Tonga

The murder of Deborah Gardner in 1976 in Tonga still haunts the Peace Corps agency and particularly those who were in Tonga during this terrible time when the agency did not do justice to one of their own. I have written about this murder several times over the years and Jan Worth Nelson (Tonga 1976-78) wrote the 2006 novel Night Blind based on the murder. She alerted me to the recent documentary. It is part of a series called “Passport to Murder” produced for Discovery ID TV. The  segment on Deborah Gardner was entitled “The Devil in Paradise.” It was aired on July 29, 2016. Jan, who was interviewed for the segment wrote me after it aired, “I have come to believe there probably isn’t any closure to be had.  But unlike Emile Hons (Tonga 1974-76), I didn’t really know her AND, most importantly, I didn’t walk into that cursed hut to . . .