Tourist Found Dead in Kenya Was Murdered, Court Decides

A British tourist whose charred bones were found in a game park was murdered, a court ruled today, vindicating her father’s yearlong battle against state investigators who claimed that wild animals had killed her.

The death of Julie Ward remains unsolved, however, with no one arrested and the judge’s saying he saw no need for further investigation. Ward’s father has charged that there was an official cover-up to protect Kenya’s lucrative tourism industry.

Ward’s partly charred lower left leg and lower jaw were found Sept. 13, 1988, in the sprawling Masai Mara Game Reserve, a week after she reportedly left the world-renowned park while on a wildlife photography expedition.

The state claimed that the 28-year-old woman was eaten by carnivores after abandoning her vehicle mired in mud. The Masai Mara is home to lions, vultures, hyenas and leopards among other meat eaters.

Her father, John Ward, a hotelier from Suffolk, England, contended that she was murdered, hacked up and burned with gasoline. He pleaded with the state to order an inquest and spent tens of thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours in a private investigation of her death.

“There is ample and substantial evidence that Julie Ward died of foul play by a person or persons unknown,” Chief Magistrate Joseph Mango said at the conclusion of his inquiry.

In rejecting the state’s contention that Ward had been killed by animals, Mango said: “I think the animals are innocent. If they are guilty at all, it is in eating what they found.”