After retirement, Joe Kenda drove a special needs school bus for 10 years.
The case that led to Lt. Kenda's retirement is profiled in the series finale "The End". Kenda, is forced to interview a suspect accused of sexually assaulting a minor. Readily admitting his guilt, the suspect provided graphic details to Kenda in his office, as no interrogation room s were available. No longer able to contain his anger at the suspect's nonchalance toward his crime, Kenda put his hands on the suspect. After the other officers pried Kenda off the suspect, he composed himself and realized what he had done, so he promptly sat at his typewriter to write his official resignation letter.
The cigarettes that young Joe Kenda smokes on the show are not real, but props. Carl Marino is a health and fitness enthusiast.
Carl Marino, who plays young Joe Kenda, is an experienced former police officer (sheriff's deputy in New York State) himself.
Many re-enactment scenes for Homicide Hunter are shot on location in Knoxville, TN using real Knoxville Police Department officers standing in as actors. The vehicles, weapons, and equipment are the ones used by the Knoxville PD, but with "Colorado Springs" placed over the name.