GREENSBORO -- This week marked the 30th anniversary of “Bitter Blood” killings. It’s been 30 years since a shootout, chase and explosion along Highway 150 in Guilford County ended a true crime drama in the Triad.

Former Greensboro police officer Tommy Dennis has looked death in the face.

It was when Fritz Klenner opened fire on him with a machine gun at the intersection of Friendly Avenue and College Road.

"He was looking, he had on dark sunglasses and was smiling the whole while," said Dennis.

The saga started the month before in Winston-Salem, with the murders of three members of a prominent family on Valley Road.

Robert Newsom, his wife Florence and his mother Hattie were found shot to death in their home.

Wooty Peoples has lived in the house since 1986.

"It’s a very, very sad story, awful story for the families involved, awful for the community,"  said Peoples.

Investigators soon started looking into a connection with the earlier murders of Delores Lynch and her daughter Janie in their suburban Louisville, Kentucky home.

The mother and sister of Tom Lynch, the Newsome’s former son-in-law, were also found shot at their home under mysterious circumstances.

Investigators say also supported Tom Lunch’s custody fight with ex-wife Susie Newsome Lynch, over their two sons, John, 10, and Jim, 9.

According to authorities, she'd become involved with her cousin, Friz Klenner, described as by police as a survivalist.

Police were watching their apartment and moved to arrest them on June 3, 1985, at the intersection in front of Guilford College.

Dennis says another officer’s car forced him right next to Klenner, who opened fire.

"He had the Uzi, he sprayed once, came back and sprayed twice to make sure he got me," said Dennis.  "The bullets came through my windshield, the top of my car, windshield, side of my car."

Dennis was saved by a bulletproof vest, but said the impact, “was like a sledgehammer.”

Klenner took off north, still firing with police in pursuit. 

The vehicle exploded on Highway 150.

Judy Burroughs mother lived nearby on Strawberry Road.

"She had laid down to take a nap and she heard this loud boom," said Burroughs.  “She knew something was going on, she heard a lot of sirens." 

A homemade bomb had been detonated by either Klenner or Lynch, killing everyone in the SUV.

Autopsies showed that the boys were given cyanide and shot in the head beforehand.

Burroughs still lives near the scene and says the crime’s fresh in our memory.

“It's still unreal that someone would do such a heinous crime,” she said.

Investigators think that family members were murdered to keep them from testifying in the custody hearing.

"It was something you read about in books, but you never expect something like this to happen in your own hometown," said Peoples.

Tom Lynch retired last year as a dentist in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He didn’t return calls.

Dennis now works in courthouse security.

"It's history, people can read it or watch the movie, I just keep working toward the future."

 

The photos used in this story were courtesy of the Greensboro News and Record and Winston-Salem Journal.