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Why Diane Downs Shot Her 3 Children | World's Most Evil Killers | Absolute Crime — Transcript

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0:01foreign
0:05County Courthouse Eugene Oregon May 8
0:091984 a U.S mail carrier and a mother of
0:13three stood accused of the merger of her
0:16daughter seven-year-old Cheryl and the
0:19attempted murder of her two other
0:21children eight-year-old Christy and
0:24three-year-old Danny her name Diane
0:27Downs
0:29Diane Downs was pure evil wrapped up in
0:33someone who had a smile to this day she
0:36has never admitted that she did the deed
0:39but when her daughter Christy testified
0:42the terrible truth was all too clear
0:45when the person asked her the question
0:48who shot you and your siblings she says
0:50my mum did it
0:52was a court case that shook America and
0:55all the wild Downs insisted she'd never
0:58harmed her family
1:00she violated that sacred Duty and
1:03attempted In Cold Blood to kill all
1:06three of her children the callous murder
1:08of her daughter and attempted murder of
1:11her two other children makes Diane Downs
1:14one of the world's most evil killers
1:19[Music]
1:25thank you
1:26[Music]
1:39Springfield Oregon May 1983 the small
1:44industrial town that lies next door to
1:46the City of Eugene was home to one of
1:49America's most reviled murderers Diane
1:52Downs
1:54the 27-year-old mother had driven her
1:57three children to a remote location just
2:00outside of town
2:03Diane Downs then pulled over to the side
2:06of the road and shot each of her three
2:09children
2:12seven-year-old Cheryl died her siblings
2:16Christy and Danny survived the ordeal
2:18but were left scarred
2:22this seemingly senseless attack stunned
2:25the nation
2:29what makes this case exceptional is that
2:31Diane Downs doesn't look like any other
2:34mother who kills their children
2:36most mothers who kill their children
2:38their children are babies they're under
2:40the age of 12 months these mothers are
2:42from pretty desperate circumstances but
2:45Diane Downs was something altogether
2:46different it's in.com and we're talking
2:49about what the president did in deciding
2:51not to go talk show host Lars Larson was
2:54a young investigative reporter assigned
2:57to The Sensational story in 1983. this
3:01case involving Diane Downs really had
3:04everything it had a mother it had
3:06children murder and sex and mystery and
3:10you had an American murder suspect who
3:13had tried to murder her three children
3:14and succeeded with one of them and
3:17horribly wounded the other two
3:25Downs was having a relationship with a
3:29married man a fellow colleague at the
3:32U.S post Office where she worked
3:37Diane Downs said she was in love with
3:39this man this was the man she wanted to
3:41be with she thought that by eliminating
3:43the children that that would be the last
3:45hurdle she would have to jump over to be
3:48able to be with this man forever
3:50Downs had decided that he was the most
3:54important person in her life bar none
3:58here we've got a mother who relentlessly
4:00pursued her own wants and desires and
4:02really didn't care about her children I
4:05suspect she's a classic example of a
4:07narcissistic killer the only thing she
4:10thinks about is herself her children
4:12exist in the world for her she doesn't
4:15exist in the world for her children and
4:18her life history suggests that is true
4:20this was a way to change her life this
4:22was a way to get a new boyfriend the
4:24boyfriend she wanted and that meant so
4:27much to her that it was more important
4:29to her than the life of her children
4:33this Killer's Story begins over 60 years
4:37ago
4:38Diane Downs was born on August the 7th
4:411955 in Phoenix Arizona
4:48you know there's little to indicate that
4:50there was anything especially abnormal
4:52about her family life
4:54her father was a poster worker and her
4:57mum was a stay-at-home mother her father
4:59was quite the disciplinary and he had
5:01some quite strict rules he would often
5:03give lectures to his children about how
5:05to behave but it was very much a
5:08stereotypical American nuclear family
5:12as a teenager Diane met Stephen Downs
5:16while in high school and they became a
5:18couple when she was 17 Diane enrolled in
5:22Bible College in Orange California but
5:26soon problems began to brew Diane had
5:29gone to Bible college but that hadn't
5:32lasted very long she was only there for
5:34two semesters and she was kicked out of
5:36college because of quote her promiscuous
5:39behavior and and that's the theme that
5:41we see throughout her life
5:44after her expulsion Diane returned to
5:47her parents home in Arizona and married
5:50Stephen Downs
5:52they got married when she was 18. now
5:55she was very quick to to want to start a
5:58family and they soon had their child
6:01their first daughter Christy was born in
6:04October 1974.
