Delia D'Ambra

After assessing the abandoned vehicle, John and the rest of the search crew fanned out to continue looking for Julie.

A few hours later, around 4 p.m., about five miles from where the Jeep was found, and roughly four miles before a known hunting camp, the chief game warden of the reserve, a guy named Simon Olimakala, and other searchers discovered what looked like burned human remains and personal belongings scattered beneath and around a tree.

Some of the items included burnt camera film, coins, cutlery, pieces of glass, a saucepan, and a small cooking stove.

When members of the search party and John Ward took a closer look at the charred scene, they were able to find a pair of flip-flops, remains of a handbag, a passport, credit cards, and a few body parts in the ashes that hadn't been destroyed by the fire.

The human remains included a jawbone, a left leg, and a lock of hair.

John personally collected the remains and ashes in a makeshift bag he'd fashioned from a helicopter seat cover and handed them over to a Kenyan police officer, who then gave them to a pathologist who worked for the police force named Dr. Adel Shaker.

Shaker conducted a post-mortem exam in Nairobi shortly after the remains were discovered, but his findings weren't released to officials and John until a few days later on September 15th.

In his report, he stated that Julie's remains appeared to have been cut with some sort of sharp instrument before being burned, which essentially pointed to one thing, murder.

But Kenya's police force didn't accept that conclusion.

Officials wanted to dismiss Julie's death as some sort of tragic accident.

They were convinced that she'd been attacked by lions or wild animals, which were known to roam free in the reserve.

The police force's theory essentially went like this.

Julie had most likely been burning her bag under the tree to signal for help after abandoning her Jeep, and while doing so, she'd inhaled noxious fumes which caused her to pass out and fall into the fire she'd made.

Then, wild hyenas or some other carnivores had eaten on her remains.

It was either that scenario, or she'd died by suicide, or, wait for it, she'd been struck by lightning.

Yes, I'm not kidding.

These were all scenarios that the police force felt were more likely than someone murdering her.

But John Ward, Julie's dad, didn't believe any of the police's theories.

He told reporter Michael Horsnell for The Times that his daughter had been to Kenya two times prior to this trip, and she knew what to be on the lookout for.

There was no doubt in his mind that she'd been ambushed and killed somewhere between where she left her Jeep and the hunting lodge that was just a few miles away.