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World's Most Evil Killers S03E06
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00:00Lane County Courthouse, Eugene, Oregon, May 8, 1984.
00:14A U.S. mail carrier and a mother of three stood accused of the murder of her daughter,
00:20seven-year-old Cheryl, and the attempted murder of her two other children,
00:25eight-year-old Christy and three-year-old Danny.
00:28Her name, Diane Downs.
00:32Diane Downs was pure evil, wrapped up in someone who had a smile.
00:38To this day, she has never admitted that she did the deed.
00:42But when her daughter, Christy, testified, the terrible truth was all too clear.
00:49When the person asked her the question, who shot you and your siblings, she says, my mum did it.
00:54It was a court case that shook America, and all the while Downs insisted she'd never harmed her family.
01:03She violated that sacred duty and attempted in cold blood to kill all three of her children.
01:10The callous murder of her daughter and attempted murder of her two other children makes Diane Downs one of the world's most evil killers.
01:20Springfield, Oregon, May 1983.
01:45The small industrial town that lies next door to the city of Eugene was home to one of America's most reviled murderers, Diane Downs.
01:57The 27-year-old mother had driven her three children to a remote location just outside of town.
02:06Diane Downs then pulled over to the side of the road and shot each of her three children.
02:13Seven-year-old Cheryl died.
02:18Her siblings, Christy and Danny, survived the ordeal but were left scarred.
02:25This seemingly senseless attack stunned the nation.
02:29What makes this case exceptional is that Diane Downs doesn't look like any other mother who kills their children.
02:39Most mothers who kill their children, their children are babies.
02:43They're under the age of 12 months.
02:44These mothers are from pretty desperate circumstances.
02:48But Diane Downs was something altogether different.
02:50Talk show host Lars Larson was a young investigative reporter assigned to the sensational story in 1983.
03:03This case involving Diane Downs really had everything.
03:07It had a mother.
03:09It had children.
03:10Murder and sex and mystery.
03:13And you had an American murder suspect who had tried to murder her three children and succeeded with one of them and horribly wounded the other two.
03:22Downs was having a relationship with a married man, a fellow colleague at the U.S. post office where she worked.
03:40Diane Downs said she was in love with this man.
03:43This was the man she wanted to be with.
03:45She thought that by eliminating the children, that that would be the last hurdle she would have to jump over to be able to be with this man forever.
03:54Downs had decided that he was the most important person in her life, bar none.
04:01Here we've got a mother who relentlessly pursued her own wants and desires and really didn't care about her children.
04:08I suspect she's a classic example of a narcissistic killer.
04:11The only thing she thinks about is herself.
04:15Her children exist in the world for her.
04:18She doesn't exist in the world for her children.
04:21And her life history suggests that is true.
04:23This was a way to change her life.
04:25This was a way to get a new boyfriend, the boyfriend she wanted.
04:29And that meant so much to her that it was more important to her than the life of her children.
04:34This killer's story begins over 60 years ago.
04:41Diane Downs was born on August the 7th, 1955 in Phoenix, Arizona.
04:51You know, there's little to indicate that there was anything especially abnormal about her family life.
04:56Her father was a postal worker and her mum was a stay-at-home mother.
05:02Her father was quite the disciplinarian.
05:04He had some quite strict rules.
05:06He would often give lectures to his children about how to behave.
05:09But it was very much a stereotypical American nuclear family.
05:14As a teenager, Diane met Stephen Downs while in high school, and they became a couple.
05:22When she was 17, Diane enrolled in Bible College in Orange, California.
05:29But soon problems began to brew.
05:32Diane had gone to Bible College, but that hadn't lasted very long.
05:36She was only there for two semesters, and she was kicked out of college because of, quote,
05:41her promiscuous behaviour, and that's a theme that we see throughout her life.
05:47After her expulsion, Diane returned to her parents' home in Arizona
05:52and married Stephen Downs.
05:55They got married when she was 18.
05:58Now, she was very quick to want to start a family,
06:01and they soon had their child.