6:08just over a year later Diane had her
6:11second child a girl she named Cheryl
6:17had two children together and after this
6:20her husband decides that's it enough our
6:22family's complete and he goes and has a
6:25vasectomy but Anne is absolutely adamant
6:27she wants another child so she goes and
6:30has a short-term affair with another man
6:33and becomes pregnant with her son Danny
6:36foreign
6:39[Music]
6:41I suspect that she engaged in what I
6:44call instrumental sex and what I mean by
6:47this is for some women
6:49sex is a tool it's a weapon uh they want
6:53to get pregnant because they believe
6:54that that will create a relationship
7:00seem to really enjoy the pregnancy stage
7:03of motherhood but when the baby actually
7:06arrived she didn't quite like that so
7:08much there are lots of reports that she
7:10left the children alone she left them
7:12unattended when they got home from
7:14school they were waiting on the porch
7:16for hours at a time
7:18in 1980 Diane and her husband Stephen
7:22divorced soon after Downs was pregnant
7:26again that's because she'd volunteered
7:29to be a surrogate mother at the time in
7:32the United States there were
7:34approximately 100 surrogate mothers in
7:37the entire country those are the
7:39estimates at the time so being a
7:41surrogate mom put you in a very rarefied
7:44piece of air you were unique and she was
7:47actually interviewed for a national
7:49newspaper in the early 1980s and she
7:52very much seemed to enjoy that
7:54experience so she's got a taste of that
7:56Limelight and and she will use her her
7:59role as a woman her role as a mother as
8:01a way to get people to look at her
8:04in 1981 she was paid ten thousand
8:07dollars by a couple desperate to have a
8:10child nine months later Downs gave birth
8:13to a baby girl that she handed to the
8:16sponsoring couple that same year she got
8:20a job with the U.S Postal Service there
8:23she had an affair that would be the
8:25Catalyst of catastrophe
8:28he was a married man who she encountered
8:30they they were sexually involved
8:32surprise surprise this is what she does
8:34and he was fine with just having an
8:36affair
8:37but once Diane Downs wanted a real
8:40relationship with him he he was done
8:45now she's had quite a lot of short-term
8:47relationships with people in this
8:49workplace in in the post office and he
8:53believes that actually this is just
8:54going to be a bit of a fling because he
8:56knows what her reputation is but she
8:59becomes quite fixated on him she wants
9:01them to have a longer term relationship
9:05but instead he ended things
9:09he made it very clear to her he didn't
9:10want to raise her children and he didn't
9:12want to have children by her and I
9:14believe at the point which he says that
9:15to her is when she decided that if he
9:18won't have me with my children maybe
9:20he'll have me without them
9:24so the key thing is that he doesn't want
9:27to be the stepfather to her children so
9:30her children at this point in time they
9:32become a barrier to her getting what she
9:34wants
9:35by the end of 1981 Diane Downs have
9:39moved over 1200 miles north to
9:42Springfield Oregon
9:44now after she moves to Oregon she
9:47expects that he's just going to follow
9:48her and actually that doesn't happen
9:51he's not interested
9:53Diane Downs pursued the man she loved
9:56for nearly two years writing and even
9:59visiting him to plead for his affections
10:01to no avail the cold-hearted mother of
10:05three then came to an incredible
10:07conclusion in order to be with the man
10:11she loved she had to kill her children
10:16late in the afternoon of May the 19th
10:19Diane Downs took her three children
10:22eight-year-old Christy seven-year-old
10:25Cheryl and three-year-old Danny on a
10:28fateful Journey
10:29they were headed to a farm in the small
10:32rural town of Marcola just 12 miles away
10:35from their home in Springfield
10:40she's going kind of out of the way from
10:43from where she lived she's on the
10:44opposite side of town so she appears to
10:47be doing things that that aren't
10:48particularly rational
10:51the children had no idea that their
10:54mother had made a dreadful decision
10:57in order to run away with a man she was
11:00obsessed with Diane Downs had planned to
11:03kill her children that evening
11:07when we see a killer who says well I was
11:10going to kill my children and then I
11:11could be with this man forever we say
11:14well that's irrational that's crazy but
11:17to her I think it made perfect sense
11:20she's completely smashed any of our
11:22expectations about mothers so they
11:24should put their children first and that
11:26is something that she's never done
11:32Diane Downs drove her three children to
11:35a co-worker's house in Marcola
11:39and her children get to see the horses
11:41and pet the horses and she talks to this
