Dennis Lynch, 19, Accused of Killing Parents In Loomis, Had Criminal History

ROSEVILLE (CBS13) -- The adoptive son of lobbyists Kathryn Lynch and Gerald Upholt, who were found dead in their Loomis home Monday, faces charges in their deaths.

Dennis Henry Lynch, 19, was arraigned Wednesday at Sutter Roseville hospital, where he is being treated after he was shot by Placer County sheriff's deputies while trying to leave the home where his parents were found dead inside.

Lynch faces charges for murder, using a "deadly and dangerous weapon(s)", committing the offenses while out on bail, and "resist, obstruct, delay of [a] peace officer or EMT," listed by a Placer County sheriff's sergeant. He also faces a charge for "brandishing a replica gun" in such a way "as to cause a reasonable person apprehension and fear of bodily harm." The charges also include special allegations that the murders took place while Lynch was out on bail.

"I knew there was something wrong but never in a million years could have imagined what was wrong," said Ann Anderson, Kathy Lynch's assistant for 12 years at Lynch & Associates.

Anderson said she emailed Kathy Lynch Thursday night around midnight. On Friday morning, she received a call from a client that Kathy did not show up for a meeting which, as Anderson put it, was "out of character" for Kathy. She began to call and email both Kathy and Upholt, but did not get a response.

"It's hard to believe a world she isn't in. I thought she would be lobbying into her old age. I think everybody that knew her did," said Anderson. She described Kathy Lynch as a lobbyist with the rare skill of seeing both sides of an issue.

"She called herself Switzerland in my first interview with her," said Anderson.

The realities of what happened in Kathy and Upholt's Loomis home are still sinking in for Anderson, she said. Waiting for an email that won't arrive, she said, has been one of the more surreal realities of the loss.

As for criminal charges, Dennis Lynch is due in court on April 1 for charges stemming from November 2021 and January 2022.

He faces a misdemeanor for possession of a smoking device used for smoking a controlled substance, according to court documents. It is also alleged in court documents that he stole a Toyota forklift in November 2021 and then, in January 2022 a dirt bike from an 11-year-old. In both incidents, he pleaded not guilty.

As of Wednesday, a spokesperson for the Placer County District Attorney's Office said he is still scheduled to appear on Friday for those earlier charges.

On the murder charges, and others related to his parents' killings, he is due in court on April 13. He is being held without bail.