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Azaria Chantel Loren Chamberlain was the third child of Lindy and Michael Chamberlain. Her name, of Hebrew origin, means "helped by God".
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Around 8pm, Lindy put 10 month old Azaria and 4 year old Reagan to bed in the tent. She rejoined the others about 10 minutes later.
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A few minutes after Lindy rejoins the others,they hear Azaria cry and Lindy goes to check on her. She is not in the tent. Lindy cries out: "My God, my God, the dingo's got my baby!" Three hundred people, including Aboriginal trackers, search the area but find nothing. The indigenous Australians who tracked the fresh paw prints from the tent had no doubt that dingoes were responsible for the baby’s disappearance.
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A tourist finds Azaria's torn jumpsuit, booties, singlet and nappy near the base of the Uluru.
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First Coronial Inquest Opens in Alice Springs
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Coroner Denis Barritt finds that a dingo killed Azaria but someone unknown had later interfered with her clothes.
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A forensic biologist says that she had found large quantities of blood in Lindy's, now dismantled, car. She took scrapings from the car, added a substance called orthotolidine, which is used to identify the presence of blood. They showed up bright blue and the biologist said this proved there was once blood all through the front of the vehicle, as well as on the zipper of a camera bag kept in the car.
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A forensic odontologist told the court that the damage to the jumpsuit found at the scene showed no evidence of either tooth marks or saliva from a dingo. He concluded that the jumpsuit had been cut with scissors.
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The Second Inquest begins
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Lindy Chamberlain is committed to trial on one account of murder. Her husband Micheal, is charged as an accessary of the crime.
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Chamberlains' Supreme Court trial begins in Darwin.
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Lindy is found guilty of slashing her daughters throats with a pair of scissors and is sentenced to life imprisonment. Michael receives an 18-month suspended sentence.
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19 days after being sentenced, Mrs Chamberlain gives birth to daughter Kahlia. She was taken away from her mother only four hours after birth, to be taken care of by her father.
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The Chamberlain's make an appeal.
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The appeal requested earlier in the year was formerly rejected
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At the end of 1985, almost three years into her life sentence ‘with hard labour’, Lindy Chamberlain wrote her famous strike statement, in which she refused to continue the labour part of her sentence
‘I did not kill my beloved Daughter and refuse to be treated as a criminal any longer’. -
Azaria's missing matinee jacket was found at the base of Uluru in an area full of dingo lairs. The jacket was found during a search for the body of a fallen British climber, at Ayers Rock.
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After the finding of Azaria's missing matinee jacket, Lindy Chamberlain is released from prisson.
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The commissioner found that the evidence could no longer support a guilt verdict. The chamberlains were formally pardoned.
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The Northern Territory Court of Criminal Appeal cancels all convictions and declares Chamberlains innocent.
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Two years after the release of Lindy Chamberlain scientists came up with different conclusions towards the case.
Lindy's car was investigated again, this time by the Victorian Forensic Laboratory, who stated no traces of blood could be found. It was revealed that what the first forensic biologist thought was blood, was in fact sound deadener, a substance used by car manufacturers. -
An investigator carried out months of experiments, finding that half the time dingoes tore fabric, and at other times they cut it, with their teeth explaining why the fabric seemed to have been cut with scissors.
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Northern Territory government pays the Chamberlains $1.3 million in compensation, $396,000 worth in legal costs plus $19,000 for their car which was dismantled for evidence.
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The Chamberlains also sought to have Azaria’s death certificate corrected, and the matter was referred back to Coroner John Lawndes, who ordered a third inquest. The Chamberlains asked for Azaria’s death to be recorded as having been caused by a dingo attack. However, the coroner was not satisfied, despite the evidence that supported this view. He returned an “open finding” about Azaria’s death and ruled the “cause and manner of death as unknown”.
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Frank Cole contacts the producers of telemovie Through My Eyes and claims he shot a dingo at Uluru in 1980 and found Azaria in its jaws.
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Mr Cole goes public with his claims and says he believes his friend buried Azaria's body in Melbourne.
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Northern Territory Police say they will investigate Mr Cole's claims and prepare a report for the coroner.
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The Northern Territory Coroner's office decides not to reopen the inquest into the death of Azaria, saying there were no new facts or pieces of evidence from the Cole investigation to reopen the inquest.
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Lindy Chamberlain calls for the case to finally be closed, and for an apology from the Northern Territory government.