FBI agent helping in 1963 bombing dies at 87

Frank Spencer, an FBI agent who helped investigate the 1963 Klu Klux Klan church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama, died of lung cancer on Tuesday, June 6, at the age of 87. Spencer testified in 2001 about the bombing at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church. Spencer testified against Klansman, Thomas Blanton Jr. Spencer retired from the Tampa FBI office in 1977. After that, he headed the Tampa office of the Florida Division of Insurance Fraud, from which he retired in 1987.


On the morning of Sunday, September 15, 1963, three Klu Klux Klan members planted 19 sticks of dynamite in the basement of the Sixteenth Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. At around 10:25, the bombs exploded killing four young girls: Addie Mae Collins, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley, and Denise McNair. In addition the building's basement and rear were destroyed, two cars were destroyed, and 22 other people were injured. The three men responsible have since received life sentences, and two have already died in prison.