Lindy Chamberlain

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Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton (born 4 March 1948, née Alice Lynne Murchison) was at the center of one of Australia's most publicised murder trials, in which she was convicted of killing her baby daughter, Azaria. The conviction was later overturned.

1 Early life
2 Azaria Chamberlain's disappearance
3 Conviction, imprisonment and release
4 Subsequent life
5 Film and TV
6 References
7 External links

[edit] Early life

Lindy Chamberlain was born in Whakatane, New Zealand and moved to Australia with her family in 1949. She and her family were adherents to the Seventh-day Adventist Church and 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 which they moved to northern Queensland.

[edit] Azaria Chamberlain's disappearance

Main article: Azaria Chamberlain disappearance

Lindy Chamberlain, with daughter Azaria.

Michael and Lindy Chamberlain's first daughter, Azaria, 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, arriving on August 16, 1980. On the night of August 17, Chamberlain reported that the child had been taken from her tent by a dingo. A massive search was organised, but Azaria's body was never found.

[edit] Conviction, imprisonment and release

Although the initial coronial inquiry supported Chamberlain's account of Azaria's disappearance, Chamberlain was later prosecuted for the murder of her child on the basis of the finding of the baby's jumpsuit and of what appeared to be blood found in the Chamberlain's car. She was convicted of murder on October 29, 1982 and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Shortly after her conviction, she gave birth to her fourth child, Kahlia, on November 17, 1982. An appeal against her conviction was rejected by the High Court in February, 1984.

New evidence emerged in February 1986 when a remaining item of Azaria's clothing was found. On the basis of this evidence Lindy Chamberlain's life sentence was remitted by the Northern Territory Government and a Royal Commission began in 1987. Her conviction was overturned in September, 1988.

[edit] Subsequent life

In 1990, Chamberlain published Through My Eyes: an autobiography (ISBN 0-85561-331-9). It has recently been reprinted. She and Michael Chamberlain divorced in 1991. On December 20, 1992, Ms Chamberlain married Rick Creighton, a publisher and fellow member of the Seventh-day Adventist church. She and Creighton now live in Australia.

[edit] Film and TV

In the 1983 Australian TV movie about the case, Who Killed Baby Azaria?, Lindy Chamberlain was played by Elaine Hudson. In the 1988 film A Cry in the Dark (also called Evil Angels), the role was taken by Meryl Streep, while Miranda Otto played her in the 2004 Australian TV mini-series, Through My Eyes: The Lindy Chamberlain Story.