Why child murderer Diane Downs was arrested in chilling 1983 case (NIGHTLINE) — Transcript

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1. 0:00According
2. 0:02to Elizabeth Diane DS, she and her three
3. 0:04children were shot by a strange man.
4. 0:06It was 1983, an unimaginable crime.
5. 0:10Diane DS was a case that captured the
6. 0:13imagination and the horror of people at
7. 0:16the time.
8. 0:16We have not overlooked any possible
9. 0:18suspects.
10. 0:19Reporters covering the story were
11. 0:20getting hints that DS herself was a
12. 0:22suspect in the case.
13. 0:23A mother accused of murdering one of her
14. 0:25young children and trying to kill the
15. 0:27other two. At night when I close my
16. 0:29eyes, I can see Christy reaching her
17. 0:31hand out to me while I'm driving. That
18. 0:33haunts me the most.
19. 0:34A part of me was afraid that that's
20. 0:38where I came from. Does that mean where
21. 0:40I'm going?
22. 0:44Diane DS was a 27year-old mother who had
23. 0:47just moved up to Oregon from Chandler,
24. 0:49Arizona.
25. 0:51She was a mother of three children, ages
26. 0:538, seven, and three, Christy, Cheryl,
27. 0:56and Danny. She was a postal worker.
28. 0:59On the night of May 19th, Diane DS went
29. 1:02out for a drive, taking her three
30. 1:04children with her
31. 1:06and she took a detour to do some
32. 1:08sightseeing.
33. 1:09Diane said a guy had flagged her car
34. 1:12down. It was dark
35. 1:14and uh she had her three sleeping young
36. 1:17kids in the car.
37. 1:18She says she pulls over to help the man.
38. 1:21[Music]
39. 1:22Supposedly, the man wanted her car,
40. 1:25demanded her keys.
41. 1:27She said, "You've got to be kidding." At
42. 1:29which time he pushed her aside and began
43. 1:33shooting the three kids.
44. 1:35Diane says the man shoots her in the
45. 1:37left arm, but she's able to distract him
46. 1:39and makes her escape, then quickly
47. 1:41drives herself and children to the
48. 1:43hospital. I can only imagine the shock
49. 1:48of everyone at the hospital when uprolls
50. 1:52Diane DS with three bloody children.
51. 1:57Cheryl was dead and Danny and Christy
52. 2:01had both been shot and were badly
53. 2:03wounded.
54. 2:05When I got to the hospital, I was uh
55. 2:08directed to interview the mother.
56. 2:10Investigators say her behavior seemed
57. 2:13odd from the beginning.
58. 2:14Her demeanor was flat, not one tear,
59. 2:18even though she knew that uh uh Cheryl
60. 2:21had died.
61. 2:22I just kept saying, "God, do it." You
62. 2:24know, if they got to die, let them die,
63. 2:26but don't let them stop.
64. 2:28It was surreal. When I was finished
65. 2:32taking care of Christy, then I sought
66. 2:35out her mother. And to my complete
67. 2:37surprise, Diane
68. 2:39was non-emotional. And then she says,
69. 2:42"That really ruined my new car. I got
70. 2:45blood all over the back of it.
71. 2:48Cops are racking their brains to try to
72. 2:51put this case together."
73. 2:52We're going to do a videotape
74. 2:55reenactment.
75. 2:56Diane DS is trying to show the
76. 2:58investigators exactly what happened. I
77. 3:00go like that. I got in the car, jumped
78. 3:03in, put the keys in. I just hit my cast.
79. 3:08This is worse than Okay.
80. 3:09She'd hit her cast, then made the
81. 3:11statement, "This is worse than." And she
82. 3:14caught herself. So, we speculated, of
83. 3:17course, what she would have said to
84. 3:18finish that sentence. And we always
85. 3:20thought, "This is worse than when I shot
86. 3:22myself."
87. 3:23Good evening. I'm Anne Bradley. With
88. 3:26suspicion mounting, Diane gives a
89. 3:28jaw-dropping interview.
