Australia baby death mystery back in the spotlight

The baffling case of Azaria Chamberlain, who vanished in the Australian outback 24 years ago, apparently snatched by a dingo, is back in the spotlight after an old man said he saw the baby's body in the animal's jaws.

Azaria's disappearance from a campsite near Ayers Rock, now known by its Aboriginal name Uluru, has fascinated Australians and led to several books and a Hollywood movie, A Cry in the Dark, starring Meryl Streep.

Azaria's mother Lindy Chamberlain said she saw a dingo, or wild dog, run off with her nine-week-old daughter in its mouth on the night of August 17, 1980. The body was never found.

Mrs Chamberlain's extraordinary story was met with disbelief because of no known fatal attacks by dingoes. Mrs Chamberlain was found guilty of murdering her daughter in 1982 and jailed for life but her conviction was quashed in 1988.

The mystery shot back into the spotlight this week, stealing front-page headlines, when Frank Cole, 78, told the Sunday Herald Sun newspaper in Melbourne that he knew what happened to Azaria.

Mr Cole says he was camping with friends on the night Azaria disappeared and shot a dingo which he later found was carrying a dead human baby in its jaws.

His party of five men feared arrest if they were found to be shooting in the protected national park around Uluru in central Australia and did not report the find.

Mr Cole said one of the five, a friend named Bob Farmer, offered to take care of the body, possibly burying it in the backyard of his home in Melbourne several thousand kilometres to the south-east of Uluru.

Mr Cole said he had come forward after 24 years to clear his conscience after the deaths of all his camping companions, telling prime-time television show, A Current Affair, on Thursday that his life had been ruined by the events of that night.

"I've regretted it all my life," said Mr Cole, who passed a lie detector test organised by the television station. "I cry often, thinking about it."

Police said they would investigate Mr Cole's admission but were sceptical about its veracity as were many Australians.

An opinion poll conducted by the Herald Sun newspaper found 55.6 per cent of 347 Australians questioned believed Mr Cole but 44.4 per cent did not.

Lindy Chamberlain, who has now remarried and called Chamberlain-Creighton, cast doubts on Mr Cole's version of events, telling Australian television there were "a lot of holes" in it.

By coincidence, she returned to Uluru this week for the first time since Azaria vanished to film a television mini-series, titled Through My Eyes, based on a book she has written.

"New claims over Azaria's death haunt Lindy's return," read yesterday's front-page headline in Sydney's The Daily Telegraph newspaper above a half-page photograph of Mrs Chamberlain by Uluru.

The co-producer of the TV series, Tony Cavanaugh, denied Mr Cole's comments were a publicity stunt, saying the trip back to Uluru had been planned for some time.

"This could not have come at a worst time for us because, while we don't believe it, if someone verifies it then we would have a major problem because our story would be wrong," he told Melbourne's Herald Sun newspaper.

But a series of obstacles still remain to finally resolving the bizarre case of Azaria's death.

Bob Farmer's house has since been extensively renovated and the new owner, although happy to help police, is reluctant to allow a search for a body to go ahead until solid evidence is presented.