”

Mason prioritized portraying Billy as a fully realized, three-dimensional person, ensuring his story was told with dignity and depth.