11:43co-worker and they visit for a while
11:45the problem was the woman she was
11:48visiting had no idea Downs was coming
11:51this friend doesn't seem to be able to
11:53make sense of why Diane has suddenly
11:56turned up there
11:58the unusual trip was part of Diane
12:01downs's carefully designed murder plan
12:04the visit to see the horses would serve
12:08as an alibi
12:10she thought if I could just get rid of
12:12these three children then I could go
12:15with the love of my life but she had to
12:17do it so she conspired for a long time
12:19she arranged this phony visit to a
12:22friend's house that she never visited
12:24before she conspired to be driving home
12:27late on a lonely road a long way from
12:30any houses or any activity I believe
12:33that she was planning this for at least
12:35days could have been even weeks
12:39one thing that we need to understand
12:41about these crimes is that because she's
12:45driving down the street with a loaded
12:48gun which means
12:50before she stepped into that car
12:53she knew she was going to kill her
12:55children
12:58in keeping with her pernicious plan
13:01after leaving the farm Diane Downs
13:04packed the children in the car and drove
13:06to a carefully chosen site on old Mohawk
13:10Road
13:12she pulled over and got out of the car
13:16we are talking about a premeditated
13:18homicide this is something that the
13:20average person thinks of as
13:22inconceivable and impossible with the
13:24children not suspecting a thing she went
13:27to the trunk of the car she pulled out a
13:30Ruger 22 caliber semi-automatic pistol
13:33walk back to the driver's side with the
13:36gun in hand
13:38When the Children First see the gun they
13:42have to be in total disbelief it has to
13:45be inconsistent with all of their
13:46experiences
13:47then she knelt on the seat leaned
13:50forward towards her daughter
13:52seven-year-old Cheryl and from about six
13:55inches away fired
14:03on the case on the night of the attack
14:05was forensic expert Jim pecks one shot
14:09was in the back that exited about at the
14:12sternum
14:13and that was probably the bullet that
14:16was found in in the passenger side
14:18inside the vehicle
14:20as Cheryl tried to exit the car her
14:23mother lent out of the passenger side
14:25door and fired again
14:30there was a another shot in the lower
14:32torso here that stayed in her
14:38after the first bullet is fired
14:41the second and third bullets are fired
14:43within seconds
14:45when a gun is fired in a closed space
14:47like a car it is very loud I mean it is
14:51booming shocking on its own is stunning
14:54and for children more so
14:58decks down shot her three-year-old son
15:00in the back
15:03the boy was on the driver's side back
15:06seat uh had a single wound gunshot wound
15:09to the spine
15:10she then shot her daughter Christy in
15:13the chest twice as the girl raised her
15:17hand to defend herself a bullet ripped
15:20through the thumb of her left hand
15:24there was a bullet penetrating wound
15:26that went through her hand exited near
15:29the thumb and then into her chest in the
15:33back of the car Christy and Danny were
15:36clinging to life
15:38lying in the foot while in the front
15:40Cheryl was mortally wounded
15:43I suspect that Diane Downs chose to
15:45shoot her children because in placing
15:48distance mentally and physically between
15:51her and them it's a cold calculated
15:54decision you don't have to be staring
15:57into somebody's eyes to do it
16:02it was a clinical and cruel attack but
16:06Down's this evil plan was far from over
16:09while her children Lay Dying Diane Downs
16:13continued with her coldly conceived plan
16:15and covered her tracks not only did she
16:19know she was going to kill her children
16:20she knew that she was going to have to
16:22in order to make it look like somebody
16:23else did it she was gonna have to shoot
16:25herself
16:28so she shot herself in in the arm she
16:31knew she could probably get away with
16:32shooting through the fleshy part of her
16:34arm not do any permanent damage not
16:36break a bone not incapacitate herself
16:39and then she arranged to take a bandage
16:42that she'd already folded up and put in
16:43the trunk of her car it was a large
16:45piece of cloth to wind it around her arm
16:47because she had shot herself in her own
16:50left arm
16:51down Zen drove the six miles to the
16:55Mackenzie Willamette Hospital in
16:57Springfield
16:58gunshot wounds particularly multiple
17:01gunshot wounds the damage that can be
17:03done is tremendous if it's not destroyed
17:06something vital like the heart then
17:08you've got serious problems with ongoing
17:11bleeding and that can be rapidly fatal a
17:16number of minutes could do it
17:18if Downs are driven at top speed she
17:21might have got help for her children in
17:24about 10 minutes but that is not what
