My Mother’s Sins l 20/20 Diane Downs l Part 1 — Transcript

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1. 0:00[Music]
2. 0:02according to the Elizabeth Diane Downes
3. 0:04she and her three children were shot by
4. 0:06a strange man I never wanted to become
5. 0:09something like that something like her
6. 0:12mrs. Downes was wounded in the left arm
7. 0:15and was able to drive the children to
8. 0:17the hospital that night a part of me was
9. 0:20afraid that that's where I came from
10. 0:24does that mean where I'm going
11. 0:26Christy was shot first three year old
12. 0:28Danny was shot in the back
13. 0:29seven-year-old Cheryl was shot twice
14. 0:31from behind and died on the way to the
15. 0:33hospital and the fact that I felt some
16. 0:37sort of a connection to her was
17. 0:39terrifying over the weekend rumors began
18. 0:42to fly about we have not overlooked been
19. 0:44a possible suspect Porter's covering the
20. 0:46story we're getting hints the Downs
21. 0:47herself was a subtle as a Kurt here is
22. 0:49just inexcusable I knew I could never do
23. 0:52something like that but at night when I
24. 0:56close my eyes I can see Christie
25. 0:57reaching her hand out to me while I'm
26. 0:59driving that haunts me the most
27. 1:02[Music]
28. 1:08Dyan downs
29. 1:10was a case that captured the imagination
30. 1:13and the horror of people at a time law
31. 1:16enforcement officials say they're
32. 1:17waiting for Christie to remember what
33. 1:18happened that night this is the kind of
34. 1:20story you you just never forget another
35. 1:22chapter and what's been a very unusual
36. 1:24crime story and to really understand it
37. 1:26you have to go all the way back to 1983
38. 1:33America 1983 still felt pretty innocent
39. 1:35Ronald Reagan was president it's morning
40. 1:38and America kind of notion United States
41. 1:41as a shining city on a hill it is mrs.
42. 1:43Reagan's interest in drugs which has
43. 1:45helped to fire off the president Nancy
44. 1:47Reagan at the time had her own drug
45. 1:50program yes I know
46. 1:51[Music]
47. 1:53Duran Duran had come out with a song
48. 1:55that was very popular called hungry like
49. 1:58the wolf
50. 2:02and we went and bought an album that we
51. 2:04played on a record player you might
52. 2:06remember those things everybody was
53. 2:08watching Dallas that's the America that
54. 2:16was unfolding at the time Elizabeth
55. 2:19Diane downs made her star turned Diane
56. 2:25downs was a 27 year old mother who had
57. 2:28just moved up to Oregon from Chandler
58. 2:30Arizona
59. 2:33her marriage to her highschool
60. 2:34sweetheart
61. 2:36Steve Downes soured before she even left
62. 2:39Arizona and apparently that was because
63. 2:41of her reported infidelity she was a
64. 2:44mother of three children ages age seven
65. 2:46and three Christine Cheryl and Danny
66. 2:48she was a postal worker Springfield was
67. 2:56not nearly as sophisticated at see gene
68. 2:59they're really Twin Cities but it's more
69. 3:03blue-collar
70. 3:04I really like how Ann Rule introduces
71. 3:07Eugene Oregon and Springfield Oregon and
72. 3:09her book small sacrifices she says
73. 3:13Eugene Oregon is the successful sister
74. 3:16of the paired city's cool slender
75. 3:19professional her restaurants serve
76. 3:21artichokes and ricotta pie while
77. 3:25Springfield Oregon half Eugene's size is
78. 3:29the sister who never graduated from high
79. 3:31school who no longer notices the acrid
80. 3:34smell from logging I think Springfield
81. 3:40sounds cliche but a lot of people knew
82. 3:41each other and you felt pretty safe
83. 3:43there
84. 3:45it really wasn't a scary place I mean
85. 3:49they always say that when there's a
86. 3:50murder or something
87. 3:51the neighbors always say something like
88. 3:53that doesn't happen here but of course
89. 3:56it does it was May 19th 1983 when Diane
90. 4:03took her children out to see a woman
91. 4:06that she knew Diane didn't leave until
92. 4:09about 9:30 at night they leave from the
93. 4:15friend's house they're driving down the
94. 4:17road Kristy remembers that hungry like
95. 4:21the wolf was playing and she took a a
96. 4:28detour to do some sightseeing Diane said
97. 4:31like I had flagged her car down it was
98. 4:33dark and she had her three sleeping
99. 4:37young kids in the car
100. 4:39a bushy-haired stranger he was waving
101. 4:42his arms and she said of course she
