‘Secret Admirer’ Slain After Appearance On ‘Jenny Jones Show’

John Schmitz told police that being surprised before a national talk-show audience by a male acquaintance professing a crush on him was embarrassing and humiliating. But he said he thought he had handled the situation well and was putting it behind him.

What set Schmitz off was finding a note with sexual references from Scott Amedure attached to his apartment door Thursday morning, police said.

That’s when Schmitz went out and bought a 12-gauge shotgun, five rounds of ammunition, then drove to Amedure’s home and shot him twice in the chest, according to police. Amedure died almost immediately.

“I just walked in to his house and killed him. He was after me day and night …” a sobbing Schmitz told a 911 operator with the Auburn Hills Police Department minutes after the shooting.

Blasting producers of “The Jenny Jones Show” as being partly to blame for the killing, Oakland County Prosecutor Richard Thompson on Friday charged Schmitz with first-degree murder and using a firearm in a felony.

During his arraignment in district court, Schmitz stood mute to the charges and the court entered an innocent plea on his behalf. The judge ordered that Schmitz remain in jail without bond until an April 4 preliminary hearing.

“In my view ‘The Jenny Jones Show’ ambushed this defendant with humiliation. In retaliation, the defendant ambushed the victim with a shotgun,” Thompson said. “Had this (show) not occurred, I don’t believe this defendant would be facing these charges.”

Officials with “The Jenny Jones Show,” issued a statement Friday calling such allegations unfair. According to the show’s producers, all guests were told in advance that they would be meeting a secret admirer who could be a man or a woman.

“No one was lied to, no one was misled,” Jim Paratore, president of Telepictures Productions, said in a statement. Telepictures produces the nationally syndicated talk show.

According to police, when Schmitz, 24, walked onto the set of the talk show and saw his friend Donna Riley, he assumed she was his secret admirer. But when Jenny Jones told him it was Amedure who had the crush, Scott remained composed and politely said he was heterosexual and not interested.

Schmitz, Amedure and Riley were getting along well enough Monday that they flew back from Chicago together and went out for a few drinks that night, police said.

Amedure told his mother he and Schmitz had become romantically involved as a result of the show.