90. 3:30When we got to talk to her, they said
91. 3:31she could bring her lawyer to the
92. 3:33interview that we wanted to do. She
93. 3:35showed up by herself and I said,
94. 3:38"Gotcha." Everybody says, "You sure were
95. 3:41lucky." Well, I don't feel very lucky. I
96. 3:43couldn't tie my damn shoes for about 2
97. 3:45months. It is very painful. It is still
98. 3:47painful. The scar is going to be there
99. 3:50forever. I'm going to remember that
100. 3:51night for the rest of my life whether I
101. 3:52want to or not. I don't think I was very
102. 3:54lucky. I think my kids were lucky. If I
103. 3:57had been shot the way they were, we all
104. 3:59would have died.
105. 4:00Anne Joerger says Diane never cries over
106. 4:03the death of her child in the interview.
107. 4:05But even more surprising, she's now
108. 4:07pregnant.
109. 4:08You can't replace children, but you can
110. 4:11replace the effect that they give you.
111. 4:12And they give me love. They give me
112. 4:14satisfaction. They give me stability.
113. 4:16They give me a reason to live and a
114. 4:17reason to be happy. And and that's gone.
115. 4:20They took it from me. But children are
116. 4:23so easy to conceive.
117. 4:25The father, a man she met on her mail
118. 4:27delivery route.
119. 4:29While Diane is busy talking herself into
120. 4:31the prime suspect chair, police are
121. 4:33quietly gathering evidence.
122. 4:37Then let's talk about the weapon, a 22
123. 4:39caliber handgun. She tells police she
124. 4:43does not have a handgun.
125. 4:45We discovered that she had bought a
126. 4:47pistol and it was a 22 and it was a
127. 4:49Ruger. Well, bingo.
128. 4:53The murder weapon is never found, but
129. 4:55they searched Diane DS's home and they
130. 4:58found a a rifle and there were some 22
131. 5:01shells in the rifle that had been
132. 5:04ejected from some other weapon.
133. 5:07The markings on those bullets matched
134. 5:10the markings on the shell casings found
135. 5:11at the crime scene.
136. 5:15[Music]
137. 5:17Police also find her diaries inside a
138. 5:20possible motive. When you read Diane D's
139. 5:23diary, you read, "Nick, nobody's ever
140. 5:27been able to take uh your place in my
141. 5:30heart. My kids aren't any trouble."
142. 5:32Nick was a former coworker Diane had
143. 5:35fallen in love with back in Arizona.
144. 5:37Nick liked kids, but he said, "I didn't
145. 5:40want to be a daddy."
146. 5:41Diane considered the kids to be
147. 5:44hindrance to Nick's arrival. if she
148. 5:47didn't have these kids in the way
149. 5:49anymore, she could have her lover that
150. 5:51she was having trouble living without.
151. 5:56Now the evidence is piling up. Police
152. 5:58arrest Diane 9 months after the
153. 6:00shooting.
154. 6:03She then heads to trial,
155. 6:05visibly pregnant.
156. 6:07What was a jury supposed to think? Who
157. 6:09wants to send a pregnant mom to jail for
158. 6:12life?
159. 6:13The key witness, her 9-year-old
160. 6:15daughter, Christy. The dramatic
161. 6:17courtroom scene recreated in this made
162. 6:19for TV ABC miniseries about the case.
163. 6:22Who shot you?
164. 6:28My mom.
165. 6:33The jury is unanimous.
166. 6:35The jury delivered its guilty verdicts
167. 6:37on all five counts of murder, attempted
168. 6:40murder, and assault.
169. 6:43Diane DS is sentenced to life plus 50
170. 6:46years in prison.
171. 6:47D showed no emotion.
172. 6:50I don't know what.
173. 6:53The story wouldn't end there. The
174. 6:55prosecutor adopts Diane's surviving
175. 6:57children, Danny and Christy, but there
176. 7:00was still the baby.
