Jeffery Boyd, sun-loving beach boy & wine enthusiast, was born in Homestead, Florida. After growing up in Traverse City, northern Michigan—"picturesque, with a lotta cool hiking trails, dunes and lakes”—the inspiration or his action/adventure books, he headed to Miami, Florida. He eventually made his way farther south down U.S. 1 to Islamorada in the tropical Florida Keys after his car broke down on a weekend getaway and decided this is where he wanted to live. In 2020, he received the International Readers’ Favorite Silver Medal & Bronze Medal award, respectively, for his action/adventure thriller Wolf’s Head Bay- Journey of the Courageous Eleven and Wolf’s Head Bay-The Race for Home.
I care passionately about how our society treats its children and I find it deeply troubling. In the 1980’s tv news magazines like ‘20/20’ began to do stories on human trafficking. My extensive research revealed that human trafficking flourishes globally including here in the United States. Victims are mostly women, but to my shock includes young girls and boys—children. After the publication of my first novel Wolf’s Head Bay-The Journey Home I came across something called the Franklin Credit Union scandal or the Franklin child prostitution ring. Allegations began in 1988 in Omaha, Nebraska. At the time it attracted significant public and political interest until late 1990, when separate state and federal grand juries concluded that the ring was a “carefully crafted hoax—scripted by a person or persons with considerable knowledge of the people and institutions of Omaha,” but without identifying who perpetrated the hoax.
And yet there is the Yorkshire video to consider.
In 1993, Yorkshire Television in the U.K. sent an investigative team and film crew to Omaha, Nebraska to produce a documentary about a pedophile ring operating there. The film, ‘Conspiracy of Silence’, was funded by the Discovery Channel. Yorkshire conducted a national investigation for 10 months, interviewing, filming, and documenting the Franklin story, finding new witnesses while uncovering new evidence. It exposed a nation-wide pedophile ring that delivered mostly orphaned children to the rich and powerful for the purposes of sex, drug trafficking and blackmail. Listed in the national publication, “TV Guide”, it was scheduled to air nationwide on May 3, 1994. At the time, major regulating legislation impacting the future of the Cable T.V. industry was being debated on Capitol Hill. Legislation, which the industry opposed, could potentially place controls on the industry and the contents of what could be shown. Key politicians involved in the debate, behind-the-scenes, made it clear to the cable T.V. industry that if ‘Conspiracy of Silence’ were shown on the Discovery Channel as planned, then the industry would more than likely lose the debate. Under duress the cable industry acquiesced. Subsequently the Discovery Channel, without explanation withdrew support for the documentary and reimbursed Yorkshire for the half-million dollars it cost to make it. ‘Conspiracy of Silence’ was removed from the schedule and all copies were to have been destroyed. Fortunately, a leaked copy does exist on YouTube.
You decide.
I used the Franklin Credit Union scandal as the basis of ‘Wolf’s Head Bay-Journey of the Courageous Eleven’ and ‘Wolf’s Head Bay-The Race for Home’ through the theme of an action/adventure thriller, incorporating my fixed-wing and helicopter aviation background. “The most exciting and engaging books and movies for me are those storylines about ordinary people suddenly thrust into extraordinarily dire and realistic situations. And that’s what I feel compelled to write about.”
Today Boyd divides his time between Islamorada, Florida and Lake Ann, Michigan, with his partner and their thoroughly laid-back cat, Simon, living the island life as a Jetski tour guide and pursuing his passion for writing his Wolf’s Head Bay action/adventure thrillers.