Susan & James Carson: Bizzare Story of a Witch Serial Killer Couple who Planned to Kill President
Susan and James have quite an exciting journey, from strangers to lovers and later serial killers. Apart from indulging in a murder spree, the woman strongly advocated mysticism and paranormal activities. She often believed people around her were witches or sorcerers. She thought the only way she could make this world free of such supernatural people was to kill them.
It was even reported that the Carsons had a well-chalked-out plan of killing then-president Ronald Reagan. But were apprehended before they could execute their goal. How did the police get hold of them, and what punishment did they finally receive? What follows hereafter is a tale of mystery and suspense in an eerie world of obscurity.
How did they start?
Susan Barnes Carson (Susan Bear Carson) was born in 1941, and James Clifford Carson (also known as Michael Bear Carson) was born in 1950. When they killed three people in 3 years, i.e., 1981 and 1983. In Northern California and San Francisco, they received the title of the "San Francisco Witch Killers."
The couple claimed to be "vegetarian Muslim warriors." Who believed that their "higher power" wanted them to kill people who took part in "witchcraft, homosexuality, and abortion." They thought they were doing this for "the sake of the country's future."
From Oklahoma, Carson was another non-traditionalist, white-collar class dropout. Learned, he took a unique enthusiasm for history, religions, and reasoning. He earned a degree from the University of Iowa, where he met his better half. After graduation, they had a girl and moved to Arizona. While his better half upheld him, he was a stay-at-home father and pot vendor.
Things appear to play out as expected for a long time by his little girl's record; he was an adoring and mindful dad. Susan Barnes had been an ordinary rural housewife in 1960s Scottsdale, Arizona. Her better half earned many sums of money, empowering her to be a cliché ruined housewife. In any case, she needed more than that.
She started taking LSD, mescaline, and peyote while spending time with her children's secondary school children. She likewise lured and laid down with them. As per the gossip plant, she laid down with 150 young men. When she turned 35, she started to have fancies and mind flights and called them dreams. In any event, when she wasn't on drugs. This was new. Since she was a youngster, she accepted she was a mystic.
In the 1970s, James Carson was a happy family man living in Phoenix, Arizona, with his daughter, Jenna, and his wife. His daughter and wife remember him as a wonderful person. But soon, her mother realized that James was showing significant changes in his behavior when Jenn was five years old. So she took her daughter with her, and both left him.
Afraid that James Carson would hunt them down, she hid herself and her daughter and cut off all ties with James. When they met, they got attracted to one another.
But James was not interested in hunting his family down because he met Susan Barnes. She was a divorcee with two teenage sons. The couple got married, and it wasn't long before they engaged in illicit drug activity and mysticism. At some point, James Carson and Suzan Carson became Michael Bear and Suzan Bear. Carson even wrote a letter to his daughter, explaining how God named him "Michael."
They embraced the last name 'Bear.' They accepted that she might have been a 'Yogic and a spiritualist, and she knew it all.' They asserted themselves as "Vegan Muslim Warriors." And accepted that the reasons for murdering individuals were witchcraft, homosexuality, and premature birth. They additionally took that their higher force approached them to murder these foes for their security and the nation's future.
The Victims
Keryn Barnes
The first murder that James Carson and Suzan Carson committed was in March 1981. When they killed 23-year-old Keryn Barnes, an aspiring actress and Carson's roommate in San Francisco, they stabbed Keryn 13 times and crushed her skull with a frying pan before they wrapped her body in a blanket and hid it in the basement. The Carsons admitted they killed her because Suzan believed that Keryn was a witch who tried stealing the "yogic powers" from Suzan.
A house that was close to Grants Pass, Oregon Carsons went there and stayed there until the spring of 1982. They moved to Alderpoint, California, at that point. They lived and chipped away at a Maryjane ranch. Different specialists on the farm indicated that the Carsons were revolutionaries who upheld upset and anticipated that an atomic end of the world would happen before long.
Clark Stephens
In May 1982, James Carson shot Clark Stephens at work, a fellow worker with whom Carson had a dispute. After burning it, he got rid of the body by burying it in the woods under chicken fertilizers. Stephens reported missing two weeks later to the Humboldt County sheriff, who successfully found the charred remains of Stephens. In an interview, James Carson said that Stephens was a "demon" who had abused his wife, Suzan Carson.
The police again suspected the Carsons. When the detectives researched the belongings they left, they found a manifesto that the Carsons wrote. The purpose of writing this letter was to tell about the killing of Ronald Reagan.
Jon Charles Hellyar
In 1983, when Jon Charles Hellyar gave them a ride, they were hitchhiking near Bakersfield, California. While on U.S. Route 101 in Sonoma County, an argument broke out between the couple and Hellyar.
Because Suzan decided that Hellyar was a witch and needed to die, Suzan Carson stabbed him while James Carson shot him with a gun, all in full sight of heavy traffic. One of the people who were passing from there told the police. Carsons tried to run away, but police apprehended them.
The arrest of the Carsons
Carsons said that, according to them, the victims were witches, and they needed to die. The police arrested James Carson in Los Angeles in November 1982. An acquaintance saw him and informed the police. But due to a police error, Carson fled and vanished before the police could interrogate him.
James Carson and Suzan Carson were finally arrested on January 12, 1983. They called a press conference to confess to the three murders, but before trial, they entered pleas of "not guilty."
The court convicted the couple for the murder of Keryn Barnes, and they got a sentence of 25 years on June 12, 1984. Soon after, they were also convicted of the murders of Clark Stephens and Jon Hellyar. They received 75 years of prison as a punishment for both murders.
Jean Carson was James's daughter. When ten years passed after his arrest, Jeen went to meet him. She said that looking into his eyes felt like looking into the eyes of a person who has no soul.
Also read: The Joshi-Abhyankar Serial Murders: 4 Dangerous Friends Turned Serial Killers Threatened Entire Pune
SIGN UP Now for such interesting stories about serial killers.
