Coroner To Reopen Infant-Death Case

The Northern Territory deputy coroner said Tuesday that she will reopen the inquest into the 1980 death of a 9-week-old baby whose parents say she was killed by a wild dog.

The infant disappeared from the Ayers Rock camping ground during a family holiday. A verdict could fully exonerate or find culpable Michael and Lindy Chamberlain in the death of their daughter Azaria.

The couple, whose story was told in the 1988 Hollywood movie “A Cry in the Dark,” said the infant was dragged from their campsite by a dingo - a wild dog.

They were convicted in 1982. Lindy Chamberlain was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder, while Michael Chamberlain received an 18-month suspended sentence for being an accessory after the fact. The convictions were overturned in 1987 and the following year, the Territory Court of Criminal Appeal quashed the convictions.