Disclaimer: This article contains mentions of murder and abuse. Reader discretion is advised.
The Truth About Jim is a four-part docuseries on Max that follows Sierra Barter, a Californian woman, on her quest to find out about her step-grandfather. However, the discovery led to some disturbing and dark truths about Jim Mordecai, her step-grandfather. The ID docuseries was released on February 15, 2024, and all four episodes are currently streaming on Max.
Jim Mordecai worked as a teacher in the San Francisco Bay Area. However, women and children in the family were aware of his tendencies for physical violence and sexual assault, per People. The docuseries revealed accounts of Mordecai’s second wife, Jeanne Kirkpatrick, who described Mordecai’s physical threats, including flipping the dining table over and warnings that stopped her from leaving him. His third wife reportedly kept a gun by her bedside to make sure she was safe from him.
Christi Probst, Jeanne’s daughter and Mordecai’s stepdaughter, shared her experiences in the docuseries. She revealed that Jim Mordecai repeatedly raped her from the time she was 13 years old, as per what she revealed in the docuseries. The first time it happened, Christi reportedly tried to stop him, resulting in him getting a scratch on his face. When Jeanne asked him about it, he told her it was caused by his razor. Aside from this, Mordecai abused several other teenage women when he worked at a Future Farmers of America Club.
Was Mordecai the Santa Rosa killer?
The Santa Rosa Hitchhiker Murders included the killing of seven different women. Authorities found their remains in Sonoma County and Santa Rosa’s North Bay area. The murders occurred between 1972 and 1973. After Jim Mordecai died, Sierra’s family found a box of jewelry and belongings in his possession, according to the Huff Post. The possessions seemed to have belonged to the teenage girls, making the family suspicious of his true identity.
However, the docuseries doesn’t offer a conclusion as to whether he was the Santa Rosa Murderer. The investigation is reportedly still ongoing. Moreover, Sierra Barter, Mordecai’s step-granddaughter, believes he might be the Zodiac killer. When she first heard the story of Kathleen Johns, a woman who escaped the Zodiac killer, she reportedly drew comparisons between the experience of her mother, Shannon Barter, and Jim Mordecai.
The Truth About Jim: Was Jim Mordecai the Zodiac Killer?
There are several reasons why the Zodiac killer remains an intriguing and mysterious figure. While the fact that the killer was never caught or identified is one, the number of crimes he committed within a short period was large. The Zodiac killer murdered five people between December 1968 and October 1969. When the family discovered Jim Mordecai’s crimes, suspicions of him being the Zodiac killer also rose, according to Rolling Stone.
When the Zodiac Killer was active, Jim Mordecai was attending school at UC Davis. The place he went to school to wasn’t too far away from San Fransisco, where the Zodiac killings took place. Moreover, Mordecai reportedly loved going on long drives. This made it possible that he might have driven to kill and then returned like nothing ever happened. Mordecai also had the same shoe size as the Zodiac Killer. Other physical similarities, according to Sierra Barter’s investigation, are revealed in the documentary.
However, in her discussions with Mike Butterfield, a leading expert in the investigation of the Zodiac killings, they concluded that the likeliness of Jim Mordecai being the Zodiac killer is comparatively low because Mordecai’s crimes were all sexual in nature while the Zodiac killer did not express tendencies for any sexual crimes and only killed his victims.
The Truth About Jim is currently streaming on Max.
