Lindy Chamberlain

Case record: Lindy Chamberlain

Background

Alice Lynne “Lindy” Chamberlain-Creighton was born on 4 March 1948. She was known as Lindy from a young age in Whakatane, New Zealand, where she was born. Her family moved to Australia in 1949.

Chamberlain and her family were adherents to the Seventh-day Adventist Church. She married fellow Adventist and pastor Michael Chamberlain on November 18, 1969.

In the 1970s, Michael and Lindy Chamberlain had two sons: Aidan (born October 2, 1973) and Reagan (born April 16, 1976). For the first five years after their marriage, they lived in Tasmania. After that, they moved to northern Queensland.

Azaria Chamberlain was born on June 10, 1980. When Azaria was two months old, Michael and Lindy Chamberlain took their three children on a camping trip to Uluru. They arrived on August 16, 1980.

Chamberlain’s fourth child, Kahlia, was born on November 17, 1982.

Chamberlain divorced Michael Chamberlain in 1991. On December 20, 1992, she married Rick Creighton, a publisher and fellow member of the Seventh-day Adventist church. She and Creighton lived in Australia.

The offence

On the night of August 17, Chamberlain reported that her child, Azaria, had been taken from her tent by a dingo.

A massive search was organised, but Azaria’s body was never found. Various items were discovered, including a jumpsuit discovered about a week later and later the missing matinee jacket was found in a dingo lair area.

Investigation

The initial coronial inquiry supported Chamberlain’s account of Azaria’s disappearance and found a dingo took the child.

Later, Chamberlain was prosecuted for the murder of her child. The prosecution relied on findings involving Azaria’s jumpsuit and on what appeared to be blood found in Chamberlain’s car.

A coroner who performed the second inquest stated that the evidence was, to a large degree, circumstantial, and that a jury properly instructed could arrive at a verdict. The coroner surmised that the Chamberlains knew dingos were in the area and attempted to simulate a dingo attack, recovered Azaria’s buried body, removed her clothing, damaged it by cutting, rubbed it in vegetation, and deposited the clothes for later recovery. On this basis and blood evidence of unknown origin found in the Chamberlains’ car, the Chamberlains were prosecuted and convicted for the murder of their 2-month old baby.

Additional inquests and investigations followed, including:

• a second inquest in Darwin, with evidence concluded in February 1982
• a Royal Commission beginning in 1987
• a third inquest in 1995 that returned an open verdict
• a new inquest beginning in February 2012

In 1986, new evidence emerged on February 2, 1986 when a remaining item of Azaria’s clothing was found. The item was Azaria’s missing matinee jacket.

Arrest

A by indictment presented to the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory in September 1982, Lindy Chamberlain was charged with the murder of Azaria Chamberlain. Michael Chamberlain was charged with being an accessory after the fact.

Trial

By October 29, 1982, the Chamberlains were both found guilty as charged.

Lindy Chamberlain was convicted of murder on October 29, 1982 and sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labour. Michael Chamberlain was found guilty as an accessory after the fact and given an 18-month suspended sentence.

Shortly after her conviction, Chamberlain gave birth to her fourth child, Kahlia, on November 17, 1982.

An appeal to the Federal Court against conviction was dismissed. Another appeal against her conviction was rejected by the High Court in February 1984.

Sentencing

Lindy Chamberlain was sentenced to life imprisonment on October 29, 1982.

Appeals

The appeal was rejected by the High Court in February 1984.

Outcome

Chamberlain’s conviction was overturned in September 1988, and she was acquitted of all charges in September 1988.

In acquitting the Chamberlains in 1988, the Supreme Court found that the alleged “baby blood” found in the Chamberlain’s car could have been any substance and was likely that of a sound deadening compound from a manufacturing overspray. The court noted that as DNA testing was not advanced in the early 1980s, the expert testimony given by the prosecution at trial and relied on by the jurors was reasonable evidence at the time, even though it was ultimately found to be faulty.

The court also found inconsistencies in earlier blood testing that, along with the later-recovered matinee jacket from a dingo lair area, gave rise to doubts about the propriety of the conviction.

