The zoologist whose bestselling debut novel hides a dark, unsolved mystery
In short: Delia Owens achieved global fame with her 2018 debut, Where the Crawdads Sing. Yet, behind the literary success lies a chilling chapter from her time in Africa, involving a fatal shooting, a missing body, and an investigation that remains unresolved decades later.
Before becoming a literary sensation, Delia Owens was a dedicated scientist. Following her animal behaviour doctorate at the University of California, Davis, her professional life focused on researching wild animals. In 1974, she and her then-husband, Mark Owens, moved to southern Africa to conduct research in the Kalahari Desert and Zambia. Their work focused on conservation, including efforts to reduce elephant poaching by teaching skills like beekeeping and weaving to local populations.
However, their scientific career was shadowed by intense legal controversy. During their time in Africa, the couple was expelled from Botswana following their campaign against the local cattle industry. More significantly, they became subjects of a murder investigation in Zambia. A 1996 ABC newsmagazine documentary, "Deadly Game," famously aired footage of a person, described as a "trespendent," being shot while collapsed on the ground. While the identity of the shooter was not disclosed by the program, a cameraman later told The New Yorker that Mark Owens fired the shots.
The investigation was complicated by the disappearance of the victim's body. Zambian police detective Biemba Musole reported that Mark Owens allegedly used a helicopter to drop the body into a lagoon, a claim the Owenses have denied. Although no extradition agreement exists between the United States and Zambia, authorities in Zambia claim Delia Owens is sought for interrogation regarding potential felony involvement. While no charges were ever brought against the Owens family, the parallels between her real-life history and the themes of her fiction continue to spark intense public debate.
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- Summary by Intellect · source: Delia Owens
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