06:04Their first daughter, Christy, was born in October 1974.
06:09Just over a year later, Diane had her second child, a girl she named Cheryl.
06:19Diane and her husband had two children together,
06:22and after this, her husband decides,
06:24that's it, enough, our family's complete,
06:26and he goes and has a vasectomy.
06:29But Diane is absolutely adamant she wants another child,
06:32so she goes and has a short-term affair with another man
06:36and becomes pregnant with her son, Danny.
06:45I suspect that she engaged in what I call instrumental sex.
06:49And what I mean by this is, for some women, sex is a tool.
06:54It's a weapon.
06:55They want to get pregnant because they believe that that will create a relationship.
06:59Diane seemed to really enjoy the pregnancy stage of motherhood,
07:07but when the baby actually arrived, she didn't quite like that so much.
07:12There were lots of reports that she left the children alone,
07:15she left them unattended.
07:16When they got home from school,
07:18they were waiting on the porch for hours at a time.
07:20In 1980, Diane and her husband, Stephen, divorced.
07:27Soon after, Downs was pregnant again.
07:31That's because she'd volunteered to be a surrogate mother.
07:35At the time in the United States,
07:37there were approximately 100 surrogate mothers in the entire country.
07:41Those are the estimates at the time.
07:43So being a surrogate mom put you in a very rarefied piece of air.
07:48You were unique.
07:49And she was actually interviewed for a national newspaper in the early 1980s,
07:55and she very much seemed to enjoy that experience.
07:57So she's got a taste of that limelight,
08:00and she will use her role as a woman, her role as a mother,
08:04as a way to get people to look at her.
08:07In 1981, she was paid $10,000 by a couple desperate to have a child.
08:14Nine months later, Downs gave birth to a baby girl
08:18that she handed to the sponsoring couple.
08:21That same year, she got a job with the U.S. Postal Service.
08:25There, she had an affair that would be the catalyst of catastrophe.
08:30He was a married man who she encountered.
08:33They were sexually involved.
08:35Surprise, surprise, this is what she does.
08:38And he was fine with just having an affair.
08:40But once Diane Downs wanted a real relationship with him, he was done.
08:46Now, she's had quite a lot of short-term relationships with people in this workplace,
08:53in the post office, and he believes that actually this is just going to be a bit of a fling,
08:59because he knows what her reputation is.
09:01But she becomes quite fixated on him.
09:04She wants them to have a longer-term relationship.
09:07But instead, he ended things.
09:12He made it very clear to her he didn't want to raise her children,
09:15and he didn't want to have children by her.
09:16And I believe at the point at which he says that to her
09:19is when she decided that if he won't have me with my children,
09:23maybe he'll have me without them.
09:28The key thing is that he doesn't want to be the stepfather to her children.
09:32So her children, at this point in time,
09:35they become a barrier to her getting what she wants.
09:38By the end of 1981,
09:41Diane Downs had moved over 1,200 miles north to Springfield, Oregon.
09:47Now, after she moves to Oregon,
09:50she expects that he's just going to follow her.
09:52And actually, that doesn't happen.
09:54He's not interested.
09:56Diane Downs pursued the man she loved for nearly two years,
10:00writing and even visiting him to plead for his affections,
10:05to no avail.
10:06The cold-hearted mother of three
10:09then came to an incredible conclusion.
10:12In order to be with the man she loved,
10:15she had to kill her children.
10:19Late in the afternoon of May the 19th,
10:23Diane Downs took her three children,
10:25eight-year-old Christy,
10:27seven-year-old Cheryl,
10:28and three-year-old Danny on a fateful journey.
10:33They were headed to a farm in the small rural town of Markola,
10:37just 12 miles away from their home in Springfield.
10:43She's going kind of out of the way from where she lived.
10:47She's on the opposite side of town.
10:49So she appears to be doing things
10:51that aren't particularly rational.
10:53The children had no idea
10:57that their mother had made a dreadful decision.
