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Diane Downs Murder Case | Mental Health & Personality — Transcript

by Dr. Todd Grande · 3,302 words · 510 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00welcome to my scientifically informed
0:01insider look at mental health topics if
0:04you find this video to be interesting or
0:06helpful please like it and subscribe to
0:07my channel hello this is dr. grande
0:10today's question asks oh I can analyze
0:11the mental health and personality
0:13factors that may be at work in the
0:15Dianne Downs case so just a reminder I'm
0:17not diagnosing anybody in this video
0:19only speculating about what could be
0:21happening in a situation like this so
0:23first I'll take a look at the background
0:25of Diane downs then take a look at the
0:27timeline of the crimes the investigation
0:30the trial and then the mental health and
0:32personality factors so starting with the
0:34background Elisabeth Diane Fredrickson
0:36Downs was born on August 7 1955 in
0:40Phoenix Arizona
0:41she would drop her first name Elizabeth
0:44when she was 14 so she just went by
0:46Diane at that same age she started a
0:49relationship with Steven downs a 16 year
0:51old boy who lived across the street that
0:53couple stayed together after high school
0:55Steven joined the Navy and Diane went to
0:58Bible College but she was later expelled
1:01for promiscuity Diane and Steven were
1:03married in 1973 and they had a rocky
1:06relationship they argued frequently
1:08about Diane's infidelity in 1974 the
1:13couple had their first child Kristi
1:14their second child Shirl was born in
1:171975 the couple moved to Mesa Arizona in
1:201978 Diane was having multiple affairs
1:23with coworkers
1:24and became pregnant she had a son Danny
1:27in 1979 Steven decided to raise Danny as
1:31his own even though he was not the
1:33father the couple got divorced in 1980
1:36this isn't really that surprising based
1:38on what happened this relationship at
1:41this point Diane dated a number of men
1:43many of them were married and she
1:45attempted to reconcile with Steven she
1:47attempted to become a surrogate mother
1:49at one point we see the process required
1:52a mental health assessment the mental
1:54health professionals determined that
1:55Diane was psychotic although highly
1:57intelligent 1981 Diane starts working
2:01full-time for the post office then
2:03toward the end of 1981 she was accepted
2:06into the surrogate program so I guess
2:09the whole psychotic thing really didn't
2:10scare them as much as one would think
2:13she functioned as a surrogate and
2:15carried the child to term she was paid
2:17ten thousand dollars excited by the
2:19whole process she decided to start her
2:21own surrogate clinic but the center
2:23prize failed shortly after she started
2:26it around the same time Dian met a man
2:29named Robert Knickerbocker he went by
2:31the name Nick they started having a
2:33romantic relationship however Nick was
2:36already married Nick became scared of
2:38how needy and demanding Diane was so he
2:41broke off the relationship
2:42Diane moved to Oregon but was not over
2:45Nick the two of them stayed in contact
2:46and I am visited Nick in April of 1983
2:50during this visit
2:51Nick rejected Diane once-and-for-all
2:53indicating that he had no interest in
2:55serving as a father to her children and
2:58this brings us to the crime
3:00so here I'll start the timeline of the
3:01crime may 19 1983 27 year-old Diane
3:06downs drives to a hospital in
3:09Springfield Oregon Diane and all three
3:12of her children had been shot with a 22
3:14caliber firearm
3:15shurl was dead Christie had a stroke and
3:19Danny was paralyzed diane explained that
3:23she was driving and she saw a man on the
3:25side of the road flagging her down she
3:27believed the man was in need of
3:28assistance
3:29she pulled over and a man attempted to
3:31steal her car when she resisted the
3:34shooting started
3:35she of course did not know who the man
3:36was she identified him as a bushy-haired
3:39stranger nursing notes indicated Diane
3:42wasn't shocked and unable to understand
3:44what was going on she was shot in the
3:46arm her injuries were actually quite
3:48severe the surgeons used a steel plate
3:51to repair her arm in the days that
3:53followed as medical professionals were
3:55treating Christie and Danny we see that
3:57some of the hospital staff described
4:00Diana's cold uncaring and unemotional
4:03they said she was having no emotional
4:05reaction she didn't shed one tear Diane
4:08had stated apparently that this incident
4:11the shooting had spoiled her vacation
4:13she indicated that it ruined her new car
4:16she got blood all over the back of the
4:18car she told a physician that she knew
4:20Christie was brain dead and she wanted
4:22him to pull the plug this physician a
4:24surgeon had asked a judge to appoint
4:26and another physician as Christy's
4:29Guardians
4:30the judge granted his request now he
4:32moved to the investigation due to
4:35Diane's unusual behavior
4:36the police focused on her right away as
4:38the primary suspect as we see so often
4:41the investigators made a number of
4:43mistakes including failing to look for
4:45fingerprints on Diane's car and failing
4:48to take any photographs of the crime
