The Case of Monster Mom Diane Downs | True Crime GRWM | Jay Gurbuxani — Transcript

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1. 0:03hey guys welcome back to my channel it
2. 0:05is true crime Tuesday yet again and
3. 0:07today we will be talking about a woman
4. 0:09so evil and vile that she's actually
5. 0:12considered as one of the most hated
6. 0:14women in America
7. 0:16today we will be talking about murderous
8. 0:18monster mom Diane Downs
9. 0:30Elizabeth Diane Fredrickson was born on
10. 0:33August 7 1955 in Phoenix Arizona she
11. 0:37lived with her parents and three younger
12. 0:39siblings and was raised in a very strict
13. 0:42and highly conservative household
14. 0:44now Diane was a fairly good kid growing
15. 0:49up however once she started high school
16. 0:51she also began to rebel against her
17. 0:55parents wishes and the way that she did
18. 0:57so was by dating boys and of course as
19. 1:00I've mentioned
20. 1:01this was a very strict and conservative
21. 1:05household so dating
22. 1:07was a huge No-No around this time she
23. 1:11met and started dating a guy named Steve
24. 1:13Downs now these two dated up until Diane
25. 1:16was in college and they broke things off
26. 1:19when Steve decided to join the Navy
27. 1:21while Diane attended the Pacific Coast
28. 1:24Baptist Bible College where she often
29. 1:28got in trouble before finally getting
30. 1:30expelled just a year later for
31. 1:32promiscuous Behavior
32. 1:35so of course this was Diane's nightmare
33. 1:38moving back in with her parents however
34. 1:41Steve then came back from the Navy and
35. 1:44the pair decided to elope in November
36. 1:471973 and a year after their marriage
37. 1:50they welcomed their first daughter
38. 1:52Christy
39. 1:53two years later in 1976 Steve and Diane
40. 1:57welcomed their second daughter and named
41. 1:59her Cheryl now after having the second
42. 2:02child Steve then decides to finally have
43. 2:05a vasectomy thinking that he was already
44. 2:08happy and contented with two kids
45. 2:11however just a short while after he had
46. 2:14gotten his procedure Diane Falls
47. 2:17pregnant once again
48. 2:19now obviously Diane had an affair but
49. 2:24she and Steve remain together after that
50. 2:27and she ultimately decided to have this
51. 2:30third child aborted
52. 2:32however as things were just started to
53. 2:35go smoothly for this family
54. 2:38Diane Falls pregnant once again in 1979
55. 2:42and this time she decided to push
56. 2:44through with that pregnancy and had a
57. 2:47baby boy who she named Danny
58. 2:50now Steve tried his best to stay for the
59. 2:54sake of his girls however he ended up
60. 2:57deciding to finally divorce Diane in
61. 3:001980.
62. 3:02at this point Diane had no idea how to
63. 3:04raise three kids on her own so she
64. 3:07decided to do what she thinks she does
65. 3:09best get pregnant in 1982 she became a
66. 3:14surrogate and birthed a baby girl named
67. 3:16Jennifer which she was paid ten thousand
68. 3:20dollars for things were finally starting
69. 3:22to turn around for Diane and her three
70. 3:25kids when a terrible incident happened
71. 3:27on May 19 1983.
72. 3:31Diane arrived in the hospital frantic
73. 3:34saying that her three kids had been shot
74. 3:38according to Diane's own version of
75. 3:40events she and the kids were on their
76. 3:42way home driving on a back road with the
77. 3:45song Hungry Like the Wolf by Duran Duran
78. 3:47playing in the background when a
79. 3:50bushy-haired man flagged them down
80. 3:53and she for some reason decided to stop
81. 3:56for the stranger and got out of her car
82. 3:58before asking him what was wrong
83. 4:02now this bushy-haired man
84. 4:05allegedly says I want your car before
85. 4:09reaching out to shoot all three sleeping
86. 4:12children
87. 4:14Diane then pretends to throw her keys
88. 4:17pushing the guy out of her way getting
89. 4:19into her vehicle and started driving
90. 4:22like a maniac towards the hospital
91. 4:25now
92. 4:27Diane herself did sustain an injury her
93. 4:31arm was graced by one of the bullets
94. 4:32fired by this bushy-haired stranger but
95. 4:36this was nothing compared to the injury
96. 4:38sustained by her three kids
97. 4:40eight-year-old Christy was shot twice in
98. 4:43the chest and suffered from a massive
99. 4:45stroke Danny the three-year-old was shot
100. 4:48in the spine and was completely
101. 4:50paralyzed and sadly Cheryl was
102. 4:53pronounced Dead on Arrival having been
103. 4:56shot at Point Blank Range
104. 4:59now of course people sympathized with
105. 5:02Diane it must have been heartbreaking to
106. 5:05watch one kid die and see the other two
107. 5:08in unstable and critical condition but
108. 5:11as the weeks went by
109. 5:14more and more people started to be
110. 5:16suspicious of Diane Downs she did a ton
111. 5:20of interviews and even a reenactment of
112. 5:23the events that took place that night
113. 5:25and she just couldn't keep her mouth
114. 5:28shut
