Aphrodite Jones
Aphrodite Jones (born November 27, 1958) is an American author, reporter, and television producer.
Aphrodite Jones | |
|---|---|
 Filming of an episode of True Crime with Aphrodite Jones in 2010 | |
| Born | November 27, 1958 |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation(s) | Reporter, author, executive producer |
Jones is an executive producer and the host of the television series True Crime with Aphrodite Jones. Previously, Jones hosted a show called The Justice Hunters for USA Network, and was a crime reporter for Fox News, covering the trials of Scott Peterson, Michael Jackson, and Dennis Rader for The O'Reilly Factor and Geraldo At Large.
Early life
Jones was born in Chicago, Illinois, to United States Navy Captain Ashton Blair Jones Jr. and Maria Kalloumenous. She has a sister named Janet.
Career and education
While attending UCLA,[1] Jones appeared in two episodes of Match Game '78. During the first episode she mentioned that her grandmother was also named Aphrodite. After graduating, Jones worked as a celebrity beat reporter for United Features Syndicate.[1]
In 1992, Jones was teaching English at Cumberland College in Williamsburg, Kentucky when she published her first book, The FBI Killer, about Mark Putnam, the first active FBI agent convicted of homicide.[2] The book was the source material for the 1994 made-for-television film Betrayed by Love, starring Patricia Arquette and Steven Weber.[2]
Jones' second book, Cruel Sacrifice, chronicled the 1992 murder of Indiana teenager Shanda Sharer by four other teen-aged girls.[2] The book's subject matter cost Jones her job at Cumberland College, a conservative Baptist institution.[2] Cruel Sacrifice was on The New York Times Best Seller List for three months in 1994.[3]
In 1996, Jones published All She Wanted, based on the final weeks in the life of Brandon Teena, who was raped and murdered in 1993. The book was initially meant to provide the source material for the Academy Award-winning film Boys Don't Cry, starring Hilary Swank, but the film was rewritten extensively, prompting Jones to file a lawsuit against its distributor, Fox Searchlight Pictures.[4]
Jones has written a total of eight books, among them A Perfect Husband, about murder suspect Michael Peterson, which was made into the 2007 Lifetime television movie The Staircase Murders starring Treat Williams.[5]
True Crime with Aphrodite Jones
Jones hosted and executive produced the documentary television series True Crime with Aphrodite Jones, which aired in first run on the Investigation Discovery channel from 2010 to 2016.
Personal life
As of 2016, Jones resides in South Florida.[6]
Books
- The FBI Killer (1992) – about the murder of Susan Smith
- Cruel Sacrifice (1994) — about the murder of Shanda Sharer
- All She Wanted (1996) — about the life and murder of Brandon Teena
- Della's Web (1998) — about convicted murderer Della Sutorius
- The Embrace: A True Vampire Story (1999) — about convicted murderer Rod Ferrell
- Red Zone: The Behind-the-Scenes Story of the San Francisco Dog Mauling (2003) – about the dog attack that killed Diane Whipple
- A Perfect Husband (2004) – about the 2003 Michael Peterson trial (overturned in 2017)
- Michael Jackson Conspiracy (2007) — about the 2005 Michael Jackson child molestation trial
References
- Duerstein, Matthew C. (2000-04-05). "The Devil and Aphrodite Jones". LA Weekly. Retrieved 2016-12-13.
- Mabe, Chauncey (1998-03-09). "Accidental Author". Sun Sentinel. Archived from the original on 2016-12-20. Retrieved 2016-12-13.
- Cogdill, Oline H. (1996-06-02). "True-crime Author To Tell How It's Done". Sun Sentinel. Archived from the original on 2016-12-20. Retrieved 2016-12-13.
- Harrison, Eric (2000-02-07). "A Filmmaker Fictionalizes to Get at Difficult Truths". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Archived from the original on 2013-12-04. Retrieved 2016-12-13.
- McLoughlin, Tom; Pollak, Kevin; Armstrong, Samaire; Olive, Brandon Ray (2007-04-15). "The Staircase Murders". IMDb. Retrieved 2016-12-13.
- Streeter, Leslie Gray (2015-04-22). "Author and Investigation Discovery host Aphrodite Jones: "My books were my children"". The Palm Beach Post. Archived from the original on 2015-04-25. Retrieved 2016-12-13.