17:27she did
17:29realizing the children were still alive
17:33she drove very very slowly
17:37so slowly
17:38that she actually held up traffic and
17:41what's amazing to me and what makes us a
17:43special moment is here are her children
17:44they've been shot
17:46they're on the literal precipice of
17:49death
17:50and and she's traveling 10 miles an hour
17:52to make sure from her perspective that
17:54they don't get to the hospital on time
17:58we know this because of witnesses who
18:00pulled up behind her on the road
18:01couldn't figure out why is she going so
18:04slowly and because it was such a winding
18:06Lonely Road these people had to follow
18:09for a long period of time
18:11that represents a sordid departure from
18:15her obligations as a mother like I have
18:17never seen that was her last chance to
18:19save those children that was the last
18:22chance for her super ego for her moral
18:25self to step in and say
18:28I've got to stop
18:30and it didn't happen
18:31and and that that made it a truly
18:34horrible moment maybe more horrible than
18:36the shooting itself
18:38because at that point she proved herself
18:41Beyond Redemption
18:46Downs is peculiar driving continued to
18:50attract attention from other cars and
18:53their Curious passengers
18:55a family that happened to be on the same
18:57road
18:58had a child in the car I think he was
19:00eight or nine years old and earlier in
19:03the day they had seen a red automobile
19:06with Arizona plates which happened to be
19:09red he says to his mother are all the
19:12cars from Arizona red
19:15now it's a kind of comment a child would
19:17make but it would cement your mind so
19:19they knew that they were following a car
19:21they would later identify as dying
19:23Down's car who had a red Nissan car with
19:27red Arizona license plates on it
19:30Diane Downs pulled into the Springfield
19:33hospital about 30 minutes after she'd
19:36shot her children
19:38she finally gets to the hospital she
19:40spills out of the car says to the
19:42emergency room Personnel please save my
19:45children well one of them has already
19:47died the other two were just just barely
19:51saved
19:53Cheryl the middle daughter she was Dead
19:58on Arrival at hospital she had been shot
20:01and she had choked on her own blood she
20:03died in pain her daughter Christy has
20:07also been shot twice but she's alive
20:09Danny the son had been shot once and he
20:12was clinging on to life as well
20:15on arrival at hospital
20:17Christian not even able to speak so we
20:20may have a mixture of direct trauma
20:22there injury to the brain from the
20:24stroke and the shock the horror of
20:27what's happened to her and she
20:29ultimately suffers a stroke
20:31most likely it's a result of blood loss
20:33so in her case it wasn't lethal but it
20:37was totally life-changing Danny has been
20:40shocked and he is paralyzed because of
20:44the damage to his spinal cord
20:46only one member of the family had a
20:49bandage on their wounds
20:52she's got these these three one fatally
20:55injured child in the car and she she
20:58goes into the hospital and she is the
21:01only one that appears to have a dressing
21:03she's the only one who who appears to
21:05have an injury that's been treated so
21:07that suggests to me that actually she's
21:10put herself first again she's made sure
21:12that she's okay she's nursed her own
21:14injury whilst her children were in the
21:16car dying
21:18every action downs talk in the wake of
21:21the attempted murder of her three
21:23children was part of a perverse plot one
21:27that painted herself and her family as
21:29the victims of a random attack
21:33I think the fact in the case that is the
21:36most extraordinary is that after she
21:38mustered up whatever courage it took to
21:40shoot three of her children
21:42um she had to create the impression that
21:46somehow she was a victim she wasn't a
21:48victim in this case she was a coldly
21:50calculating mother who had decided to
21:53eliminate her children as the roadblock
21:55between her and her life with this man
21:59Downs had concocted an incredible story
22:01about a bushy-haired stranger a
22:04mysterious carjacker who shot her
22:06children Downs claimed she managed to
22:09trick the murderous man and drove hell
22:11for leather all the way to the hospital
22:13in order to save her fatally wounded
22:16children but as the investigation would
22:19soon prove Down's story was part of a
22:22desperate and devious scheme she'd
22:25formulated to get away with murder
22:30the Mackenzie willemette Medical Center
22:33May the 19th 1983 Springfield Oregon
22:38so in the hospital she starts to put
22:40aside her version of events she says
22:42that the car was flagged down by a
22:44bushy-haired stranger
22:46she said had been attacked on a lonely
22:48road late at night and she was on her
