Q: I have a question about the woman who was killed while she was working with apes in Africa. Was that case ever solved? Can you tell us a little bit about that?
—Eddie Webster, Douglasville
A: Dian Fossey's 1985 murder has never been "fully resolved."
Fossey, who was born in San Francisco in 1932, moved to Africa in 1966 and began studying gorillas. She slowly gained their trust and brought “forth in her studies new knowledge about their behavior,” gorillafund.org states.
She actively campaigned against poaching, opposed tourism and created the Digit Fund, named after her favorite gorilla, which was killed by a poacher.
Fossey wrote “Gorillas in the Mist” in 1983. The book became a movie starring Sigourney Weaver in 1988.
Fossey was killed by a machete in her cabin at the Karisoke Research Center in Rwanda on Dec. 26, 1985. She was buried next to Digit.
The Digit Fund became the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International (gorillafund.org), which is “committed to promoting continued research on the gorillas and their threatened ecosystems.”
Q: Is there any way to find out what the Benghazi House committee did with $5 million?
—Jackie Graves, Grayson
A: The money spent by the U.S. House Select Committee on Benghazi has gone to travel (both domestic and abroad), staff salaries and administrative costs.
Panel Democrats said the committee has spent $5 million on a “taxpayer-funded fishing expedition to derail Secretary Clinton’s presidential campaign,” reported TheHill.com, which covers Congress.
Andy Johnston with Fast Copy News Service wrote this column. Do you have a question about the news? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or email q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
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