4:50scene they indicated that the search for
4:52the bushy-haired stranger was not a
4:54priority
4:55we see the police actually ignored many
4:57leads they would later admit that they
4:59concluded Diane was guilty early on and
5:02they stopped following leads just three
5:05weeks after the shooting the police did
5:07not like Diane's attitude they didn't
5:09think she was acting like a grieving
5:11mother should act they believed she was
5:13laughing at the wrong times
5:14like inappropriately laughing that she
5:16sought attention and that she smirked at
5:18them in terms of actual evidence rather
5:21than what the investigators opinion was
5:22of appropriate versus inappropriate
5:25emotional expression we see that Diane
5:27did change her story several times and
5:30one story the bushy-haired stranger knew
5:33her name and another version had her
5:35answering a call and then driving out to
5:38meet someone so this was problematic for
5:41her nine months later on February 28
5:441994 Diane would be charged with murder
5:46two counts of attempted murder and
5:48assault now moving to the trial before I
5:51get to the evidence in this case it's
5:53important to note here that Diane
5:55attempted to retain a famous defense
5:57attorney Melvin belli this was the same
6:00attorney who was contacted by the Zodiac
6:03killer although he was already famous
6:05prior to that incident Mel I filed a
6:08motion for a three-week extension so he
6:10could get up to speed on the case but
6:13the judge denied this motion telling
6:15Diane to use the attorney she already
6:18had so if Melvin belli had been a
6:21defense attorney in this case it is
6:23reasonable to believe there would have
6:24been a different outcome now a lot of
6:26evidence was presented here I'll first
6:28look at the evidence pointing toward
6:30Diane being guilty and then locate the
6:32evidence pointing toward not guilty so
6:34on the side of guilty as Diane was
6:37driving to the hospital there was a
6:38motorist behind her
6:40this witness said that Diane was driving
6:42slowly although Diane's story was that
6:44she was driving quite fast Diane had a
6:47cold demeanor she laughed at the wrong
6:48times all those things I talked about
6:50before Christy's pulse would go up when
6:53Diane would come into the hospital room
6:55although this could have happened for a
6:57variety of reasons like she could have
6:59been excited to see her and this also
7:02happened on other occasions when other
7:04people visited Christy in the hospital
7:06there was no blood spatter on the
7:09driver's side a car so this was
7:10inconsistent with Diane's story there
7:13was no gunpowder residue on the driver's
7:15door also inconsistent with the story
7:17not long after Diane arrived at the
7:19hospital she called Robert Knickerbocker
7:22right so again kind of looks like she
7:25had something else in mind
7:27why was she calling him when her kids
7:29had just been shot Robert told the
7:31police that Diane was a stalker right so
7:34he didn't contribute anything that
7:35helped her Diane's story was
7:36inconsistent as I mentioned and we see I
7:39think the most damaging evidence against
7:42Diane Christy her daughter testified
7:45against her Christy identified Diane as
7:48the shooter now moving to the evidence
7:51that points toward not guilty we see the
7:53motorist that was driving behind Diane I
7:55talked about who said Diane was not
7:58going quickly this motorist also said
8:00that at no time did Diane do anything
8:03suspicious like throw a gun out of the
8:06window the police never recovered the
8:08murder weapon they tried to argue that
8:10Diane had access to a 22 caliber Ruger
8:13semi-automatic pistol however when that
8:16gun was finally found in a drug raid in
8:19California it did not match with the
8:21ballistics from the crime scene
8:23Diane did not have any blood spatter or
8:25gunpowder residue on her hands clothing
8:28or hair right so becomes difficult
8:31looking at that evidence to imagine how
8:33she could have been the shooter
8:35she had no opportunity to clean her
8:38hands her clothes or her hair and even
8:41if she did have time to try to get those
8:43out that would be very difficult right
8:46blood and gunpowder residue are hard to
8:48remove according to the nursing notes
8:50not long after the shooting Danny asked
8:53one
8:54nurses why did the mean man shoot me
8:57this was ruled inadmissible so the jury
8:58never got to hear that now initially
9:01Christie had repeatedly said that she
9:03did not know who shot her Christie of
9:05course was separated from her family
9:07because of the judge's orders
9:08she was interrogated repeatedly and when
9:12she said she didn't know who the shooter
9:13was the investigators would ask her to
9:15think again and they would make
9:17suggestions to her these interrogations
9:20were not recorded it would be several
9:22months before Christie identified her
9:24mother as the shooter the state hired a
9:27mental health professional to help
9:28Christie rebuild her memory which
9:31strongly indicates they don't understand
9:33how memory actually functions years
9:35later we see that Christie would say
9:38that she did not know who the shooter
9:40was Christie's account of what happened
9:42in the car did not match the blood
9:44spatter
9:45for example she indicated that her
