Amber Hunt (journalist)
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Amber Hunt (born August 26, 1978) is an American
journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...
,
podcaster A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing. ...
, and
author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...
known for reporting on
true crime True crime is a nonfiction literary, podcast, and film genre in which the author examines an actual crime and details the actions of real people associated with and affected by criminal events. The crimes most commonly include murder; about 40 per ...
. She is the host and co-creator of three true crime podcasts, ''
Accused Accused or The Accused may refer to: * A person suspected with committing a crime or offence; see Criminal charge ** Suspect, a known person suspected of committing a crime * The Accüsed, a 1980s Seattle crossover thrash band *''The Accused'', a ...
, Aftermath'', and ''Crimes of the Centuries'' and has published four true crime books. she works as an investigative reporter at ''
The Cincinnati Enquirer ''The Cincinnati Enquirer'' is a morning daily newspaper published by Gannett in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. First published in 1841, the ''Enquirer'' is the last remaining daily newspaper in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, alth ...
''.


Career

After covering local news at small papers in
Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...
and
Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...
, Hunt was hired at the ''
Detroit Free Press The ''Detroit Free Press'' is the largest daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, US. The Sunday edition is titled the ''Sunday Free Press''. It is sometimes referred to as the Freep (reflected in the paper's web address, www.freep.com). It primari ...
'', where she covered crime for nearly eight years. In 2005, she won the Al Nakkula Award for Police Reporting from the
University of Colorado at Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado sys ...
. In 2007 and 2008, she appeared on
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
's ''
Dateline A dateline is a brief piece of text included in news articles that describes where and when the story was written or filed, though the date is often omitted. In the case of articles reprinted from wire services, the distributing organization is ...
'' program, first in an episode called "The Valentine's Day Mystery" and then in "Disappearance at the Dairy Queen" (later renamed "The Case of the Girl Who Never Came Home.") Hunt's fourth book, released in December 2014, is ''The Kennedy Wives: Triumph and Tragedy in America's Most Public Family'', co-written with longtime friend David Batcher. The book was a ''New York Times'' and ''Wall Street Journal'' bestseller. As of December 11, 2014, it had a 4.5 rating on Goodreads. Hunt's first true crime book was ''Dead But Not Forgotten,'' released in August 2010, which examined the 1990 murder of Barbara George, a 32-year-old mother of two whose husband Michael was arrested in 2007 for the suburban
Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...
shooting. Hunt's book, released prior to Michael George's second trial in the case, was accused of undermining the prosecution's key witness. In Hunt's acknowledgments, she dedicated the book to her mother, who she wrote died of
cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...
when she was 12. In 2011, Hunt was named a Knight-Wallace Fellow at the
University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
. The same year, she was nominated as a Livingston Young Journalist for a series of stories written in 2010 about crime in the streets of Detroit. In August 2011, Hunt's second true crime book ''All-American Murder'' was released. The book covered the alleged beating death of Yeardley Love, whose on-again, off-again boyfriend George Huguely V was charged in Love's May 2010 death. She was set to have two non-fiction book releases in 2014: a true-crime account about the 2011 murders of Blake and Mary Jo Hadley, who were bludgeoned to death by their 17-year-old son, Tyler Hadley, in
Port St. Lucie, Florida Port St. Lucie is a city in St. Lucie County, Florida, United States. It is the most populous municipality in the county with a population of 204,851 at the 2020 census. It is located southeast of Orlando and north of Miami. The Port St. Lu ...
, and the book on the
Kennedy family The Kennedy family is an American political family that has long been prominent in American politics, public service, entertainment, and business. In 1884, 35 years after the family's arrival from Ireland, Patrick Joseph "P. J." Kennedy be ...
wives. Hunt is also a photographer. In August 2011, the
Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...
announced its hiring of Hunt as news editor overseeing
North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...
and
South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota people, Lakota and Dakota peo ...
. In July 2013, she left the AP to become an investigative reporter with ''
The Cincinnati Enquirer ''The Cincinnati Enquirer'' is a morning daily newspaper published by Gannett in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. First published in 1841, the ''Enquirer'' is the last remaining daily newspaper in Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, alth ...
''. In June 2014, ''See How Much You Love Me: A Troubled Teen, His Devoted Parents, and a Cold-Blooded Killing'' was released by St. Martin's true crime imprint. Hunt began teaching a journalism course at the
University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati) is a public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio. Founded in 1819 as Cincinnati College, it is the oldest institution of higher education in Cincinnati and has an annual enrollment of over 44,00 ...
in 2015. In 2016, Hunt began a podcast called ''
Accused Accused or The Accused may refer to: * A person suspected with committing a crime or offence; see Criminal charge ** Suspect, a known person suspected of committing a crime * The Accüsed, a 1980s Seattle crossover thrash band *''The Accused'', a ...
'', which was a critical and popular success that reached No. 1 on
iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...
' list of podcasts. In 2017, a second season of ''Accused'' was released. It focused on the 1987 murder of Retha Welch and the wrongful conviction of William Virgil. In 2018, she also reported and narrated a podcast called ''Aftermath'' about gun violence in America She returned to ''Accused'' for its third season, which ran from late December 2019 through January 2020. That season focused on the mysterious death o
Dave Bocks
in a uranium processing plant. In April 2018, a photograph of Hunt depicted her celebrating with the ''Enquirer'' newsroom for its
Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
win in the local reporting category. Hunt was among more than 60 journalists whose work on a project titled "Seven Days of Heroin" won the award. The project had been spearheaded by ''Enquirer'' editor
Peter Bhatia Peter Bhatia is an American journalist and the editor of the ''Detroit Free Press''. He was previously the editor of ''The Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publicatio ...
, who left that newsroom for the ''
Detroit Free Press The ''Detroit Free Press'' is the largest daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, US. The Sunday edition is titled the ''Sunday Free Press''. It is sometimes referred to as the Freep (reflected in the paper's web address, www.freep.com). It primari ...
'' in August 2017.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hunt, Amber Living people 1978 births 20th-century American journalists 21st-century American newspaper editors 20th-century American women 21st-century American women American crime reporters American podcasters American investigative journalists American non-fiction crime writers American women journalists American women podcasters Associated Press people The Cincinnati Enquirer people Detroit Free Press people Journalists from Iowa People associated with true crime University of Michigan fellows Women newspaper editors Women crime writers