102. 4:44stopped and asked him what seems to be
103. 4:48the matter supposedly the man wondered
104. 4:51her car demanded her keys she said
105. 4:55you've got to be kidding at which time
106. 4:58he pushed her aside
107. 5:02and began shooting the three kids and
108. 5:08what she described next was this
109. 5:10choreography where he fired one more
110. 5:14bullet hit her left arm but she had
111. 5:16pretended to throw the keys into the
112. 5:18bushes and as he was distracted she
113. 5:20jumped in the car and drove away she
114. 5:26says at that point she drove like a
115. 5:27lunatic to the hospital she makes it to
116. 5:33the hospital er driving even though she
117. 5:35herself has been shot in the arm
118. 5:38bleeding
119. 5:39she said quick my kids have been shot
120. 5:42come out I can only imagine the shock of
121. 5:46everyone at the hospital when up rolls
122. 5:50die and downs with three bloody children
123. 5:54I talked to the nurses who were there
124. 5:58that night and they were crying you know
125. 6:00the tears just started to run I don't
126. 6:01think they even realized it talking
127. 6:03about those little kids coming in all
128. 6:05shot up
129. 6:06sheral was dead and Danny and Christie
130. 6:11had both been shot and were badly
131. 6:13wounded when I first walked into the ER
132. 6:19immediately they pointed me to Christie
133. 6:22when I looked at Christie I thought she
134. 6:24was dead her pupils were dilated her
135. 6:29blood pressure was non-existent and she
136. 6:31is so close to death it's unbelievable
137. 6:34get a phone call from dispatch
138. 6:35and I was told a mother and her children
139. 6:39had been shot
140. 6:41when I got to the hospital I was
141. 6:44directed to interview the mother son
142. 6:49said I want a new car and that's the G I
143. 6:52be kidding I mean many people really do
144. 6:55that in real life yeah
145. 6:57her demeanor was flat not one tear even
146. 7:02though she knew that Cheryl had died who
147. 7:13demeanor at the hospital did not conform
148. 7:15to a traditional grieving mother whose
149. 7:18children had just been shot one murdered
150. 7:20the other two seriously clinging to life
151. 7:25it was surreal when I was finished
152. 7:29taking care of Christi
153. 7:31then I sought out her mother into my
154. 7:34complete surprise Diane was
155. 7:37non-emotional not a tear in her eye and
156. 7:41then she says that really ruined my new
157. 7:45car I got blood all over the back Kevin
158. 7:48I've never seen a reaction like that at
159. 7:52all
160. 7:53Thursday night a man flagged down a
161. 7:54woman and her three children on the road
162. 7:56from mark Ola to Springfield Friday the
163. 7:58manhunt began in earnest initially it
164. 8:01was panic people in Oregon were like oh
165. 8:03my god
166. 8:04there is a crazy man on the loose who
167. 8:07would gunned down three small kids in a
168. 8:09car this is scary stuff people were
169. 8:12locking their doors and they were
170. 8:13feeling very unsafe kids weren't allowed
171. 8:15to go out by themselves mothers didn't
172. 8:17go out in the evening and they sure
173. 8:18didn't take their children it became
174. 8:21clear that the kids were gravely injured
175. 8:22and from what the police were indicating
176. 8:26they didn't have a lot to go on at that
177. 8:28point there have been no sightings of
178. 8:30either the suspect or his car early on
179. 8:32in the investigation you know we did not
180. 8:34have a suspect there is still an
181. 8:36all-points bulletin out for the man nor
182. 8:38did we have a weapon investigators found
183. 8:40some spent cartridges by the roadside
184. 8:42the only evidence we had were some
185. 8:44casings that were found at the scene
186. 8:47we had divers in the river but the gun
187. 8:50was never found
188. 8:51we canvassed every home up and down
189. 8:55knocking on doors asking if anyone had
190. 8:57seen any suspicious individuals they
191. 9:00came up with a composite and that was
192. 9:03circulated on every news station
193. 9:06elizabethtown says the shaggy-haired
194. 9:08stranger shot at her not so racking and
195. 9:10their brains to try to put this case
196. 9:12together we're going to do
197. 9:15video tape reenactment that's when they
198. 9:17decide to do a reenactment throw on the
199. 9:19kids if they have thrown the key here is
200. 9:21mommy prancing around and telling jokes
201. 9:24okay that was a big red flag