Thirty years ago Wednesday afternoon, Fritz Klenner’s Blazer exploded on a highway in Summerfield.
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Contact Margaret Moffett at (336) 373-7031, and follow @MargaretMoffett on Twitter.
More coverage
Read more: Read Sunday's story, watch the Bitter Blood movie and read the original N&R series here.
What people said
“In his right mind, (Fritz Klenner) would not harm a flea. If he has done something like that, it certainly was out of keeping with his character, and the only explanation I have is that he was sick and had had all he could take.” — Annie Hill Sharp Klenner, mother and aunt, respectively, to Fritz and Susie Newsom Lynch; on June 6, 1985.
“(Susie Newsom Lynch) wouldn’t have allowed that. Maybe she was dead and sitting up in the seat before they were killed. ... The possibilities are limitless. I just can’t imagine even a crazy person being so deranged.” — Retired N.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Susie Sharp, aunt to Fritz and Susie, on autopsy results showing that Susie’s sons, Jim and John, had already been poisoned and shot to death when the Blazer exploded; in 1985.
“There’s no doubt in my mind, Susie is the most evil woman I ever heard of in my life. Fritz was following her lead. That’s what I feel about it.” — former Kentucky State Police Lt. Dan Davidson, who investigated the murders of Delores and Janie Lynch; in 1999.
“Fritz’s behavior was so aberrant and so strange, yet what it teaches us is that we can look upon strange and aberrant behavior and almost accept it as normal. We see everything the way we want to see it.” — Actor Harry Hamlin, who played Fritz Klenner in the CBS mini-series based on “Bitter Blood;” in 1993.
“The only thing I can say for Susie Q is, she was crazy and we didn’t know that. If we had known, we would have done something to get the children away from her.’’ — Louise Sharp, aunt of Fritz and Susie; in 1995.
“As long as one of us is alive, people won’t let this rest. It never goes away.” — Gertrude Klenner Wilkerson, sister to Fritz; in 1993.
— Source: News & Record archives
Timeline
Dec. 24, 1947: Susie Newsom is born in Reidsville
July 31, 1952: Frederick “Fritz” Klenner is born in Reidsville
June 6, 1970: Tom Lynch and Susie Newsom are married
Aug. 30, 1974: John Lynch is born in Beaufort, S.C.
March 26. 1976: Jim Lynch is born in Beaufort
Mid-1976: The Lynch family moves to Albuquerque, N.M., where Tom Lynch joins a dental practice
July 1979: Susie Newsom Lynch leaves her husband, and returns with the boys to her parents’ home in Greensboro
December 1979 - June 1980: Susie, John and Jim Lynch move to China, where Susie teaches English
1980-82: Tom and Susie Lynch wage a bitter battle, often through the courts, over Tom’s visitation rights
Mid-1982: Susie Lynch, who had reconnected with first cousin Fritz Klenner, develops romantic relationship with him
Dec. 21, 1982: Tom and Susie Lynch are divorced
July, 24, 1984: Bodies of Delores and Janie Lynch discovered in Prospect, Ky.
May 18, 1985: Ian Perkins, believing he is part of a covert CIA mission, drives Klenner to and from Hattie Newsom’s home in Winston-Salem
May 19, 1985: Bodies of Hattie, Bob and Florence Newsom discovered
June 3, 1985: Chevrolet Blazer carrying Klenner and Lynch — and the bodies of John and Jim Lynch — explodes around 3 p.m. on N.C. 150 in Summerfield
July 31, 1985: Ian Perkins pleads guilty to three counts of accessory after the fact of murder for the deaths of Hattie, Bob and Florence Newsom. He serves a four-month active sentence and five years probation
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