22:50way driving home and she sees a man her
22:53story and decides to stop he's signaling
22:56for health according to Downes when she
23:00got out of the car the bushy-haired man
23:02shot her in the arm and then he shot her
23:05three children
23:08what didn't make sense is that he would
23:10shoot her in the arm here not in the
23:13head not in the chest but shoot her in
23:15the arm and then shoot her three
23:17children inside the car blood everywhere
23:20and then she claimed that she had her
23:23keys for her car on a ring kind of like
23:27the ring that I have and she said she
23:29pretended to throw it the way you can
23:31say pretend to throw a ball for your dog
23:35while he's distracted she jumps in the
23:38car she says pulls her door shut and
23:41manages to drive off she says at high
23:43speed I believe she said I drove like a
23:46mad woman The Sensational story that
23:49Diane Downs told about the events
23:51baffled everyone
23:56the story that didn't make sense at all
23:58was that Diane Downs would stop her car
24:02open her door and get out of the car for
24:05this man who she didn't know
24:09but it was not just the odd tale that
24:11was troubling
24:13downs's extraordinary Behavior at the
24:15hospital also alarmed observers but
24:19according to the doctor in charge at the
24:22hospital she was calm she was quite
24:24self-assured she appeared to be in
24:25control of her behavior she was
24:28occasionally laughing she was
24:29occasionally giggling
24:32staff at the hospital described her
24:35reaction as surprising
24:41Danny sustained a shot to the spine and
24:44when his mother was told about this she
24:46seemed to be quite surprised oh so it
24:48didn't hit him in the heart suggesting
24:51that perhaps that was her intention when
24:53she shot him
24:55again when she was told of Christie's
24:57injuries she showed little compassion
25:00for her injured child
25:02Diane told the doctors that if if her
25:05daughter was going to have you know any
25:07kind of brain damage to let her die this
25:09is very unusual as an as an immediate
25:12response
25:15but it was her daughter Christy's
25:17reaction to her own mother that set
25:20alarm bells ringing Diane comes into the
25:23room where Christy is in the hospital
25:25and she leans over the bed and starts
25:29saying to Christy I love you and from
25:32the people in the room they say that
25:33Christy looked absolutely terrified they
25:35noticed that her heart rate had gone
25:37through the roof when Diane came into
25:39the room so this is a little girl who is
25:42very frightened she's afraid of her
25:44mother and and this is a really clear
25:46indication of that she's scared that her
25:49mother is going to try and harm her
25:50again for one of the children to wake up
25:55with the memory that her mother shot her
25:57is it's just Indescribable it it it it
26:01the universe becomes
26:04unstable and untrustworthy
26:07this the Sky Has Fallen
26:10her attitude and demeanor in the
26:13hospital was very unusual uh for for the
26:17kind of incident that occurred uh to her
26:19own children and so that was probably
26:22one of the first indications by the
26:25deputy who was there that this this
26:27doesn't look right
26:28as they did not believe downs's version
26:32of the events investigates as quickly
26:34identified her as the prime suspect in
26:38the aftermath of this attack the
26:40decision is made to to remove the
26:43children from Diane's care to to put
26:45them into to foster care they became
26:46Wards of the state so Diane at this
26:49point has lost her children
26:53the police did not immediately arrest
26:55Downs instead they meticulously gathered
26:58evidence in the case
27:00state trooper and forensic expert Jim
27:04pecks was called The Night of the
27:06incident I received a call from the
27:09sheriff's office that there had been a
27:11shooting that involved a woman and her
27:13children
27:14and that there was a need to process a
27:17vehicle
27:18Jim pecks closely examined the entire
27:21car that night and in daylight the whole
27:25of the next day when he looked at the
27:27passenger side door and the areas
27:30underneath the car he made a series of
27:33discoveries that would break the case
27:35wide open I spotted A bloodstain in the
27:38door jamb of the passenger door
27:40and the direction was wrong and it came
27:43from the outside
27:44[Music]
27:46according to Diane Downs the
27:49bushy-haired man was standing outside
27:51the vehicle on the driver's side of the
27:54car but Jim pecks had found that the
27:57murdered girl's blood had spattered back
27:59onto the door jamb on the passenger side
28:02of the car the opposite side to where
28:04the bushy-haired man had supposedly
28:07attacked
28:08you can see that there is a small blood
28:11stain here so the door was open at the
28:14time that this blood stain was created
