Diane Downs (Elizabeth Diane Frederickson Downs) is a convicted murderer responsible for shooting her three children.
Childhood Years
In 1983, the country's attention was captured by the story of Diane Downs, a woman who shot her three children at point-blank range and then got pregnant again before going on trial. Now, the daughter she gave up for adoption comes forward. By accounts of friends, acquaintances, neighbors, and eventually by the surviving daughter Christie, Diane Downs was an unfit parent who put everything before her children and was especially cruel to Cheryl, who told a neighbor of her grandparents.
Diane Downs was born on August 7, 1955, in Phoenix, Arizona. She was the oldest of four children. Her parents Wes and Willadene moved the family to different towns until Wes got a stable job with the U.S. Postal service when Diane was around 11 years old.
The Fredericksons had conservative values, and until the age 14, Diane seemed to follow her parent's rules. Entering into her teen years a more defiant Diane emerged as she struggled to fit into the 'in' crowd at school, much of which meant going against the wishes of her parents.
At the age of 14, Diane dropped her formal name, Elizabeth, for her middle name Diane. She got rid of her childish hairstyle opting instead for a trendy, shorter, bleached blond style. She began wearing clothing that was more stylish and that showed off her maturing figure. She also began a relationship with Steven Downs, a 16-year-old boy who lived across the street. Her parents did not approve of Steven or of the relationship, but that did little to sway Diane and by the time she was 16 their relationship had become sexual.
Marriage
After high school, Steven joined the Navy and Diane attended Pacific Coast Baptist Bible College. The couple promised to remain faithful to each other, but Diane apparently failed at that and after one year at school she was expelled for promiscuity.
Their long distant relationship seemed to survive, and in November 1973, with Steven now home from the Navy, the two decided to marry. The marriage was tumultuous from the start. Fighting about money problems and accusations of infidelities often resulted in spurts of Diane leaving Steven to go to her parents' home. In 1974, despite the problems in their marriage, the Downs had their first child, Christie.
Six months later Diane joined the Navy but returned home after three weeks of basic training because of severe blisters. Diane later said her real reason for getting out of the Navy was because Steven was neglecting Christie. Having a child did not seem to help the marriage, but Diane enjoyed being pregnant and in 1975 their second child, Cheryl Lynn was born.
Raising two children was enough for Steven and he had a vasectomy. This did not stop Diane from getting pregnant again, but this time she decided to have an abortion. She named the aborted child Carrie.
In 1978 the Downs moved to Mesa, Arizona where they both found jobs at a mobile home manufacturing company. There, Diane began having affairs with some of her male coworkers and she became pregnant. In December 1979, Stephen Daniel 'Danny' Downs was born and Steven accepted the child even though he knew he was not his father.
The marriage lasted about a year more until 1980 when Steven and Diane decided to divorce.
Affairs
Diane spent the next few years moving in and out with different men, having affairs with married men and at times trying to reconcile with Steven.
To help support herself she decided to become a surrogate mother but failed two psychiatric exams required for the applicants. One of the tests showed that Diane was very intelligent, but also psychotic -- a fact that she found funny and would brag to friends about.
In 1981 Diane got a full-time job as a postal carrier for the U.S. Post Office. The children often stayed with Diane's parents, Steven or with Danny's father. When the children did stay with Diane, neighbors voiced concerns about their care. The children were often seen poorly dressed for the weather and at times hungry, asking for food. If Diane was unable to find a sitter she would still go to work, leaving six-year-old Christie in charge of the children.
In the latter part of 1981, Diane was finally accepted into a surrogate program to which she was paid $10,000 after successfully carrying a child to term. After the experience, she decided to open her own surrogate clinic, but the venture quickly failed.
![Christie Ann Downs Christie Ann Downs](http://smartpacing.com/images/pacerPhotos/Danny_Miller.png)
It was during this time that Diane met coworker Robert 'Nick' Knickerbocker, the man of her dreams. Their relationship was all consuming and Diane wanted Knickerbocker to leave his wife. Feeling suffocated by her demands and still in love with his wife, Nick ended the relationship.
