Woman claims to be Azaria "That dingo ate my baby!" Chamberlain

[raz]

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,16385163-421,00.html

Apparently this woman thinks she's Azaria Chamberlain. I can't wait until we find out the results of the DNA test.

[The Great Sun Jester]

Not so hard to believe...she certainly has a dingo-gnawed look about her.

[phall0106]

Love the photo. :rolleyes:

and that's all I'll say. No, really, that's all. Even though my mother always said if I couldn't say something nice, then I shouldn't say anything at all.

[Wile E]

...
and that's all I'll say. No, really, that's all. Even though my mother always said if I couldn't say something nice, then I shouldn't say anything at all.

I almost posted the same exact thing. Erm ... and I guess that's all I have to say.

[Draelin]

I almost posted the same exact thing. Erm ... and I guess that's all I have to say.
... Which is exactly why I haven't posted yet. I don't know what I can say.

[Zebra]

[Austin Powers]
She's a man baby!
[/Austin Powers]

[Sweetums]

Well...

You can certainly see why the dingo spit her out.


Yep, i'm goin' to hell for that one.

[Tupug Anachi]

Well...

You can certainly see why the dingo spit her out.


Yep, i'm goin' to hell for that one.
Thanks sweetums, I already have enough bricks on my road to there. :D

[Kythereia]

Guys, you're being cruel! She's obviously... um, well, she's...

er...

...well, then. *sits down again, puts paper bag over head*

[Batsinma Belfry]

IIRC, the woman who was supposedly her mom, wasn't much to look at either. So maybe, she is the dingo baby. Although, her story sounds pretty far-fetched.

[astro]

She's giving me the "dingo eye". Is it hunger or ... something else? :eek:

[astro]

Here's mom and dad (http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/chamberlain/afterinquest.jpg)


Hmm... if you combine the worst of Mom and Dad's features it's just possible ... naaahh.

[Ashes, Ashes]

Guys, you're being cruel! She's obviously... um, well, she's...

er...

...well, then. *sits down again, puts paper bag over head*
No no Kythereia; you're supposed to put the paper bag over her head. Unless she's made you hyperventilate and then you breathe into a paper sack.

[The Great Sun Jester]

Although, her story sounds pretty far-fetched.
heh..."fetched."

[velvetjones]

Boy, that is one awful photo. Here's hoping that she looks a little better in person.

Are they doing the DNA test?

[Silver Fire]

Wow, you guys are assholes.

Can I see pics of all of you? Seriously, I bet you're all really hot.

[raz]

I guess if I had a baby that looked like that, I'd have fed it to a dingo too.

[NurseCarmen]

"The Dingos ate my chin!"

[Sweetums]

Wow, you guys are assholes.

Can I see pics of all of you? Seriously, I bet you're all really hot.


Nope, not even close, which is why I know ugly, personal experience don't ya know.

[LavenderBlue]

Wow, you guys are assholes.


Funny assholes. :D

[Diogenes the Cynic]

If this woman has truly had the life she claims to have had in this story then I can't really see much value or compassion in heaping on even more abuse by ridiculing her appearance. If she's a fraud, then whatever, but let's make sure she isn't who she says she is before we make her a punching bag. If she's telling the truth, she's had enough of that already.

[pinkfreud]

C'mon, folks, that woman looks emotionally tormented. I've been told that I don't look very cute either when I am about to burst into tears of frustration and rage.

[Silver Fire]

Funny assholes.
Yeah, right.

[astro]

Wow, you guys are assholes.

Can I see pics of all of you? Seriously, I bet you're all really hot.

I'm on fire baby! (http://www.jimfath.com/images/Photo's/Bag%20man%20on%20fire.JPG)!

[Moirai]

Wow, you guys are assholes.

Can I see pics of all of you? Seriously, I bet you're all really hot.


I'm hot. Really.

I didn't say anything about her looks, but I laughed at most of the previous posts. Sorry.

[Excalibre]

I didn't say anything about her looks, but I laughed at most of the previous posts. Sorry.
I laughed too.

omg ppl r being mean in teh pit!!!11! its a global nitemare!!!!111

[Helen's Eidolon]

Let's see... raised by a cult, having 'flashbacks', it's her partner (who is more that 20 years older than her) who brought her forth and is promulgating her story... Nope, I see nothing to doubt here.

[Guinastasia]

She's 25? She looks more like 45!

I think the ugliness stems from, oh, I dunno, the extremely unflattering femullet, the droopy posture, the hang dog look on her face. I don't think she'll ever be a beauty, but she might clean up all right.

Still-I thought they found Azaria's remains, or at least her bones?

