Family Secrets, Part 1

Criminal

In 1985, college student Ian Perkins was recruited by Fritz Klenner, a family friend and self-proclaimed CIA operative, to participate in a covert mission. Fritz claimed he was

Key takeaways

• Fritz Klenner cultivated an elaborate persona using weapons, military memorabilia, and a fabricated CIA identity to manipulate young Ian Perkins.
• The story reveals how trust in authority figures can be exploited through psychological manipulation and the presentation of false credentials.

Main topics

• CIA recruitment and deception
• Psychological manipulation of youth

Notable quotes

"He had all of the props, all of the ways to convince a young man that he was the real deal."

Conclusion

The episode ends with the chilling revelation that Ian Perkins believed he was part of a government-sanctioned

Transcript preview

Speaker 3 (0:00) Support for criminal comes from better help. Getting better at something is hard, whether it's running, gardening, or playing an instrument. You need to commit to the process. But it's also really rewarding when you look back and realize that this thing you couldn't do when you started now feels like second nature. Better is a feeling defined by you, and for better help, it's a better help therapist who really gets you. It's a focus on global emotional well-being with thousands of therapists and millions of members in over 100 countries. It's progress. And you can sign up to get 10 % off at BetterHelp.com slash criminal. That's BetterHelp.com slash criminal. Support for Criminal comes from Fetch Pet Insurance. Every six seconds, a pet owner in the U.S. gets hit with a vet bill over $1,000. Fetch can help. Fetch is the most complete pet insurance for dogs and cats, according to ConsumerAdvocate.org. You get paid back up to 90 % of vet bills at any vet in the U.S. and Canada, with claims paid back in as little as two days. Go to FetchPet.com slash save right now for your free quote. That's FetchPet Speaker 2 (1:08) .com. Dr. Klinner was quite famous. He had, for many decades, touted a theory that megadoses of vitamin C that he administered to patients would cure polio and diseases such as multiple sclerosis. Greensboro News and Record reporter Susan Spear. He drew patients from all over the United States and some from outside of the U.S. to his small clinic. Dr. Fred Klenner Speaker 3 (1:50) opened his clinic in Reidsville, North Carolina, in 1939. Speaker 3 (1:55) The sign on the door read, Fred R. Klenner, Diseases of the Chest, Limited General Practice. He said that after he successfully treated his wife's bleeding gums with vitamin C, he used it to cure pneumonia and the measles. He started giving it to patients for anything from spider bites to arthritis to cancer. One reporter wrote that he was known to take 65 vitamin tablets every day. Speaker 3 (2:24) People started coming from all over for his help. One person later said his patients thought he was, quote, right next to Christ. Inside his office, Dr. Klenner reportedly hung up hornet's nests. He displayed a leather-bound Bible and a large grandfather clock. He also kept segregated waiting rooms. Speaker 3 (2:48) Dr. Klenner's parents had immigrated from Germany, and during World War II, Dr. Klenner was rumored to be a Nazi sympathizer. Speaker 2 (2:57) He also collected a lot of memorabilia from World War II, a lot of weapons. He kept a farm in Rockingham County where there were reportedly bunkers and great stores of ammo and shooting practice for he and his son, Fritz. Fritz was Dr. Klenner's youngest child Speaker 3 (3:22) and only son. By the time Fritz was 11, his father reportedly had given him his first real gun, a German Luger pistol. He'd already given him hundreds of toy guns by then. Fritz developed a huge interest in guns and was also fascinated by German military history. One reporter wrote that he often wore an army fatigue jacket to school. The Klenner family lived in a large brick home on Huntsdale Road in Reidsville. Down the street lived a family with close ties to the Klenners, the Perkins. Dr. Klenner was the Perkins family doctor. He delivered their son, Ian, when he was born. Speaker 2 (4:07) They were neighbors. They were social equals with high status. And Dr. Klenner was credited with curing Ian's mother's polio when Ian's mother was a child. And so... There were a lot of links between the family. Speaker 3 (4:32) Dr. Klenner's son, Fritz, was 11 years older than Ian Perkins, former Forsyth County detective, Alan Gentry. Speaker 1 (4:42) He had seen Fritz growing up around him. He'd been off with him shooting weapons out at his father's farm in Rockingham County. Speaker 3 (4:52) One neighbor later said that Ian Perkins looked up to Fritz Klenner like an uncle. Speaker 3 (4:59) Ian Perkins was described in high school as being quiet and studious. He belonged to the Bible Club. He went to college at Washington and Lee University in Virginia, where he first tried to major in chemical engineering, but later switched to philosophy. He played Dungeons and Dragons, and he enrolled in the National Guard. During his junior year, he left school for a few months to train Speaker 2 (5:27) in Texas. He was a bit aimless, and he was interested in possibly getting involved in work with the State Department like one of his great-uncles. At this point, Fritz saw him when Ian was home from college. Fritz and Ian went shooting together Speaker 3 (5:52) when Ian was home, using Fritz's assault rifles, pistols, and machine guns. Then, Fritz visited Ian at Washington and Lee. While he was there, he told Ian a secret. He said Speaker 2 (6:07) he worked for the CIA. Fritz appealed to Ian's interest in government service and Ian's wish to try to go into FBI, CIA-type spy work as a career. and convinced Ian Perkins that he, Fritz, was an operative for the CIA and that he could put in good words for Ian, could help shape his future, and indeed could give him some on-the-job training with some, quote, missions. Speaker 3 (6:55) He said he was being sent to Texas, where he had been tasked with killing someone who was stealing from government armories and trading the weapons for drugs. He said he'd been authorized to bring Ian along to see how Ian performed under pressure. Speaker 3 (7:13) A few months later, on Friday, May 17th, 1985, Fritz Klenner called Ian Perkins and told him it was time to go. Speaker 2 (7:23) Fritz had asked him to drive the two of them to Virginia to the peaks of Otter, which is a camping area. And then... to create a campsite together and establish an alibi for the weekend. As they Speaker 3 (7:47) drove to the campsite in the Blue Ridge Mountains, in Fritz's Chevy Blazer, Fritz told Ian that their mission had changed. They would no longer be going to Texas, but instead would be going to Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Speaker 3 (8:03) When they arrived at the campsite early the next morning, they chose a spot with no one else around them. They set up a tent and went to bed. On Saturday evening, around 5 p.m., they started out for Winston-Salem, several hours away. On the way there, they stopped at a rest