Settling a notorious 1980 case that split the nation and led to a mistaken murder conviction, an Australian coroner ruled Tuesday that a dingo took a baby from a campsite in the Outback, just as her mother said from the beginning. 
 
 FILE - In this Feb. 2, 1982, file photo Lindy Chamberlain leaves a courthouse in Alice Springs, Australia. A coroner found Tuesday, June 12, 2012, that a dingo took Chamberlain's baby who vanished in... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE - In this Feb. 2, 1982, file photo, Michael, left, and Lindy Chamberlain leave a courthouse in Alice Springs, Australia. A coroner found Tuesday, June 12, 2012, that a dingo took the Chamberlain's... (Associated Press) 
 
 The eyes of Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton and her ex-husband, Michael Chamberlain, welled with tears as the findings of the fourth inquest into the disappearance of their 9-week-old daughter, Azaria, were announced in court. Lindy Chamberlain served more than three years in prison for the baby's death, but was later cleared and has always maintained that a wild dog took her. 
 
 "We're relieved and delighted to come to the end of this saga," a tearful but smiling Chamberlain-Creighton told reporters outside the court in the northern city of Darwin. 
 
 Azaria disappeared from a campsite near Ayers Rock, the red monolith in the Australian desert now known by its Aboriginal name Uluru. The case became famous internationally through the 1988 movie "A Cry in the Dark." 
 
 Many Australians initially did not believe that a dingo was strong enough to take away the baby. Public opinion swayed harshly against the couple; some even spat on Chamberlain-Creighton and howled like dingoes outside her house. 
 
 No similar dingo attack had been documented at the time, but in recent years the wild dogs have been blamed for three fatal attacks on children. Few doubt the couple's story today, but the latest inquest _ which the family had fought to get _ made it official that Azaria was killed in a dingo attack. 
 
 "No longer will Australia be able to say that dingoes are not dangerous and only attack if provoked," Chamberlain-Creighton said before leaving the court with her ex-husband and their three surviving children to collect Azaria's death certificate. 
 
 "We live in a beautiful country, but it is dangerous and we would ask all Australians to beware of this and take appropriate precautions," Chamberlain-Creighton said. 
 
 Coroner Elizabeth Morris said she "satisfied that the evidence is sufficiently adequate, clear, cogent and exact and that the evidence excludes all other reasonable possibilities" than that the baby was taken by one or more dingoes. 
 
 The findings mirror those of the first coroner's inquest in 1981, which found that a dingo took Azaria. But that inquest found that somebody had later interfered with Azaria's clothing, which was later found relatively unscathed in the desert. 
 
 A second coroner's inquest ended with Chamberlain-Creighton being charged with murder and Michael Chamberlain being charged with being an accessory after the fact. Chamberlain-Creighton, accused of slashing her daughter's throat with nail scissors and making it look like a dingo attack, was convicted in 1982 and sentenced to life in prison with hard labor. 
 
 She was released in 1986 after evidence was found that backed up her version of events: the baby's jacket, found near a dingo den, which helped explain the condition of the rest of the baby's clothing. A Royal Commission, the highest form of investigation in Australia, debunked much of the forensic evidence used at trial and her conviction was overturned. 
 
 A third inquest could not determine the cause of death. 
 
 The fourth inquest heard new evidence of dingo attacks, including three fatal attacks on children since the third inquest. 
 
 Morris noted that dingo experts disagree on whether a dingo could have removed the clothing so neatly and without causing more damage. 
 
 "It would have been very difficult for a dingo to have removed Azaria from her clothing without causing more damage than what was observed on it, however it would have been possible for it to have done so," she said. 
 
 "I think it is likely that a dingo would have left the clothing more scattered, but it might not have done so," she added. 
 
 Michael Chamberlain had threatened to go the Northern Territory Supreme Court to force another inquest if Morris had not agreed to reopen the case. Another coroner had rejected his application in 2004 for a fourth inquest to challenge the 1995 open finding of the third. 
 
 "This has been a terrifying battle, bitter at times, but now some healing and a chance to put our daughter's spirit to rest," Chamberlain told reporters. 
 
 He said his quest for a death certificate that acknowledged his daughter had been killed by a dingo had seemed to be a "mission impossible." 
 
 "This battle to get to the legal truth about what caused Azaria's death has taken too long," Chamberlain said. 
 