[Giles]

Still-I thought they found Azaria's remains, or at least her bones?
No, nothing was found, except for some blood-stains on clothing which may or may not have been related to Azaria's disappearance. Among other things, the Chamberlain case proves that (at least in the Northern Territory) you can be convicted of murder without the victim's body being found.

[Batsinma Belfry]

Okay, the mom isn't as homely as I thought. Why did they play her up that way in the movie?

I think she truly believes she is Azaria. She doesn't look like a publicity whore. She looks absolutely terrified.

[PunditLisa]

She said she had flashbacks to when she was nine weeks old and found herself between the jaws of a dingo.

Hey...where was Michael Jackson in 1980?

[cabdude]

No, nothing was found, except for some blood-stains on clothing which may or may not have been related to Azaria's disappearance. Among other things, the Chamberlain case proves that (at least in the Northern Territory) you can be convicted of murder without the victim's body being found.

IANAL, but I don't think a body needs to be found to convict for murder under British Law.

[ILovCoffee]

Grabbed by a wild dog.
Abused by the people who took her in.
On the one hand--her birth parents were put through emotional hell and imprisoned. On the other-- she apparently was put through a kind of physical and emotional hell by almost every creature that met her until recently.

Are the birth parents still around?

[SkipMagic]

Wow, you guys are assholes.
No insults in MPSIMS, Silver Fire.

[Lute Skywatcher]

I thought I remembered seeing a Chamberlain-related thread a few months back (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=279799&highlight=dingo+chamberlain). Lindy Chamberlain, the mom.

[Moirai]

Grabbed by a wild dog.
Abused by the people who took her in.
On the one hand--her birth parents were put through emotional hell and imprisoned. On the other-- she apparently was put through a kind of physical and emotional hell by almost every creature that met her until recently.

Are the birth parents still around?

Coffee, at this point most people believe that Azaria was killed by the dingo rather than just dragged off and left somewhere.

[Bippy the Beardless]

Is there any details as to the truth of any of her story? The linked story gives nothing, and the police obviously don't consider her to be possibly telling the truth. Was she really in a sect before?

[Miller]

C'mon, folks, that woman looks emotionally tormented.

Actually, she looks like someone in the room just cut a righteous pant-ripper.

[UrbanChic]

Well, you learn something new everyday. I had no CLUE where the dingo-eating/taking-baby phrase originated. No clue.

This really is news to me.

[kambuckta]

Oh, yeah, we breed 'em bright AND handsome out-back.

:p

Michael and Lindy Chamberlain are still around........their marriage broke down after a number of years, and they both remarried and (I believe) are living happily with new partners.

Interesting that Erin has waited this long to come forth with her story. If (as she claims) she has been experiencing *flashbacks* to when she was a newborn, why wait until now, knowing that she is prolly Australia's Most Wanted.

God, can you imagine the media frenzy if this turns out to be true?

[Frank]

Among other things, the Chamberlain case proves that (at least in the Northern Territory) you can be convicted of murder without the victim's body being found.
But she won on appeal. Why was that?

[Flutterby]

But she won on appeal. Why was that?

Wasn't it because there had never been a dingo attack before this happened, and another didn't happen again for a few years?

I thought it was overturned because someone else was attacked, so it gave reasonable doubt that she could've been telling the truth.

[kambuckta]

When the case was reopened (after Lindy had done her time in gaol) the appeal court found that evidence tendered by the original prosecution team was seriously flawed and should not have led to a guilty conviction in the first place.

[Telperien]

I laughed too.

omg ppl r being mean in teh pit!!!11! its a global nitemare!!!!111

This is the Pit? Are you sure?

[kambuckta]

Lots of reasons, some of which have already been discussed here, include the 'foetal blood' in the car that turned out to not be blood, the appearance of scissor slashes on Azaria's jumpsuit (that could have equally been canine tears), the refusal to accept eyewitness accounts from the night including testimony from the Chamberlains young son who was in the tent with Azaria when she was taken.

And the Court of Public Opinion mostly called for a guilty verdict for this weird family, so evidence that could have gone either way was weighted towards finding Lindy (especially) responsible for the death of her child.

[Frank]

Lots of reasons, some of which have already been discussed here, include the 'foetal blood' in the car that turned out to not be blood, the appearance of scissor slashes on Azaria's jumpsuit (that could have equally been canine tears), the refusal to accept eyewitness accounts from the night including testimony from the Chamberlains young son who was in the tent with Azaria when she was taken.

And the Court of Public Opinion mostly called for a guilty verdict for this weird family, so evidence that could have gone either way was weighted towards finding Lindy (especially) responsible for the death of her child.
OK, thanks. So the appeal win had nothing to do with the lack of a corpse, but rather with dodgy evidence.

[kambuckta]

Exactly.

