New York Times: The Dingo Took Her Baby This link opens in a new windowIt sounded too improbable, too loony, that a dingo had made off with her baby.
But that was Lindy Chamberlain’s defense when she was charged with the throat-slashing murder of her 9-week-old daughter, Azaria, during a 1980 outback camping trip at Uluru, then known as Ayers Rock. Azaria’s body was never found.
In October 1982, Mrs. Chamberlain was found guilty of killing Azaria. Pregnant at the time, she was sentenced to life in prison at hard labor. Her husband, Michael Chamberlain, a Seventh-day Adventist pastor, received an 18-month suspended sentence for being an accessory after the fact.
Their convictions were overturned several years later and they received some government compensation for legal fees, but the cause of death was never legally established. On Tuesday, however, an inquest by the Northern Territory coroner Elizabeth Morris fully exonerated the Chamberlains, saying that Azaria “died at Uluru on 17th August 1980 as a result of being atta