Murder conviction haunts Oklahoma City man

Monday, April 25th 2005, 6:02 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) An Oklahoma City man who lost a job with the Nebraska government due to a murder conviction in Rwanda claims he was made a scapegoat by officials in the African country and the charge is bogus.

Wayne McGuire claims he did not know of the death of Dian Fossey _ the scientist who became famous for her book ``Gorillas in the Mist,'' until he was awakened by distraught Africans on Dec. 27, 1985. He said found her slain in her cabin, her head ``split like a melon'' by a machete.

His conviction in Fossey's murder, when revealed last month to officials in Nebraska, cost him a job as a mental health advocate for the state because he did not reveal it on a job application.

McGuire was a 35-year-old graduate anthropology student at the University of Oklahoma when he left for Rwanda in July 1985 to study male mountain gorillas and their parenting skills as research for his dissertation.

He said the 53-year-old Fossey, suffering from alcoholism and emphysema, did not welcome him.

``At that point of her life, she'd been isolated so long, she was afraid of people,'' McGuire told The Oklahoman for a story published in Monday's editions.

McGuire said he gradually gained her trust and friendship. His father was an alcoholic, and he knew how to avoid confrontations with the easily angered woman.

He said Fossey began to tell him of her fears. She had made enemies in her battles with poachers and tourism promoters.

``She knew something could happen, and it did,'' McGuire said.

McGuire stayed in Rwanda for six months after Fossey's death, determined to continue his research and oversight of the gorillas. He left the country, which does not have an extradition treaty with the United States, after U.S. Embassy officials that he would be arrested by the Rwandans for Fossey's murder if he didn't leave immediately.

A Rwandan court met for less than an hour before convicting him on the belief that he killed her to gain access to her research.

``They put me up as the sacrificial lamb,'' said McGuire, who added that he thinks former Ruhengeri governor Protais Zigiranyirazo, who is accused of creating the death squads of 1994 that killed 800,000 Rwandans, masterminded the murder.

McGuire said he suffered post traumatic stress disorder after returning to the U.S. He took non-tenure professorships at several Minnesota universities, then moved to Florida to teach middle-school science. He lost that job because officials said he wasn't certified, but McGuire said he thinks parents learned of his connection to Fossey and exerted pressure on school officials.

He next returned to Oklahoma City to stay with a friend, but the friend kicked him out because of his mood swings. He was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in October 2001, and he has been recovering through medication, therapy and peer support ever since.

Through connections made through volunteer work, he was hired in 2003 at the Oklahoma City office of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill to develop an anti-stigma program. He expanded the program to the state's prison system and Robert Powitzky, chief mental health officer for the state Corrections Department, said it has been highly successful.

``It increases their hope and their motivation to learn to manage their illness and live a life of recovery,'' Powitzky said.

McGuire, who lives in a public housing apartment in Oklahoma City, said he is determined to continue his work with the mentally ill.

His job with the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill pays half the $47,000 he would have made in Nebraska. He fears that any time he seeks a new job, the accusations will resurface.

``I have always been a prisoner of this ridiculous charge,'' McGuire said. ``I keep telling myself this is where it changes. But my worst fear is that on my deathbed someone will stick a camera in my face and ask 'Did you kill Dian Fossey?'''