Bio
Janice Hawkins-Mitchell is a nationally recognized, award-winning investigator who has worked on high-media capital, criminal, and civil cases in New York City, including the Wendy’s Massacre and the Carnegie Deli Murders. She has also worked on international investigations for Hard Rock Café, Planet Hollywood, Warner Bros., Rolex, Gucci, Levi Strauss, and other trademarks. After uncovering new evidence in a criminal case that led to a wrongfully convicted man’s conviction being overturned, Hawkins-Mitchell was interviewed on Court TV by Rikki Klieman, who dubbed her “a modern-day Nancy Drew.”
After 9/11, Hawkins-Mitchell moved from New York City back to her hometown of Cleveland. She is a retired Federal investigator, a private investigator, and an adjunct professor in the Criminal Justice Department of Tiffin University. She has written about some of her investigations for a local quarterly magazine in a column called “From the Case Files of Jan Mitchell, Private Investigator.”
She has been a lover of the Beatles since age 15 and became internationally known as a Beatlemaniac when she ran away from home at age 16 to find the Beatles in London and Liverpool. The adventure led to rock and roll and the Beatles being banned from performing in Cleveland from 1964 to 1966. Cleveland is now the home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Hawkins-Mitchell is the author of a forthcoming memoir about her adventure.
Hawkins-Mitchell received a bachelor’s degree from State University of New York and a master’s degree in criminal justice from Tiffin University. She currently lives in Bratenahl, Ohio, with her Yorkshire Terrier, Dashiell Hammett. A horse lover, she maintains an interest in the thoroughbred horse world and is a supporter of animal rescue organizations.
Photo Gallery
Famed Rock and Roll photographer, Janet Macoska at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Mike E. Smith, Triple Crown Winner (Justify) and me.
Herman's Hermit's guitarist, Billy Sullivan and me.