‘The Truth About Jim’ True Crime Docuseries Review
This show streamed in 2024.
The Truth About Jim is a four-part MAX true crime documentary series that weaves a conspiracy theory surrounding the Santa Rosa hitchhiker killings in the 1970s.
Sierra Barter recounts the stories surrounding her “step-grandfather,” teacher Jim Mordecai, whom she and others allege was abusive. As they recount the history of his life, they connect his movements with the Zodiac Killer and the Santa Rosa hitchhiker murders.
If Jim did even a fraction of the things to his wives, stepchildren, and students, he is a real scumbag who should have been thrown under the jail. If he was connected to the Santa Rose victims and the Zodiac Killer, he got away with something horrible. That is a big “if.”
I am puzzled as to how this documentary got approved. There are a lot of wild accusations and speculations, but that is it. With very little exception, it seemed everyone had some axe to grind against Jim Mordecai. Maybe he was a piece of crap. That certainly is possible, but many of the allegations came with no evidence, not even a police report.
The participants did a major bait-and-switch where they went on about this jewelry box they found with items that belonged to no family members, implying it belonged to murder victims. Barter made a big fuss about how that freaked them out, and that was why they thought he might be Zodiac or the Santa Rosa killer, and keeping momentos in that box. Oh, but conveniently, the jewelry box was missing, revealed to be sold off. There was not even a photograph of it.
They also talked about how he was a religious nut, presenting a Bible with a handful of scriptures highlighted. They offer no evidence that it is even Jim’s Bible. His signature was not even on it. In my opinion, it looked brand new.
That was the bulk of all four episodes. Barter, her friends, and her family members all told horrifying stories of Jim and tried to line them up with the timeline of Zodiac and Santa Rosa, but it was a stretch, to say the least. They offered no corroboration, and a simple search proves Jim was never a suspect in any of these crimes. There was even a scene where Barter brings what she has to a PI, who acted surprised that this was even brought to her.
Essentially, this was an amateur-hour documentary that had a lot of finger-pointing, but no solid proof or even circumstantial evidence. It felt like a family of two with a terrible matriarch who wanted to find more but did not find anything else.
Check out the trailer below:
PARENTAL CONCERNS: Disturbing topics, Strong foul language, Major sexual themes
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