Naman Shrestha
After David Berkowitz, AKA the Son of Sam, was apprehended and sentenced, he was interviewed by a famed journalist named Jack Jones, who became the first person to conduct a prison interview with him. The recordings of the unheard interview are an integral part of Netflix’s ‘Conversations With a Killer: The Son of Sam Tapes,’ a three-part documentary series that chronicles the horrific killings committed by the serial killer across New York in the 1970s. The investigative journalist also features in the docuseries and recounts his experience of interviewing Berkowitz.
Jack Jones is a Man of Many Hats
As surprising as it may seem to many of you, Jack Jones admittedly never actually studied journalism. He pursued degrees in writing, English literature, and psychology at the University of Maryland, in Tokyo, and in Bangkok. During the Vietnam War, he also served as the signal intelligence/cryptography operator for the US Naval Security Group, before training US Army and Air Force techs in security communication. In the 1960s, he met with a life-altering accident in Thailand, after which he worked as a technical writer on security communication projects there for a year.
Upon returning to the US, he attended Baldwin Wallace College in Ohio and then landed a job at Rochester’s Democrat and Chronicle as a printer. In the following years, he moved up the ranks and became a reporter. During his time as a journalist, he reportedly interviewed David Berkowitz and John Lennon’s killer, Mark David Chapman, who is the subject of his published book, ‘Let Me Take You Down: Inside the Mind of Mark David Chapman, the Man Who Killed John Lennon.’ For his journalistic endeavors, he also went undercover in Attica to break the story about the Amico family and the Rochester mortgage scam. He also spent a couple of months tracking down injured chimpanzees at the Jane Goodall Rescue Facility in Uganda.
Jack became a recognized journalist for over three decades, attested by the fact that he has been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize twice. After 35 years of service, he retired from the Democrat and Chronicle to pursue an entirely different kind of life. He told Finger Lakes Times, “I went to Africa with a chimpanzee handler I met through a mutual friend. I was working at a Jane Goodall chimpanzee rescue, tracking chimps injured by poachers or farmers’ traps and orphan chimps whose mothers had been killed by poachers for their meat or to sell babies to dumb-ass rich bastards in Europe, US, Saudi Arabia, and elsewhere who thought having a baby chimpanzee was a status symbol or some such.”
At the time, he also started working on a book about chimp experience and human-chimp communication, but due to an unforeseen illness, he never managed to finish writing the book. Besides that, Jack is also busy with his musical career as he collaborates with his musician friends in the Rochester area. As a matter of fact, he also performed at a gig on June 12, 2025, at Abilene’s in Rochester. The published author has also been working on the biography of the late Canandaigua National Bank CEO and former US Federal Reserve Board member, George Hamlin IV.
Jack Jones Has Seen a Lot of Ups and Downs in Life
Born in the mid-1940s to Frances Louise McKinney Jones, Jack Jones was supposedly raised in Hells Half Acre, South Carolina, in a loving and supportive household. By 1965, he was married to Judith Kay Decker Jones, with whom he shared a loving daughter, Stephanie. Unfortunately, around the same time, he suffered a huge loss while residing in Thailand, as he lost his wife to a fatal crash in the middle of the night near the Cambodian border. He managed to survive the accident, thanks to a priest who heard the loud crash. Although it wasn’t easy for him to move on from the tragedy easily, he “tried to carry the pain forward by taking extra care and time interviewing and writing about families we had to bother for news stories after the loss of a loved one.”
After the accident, he moved back to the US, where he remarried to another woman from the Canandaigua area and welcomed his son into the world. Talking about his romantic relationships, he claimed that he has been unlucky. “Somewhere along the line, I got divorced from one wonderful woman and remarried to another also wonderful woman, rinse and repeat. Don’t know if PTSD from military experience and the tragic loss of my first wife played a role, but intimate relationships have proved nearly impossible for me,” he said in the same interview with Finger Lakes Times. However, it appears that he has been in a healthy relationship with a woman named Pam Jensen.
Jack Jones Has Successfully Battled Cancer Two Times
While he was residing in Colorado, Jack Jones received a health scare in 2024. As he started losing weight and feeling weak, he got a biopsy done in the spring that indicated that his fight with lymphoma had begun again. Several years ago, he had battled large B-cell lymphoma successfully through chemotherapy. Unfortunately, this time it was worse as it involved both B-cell and follicular lymphoma. Elaborating on the treatment, he stated that it “involved removing my own white blood cells and fusing them with non-human primate — aka, chimpanzee, etc. — cells manipulated to target to specific sites on cancerous cells and kill them. Totally Sci-Fi. It totally destroyed me physically and mentally for a couple months, including one month in a virtual “bubble” of seclusion confined to the hospital. But it seems to have worked when boosted with a new class of monoclonal antibodies.”
He is told that his health will be under observation for the following five years. In August 2024, Jack attended Cancer-Stomping All-Stars Wilmot research benefit at Golden Thread Acres and even donated a sum of $1000 to Wilmot Cancer Institute for the initiative. In a PET scan in early 2025, his body showed no trace of the tumors. Having recovered from the life-threatening illness a second time, he was able to continue the outdoor activities he is passionate about, including biking and hiking. For his 80th birthday in early 2025, the former journalist traveled to Colorado and climbed an 80-foot vertical wall of ice with his son and grandson. He said, “The climb was a promise I made to myself after a year of cell transplantation and monoclonal antibodies that destroyed my immune system but cured a recurrence, after nine years of previous treatment, and remission, of otherwise deadly cancer.”
Jack Jones’ Life is Rooted in Family, Activism, Music, and Adventure
Jack Jones leads a fulfilling life on the personal front as well. He draws strength from the people in his life, who have stood beside him through all the ups and downs, especially as he navigated his health-related journey. His biggest cheerleaders are his partner, Pamela Jensen, and his kids, a son (likely named Jason) and a daughter named Stephanie Jones. Having said that, Jack continues to maintain a great bond with his ex-long-time partner, Judith Kay Decker Bennett, whom he refers to as his “forever dear friend.” Though they moved on with their respective lives, they still hold immense respect for each other in their hearts.
In his downtime, Jack likes to bake delicious goodness such as cookies and breads. Not only that, but he also loves to immerse himself in the lap of nature with Pam, who shares his love for adventures. The pair takes hiking and biking trips quite often to enjoy the mesmerizing views of majestic natural creations and glistening water streams surrounded by lush greenery. Though Jack has relocated to Canandaigua in Ontario County, New York, he made the most of the scenic landscape of Colorado for his adrenaline-fueled pursuits before the move. The talented veteran loves to make original music every chance he gets. He is also politically active and doesn’t hesitate to share his strong opinions about societal issues on social media.
Nevertheless, Jack finds the most joy in creating beautiful memories with his family and friends. Aside from being a devoted partner to the loving Pam, he is a proud father and grandfather who cherishes every opportunity to extend his love, unwavering support, and guidance to his kids and grandkids. In the interview with Finger Lakes Times, he talked about his future plans and bucket list. He stated, “I want to know that my son, daughter, and five grandkids are healthy and productive. I want to climb at least one more 14,000-foot peak (there are 54 and I’ve climbed 11, including Long’s Peak in winter) in the Rocky Mountains. I want to write a couple more books, collect and publish some of my poems, help save more chimpanzees, and say or do something to give a fellow human being hope when they need it.”
Read More: Carl Denaro: Where is the Son of Sam Survivor Now?