177. 7:0310 days after Diane's conviction, I
178. 7:06accompanied Diane to the hospital. About
179. 7:09the only thing that I thought was we've
180. 7:14saved this baby's life. She's got a
181. 7:16chance for a normal life. Afterwards,
182. 7:20case worker arrived and took the child
183. 7:23and that was the last that Diane saw
184. 7:26her.
185. 7:29The baby named Becky was adopted by a
186. 7:32loving family, but it would be years
187. 7:33before she found out where she came
188. 7:35from.
189. 7:38I never had questions about my
190. 7:40biological dad. It was mainly about my
191. 7:43biological mom.
192. 7:44When she's 11 years old, she finds out
193. 7:46the name of her biological mother and
194. 7:49that there's a book about her, Small
195. 7:51Sacrifices.
196. 7:53I opened it and looked at a picture of
197. 7:56Diane Down sitting at a table.
198. 8:00It was a face to what I had been looking
199. 8:03for and it wasn't a face that I wanted
200. 8:06to see. The cold look in her eyes scared
201. 8:11me
202. 8:12and it was scary. I slammed the book
203. 8:14shut.
204. 8:20But a few years later, she says a
205. 8:22boyfriend shows her that ABC miniseries
206. 8:24based on the book. After seeing that
207. 8:27movie, her life goes in a downward
208. 8:30spiral.
209. 8:32What did that mean for me? Is that who I
210. 8:34have to become?
211. 8:37I was afraid that I came from a monster.
212. 8:39I was afraid that I had that potential.
213. 8:42Becky becomes a mother herself at age 17
214. 8:45and then again at age 20. By then, she
215. 8:48says she realizes she cannot care for
216. 8:50this new baby and places him for
217. 8:52adoption.
218. 8:53There is a parallel there that history
219. 8:56is repeating itself.
220. 8:58Holding him
221. 9:00was heartbreaking because I knew that I
222. 9:03couldn't keep holding him. It just it
223. 9:05takes a piece of you and I wanted to
224. 9:09connect with somebody. It made me think
225. 9:11about Diane and I actually wanted to
226. 9:14reach out to her.
227. 9:16Becky decides to write to Diane in
228. 9:18prison. I wanted to relate to her, not
229. 9:21as a mother because I had a mother, just
230. 9:24as somebody that felt the pain and
231. 9:27emptiness that I felt in that time.
232. 9:29She says Diane writes her back almost
233. 9:31immediately.
234. 9:33You look like me. Same chin. Don't you
235. 9:35hate it? You're beautiful. First letter
236. 9:38seemed to possibly have that connection
237. 9:40I was looking for. I could almost hear
238. 9:42her voice in her letters. But as the two
239. 9:44continue corresponding, Becky says the
240. 9:47tone of Diane's letters changes.
241. 9:49They progressively got more and more
242. 9:53insane. She wrote back accusing me of
243. 9:56being one of the people trying to harm
244. 9:59her. And at that point, I completely
245. 10:02regretted everything, any contact with
246. 10:05her. And so I put a stop to it. The
247. 10:08pressure I felt of being Diane D's
248. 10:10daughter growing up switched into power.
249. 10:14After years of soulsearching, Becky
250. 10:16started sharing her story publicly,
251. 10:18taking control of her life. A proud
252. 10:20mother to her son, now a sophomore in
253. 10:23high school.
254. 10:24Did you have a good day?
255. 10:25I had a great day.
256. 10:26Okay. I compare where I was at that age
257. 10:29to where he is, and my heart overflows
258. 10:32with joy and pride. Over the years,
259. 10:36Becky has been in touch with her
260. 10:37halfsister Christy, who along with her
261. 10:39half-brother Dany have chosen to live
262. 10:41privately. Diane DS remains behind bars,
263. 10:45likely for life. She and some of her
264. 10:47family maintain her innocence.
265. 10:49I'm Becky Babcock. I'm not Diane D's
266. 10:52daughter. And my story is not the story
267. 10:55of a victim. It's just part of where I
268. 10:59came from.
269. 11:03Hi everyone, George Stephanopoulos here.
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