The author of the wildly popular book “Where the Crawdads Sing” is wanted for questioning in connection with a decades-old alleged murder that was caught on camera in Zambia in the mid-1990s, the Atlantic reported this week.
Delia Owens, her ex-husband Mark and his son Christopher are all still being sought in connection with the fatal shooting of a suspected poacher nearly three decades ago, Zambian officials told Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic who has been following the sordid saga since 2010.
Goldberg wrote that Zambian officials are none-too-happy but slightly amused by Owens’ literary success. “Where the Crawdads Sing,” published in 2018, has sold 12 million copies, and a film adaptation of the book, produced by Reese Witherspoon, enjoyed a star-studded premiere in New York City Monday.
“There is no statute of limitations on murder in Zambia,” the country’s director of public prosecutions, Lillian Shawa-Siyuni, told Goldberg last month, confirming that the Owenses were wanted for questioning. “They are all wanted for questioning in this case, including Delia Owens.” NBC News has contacted Zambia’s embassy in Washington for comment.
The alleged murder of the suspected poacher was caught on camera and included in a 1996 ABC documentary called “Deadly Game: The Mark and Delia Owens Story,” which detailed the couple’s wildlife conservation efforts. NBC News has not reviewed the footage.
Goldberg notes that neither the victim or the shooter, who fired the deadly shot after the alleged poacher had already been wounded, are identified in the documentary.
The Owenses came back to the US shortly after the ABC documentary aired.
ABC did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.
Delia Owens told Goldberg in 2010 that her family had nothing to do with the killing of the alleged poacher.
“We don’t know anything about it,” she told him. “The only thing Mark ever did was throw firecrackers out of his plane, but just to scare poachers, not to hurt anyone.”
Christopher and Mark Owens’ lawyers have denied they were involved in the death, Goldberg reported. Delia Owens did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NBC News Tuesday, and a previous lawyer for the family said they do not represent them anymore. Efforts to reach Mark and Christopher Owens were not immediately successful.
Delia Owens, along with Mark, has also written “Cry of the Kalahari,” “Eye of the Elephant” and “Secrets of the Savanna,” documenting their time in Africa.
But Goldberg noted that “Where the Crawdads Sing,” set in North Carolina marshland, also bears loose similarities to the allegations against Owens.
The novel’s young protagonist Kya, an outcast, is accused of murdering the town’s celebrated former star quarterback.
“I was surprised that its themes so obviously echoed aspects of Delia Owens’s life in Zambia,” Goldberg writes. “What was noteworthy to me… were the deliberate callbacks to Delia’s Zambia experience of her.”
www.nbcnews.com
George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism