A recent article by journalist Jeffrey Goldberg in The Atlantic sheds light on what happened in the US author’s life while she was an activist in Zambia. Back in 2010, Goldberg wrote a report for The New Yorker, revealing that Owen and her husband – along with his son Christopher – were suspected by authorities in Zambia of involvement in the killing of a man and possible other criminal activities be. During a visit to Zambia’s capital, Lusaka, last month, authorities confirmed to Goldberg that they are still investigating the case.
Owens spent nearly 20 years in Zambia’s North Luangwa National Park. The zoologist did research there together with her husband, the biologist Mark Owens, and his son Christopher. Their goal: to protect African elephants from poachers. With the support of the Zambian government, the Owens organized a small group of game wardens into an anti-poaching force of sorts. Goldberg’s research now suggests that they did not shy away from violence.
Unexplained shots
Footage from the ABC News documentary Deadly Game: The Mark and Delia Owens Story, which aired on Turning Point in March 1996, shows a man lying on the ground being shot dead. reported Goldberg. The victim was not identified by the reporter, journalist Meredith Vieira, and the identity of the person or persons who fired the fatal off-camera shots has not been clarified, Goldberg wrote.
According to his research, Delia and Mark Owens are said to have tied suspected poachers to posts at the time. Several people were killed in their anti-poaching operations. The Owens’ attorneys deny this.
Zambian government calls for clarification
According to media reports, the Zambian authorities have been looking for the couple for some time. Owens now lives on a ranch in Idaho, USA. In an interview with Goldberg, former Zambian police commissioner Graphael Musamba explained that the case from 1996 was never processed due to the lack of evidence: “The bush is the perfect place to commit murder (…) The animals eat the evidence.” the assumption close, according to the local police department to the “Atlantic”, that Mark Owens might have disposed of the body with his helicopter in a nearby lagoon.
Now in Zambia there are once more calls for the author to testify in court. The country’s Director of Public Prosecutions, Lillian Shawa-Siyuni, confirmed to Goldberg, “Delia, Mark and Christopher Owens are still wanted in connection with the killing of the alleged poacher, as well as other possible criminal activities in North Luangwa.”
exit open
According to Media Control, Owen’s novel was the best-selling book in Germany last year. It tells the fictional story of Kya, a girl living on her own in the North Carolina swamps. When a murder occurs in the coastal town, Kya is brought to justice. Owen’s novel is regarding a murder, and there is a suspicion that the boundaries between fiction and reality – between what really happens and what is only made up – are fluid here, wrote the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” (“SZ”) ).
In an interview three years ago, Owens said of her book, “There’s a lot of symbolism in this book, you don’t have to understand it. You can simply read it as a story.” The “SZ” wrote that precisely this symbolism might now be fatal to the 73-year-old author.