28:15outside the vehicle
28:18the blood spatter meant to victim in
28:21this case seven-year-old Cheryl was shot
28:23at least once when she was outside the
28:26car on the passenger side of the vehicle
28:29[Music]
28:30strings are used to show the position of
28:33the origin of these blood stains and
28:35from when they travel through the air
28:37and struck the side of the vehicle
28:39crucially Jim pecks also found some tiny
28:43droplets of blood under the car as well
28:45on the rocker panel on the passenger
28:48side
28:50this particular slide shows the rocker
28:52panel that's underneath you can see on
28:54here on this lower portion here there
28:56are a number of very small blood stains
28:58these are probably one to two
29:00millimeters in size
29:02this discovery LED Jim to an irrefutable
29:06conclusion
29:10when I found the blood spatter outside
29:12the vehicle that was a you know
29:15something is amiss in this story because
29:18that's a long ways away to shoot someone
29:20who is very close to the rocker panel I
29:23knew from the size of the droplets that
29:25it was created by someone who's coughing
29:27blood or a contact near contact shot the
29:30muzzle would have to be close if they'll
29:32get droplets that were that small
29:34then you have to stop back and think
29:36when the individual The bushy-haired
29:38Stranger allegedly is standing outside
29:40the driver's door
29:42let's take some pretty long arms to get
29:43clear over there and outside the
29:45passenger door
29:46what Jim pecks did not find further
29:49confirmed their suspicions
29:51there were no blood spatters on the
29:54driver's side of the car at all if the
29:56bushy-haired man had attacked his dance
29:59and said Jim would have expected to find
30:01Blood spatters on the driver's side of
30:04the car but there were none
30:08so the again it arouses our suspicions
30:10in law enforcement that something is
30:12amiss here if someone's not telling the
30:14truth
30:17it's a Jim Pax and his fellow detectives
30:20that whoever shot seven-year-old Cheryl
30:22could not have been standing outside the
30:25car on the driver's side the dividends
30:29also showed that the shooter fired the
30:31gun within inches of the victim's body
30:34and that was significant in her case
30:37because one of the children had tried to
30:40open the car door to escape either
30:43because Diane Downs was shooting the two
30:45kids in the back or because she had
30:47already been shot and fell out of the
30:49car and she was shot again
30:51thank you
30:55more evidence uncovered in the car
30:58showed how Christy and Danny had been
31:01shot and where those shots came from
31:05in looking at the at the clothing that
31:07all of the children had on I was able to
31:09do specific tests to determine how far
31:12away the end of the muzzle was from each
31:16of them
31:17at the time that the shot was fired you
31:19can tell both from Powder Burns because
31:22when the bullet is fired there's a
31:24certain amount of of powder that comes
31:26out and it's still burning if a gun is
31:29fired at very close range to either
31:31clothing or to skin it will cause
31:33burning around that that you will not
31:36see if somebody is shot from a greater
31:38distance
31:41concluded the two children in the back
31:43seat had been shot by someone who'd
31:46fired from inside the car and from Point
31:49Blank Range
31:51detectives now had proof that Diane
31:54Downs his story about a mysterious
31:57bushy-haired stranger was a lie whoever
32:00shot the children must have been inside
32:03the car when they fired the Fatal shots
32:08the physical evidence the blood splatter
32:10evidence did not conform to the way she
32:13described the crime so it became pretty
32:15apparent pretty quickly that she was the
32:18perpetrator
32:20meanwhile Diane Downs was left free to
32:23talk to the press and protest her
32:26innocence
32:28was decided to go ahead and continue to
32:30let her talk
32:31because we knew there was a relationship
32:34to her
32:35with this shooting
32:37and so
32:38she she continued to
32:41harangue law enforcement and imply that
32:44we're looking at her and that we weren't
32:47looking for The bushy-haired Stranger
32:49yeah she was right we weren't
32:53bouncers now the only suspect in the
32:56murder of her daughter Cheryl and the
32:58attempted murder of her other two
33:00children Christy and Danny
33:04all three had been shot at night in the
33:07family car on a lonely country road
33:10after a day out when forensic expert Jim
33:14pecks found spent bullet cases inside
33:17the car he determined that all the
33:19victims had been shot with a 22-caliber
33:23semi-automatic weapon so they issued a
33:26warrant and searched Diane downs's house
33:29in Springfield
33:31the police are quite surprised at what
33:33they find this does not look like a
33:35family home this looks like the home of
