On “Homicide Hunter” — the #1 show on the Investigation Discovery channel — Lt. Joe Kenda recounts some of the more than 350 homicide cases he solved as a police detective in Colorado. Kenda, who now lives in Virginia, will discuss his evolving career at both of the Beacon’s 50+Expos in September. Photo courtesy of Investigation Discovery

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“In my adult life, everybody either hated me or was afraid of me or both,” said Joe Kenda of his 19 years as a Colorado homicide detective. But that reaction has turned on its head.

Kenda is now the star of a true-crime drama series on the Investigation Discovery (ID) network. In the show, which runs in 163 countries and is translated into 100 languages, he narrates re-enactments of some of his most intriguing — and often gory — cases. The show, “Homicide Hunter,” is seen by 27 million viewers and is the network’s most popular show.

“I don’t think anyone on the planet would have guessed where this would go,” said Kenda, who turns 70 later this month and now lives with his wife in Hampton Roads, Va., near an adult son.

Kenda will be the keynote speaker at the Beacon’s 50+Expos, taking place on Sept. 11 in Silver Spring, Md., and Sept. 25 in Springfield, Va.

While Kenda knew from a young age he wanted to be a cop, he never dreamed there would be so much interest in his astounding 92 percent success rate in solving cases. (Nationally, about 64 percent of homicides are eventually solved.)

Meeting the enemy

The turning point for his career decision came when he was 9 and went to the Pittsburg Zoo.

Kenda finally regained some equilibrium with a job that was the polar opposite of his police career: driving a school bus for children with special needs, which he did for the next decade.

“I became a special needs bus driver because I really was attracted to those kids who needed somebody in their lives who cared about them. For the first time in my life, people were happy to see me. And that felt very nice,” he said.

A new career in TV

But then a letter from a TV producer who had heard of Kenda’s reputation for solving murder cases arrived. Kenda ignored it. Kathy pestered him to respond. He finally did, and was flown out to California to do a test shoot for the show.

“A guy hands me 50 pounds of papers. I said, ‘What’s that?’ and they said, ‘That’s your script.’

“I said, ‘No, I’m a policeman, not an actor, and I’m not going to read a script.’ They said, ‘You have to do this.’ I said, ‘No, I have to die, and I have to pay taxes, but I don’t have to read a script. And if that’s what you want, then perhaps you should get someone else.’”

But they didn’t, because Kenda’s “just the facts, ma’am” Joe Friday delivery bowled over the producers, and they never mentioned a script again.

On “Homicide Hunter,” Kenda serves as a narrator outlining the cases, which he remembers in precise detail. He shoots his segments in Colorado Springs. Reenactments with a younger actor who resembles Kenda, Carl Marino, are shot in Knoxville, Tenn.

Kenda distills each case, compacting it greatly to fit into an hour-long TV show.

“A murder case is enormously complicated. If I made a show illustrating everything we did and heard, it would last for 16 weeks and nobody would watch it. It’s a rabbit warren of facts and mistakes and misinformation,” he said.

“I do it off the top of my head. I’m better on my feet than any other way,” he said of his narration of the show.

“Homicide Hunter” has now aired more than 60 episodes since 2011. Its sixth season starts on Aug. 24.

Kenda also contributed to ID’s “Detective” podcast, which delves into the files of particularly disturbing cases. Each season, a different detective is featured, and Kenda was chosen for the inaugural season last year.

A 21st century hero

Why the public’s appetite for Kenda’s dark and twisty tales?

“I have no earthly idea,” Kenda responded.

But Jim Seeley, a fan and organizer of an annual cruise featuring Kenda, has some thoughts. Seeley, 52, who lives in Falls Church, Va., said, “We live in world where there are so many travesties of justice out there in the news. And it’s such a relief to see justice being done, good winning over evil. In the real world, evil seems to be winning over good these days.

“Joe has an element of Clint Eastwood, kind of the ‘go ahead and make my day’ thing. People really respond to that, especially because he’s not acting. He’s telling the real story. People gravitate to these kinds of heroes.”

And doing the shows has been therapeutic for Kenda, much more so than the visit he once paid to a PTSD therapist.

“I’ve said more to that camera than I’ve said to anybody. It makes me feel better. So that’s my motivation” for doing the show, he said.

In a summer in which police shootings and race continue to make headlines, Kenda is careful not to assign blame — except maybe to the media.

In response to a question about the recent violence, he said, “Police contact people one million times a year. Police violence is less than one percent of all those contacts.

“But media is competitive. They strive for an audience. If it bleeds, it leads. It has become the cause célèbre. They’re tired of talking about Donald Trump, so now they’re talking about this.

“Any time there is emotion in a situation, people don’t consider what the facts are. They only consider their emotions. They’re angry, they’re distressed. There’s obviously guilt on both sides in those situations.”

And from his years of service, Kenda has some safety tips for people in addition to the usual “pay attention to your surroundings” —

“Stay out of bars at closing time because nothing good happens after midnight.

“Do not buy or sell narcotics or associate with those who do.

“And try to marry well. Don’t marry a psychotic.

“The odds of you being a victim of violent crime are an inch tall. If you do those other things, they are 10 feet tall.

“Most murders are not random. There is a reason. It may be an insane reason, but it’s a reason.”