Joe Kenda

Joe Kenda
Born (1946-08-28) August 28, 1946
Herminie, Pennsylvania

Police career

Department Colorado Springs Police Department
Country United States
Years of service 1973–1996
Rank Lieutenant
Other work Documentary television star

Joseph Perry Kenda (born August 28, 1946) is a former Colorado Springs Police Department detective who solved 387 homicides in his career.[1] He is featured on the Investigation Discovery television show Homicide Hunter, where he recounts stories of homicides he solved.

Early life

Kenda grew up in the western Pennsylvania town of Herminie, Pennsylvania, about 30 miles from Pittsburgh. His uncle, father, and grandfather worked in the coal mines, with his grandfather dying in a coal mine accident in 1933. His mother was originally from Colorado Springs, Colorado. At a young age, Kenda was fascinated with crime, especially murder. He recalls a trip to the Pittsburgh Zoo as a child when he noticed a sign near the primate house that read, “Around this corner is the most dangerous animal on Earth.” Kenda turned the corner and was staring into a mirror.[2]

He graduated from Greensburg Central Catholic High School in 1964.[2] He attended the University of Pittsburgh, where he married his high school girlfriend Mary Kathleen "Kathy" Mohler in 1967.[3][2] After graduating with a B.A. in political science the following year, Kenda earned a master's degree in international relations from The Ohio State University in 1970. He wanted to pursue a career in the Foreign Service, but abandoned this dream after he attended a classified briefing with the Central Intelligence Agency and was unimpressed.[2] He worked for a time at his father's trucking business.[4] In 1973, Kenda, his wife and two children moved to Colorado Springs, where he joined the police department.[2]

Law enforcement career

With the Colorado Springs Police Department, Kenda eventually became a detective. He worked in homicides for over 19 years and eventually led the homicide department. “I loved the work,” he said. “My wife – not so much.”[2] He solved 92 percent of assault cases, which he credited to being a student of human nature and being good at telling when people were lying.[4] In 1990, he investigated the case of a woman named Dianne Hood who was murdered at a lupus support group meeting by an attacker who took her purse. According to Kenda, the case "met the standard for a Hollywood plot" and received a great deal of media attention, including a People magazine story and several books.[3]

Near the end of his career, Kenda's wife became convinced that he would be murdered on the job. She confronted him about it one night after he came home late from work. His family moved to Falcon, Colorado in 1993 and he retired three years later. For the next several years, Kenda was unhappy with retirement and went through a withdrawal stage.[2] Kenda had been a special needs school bus operator for a decade starting in 1998.[5]

Television career

By 2008, Denver television series editor Patrick Bryant had worked as a free-lancer for several production companies for over ten years, having edited over two hundred episodes of various series on networks including Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, HGTV, Food Channel and TLC. He also edited sizzle reels for development departments of production companies, helping with their efforts to sell new series to TV Networks. In 2009 Bryant decided to try his hand at independently creating his own series as a Producer. Un-scripted re-enactment American crime series were extremely popular at the time, a logical choice for Bryant's first effort. Years prior Bryant had lived in Colorado Springs and worked at a local TV station when Lt. Joe Kenda was in charge of the Major Crimes Unit. Bryant had interviewed Kenda as part of a TV special about the local drug trade tied to a rising homicide rate. Kenda left a lasting impression on Bryant as a great interview subject. In 2009 Bryant opted to contact Kenda to discuss the possibility of developing a TV series built around his career as a Homicide Detective. Kenda was slow to respond, but eventually struck an agreement to pursue the development of the series with Bryant. A 5 minute sizzle reel created by Bryant and Kenda was shown to FOX21 Studios in Los Angeles, who shopped the series to multiple TV networks. It was acquired by Investigation Discovery in 2010, and went into production in February of 2011.

Kenda surprised television producers when they asked him to read a script. He refused, stating, “I’m not an actor. I’m a policeman. If you want me to tell you about this case, I will. If you want me to read that, get somebody else.”[2] He spoke off the cuff for 15 minutes without a script, and the producers were enthralled. Since then he has been working without a script. The series was titled Homicide Hunter: Lt Joe Kenda, first aired in September 2011 on Investigation Discovery network, becoming a top viewer ratings performer.

Kenda gave producers 30 of his past cases to read, and they picked the ten they believed were most suited for television audiences. The first season was shot in Hollywood, but all episodes since have been filmed in Colorado Springs. A younger version of Kenda is portrayed by the actor Carl Marino. Kenda admits he looks over the case files before shooting, but said his memory is "absolutely perfect".[3] Each episode takes four hours to shoot. He has been humbled by the success of the show, which has been renewed for a sixth season [6] and has aired throughout the world.[2]

References

  1. ↑ Crooks, Pete. "Exclusive Interview: Meet The Homicide Hunter". diablomag.com. Diablo Magazine. Retrieved November 12, 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Morlan, Angie (September 2015). "Face to Face in Falcon: He’s a policeman – not an actor ... but". The New Falcon Herald. Retrieved September 23, 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 Owen, Rob (October 2, 2012). "Western Pa. native Joe Kenda starting 2nd year in 'Homicide Hunter'". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved September 23, 2015.
  4. 1 2 Lee, Luane (October 15, 2015). "‘Homicide Hunter’ makes former detective a star". The Columbus Dispatch. Retrieved September 24, 2015.
  5. ↑ Owen, Rob (August 2015). "Detective Joe Kenda now shares cases with viewers". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved April 10, 2016.
  6. ↑ "NERDIST PODCAST: JOE KENDA". Nerdist.com. Nerdist Industries. Retrieved 28 December 2015.

External links


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