Editing Dian Fossey (section)

==Murder and burial==
[[File:Tombe Dian Fossey.jpg|thumb|Fossey's grave at Karisoke, alongside those of her gorilla friends]]
In the early morning of December 27, 1985, Fossey was discovered murdered in the bedroom of her cabin located at the far edge of the camp in the [[Virunga Mountains]], Rwanda.<ref name="People 1986">{{Cite news|last=Brower|first=Montgomery|date=February 1986|title=The Strange Death of Dian Fossey|periodical=[[People (magazine)|People]]|url=http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20092973,00.html|access-date=January 16, 2014|archive-date=August 27, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160827060711/http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20092973,00.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Her body was found face-up near the two beds where she slept, roughly {{convert|7|ft|m|0}} away from a hole that her assailant(s) had apparently cut in the wall of the cabin. Wayne Richard McGuire, Fossey's last research assistant at Karisoke, was summoned to the scene by Fossey's house servant and found her bludgeoned to death, reporting that "when I reached down to check her vital signs, I saw her face had been split, diagonally, with one machete blow."<ref name="People 1986"/> The cabin was littered with broken glass and overturned furniture, with a 9{{nbsp}}mm handgun and ammunition beside her on the floor.<ref name="People 1986"/> Her cabin had been ransacked.<ref name="bbc"/> However, robbery was evidently not the motive for the crime, as Fossey's valuables were still in the cabin, including her passport, handguns, and thousands of dollars in U.S. bills and traveler's checks.<ref name="People 1986"/><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-30313306|title=Dian Fossey: The woman who lived with gorillas|work=BBC News|access-date=March 29, 2016|archive-date=April 2, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160402043831/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-30313306|url-status=live}}</ref>

The last entry in her diary read:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dian-fossey.com/|title=Dian Fossey|publisher=dian-fossey.com|access-date=December 14, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091227101004/http://www.dian-fossey.com/|archive-date=December 27, 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="history"/>
{{blockquote|quote=When you realize the value of all life, you dwell less on what is past and concentrate more on the preservation of the future.}}

Fossey is buried at Karisoke,<ref name=Darkness>{{cite web |url=http://www.kirasalak.com/Darkness.html |title=PLACES OF DARKNESS: AFRICA'S MOUNTAIN GORILLAS |last=Salak |first=Kira |publisher=National Geographic Adventure |access-date=October 2, 2008 |archive-date=October 22, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181022232116/http://www.kirasalak.com/Darkness.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=DarknessPhotos>{{cite web |url=http://www.kirasalak.com/PhotosRwandaGorillas.html |title=Photos from "PLACES OF DARKNESS: AFRICA'S MOUNTAIN GORILLAS" |last=Salak |first=Kira |publisher=National Geographic Adventure |access-date=October 2, 2008 |archive-date=July 4, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180704193814/http://www.kirasalak.com/PhotosRwandaGorillas.html |url-status=live }}</ref> in a site that she herself had constructed for her deceased gorilla friends. She was buried in the gorilla graveyard next to Digit, and near many gorillas killed by poachers. Memorial services were also held in New York City, Washington, D.C., and California.<ref name="Montgomery162">{{Harvnb|Montgomery|pp=162–3}}</ref>

===Aftermath===
After Fossey's murder, her entire staff were arrested. This included Rwandan Emmanuel Rwelekana, a tracker who had been fired from his job after he allegedly tried to kill Fossey with a machete, according to the government's account of McGuire's trial. All were later released, except Rwelekana, who was later found dead in prison, allegedly having hanged himself.<ref name="farley"/><ref name="Kraft-1986"/>

Rwandan courts later tried and convicted Wayne McGuire ''[[trial in absentia|in absentia]]'' for her murder. The alleged motive was that McGuire murdered Fossey in order to steal the manuscript of the sequel to her 1983 book, ''Gorillas in the Mist''. At the trial, investigators said McGuire was not happy with his own research and wanted to use "any dishonest means possible" to complete his work. McGuire had returned to the United States in July 1987,<ref name="Kraft-1986">{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-12-19-mn-3576-story.html|title=American Found Guilty in Absentia of Rwanda Killing of Gorilla Expert Fossey|last=Kraft|first=Scott|date=December 19, 1986|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|language=en-US|issn=0458-3035|access-date=April 15, 2016|archive-date=April 28, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160428130659/http://articles.latimes.com/1986-12-19/news/mn-3576_1_dian-fossey|url-status=live}}</ref> and because no [[extradition]] treaty existed between the U.S. and Rwanda at that time, McGuire did not return to Rwanda.<ref name="farley"/> His penalty was death by shooting.<ref name="nyt"/>

Following his return to the U.S., McGuire gave a brief statement at a news conference in [[Century City]], Los Angeles, saying Fossey had been his "friend and mentor", calling her death "tragic" and the charges "outrageous".<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-08-30-me-14231-story.html |title=Suspect Denies Killing Famous Naturalist; Conspiracy Hinted |author=Eric Malnic |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=August 30, 1986 |access-date=January 16, 2014 |archive-date=January 16, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140116222018/http://articles.latimes.com/1986-08-30/local/me-14231_1_dian-fossey |url-status=live }}</ref> Thereafter, McGuire was largely absent from public notice until 2005, when news broke that he had been accepted for a job with the Health and Human Services division of the [[Government of Nebraska|State of Nebraska]]. The job offer was revoked upon discovery of his relation to the Fossey case.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wowt.com/news/headlines/1363897.html |title=Job Offer Rescinded |publisher=[[WOWT]] |date=March 14, 2005 |access-date=January 16, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140116182005/http://www.wowt.com/news/headlines/1363897.html |archive-date=January 16, 2014 }}</ref>

Other theories about her murder persist: that the perpetrators were poachers taking revenge, that Zaïrois hit men were hired to kill her for her presumed-valuable research notes, that there were political motives, that she was killed by a panicked burglar who was hired to steal a protective talisman that Fossey had taken from a poacher,<ref name="vanity" /> that her killer was hired by a person or group whose interests would be negatively affected by Fossey's campaign to prevent exploitation of the Parc National de Volcans,<ref name="farley"/> or that Fossey had potentially damning evidence of gold-smugglers.<ref name="bbc"/>

A will purporting to be Fossey's bequeathed all of her estate (including the proceeds from the film ''[[Gorillas in the Mist]]'') to the Digit Fund to underwrite anti-poaching patrols. Fossey did not mention her family in the will, which was unsigned. Her mother, Hazel Fossey Price, successfully challenged the will.<ref name="farley"/> New York State Supreme Court Justice Swartwood threw out the will and awarded the estate to her mother, including about $4.9 million in royalties from a recent book and upcoming movie, stating that the document "was simply a draft of her purported will and not a will at all." Price said she was working on a project to preserve the work her daughter had done for the mountain gorillas in Rwanda.<ref>[https://apnews.com/ad6d4dc91efe7570eacc23504461cec6 AP News Report] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170810091755/http://www.apnewsarchive.com/1988/Judge-Rules-Dian-Fossey-s-Will-Invalid/id-ad6d4dc91efe7570eacc23504461cec6 |date=August 10, 2017 }}. (January 15, 1988). ''Ruling On Fossey's Will'</ref>

In 2001, [[Protais Zigiranyirazo]], who was suspected of ordering Fossey's murder, was arrested in Belgium for his alleged role in the planning of the [[Rwandan genocide|1994 Rwandan genocide]]. <ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/jul/28/andrewosborn |title=Fossey murder suspect arrested |work=The Guardian |date=July 29, 2001 |access-date=October 16, 2024 |last1=Osborn |first1=Andrew }}</ref>