The Dingo Murder Case
At almost eight o’clock, August 1980, near Ayers Rock of Australia, the Chamberlain family, along with other fellow campers, prepared supper around the outdoor fireplace, Reagan, Michael and Lindy Chamberlain’s four year old son, was already asleep in the tent. Seven year old Aidan was chasing a mouse under a picnic table, armed with a flash-light. Lindy was rocking her nine-week-old daughter, Azeria. Azeria’s family called her Bubby. When Buddy had fallen asleep, Lindy carried her back to the tent and tucked her into her cot. Lindy went back to the fireplace and opened a can of beans, and began to heat them for Aidan. It was Aidan who asked, “Is that Buddy crying?” Michael Chamberlain heard it, too. Lindy rushed back to the tent to check on her daughter. Azaria was no longer in the cot! Bedclothes were scattered about. Then, emerging from the tent, a dingo! Its head low, shaking something vigorously! “My God!” Lindy shrieked, “The dingo’s got my baby!” Within minutes of Lindy’s cry, other campers crabbed flash-lights, and began searching the underbrush near the campgrounds. After a long search, they found nothing! The next day, many volunteers, from motels and other campgrounds joined the search. Native trackers were also called upon. But there was no sign of Azeria. Lindy accepted the fact that Azeria was already dead, though the searchers had no yet given up hope. Quickly, Azeria’s disappearance became a nationwide sensation; television reporters and news papers arrived and bombarded the Chamberlain’s with questions.
The story would not die, even after the Chamberlains had returned to their home in Mount Isa Queensland, several hundred miles to the east. Some people asked questions in a suspicious way, Michael Chamberlain noticed, as if they felt that Lindy and he were trying to hide something. There was wide-spread doubt as to whether the animal could carry a baby from a campground where there were so many people around. Slogan t-shirts saying: “THE DINGO IS INNOCENT” Were being sold. The Chamberlains, instead of receiving sympathy after the tragedy they suffered, often had to cope with unfriendly people.
Eight days after Azeria’s disappearance, a tourist found Azeria’s clothes not very far away from Ayers Rock. But still, there was no sign of the child. Questions as to how a dingo could remove Azeria’s clothes were asked.
Though an official investigation was unable to find enough evidence to try Lindy for murder, people who believed she was lying would not rest. A second investigation was ordered. James Cameron, a British expert in evidence used legal proceedings, testified he had come to a conclusion that the cuts on Azeria’s jumpsuit collar were not made by dingo teeth, but by a pair of scissors. James Cameron also said that the test he conducted with ultraviolet light revealed a blood stained handprint on the jumpsuit. The print was too small to be man’s and too big to be a child’s. The finger of guilt was pointed at Lindy. To make matters worse, an Australian biologist, Joy Kuhl, testified that stains found on the Chamberlain’s car and on a pair of scissors they owned were blood stained, and the blood was from a child under the age of ten.
In 1982, Lindy Chamberlain was brought to court and put on trial for murder. Seven months pregnant at the time, she listened stone-faced, to the prosecution charge that she had cut Azeria’s throat in the car and buried the child’s body. From the prosecutor’s standpoint, the case was missing one very important element---a motive. Why would Lindy Chamberlain, a mother of a loving family, have murdered her baby? Although the prosecution was not able to answer that question, the jury pronounced Lindy guilty of murder. Her sentence was hard labor for life.
Lindy was taken the Berrimah Prison in Darwin.
She was set free for five months when her sentence was being appealed, but she was imprisoned again when the appeal was denied. Lindy’s days in prison were spent working as a cleaner and helping in the kitchen.
Meanwhile, Lindy’s supporters were working on her behalf, In Melbourne the “Save Lindy” campaign and the “Chamberlain Innocence Committee” in Sydney was able to collect more than 130,000 signatures from people who demanded a new trial. Thirty-one scientists signed an open letter protesting the conclusion of Joy Kuhl’s evidence. Berrimah Prison could hardly handle the loads and loads of mail that arrived for Lindy from her supporters.
During the trials and even before Lindy had insisted that Azeria’s clothes were not complete, a jacket was missing. The prosecution said that she was lying in effort to explain why there was no dingo saliva on the other clothes.
Then in February 1986, searchers looking for a body of a British tourist who fell from Ayers Rock found Azeria’s jacket. The find gave Lindy new supporters of how Azaria had disappeared.
The Dingo murder case has had Lindy Chamberlain known throughout the world. Six books have been written and three documentaries have been produced. The public’s interest in the case continues. While most people agree that Lindy Chamberlain is innocent, there are some who still feel Lindy Chamberlain is a murderer, they question how a dingo, and animal rarely known to attack humans, could have carried off a nine-pound baby, leaving no trace. The questions will never end.
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