Page 7 - Jen Carson News Today

And since the onset of the drought weve doubled our efforts. i grew up in the forests out in this area and honestly its heartbreaking to see all these trees dying. what guides me is ensuring that the public is going to be safer and that these forests can be sustained and enjoyed by the community in the future. children of murderers, they wonder if there is something wrong with them, how could their parent do this? are they going to end up like their parent? >> jen has spent much of her life ho...

Hurt a bunch of people. then i looked up and i said, are the hurt people dead? she said, yes, and thats when she started crying. >> thats the day your life changed forever? >> yeah. >> during the years jen and her mom were in hiding, jens father married susan and embarked on a very dark path. in 1983, along californias highway 101, a man named john hellier picked up two hitchhikers. 24 hours later he was dead. his passengers, meek call and susan carson had killed him, and it wasnt their only mur...

>> i couldnt put together how a loving father can also be capable of such terrible things. ♪ ♪ you want it touched up a little bit? >> this is jen carson. at 43 years old, jen has returned home to care for her mother, with whom she share as close bond and a dark history.

Or he would harm someone else, yeah. when my father was give an parole hearing, it just spun me out. i was 48enned, you know, i felt unsafe. >> to keep the carsons behind bars, jen has connected online with each of the victims families, to fight their parole. today, shes meeting the family of the carsons last victim in person for the very first time. >> john offered a ride to my father and susan and susan stabbed him repeatedly, and then my father shot him. >> why do you want to meet the family ...

Think, three murders. it did not surprise me. i knew he did it. >> before he killed those people, i felt a pure unconditional love. now, its hard to feel and find that love under the grief i feel for his victims. >> as a little girl just 8 years old, jen was blind-sided by the father she thought she knew. >> it completely changed who i was, how i thought about myself. i remember thinking i have monster dna, that eventually i would hurt someone, maybe i would kill someone. i became very frightene...

Prisoners have complex grief, depression, school failure, substance abuse and you know what? im really open. i am mentally ill. i have a mental illness, everybody. is that scarring you? it shouldnt. we can talk about that like people can talk about diabetes. im not ashamed of being mentally ill. i didnt put that stigma on me. somebody else put that stigma on me. >> todays crowd is unique. while some gathered out of pure interest, others connect to jens message more deeply. >> my grandsons father...

>> jen and zacks stories are very, very different, but strangely enough, they are very similar. they are both very protective of their mothers and they are both very passionate about their mission. in many ways, their childhoods and adult lives have been defined by what their fathers have done, but they have chosen to spread messages of life and not death. being a child of a killer is a silent burden but jen and zack are no longer hiding. >> in the past, i was trying to atone for my fathers crim...

The carsons admitted to two additional murders, describing the brutal violence they had inflicted on their victims. in 1981, they stabbed 23-year-old karen barnes 13 time, bludgeoning her to death with a frying pan. in 1982, they killed 27-year-old clark stevens, shooting him three times and burning his body. they claimed everyone they had killed were witches, and that god had told them to do it. jen had seen some clips from the press conference over the years but were about to watch one weve ne...

His passengers, michael and susan carson had killed him, and it wasnt their only murder. after authorities arrested the carsons for johns murder, michael wrote a letter from jail to "the san francisco chronicle" making his own demand. >> my father said they would confess to two more murders if they could have a live press conference. >> 35 years ago, investigators granted their wish. during a taped press conference, the carsons admitted to two additional murders, describing the brutal violence t...

Teachers, the school counselor, we have situations where multiple kids are reporting a problem. adults are saying the same thing that my mother heard in 1978. we cant do anything until he kills someone. that should not be the case. >> how did you find out that jim had actually killed someone? >> my father had called and said that he was a suspect in, i think, three murders. it did not surprise me. i knew he did it. >> before he killed those people, i felt a pure unconditional love. now, its hard...