Daughter of serial killer says she feared she’d ‘grow up and kill people’

A woman whose once ‘loving’ hippie father became a serial killer has opened up about his ‘unraveling’ after he met her abusive stepmother, saying she used to fear she inherited his ‘monster genes.’ 

Jenn Carson, 48, was eight years old when she learned that her father, Michael Bear Carson, brutally murdered at least three people in California with his second wife, Suzan Barnes. 

The husband-and-wife murderers were branded the ‘San Francisco Witch Killers’ because they claimed their victims were ‘witches.’

In a new interview with People, Jenn reflected on her relatively happy childhood with her dad, whose real name was James Clifford Carson, saying he used to read to her and braid her hair. 

Jenn Carson, 48, opened up about her early memories of her serial killer father, Michael Bear Carson, who murdered at least three people with his second wife, Suzan Barnes

Michael and Suzan were branded the ‘San Francisco Witch Killers’ because they claimed their victims were ‘witches’

‘My perception then was he was loving,’ she said of her father. ‘He was fun.’ 

Jenn spent her early years in Phoenix, Arizona, where her mother, Lynne Carson, was a teacher and her dad was a stay-at-home marijuana dealer. 

Her parents divorced in 1978, and he met Suzan, a posh divorcée and mother of two, at a party. He married her the following year, and they became increasingly erratic. 

‘Around that time, I have a lot of memories of him unraveling,’ she said, noting that her stepmother was ‘very dominant in the relationship.’

Jenn, who was in preschool at the time, thought of Suzan as ‘the wicked witch.’ Her father stopped being attentive to her and changed his name to Michael Bear, transforming into a man she didn’t recognize. 

She recalled the first time she slept over Suzan’s house, which was filled with potted trees and not much else. She had to sleep in a sleeping bag on the floor.  

Jenn said that the creepy, bare-bones décor reminded her of ‘the haunted forest from the Wizard of Oz.’ When she spent the weekends at Suzan’s, she was starved and beaten.  

In a new interview with People, Jenn reflected on her relatively happy childhood with her dad, whose real name was James Clifford Carson, saying she perceived him to be ‘loving’ 

Jenn (pictured with her father and mother, Lynne) said her dad changed after he married Suzan in 1979. She was starved and beaten when she spent weekends with them 

In 1981, Michael and Suzan killed Karen Barnes, 23, (pictured) by bashing her head in with a frying pan and stabbing her 13 times in her San Francisco apartment

‘I’ve had glimpses of memories my whole life of her pushing me under bath water — like holding me under and I couldn’t breathe,’ she told People. ‘I’m in this house of horrors. She’s not feeding me. She’s telling me that I’m the devil. I’m going to go to hell. I deserve to die.’

Jenn finally confided in her mother about her the abuse after Suzan scratched her back ‘and left open wounds’ — ‘five jagged nail marks.’  

When Lynne learned that Michael and Suzan were planning on leaving the country, she became convinced they were going to kill her and abduct her daughter. 

Jenn’s mother took her on the run, and they were in hiding in Southern California when the Secret Service showed up at their door in 1982. 

Michael and Suzan had spiraled into dangerous delusions and believed they were meant to kill ‘witches’ around the world. 

In 1981, they killed Karen Barnes, 23, by bashing her head in with a frying pan and stabbing her 13 times in her San Francisco apartment. 

The following year, Michael shot Clark Stephens, 26, to death and burned his body in Humboldt County. 

After Stephens was killed, detectives found their manifesto, which included a plot to assassinate then-President Ronald Reagan.

Jenn recalled how the Secret Service agents grilled her mother about Michael’s political beliefs and whether he ever talked about killing the president. 

In 1983, John Hellyar, 30, picked up the couple while they were hitchhiking. A fight broke out in the car, and Suzan stabbed Hellyar. Michael then shot him point-blank in the back, killing him. 

Police were called during Hillyar’s murder, and they were arrested. The couple confessed to killing Barnes, Stephens, and Hellyar, but they are also suspects in nine other killings. 

Michael and Suzan were found guilty of three counts of murder and are still in prison serving their 75-year sentences. 

Michael and Suzan confessed to killing Barnes, Clark Stephens, and John Hellyar. They were found guilty of three counts of murder and are still in prison serving their 75-year sentences

As child, Jenn feared she would inherit her father’s ‘monster genes’ and ‘grow up and kill people.’ She credits her mother and stepfather with helping her overcome the trauma 

Jenn (pictured with her mother in 2015) got her doctoral degree in social work and became a trauma expert, as well as an advocate for children of prisoners

When Jenn learned of her father’s crimes, she started having nightmares about his victims. She worried that she had inherited his ‘monster genes’ and struggled with suicidal ideation and severe depression.

‘By 9, I viewed every adult as a potential killer,’ she told People. ‘The whole world terrified me. I also feared that I would grow up and kill people.’

Jenna credits her mother and stepfather, Michael Gonzales, with helping her to overcome the trauma. 

Gonzales, who met Lynne in 1984, put her on a regular schedule, got her counseling, and signed her up for extracurricular activities, including Girl Scouts and the church choir. 

With her mother and stepfather’s support, she got her doctoral degree in social work and became a trauma expert, as well as an advocate for children of prisoners. 

‘I want people to understand that this type of shame is so corrosive,’ Jenn said. ‘And that’s why I tell my story.’