115. 5:29she loved the attention that she was
116. 5:31getting and instead of acting like a
117. 5:34grief-stricken mother she absolutely ate
118. 5:37everything up and loved the Limelight
119. 5:40now the general public as well as the
120. 5:42authorities started to notice how her
121. 5:44stories would change and how she would
122. 5:46sometimes joke around even during the
123. 5:49reenactment of what took place that
124. 5:51awful evening now a witness also came
125. 5:54out saying that he was driving behind
126. 5:56Diane that night and while she claims
127. 5:59that she was driving like a lunatic in
128. 6:01order to save her kids this Witnesses
129. 6:04otherwise claiming that Diane was
130. 6:07driving so slowly that he thought she
131. 6:09was doing it on purpose just to piss him
132. 6:11off
133. 6:12now Hospital staff also reported seeing
134. 6:15no emotion from Diane whatsoever once
135. 6:19informed about Cheryl not making it
136. 6:21Diane reportedly seemed to have no
137. 6:23emotion at all and not even shedding a
138. 6:26single tear
139. 6:27she also seemed to be more concerned
140. 6:29about how much blood there was on her
141. 6:32new car so this really seemed sketchy
142. 6:36she also seemed to be very shocked upon
143. 6:39learning that Dany had been actually
144. 6:41shot in the spine instead of the chest
145. 6:44now the hospital staff also noted that
146. 6:47when they arrived in the hospital Diane
147. 6:49had a towel neatly wrapped around her
148. 6:52gunshot wound but the kids had no signs
149. 6:55or forms of any first aid
150. 6:58now the police grew more and more
151. 7:00suspicious of her every single day that
152. 7:03passed however before they come to any
153. 7:05conclusions they of course had to dig
154. 7:08for some more evidence
155. 7:10they asked Diane if she owned a handgun
156. 7:13which she denied but Steve confirmed to
157. 7:16the authorities that she actually did
158. 7:18and although the police were not able to
159. 7:21find a handgun in Diane's home upon
160. 7:24searching it they did find a rifle and
161. 7:26some bullets from a different gun that
162. 7:28matched those found in the crime scene
163. 7:31so if Diane really did do this what was
164. 7:35her motive
165. 7:36what would drive a young mother to do
166. 7:39such heinous crime to her innocent
167. 7:41children now during the same search of
168. 7:44her apartment police also found Diane's
169. 7:46diary where she wrote her most profound
170. 7:49thoughts and deepest feelings and there
171. 7:52they found a possible motive
172. 7:55it was then revealed that Diane started
173. 7:58dating a co-worker named Robert and saw
174. 8:00him as the ultimate love of her life and
175. 8:03although currently separated from his
176. 8:06wife Robert was still a married man
177. 8:09he described being with Diane as intense
178. 8:12and decided to break things off with her
179. 8:14and made it very clear that it was never
180. 8:17going to work out between the two of
181. 8:19them as he did not like kids
182. 8:22and well she had three of those
183. 8:26people who knew Diane from her teenage
184. 8:28years described her as boy crazy and as
185. 8:31it turns out she never really got out of
186. 8:33that face
187. 8:34so now the investigators had a possible
188. 8:38motive evidence from the bullets and a
189. 8:41few Witnesses but to lock this in they
190. 8:44needed something stronger and Christy as
191. 8:47I have mentioned did suffer from a
192. 8:49massive stroke after having received two
193. 8:52gunshot wounds to the chest and because
194. 8:55of this she wasn't able to speak
195. 8:57however medical staff from the hospital
196. 9:00did inform the authorities about
197. 9:02something odd happening when Diane
198. 9:04visited her in the hospital now
199. 9:06according to the nurses that were there
200. 9:10Christie's vitals were very stable
201. 9:12however her heart rate spiked up as soon
202. 9:15as she saw her mother enter the room and
203. 9:18upon seeing this the medical staff
204. 9:22realized that Christy was very very
205. 9:25afraid of her mother
206. 9:27and police knew right away that Christie
207. 9:29could be the key witness in solving this
208. 9:31case however they needed to give her
209. 9:33time to heal
210. 9:35soon enough Christy started to speak
211. 9:38again but was still severely traumatized
212. 9:42she then started seeing a child
213. 9:44therapist who would tell her to write
214. 9:46down her attacker's name on a piece of
215. 9:49paper then throw it into a fire and burn
216. 9:51it Christy did this four weeks before
217. 9:54finally deciding to trust her therapist
218. 9:56and showed her the piece of paper and on
219. 10:00this paper she wrote my mom
220. 10:02on February 28 1984 Diane Downs was
221. 10:08arrested for the following charges one
222. 10:10count of murder two counts of attempted
223. 10:13murder and criminal assault
224. 10:15her trial started three months later on
225. 10:18May and once she entered the courtroom
