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Subscribe to RSSAn emotional day for Australian mother Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton. Decades after contesting an accusation of murdering her 9-week-old baby, a coroner has finally ruled that baby Azaria had been killed by a dingo. NBC's Sarah James reports.
A 32-year legal mystery over the death of a baby in Australia's outback took a new twist on Tuesday when a coroner ruled that infant Azaria Chamberlain was stolen by a dingo, bringing closure to a case that split national opinion and attracted global headlines.
A Northern Territory coroner told a packed courtroom Tuesday that a dingo or dingos took Azaria Chamberlain from a campground near Uluru - a haunting monolith formerly known as Ayers Rock - ABC News Australia reported.
Her parents always maintained their daughter was taken by a dingo, an Australian native wild dog. Her body was never found.
Her mother Lindy Chamberlain served three years for murder. Her father, Michael Chamberlain, was given a suspended sentence for being an accessory. Both were exonerated in 1987 but Azaria's official cause of death remained undetermined until now.
The case was made into a major motion picture, “A Cry in the Dark,” starring Meryl Streep as Lindy Chamberlain, in 1988.
"Obviously we are relieved and delighted to come to the end of this saga," Lindy Chamberlain, now known as Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton, told reporters outside the court.
Michael Chamberlain told reporters in the Northern Territory capital Darwin that the report gave those involved a chance to move on.
Patrina Malone / EPA
Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton, speaks with media, as her ex-husband Michael Chamberlain (right) watches on outside the Darwin's Magistrate Court in Darwin, Australia, June 12.
"This has been a terrifying battle, bitter at times, but now some healing, and a chance to put our daughter's spirit to rest," he said.
'Attacked and taken by a dingo'
Northern Territory Coroner Elizabeth Morris found evidence from the case proved a dingo or dingoes were responsible for nine-week-old Azaria's death and ruled that her death certificate should read "attacked and taken by a dingo."
"What occurred on 17th August, 1980, was that shortly after Mrs Chamberlain placed Azaria in the tent, a dingo or dingoes entered the tent, took Azaria and carried and dragged her from the immediate area," Morris said.
In an emotional finding, Morris then offered her condolences to the Chamberlains and one of their sons, who were in the Darwin court room.
AAP via EPA
A handout photograph made available by the Australian news agency AAP showing the camping area, including Lindy Chamberlain's tent, where her daughter Azaria went missing, near the Uluru sandstone rock, Northern Territory, central Australia, Aug. 17, 1980.
"Please accept my sincere sympathy on the death of your special loved daughter and sister Azaria. I am so sorry for your loss," she said to the family. "Time does not remove the pain and sadness of the death of a child."
A first inquest in 1981 supported the parents' account but, a second inquest in 1982 overturned that finding and recommended Lindy and Michael Chamberlain stand trial over Azaria's death.
Lindy Chamberlain, then pregnant with her fourth child, was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. Michael Chamberlain was convicted of being an accessory and given a suspended sentence.
A judicial inquiry, known as a Royal Commission, overturned the convictions in 1987, leading to Lindy Chamberlain's release. A third inquest in 1995 returned an open verdict.
The latest inquest, however, heard new evidence of several dingo attacks on humans, including details of how a nine-year old boy died in Queensland after being attacked in 2001.
Msnbc.com staff and Reuters contributed to this report.
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Leave a Comment:
The coronor in this case couldn't figure this out 30 years ago? All this time this poor family not only had to mourn the loss of their lovely baby girl, but they were also made a social outcasts as well as having their religious beliefs and practices held in suspicion. I'm thrilled that they're names have been cleared finally but it won't give them the last 30 years of their lives back.
The real question is what is the government going to do to compensate that family for the hell they had to go through in court battles. They lost they child and then through sloppy and incompetent police work that family then had to suffer at the hand of another dangerous, cruel and hateful animal....the legal system, which in MHO is far more deadly and dangerous than any dingo.
Where is the justice, where is the compensation, why cant the people who failed these parents and citizens be put in jail? Welcome to the justice system......
Well, that article told me nothing at all about why it was ruled that a dingo took the child.
For all I know, they had it right to begin with.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-06-12/azaria-chamberlain-inquest-findings/4065466
This link offers more information, including the complete coroner's report. Part of the new evidence was the attacks and deaths from dingoes since this incident. At the time, people simply didn't believe such things were possible.
IHJBOiojhnio
What kind of mother takes a baby out into the outback and leaves it alone in a tent, in an area where the temperatures get into the I00's of degrees farenheit and wild dingoes are known to run around and scavenge....This is why most people in Aus believe that Lindy Chamberlin and her husband were guilty of "neglectful murder"...Aus does not have a death penalty, they bury their shameful cases in the sands or prisons. The Chamberlins are as guilty now as they were then...Don't ever expect justice in Aus.
Agreed
Although the phrase became a running joke, I can't imagine the hell the parents endured all these years and to be blamed for the death of their precious baby! Imagine having lost a baby and then having to prove to the world that you are innocent for decades? It's hard enough to grieve over such a devastating situation. Surely takes a toll on one's life, obviously ruined their marriage and they must've been the mockery of any place they resided. I won't sit and judge if bringing the baby to a camp ground was the right or wrong decision. That's ridiculous gossip. The parents didn't murder the baby. They went to have a good time and that is not a crime. It's a crime what these people went through!
I would agree with you, if they had lost the baby. They didn't. They left the baby unattended in an area known to have predatory creatures. Ask yourself if you would leave you 9 week old baby alone, unattended in such an area with no more protection than an open tent?
I remember when this was big news in 1980, I was in my second year at high school in New Zealand, and it had major coverage in our media. Later stupid, uninformed people in Australia spread the rumour that Azaria was killed by her mother as a sacrifice. Lindy & Michael can now feel vindicated by this ruling even after more than 30 years, but this tragic incident cost them a daughter and eventually their marriage.
