Wikipedia: James Clifford Carson (aka
Michael Bear Carson) (born 1950) and
Suzan Barnes Carson (born 1942) were serial killers reported to
have been active in several countries and regions in the late 1970s and early
1980s - particularly, in the San Francisco Bay Area.
They were involved in the counter culture movement. Their
crimes emerged from a shared missionary philosophy to exterminate individuals
they believed to be "witches". The pair reportedly kept a list of
targeted individuals including celebrities and political figures such as Johnny
Carson and then-president Ronald Reagan.
After their arrest in 1983, they held a news conference
confessing to murders, including those of Karen Barnes, stabbed and bludgeoned
to death in her home in Haight-Ashbury in 1981, Clark Stephens, murdered and
mutilated (dismembered and set on fire) in Humboldt County and John Hillyar,
who was stabbed and shot on the side of the road in Napa Valley. They were also
suspects in 9 other murders in Europe and the U.S.
On 12 June 1984 the Carsons were convicted of one murder and
sentenced to serve twenty five years to life in prison. Later they were
convicted of two other murders and given 50 years to life. Their final sentence
was 75 years to life. James Carson is incarcerated at Mule Creek State Prison
and Suzan Carson is incarcerated at California Central Women's Facility.
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FULL TEXT: San Francisco – A couple who complained their
murder trial hadn’t received enough publicity told reporters they have killed
three people for “religious reasons,” the San Francisco reported today.
“Witchcraft, homosexuality and abortion are causes for
death,” said Michael Bear Carson, who with his wife, Suzan, described the
killings during a five-hour interview Wednesday with the Chronicle and KGO-TV.
Homicide inspectors from the San Francisco police and the
Sonoma County sheriff’s office were also present.
The couple, who say they are vegetarian Moslem “warriors,”
face trial in Sonoma County Superior Court in Santa Rosa over the January 1983
shooting death of Jon Charles Hillyar, 30. but they also said they had killed
23-year-old Keryn Barnes in San Francisco in March 1981 and Clark Stephens in
Humbolt County in 1982.
Carson last month wrote to Chronicle columnist Herb Caen,
complaining that his murder trial had received “no publicity in the more
important press.”
“We insist on pre-trial publicity,” the bearded long-haired
man said Wednesday, complaining that he hadn’t been allowed to air his opinions
during a preliminary hearing last week.
Carson, 22, described Suzan as “a yogi and a mystic with
knowledge of past, present and future events.” He claimed she had been sexually
attacked by Stephens and abused by Hillyar, who said she was a “witch.”
“Susan ordered each killing,” he said as his wife sat beside
him, half smiling.
The two said they had led a wandering life, from San
Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district to Europe, the American Southwest and other
portions of California. They said they developed feelings of pacifism, came to
practice yoga and vegetarianism and then converted to a form of the Moslem
religion.
Mrs. Carson complained that Miss Barnes, who shared an
apartment with the couple in 1961, faked a conversion to Islam and in fact was
draining Miss Carson of her health and yogic powers.
During a hitchhiking trip home from Arizona, the Carsons
were staying in an Oxnard motel room when Suzan “got orders” in her mind to
kill their roommate.
“Each time Suzan said it, the thunder would clap,” Carson
said.
After arriving back in San Francisco, Carson said, he bashed
Miss Barnes on the head “as hard as I could, three times” and when she still
made a sound, he stabbed her in the neck with a small knife.
Stephens, who allegedly worked on a marijuana farm near
Garberville with the Carsons, was slain near the town of Alderpoint, Mrs.
Carson said he was “a demon. He had to be killed.”
Carson said he shot Stephens twice in the head and once in
the side and then burned the body and buried it beneath some chicken
fertilizer.
Carson said Hillyer, whom the couple met while hitchhiking,
“abused Suzan sexually” and therefore had to be killed. He said that was “part
of the Koran.”
[“‘Religious Reasons’ Cited – Murder Suspects Admit
Slayings,” The Press-Courier (Oxnard, Ca.), Apr. 28, 1983, p. 31]
***
Suzan Carson Barnes quoted:
“You kill that demon or I will.”
[Michael Newman, Bad Girls Do It!: An Encyclopedia of
Female Murderers, Loompanics Ltd., 1993, p. 47]
***
CHRONOLOGY
1941 – James Clifford Carson (a.k.a. Michael Bear Carson),
born.
1950 – Susan Barnes Carson (aka Suzan Bear Carson), born.
1977 – James and Susan married.
1980 – Couple return from Europe, settle in Haight-Ashbury
quarter, San Francisco.
Jan. 12, 1983 – Jon Charles Hellyar (30), murdered, between Bakersfield
and Santa Rosa.
Mar. 1981 – Karen Barnes (23) (no relation to Suzan),
murdered; stabbed thirteen times and her skull crushed before being wrapped in
a blanket and hidden in the basement.
May 1982 – Clark
Stephens, murdered; shot by Michael. Humboldt County.
Nov. 1982 – Michael arrested, then freed by error. Humboldt
County.
Mar. 10, 1983 – Couple arrested; “The only way Michael and
Suzan would confess, however, was via a press conference. A press conference
was held, and it got pretty weird, pretty fast. The pair ranted about George
Orwell’s 1984, President Reagan as the devil, and why witches needed to be
killed. They said that Allah told Suzan where to kill the witches and Michael
was the executioner for them. After six hours of ranting, the two were arrested
for three counts of first degree murder amongst other crimes.
Jun. 9(?), 1984 – Trial begins; 3 days; both pled not
guilty.
Jun. 12, 1984 – the Carsons were convicted first of Barnes'
murder and sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Date? – they were convicted of the murders of Stephens and
Hellyar, for which they received sentences of 50 years to life and 75 years to
life, respectively.
1989 – First District Court of Appeal, affirmed their third
conviction as it had previously done on the other two convictions.
Dec. 2, 2015 – Suzan denied parole.
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For more cases of this type, see:
Occult Female Serial Killers
Given that one of these killers was a man I am not sure how this counts as misandry...or how anything on here does actually. It mostly seems to be an excuse to hate on women with some pretty shaky "logic".
ReplyDeleteThere is no statement that "this" (unclear what is meant by "this") is misandry. The title of the blog is separate from the 1800+ individual posts that are related to the general topic. The fact that only a fraction of female serial killer cases have been studied by professional criminologists (and are not even known to them) is evidence of having misdirected by faulty theories that cause them to assume such crimes are so rare that there is no point to look for them. The female serial killer cases are collected her to allow those with an interest to study them in the context of more than 900 other cases (most of them overlooked). The Carson case being posed is not an excuse and it does not make any argument, thus exhibits neither sound nor faulty logic in its text. The simpleminded notion that a negative description of an individual woman (or a group of women, such as 900 female serial killers) is not evidence of a hatred of all women (billions of women). That is, apparently, regarded by some as "shaky" logic.
ReplyDeleteI recommend reading this to understand the significance of the lapses of the experts with regard to female serial killers: "Monsters Too Scary For Words: Collective Amnesia in the USA," by Robert St. Estephe, September 7, 2015 (on Female Serial Killer Index - blog)