According to The Forum, the first person to notice the fire that night was Kathryn. She later told investigators she had gone downstairs just after midnight and when she flipped a light switch fire erupted. The Jenkins’ son-in-law Dean Bienusa started trying to put it out.

He said he told his family along with Kathryn to take refuge from the flames in a black 1961 Ford parked outside. Eventually, the family, including a barefoot Kathryn, ran to the neighbor’s house.

 

Written by Tracy Briggs