FAMED author of Where The Crawdads Sing Delia Owens is wanted for questioning after being tied to a horrific murder that was recorded for a documentary, new reports claim.
Delia and her husband Mark were highlighted in a 1996 program titled Deadly Game that explored their conservation efforts in Zambia which reportedly took a deadly turn.
Years before Delia celebrated the success of her first novel, she and her husband Mark moved to Africa with the mission to help save elephants from poachers.
ABC broadcast their story in a documentary where co-anchor Diane Sawyer said "They went halfway around the world to follow a dream.
"An idealistic American couple – young, in love. But a strange place and time would test that love."
Deadly Game: The Mark and Delia Owens Story, follows the American couple's journey into Zambia to study and conserve the elephant population.
read more sun stories
Heartbreaking cry for help issued after captain & wife killed in boat accident
The documentary showed how they were fighting to save the elephants against poachers who sought them for their precious ivory tusks.
While this sounds like an idyllic tale of two brave scientists attempting to preserve nature no matter the cost, Jeffrey Goldberg, a critic of the Owenses, described the documentary as a "snuff film."
And this isn't just speculation – the documentary actually televised the murder of a poacher who was killed after being caught on the grounds of a game warden.
"The victim is not identified by the story's narrator, the journalist Meredith Vieira," Goldberg wrote.
Most read in US News
NEW FIANCÉE 
R Kelly 'ENGAGED to victim Joycelyn Savage' after receiving 30 years in jail
5 unanswered questions about notorious 'killer clown' – paedo ring to MORE victims
Update in case of family with toddler who vanished after Walmart trip
Missing boy, 6, found dead in a pond hours after search launched
"Nor is the identity of the person or persons who fired the fatal shots off-camera disclosed."
The Paley Center for Media described the warfare in the documentary by saying, "Game wardens must shoot poachers as soon as they see one, otherwise, they will be shot themselves; the Owens have resolved that in order to save the elephants, they must sacrifice human beings."
Though instead of just witnessing the warfare between game wardens and poachers, Goldberg claimed that Mark and Delia were allegedly involved with poachers being killed.
He said he visited Zambia where "I learned that Mark Owens had gradually come to command a corps of game scouts in North Luangwa, outside of Zambian-government oversight, by buying their loyalty through the provision of weapons, boots, and money.
Goldberg continued to claim that Mark's adult son trained scouts in hand-to-hand combat so they could more effectively apprehend poachers.
A professional hunter named PJ Fouche showed Goldberg a letter that Mark allegedly sent him during his campaign against poachers.
"To date, I have flown eight airborne antipoaching operations over your area, including four in which I inserted scouts on ambush," Mark wrote, according to Fouche.
"Two poachers have been killed and one wounded that I know of thus far, and we are just getting warmed up."
DENIAL
However, Mark and Delia vehemently denied all claims that they were involved in any killings or committed any wrongdoing.
"The only thing Mark ever did was throw firecrackers out of his plane, but just to scare poachers, not to hurt anyone," celebrated author Delia told Goldberg.
"Why don't you understand that we're good people? We were just trying to help."
Regarding the letter that Mark wrote Fouche, Mark said in a statement, "'We are just getting started' did not mean that anyone was just getting started shooting poachers, but only that we had just begun fielding antipoaching patrols in that area."
Mark said that his words were an exaggeration designed to satisfy the professional hunter Fouche.
Despite this, Zambia's director of public prosecutions Lillian Shawa-Siyuni said that Mark, Delia, and Mark's son, Christopher, is still wanted for questioning related to the killing of the alleged poacher in the documentary, Goldberg said.
"There is no statute of limitation on murder in Zambia," Siyuna said.
"They are all wanted for questioning in this case, including Delia Owens."
The only thing Mark ever did was throw firecrackers out of his plane, but just to scare poachers, not to hurt anyone.
Delia's first novel Where the Crawdads Sing has sold more than 12 million copies since it was published in 2018.
The book has been turned into a feature film which is set to air later this week, thanks to producer and early supporter of the book Reese Witherspoon.
Days before the film's debut, Goldberg is emphasizing that Zambian government officials still wish to speak with the successful author.
"I want to know how Mark and Delia brought guns into Zambia and turned themselves into law-enforcement agents," chief prosecutor Siyuni told Goldberg.
"I can't even go into the US embassy with a camera."
Today, Mark and Delia are said to be divorced on friendly terms.
Delia wrote several bestselling nonfiction books before her first fiction novel catapulted her to fame.
Mark has written several nonfiction books on zoology and environmental activism.
Read More On The Sun
Kardashian fans spot Pete’s new tattoo for Kim in rare intimate photo
Jeffrey Goldberg has previously written about Delia and Mark in the 2010 article The Hunted published by The New Yorker.
The Sun has reached out to Delia's publisher and the Owens family regarding this issue.
Source: Read Full Article
