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Today, Explained

It ain’t over 'til the crawdads sing

Today, Explained

Vox

Politics, Daily News, News

4.310.3K Ratings

🗓️ 1 September 2022

⏱️ 24 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Delia Owens’s runaway bestseller Where the Crawdads Sing tells the story of a killing in North Carolina’s marshland. The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg explains Owens is wanted for questioning in Zambia regarding a real-life killing that bears striking similarities to the novel. This episode was produced by Victoria Dominguez, edited by Matt Collette, fact-checked by Laura Bullard, engineered by Paul Robert Mounsey, and hosted by Noel King. Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained   Support Today, Explained by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

It's today explained, I'm Noel King.

0:02.2

There's a story that has preoccupied Jeffrey Goldberg,

0:04.8

the editor-in-chief of the Atlantic magazine

0:06.9

for more than 10 years.

0:08.5

In 1995, in Zambia, in Africa, a man was shot and killed.

0:12.8

We don't know for sure who shot him.

0:15.2

This man was alleged to be an animal poacher,

0:17.6

but no one ever proved that he was.

0:19.7

An ABC news crew in Zambia was doing a story

0:22.6

about a pair of American conservationists

0:25.0

and filmed the killing.

0:26.8

And afterward, someone disposed of this man's body in a lagoon.

0:31.0

No one was ever charged with the killing.

0:32.9

What bothers me is the idea that somebody was murdered

0:38.0

in a remote part of Zambia, a remote part of Africa,

0:42.0

and no one cares.

0:44.2

It doesn't seem right.

0:45.5

It's my point.

0:46.2

It just doesn't seem right that this happened.

0:49.8

And also, Jeff thinks he knows who did it.

0:53.3

Coming up.

1:01.8

Support for today's show comes from Slack.

...

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