San Francisco "Witch Killers" | Michael and Suzan Carson Case Analysis

hello this is dr grande today's question is can i analyze the case of michael and suzanne carson just a reminder i'm not diagnosing you by this video only speculating about what could be happening in a situation like this if you enjoyed this video please like it subscribe to my channel and consider supporting me on patreon i will put the link to patreon in the description for this video first i'll look at the background this case i'll move to the timeline of the crime and offer my analysis james carson was born in oklahoma on november 28 1950 he later changed his name to michael bear carson so i will refer to him as michael as a child michael was diagnosed with a rare bone disease that limited his functioning for several years he had to stay in bed quite often he was made fun of in school because he had to use crutches to walk as a teenager he became fascinated with political radicalism mysticism and music he was attracted to the hippie movement he considered himself to be an atheist but then after a specific instance of using psychedelics he started a profound religious search he cycled through a number of religious belief systems before eventually becoming a muslim michael went to college in iowa and met a fellow classmate who shared some of his ideology they married in 1969 and moved to arizona in 1975. his wife noticed that his behavior drastically changed in 1977 she left with their daughter michael started dating a woman named susan barnes after meeting her on thanksgiving day in 1977 susan was born in arizona on september 14 1941 she eventually changed her name to suzanne she spelled it s-u-z-a-n which some people would pronounce susan but apparently she did pronounce it as suzanne growing up suzanne's family believed that she was mentally ill suzanne believed that she was a psychic after a specific incident of using psychedelics suzanne thought that she was a witch possessed by the devil she thought there was a hole in the top of her skull where vibes could be poured in she believed the hole was caused by electrical appliances i find it interesting that when suzanne came to believe that she had a hole in her head her primary concern was something getting in and not something getting out maybe she figured there was nothing in her head to escape her family encouraged her to be treated by a mental health professional the clinician said that she was just eccentric suzanne eventually married had two children and divorced she had about 150 lovers in the eight years following her divorce after suzanne started her relationship with michael he convinced her that she wasn't a witch rather a yogi the hole in her head was a sign that she had been chosen to receive messages from god michael and suzanne married and took a trip to europe for a year two days after they returned suzanne was arrested for public nudity and possession of marijuana she pleaded guilty to the nudity charge and was given six months of probation suzanne felt as though she was unjustly prosecuted and developed a disdain for law enforcement in the government she promised never to pay taxes again when suzanne's probation was up she and michael moved to portland oregon and eventually made their way to san francisco california the couple was active in the counterculture drug use and mysticism on january 14 1981 an aspiring actress from georgia named karen barnes moved into a san francisco apartment at 825 schroeder street karen barnes was not related to suzanne again suzanne's original name was susan barnes michael and suzanne spent time in the apartment with karen suzanne believed that karen was a witch and a psychic vampire stealing her strength beauty and cosmic power karen was paying a lot of attention to michael he eventually told suzanne that he wanted to make karen his second wife now moving to the timeline of the crimes on march 7 1981 the couple murdered karen by stabbing her 13 times with a paring knife and crushing her skull the police were notified that same day by the landlord after he found her body on the kitchen floor they noticed that there was no forced entry into the apartment they found abstract messages scribbled on various places in the apartment some contained the name suzanne there were no witnesses to the murder a number of people told the police that a strange couple named michael and suzanne had been living in karen's apartment for the last few weeks here a few of the descriptions of the couple offered by those witnesses the couple claimed to be muslims they didn't believe in electricity driver's licenses or social security cards they traveled up and down the california coast selling marijuana they believed that witches should be put to death on religious grounds michael had just written a book which he called the way he was trying to get it published suzanne told people that she had great psychic powers but did not use those powers one witness believed that both michael and suzanne suffered from schizophrenia the police wondered if michael and suzanne could have been the killers however there were a lot of unusual people in that area the police were looking for them but they were not trying very hard after the murder mike when suzanne traveled to a mountain in southern oregon and lived in a cabin they believed that nuclear war was imminent the couple lived there for a few months they traveled to new mexico back to oregon and then to california arriving there in march 1982. in may while the couple was in humboldt county working on a marijuana farm michael had a dispute with a 27 year old man named clark stevens and shot and killed him with a 38 caliber revolver michael and suzanne attempted to dispose of the body by burning it at one point the couple dropped their backpacks and fled believing that the police were onto them which at this time they were not when the police searched the backpacks they found a manifesto that contained michael's fingerprints michael was arrested in los angeles california on may 19 1982 because the police had mistakenly believed he was responsible for another unrelated crime the officer who arrested michael failed to search him properly michael still had the murder weapon on him when he was handcuffed and put in the back of a police vehicle he put the gun under the seat due to an error the police did not connect michael to the murder and he was released the police didn't find the gun until later when they did find it it was matched to a bullet found in clark's body over the next several months michael and suzanne traveled to various places in california and oregon on january 12 1983 the couple was hitchhiking with a man named john charles hellyer suzanne decided that he was a witch and had to die she felt this way about a lot