Lt. Joe Kenda Doesn't Use a Script When Narrating Homicide Hunter: 'You Would Remember It Too' (2024)

• Crime

For Lt. Joe Kenda, being a homicide detective is more than a job.

In his 23 years on the Colorado Springs police force, Kenda has solved 356 homicide cases for a 92 percent solve rate, according to Investigation Discovery, which has aired his popular true crime docuseries, Homicide Hunter: Lt. Joe Kenda, since 2011.

“You have to be determined,” Kenda said in a recent interview with PEOPLE Now in advance of the show’s ninth and final season, which premieres on ID tonight at 9 p.m. ET.

“You have to treat it as a mission and not as a job. Nobody’s gonna go home at 5 o’clock. We have something to do, we’re gonna be here doing it.”

On Homicide Hunter, Kenda’s narration of the murder cases he has solved is set to dramatic reenactments. Kenda says he doesn’t use a script while narrating.

“You would remember it too if you did it,” he says. “When you tell someone’s mother who’s not coming home ever again — you don’t forget that. You don’t.”

He also says he has oversight over everything that goes on screen — and that accuracy is paramount.

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“We want to present this as it happened. Not in some Hollywood way with car chases and gun battles, but the reality of it,” he says. “And one of my greatest compliments is that a lot of policemen are fans of the show. Because it’s real and you know it’s real.”

PEOPLE Now airs live, Monday through Friday, from the Meredith offices in New York City.

Catch PEOPLE Now every weekday at 12:00 p.m. ET/9 a.m. PT on People.com or on the PeopleTV app on your favorite streaming device. Want even more? Check out clips from previous episodes of PEOPLE Now.

The ninth and final season of Homicide Hunter: Lt. Joe Kenda premiers tonight on Investigation Discovery at 9 p.m. ET.