9:47sister Cheryl was sitting upright in the
9:49front seat when she was shot yet no
9:52blood spatter was found in the front
9:53seat years after the trial witnesses
9:56came forward saying that a man named
9:57James Haynes confessed that he was the
10:01shooter
10:01now considering all this evidence we see
10:05that the jury convicted Diane Downs On
10:08June 17 1984 she was sentenced to life
10:12in prison plus 50 years prior to being
10:15sentenced Diane gave birth to a girl she
10:17named Amy Elizabeth the baby was taken
10:20by the state and given to adoptive
10:22parents the girl was later renamed
10:25Rebecca Babcock the prosecutor in the
10:28case adopted Christie and Danny right
10:31some people view this as touching and
10:34appropriate and other people look at
10:36this with a little bit more suspicion
10:38like was this a conflict of interest
10:40he was prosecuting their mother right so
10:43it's hard to know but that happened
10:45either way now we see the Diane escaped
10:47prison on July 11 1987 she was found 10
10:52days later hiding with a group of men
10:54five years was added to her sentence
10:57it's also alleged that she had this
11:00escape attempt worked out with a
11:01boyfriend where he was going to hijack a
11:04helicopter and land it in the prison
11:06yard it's not clear how she
11:08Diane was about that escape plan but it
11:10was something that again allegedly she
11:12had discussed Diane was denied parole in
11:142008 and 2010 and she still maintains
11:17her innocence it's now moving to the
11:20mental health and personality factors
11:22that may be at work in a case like this
11:24so we see in the closing arguments of
11:27the trial the prosecutor said that Diane
11:29had been diagnosed as a deviant
11:32sociopath yet we see an affidavit from
11:35the mental health professional who
11:37assessed Diane indicating that diagnosis
11:40was never given the affidavit also
11:42correctly asserts that deviant sociopath
11:45is not a diagnostic category so it
11:49doesn't exist in the DSM interestingly
11:51on an mmpi that was administered to
11:55Diane that's a Minnesota multiphasic
11:57personality inventory Diane scored in
12:00the normal range for personality
12:02disorder
12:03Diane was actually diagnosed with
12:05cyclothymia now after Diane was
12:07convicted the prosecution hired a mental
12:10health professional who after
12:12interviewing Diane for an hour diagnosed
12:15her with antisocial narcissistic and
12:17borderline personality disorders later
12:21on we see opinions that suggest Diane
12:23does have an unusual style of emotional
12:25regulation but this behavior falls short
12:28of what's required for a diagnosis of a
12:31personality disorder so what's going on
12:33here well of course it's impossible to
12:35know for sure all I can really do is
12:37align behaviors with different symptoms
12:39let's take a look at the disorders the
12:41mental health professionals diagnosed so
12:44starting with antisocial personality
12:45disorder what worries me about this
12:47disorder or the label of sociopaths is
12:50that in this case the categorization is
12:53highly dependent on Diane being guilty
12:56if she is guilty then the amount health
12:58professionals might say well we see
13:00criminality deceitfulness impulsivity
13:03aggression a reckless disregard for
13:05safety irresponsibility and a lack of
13:08remorse right so with that crime they
13:11can try to really touch on all the
13:13symptoms of antisocial personality but
13:16the problem here is that they are
13:17relying on one event and all of these
13:20symptoms right Iria
13:21must represent a pattern if she was
13:23innocent
13:24what evidence remains indicating she
13:26could meet those criteria maybe they
13:28could argue that her inconsistent story
13:30lines up with deceitfulness
13:32but either way there's a much weaker
13:34case if she actually did not commit the
13:37crime and I haven't seen any clear
13:39evidence that she had conduct disorder
13:40symptoms in her childhood either but
13:43they of course would have had access to
13:44more information now what about
13:47borderline personality disorder here
13:49again they are relying on guilt so they
13:52could say that this could bring in anger
13:54impulsivity and Afra motive was getting
13:57her lover back they could say well here
13:58we have frantic efforts to avoid
14:00abandonment without guilt they could
14:02still make the argument that there is
14:03emotional instability and an unstable
14:05relationship pattern but it seems like a
14:08leap to get to borderline personality
14:09disorder so this brings me to
14:11narcissistic person is order I find this
14:14to be a leap as well without guilt they
14:16might be able to say that there was a
14:17need for excessive admiration although I
14:20could argue that excessive really isn't
14:22established here with guilt they could
14:25argue a sense of entitlement arrogance
14:27manipulation and a lack of empathy but
14:29they would be running into the same
14:30problem they ran into with antisocial
14:32person I saw two that are tying the
14:34symptoms to one event I find it
14:37interesting that they didn't bring up
14:38histrionic Personality papers neither so
14:43why not take a look at history onic with
14:45histrionic we have a few symptoms that
