Aphrodite Jones

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Aphrodite Jones

Aphrodite Jones promo for True Crimes with Aphrodite Jones
Born Aphrodite Jones
(1959-11-27) November 27, 1959[1]
Nationality United States 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 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.


Early life

Jones was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Captain Ashton Blair Jones, Jr., and his wife, Mary Kalloumenous, who were living the military life on the Great Lakes Naval Base. Jones' father 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 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.[citation needed] The fact that Jones has dedicated her career to "a life of crime" and crime victims is not accidental.[citation needed] "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."

Career and education

After graduating at the top of her class from UCLA in 1979[citation needed], 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.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed] For her work in the Ph.D. program, Jones was awarded a Master of Philosophy Degree from NYU in 1991.[citation needed] While writing her dissertation, Jones took a job as an Assistant Professor in the English Department at what was then known as Cumberland College (now the University of the Cumberlands) in Williamsburg, Kentucky.[3] 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 afterward she found herself reporting about an FBI agent who had killed his informant. She knew Cumberland 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 afterward, 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.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed] 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[citation needed], 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.[citation needed] Among her achievements during that series taping: an exclusive interview with OJ Simpson’s manager, 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 New York Post, the New York Daily News, the Miami Herald, and USA Today.[citation needed]

True Crime with Aphrodite Jones

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 details of noteworthy murder cases.

Season 2 Episodes

  • JonBenét Ramsey
  • Anna Nicole Smith
  • Killer Contestant: Rodney Alcala
  • Loyalty, Lies and Loss: Scott Rothstein
  • Twist of Faith: Matt Baker
  • The West Memphis Three
  • Amanda Lewis
  • The Reality Show Killer: Ryan Jenkins
  • Children of Thunder: Glenn “Taylor” Helzer

[4]

Personal life

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.

Books

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 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]

  • Michael Jackson Conspiracy (2007) - The story of how the media sensationalized the prosecution's case against the late famous popstar Michael Jackson
  • A Perfect Husband (2004) - Michael Peterson (the book was made into the film The Staircase Murders)
  • Red Zone: The Behind-the-Scenes Story of the San Francisco Dog Mauling (2003) - Diane Whipple
  • The Embrace: A True Vampire Story - Rod Ferrell
  • Della's Web - Della Sutorius
  • All She Wanted - The story of Brandon Teena (on whom the movie Boys Don't Cry was based)[6]
  • Cruel Sacrifice - The murder of Shanda Sharer by Melinda Loveless and 3 others
  • The FBI Killer - Mark Putnam, the first FBI agent in history to be convicted of homicide

References

  1. ↑ http://press.discovery.com/media/ugc/documents/2010/02/02/True_Crime_-_Jones_Bio.pdf
  2. ↑ http://blogs.discovery.com/criminal_report/
  3. ↑ "Officials Denounce Book on FBI Slaying", Lexington Herald-Leader, October 2, 1992
  4. ↑ http://press.discovery.com/media/ugc/documents/2011/03/11/2011_True_Crime_with_AJ_S2_Press_Release.pdf
  5. ↑ http://press.discovery.com/us/id/talent/jones-aphrodite/
  6. ↑ Seiler, Andy (1999) "Many crying foul over Brandon movie", USA Today, October 28, 1999, p. 3D

External links

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