After the Chamberlains were acquitted by the Supreme Court in September 1988 and their convictions overturned, a third inquest in 1995 took place. The coroner’s report stated it was a “paper inquest” rather than a full inquest since there was little new evidence and the second inquest was never fully completed. The coroner considered the Morling Royal Commission’s report and submissions on behalf of the Chamberlains and returned an open verdict in Azaria’s cause of death, or insufficient evidence by the prosecution that failed to meet the required standard of proof for conviction.

The coroner wrote:

“After examining all the evidence I am unable to be satisfied on the balance of probabilities that Azaria Chamberlain died at the hands of Alice Lynne Chamberlain. It automatically follows that I am also unable to be satisfied on the balance of probabilities that Michael Leigh Chamberlain had any involvement in the death.”

The coroner also wrote that because the evidence for the death-by-dingo hypothesis was never developed:

“I am unable to be reasonably satisfied that Azaria Chamberlain died accidentally as a result of being taken by a dingo”.

In 2012, a new inquest began in February.

Aftermath

On December 20, 1992, Chamberlain married Rick Creighton.

Chamberlain published Through My Eyes: an autobiography in 1990.

Chamberlain was awarded $1.3 million compensation from the Australian government for wrongful imprisonment.

In August 2010, on the 30th anniversary of the death of Azaria, Chamberlain appealed to have the cause of death amended on Azaria’s death record.

In August 2005, Erin Horsburgh claimed she was Azaria Chamberlain, but her claims were rejected by the authorities.

The National Museum of Australia held over 250 items related to the disappearance of Azaria Chamberlain, documented by Chamberlain. The National Library of Australia held items relating to Azaria, including birth detail records and a hospital identification bracelet, as well as a manuscript collection including around 20,000 documents with correspondence and letters from the general public.

Film and other media

In the 1983 Australian TV movie Who Killed Baby Azaria?, Chamberlain was played by Elaine Hudson.

In the 1988 film Evil Angels (released in Europe and the Americas as A Cry in the Dark), the role was taken by Meryl Streep. Miranda Otto played her in the 2004 Australian TV mini-series Through My Eyes: The Lindy Chamberlain Story.

An Australian composer, Moya Henderson, wrote the opera Lindy to a libretto by Judith Rodriguez.

Rank Strangers’ recording of their song “Uluru” supported the Chamberlains and called for compensation to be paid to them; it finished in the final five of the Australian Country Music Awards in Tamworth, New South Wales.

Timeline

• November 18, 1969 — Lindy Chamberlain married Michael Chamberlain.
• June 10, 1980 — Azaria Chamberlain was born.
• August 16, 1980 — Michael and Lindy Chamberlain arrived on a camping trip to Uluru.
• August 17, 1980 — Chamberlain reported Azaria was taken from their tent by a dingo.
• October 29, 1982 — Lindy Chamberlain was convicted of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment; Michael Chamberlain was convicted as an accessory after the fact.
• November 17, 1982 — Kahlia was born while Chamberlain was in custody.
• February 1984 — High Court rejected an appeal against conviction.
• February 2, 1986 — A remaining item of Azaria’s clothing was found.
• February 7, 1986 — Chamberlain was released from prison; her life sentence was remitted by the Northern Territory Government.
• September 1988 — Chamberlain’s conviction was overturned; she was acquitted of all charges.
• 1990 — Through My Eyes: an autobiography was published.
• 1991 — Chamberlain divorced Michael Chamberlain.
• December 20, 1992 — Chamberlain married Rick Creighton.
• December 13, 1995 — Findings of the third inquest were released.
• February 2012 — A new inquest began.

Other details

Chamberlain maintained that she had seen a dingo leave the tent where Azaria slept on the night she disappeared.

A fourth inquest into Azaria’s death was announced to commence on 24 February 2012, with a fourth inquest beginning in February 2012.

Some statements in the case included courtroom and media-related quotes, including:

“The church wouldn’t allow it and I wouldn’t do it. God slew Saul for that. Do you know Saul and the Witch of Endor?”

and:

“My God, my God, the dingo’s got my baby!”

and:

“A dingo has taken our baby, and she is probably dead by now.”

and:

“Whatever happens, it is God's will.”