And the strange thing is, despite all of the later stuff, there are still plenty of people out there who believe Lindy Chamberlain was guilty.

The fact that she later married an American just proves even more conclusively that she is batshit crazy. :D

[Rilchiam]

How can anyone remember anything from when they were 9 weeks old? Let alone a memory substantial enough to make this connection?

[Brynda]

The memory can't be accurate. Earliest memories that can be substantiated are from much older infants. On the other hand, even though the memory may be a false memory spawned by the belief that she is the baby, she still might really be her.

[Baker]

And the Court of Public Opinion mostly called for a guilty verdict for this weird family,

Forgive the curiosity of this ignorant American, but in what way was the Chamberlain family considered "weird"? All I ever read about the story was simple news reports.

[Annie-Xmas]

They are Seventh Day Adventists, which some Austrailans consider a "cult." There was talk that Azaria might have been killed as a "blood offering" to the church.

I doubt that she is, but if this woman's story is true, Lindsey Chamberlain has an ass-whopping lawsuit against the Ozzie Government. She served 7 years for muder.

[don't ask]

They are Seventh Day Adventists, which some Austrailans consider a "cult." There was talk that Azaria might have been killed as a "blood offering" to the church.

I doubt that she is, but if this woman's story is true, Lindsey Chamberlain has an ass-whopping lawsuit against the Ozzie Government. She served 7 years for muder.

I think you would struggle to find many Aussies who think Seventh Day Adventists are a cult and I'm pretty sure that Lindy got her compensation long, long ago.

And the woman in the story is definitely dingo ugly.

[don't ask]

Here we go (http://www.saxton.com.au/default.asp?nc8=100&sc8=141&sd8=2030) $1.3million in 1992.

[Shirley Ujest]

The Dingo was FRAMED!!!!!1111!!!1















What?

[ZebraShaSha]

"A wild pack of family dogs
Came running through the yard
As my little sister played
The dogs took her away
And I guess she was eaten up ok"

Add me to list who didn't know where that phrase came from. Also, if she isn't this so called dingo food, she might still be able to claim Russian nobility.

[FriarTed]

Joan of Arc

Anastasia Romanov

now Azaria Chamberlain....

"walk-ins" all of them. Souls that disincarnated traumatically before their time & some time after, found host bodies in people with severe personality problems which the disembodied souls could then dominate.


What?

[TheLoadedDog]

They would have gotten away with a slightly less than mainstream religion, had it not been for the fact that, at the news conference that was held immediately after the event, the Chamberlains (especially Lindy) appeared emotionless and dry-eyed. This turned a large section of the Australian public against them right there on the spot. From there, any dirt (or anything that could conceivably be made to look like dirt) on them was dredged up, from their having a "weird" faith, to rumours that "Azaria" (not a safe Aussie name like Sally or something) meant "death in the wilderness".

In actual fact, the Chamberlains were given legal/police advice to try to remain in control when talking to the media. That, and they were still in shock.

[Frank]

In actual fact, the Chamberlains were given legal/police advice to try to remain in control when talking to the media. That, and they were still in shock.
And people react to grief in different ways. The gamut runs from uncontrollable wailing and sobbing to adamant stoicism. There seems to be an attitude that if the bereaved do not react in the way you (general you) would, there is something wrong. That's a completely nonsensical attitude.

[Rilchiam]

Yes, but as I recall, Susan Smith was perfectly composed, smartly dressed and fully made up when she made her TV appearances to appeal for the return of her allegedly-kidnapped children. This set off alarm bells with many people, and it turned out she was guilty.

[Sarah Woodruff]

It don't mean a thing if you ain't got that evidence.

By the way, the Northern Territory is not subject to British Law. It's subject to the Criminal Code of the Northern Territory, oddly enough.

[Helen's Eidolon]

Sorry for the hijack, but I all of a sudden recognize your name, Sarah. I just finished the book today.

[Sarah Woodruff]

Heh. Thankyou! Most people assume I'm dumb enough to have signed up to a message board under my real, birth name. No! It's a cultural reference like everyone else's!

[Cicero]

She looks more like Mick Jaggers love child than Azaria Chamberlain.

[Ice Wolf]

Wonder what the other photos of her look like -- and whether that was just a bit of a media "Ha ha, look at the weirdo!" jack-up.

[Little Nemo]

She's 25? She looks more like 45!
Well, being Charles Augustus Lindbergh would've required her to be a 75 years old man.

[Alessan]

...to rumours that "Azaria" (not a safe Aussie name like Sally or something) meant "death in the wilderness".


Just in case you were wondering, "Azaria" is Hebrew for "God's Help" or "Aided by God." It's a common Jewish family name.

[cabdude]

It don't mean a thing if you ain't got that evidence.

