| Aphrodite Jones | |
|---|---|
Aphrodite Jones promo for True Crimes with Aphrodite Jones |
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| Born | Aphrodite Jones November 27, 1959 [1] |
| Nationality | American |
Aphrodite Jones (born November 27, 1959) is an American reporter, author, and cable TV host of the series, True Crime with Aphrodite Jones, which airs on Investigation Discovery. Before landing the hosting position with Discovery Channel's new network, Jones hosted a show called The Justice Hunters for USA Network, and then became known as a crime reporter for Fox News Channel, covering the trials of Scott Peterson, Michael Jackson, and the BTK Killer.
Most recently, Jones has been featured on a number of television news shows discussing the trial of Casey Anthony, the Florida mother accused of murdering her daughter. Jones was present for the entirety of the trial and was interviewed on The O'Reilly Factor, Piers Morgan Tonight, Issues with Jane Velez-Mitchell, Inside Edition, and Nancy Grace.[2]
In addition, Jones has regularly contributed television commentary about the psychological profiles involved in newsworthy trials including those involving O.J. Simpson, Michael Jackson, Scott Peterson, the BTK serial Killer, the Menendez Brothers, Charles Manson, Robert Blake and JonBenet Ramsey. A reporter and contributor for Fox News, Jones also hosted her own series, The Justice Hunters for USA, and began her career as a national columnist for United Features Syndicate.
At Fox News, Jones worked for Bill O'Reilly, providing trial coverage and commentary. In addition to being a Fox contributor, Jones has provided TV commentary to other major cable networks, including MSNBC, CNBC, A&E, CNN, HLN, Court TV, and E!. She also reported for the broadcast networks NBC and CBS.
Contents |
True Crime with Aphrodite Jones is in its second season on Investigation Discovery. Each episode follows Jones as she conducts her own investigations into some of the most headline-making crime stories of our time. From never-before-seen footage of JonBenét Ramsey to an exclusive interview with a confidant of Anna Nicole Smith, Jones reveals shocking new details of crimes you thought you knew. Jones lands pivotal interviews and gains insider access to those connected to the case, revealing either new evidence or conducting exclusive interviews in each episode.
Jones was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Captain Ashton Blair Jones, Jr, and his wife, Mary, who were living the military life on the Great Lakes Naval Base. Jones' paternal ancestors include Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and Pocahontas. Her father, Ashton Blair Jones, served as a communications and tactical officer during World War II, and later was the Director of the Navy Material Laboratory in Brooklyn, New York, where he met and married Mary Kalloumenous. Jones has a sister, Janet Blair, who is now the Director of the Career Center at Rutgers University.
Jones suffered the loss of both her parents at an early age. Her mother, Mary, died of a heart attack when Jones was 17, and her father, Blair, died of a heart attack just days after Jones turned 21. According to Jones, being surrounded by tragic circumstances at a young age became a theme in her life. When Jones meets a person who has suffered a sudden loss, she feels she can "empathize completely" with them. The fact that Jones has dedicated her career to "a life of crime" and crime victims is not an accident. "Though it was so many years ago that my parents died," Jones recalled, "the heartbreak always stays with me. No one really gets over the loss of their closest family, but I have used my life's work to try to help others find a moment of catharsis."
After graduating at the top of her class from UCLA in 1979, Jones completed a three-year stint as a columnist for United Media, where she chronicled the evolution of cable television in her national column, "Cable View". During that time, Jones interviewed the executives and TV personalities helping to launch and sustain such channels as MTV, VH1, HBO, Cinemax, CNN, TBS, Showtime, DISNEY, and the Playboy Channel. Jones describes that time as "the biggest party on Earth, because each cable channel was trying to outdo each other by pandering to journalists."
Jones eventually grew tired of what she called “the TV party life”, and decided to leave United Media to complete a Master of Arts Degree at Long Island University in 1987, and then went on to pursue a Ph.D. from New York University. During her years at NYU, Jones completed her Ph.D. coursework, as well as the written and oral exams, but was unable to satisfy her dissertation director(s) and thus gave up. For her work in the Ph.D. program, Jones was awarded a Master of Philosophy Degree from NYU in 1991.
While writing her dissertation, Jones took a job as an Assistant Professor at Cumberland College in Kentucky.[4] It was the spring of 1989 when Jones landed herself a second job as a radio news director at a local radio station, and soon after she found herself reporting about an FBI agent who had killed his informant. She knew Pike was “near the end of nowhere” but could not fathom that national news organizations would fail to report on “the first FBI agent in history to go to prison for killing someone.”
Jones soon wrote her first book, The FBI Killer, which was quickly turned into an ABC Movie-of-the-week, betrayed by Love, starring Patricia Arquette and Steven Webber. Not long after, Jones landed the exclusive rights to a teen crime drama she chronicled in her book Cruel Sacrifice, which hit the New York Times list at #4 and stayed there for over three months. Overnight, Jones was considered a "veteran" crime writer, and her third book, All She Wanted, was optioned as a major motion picture by Diane Keaton, with Drew Barrymore attached. The original film was never made, but Jones’ book was later transformed into the Oscar-winning film Boys Don't Cry.
Jones spent time talk show circuit appearing on The Today Show, Montel Williams, Maury Povich, Sally Jesse Raphael, Geraldo, and Leeza. She also went on to write five more best-selling books, among them, A Perfect Husband, which was made in to the Lifetime movie The Staircase Murders, starring Treat Williams.
In the summer of 2008, Jones was given her big break at the Discovery Network in Silver Spring, Maryland, when then head of ID, Clark Bunting, bought a 13-episode series starring Jones, to be delivered in 2009. The series aired in 2010, under the title True Crime, and was greeted to critical and public acclaim. Among her achievements during that series taping: an exclusive interview with OJ Simpson’s manager, and a face-to-face meeting with OJ Simpson outside the Las Vegas courtroom where he was last tried; and an exclusive interview with Phil Spector’s longtime assistant and exclusive footage of Mr. Spector “ranting like a lunatic” in his Alhambra castle.
Over the years, Jones has been quoted in publications including The New York Times, the NY Post, the NY Daily News, the Miami Herald, and USA Today.
Jones has been married once, in 2010, to a man she wants to remain anonymous. “I always preferred my career to marriage,” she was quoted as saying, “but sometimes, when you meet Mr. Right, your world can turn upside down and you shift your priorities.”
Jones currently resides in both New York and Florida.
Most notably, Aphrodite's book "All She Wanted" was transformed into the Academy Award winning film, "Boys Don't Cry." Her other books include "The FBI Killer," which was subsequently made into the ABC movie, "Betrayed By Love;" as well as "A Perfect Husband," the story of Michael Peterson that was the basis for the critically acclaimed Lifetime movie, "The Staircase Murders." Jones has also authored "Cruel Sacrifice," "Della's Web," "The Embrace: A True Vampire Story," "Red Zone: The Behind-the-Scenes Story of the San Francisco Dog Mauling," and her latest work, "Michael Jackson Conspiracy," which examines the media's role in the court of public opinion, using evidence and exhibits from the highly charged molestation trial against Michael Jackson.[5]