Thirty years after her daughter was apparently snatched away by a dingo, Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton is still fighting to set the record straight about what happened.
"The reason that this is important to me is because what is on the death certificate now is an open finding, cause and manner of death unknown, which means it can be reopened at any time somebody with a grudge chooses, which is what has happened in the past," Chamberlain-Creighton told Â鶹´«Ã½ Channel in a telephone interview on Thursday morning.
Chamberlain-Creighton's story is a horrific and improbable tale that sent a grieving mother to jail and has left her fighting for justice ever since.
On August 17, 1980 – 30 years ago Tuesday -- Chamberlain-Creighton was camping at Ayers Rock, Australia with her first husband, pastor Michael Chamberlain, and their children: six-year-old Aidan, four-year-old Reagan and baby Azaria.
Azaria Chamberlain was only nine weeks old at the time of the camping trip.
The baby went missing and the family believed she had been taken from their tent by a dingo -- the lean, wild dogs native to Australia that typically prey on smaller animals for food.
The couple's lives would be forever changed from that day on.
Two inquests and a trial -- which saw crass souvenirs produced including tea towels and T-shirts that referenced Azaria's death and the ensuing trial -- eventually landed Chamberlain-Creighton in jail with a life sentence.
While Chamberlain-Creighton was in jail she gave birth to another child, Khalia, in 1982.
After serving three years in prison, she was freed in 1986 when a piece of Azaria's clothing was found.
An eventual 14-month-long Royal Commission would determine that "if the Crown had been able to prove beyond reasonable doubt that a dingo did not take my baby daughter, then I would have been guilty," Chamberlain-Creighton said.
An Australian court later decided that she and Michael Chamberlain were innocent and their record needed to be expunged, which required a coroner to remove recommendations for conviction and return a new finding, Chamberlain-Creighton said.
But in the end, a coroner refused to let the death certificate reflect a ruling that a dingo killed Azaria.
Now 62 years old, Chamberlain-Creighton said it is important to have Azaria's death certificate reflect her true cause of death, not only to correct the historical record, but also to have a court precedent for future cases of dingo-related fatalities.
"Although there were numerous deaths caused by dingoes in Australia before this, the court would not accept (it) because none of them had been through a court case – and this will happen again, it has already happened again," she said.
But Chamberlain-Creighton said there is still no court precedent for a case of dingo-related deaths where no eyewitnesses are present.
"Some other poor parents are going to be charged like we were, and that is not right," she said.
An Australian journalist wrote a book about the story of Chamberlain-Creighton called "Evil Angels," which was later turned into a Hollywood movie called "A Cry in the Dark" in 1988. (Meryl Streep was nominated for an Oscar playing Chamberlain-Creighton.)
Tuesday marked the 30th anniversary of Azaria's death and Chamberlain-Creighton posted an open letter on her website, describing the emotions and experiences she has gone through in the ensuing years. And she asked for the Northern Territory Supreme Court to change Azaria's death certificate to reflect the fact her death was the result of a dingo and not an unknown cause.
In response, Australian Attorney General Delia Lawrie asked that the relevant authorities "look into the cause of death stated on Azaria Chamberlain's death certificate."