14:47might align somewhat whether Diane was
14:50guilty or not for example trying to be
14:53the center of attention being
14:55inappropriately seductive we don't know
14:57if that was the case but with the
14:58promiscuity it makes it possible rapidly
15:02shifting and shallow expression of
15:04emotions and we see believing that
15:07relationships would be more intimate
15:08than they really are
15:10so there could be some alignment with
15:11those four symptoms I think when it
15:13comes to person is orders I don't really
15:15see the evidence here that she clearly
15:17falls into one of the cluster B
15:20categories we just need more information
15:22I'm a little surprised that a mental
15:24health professional would diagnose her
15:26with three of the four cluster B
15:27personality it's certainly possible but
15:30that is a relatively rare presentation
15:33one of the most interesting
15:34diagnosis she received was the
15:36cyclothymia officially known as
15:39cyclothymic disorder this disorder
15:41involves subclinical hypo mania and
15:44depression so somebody has small highs
15:47and small lows they never meet the full
15:49criteria for a manic or depressive
15:51episode so somebody has cyclothymic
15:54disorder they could not have comorbid
15:56bipolar one bipolar 2 or major
15:59depressive disorder we don't see this
16:02diagnosis too often it doesn't explain
16:04the unusual emotional responses but it
16:07would explain some of the impulsivity
16:08and erratic behavior associated with the
16:12crime so the last question I look at
16:13here is was Diane Downs innocent or
16:17guilty so I'll look at this two ways the
16:20legal perspective and reality so with
16:22the legal perspective we're talking
16:24about guilty versus not guilty which is
16:25different than guilt and innocence to be
16:28found not guilty the jury only needs to
16:30believe there was a reasonable doubt now
16:32the state's case I think was actually
16:34fairly weak we have the absence of
16:37gunshot residue or blood spatter on the
16:40defendant no murder weapon the testimony
16:42of Kristi who was isolated from her
16:44family and bombarded with questions over
16:46the course of months I really don't see
16:48the motive as compelling in this case
16:49and of course the investigators failed
16:51to follow up on a number of leaks I
16:53think that the state over relied on
16:55Diane's
16:56inappropriate reactions as they called
16:59them laughing at the wrong times not
17:01seeming to be empathic appearing to want
17:04attention people tend to believe these
17:06behaviors are linked to criminality but
17:08a strong case really can't be made here
17:11the lack of empathy sometimes can be
17:14connected to criminality but not
17:16reliably inappropriate laughing or
17:18wanting attention are not tied to
17:20criminality at all as I've said before
17:22looking at other cases we see people
17:25have been through these extreme types of
17:28experiences and yet these investigators
17:30think that they are mental health
17:31experts they find meaning in these
17:34behaviors that simply is not there we
17:37see the same thing here with that
17:38physician he knew Diane was guilty
17:40within 30 minutes it's amazing that he
17:42could know something that even trained
17:44mental health professionals would not be
17:46able to know now these individuals were
17:48over confident in their ability to
17:50understand what is really indicated by
17:52behavior this thinking error led the
17:54investigators down a path and once they
17:57focused on Diane no other suspect was
18:00going to be identified so again I would
18:03say not guilty beyond a reasonable doubt
18:06but what about reality so just guilt
18:09versus innocence did she really do it I
18:11think Diane did do it the fact that she
18:14changed her story several times strongly
18:16points toward guilt now I don't know if
18:19she was the actual shooter
18:20it would seem more likely that she
18:21conspired with somebody which would
18:23explain the missing gun and the lack of
18:25blood spatter and gunshot residue on her
18:28I'm a little surprised that she has
18:30maintained innocence for all this time
18:32if she was in fact guilty I think she
18:35would have a much better chance of
18:36parole if she accepted responsibility
18:38although with that escape attempt she
18:41didn't really endear herself to the
18:43parole board this is one of those cases
18:45that causes a loss of confidence not
18:48only in the criminal justice system but
18:50also in mental health diagnosing here as
18:53we've seen many times before the same
18:56person is seen by multiple professionals
18:58and everyone gives a different diagnosis
19:01it's frustrating because it's just hard
19:04to get a sense of what's really going on
19:06it causes people to wonder about the
19:07accuracy of mental health diagnosing and
19:09the integrity of some mental health
19:12professionals I know whenever I talk
19:14about true crime cases there will be a
19:15variety of opinions please put any
19:17opinions and thoughts in the comment
19:18section they always generate an
19:20interesting dialogue as always I hope
19:22you found my analysis of this topic to
19:24be interesting thanks for watching

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