Who Is Billy Jensen? New Details About The Digital Detective And The New Podcast He's A Part Of
He's dedicated his life to unsolved homicides.
Instagram True crime sleuths Billy Jensen and Paul Holes are coming together for a new podcast "The Murder Squad," a real-life murder mystery fan's dream come true.
The high-profile crime investigators will dive into one unsolved and one solved case every week starting April 1, allowing listeners to ride shotgun.
Holes, a retired detective, was a key player in discovering the Golden State Killer's identity. He and Jensen, an investigative journalist, are working with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark of My Favorite Murder, the masterminds behind the new podcast, to encourage fans to try to solve cases as citizen investigators in this series by the podcasting network Exactly Right.
So who is Billy Jensen? Here's what you need to know about "The Murder Squad" host.
1. He focuses on unsolved cases.
For a majority of the cases Jensen works, the killers remain at large, which is what draws him to them.
“Whenever people ask me why I only work on unsolved murders, I tell them it’s because I hate the guy who got away with it,” Jensen told Men's Journal.
His career is full of cold cases that he believes deserve to be solved.
“Nobody deserves to be thrown away like a piece of trash,” Jensen said.
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2. He's an author.
Jensen worked with his friend Michelle McNamara on the Golden State Killer book, "I’ll Be Gone in the Dark," which debuted as a No. 1 New York Times bestseller in 2016. He also has his own audiobook, Chase Darkness with Me, which will be available on Audible in April. The audiobook chronicles how Jensen went from writing about crime to solving murders.
“Audio is the oldest and most intimate form of storytelling,” he said in a statement. “Whenever I write a crime story, I try to tell it as if I’m sitting right next to a good friend in a dark bar, weaving a tale one on one. At that moment, nothing else matters in the world. Listening on headphones, in the car, on a speaker — that’s the experience I strive to deliver.”
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3. He's a widely published investigative journalist.
Jensen has written crime stories for Rolling Stone, Los Angeles Magazine, The New York Times, and the Long Island Press, which he co-founded. He is the supervising producer and special investigator for the Warner Bros. show Crime Watch Daily and was previously the general manager of Buzzmedia and head of digital at Village Voice Media.
He is known for his unique approach to crime investigation — using social media. Jensen leans on the digital world to solve murders, relying heavily on the available resources it offers and the input on strangers on the Internet. Men's Journal even dubbed him "The Facebook Detective."
"Zuckerberg holds the key!” he told Men's Journal. “If he gave me a credit for $100,000, I could solve 20 murders this weekend.”
4. He has helped solve 10 homicides.
Over the course of his career, Jensen has solved or aided in closing 10 murder cases. He is often consulted by law enforcement agencies when they are stuck or have not been able to find any leads.
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5. When he's not solving cases, he's playing hockey.
In his free time, Jensen enjoys a good game of hockey, he told Vulture.
"That’s one of the times when I can just turn off my brain and just make sure I’m not thinking about a case," he said. "That’s a good thing to do, because as soon as I get back on the bench, I’ll just be thinking about a case again."
Jensen even played professional roller hockey and earned the first minor penalty in Major League Roller Hockey history, according to his "About Me" section on his website.
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Sarah Gangraw writes about all things news, entertainment and crime. You can follow her on Instagram and Twitter.