Lindy Chamberlain Creighton

Lindy Chamberlain grew up in Victoria, Australia. She married Michael Chamberlain, a Seventh-Day Adventist minister, and they had two sons, Aidan (b. 1973) and Reagan (b. 1976), and a daughter Azaria (b. 11 June 1980). Lindy worked as a dressmaker and tailor, specializing in wedding dresses, and was deeply involved with her church. On 17 August 1980, while on a camping trip, nine-week-old Azaria disappeared from her family's tent. When Lindy spied a dingo nearby, authorities launched a frantic search. A week later searchers found Azaria's torn, bloodied garment near a dingo's lair. The baby's body was never found. The press, distressed by the mother's seeming lack of emotion and suspicious of her religious beliefs, accused her of murdering the baby. The sentiment against Lindy grew, and Lindy was charged with murder. Prosecutors claimed that the dingo story was a fanciful lie; rumors circulated that the Chamberlains were cult members who slit their baby's throat. Dubbed as "Australia's trial of the century," the case drew enormous public attention. Despite the lack of evidence that the child was murdered, Lindy Chamberlain was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. Her husband Michael was also charged with accessory to Azaria's murder and served one year. Their fourth child Kahlia was born in 1982 while Lindy was in prison. In February 1986 the baby's missing matinee jacket was found, providing new evidence that an animal had attacked the baby. The court remitted Lindy's life sentence and she was released from jail. A royal commission in 1987 found her innocent given the new evidence, and her criminal conviction was overturned. In May 1992, the Chamberlains received $1.3 million in compensation from the Northern Territory for wrongful conviction. In December 1995, Lindy's conviction was officially cleared. On 12 June 2012, a coroner ruled that the cause of Azaria's death was as the result of being attacked and taken by a dingo.