Bitter Blood

Archival Summary & Scope

Jerry Bledsoe investigates the true story of nine brutal murders connecting three prominent Southern families: the Sharps, Newsoms, and Lynches. What began with the slaying of a wealthy widow and her daughter in Louisville, Kentucky, was followed months later by the brutal killings of another prominent family in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Police initially suspected professional hitmen, but suspicions soon focused on family ties. At the center of the mystery: Susie Sharp Newsom Lynch, an aristocratic young mother, and her gun-loving first cousin and lover, Fritz Klenner, son of a nationally renowned doctor. This account explores obsessive love, bitter custody battles, and the shocking events that shattered two communities.