 "However, I am here to tell you that you can get justice even when you think that all is lost. But truth must be on your side." ||||| New Australian inquest into 'dingo' baby death 
 
 SYDNEY — A new inquest will be opened into the death of baby Azaria Chamberlain, according to reports, 31 years after she was apparently taken by a dingo at Ayers Rock in a case that caused a worldwide sensation. 
 
 Northern Territory coroner Elizabeth Morris has cited new information from the Chamberlains' counsel about dingo attacks as a reason for reopening the inquiry, the Sun-Herald newspaper said on Sunday. 
 
 Azaria was just nine weeks old when she went missing on August 17, 1980 during a camping trip to Ayers Rock, or Uluru, the evocative red monolith in the heart of Australia's Outback. Her body was never found. 
 
 The case inspired the 1988 hit film "A Cry in the Dark", starring Meryl Streep and Sam Neill, along with books, a TV mini-series and even an opera, and was followed closely by foreign media, making it a global cause celebre. 
 
 Her mother, Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton, was jailed for murder, despite an initial inquest which backed her explanation the baby was snatched by a dingo, Australia's native wild dog. The body was never found. 
 
 The convictions of Chamberlain and her then husband Michael, who was given a suspended term for being an accessory, were overturned in 1988 after the chance find of a piece of Azaria's clothing near a dingo lair. 
 
 A third inquest in 1995 recorded an open finding, in a case that continues to fascinate the Australian public. 
 
 Morris, the coroner, said she was reopening the inquiry "largely in relation to information provided by your (the Chamberlains') counsel about dingo attacks since the death of Azaria". 
 
 The newspaper said the information was understood to include an account of attacks by dingoes on children at Fraser Island in Queensland state, which included a fatal attack on a nine-year-old boy in 2001. 
 
 Michael Chamberlain said he and Lindy had campaigned for a new inquest to establish that Azaria had been taken by a dingo. 
 
 "We believe that new evidence will indicate that dingoes can in fact kill babies," he was quoted as saying. "I trust that the truth will now be determined." 
 
 The inquest is due to open on February 24. 
 
 Copyright © 2012 AFP. All rights reserved. More » ||||| In a case that divided the nation and inspired the film A Cry in the Dark, the baby's mother, Lindy Chamberlain, was convicted and jailed for life after a jury refused to believe her claim that a dingo stole her baby from a tent near Uluru, or Ayers Rock, in 1980. 
 
 However, the conviction prompted a community campaign and was overturned in 1988 following a royal commission. But the cause of death has remained open. 
 
 In a surprising twist, the Northern Territory Coroner agreed to open a new inquest after the Chamberlains presented information about "dingo attacks since the death of Azaria". 
 
 The information reportedly includes an account of attacks by dingoes on children at Fraser Island in Queensland, including an incident in 2001 in which two dingoes mauled a 9-year-old boy to death. 
 
 In another incident in 2007, a four-year-old girl was badly injured after she was bitten by a dingo on the same island. 
 
 Lindy Chamberlain's plight, depicted by Meryl Streep in the 1988 film, divided the nation. 
 
 Some sympathised with her loss and subsequent treatment through the courts; others regarded her as cold and refused to accept that a dingo would snatch a baby. 
 
 An initial inquest in 1981 found that a dingo took the baby, but a second inquest in 1982 found that Lindy Chamberlain should be tried for murder and that her husband Michael should be charged as an accessory. A third inquest in 1995 returned an open verdict. 
 
 The new inquest is due to begin on February 24. 
 
 Michael Chamberlain said he and Lindy, from whom he has since been divorced, hoped to establish forever that Azaria was taken by a dingo. 
 
 "I am incredibly gratified," he told ABC Radio. "It's been 31 years now and I just hope this time it will be the ultimate verdict which we've been looking for, for this length of time."
– A fresh turn in the spotlight for an infamous, three-decade-old case: Australia will conduct a fourth inquest into the death of Azaria Chamberlain, who disappeared in 1980 in the Australian outback; her mother famously said that a dingo took the nine-week-old child from their tent. Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton was found guilty of murder in 1982 and sentenced to life in prison; that conviction was later overturned after a piece of Azaria's clothing was found near a dingo den, notes the AFP; the child's body was never found. The Australian reports that the case is being reopened because new information about recent dingo attacks was given to the Northern Territory coroner by the Chamberlains' lawyers. Among the included incidents, as noted by the Telegraph: a 9-year-old boy was mauled to death in 2001 by two dingoes, and a four-year-old girl was harmed in 2007. The new inquest will begin on Feb. 24.