33:37a rather narcissistic single woman so
33:40there are three pictures on top of the
33:42television stand of Diane also one of
33:45the things that the police find is a a
33:47unicorn which appears to be a kind of
33:50Memorial to the children it has their
33:53names on it and a date on it but
33:55surprisingly this wasn't something that
33:57Diane came to acquire after the attack
34:00it's something that was already there
34:02before so she's memorializing her
34:05children even before they're dead
34:12the question becomes how can a mother
34:15maim two of her children and kill
34:17another child and live with herself and
34:20the answer is she can live with herself
34:22only if the only thing in her Universe
34:25was her narcissism and herself her
34:28children don't exist they from her
34:31perspective was an obstruction between
34:33her and her new love
34:36beyond that they were nothing
34:38when the detectives found downs's diary
34:41her motivation for attempting to murder
34:44her three children was eerily clear in
34:48that diary she talks an awful lot about
34:50the co-worker that she's become
34:52incredibly fixated on and it becomes
34:54quite clear to police that this
34:56relationship with him is the reason that
34:58she's tried to kill her children was
35:00because they were the barrier they were
35:02the obstacle that was standing in the
35:03way of her relationship with him
35:06during the search the police also found
35:09a 22 caliber rifle and their hopes were
35:13peaked though is certainly suspicious
35:15it's a 22 rifle so you know is this
35:18potentially the murder weapon we took
35:19the rifle back to the crime laboratory I
35:22test fired the rifle and compared the
35:25the tool marks created by the rifle to
35:29the cartridge casings that were found at
35:32the scene they were different
35:34so the rifle was not used in the
35:37commission of this crime
35:38but the unspent bullets found in the
35:41magazine cartridge did provide a vital
35:44clue that would help solve the case even
35:48though the marks on the cartridges from
35:51the rifle didn't match test fires that I
35:55performed with the rifle they had the
35:57same extractor marks on them
35:59as the casings that I retrieved from the
36:03vehicle
36:06the extractor marks are made on the soft
36:09shell casing when a bullet is ejected
36:12from the barrel of a gun the way the gun
36:14gets rid of that bullet is a thing
36:16called an ejector as that gun Cycles
36:19pulls the shell back and then kicks it
36:21out of a port and and it's gone and then
36:25Chambers another round let's say you
36:27have a pistol that's already loaded and
36:29you decide I want to unload the gun you
36:32would then release the magazine that's
36:34all the other bullets and then pointing
36:36it in a safe Direction you pull the
36:38slide and when you pull it back it will
36:41take the unfired bullet so bullet and
36:43shell and kick it out of the gun
36:47she had apparently done this had cycled
36:50some rounds of ammunition through the
36:52gun and they had ejector marks on them
36:54even within the same brand make model
36:57and year of a gun those ejector marks
37:00are somewhat unique even if you had two
37:03identical Ruger pistols the ejector
37:05marks will be slightly different their
37:07imperfections in manufacturing of the
37:09gun they'll be small differences but
37:12there will be differences
37:14Jim Peck's place two 22 caliber bullets
37:18side by side under a comparison
37:20microscope one ejected by danza's rifle
37:24and the other one that was found inside
37:27the crime scene car
37:29what you have is a Split Image down the
37:31middle
37:32and what we're looking at are extractor
37:34marks
37:35and as you can see by the fine
37:38striations here these extractor marks
37:41were both made by the same extractor
37:44which means there is a relationship
37:46between the cartridge casings from the
37:48crime scene
37:49and the cartridges from her apartment
37:55then we knew that this is a breakthrough
37:58moment where there is a relationship to
38:01the fired casings that hit the children
38:03to the cartridges that were inside the
38:07tubular magazine of the rifle
38:10at King's sales records police knew that
38:13Diane Downs had owned a Ruger 22 caliber
38:17semi-automatic pistol after test firing
38:20won exhaustively Jim pecks found similar
38:24extractor marks on the bullet casings he
38:27concluded that the Ruger 22 caliber
38:30pistol was the murder weapon but it was
38:33never found
38:34while Diane Downs managed to dispose of
38:37the gun but at home she had a rifle that
38:39also shot 22 caliber rounds and when the
38:42police processed this evidence they
38:44found that they were the same
38:45manufacturer as the bullets that were
38:48used to shoot her children
38:50they had ejector marks on them some of
