CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- A veteran Charlotte homicide cop is about to debut in a true life crime series focused on his career.
The show profiles some of the bigger cases he’s solved, all while working for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department.
Garry McFadden is legendary in Charlotte. He’s worked for CMPD since the early-'80s, but says he was shocked to get the call from Discovery Network about appearing on the Investigation Discovery series, but admits, he had a lot of fun shooting it.
It is gritty. It is honest. Just like the man at the center of it all.
Garry McFadden was 22 when he started with CMPD on patrol on the west side.
It would be almost a decade before he started working murder cases and soon became known as “homicide”.
And that’s the name of his new show, “I am homicide,” on Investigation Discovery.
McFadden is the reluctant star.
“It’s been a difficult process. I told them some things I never shared with anybody.”
He talks about being a young boy in the town of Aiken, and the murder of his cousin.
“I kept that little secret in my heart because I watched how we were treated in Aiken and how we felt as a family-- I never wanted to be treated the way we were treated.”
What happened then shaped the detective he became.
“It went unsolved and nobody had answers, and you can’t question the police.”
He gives everyone his cellphone. And he actually answers the phone. So, when he reconnected with some of the victim's families for the I am homicide series, it was like reconnecting with old friends.
“This is where Travis Davis was killed; Travis was walking up the street going to the bus stop.”
Davis was the star quarterback at Harding High and was shot and killed on his way home in 2006.
His murder is the focus of the first episode, and even though it was 10 years ago, McFadden remembers it all-- especially the teen's family.
“We reconnected, kind of opened a small wound, but then there was a lot of laughter, a lot of fun.”
The series will start airing next Tuesday; it’s six episodes, and McFadden says he’s up for more if they come calling again.