In October 1982, Lindy Chamberlain was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the murder of her baby, Azaria.
The Chamberlains, Lindy and her husband Michael, had always claimed that a dingo had grabbed Azaria and dragged her off, never to be seen again. The prosecution claimed that this was a preposterous lie. They claimed that the "tooth holes" in little Azaria's clothing (later found in the outback a few miles from the crime scene) were inconsistent with dingo attack. They tested this theory by swaddling a large piece of meat in baby clothes and tossing it to the dingoes in the local zoo. Later tests involved dressing up a baby goat and tossing it in. In addition, they claimed that Azaria was too heavy for a dingo to carry. This claim came from data collected from bites and wounds caused by domesticated dogs.
The prosecution had a long list of professional expert witnesses that examined the available evidence and deemed it entirely inconsistent with a dingo attack. The prosecution posited that Azaria was murdered with a pair of scissors that were found at the crime scene. The scissors were destroyed while trying to perform a forensic test to duplicate the holes in Azaria's clothing. This was put off to the scissors being old and poorly stored between the night of Azaria's death and the start of the testing. Stronger scissors were used for the actual test, and the test results were used to incriminate Lindy Chamberlain. Much was made of some orthotolidine swab tests performed on the Chamberlain's car; they seemed to indicate a spray of foetal blood that was attributed to Azaria. The Chamberlain's story was featured in a cynical light in English and American tabloids and gossip shows. The story made its way around the world, and the world judged Lindy Chamberlain a child killer. The jury agreed.
In February of 1986, a child's jacket was found not far from where the rest of Azaria's clothing was found in the initial search for the missing baby. Not only was the jacket Azaria's, but it was buried in the sand in a way that was consistent with dingo behavior---they bury their leftovers for later snacking, and to hide the scent of food from other predators and dingos. In addition, the jacket was found in the same general vicinity where a missing man's body had been discovered. He had fallen from a cliff above, and the dingoes had completely devoured his body.
Furthermore, supporters of the Chamberlain family did their own research of the evidence while Lindy was in prison. It was discovered that the dingo most likely grabbed Azaria from the neck, which would do little damage to her clothes. The clothing evidence was all faulty, especially the scissor tests. Comparisons with dog bite data was entirely wrong; dingoes have much stronger jaws and wider bites than domesticated dogs. The fact that a domesticated dog could not have caused the damage was not proof that a dingo couldn't. The swab tests which reacted so dramatically with materials found in the Chamberlain's car was faulty too. Orthotolidine also reacts with traces of copper. The Chamberlains were from a copper-mining area in Australia. Later tests around the Chamberlain's home showed that everything was contaminated with copper powder and tested positive for blood. In addition, the "spray of blood" from which the swabs were taken turned out to be a standard sound-dampening treatment used on that model of car. Identical sprays were found in several cars of the same make and model.
Lindy Chamberlain was released after serving three years in prison. Rather than give her a new trial, the government said that Lindy had "suffered enough" and there was to be an inquiry into the original investigation. The inquiry found that Lindy Chamberlain would have been acquitted if the flaws in the evidence had come to light. It was not the same as a declaration of innocence for Lindy; rather it simply said that the evidence in her trial was no good. The Chamberlain family is still trying to get the government of Australia to declare Lindy's innocence without success.
Many people in the US remember the case, and remember Lindy Chamberlain's conviction. As is typical of the popular press, her release and the results of the inquiry stating that she should not have been convicted were less compelling news, and did not reach nearly as many people as the news of her conviction. Popular opinion in the US is still that Lindy Chamberlain killed her baby and blamed it on a dingo.
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