Devastated, Diane moved back to Oregon but had not fully accepted that the relationship with Nick was over. She continued to write to him and had one final visit in April 1983 at which time Nick completely rejected her, telling her the relationship was over and that he had no interest in 'being a daddy' to her children.
The Crime
On May 19, 1983, at around 10 p.m., Diane pulled over on the side of a quiet road near Springfield, Oregon and shot her three children multiple times. She then shot herself in the arm and drove slowly to the McKenzie-Willamette Hospital. The hospital staff found Cheryl dead and Danny and Christie barely alive.
Diane told the doctors and the police that the children were shot by a bushy-haired man who flagged her down on the road then tried to hijack her car. When she refused, the man began shooting her children.
Detectives found Diane's story suspicious and her reactions to police questioning and to hearing the conditions of her two children inappropriate and odd. She voiced surprise that a bullet had hit Danny's spine and not his heart. She seemed more concerned about getting in touch with Knickerbocker, rather than informing the children's father or asking about their conditions. And Diane talked a lot, too much, for someone who had suffered such a traumatic event.
The Investigation
Diane's story of the events of that tragic night failed to hold up under forensic investigation. The blood splatters in the car did not match her version of what occurred and gunpowder residue was not found where it should have been found.
Diane's arm, although broken when shot, was superficial compared to that of her children. It was also discovered that she failed to admit to owning a .22 caliber handgun, which was the same type used at the crime scene.
Diane's diary found during a police search helped to piece together the motive she would have for shooting her children. In her diary, she wrote obsessively about the love of her life, Robert Knickerbocker, and of particular interest was the parts about him not wanting to raise children.
There was also a unicorn found which Diane had purchased just days before the children were shot. Each of the children's names had been inscribed on it, almost as if it was a shrine to their memory.
A man came forward who said he had to pass Diane on the road on the night of the shooting because she was driving so slowly. This conflicted with Diane's story to police in which she said she sped in terror to the hospital.
But the most telling evidence was that of her surviving daughter Christie, who for months was unable to speak due to a stroke she suffered from the attack. During the times that Diane would visit her, Christie would show signs of fear and her vital signs would spike. When she was able to speak she eventually told prosecutors that there was no stranger and that it was her mother that did the shooting.
The Arrest
Just prior to her arrest Diane, likely feeling that the investigation was closing in on her, met with the detectives to tell them something she had left out of her original story. She told them that the shooter was someone she may have known because he called her by her name. Had the police bought her admission, it would have meant several more months of investigation. They did not believe her and instead suggested that she did it because her lover did not want children.
On February 28, 1984, after nine months of intensive investigation, Diane Downs, now pregnant, was arrested and charged with murder, attempted murder, and criminal assault of her three children.
Diane and the Media
During the months before Diane went to trial, she spent a lot of time being interviewed by reporters. Her goal, most likely, was to strengthen the general public's sympathy for her, but it seemed to have a reverse reaction because of her inappropriate responses to reporters' questions. Instead of appearing as a mother destroyed by the tragic events, she appeared narcissistic, calloused and strange.
The Trial
The trial began on May 10, 1984, and would last six weeks. Prosecutor Fred Hugi laid out the state's case which showed motive, forensic evidence, witnesses which contradicted Diane's story to police and finally an eyewitness, her own daughter Christie Downs who testified that it was Diane who was the shooter.
On the defense side, Diane's lawyer Jim Jagger admitted that his client was obsessed with Nick, but pointed to a childhood littered with an incestuous relationship with her father as reasons for her promiscuity and inappropriate behavior after the incident.
The jury found Diane Downs guilty on all charges on June 17, 1984. She was sentenced to life in prison plus fifty years.
Aftermath
In 1986 prosecutor Fred Hugi and his wife adopted Christie and Danny Downs. Diane gave birth to her fourth child, who she named Amy in July 1984. The baby was removed from Diane and was later adopted and given her new name, Rebecca 'Becky' Babcock. In later years, Rebecca Babcock was interviewed on 'The Oprah Winfrey Show' on October 22, 2010, and ABC's '20/20' on July 1, 2011. She spoke of her troubled life and of the short time that she communicated with Diane. She has since changed her life around and with help has determined that the apple can fall far from the tree.
