Delia D'Ambra

He'd asked some pilot friends of his to keep an eye out for her and her used Suzuki Jeep whenever they flew over the 150 miles or so of Savannah between the reserve and the city of Nairobi.

But after a few trips back and forth throughout that week, the pilots told Doug that they hadn't seen any sign of Julie or her vehicle.

He then did the one thing that made the most logical sense in the moment.

He checked inside the cottage he'd been renting to Julie, to, I imagine, figure out if maybe she had actually returned, but everyone just missed seeing her.

But after scoping it out, it became clear that Julie had not come back to her cottage.

Doug looked through her things and found the plane ticket with her name on it that was scheduled to depart for London the next day, Saturday, September 10th.

Unsure of what else to do, the Weld Dixons and Doug just continued to wait.

They were growing more and more worried, but I don't know, maybe they just hoped Julie would arrive with a good explanation as to why she was so overdue.

The next day, September 10th, Julie's father, John Ward, called the Weld Dixons from England to check in and see how things were going, because Julie hadn't come home and he was getting nervous.

But Natasha and Paul had to break the bad news that Julie hadn't returned to Nairobi, and they were worried she was missing.

When John learned that information, it didn't sit well with him.

He immediately made arrangements to fly to Kenya and figure out what was going on.

That same day, September 10th, is when the majority of the source material states that Julie was officially reported missing to Kenyan authorities.

John didn't arrive in the country himself, though, to sync up with the police until two days later on Monday, September 12th.

As soon as he got on the ground, though, he immediately got to work and contracted four private planes and two helicopters to fly over the reserve and look for Julie.

He also connected with Doug, Natasha, and Paul to gather information about who she'd been traveling with and where she went.

He also coordinated local volunteers, game wardens, and police officers to aid him in his efforts.

The key to efficiently covering so much ground in a short amount of time was learning as much as possible about Julie's last known movements.

Julie was the eldest child in her family with two younger brothers, and from a young age, she really liked learning about animals thanks to her mother, Jan.

Author Nick Buckley detailed in Julie Ward, Gentle Nature, that it was mother and daughter's shared love of wildlife that got Julie interested in wildlife photography.