Max has a brand-new documentary available to watch titled The Truth About Jim, featuring an intriguing cast of real people pushing the story forward.
First released on February 15, The Truth About Jim details the story behind a young woman investigating a murder case and looking to find out if her step-grandfather is actually a serial killer.
The documentary showcases the young woman traveling across the United States to reconnect with her family and close friends to uncover dark and disturbing secrets about her elder relative, trying to find the truth by any means necessary.
Every Interviewee & Subject in The Truth About Jim
Jim Mordecai
The core subject of this documentary is Jim Mordecai, an abusive man who is said to have raped and tormented multiple members of his family over the course of multiple decades.
He was married three separate times and had four biological children along with four stepchildren, and although he had a job as a teacher, viewers learned about horror stories detailing his abusive and violent nature towards students and family.
While Mordecai passed away in 2008, his reported victims come out in this documentary to tell the world how he made their lives nearly unbearable.
Sierra Barter
At the center of the entire investigation is Sierra Barter, Jim Mordechai's step-granddaughter who heads up a thorough investigation to find out whether he is the true suspect behind multiple Northern California killings.
Barter brings together estranged members of her family to dive into the potential connections between her step-grandfather and the murders committed by both the Santa Rosa hitchhiker murderer and the Zodiac killer.
She goes on a deep and detailed investigation to see whether her elder relative could have been responsible for either of those killings or whether the characteristics she finds from both subjects are mere coincidence.
Judy Mordecai
Judy Mordecai is the central killer's third and final wife, who met Jim in college before they got married during their senior year.
She first realized her attraction to Jim seeing his work as a teacher, getting a wholesome sense from him, although she and her family suffered years of abuse during her relationship with Jim.
Shannon Barter
Shannon Barter is Jim's stepdaughter who had him as her science teacher at school and suffered a great deal of abuse, which came after she got angry with her mother for dating Jim in the first place.
Jim would blatantly sexualize Shannon in front of her entire class at school, and she described how he seemed to enjoy the students and other people getting angry with him for his antics.
He even cornered her and threatened her with violence, calling her at her home when her mother was gone and threatening her in a violent and sexual manner oftentimes, making her live in constant fear.
Jeanne Kirkpatrick
Jim's second wife is Jeanne Kirkpatrick, whom he married in 1972 and divorced in 1983, with Jeanne being quite vocal about the horrible experience she had being married to Jim.
They met at the Methodist Church in Half Moon Bay, California, attracted to the way he worked with kids as a teacher. Needing a father for her own children to look up to, Jim was the right match for Jeanne.
She described Jim as being obsessed with her, and after experiencing his deviant sexual manner and seeing the violence he used against her, she asked for a divorce, leading him to put a loaded gun in her mouth and threaten to kill her.
Michael Probst
Michael Probst is Jeanne's son from her second marriage who saw his mother get abused and beaten by his stepfather, not wanting Jim in his life at all from the moment they were acquainted with each other.
Jim tried to teach Michael how to fight at an early age, although Jim's teaching "style" wound up as him forcing Michael to go up to a school bully in the first grade and having Michael beat him in the face over and over again.
Michael also described instances where Jim took him on drives down back roads and showed him a dead body, which was nude and hogtied, traumatizing him as a young boy.
Christi Probst
Christi Probst is Michael's brother and Jim's stepdaughter from his second marriage (Jeanne), whose birth parents divorced when she was under 10 years old.
She detailed horrible experiences with her stepfather as she told the documentary crew how he raped her on multiple occasions and groomed her starting at 13 years old. She described him as "a narcissist, a bully, manipulator, a homophobic, racist, violent, [and] psychotic."
According to Probst, he would even make up school or family events for them to attend to get them completely alone, and she eventually had to fight him physically to try to keep herself safe.
Melissa Mordecai
Melissa Mordecai is a prominent part of this series as Jim and Jeanne's biological daughter, who found a way to utilize a special connection she had with her father when he got violent and scary.
