Where The Crawdads Sing And The Story Behind The Alleged Murder
Where the Crawdads Sing, a novel by Delia Owens and later adapted into film, has sold over twelve million copies and spent over 150 weeks on the New York Times Bestseller list. The novel is one of the most sold novels of all time and its film adaptation was similarly successful, grossing $140 million on a $24 million budget with Taylor Swift writing and performing an original song "Carolina" for the soundtrack. However, the author, Delia Owens, is mired in controversy—and wanted for questioning for murder.
Before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s talk about Delia Owen’s background. Before her work’s breakaway success, she received a bachelor's degree in zoology from the University of Georgia and a doctorate in Animal Behavior from the University of California, Davis. After completing her studies, she and her husband, Mark Owens, published a nonfiction book (Cry of the Kalahari) about their experiences living in the Kalahari desert studying wildlife. The Owenses rose to fame for their reflections, winning the John Burroughs Medal for Best Natural History Book. The couple continued their work in Africa, publishing two more books and becoming involved in conservation and anti-poaching, before returning to the States in 1996. They also established a foundation, the Owens Foundation for Wildlife Conservation, to “rehabilitate and conserve the 2,400 square-mile North Luangwa National Park of Zambia” in response to high numbers of poaching.
In 2018, Delia Owens became best known for her debut novel, Where the Crawdads Sing. No one had anticipated the release to be such an astounding success, but its acclaim was greatly aided by being Reese Witherspoon’s book club selection for September. At the end of 2019, the novel was the most popular adult title of the year, selling more copies than new releases by Margaret Atwood and Stephen King. Even today, the novel’s popularity has not stopped soaring with Tiktok pushing it to new and younger audiences. According to Time Magazine, the hashtag #wherethecrawdadssing has received over 29 million views on TikTok.
However, at the height of its popularity in 2019, Slate published an article by journalist Laura Miller revisiting the controversial aspects of Owens’ past. The story went viral. MIller writes, “But what most of Crawdads’ fans don’t know is that Delia and Mark Owens have been advised never to return to one of the African nations where they once lived and worked, Zambia, because they are wanted for questioning in a murder that took place there decades ago. That murder, whose victim remains unidentified, was filmed and broadcast on national television in the U.S.” Miller confirms that Delia herself is not suspected in the murder, but her husband and stepson have been accused by some witnesses. This incident is not a secret, but has been glossed over by the media and popular culture. In 2010, it was the subject of an expose by Jeffrey Goldberg published in the New Yorker.
The tragedy struck in 1995 and was filmed by an ABC news film crew that was supposed to be following the couple’s conservationist efforts. However, when footage showed an unidentified man—possibly a suspected poacher— shot at by a person whose face was blurred, it became the special “Deadly Game: The Mark and Delia Owens Story.” The man later died, his body going still after more shots were fired off-camera.
The special aired in 1996 and the Zambian government opened an investigation. The body was never found. A witness claimed that Christopher Owens, Delia Owen’s stepson, was the one who had fired the gun. Delia Owens has denied this, claiming that Christopher was not present. There have been no charges filed against the couple or stepson, but Goldberg wrote that when speaking to Zambian police officials, they were “keen to interrogate Mark and Christopher Owens, but also believe that Delia Owens should be interrogated as a possible witness, co-conspirator, and accessory to felony crimes.”
The team behind the film has never acknowledged the controversy and Delia Owens has distanced herself from the incident, telling the New York Times in 2019 that she was not involved. Sometimes life imitates art but in this case, art seems to be imitating life— Kya, the protagonist of Where the Crawdads Sing, faces an all too-similar predicament. No matter where future investigations lead, it’s almost certain that Delia Owens will have to endure the legacy of her past for the rest of her life.
by ATREYI BASU