Coroner Says 32-Year-Old Case Shows Dingo Did Take the Baby [VIDEO]

I remember this story like it was yesterday. This missing child case was in the papers and on the news so much it was hard to miss. Lindy Chamberlain, the mother of the missing child,  shocked the world when she reported that her nine-week-old daughter had been taken by a dingo, a wild dog that lives mostly in the Australian outback, while the family was camping in the Australian desert.  The event happened in August of 1980. Lindy Chamberlain and her now ex-husband, Michael Chamberlain, took their three children camping to Uluru, then known as Ayers Rock, in the Australian desert. After Chamberlain put the newborn to sleep in a bassinet in the couple's tent, she returned to a  barbecue area with friends.  Soon after, witnesses heard a noise , described as  " growling" and a baby crying. Chamberlain ran back to the tent where she saw a dingo dragging her baby.

The initial coroner's report found that the family had no responsibility in the death. But many people found their story unbelievable.  Lindy Chamberlain has been plagued for 32 years by public doubt of her version of events about how her nine week old daughter, Azaria, died.

Chamberlain was eventually found guilty of murdering her daughter, served three years in prison.  Michael Chamberlain was convicted as an accessory after the fact. Chamberlain was released from prison in 1986 after the child's missing jacket was found near a dingo den. She was eventually awarded more than $1 million for wrongful imprisonment.

The case was so huge that actress Meryl Streep was nominated for an Academy Award for her  portrayal of  Lindy in the 1988 movie, "A Cry in the Dark."

I remember that the case even became somewhat of a parody. I remember that people started sayin'   "the dingo ate my baby" in an Australian accent. It was pretty bad.

Here's what ABC News reported the mother and father of the child said:

We're relieved and delighted to come to the end of this saga," Chamberlain said Monday. Her former husband, and Azaria's father, Michael, added, "this battle to get to the legal truth of what happened to Azaria has taken too long."

Coroner Elizabeth Morris said, "Please accept my sincere apology on the death of your special and loved daughter and sister Azaria. I am so sorry for your loss. Time does not remove the pain and sadness of death of a child."