Cold Cases Solved: True Stories of Murders That Took Years or Decades to Solve (Murder, Scandals and Mayhem Book 8) by Mike Riley
Authors: Mike Riley
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other substances such as adult blood, mucus, and even chocolate milkshakes, could all test positive for fetal hemoglobin with the test that was used. Both of the latter two substances were in the car at the time of Chamberlain’s death.
An engineer testified that contrary to widespread popular opinion, a dingo’s teeth could sheer through fabric easily, and was also strong enough to carry a baby. In fact, just weeks earlier a three year old child had been removed from a car seat by a dingo, the event witnessed by her parents. However, this evidence was mostly ignored.
Some people believed that state resources were being used to prosecute two people unjustly, but the Chamberlains also faced incredible hostility from the general public. As far as most people were concerned, they were guilty before even being tried.
The press was voracious, seizing on anything to sensationalize the trial. They claimed that Lindy Chamberlain often dressed Azaria in black. It was in fact a fashion of the time to have dark clothing with bright colored accents, but it was seen as negative.
Claims were made that the Seventh-day Adventist church was actually a cult that sacrificed infants. Lindy Chamberlain herself, likely in shock and suffering from grief, showed little emotion during the proceedings, a fact that was also used against her.
Many newspapers also published cartoons and editorial pieces condemning the family. People also petitioned outside the court wearing shirts that read “The dingo is innocent”.
Lindy Chamberlain was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison. Michael Chamberlain was found guilty as an accessory after the fact, and was given a suspended sentence.
An appeal was made to quash the convictions to the High Court of Australia in November of 1983, but it was refused.
In 1986, a random discovery turned the case on its head. An English tourist who had been climbing Uluru fell. Because of the rock’s enormous size, and the scrub surrounding the base, it was over a week before his body was found.
His body was resting below the bluff from which he had fallen, an area that was full of dingoes. Police were searching the area for the tourist’s bones that may have been carried off by dingoes when they found a small piece of clothing – a baby’s matinee jacket.
The jacket was soon identified as the missing jacket from Chamberlain’s case, and the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory ordered Chamberlain’s immediate release from prison. Azaria Chamberlain’s case was officially re-opened.
It has since been discovered that the forensic evidence that had convicted the Chamberlains was extremely questionable. The test that showed blood in the car and on the items had been only a presumptive test, and had not been confirmed that it truly was blood. In fact, it had shown positive because of the presence of copper oxide.
The Chamberlains lived in Mt. Isa, Queensland, a mining town where the material was common. It was also shown that a sound deadener that was sprayed during the manufacture of the Chamberlain’s car also tested positive for fetal hemoglobin, and in fact the scientific community knew the test was wildly unreliable.
In a later royal commission, the UK expert also testified that he had only assumed the handprint on the jacket had been in blood. He had never even tested it.
On September 15, 1988, the Chamberlain’s convictions were unanimously overturned in the court of appeals. Two years later, they were awarded $1.3 million in Australian compensation. This did not make them rich, in fact it only covered a third of their incurred legal expenses.
In 1995, a third inquest into Chamberlain’s death was held, but despite the evidence that now existed, it returned an open finding, meaning that the cause of death was unknown.
Finally in 2012, a fourth and final inquest ruled that Chamberlain had been taken from her cot and
An engineer testified that contrary to widespread popular opinion, a dingo’s teeth could sheer through fabric easily, and was also strong enough to carry a baby. In fact, just weeks earlier a three year old child had been removed from a car seat by a dingo, the event witnessed by her parents. However, this evidence was mostly ignored.
Some people believed that state resources were being used to prosecute two people unjustly, but the Chamberlains also faced incredible hostility from the general public. As far as most people were concerned, they were guilty before even being tried.
The press was voracious, seizing on anything to sensationalize the trial. They claimed that Lindy Chamberlain often dressed Azaria in black. It was in fact a fashion of the time to have dark clothing with bright colored accents, but it was seen as negative.
Claims were made that the Seventh-day Adventist church was actually a cult that sacrificed infants. Lindy Chamberlain herself, likely in shock and suffering from grief, showed little emotion during the proceedings, a fact that was also used against her.
Many newspapers also published cartoons and editorial pieces condemning the family. People also petitioned outside the court wearing shirts that read “The dingo is innocent”.
Lindy Chamberlain was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison. Michael Chamberlain was found guilty as an accessory after the fact, and was given a suspended sentence.
An appeal was made to quash the convictions to the High Court of Australia in November of 1983, but it was refused.
In 1986, a random discovery turned the case on its head. An English tourist who had been climbing Uluru fell. Because of the rock’s enormous size, and the scrub surrounding the base, it was over a week before his body was found.
His body was resting below the bluff from which he had fallen, an area that was full of dingoes. Police were searching the area for the tourist’s bones that may have been carried off by dingoes when they found a small piece of clothing – a baby’s matinee jacket.
The jacket was soon identified as the missing jacket from Chamberlain’s case, and the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory ordered Chamberlain’s immediate release from prison. Azaria Chamberlain’s case was officially re-opened.
It has since been discovered that the forensic evidence that had convicted the Chamberlains was extremely questionable. The test that showed blood in the car and on the items had been only a presumptive test, and had not been confirmed that it truly was blood. In fact, it had shown positive because of the presence of copper oxide.
The Chamberlains lived in Mt. Isa, Queensland, a mining town where the material was common. It was also shown that a sound deadener that was sprayed during the manufacture of the Chamberlain’s car also tested positive for fetal hemoglobin, and in fact the scientific community knew the test was wildly unreliable.
In a later royal commission, the UK expert also testified that he had only assumed the handprint on the jacket had been in blood. He had never even tested it.
On September 15, 1988, the Chamberlain’s convictions were unanimously overturned in the court of appeals. Two years later, they were awarded $1.3 million in Australian compensation. This did not make them rich, in fact it only covered a third of their incurred legal expenses.
In 1995, a third inquest into Chamberlain’s death was held, but despite the evidence that now existed, it returned an open finding, meaning that the cause of death was unknown.
Finally in 2012, a fourth and final inquest ruled that Chamberlain had been taken from her cot and
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