Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Legal News Blogs -> Legal Blog Watch

Legal News

: Legal Blog Watch

If the Dingo Ate Your Baby, Shouldn't the Death Certificate Say So?

By Eric Lipman

Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton sure thinks so. She is the (in)famous mother of Azaria Chamberlain, the nine-week-old girl who disappeared in the Australian Outback back in 1980. Chamberlain-Creighton and her husband claimed that little Azaria had been snatched by a dingo. The dingo story was viewed with some skepticism and, though the baby's body was never found, her mother was tried and convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. Years later, Chamberlain-Creighton was released and exonerated when a piece of Azaria's clothing was found in the area from which she disappeared. However, a subsequent coroner's inquest was inconclusive, leaving the official cause of death undetermined. The story of Azaria's disappearance was made into a movie featuring Meryl Streep, and "maybe the dingo ate your baby" will live on as a pop culture reference longer than any of us. Now, as the 30th anniversary of the incident is upon us, Chamberlain-Creighton is appealing to Australian authorities, in a letter published on her website, to officially designate "dingo" as the cause of death on the child's death certificate. According to The Associated Press, the attorney general of the Australian territory where the certificate is filed has asked for an inquiry, and the...

Full post as published by Legal Blog Watch on August 19, 2010 (boomark / email).