1. Elizabeth Diane Downs is an American woman who murdered her daughter and attempted to murder her other two children near Springfield, Oregon, on May 19,1983.
33 Facts About Diane Downs
1. 2.
Diane Downs was convicted in 1984 and sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after twenty-five years.
3.
Diane Downs briefly escaped in 1987 but was quickly recaptured.
4.
Diane Downs was born on August 7,1955, in Phoenix, Arizona, to Danish- and English-American parents Wesley Linden Frederickson and Willadene Frederickson who were married on April 11,1954.
5.
Diane Downs came from a family with strict conservative values and her parents forbade her to wear fashionable clothes or makeup, which made her the subject of frequent bullying.
6.
On November 13,1973, Diane Downs married Steve after running away from home.
7.
Diane Downs ended her next pregnancy with an abortion, but after witnessing pictures of fetuses at an anti-abortion booth in a local fair, she regretted her decision.
8.
On May 8,1982, Diane Downs gave birth to a girl named Jennifer while acting as a surrogate mother, despite failing her psychiatric tests twice due to their indicating signs of psychosis.
9.
On May 19,1983, Diane Downs shot her three children and drove them in a blood-spattered car to McKenzie-Willamette Hospital in Springfield, Oregon.
10.
Diane Downs claimed that she was carjacked on a rural road near Springfield by a strange man who shot her and the children.
11.
Diane Downs made a number of statements that both police and hospital workers considered highly inappropriate.
12.
Diane Downs claimed that on a drive home from a friend's house, she decided to take a scenic route home.
13.
Diane Downs said she pulled over and got out to talk to the man.
14.
Diane Downs claimed she refused and they got into a physical altercation that resulted in his shooting her in the left arm.
15.
Diane Downs then opened the driver's side door and shot all three of her children.
16.
Diane Downs then said she pretended to throw her car keys in a bush and the man went to go look for them.
17.
Knickerbocker reported to police that Diane Downs had stalked him and seemed willing to kill his wife if it meant that she could have him to herself.
18.
Diane Downs stated that he was relieved that she had left for Oregon and that he was able to reconcile with his wife.
19.
Prosecutors argued that Diane Downs shot her children to be free of them so that 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.
20.
Diane Downs was convicted on all charges on June 17,1984, and sentenced to life in prison plus fifty years.
21.
Diane Downs was required to serve twenty-five years before being considered for parole.
22.
Diane Downs' sentence meant she could not be considered for parole until 2009.
23.
Under Oregon law at the time, as a dangerous offender, Diane Downs would have been eligible for a parole hearing every two years until she is released or dies in prison.
24.
Diane Downs was not permitted a statement, but answered questions from the parole board.
25.
Diane Downs had parole hearings in 2010 and 2020, which were both denied.
26.
Diane Downs was initially incarcerated at the Oregon Women's Correctional Center in Salem.
27.
Diane Downs received an additional five-year sentence for the escape.
28.
In 1994, after serving ten years, Diane Downs was transferred to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.
29.
In 2010, Diane Downs was relocated to the Valley State Prison for Women in Chowchilla, California, but was transferred out when the facility was converted to an all-male institution in 2013.
30.
Diane Downs' two surviving children eventually went to live with the lead prosecutor on the case, Fred Hugi.
31.
Diane Downs has a son, and a daughter whom she named Cheryl in memory of her late sister.
32.
Ten days before Diane Downs' sentencing, Amy was seized by the State of Oregon and adopted by Chris and Jackie Babcock, who subsequently renamed her Rebecca Babcock.
33.
The book documented accounts by friends, acquaintances, neighbors, and Diane Downs's surviving daughter Christie, who questioned the quality of her parenting.