This proves that Seinfeld was years ahead of it's time. Elaine Benes knew that the dingo ate the baby.
Elaine was quoting a popular phrase from the movie about the incident. "A Cry in the Dark" starring Meryl Streep.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094924/
Also, in the "Buffy" TV series, "Dingoes Ate My Baby" was the name of the local band that Oz (Daniel Osborne, played by Seth Green) belonged to.
Pigs eat babies too, so keep your potbelly pig outside.
Justice delayed is still justice denied. I'm glad the coroner did this because it needed to be done, but it does not undo the horrible injustice done to these people. This should be a lesson to people who blind faith in criminal justice systems. "Casey Anthony is innocent because the jury did not convict her." Or "The jury has spoken and we must abide by their verdict." The innocent are convicted and the guilty get off everyday.
More great news reporting. FIne job there, news media. (sarc)
My sister went camping with her husband and 4 young children when she heard howling in the distance. She freaked and wouldn't put it to rest; they left that night.
At least wolves never attack humans, or so I've been told.
That is because dingoes are closer to domestic dogs, having descended from domestic dogs brought by the Aborigines thousands of years ago. They have also cross bred with domestic dogs of more recent import. Therefore no innate fear of humans like wolves. Then there is the problem of people feeding them, as well as campers leaving garbage around. That is why they prowl around campsites.
The controversy revolved around the baby's clothing and whether a dingo could remove it without damaging it. I just wonder why Australians wouldn't believe a dingo could take a child? Coyotes here in the US can and do attack small children. The baby was only nine weeks old, it certainly would not have been difficult for a dingo or coyote to kill such a small infant, since it would have not been able to resist. I also do not understand why someone would go camping with such a small baby or leave it alone for any time?
BINGO! someone gets it.
Diamond in the rough dilemma ... Jew's were ordered by Pharoah to kill their first borns ... crime against humanity - positive (result) but, let me get to the point: we are living in the most exotic, arid and 'final frontier'-land on Earth and I have to thank God, that I made it back after going out there, into the wild elements, traveling through previously unexplored territory ... and I didn't see anything extraordinary, I had no guns or FBI agents as backup, I love the Australian Outback, she is unfetted and evasively wild, she is the "motherland" of Australia.
Yes it is. Did you take a 9 week old baby with you?
Read your Bible again.
Ok if it was dingoes, why are people mad at the dingo? "Hunt dingos every day of my life" and other such quotes. Why would you hate a dingo for doing what a dingo does. I want to hunt bears because they sleep all winter. I want to hunt birds because they fly all the time. Get it?
If you want to hate someone. How about the daffy botch that left the baby alone in the tent? How about the idiotic family that took thier newly born child to the wilderness? Trust me, regardless of how the baby died, they wanted the baby dead and gone. They had to find a way to do it so they could get out of it. They didnt want to be parents. They wanted thier party lives back. "Hey, we have a new born baby. I know, lets take it on a camping trip in a place where there are predators! I'll walk off and be doing something and you leave the baby alone while you doing something....like cooking. We can't both be gone." Stupid idiotic parents. I wish them no peace. I hope they never have a good nights sleep again. I dont care how the baby died. The poor thing wouldn't if they had used even half the brain power of a teetsy fly.
You are responsible for the death of your child. Where I come from we put people in jail for that. Neglectful supervision of a child resulting in death or injury. Enjoy your freedom you sick freaks.
why is a 25 year old story the lead story?
I wonder which Politician and what office he was running led the charge to have the original findings overturned ?
One last thing. Remember the stories about the people who left thier kids in cars and they baked to death in the heat? They had charges filed on them and went to jail. Why? Because they left a child unattended and it died. They didnt kill the child the heat did. So we need to go overturn all those cases now?
why as a parent if you knew that you was in an area that had dingo's would you leave the baby unattended and why would you be so far that you couldn't hear or watch?
we have people who want wolves in our state the wolf population is out of control and it will be only a matter of time before a wolf takes a child. they are already taking pets right at their door step . and they are gettin less fearful of humans too! how stupid is the D.N.R and how stupid are the people wo let them reintroduce the wolf to populated areas if this were a place where no one would have contact unless proper means of defending yourself against an attack . people got rid of wolves long time ago for a reason
Sigourney Weaver is innocent. Yea!
Every cop, prosecuter and other "public official" involved in this witch-hunt should be lined up against a wall. Then give this lady a rifle!!
The dingoes were just doing what instinct instilled in them. They are wild animals. The true travesty here is our legal system who put two grieving parents through further horror. I can't imagine losing my nine week old child, being blamed for murdering her and then serving a prison sentence on top of that. My deepest sympathies go out to the Chamberlains, not only for the loss of their daughter, but the further hardships they indured by our justice system.
Would you take your newborn babe out camping and leave her alone in a tent where dingoes were known to frequently scavenge from? Lindy Chamberlin did. I am sad for the loss of the child, but a responsible adult would never put a child at risk of possible harm of any kind. Lindy Chamberlin has fought being labelled an irresponsible mother because her ego will never admit that she was and still is...The resemblance between this case and Casey Anthony is exactly the same.
Most Australian families like to take holidays together. At the time the baby disappeared the older children would have been on a break between school terms. The area around Uluru would have been very pleasent at that time of year, not freezing cold of Winter or the baking heat of Summer. Across Australia National Parks and Wildlife staff constantly warn tourists about encouraging dingos by feeding them, most comply but a few drongos(idiots) think it's fun to keep throwing food for the dingos. Also remember that the prevailing "wisdom" at the time was that dingos didn't attack humans despite evidence to the contrary from those who worked out in the field.