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Coroner rules dingo to blame for Australian baby's death
(CNN) -- A coroner ruled Tuesday that a dingo, a wild dog native to Australia, caused the death of a baby more than 30 years ago.
Azaria Chamberlain was just two-months-old when she disappeared from a tent during a family holiday to Uluru, also known as Ayers Rock, sparking one of the country's most sensational and enduring murder mysteries.
"The cause of her death was as the result of being attacked and taken by a dingo," Elizabeth Morris, coroner for Northern Territory, announced to Darwin Magistrates court early Tuesday. "Dingos can and do cause harm to humans."
The girl's mother, Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton, long maintained that a dingo took her baby, even as she was sentenced to life in jail for her daughter's murder, a conviction that was later quashed.
During the trial, a witness recounted the then 32-year-old mother's cries of a "dingo's got my baby," which was immortalized in the 1988 film "A Cry in the Dark" starring Meryl Streep, who earned an Oscar nomination for the role.
Outside the court Tuesday, Chamberlain-Creighton said she and her family were "relieved and delighted to come to the end of this saga."
"No longer will Australia be able to say that dingoes are not dangerous and will only attack if provoked," she said.
Evidence produced at the fourth inquest into Azaria's death in February included reports of attacks by dingoes and dogs assumed to be part-dingo or crossbreeds. The coroner heard that in 2001 a 9-year-old boy died as a result of a dingo attack on Fraser Island in the Australian state of Queensland.
Years later, two girls, each around two-years-old, died in separate attacks by dogs believed to be part-dingo in the states of New South Wales and Victoria.
In her findings, Morris said no other disappearance exactly like that of Azaria had been recorded.
However, she said, "it is clear that there is evidence that in particular circumstances, a dingo is capable of attacking, taking and causing the death of young children."
It is a scenario that was unthinkable in 1980 when mother-of-three Lindy Chamberlain, then married to Michael Chamberlain, sparked a frantic search of a remote campsite in central Australia after claiming that a dingo took her baby.
So unbelievable was the idea that dingo would enter a tent to snatch a two-month-old that suspicion soon turned to the couple. The mystery was compounded by the lack of a body. Azaria's was never found, although her heavily blood-stained singlet, jumpsuit and nappy were discovered near the campsite one week after she disappeared.
The first inquest into Azaria's death in 1981 found that the baby died as a result of being taken by a dingo. However, the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory quashed the finding later that year and ordered a second inquest into Azaria's death.
At the second inquest Lindy Chamberlain was committed to trial for murder. Her husband Michael was charged with being an accessory after the fact.
The prosecution alleged that Chamberlain slit her daughter's throat with a pair of scissors before hiding her body, possibly in a camera bag, before she and her husband Michael buried her somewhere in the vicinity of the campsite.
The 35-day trial created a media frenzy in Australia as commentators picked apart the intricacies of the case, while a fascinated public speculated wildly as to how and why Azaria had died.
The jury returned its verdict in 1982; Lindy Chamberlain was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in jail. Her husband Michael was given a suspended sentence.
Chamberlain served four years of her sentence before the Northern Territory government ordered her release in 1986 after the discovery of new evidence; a baby's jacket, believed to be Azaria's, found half-buried near a dingo lair at Uluru. In 1988, a Royal Commission set up to review the evidence formally quashed convictions for both husband and wife.
Despite the finding that the couple was not to blame, a third inquest into their daughter's death returned an open verdict in 1995. It was that verdict that the couple sought to overturn with a fourth inquest this year.
SOURCE: http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/11/world/asia/australia-dingo-inquest/index.html?hpt=ju_t2
Azaria Chamberlain was just two-months-old when she disappeared from a tent during a family holiday to Uluru, also known as Ayers Rock, sparking one of the country's most sensational and enduring murder mysteries.
"The cause of her death was as the result of being attacked and taken by a dingo," Elizabeth Morris, coroner for Northern Territory, announced to Darwin Magistrates court early Tuesday. "Dingos can and do cause harm to humans."
The girl's mother, Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton, long maintained that a dingo took her baby, even as she was sentenced to life in jail for her daughter's murder, a conviction that was later quashed.
During the trial, a witness recounted the then 32-year-old mother's cries of a "dingo's got my baby," which was immortalized in the 1988 film "A Cry in the Dark" starring Meryl Streep, who earned an Oscar nomination for the role.
Outside the court Tuesday, Chamberlain-Creighton said she and her family were "relieved and delighted to come to the end of this saga."
"No longer will Australia be able to say that dingoes are not dangerous and will only attack if provoked," she said.