Diane Downs' father denied that the accusations of incest and Diane later recanted that part of her story. Her father, to this day, believes in his daughter's innocence. He operates a webpage on which he is offering $100,000 to anyone who can offer information that will completely exonerate Diane Downs and free her from prison.
Escape
On July 11, 1987, Diane managed to escape from the Oregon Women's Correctional Center and was recaptured in Salem, Oregon ten days later. She received an additional five-year sentence for the escape.
Parole
Diane was first eligible for parole in 2008 and during that hearing, she continued to say she was innocent. 'Over the years, I have told you and the rest of the world that a man shot me and my children. I have never changed my story.' Yet throughout the years her story has changed continuously from the assailant being one man to two men. At one point she said the shooters were drug dealers and later they were corrupt policemen involved in drug distribution. She was denied parole.
In December 2010 she received a second parole hearing and again refused to take responsibility for the shooting. She was again denied and under a new Oregon law, she will not face a parole board again until 2020.
Diane Downs is currently incarcerated at the Valley State Prison for Women in Chowchilla, California.
Diane Downs in 1984 | |
Born | August 7, 1955 (age 63) Phoenix, Arizona, U.S. |
---|---|
Occupation | Postal worker |
Criminal status | Incarcerated; earliest possible release 2020 |
Spouse(s) | |
Children | Christie Ann Hugi (b. 1974) Cheryl Lynn Downs (1976-1983) Stephen Daniel Hugi (b. 1979) Jennifer (surrogate pregnancy; b. 1982) Rebecca Babcock (born Amy Elizabeth; 1984) |
Conviction(s) | June 17, 1984; 35 years ago |
Criminal charge | • Murder • Attempted murder • Assault |
Penalty | Life plus 50 years |
Details | |
State(s) | Oregon |
Elizabeth Diane Frederickson Downs (born August 7, 1955) is an American criminal who murdered her daughter, and attempted to murder her other two children, in May 1983.[1] Following the crimes, she told police a man had attempted to carjack her and had shot the children. She was convicted in 1984 and sentenced to life in prison plus fifty years.
Downs briefly escaped in 1987 and was recaptured. She is the subject of a book by Ann Rule and a made-for-TV movie based upon it, both called Small Sacrifices. She was denied parole in December 2008 and again in December 2010.[2][3]
- 2Shootings
Early life[edit]
Diane Downs was born in Phoenix, Arizona, on August 7, 1955, to Danish and English American parents Wesley Linden (1930-2017) and Willadene (Engle) Frederickson.[4] She has testified that her father abused her when she was 12 years old. Diane graduated from Moon Valley High School in Phoenix where she met her husband, Steve Downs.[4] After high school, she enrolled at Pacific Coast Baptist Bible College in Orange, California, but was expelled after only one year for promiscuous behavior and soon returned to her parents' home in Arizona.[4]
On November 13, 1973, Diane married Steve Downs after running away from home.[4] Their first child, Christie Ann, was born in 1974; Cheryl Lynn followed in 1976, with Stephen Daniel being born in 1979. The couple divorced in 1980 because Steve thought Stephen Daniel, known as Danny, was the result of an affair Diane had.[5] On May 8, 1982, Downs gave birth to a daughter through surrogacy. She named the child Jennifer before turning her over to her intended parents.[6] Prior to her arrest, Downs was employed by the United States Postal Service, assigned to the mail routes in the city of Cottage Grove, Oregon. Her daughter Cheryl reportedly told a neighbor of her grandparents that she was afraid of her mother shortly before her death.[7]
Shootings[edit]
On May 19, 1983, Downs shot her three children and drove them in a blood spattered car to McKenzie-Willamette Hospital. Upon arrival, Cheryl (aged 7) was already dead, Danny (aged 3) was paralyzed from the waist down, and Christie (aged 8) had suffered a disabling stroke.[8] Downs herself had been shot in the left forearm. She claimed she was carjacked on a rural road near Springfield, Oregon, by a strange man who shot her and the children. However, investigators and hospital workers became suspicious because they decided her manner was too calm for a person who had experienced such a traumatic event. She also made a number of statements that both police and hospital workers considered highly inappropriate.
