Authorities May Have Found Where Tribe Allegedly Buried American Missionary

Authorities in India say they believe they have found the area where the body of an American Christian missionary may have been buried. 

John Allen Chau was allegedly killed by tribespeople on a remote Indian island called North Sentinel earlier this month. 

Friday's visit was the second time in a week that police, the local coast guard and other officials traveled to the island to try determine what happened. They also brought two of the seven people arrested for bringing Chau to the island along with them.

Investigators have asked experts to clue them in on nuances and potential violent behavior of the tribe before they attempt to recover the body.

The Sentinelese have made it clear they do not welcome outsiders and currently live as their ancestors did thousands of years ago. Indian ships keep watch on the waters around the island to protect them from outsiders. 

Chau decided to visit the island because he wanted to spread the message of Jesus to the tribe, paying local fisherman to ferry him there, according to police on India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

On his first attempt at speaking with the tribe, he was shot at and managed to retreat. He detailed the experience in journal entries his mother shared with news outlets, including The Washington Post.

“If you want me to get actually shot or even killed with an arrow then so be it,” he wrote, addressing God. “I think I could be more useful alive though … I don’t want to die. Would it be wiser to leave and let someone else continue? No. I don’t think so.”

After his first interaction with the tribe, he gave pages from his journal to the fishermen and again set off for North Sentinel Island, according to police. What happened afterward is not known.

On Nov. 17, the fishermen watched from afar as Chau's body was dragged onto the shore by members of the tribe. The men left for Port Blair, the capital of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, where they told a friend of Chau's what had happened. The friend notified Chau's family.

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