Evidence produced at the fourth inquest into Azaria's death in February included reports of attacks by dingoes and dogs assumed to be part-dingo or crossbreeds. The coroner heard that in 2001 a 9-year-old boy died as a result of a dingo attack on Fraser Island in the Australian state of Queensland.
Years later, two girls, each around two-years-old, died in separate attacks by dogs believed to be part-dingo in the states of New South Wales and Victoria.
In her findings, Morris said no other disappearance exactly like that of Azaria had been recorded.
However, she said, "it is clear that there is evidence that in particular circumstances, a dingo is capable of attacking, taking and causing the death of young children."
It is a scenario that was unthinkable in 1980 when mother-of-three Lindy Chamberlain, then married to Michael Chamberlain, sparked a frantic search of a remote campsite in central Australia after claiming that a dingo took her baby.
So unbelievable was the idea that dingo would enter a tent to snatch a two-month-old that suspicion soon turned to the couple. The mystery was compounded by the lack of a body. Azaria's was never found, although her heavily blood-stained singlet, jumpsuit and nappy were discovered near the campsite one week after she disappeared.
The first inquest into Azaria's death in 1981 found that the baby died as a result of being taken by a dingo. However, the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory quashed the finding later that year and ordered a second inquest into Azaria's death.
At the second inquest Lindy Chamberlain was committed to trial for murder. Her husband Michael was charged with being an accessory after the fact.
The prosecution alleged that Chamberlain slit her daughter's throat with a pair of scissors before hiding her body, possibly in a camera bag, before she and her husband Michael buried her somewhere in the vicinity of the campsite.
The 35-day trial created a media frenzy in Australia as commentators picked apart the intricacies of the case, while a fascinated public speculated wildly as to how and why Azaria had died.
The jury returned its verdict in 1982; Lindy Chamberlain was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in jail. Her husband Michael was given a suspended sentence.
Chamberlain served four years of her sentence before the Northern Territory government ordered her release in 1986 after the discovery of new evidence; a baby's jacket, believed to be Azaria's, found half-buried near a dingo lair at Uluru. In 1988, a Royal Commission set up to review the evidence formally quashed convictions for both husband and wife.
Despite the finding that the couple was not to blame, a third inquest into their daughter's death returned an open verdict in 1995. It was that verdict that the couple sought to overturn with a fourth inquest this year.
SOURCE: http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/11/world/asia/australia-dingo-inquest/index.html?hpt=ju_t2
The Seinfeld episode is immediately what came to mind when I read the headline of this one too. Elaine...lol.
What a horrible story though. Just gives me the shivers reading it.
What a horrible story though. Just gives me the shivers reading it.
Well, thank you el.
I have been here checking CE out for a couple of days but didn't feel the urge to post anything. Now, I probably won't be able to shut up.
Mike
I have been here checking CE out for a couple of days but didn't feel the urge to post anything. Now, I probably won't be able to shut up.
Mike
That's right!
I'd forgotten about the "dingo" reference in Seinfeld.
Glad you're back Mike. You disappeared for a bit there.
I'd forgotten about the "dingo" reference in Seinfeld.
Glad you're back Mike. You disappeared for a bit there.
I always think of Seinfeld when I hear the word "dingo".
Maybe a dingo ate your baby @
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghCTZF61ey0
Maybe a dingo ate your baby @
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghCTZF61ey0
I was thinking of you when I posted this, by the way, Narla.
I've got friends in Oz, and they tell me that this story is HUGE out there.
Been gobbling up headlines since it happened in the 80's, right? According to them, it's the Australian equivalent to the Etan Patz case here in the States.
Right, wrong? Insiders perspective, please!
I've got friends in Oz, and they tell me that this story is HUGE out there.
Been gobbling up headlines since it happened in the 80's, right? According to them, it's the Australian equivalent to the Etan Patz case here in the States.
Right, wrong? Insiders perspective, please!
I always associated the movie-quote "a dingo's got my baby" with Quigley Down Under (Tom Selleck, Laura San Giacomo and Alan Rickman).
Never seen "A Cry in the Dark". Will check NetFlix when I get home. Seriously doubt it's OnDemand or RedBox'able.
"That's not a knoife... THIS is a knoife!" (Wrong movie, but still an Aussie!)
*Note: k-n-i-f-e spelled incorrectly, above, on purpose to place emphasis on the Australian accent.
Never seen "A Cry in the Dark". Will check NetFlix when I get home. Seriously doubt it's OnDemand or RedBox'able.
"That's not a knoife... THIS is a knoife!" (Wrong movie, but still an Aussie!)
*Note: k-n-i-f-e spelled incorrectly, above, on purpose to place emphasis on the Australian accent.
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