226. 10:19everyone was shocked to see that Diane
227. 10:22Downs was pregnant once again during her
228. 10:27trial the song Hungry Like the Wolf was
229. 10:28played in order to see what her reaction
230. 10:31to this would be
231. 10:33and to everyone's surprise she started
232. 10:36vibing to it bobbing her head and
233. 10:39tapping her feet and it seemed like she
234. 10:42was having a great time when she should
235. 10:44have had the opposite reaction
236. 10:47audio recordings of her constantly
237. 10:49changing her story during interviews and
238. 10:51interrogations were also played
239. 10:53highlighting the inconsistencies in her
240. 10:56many versions of events
241. 10:58but this did not seem to face Diane at
242. 11:01all still claiming that she was innocent
243. 11:04she had so much confidence in herself
244. 11:07and her made-up story until she saw the
245. 11:09next witness her very own daughter
246. 11:11Christy
247. 11:13who gave a highly emotional testimony
248. 11:15recalling that they were on their way
249. 11:17home when Diane suddenly stopped the car
250. 11:20took something out of the trunk before
251. 11:23proceeding to open the passenger door
252. 11:26she then shoots Cheryl at Point Blank
253. 11:29Range then reaches out to shoot Dany
254. 11:32then turns to Christy last shooting her
255. 11:34twice
256. 11:35Christie also says that she watched her
257. 11:38mother shoot herself in the arm and
258. 11:41wrapped a towel on her self-sustained
259. 11:43injury before driving real slow to the
260. 11:46hospital
261. 11:48and although this was extremely
262. 11:50traumatizing and devastating for an
263. 11:53eight-year-old to relive this witness
264. 11:56testimony sealed Diane's fate because
265. 11:59finally Diane was finally found guilty
266. 12:02on all of the charges pressed against
267. 12:04her
268. 12:06she was then sentenced to life in prison
269. 12:09plus 50 years with the possibility of
270. 12:12parole after 25 however 10 days before
271. 12:16even receiving the sentence Diane Downs
272. 12:19gave birth to a baby girl who was
273. 12:21quickly taken away from her now once in
274. 12:24prison Diane was diagnosed with
275. 12:26narcissistic and anti-social disorders
276. 12:30during one of her interviews Dayan also
277. 12:32mentioned that the reason why she got
278. 12:34pregnant was because she missed her kids
279. 12:36and that she was extremely lonely
280. 12:39according to her you can't replace
281. 12:41children but you can replace the effect
282. 12:44that they give you children are so easy
283. 12:47to conceive
284. 12:49not for everyone
285. 12:52and although Diane was finally in prison
286. 12:55the story doesn't end there because on
287. 12:58July 1987 she actually escaped prison by
288. 13:03climbing a 16-foot fence
289. 13:06and this cost a nationwide Panic people
290. 13:10were scared that she might come and
291. 13:12finish what she started and get revenge
292. 13:14especially on Christy who testified
293. 13:16against her but luckily she was found 11
294. 13:19days later at the house of her former
295. 13:22cellmate's husband
296. 13:24after being retrieved
297. 13:26Diane Downs was transferred to a Maximum
298. 13:29Security Prison being deemed as a highly
299. 13:32dangerous inmate
300. 13:34in 2020 Diane had coveted but survived
301. 13:38she is now 67 years old and has been
302. 13:41serving time for 38 years she has been
303. 13:44denied parole numerous times but is up
304. 13:47to this day still claiming to be
305. 13:49innocent
306. 13:51now on the brighter side of things Danny
307. 13:54and Christy are all grown up and are
308. 13:57living happy simple lives away from
309. 13:59their mother and the media Dany is said
310. 14:03to be paralyzed from the waist down
311. 14:05while Christy has a permanent speech
312. 14:07impediment because of the stroke that
313. 14:09she suffered however these two kids
314. 14:12still had a happy ending because they
315. 14:14were actually taken in and adopted by
316. 14:17one of the prosecutors and his wife now
317. 14:20the baby girl that Diane Downs gave
318. 14:22birth to before she was sent to prison
319. 14:26um she was actually adopted by a great
320. 14:28family and she was renamed Rebecca now
321. 14:32Becky found herself in trouble herself
322. 14:35when she found out about her biological
323. 14:38mother but
324. 14:40thankfully she was able to recover from
325. 14:43that and she is also now doing very well
326. 14:45and has kids of her own
327. 14:47and I guess that's where I'll end
328. 14:49today's video thank you so much for
329. 14:52tuning in should there be any other case
330. 14:54that you would like for me to cover
331. 14:55please don't hesitate to leave a comment
332. 14:58in the comment section below
333. 15:00also I would love to hear your thoughts
334. 15:03on this case so if you have something to
335. 15:05say or anything to add please comment
336. 15:08down below and thank you so much for
337. 15:10watching and I'll see you all on my next
338. 15:12video