of people while john was driving on u.s route 101 in sonoma county the couple attacked him the car came to a stop and the fight continued outside the vehicle it lasted for about 10 minutes until michael shot and killed jon a witness saw the homicide and contacted the police michael and susan were arrested after a high-speed chase which ended in them crashing the vehicle in napa county the couple faced charges for murdering john hellyer clark stevens and karen barnes by 1987 the couple had been convicted in connection with all three of the murders they were sentenced to 75 years to life in prison now moving to my analysis here are my thoughts about a few items that stood out to me in this case item number one the guilt of michael and suzanne is not really in question it's clear they were responsible for the three murders even though suzanne would not speak to her defense attorney much less admit guilt michael admitted he committed all three killings he said the second and third killings were self-defense interestingly it's unlikely the couple would have ever been arrested for the murder of karen barnes if they had not committed these subsequent murders item number two michael and suzanne shared a number of unusual beliefs and they had a few beliefs that were unique to each of them here are a few examples the couple believed that all objects in the universe were linked by a mystical principle every connection between items mattered there was no such thing as a coincidence this is interesting because many people who are delusional make connections that do not exist between various people events and ideas this is a key feature of many delusions michael believed that he was a warrior on a special mission from god michael practiced karate by punching the walls he said he was preparing to fight the russians and the darkness sweeping across america michael thought the cia was out to get him but sometimes he thought the agency was on his side usually when people are paranoid and distrust government agencies they do not ever view those agencies as allies suzanne believed that eyeglasses interfered with the soul's third eye michael had 2200 vision uncorrected and had trouble driving because suzanne wouldn't let him use his glasses suzanne believed that she had met her true love in another lifetime a thousand years ago she was searching for this true love in her current lifetime when she met michael suzanne hated charles manson viewing him as a low-class criminal he never murdered anybody with his own hands and he misrepresented himself as a hippie suzanne was always pushing michael to be less like charles manson which seems like good advice at first glance but what she meant is michael needed to be more violent suzanne believed that she was a powerful psychic whose powers frightened her enemies i guess nothing is scarier than somebody who can inaccurately predict a future suzanne believed that she had mastered the art of astral projection that is she thought that she could separate her consciousness from her body while sleeping or meditating as it turns out her consciousness was not actually able to leave her body but her common sense frequently did michael and suzanne were both vegetarians for three years leading up to the murder of karen barnes being a vegetarian is not unusual but michael's specific diet was insufficient to maintain the strength he needed for multiple homicides like when suzanne targeted both ronald reagan and johnny carson as part of their master plan the couple believed that their names represented the number of the beast from chapter 13 of the book of revelation so with ronald reagan his middle name was wilson therefore all three of his names had six letters what doesn't make sense here is johnny carson his middle name was william which has seven letters one could reason that the couple was also afraid of six seven six which is the number of the beast who failed math this is an entirely different beast item number three the couple's delusions formed around their pre-existing areas of interest this is why the content of their delusions was about religion the psychosis contaminated and distorted their beliefs into something violent and destructive one theory about this case is that suzanne had schizophrenia and that's why she was psychotic michael was paranoid and predisposed to psychosis but it was his exposure to suzanne that put him over the edge therefore this may have been a case of shared psychotic disorder it's not clear what mental illnesses they do or do not have again this is just one theory item number four is the dynamic between this couple from the very beginning and throughout their relationship suzanne was in charge she was the boss she's the one who gave james the name michael suzanne pressured michael into committing all three murders this couple could have grown their belief system into a cult but suzanne's desire for homicide was a self-limiting mechanism she viewed everyone else as a threat or competition therefore they were never able to grow into a cult item number five is the motive for murdering karen barnes i think this was really just about jealousy on the part of suzanne she felt as though michael was falling in love with karen he said he wanted to add karen as a second wife karen was more attractive than suzanne and captured michael's attention frequently i think this just highlights the fact that jealousy is dangerous no matter what belief system it is filtered through i'm moving to my final thoughts michael and suzanne were active in the counterculture in california and oregon this allowed them to fit in even though they were psychotic and dangerous the couple was described as very strange for example suzanne had an exceedingly creepy smile that immediately made people uncomfortable however the couple really didn't stand out when compared to other members of the counter culture people disregarded their own intuition when dealing with them falsely believing that hippies would never do them harm in addition drug use was so common during that time people had trouble distinguishing the effects of the drugs from the mental health symptoms in any other community michael and suzanne would have been connected with mental health services but the counterculture ignored their mental illness and inadvertently reinforced some of their most dangerous beliefs those are my thoughts in the case of michael and suzanne carson please put any opinions and thoughts in the comment section they always generate an interesting dialogue as always i hope you found my analysis to be as intriguing as common sense astral projection thanks for watching

Channel: Dr. Todd Grande

Views: 60,296

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Length: 14min 46sec (886 seconds)

Published: Tue May 10 2022