Man says he shot dingo that snatched up baby

SYDNEY, Australia – A distraught mother’s scream 24 years ago that a dingo snatched her baby from a camp site near Ayers Rock in the Australian Outback ignited one of Australia’s most enduring mysteries.

An elderly man’s claim that he retrieved the infant’s bloodied body from the jaws of the wild dog has revived the case and – if true – could finally lead to the discovery of Azaria Chamberlain’s body.

Two-month-old Azaria disappeared from a campsite near the giant Ayers Rock monolith, also known by its Aboriginal name Uluru, in 1980.

Her mother, Lindy Chamberlain, now remarried and known as Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton, was convicted of murdering her infant but later was released from prison and cleared of the crime after fresh evidence supported her claim that a dingo took the child.

The mystery took a startling turn Sunday when a newspaper in the southern city of Melbourne published claims by 87-year-old Frank Cole that he shot the dog with Azaria’s body still in its jaws while on a camping trip with three friends in August 1980.

Cole told the Sunday Herald Sun that he did not tell police what he did, fearing he would be fined for shooting the dog, thinking it was a rabbit he could use for pet food.

He said one of his friends took Azaria’s body and never said what he did with it. All three of Cole’s friends from the camping trip have since died, he said. Cole said he believed one of the men could have buried the baby’s body in his Melbourne garden.

Police said Monday they would investigate the claims, which Cole said he made to clear his conscience.