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, where he recounted stories of cases he solved. Kenda hosts the Discovery+ show American Detective With Lt. Joe Kenda. 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.