Australian coroner agrees dingo took baby in notorious 1980 case

Associated Press

CANBERRA, Australia

Settling a notorious 1980 case that split the nation and led to a mistaken conviction, an Australian coroner ruled today that a dingo took a baby from a campsite in the Outback, just as her mother said from the beginning.

The eyes of Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton and her ex-husband, Michael Chamberlain, welled with tears as the findings of the fourth inquest into the disappearance of their 9-week-old daughter, Azaria, were announced in court. Lindy Chamberlain had been convicted and later was cleared of murdering Azaria, and has always maintained that a wild dog took her.

Azaria disappeared from a campsite near Ayers Rock, the red monolith in the Australian desert now known by its Aboriginal name Uluru. The case became famous internationally through the 1988 movie “A Cry in the Dark.”

Many Australians initially did not believe that a dingo was strong enough to take away the baby. Public opinion swayed harshly against the couple; some even spat on Chamberlain-Creighton and howled like a dingoes outside her house.