By Carey Peña / 3TV reporter

Monday, February 27, 2006

It was a dark family secret kept hidden for years. Now, the daughter of a serial killer speaks out.

Jenn Carson lives here in the Valley. At the age of 31, she has finally come to the point where she can talk openly about her father without shame or guilt.

She recently sat with 3TV to share her story of survival.

Jenn's earliest memories are good ones. "I was totally a daddy's girl," she said.

In the eyes of his adoring daughter, Michael Carson could do no wrong.

"My father was brilliant," Jenn said. "He had a master's degree and a degree in Chinese studies."

But brilliance would soon give way to madness.

"My mom just saw this person who she loved dearly changing before her eyes," Jenn said. "I think she realized he was headed for an explosion. One night we just packed the car and disappeared."

Jenn was just shy of 5 when she and her mother fled to California. In the meantime, her father remained in Phoenix where he ended up remarrying.

"Suzan had been recently divorced. With two teenage kids, she had lived a very normal country club Scottsdale life," Jenn said.

Fueled by drugs, Michael and Suzan started a downward spiral that would end in a murderous rampage.

"When I was 7, the murder spree started," Jenn said. "And he was convicted when I was 9."

Jenn's mom couldn't keep it from her any longer. It was time to talk about the truth.

"She said, ‘Daddy’s gotten a lot worse and he is very, very sick and he hurt a bunch of people and they are not alive anymore,'" Jenn said.

The first victim was Keryn Barnes, 22.

"He killed her by bashing her over the head with a frying pan. And then stabbing her multiple times," Jenn said. "How could the hands that changed my diaper stab a young woman to death?"

Barnes was stabbed more than 15 times. Police later found her in a pool of blood in the kitchen of her San Francisco apartment.

The trial was all over the news in the early ‘80s.

The Carsons confessed to three murders in Northern California.

They claimed to be killing witches, homosexuals, and abortionists in the name of Allah.

"Good is created and evil is a like a powerful parasite," said Michael during a press conference. "It can only copy or feed off of the light."

This remained a dark family secret for years.

"I was hiding it and it was destroying me," Jenn said.

Finally, when she was 19, Jenn decided she had to look into her father's eyes at least once.

"It was like looking into the eyes of someone with no soul," she said.

At that time, Michael was housed at Folsom Prison in the so-called celebrity wing. Visitation was held in a big open room.

That's where Jenn came face to face with another well-known killer -- an experience that would shake her to the bone.

"Eric Menendez gets up from the person he was visiting," Jenn said. "And he comes and says ’hi’ to my father. And then says ‘hi’ to me and he winks at me. And I'm like, am I in the twilight zone?"

Jenn now considers her dad to be pure evil.

"The definition of evil is hurting someone else for pleasure," she said. "And I think that once you've crossed that line there is no going back."

Jenn is all about moving forward. She's a courageous young woman who refuses to be bound by blood or circumstance.

"All children can get through any experience and then transcend that experience," Jenn said.

Jenn got her master's in counseling and now dedicates her life to working with kids who have emotional and mental health needs. She refuses to let her father's crimes define who she is.

And what about her dad? How much time did he get?

Michael, 54, was recently transferred to a prison in L.A. County. Both he and Suzan will spend the rest of their life behind bars.