She described herself as one of the only people who could calm him down when he got unreasonable, although she also felt intense pressure to be the absolute best at everything she did in his eyes.
Jaime Mordecai
Jim and Jeanne had another daughter named Jaime Mordecai, who was very outspoken for a long time about the way she felt about her father.
Self-described as the black sheep of the family, Jaime refused to play any of Jim's games where he was abusive towards her other family members, noting how Jim even wanted her and her sister to hate their mother.
She also disclosed having nightmares about her father raping her when she was only 15 years old, which came when she was dealing with a bad bout of scoliosis.
Trish Fruhwirth
Christi had a best friend in high school named Trish Fruhwirth, who came out as a victim of Jim's abuse on a Facebook post put online by Judy years after her late husband's death.
Unequivocally calling Jim a predator, she recalled coming to him in high school after experiencing some major challenges with her stepmom, although she quickly learned how bad he truly was.
One time, Jim invited Trish to his house as things were bad with her mother, although he later proceeded to invite her into his hot tub and give her alcohol and drugs before she ran away from him.
Valarie Richey
Valarie Richey is an alum of the same high school that most of the core group of people attended, serving as a teacher's assistant for Jim during her time there.
Involved in a couple of clubs Jim ran at the school, he took Valarie to a horse breeding facility, taking advantage of her love of horses.
After that, he took her to his family cabin and pushed her to sleep with him.
Deb Silva
Deb Silva is a friend of Valerie's who lives in Santa Rosa, California, and she spends a great deal of time investigating a string of murders referred to as the Santa Rosa Hitchhiker murders with a website dedicated to them.
Sierra goes to her to seek out information on whether her step-grandfather could have potentially been responsible for these murders as well as other major killings in the '60s and '70s.
Mary
Mary is a friend of two girls killed in the Santa Rosa murders named Maureen Sterling and Yvonne Weber, likely being the last person to see the girls alive.
Mary saw the girls leave with an older man at an ice skating rink, and Sierra gathers information from her on whether this person could have potentially been her step-grandfather Jim.
Nina Hobson
Seeking further help on the case, Sierra hires Nina Dutton, an accomplished private investigator, to help her get to the bottom of the matter regarding Jim.
Sierra comes to Nina with extensive information already gathered on the case, and Nina also provides emotional support for Sierra when they go to the police station to take the investigation further.
Mike Butterfield
Mike Butterfield works in San Francisco, California as an investigator - one who is a self-proclaimed expert on the world-famous Zodiac killer in the '60s and '70s.
As Sierra talked to him about the information she had gathered about her own grandfather, the two discussed the theory of Jim possibly being the Zodiac killer, who has never been caught to this day.
Duffy Jennings
The Max documentary takes a quick moment to highlight Duffy Jennings, a San Francisco Chronicle reporter from the 1970s who saw some of the letters written by the Zodiac killer.
He explained to the audience how the killer used the media to spread fear nationwide, sending letters to the paper even years after the killings stopped.
Ray Carr
Sierra takes a meeting with a retired FBI profiler named Ray Carr, who helps her look further into the details behind the aforementioned Santa Rosa hitchhiker murders.
After looking at the material Sierra compiles, Ray gives her credit for the work she put in, hoping to find out more about whether Jim actually committed the noted murders.
Theron Vines
Sierra and her family make an appointment with forensic DNA expert Theron Vines after gathering a number of Jim's items from a previously abandoned storage locker.
Theron then gets DNA samples from Sierra and two of her family members to potentially match against what came off of the items from Jim.
Bill Allan
Following the analysis, Sierra gets a call from DNA and cybergenetics expert Bill Allan about the materials she provided.
While he still had more work to do, Allan was able to match Jim's DNA to the samples found on his items, and he appeared hopeful they would be able to move along further with Sierra's investigation with that information in hand.
All four episodes of The Truth About Jim are available to stream on Max.
