In March 1995 a television taping triggered a chain of events that ended in the death of 32-year-old Scott Amedure of Lake Orion, Michigan. On March 6, Amedure appeared on The Jenny Jones Show for an episode about secret same-sex crushes and told the audience he had a crush on a fellow guest, 24-year-old Jonathan Schmitz. Schmitz said he was heterosexual and initially laughed about the revelation.

Three days later, on March 9, Schmitz found a sexually suggestive note on his doorstep, bought a 12-gauge shotgun, drove to Amedure’s mobile home, confronted him, went back to his car for the shotgun, returned and shot Amedure twice in the chest. Schmitz then called 911 from a nearby gas station and confessed, saying he was embarrassed on national television.

Schmitz was arrested and charged with first-degree murder. He was convicted of second-degree murder in 1996 and sentenced to 25 to 50 years; that conviction was later overturned, retried, and he was again convicted in 1999 with the original sentence reinstated. He was paroled and released in August 2017. The Amedure family sued the show; the unaired episode was shown at a civil trial and an initial verdict for the family was later overturned by the Michigan Court of Appeals.

Did anyone who knew Scott or Jonathan at the time ever speak about what happened in the days between the taping and the shooting?