By the way, the Northern Territory is not subject to British Law. It's subject to the Criminal Code of the Northern Territory, oddly enough.

Ah, yes I know that. But the Criminal Code of the Northern Territory didn't spontaneously write itself, oddly enough. And it has it's roots not in French Law, but British Law, as do the criminal codes of all Australian States and Territories. But thanks for taking me so literally. Once again, IANAL. Perhaps one can come along and clarify this point for us.

[TheLoadedDog]

Just in case you were wondering, "Azaria" is Hebrew for "God's Help" or "Aided by God." It's a common Jewish family name.
Sure, but that didn't stop the local tabloid press (not a hugely common name in this part of the world), and many people swallowed it.

[Iguana Boy]

IANAL, but I don't think a body needs to be found to convict for murder under British Law.

Sorry, but this is one of my buttons - there is no such thing as British Law.

Britain is subdivided into different legal systems. Scots Law is entirely distinct from the law of England and Wales. Northern Ireland (I know - part of the UK, not Britain) is different again.

In Scotland (and I am pretty sure in the others too) there is no need to find a body to prove a murder.

[AngelicGemma]

Flashbacks to when she was 9 weeks old? Well I'm convinced.

[cabdude]

Sorry, but this is one of my buttons - there is no such thing as British Law.

Britain is subdivided into different legal systems. Scots Law is entirely distinct from the law of England and Wales. Northern Ireland (I know - part of the UK, not Britain) is different again.

In Scotland (and I am pretty sure in the others too) there is no need to find a body to prove a murder.


So it's the 'B' word you have a problem with? Ok, amend that to English law. I was merely trying to draw a distinction between the origins of Australian law and European, or American, or Abyssinian, or wherever the poster came from, law.

But my main point, and you support this, is that in NT law at that time, and to the present AFAIK, no body need be found in order to arrest, try and convict for murder.

IANAL. IAN even close to being AL.

[Happy Lendervedder]

That absolutely can not be Azaria Chamberlain, for the woman pictured is clearly the offspring of Ms. Mary Grace Canfield, aka Ralph Monroe on 'Green Acres.'

Hell that might just be a file photo of ol' Mary Grace (http://www.maggiore.net/greenacres/images/e151.jpg) herself.




Case closed,
Happy

[Sarah Woodruff]

So it's the 'B' word you have a problem with? Ok, amend that to English law. I was merely trying to draw a distinction between the origins of Australian law and European, or American, or Abyssinian, or wherever the poster came from, law.

But my main point, and you support this, is that in NT law at that time, and to the present AFAIK, no body need be found in order to arrest, try and convict for murder.

IANAL. IAN even close to being AL.
I am a lawyer, and I am Australian, and the point I was making is that the NT has been subject to a separate legislative system to England and Wales since 1901. That's all. No need to get aerated.

[cabdude]

I am a lawyer, and I am Australian, and the point I was making is that the NT has been subject to a separate legislative system to England and Wales since 1901. That's all. No need to get aerated.

Then can you post some info on how under NT law no body is necessary to prove a case for murder? That is, after all, the salient point here.

[Zebra]

They have done that in America.

[Giles]

Then can you post some info on how under NT law no body is necessary to prove a case for murder? That is, after all, the salient point here.
Well, I started this argument with my throw-away line. I'm not a lawyer, but it seems clear to me that (in the NT) you can be found guilty of murder because it happened in the Lindy Chamberlain case. While her team of lawyers fought on a variety of issues, and eventually got the conviction quashed with new forensic evidence, as far as I know the issue of lack of Azaria's body was not raised. (Except, perhaps, in the argument that all the evidence against Lindy Chamberlain was circumstantial, and that there was reasonable doubt about what happened to Azaria. However, obviously, the jury did not accept that argument.)

Before becoming a separate territory, the NT was part of South Australia, and South Australia was started as a British colony. So the NT inherited the English common law, via South Australia. Currently, the criminal law of the NT is given in the Criminal Code Act 1983, as amended (http://notes.nt.gov.au/dcm/legislat/legislat.nsf/d989974724db65b1482561cf0017cbd2/edc68594ef318d2769256ff20005f5d1?OpenDocument) -- though obviously that was not the law that appied to the alleged murder of Azaria, which took place in 1980.

[Snickers]

I think you would struggle to find many Aussies who think Seventh Day Adventists are a cult and I'm pretty sure that Lindy got her compensation long, long ago.

And the woman in the story is definitely dingo ugly.

Hell, I was raised Seventh Day Adventist and I think they're a cult. Mostly mainstream Protestantism, to be sure, but man, there's some wacky beliefs there, lemmee tell you.

[Snickers]

But I'm not Australian, so we're both probably right.