Michael Bear Carson and Suzan Carson

James Clifford Carson (aka Michael Bear Carson) (born 1950) and Suzan Barnes Carson (aka Suzan Bear Carson) (born 1941) are serial killers convicted for three murders between 1982 and 1983 in Northern California and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Background

In 1980, James Carson, who had a master's degree in Chinese studies, was married and living with one child in Phoenix, Arizona, when his wife noticed severe behavior changes and left with their child.^[1] Carson began a relationship with Suzan Barnes, who had two teenaged sons and had recently been divorced.^[1] The two married^[2] and became involved in drugs and mysticism. At some point James Carson took the name of "Michael Bear", telling his daughter in a letter that God had given him the new name "Michael"; Suzan was also known as "Suzan Bear" and the couple were known as the Bears.^[3]

In 1979, the Carsons went to Europe. By 1980, they had returned to the United States and were living as Michael and Suzan Bear in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco, where they continued their involvement with drugs and the counterculture. By this time, Michael Bear Carson's former wife had become afraid that he would harm her and try to abduct or gain custody of their child, so she took steps to hide herself and the child from him, including moving numerous times and cutting off contact with mutual acquaintances.^[3]

The murders

In March 1981, 22-year-old Keryn Barnes, an aspiring actress from Georgia who had been the Carsons' roommate in Haight-Ashbury, was found dead in their shared apartment. Her skull had been crushed and she had been stabbed 13 times before her body was wrapped in a blanket and hidden in the basement. Evidence suggested that Keryn Barnes had been killed by someone she knew, and the Carsons were prime suspects, but disappeared before the body was found. The Carsons later confessed to killing Keryn Barnes by beating her on the head with a frying pan and stabbing her, because Suzan had decided she was a witch and had to be killed.^[1][3][4]

The Carsons fled to a mountain hideout near Grants Pass, Oregon, where they remained until spring 1982. They then moved to Alderpoint, California, near Garberville in Humboldt County, where they lived and worked on a marijuana farm as caretakers and guards. According to the Carsons' fellow workers on the farm, the Carsons were anarchists who advocated revolution and predicted that an apocalypse or nuclear war would soon occur. In May 1982, the Carsons had an ongoing dispute with another worker on the farm, Clark Stephens. Michael Bear Carson killed Stephens by shooting him, after which the Carsons attempted to dispose of Stephens' body by dragging it into the woods, burning it, and burying it under chicken fertilizer, before leaving the area. Two weeks later, friends of Stephens reported his disappearance to the Humboldt County Sheriffs' Office, who investigated and found Stephens' drivers' license and burnt remains in the woods. The Carsons, who at that point were known to their co-workers and law enforcement as the Bears, were suspects due to their dispute with Stephens. Upon searching belongings the Carsons had left behind, detectives found an anti-government manifesto written by the Carsons that called for the assassination of then-President Ronald Reagan.^[3] However, detectives had difficulty tracking down the Carsons because over the years, they had avoided any interactions with government authorities (for example, obtaining drivers' licenses) that could be used to locate them later.^[3][5]

In November 1982, Michael Bear Carson was picked up by police in Los Angeles after being reported by an acquaintance who saw Carson hitchhiking and knew he was wanted for murder in Humboldt County. Through a police error, Carson was quickly freed and disappeared again before Humboldt County detectives had a chance to question him. He left evidence behind, including a mugshot, address information, and a gun left in a police car, that caused investigators to realize that Michael and Suzan Bear were actually the Carsons.^[3]

In March 1983, the Carsons were hitchhiking near Bakersfield, California and were given a ride by 30-year-old Jon Charles Hellyar, who was driving to Santa Rosa, California. Suzan Bear Carson reportedly decided that Hellyar was a witch and must be killed. While Hellyar was driving on U.S. Route 101 near Santa Rosa in Sonoma County, an argument and physical fight broke out between Hellyar and the Carsons, resulting in the car coming to a stop and all three exiting with Suzan Carson stabbing Hellyar while he and Michael Bear Carson struggled over a gun. Michael Bear Carson got control of the gun and shot Hellyar dead at point blank range on the side of the road in view of passing motorists, one of whom contacted police. A high-speed chase ensued as the Carsons attempted to flee police in Hellyar's car, but they were both apprehended.^[3][5]

Confessions and aftermath

The Carsons initially called a press conference to confess to the murders of Hellyar, Stephens, and Keryn Barnes.^[1][4] Before trial, they withdrew their confessions and entered pleas of not guilty.^[4] On June 12, 1984, the Carsons were convicted first of Barnes' murder and sentenced to serve twenty-five years in prison. Later, the Carsons were convicted of the murders of Stephens and Hellyar, for which they received sentences of fifty years to life and seventy-five years to life. In 1989, the First District Court of Appeal, affirmed their third conviction as it had previously done on the other two convictions.^[6] James Carson is incarcerated at Mule Creek State Prison and Suzan Carson is incarcerated at Central California Women's Facility.

In a five-hour interview with KGO-TV and the San Francisco Chronicle, as well as homicide investigators, the Carsons claimed to have been pacifists and vegetarian yoga practitioners who converted to a form of Muslim religion, and described themselves as "vegetarian Moslem warriors."^[5] Their crimes emerged from a shared mission: to exterminate individuals they believed to be "witches".^[7] The press dubbed them "the San Francisco Witch Killers."^[2]

They stated that they killed Barnes because they believed she had made a false conversion to their religion and was "draining Miss Carson of her health and yogic powers."^[5] Their justifications for the second and third killings were that Stephens had allegedly sexually attacked Suzan, and that Hellyar had allegedly called her a "witch" and sexually abused her.^[5] From their conviction and through their incarceration up to 2015, they have shown no remorse for their crimes.^[7]

They claimed to have traveled through Europe and, back in the United States, through the American Southwest and parts of California.^[5] The pair said they kept a list of targeted individuals including celebrities and political figures such as Johnny Carson and then-president Ronald Reagan. According to Richard D. Reynolds, who wrote a book about the case, the Carsons were suspects in nearly a dozen other deaths in the U.S. and Europe.^[7]

In popular culture

Underground journalist Richard D. Reynolds wrote a nonfiction book about the murders entitled Cry For War (Squibob Press, 1987). The Carsons' story has also been included in several true crime anthologies.

The Carsons have been featured on episodes of several true crime documentary TV series, including Deadly Women (Season 6, Episode 1, "Hunting Humans");,^[8] Wicked Attraction (Season 2, Episode 1, "The Two Bears");^[9] and The Devil You Know (Season 2, Episode 2, "A Serial Killer in the Family").^[10]

References

Additional reading

• Lane, Brian, Encyclopedia of Serial Killers, Berkley, California, July 1, 1995.
• Lawson, Kristan and Rufus, Anneli, California Babylon, St. Martin's Griffin, Revised Edition, October 2000.
• Vronsky, Peter, Female Serial Killers: How and Why Women Become Monsters, Berkley Books, New York, 2007, p. 439.