but when the 60s came along, she just got swept up in it. she met my father at a party. everyone was dropping acid. and he introduced himself and said, hi, my name is jim. and she said, no, your name is michael. and so from then on, he went by michael. he moved into her townhouse, and that was it. my first visit, they were high and passed out. i remember trying to wake them up because i was hungry. neglect soon turned to physical harm. during one of these visits, i was asking my father to rub my back. and she said, i ll rub your back, i m going to get the demon out of you. she scratched my back until she scratched it raw. i actually came home with nail marks all the way down my back. how old were you? i was 4, about to turn 5. lynn realized her child was
in danger and alerted police, child services, and jim s own family. time and time again, my mom was written off as a bitter ex-wife. one of the challenging things about raising this red flag was who my father had been. he came from an upper middle class family. he had had such a successful college career. how that individual could become someone who is scary and dangerous was just really not something that his friends or family could understand. fearing the worst, lynn sought advice from a legal clinic. the attorney said, you need to pack up, you need to take your daughter somewhere safe, and you need to disappear. and so we left arizona.
you want it touched up a little bit? go ahead and look at me. this is jen carson. at 43 years old, jen has returned home to care for her mother, with whom she shares a close bond and a dark history. recently i was helping clean out my mom s house. and i found a bunch of girl scout patches. i also found some pictures. jen s childhood started off like many others, with a mom and dad who loved her. those were my parents, jim and lynn, and that s me. my mom was teaching and my father was staying home with me. and there s your dad doing your hair. yeah, i remember him doing my hair every morning. there would be braids and pigtails and he d brush my hair. how would you describe your relationship with your dad as a kid? in those early years, we had
arizona, when i was about 3, his talk about a revolution was getting serious. he was talking about a violent overthrow of the government, and his behavior became very erratic. he was getting very physically aggressive with my mother. and so she decided to leave. reporter: jim and lynn separated and began sharing custody of their daughter. when a new woman entered their lives. a wealthy socialite from scottsdale named susan barnes. when i think about my relationship with my father, i very much see it as before susan and after susan. the moment she entered the picture, i don t remember any affection, i don t remember that kindness. it was like that connection we had was being lost. who was susan? susan claimed to be some type of yogi. she lived this posh country club lifestyle.
after trauma, that feeling goes into overdrive. sensing her ex-husband was a danger to her child, jen fled with lynn to southern california. when you first came here you were essentially in hiding? yeah. we were renting rooms and sleeping on couches. we were kind of semi-homeless. this place, while it looks like paradise, marks a difficult chapter in lynn s life. this is where my mom was working. she had to take very low-income jobs. you know, we were just very poor. i often couldn t get to a doctor to get my asthma medication, i didn t have glasses. it was an incredibly difficult and throughout, i kept building up my father in my memory. he became a prince in my mind. i was living this horrible