Discovery Press Web United States

• Print

(New York, NY) – During HOMICIDE HUNTER’s nine seasons on ID, Lt. Joe Kenda captivated viewers with stories from the hundreds of murder cases he solved throughout his 23-year-long career. With an eidetic memory and a 92% closure rate, Kenda recounted all the success stories he had to tell on the hit TV series….until now. Three cases that kept Lt. Joe Kenda up at night will finally be put to rest as he returns to the screen for three theatrical-length HOMICIDE HUNTER specials, revealing chilling new details of career-defining cases. With his gruff voice and no-nonsense demeanor, Kenda leads viewers through labyrinthine cases that have plagued him for years with the first two-hour special focused on the investigation of a female soldier whose killer was a shadow in the night for decades. HOMICIDE HUNTER: NEVER GIVE UP premieres on ID on Wednesday, August 17 from 9-11PM ET/PT, debuting on the heels of an all-new season of AMERICAN DETECTIVE WITH LT. JOE KENDA, which airs on Wednesdays at 10PM ET/PT on ID. Both are available to stream the same day on discovery+.

“Since I joined the network, we at ID have wanted to bring the HOMICIDE HUNTER brand back to our air. Unfortunately, we had told all the stories we could possibly tell from Kenda’s incredible history of cases…until now. Thanks to advances in science, Joe has finally been able to close cases that have remained unsolved for decades,” said Jason Sarlanis, President of Crime and Investigative Content, Linear and Streaming. “We are delighted to deliver our fans a dynamic and cinematic approach to their beloved HOMICIDE HUNTER with a trilogy of premium, feature-length specials. An event literally thirty years in the making.” 

In HOMICIDE HUNTER: NEVER GIVE UP, the body of a 20-year-old active-duty soldier, Darlene Krashoc, is found dumped behind a restaurant in Colorado in March 1987. A victim of torture and sexual assault, Lt. Joe Kenda and his team recall the series of events that occurred throughout the investigation and the many leads which turned into dead ends. But before the case goes cold, Kenda has the foresight to meticulously package and preserve every piece of fluid evidence found at the crime scene, a costly and complicated endeavor at the time, noting, “it may never come to anything, but it could come to everything.” More than three decades later and the advent of new DNA technology, what it came to is definitively putting a name to Darlene’s killer: Michael David Whyte.

In this feature-length HOMICIDE HUNTER special, viewers follow along as Kenda and his team painstakingly recount the investigation from 1987 and the 2,000 pages of case files that never pointed them toward Whyte. Now, with DNA evidence collected at the scene more than three decades ago and with help from the cold case team at the Colorado Springs Police Department, the shadow in the night has a name, Darlene’s parents have justice, and Kenda has one less nightmare.  

Details on the remaining two HOMICIDE HUNTER specials will be released at a later date. 

Viewers can join the conversation on social media by using the hashtag #HomicideHunter.

In AMERICAN DETECTIVE, Kenda trades in his own case files to bring viewers astounding investigations from across the country. Tipping his cap to the other great men and women who answered the call, each episode profiles a different homicide detective whose tireless efforts helped bring justice to the victim. Joe Kenda guides us through the nuances of each case and the dogged detective work it took to solve the seemingly unsolvable. New episodes of AMERICAN DETECTIVE WITH LT. JOE KENDA premiere on Wednesdays at 10PM ET/PT on ID and are available to stream the same day on discovery+.