James “Michael Bear” Carson: The Bears
The Bears:AccusedJames “Michael Bear” Carson·Susan "Suzan Bear" Barnes·VictimsKeryn Barnes·Clarke Stephens·Charles Hillyar
Case at a glance
- When
- March 1981 to January 1983
- Where
- San Francisco, Alderpoint (Humboldt County) and Sonoma County, California
- Perpetrator
- James Clifford “Michael Bear” Carson and Susan “Suzan Bear” Carson (born Susan Barnes)
- Outcome
- Both convicted of three murders beginning in June 1984 and sentenced to terms up to 75 years to life; parole was denied in 2015
The case
James Clifford Carson met Susan Barnes in Arizona in 1977, while he was still married to his first wife. He soon divorced and married Susan, who was nine years older. The couple used drugs heavily and drifted into a private mysticism they described as Islamic. They renamed themselves Michael and Suzan Bear and came to believe they had a mission to kill people they decided were witches.
In March 1981, their roommate in San Francisco, twenty-three-year-old aspiring actress Keryn Barnes (no relation to Suzan), was stabbed and beaten to death in the apartment they shared. In May 1982, Michael shot Clark Stephens, a fellow worker at a marijuana farm near Alderpoint in Humboldt County, and tried to hide the body by burning and burying it. In January 1983, the couple accepted a ride from Jon Charles Hellyar. A fight broke out, and Hellyar was stabbed and shot on the roadside in Sonoma County as other drivers watched. The Carsons fled in his truck and were caught after a chase.
The pair then used a press conference to claim all three killings. In June 1984 they were convicted of murdering Keryn Barnes, and later of the other two murders, receiving sentences that included 75 years to life. A state appeals court upheld the convictions.
Case photographs
Where it happened
San Francisco, where Keryn Barnes was killed in 1981
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Jason Neal has been writing true crime since 2019 and is the author of the True Crime Case Histories book series.
The full written account of this case is in True Crime Case Histories: Volume 9: Book · Paperback · Audiobook