Azaria Chamberlain

Personal

Notable

Traits

Australian baby, taken at two months with her family to camp out at Ayers Rock (Uluru) in the Australian Northern Territory. On 17 August 1980, her mom, Lindy, tucked her in bed in the tent where her four-year-old brother, Reagan, was sleeping and she returned to the cooking fire, to seven-year-old Aidan and her minister husband. When she went to check on Azaria a bit later she saw a dingo, an Australian wolf dog, emerging from the tent with its head low, carrying something. When she saw that the carrying-cot was empty she screamed, "My God the dingo's got my baby!" The case touched off a criminal trial based on flimsy evidence in which her mom, Lindy, was the suspect. She was convicted of infanticide in 1982 and sentenced to life. In February, 1986, trackers found Azaria's baby jacket. The case was reopened and Lindy was released from prison in 1986 with a full pardon June 1987. In November, 1982, during her first year in Darwin's Berrimah prison, Lindy gave birth to a daughter, Kahlia. In 1988 she was preparing a civil suit against the government for false arrest, demanding $1 million in damages. In 2012, some 32 years after Azaria's death, the Chamberlains' version of events was officially confirmed by a coroner. A movie was made of the case starring Meryl Streep, "Evil Angels" (released outside of Australia and New Zealand as "A Cry in the Dark"). Link to Wikipedia biography