Bestselling Author of Where the Crawdads Sing Wanted For Questioning in 1996 Murder Case
When the book Where the Crawdads Sing was released in 2018, it became an instant hit. It topped the New York Times Bestsellers list and sold over 4.5 million copies in a little over a year’s time.
The book follows the story of a young girl, coming of age in the marshes of North Carolina. Soon after its release, a bidding war began for film rights. Reece Witherspoon beat out a slew of competitors and a feature film under her production company Hello Sunshine is set to be released this Friday.
As the highly anticipated movie got closer to release, many wondered about the mastermind behind the story, 75-year-old author Delia Owens.
Editor-in-Chief of The Atlantic Jeffrey Goldberg was working on an article about the NYT bestselling author when he discovered a huge problem.
Owens was wanted for questioning in a 1996 murder case in the country of Zambia, along with her husband Mark Owens and their son, Christopher.
Long before her success as a writer, Owens, and her husband worked as conservationists on a mission to save elephants from poachers in the far-off land of Zambia.
According to Goldberg’s story, published Monday, Mark and Delia Owens worked to outfit a group of locals with weapons and supplies to help fight off the poachers.
ABC News gained word of the operation in 1996 and sent a small film crew to document the process. To their shock, they were there as a poacher was caught and subsequently shot by someone on the conservation team.
While the shooter was not caught on film, the killing and the identity of the man lying dead on the ground was never discovered. A cameraman on the ABC crew, Chris Everson, eventually revealed in a 2010 interview that he witnessed the couple’s son, Christopher Owens, shooting the poacher dead. “It’s something that never should have happened,” he remarked.
As the ABC News crew returned home and aired their coverage of the couple’s conservation efforts, questions were raised about their jurisdiction to enforce laws in Zambia, being that the couple was from the United States.
Although decades have passed, many questions still remain that only Mark, Christopher, and Delia Owens can answer. The body of the poacher was never found, Delia and Mark divorced, and Mark disappeared into the wilderness of Idaho.
According to Yahoo Entertainment, “Zambian authorities say both are wanted for questioning in not just the on-camera death, but the extent of their activities during their time in Africa.” The country has no statute of limitations regarding murder and currently, they have no extradition deal with the United States.
Delia Owens was on set for the filming of the movie which will be released Friday. She has stated before that the inspiration for the book came from her time in the African Savannas.
