Joe Kenda

Joseph Patrick Kenda (born November 14, 1946) is a retired Colorado Springs Police Department detective lieutenant who was involved in 387 homicide cases over a 23-year career. He solved 356 cases, a closure rate of 92%. He was featured on the Investigation Discovery television show Homicide Hunter, on which series he recounted stories of cases that he had solved. Kenda hosts the Discovery+ show American Detective With Lt. Joe Kenda. His debut novel "All is not forgiven" was released in July 2023.

Early life
Kenda was born and raised in Herminie, Pennsylvania on November 14, 1946. His paternal grandparents immigrated in 1913 from Čezsoča in what is now Slovenia. His father, William, served as an intelligence officer in the United States Army during World War II and ran a trucking business. His mother, Virginia (née Morrissey), was from Colorado Springs.

He graduated from Greensburg Central Catholic High School in 1964. He attended the University of Pittsburgh, and married his high school girlfriend, Mary Kathleen Mohler, in 1967. After graduating with a B.A. in political science, Kenda earned a master's degree in international relations from Ohio State University in 1970.

Kenda considered a career with the Foreign Service, but after a classified briefing with the Central Intelligence Agency decided it was not for him. After working at his father's trucking business, Kenda joined the Colorado Springs Police Department in 1973.

Law enforcement career
Kenda joined the Colorado Springs Police Department in 1973. In 1977, he was promoted to the rank of detective and assigned a role in the burglary division of the department.

In 1977, Kenda volunteered to take over an attempted murder case deemed unsolvable by veteran detectives. Kenda solved the case and was moved to the police department's homicide unit. He was promoted to sergeant in 1980, and returned to homicide in 1984.

As a homicide detective, Kenda solved 356 of 387 homicide cases, a closure rate of 92%. Kenda credited his ability to close cases to being a student of human nature and being good at telling when people were lying. His claim of solving 356 cases between 1977-1996 has been called into question by his colleagues.

Kenda retired in August 1996 after an interrogation with an accused sex offender pushed Kenda to react violently. Kenda had to be restrained from injuring the 74-year-old accused offender, who told Kenda he had abused his 5-year-old grandson because the boy had "come on to (him)".

Kenda worked as a homicide detective with the Colorado Springs Police Department from 1977 to 1981, and 1984–1996.

In the final episode of Homicide Hunter: Lt. Joe Kenda, called "The End", the personal impact of his work in homicide is detailed, as is his retirement, work as a bus driver for special-needs students, and battle with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Television career
In 2008, Denver television series editor Patrick Bryant contacted Kenda to discuss a television series about Kenda's career as a homicide detective. The series, Homicide Hunter: Lt Joe Kenda, aired in September 2011 on the Investigation Discovery network. Scene reenactments were filmed in Knoxville, Tennessee. In its ninth season, Homicide Hunter was Investigation Discovery’s top show, averaging 1.7 million viewers each week in the third quarter of 2018. The series finale, "The End", aired on January 29, 2020.

In December 2020, Kenda began a new series, American Detective with Lt. Joe Kenda, with each episode featuring Kenda discussing the cases of different homicide detectives in the United States. It premiered on January 4, 2021 with the launch of the Discovery+ streaming service.

Personal life
Kenda married his high school girlfriend, Mary Kathleen Kathy Mohler, on December 26, 1967. They have two children, Dan and Kris. Kenda's family appeared in two episodes of the Homicide Hunter, "Married to the Job", which aired on February 6, 2019, and in the series finale "The End" on January 29, 2020.

Kenda lives in the Tidewater region of Virginia.

Cold cases resolved
After his retirement, two unsolved cases that Kenda had investigated during his career were finally solved in 2021 with the use of DNA: the homicides of Darlene Krashoc in 1987 and Mary Lynn Vialpando in 1988.

Writing career
In 2023 Kenda had his first novel published by Blackstone publishing. All Is Not Forgiven is a fictional account of the rookie Det. Kenda’s investigation of a case in the year 1975.