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From Hippies to Homicide: The San Francisco Witch Killers' Path of Delusion and Death

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In the grim shadow of San Francisco’s Summer of Love, where flower children once danced in the streets, another, much darker movement took root. It wasn’t peace signs and protest songs this time. No, this story veers far from Haight-Ashbury and into the delusions of a twisted pair who called themselves soldiers in a holy war. Their names? Suzan and Michael Bear. The press dubbed them The San Francisco Witch Killers—a name both sensational and disturbingly accurate.


Their story is a cocktail of LSD, fundamentalism, paranoia, and violence—a brew that left a trail of blood and bewilderment stretching from Big Sur to San Francisco. And at the center of it all? A woman who believed she was a witch killer. And a man so enthralled by her, he followed her straight to hell.

 

The Origins of a Cult of Two

In the mid-1970s, Michael Bear, born James Carson, was a divorced father with a background in political science. He fell into the arms of Suzan the counterculture movement, abandoning his life for drugs and mysticism. That’s when he met Suzan Barnes, a fiery and charismatic woman who fancied herself a prophet who was receiving messages from Allah himself.


By the time they were calling themselves Suzan and Michael Bear, they’d built a theology of their own—a fringe mix of Old Testament wrath, feminist vengeance, and hallucinogenic visions. They claimed to be "vegan Muslim warriors" in a holy war against “witches” that only they could see.

 

Murder in the Redwoods

Their first known victim was 23-year-old Keryn Barnes (no relation), an aspiring actress they lived with in San Francisco. Suzan became convinced Keryn was a witch sucking her dry of her mystical powers. In 1981, Keryn was found bludgeoned to death in their apartment, her skull crushed with a cast-iron skillet and a paring knife lodged in her chest. The Bears disappeared.


And so began their descent into true fugitive madness. They traveled up the coast, living off the grid in marijuana farms in Humboldt County under fake names. It wasn’t long before a fellow farm worker, Clark Stephens, met a similar fate. After an argument with Michael, Stephens was shot twice in the head and set on fire. His remains were buried in a shallow grave, found later by police.

 

The Murder that Broke the Case

The Bears might’ve kept on killing if not for one fatal mistake—hitchhiking. In March 1983, they were picked up by 30-year-old Jon Charles Hellyar on the highway near Bakersfield. He was a kind soul, just trying to help. But when Suzan decided Jon was also a witch—based solely on her "visions"—Suzan stabbed him to death and Michael shot him, as cars whizzed by on the highway.


This time, there were witnesses.

After a high-speed chase, Michael and Suzan were arrested. In custody, the pair didn’t deny the crimes—they bragged about them. During a six-hour jailhouse press conference, Michael claimed they were “doing God’s work,” killing witches to save the world. Suzan never spoke. Michael did enough for both.

 

The Trials and Delusions

Both were convicted in 1984. Michael received 75 years to life. Suzan got 25 years to life. They remained unapologetic, unfazed, and completely convinced that their killings were righteous acts of spiritual warfare.


Years later, Michael would add more layers to their madness, confessing to a hit list of supposed witches and warlocks they never got to. “America is full of witches,” he once said. “We were just getting started.”

 

Final Thoughts: When Delusion Turns Deadly

What makes the case of the San Francisco Witch Killers so chilling isn’t just the brutality of the murders—it’s the sincerity of the killers. They believed what they were doing was holy, ordained, necessary.


In the end, Michael and Suzan Bear weren’t running a cult. They were the cult. Two people. One ideology. A handful of victims. And a legacy that still haunts the darkest alleys of true crime history.


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All information contained in this audio podcast or video presentation is provided for entertainment purposes only. The authors leave any and all conclusions to individual members of the audience. The author offers no statements of fact beyond those available through diligent private research or through information freely available in the public record. To the extent that pending or settled criminal matters or crime or possible crimes, are discussed in this audio podcast or video presentation, all parties or defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law. To the extent that any pending or settled civil matters are discussed in this video presentation, all parties or defendants are presumed not liable unless proven liable in a court of law. Copyright for material incorporated and presented under Fair Use is retained by the original author or copyright holder where applicable. Our cases are researched using open source and archive materials, and the subjects are real crimes and people. We strive to produce each episode with respect to the victims, their families and loved ones. At Hitched 2 Homicide we are committed to always discussing how victims lived, and not just how they died. All podcast information is gleaned from sources given. All opinions in the podcast are solely of Hitched 2 Homicide and are for entertainment purposes only.

 

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 Thanks for listening and remember… Southern charm won’t save you from true crime.

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