38:52them that were the same as the ejector
38:55marks from the Epistles
38:57the bullet casings in their Telltale
39:00extractor marks were enough to convict
39:02Diane Downs for the murder and attempted
39:05murder of her three children on February
39:08the 28 1984 nine months after the crime
39:12she was brought into custody when the
39:16arrest finally went down I think the
39:18whole town breathed the sigh of relief
39:20she appeared at the Lane County
39:22Courthouse for her arraignment after the
39:25charges were read Diane down sprung a
39:28major surprise
39:30her attorney stands up and after he's
39:33finished all the legal arguments says
39:35and besides your honor my client is
39:38pregnant and it would be bad for her
39:40health
39:41to go to jail
39:43I was sitting in that corner seat you
39:46could hear the entire room take a big
39:50deep breath
39:52it was stunning just absolutely stunning
39:55according to rumors the father was a
39:59local reporter
40:00there was one reporter that had sex with
40:03her and I can tell you this it wasn't me
40:05and she became pregnant from that but
40:08she loved the attention that she got
40:12by the time the trial began on May the
40:158th 1984 Downs was eight months pregnant
40:18obviously she was pregnant at the time
40:21of the trial and this was something that
40:23I think she thought would help her
40:24Garner quite a bit of sympathy
40:27her Antics however were not enough to
40:30fool the jury a mountain of evidence
40:33went a long way to convincing them of
40:35Diane downs's culpability in the crime
40:39then her surviving daughter Christy took
40:42to the stand
40:44this little girl had to have been under
40:48so much strain and stress her mother's
40:51tried to kill her she's living with a
40:53new family
40:54her sister is dead her brothers in a
40:57wheelchair for the rest of his life and
41:00now she has to sit in front of a room
41:02full of strangers
41:03talk about the most difficult night of
41:06her life
41:07[Music]
41:10when the the person asks her the
41:12question who shot you and your siblings
41:14she says my mum did it
41:18this was one of those moments in court
41:21where everything is dead still nobody
41:24dares breathe
41:26Christy laid out how her mother first
41:29shot Cheryl then turned and shot Danny
41:32in the back then shot her twice in the
41:35chest the testimony just tore your heart
41:39apart
41:39this wasn't the critical piece of
41:43information there was lots of physical
41:44evidence of what Diane Downs had done
41:47but I think this was essential in making
41:50sure that Diane Downs was convicted of
41:52the crime she committed
41:54on June the 17th 1984 the jury found
41:58Diane Downs guilty of the murder of her
42:01seven-year-old daughter Cheryl and the
42:04attempted murder of her daughter Christy
42:06and son Danny
42:08she was sentenced to life in prison plus
42:1150 years
42:12[Music]
42:14ten days after she was found guilty
42:17Diane gave birth to a baby girl the
42:20child was immediately given up for
42:22adoption
42:24at the same time the prosecutor in the
42:26case Fred huge adopted the two children
42:29who survived their mother's attack
42:34after the trial was over Fred adopted
42:36the two children
42:38and he did a wonderful job of raising
42:40those two kids
42:42so I admire him for that
42:44that was a lifetime commitment to be the
42:48father and his wife the mother to these
42:50children that they really deserved and
42:53that Diane Downs denied to them
42:55[Music]
43:02in prison Diane Downs managed another
43:05surprise
43:07on July the 11th 1987 three years after
43:11her incarceration she escaped she got
43:16out of the prison easy as pie climbed
43:18the fence she was loose for more than a
43:21week and she was only about 10 blocks
43:24away she was staying with some men later
43:28one of the men
43:29said he thought she was trying to get
43:31pregnant
43:33Diane Downs the mother who tried to kill
43:35her three children was returned to
43:38prison where to this day she protests
43:41her innocence
43:43I can tell you that for all the stories
43:45I've covered Diane down stands out
43:47because this woman was pure evil she did
43:51something that's unheard of she violated
43:54that sacred Duty and attempted In Cold
43:58Blood to kill all three of her children
44:01for no other reason
44:04than to increase her chances at having a
44:07particular boyfriend
44:08I don't think there is anything worse
44:10than than this kind of betrayal by your
44:13own mother your mother is the the one
44:15that should nurture you should protect
44:17you the cold-hearted murder of her
44:20daughter Cheryl and the attempted murder
44:23of her two other young children Christy
44:26and Danny makes Diane Downs one of the
44:30world's most evil killers
44:35[Music]
44:41foreign
44:44[Music]
44:49foreign

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