The Max true-crime documentary series The Truth About Jim follows a woman named Sierra Barter as she investigates her step-grandfather Jim Mordecai, who by all accounts was a terrible person — but could he be a serial killer? That’s what Barter hopes to find out.
Not only does Barter suspect her step-grandad is a killer, she also thinks he might be the Zodiac Killer, who killed anywhere from five to nearly 40 people in Northern California in the `60s, but was never caught. Or instead, Mordecai might be the Santa Rosa hitchhiker killer, another famous unsolved case from the same period.
The Mordecai evidence
Evidence supporting Barter’s line of inquiry includes Jim Mordecai’s alleged sexual harassment and abuse of teenage girls and overall abusive behavior, especially toward women and girls. In the show, Mordecai’s stepdaughter accuses him of rape, and the evidence mounts from there.
Mordecai, who was a teacher, lived in the same area where the Zodiac and Santa Rosa murders happened, and Barter also explores the possibility that the Zodiac and Santa Rose killer could be the same person — her step-granddad.
So, what does Barter learn? Watch the show and find out. For now, here’s an update on where the subject of Barter’s scrutiny — Mordecai — is now.
Mordecai died from cancer
By the time The Truth About Jim came out, Jim Mordecai had died, and Rolling Stone says it was from cancer, so regardless of what Barter and her family found out, there was no chance of justice being done for the people Mordecai may or may not have killed. Still, Barter and her family seem to find closure by investigating the possibility and healing from Mordecai’s unquestionably abusive behavior.
The Truth About Jim is available to stream now on Max.
