Longtime CBS 6 crime reporter Jon Burkett announces he will step away
Late last week, Cally Logan, a local teacher and author, met CBS 6 reporter Jon Burkett while he was on an assignment, and offered him a loaf of her homemade sourdough bread.
On Thursday, Logan recalled feeling “blown away” by how sincere Burkett was when he spoke to her and her father. She characterized him as “a force of good” and an example of “what it means to be a good neighbor who seeks justice and goodness.”
The interaction was one of thousands that Burkett has had over the years as the station's "Crime Insider" and one of Richmond's most famous journalists.
Burkett announced Thursday morning he will leave the job in September, on the 26th anniversary of his start with WTVR.
Burkett, whose reporting from the scenes of major crimes has been a staple in Richmond for years, said the pressures of the job have contributed to health issues, including gout, and for the health of his family he believes it is time to leave his role, though he will continue to live in Central Virginia.
He made the announcement on the station's "Untold" podcast. The full podcast can be seen here.
Burkett relayed an emotional conversation he had with his doctor.
"He goes, 'I'm going to cut to the chase here, Jon. ... I know you have a lot of people that care about you,'" Burkett recalled. "And he goes, 'How old was your dad when he died?' That's 56. And he looked at me and he said, 'Are you trying to beat him?'"
Burkett, a Chesterfield native, served in the Navy before starting at the station.
Over the weekend he reported about a Florida man who assaulted multiple employees at the Short Pump Publix. That's when he met Logan.
Later that night he shared a Facebook post where he spoke about meeting Logan and thanked the “master of making sourdough bread” for the best bread he had eaten in decades.
While Logan said she felt honored by his words – she noted her “face actually turned red” – she said the gift wasn’t planned. When Burkett was speaking with her father, she ran inside to grab something and saw the freshly baked loaf she had made that morning.
“I doubt he gets a lot of gratitude,” Logan said. “It wasn’t much, but I felt like giving him the loaf was a small way to express my thanks.”
She added that some people do their job “to collect a paycheck” while others do it because “it’s their calling.” She said Burkett was the latter. As a school teacher, Logan said she’s no stranger to working hard in the background.
As for Burkett, he said on the podcast his next job is lined up, and it will "make sense" to people who have followed his career.
Contact Michael Phillips at mphillips@richmonder.org and Haidyn Brockelman at hbrockelman@richmonder.org.