Suspicions heightened when Downs, upon arrival at the hospital to visit her children, phoned Robert Knickerbocker, a married man and former coworker in Arizona with whom she had been having an extramarital affair.[9] The forensic evidence did not match her story; there was no blood spatter on the driver's side of the car, nor was there any gunpowder residue on the driver's door or on the interior door panel. Knickerbocker also reported to police that Downs had stalked him and seemed willing to kill his wife if it meant that she could have him to herself; he stated that he was relieved that she had left for Oregon and that he was able to reconcile with his wife.[10]
Downs did not disclose to police she owned a .22 caliberhandgun, but both Steve Downs and Knickerbocker informed them that she did. Investigators later discovered Downs bought the handgun in Arizona; and, although they were unable to find the actual weapon, they found unfired casings in her home with extractor markings from the same gun that shot her children. Most damaging, witnesses saw her car being driven very slowly toward the hospital at an estimated speed of five to seven mph, contradicting her claim that she drove to the hospital at a high speed after the shooting. Based on this and additional evidence, Downs was arrested on February 28, 1984, nine months after the shooting, and charged with one count of murder and two counts each of attempted murder and criminal assault.[11]
Prosecution[edit]
Prosecutors argued that Downs shot her children to be free of them so she could continue her affair with Knickerbocker, as she claimed that he let it be known that he did not want children in his life. Much of the case against her rested on the testimony of her surviving daughter, Christie, who, once she recovered her ability to speak, described how her mother shot all three children while parked at the side of the road and then shot herself in the arm. Christie was eight years old at the time of the murder and nine years old at the time of the trial.
Downs was convicted on all charges on June 17, 1984, and sentenced to life in prison plus fifty years. She would have to serve twenty-five years before being considered for parole. Psychiatrists diagnosed her with narcissistic, histrionic and antisocialpersonality disorders.[12] Most of her sentence is to be served consecutively. The judge made it clear that he did not intend for Downs to ever be free again.[13]
Aftermath[edit]
Downs' two surviving children eventually went to live with the lead prosecutor on the case, Fred Hugi. He and his wife Joanne adopted them in 1986.[13]
Prior to her arrest, Downs became pregnant with a fourth child and gave birth to a girl, whom she named Amy Elizabeth, a month after her 1984 trial. Ten days before Downs' sentencing, Amy was seized by the State of Oregon and adopted by Chris and Jackie Babcock, who named her Rebecca. As an adult, Rebecca appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show[14] and ABC's 20/20[15] discussing how she feels about her biological mother. She wrote to Downs in her younger years and has stated that she regrets it, regarding her mother as a monster.[16]
Downs was incarcerated at the Oregon Women's Correctional Center in Salem. She escaped on July 11, 1987, and was recaptured just a few blocks from the prison on July 21.[1] She received an additional five-year sentence for the escape. After her recapture, Downs was transferred to the New Jersey Department of CorrectionsClinton Correctional Facility for Women at Hugi's request.[17] The Salem prison was located sixty-six miles from Hugi's home in Springfield; during Downs' ten days of freedom, Hugi feared that she would attempt to travel there. Despite significant security upgrades at the women's facility after the escape, state officials accepted Hugi's argument that the risk of harm to Christie and Danny in the event of another escape remained too great for Downs to remain incarcerated in Oregon.
In 1994, after serving ten years, Downs was transferred to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.[18] While in prison, she has earned an associate degree in General Studies.[18] In 2010, she was located in the Valley State Prison for Women in Chowchilla, California,[17] but transferred out when the facility was converted to an all-male institution in 2013.[19]
Author Ann Rule wrote the book Small Sacrifices (1987) detailing Downs' life and murder trial.[20] The book documents accounts by friends, acquaintances, neighbors, and her surviving daughter Christie, who question the quality of her parenting.[21] A made-for-TV movie also titled Small Sacrifices, starring Farrah Fawcett as Downs, aired on ABC in 1989.
