The Dingo Did It

An Australian corner officially ruled yesterday that a dingo killed the woman's baby in a case from 1980. On Aug. 17, 1980, Lindy Chamberlain and her now ex-husband took their three children camping to Uluru, then known as Ayers Rock, in the Australian desert. After Chamberlain put the newborn to sleep in a bassinet in the couple's tent, she returned to a nearby barbecue area with friends. Soon after, witnesses heard a "menacing growl" and a baby crying. The mother of three ran back to the tent, she says, and saw a dingo dragging her daughter away. The initial coroner's inquiry found that the Chamberlain family had no responsibility in Azaria's death; but for many, their story was just too unbelievable. In October of 1982, amid rumors the Chamberlains sacrificed their daughter in a religious ceremony, the case was re-opened; and Lindy was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. It wasn't until four years later, when a child's jacket was found in a dingo den, that Chamberlain was re-tried and acquitted.