Parole hearing[edit]
![Hugi Hugi](http://www.manipulatedtrial.de/DD_1108.jpg)
Downs' sentence meant she could not be considered for parole until 2009. Under Oregon law of the time, as a dangerous offender, Downs would have been eligible for a parole hearing every two years until she is released or dies in prison.[22]
In her first application for parole in 2008, Downs reaffirmed her innocence. 'Over the years,' she said, 'I have told you and the rest of the world that a man shot me and my children. I have never changed my story.'[23] Her first parole hearing was on December 9, 2008.[23]Lane County District Attorney Douglas Harcleroad wrote to the parole board, 'Downs continues to fail to demonstrate any honest insight into her criminal behavior...even after her convictions, she continues to fabricate new versions of events under which the crimes occurred.'[23] He also wrote that 'she alternately refers to her assailants as a bushy-haired stranger, two men wearing ski masks or drug dealers and corrupt law enforcement officials.'[23] Downs participated in the hearing from the Valley State Prison for Women.[23] She was not permitted a statement, but answered questions from the parole board.[23] After three hours of interviews and thirty minutes of deliberation, she was denied parole.[23]
Downs faced her second parole hearing on December 10, 2010.[24][25] She was denied parole and, under a new law, will not be eligible for parole for another ten years. She will have to wait to apply for parole until 2020, when she will be 65 years old.[3]
References[edit]
- ^ abPainter, John Jr. 'The 1980s'. The Sunday Oregonian. December 31, 1989.
- ^'Downs is denied parole'
- ^ ab'Parole board keeps Diane Downs locked up'. KATU.com. Portland, Oregon. Retrieved 2010-12-10.
- ^ abcdGeringer, Joseph. Diane Downs: Her Children Got in the Way of Her Love. truTV. Retrieved on March 5, 2009. New York, Signet. 77
- ^Staff, Inside Edition (March 22, 2019). 'The True Story of Diane Downs: How a Mother Shot Her 3 Kids for Her Lover'.
- ^Bumiller, Elisabeth (June 12, 1984). 'The Mother &'.
- ^Rule, Ann. 1987. Small Sacrifices. New York, Signet. 120-121, 129-130, 186-187
- ^http://abcnews.go.com/US/woman-finding-peace-learning-mother-child-killer-diane/story?id=61692453
- ^Baker, Mark (2008-05-19). 'Diane Downs'. The Register-Guard. p. A1.
- ^Rule, Ann. 1987. Small Sacrifices. New York, Signet. 151-177
- ^'Diane Downs: Her Children Got in the Way of Her Love'. The Crime Library. p. 1. Retrieved 2009-11-30.
- ^Rule, Ann. 1987. Small Sacrifices. New York, Signet. 440-445
- ^ ab'Ann Rules Newsletter'. p. 3. Archived from the original on 2010-03-09.
- ^'The Daughter of Diane Downs'. Oprah.com. Retrieved 2010-12-10.
- ^'20/20: Blood Ties'. Dailymotion. ABC News. 13 October 2015. Retrieved 14 July 2017.
- ^'Becky Babcock: My Mother Was a Murderer'. ABC News. Retrieved 2010-12-10.
- ^ abGeringer, Joseph. 'Diane Downs: Her Children Got in the Way of Her Love''. TruTV. Archived from the original on March 4, 2009. Retrieved May 28, 2015. (This story is taken primarily from a book by Ann Rule entitled Small Sacrifices)
- ^ ab'Diane Downs maintains innocence as parole hearing looms'. KGW-TV. 2008-12-03. Archived from the original on 2008-12-06. Retrieved 2008-12-03.
- ^http://www.cdcr.ca.gov/Facilities_Locator/VSP.html
- ^Tims, Dana. 'Murderer's libel suit dismissed'. The Oregonian. January 18, 1988.
- ^Rule, Ann. 1987. Small Sacrifices. New York, Signet. 129-136, 155, 213
- ^DIANE DOWNS PAROLE ELIGIBILITY
- ^ abcdefg'Diane Downs Denied by Oregon Parole Board'. Salem-News.Com. Retrieved 2010-12-10.
- ^'Diane Downs is up for parole again'. KATU. Portland, Oregon. 2010-11-09. Retrieved 2010-12-10.
- ^Willamette Week (2010-11-09). 'Diane Downs Latest Parole Hearing is Next Month'. Willamette Week. Retrieved 2010-12-10.