11:00In order to run away with a man she was obsessed with,
11:04Diane Downs had planned to kill her children that evening.
11:08When we see a killer who says,
11:12well, I was going to kill my children
11:14and then I could be with this man forever,
11:16we say, well, that's irrational, that's crazy.
11:19But to her, I think it made perfect sense.
11:23She's completely smashed
11:24any of our expectations about mothers.
11:27They should put their children first
11:29and that is something that she's never done.
11:35Diane Downs drove her three children
11:38to a co-worker's house in Markola.
11:42And her children get to see the horses and pet the horses
11:45and she talks to this co-worker and they visit for a while.
11:48The problem was the woman she was visiting
11:52had no idea Downs was coming.
11:54This friend doesn't seem to be able to make sense
11:57of why Diane has suddenly turned up there.
12:02The unusual trip was part of Diane Downs'
12:05carefully designed murder plan.
12:08The visit to see the horses would serve as an alibi.
12:13She thought, if I could just get rid of these three children,
12:17then I could go with the love of my life.
12:20But she had to do it, so she conspired for a long time.
12:23She arranged this phony visit to a friend's house
12:26that she never visited before.
12:29She conspired to be driving home late on a lonely road
12:31a long way from any houses or any activity.
12:35I believe that she was planning this for at least days,
12:39could have been even weeks.
12:42One thing that we need to understand about these crimes
12:45is that because she's driving down the street
12:49with a loaded gun, which means
12:52before she stepped into that car,
12:56she knew she was going to kill her children.
13:00In keeping with her pernicious plan,
13:03after leaving the farm,
13:05Diane Downs packed the children in the car
13:08and drove to a carefully chosen site
13:10on Old Mohawk Road.
13:12She pulled over and got out of the car.
13:18We are talking about a premeditated homicide.
13:21This is something that the average person thinks of
13:23as inconceivable and impossible.
13:26With the children not suspecting a thing,
13:29she went to the trunk of the car.
13:31She pulled out a Ruger .22 caliber semi-automatic pistol,
13:35walked back to the driver's side with the gun in hand.
13:39When the children first see the gun,
13:43they have to be in total disbelief.
13:46It has to be inconsistent with all of their experiences.
13:49Then she knelt on the seat,
13:52leaned forward towards her daughter,
13:54seven-year-old Cheryl,
13:56and from about six inches away, fired.
13:59On the case on the night of the attack
14:08was forensic expert Jim Pex.
14:11One shot was in the back that exited about at the sternum,
14:15and that was probably the bullet
14:18that was found in the passenger side inside the vehicle.
14:22As Cheryl tried to exit the car,
14:24her mother leant out of the passenger side door
14:28and fired again.
14:32There was another shot in the lower torso here
14:36that stayed in her.
14:41After the first bullet is fired,
14:43the second and third bullets are fired within seconds.
14:47When a gun is fired in a closed space like a car,
14:50it is very loud.
14:53I mean, it is booming, shocking, on its own.
14:56It's stunning, and for children, more so.
15:00Next down shot her three-year-old son in the back.
15:05The boy was on the driver's side back seat,
15:08had a single wound, a gunshot wound to the spine.
15:12She then shot her daughter, Christy, in the chest twice.
15:17As the girl raised her hand to defend herself,
15:21a bullet ripped through the thumb of her left hand.
15:26There was a bullet-penetrating wound
15:29that went through her hand,
15:31exited near the thumb,
15:32and then into her chest.
15:34In the back of the car,
15:36Christy and Danny were clinging to life.
15:39Lying in the footwell in the front,
15:42Cheryl was mortally wounded.
15:45I suspect that Diane Downs chose to shoot her children
15:48because of placing distance,
15:51mentally and physically,
15:53between her and them.
15:55It's a cold, calculated decision.
15:58You don't have to be staring into somebody's eyes to do it.
16:04It was a clinical and cruel attack,
16:07but Downs' evil plan was far from over.
16:12While her children lay dying,
16:14Diane Downs continued with her coldly conceived plan
16:18and covered her tracks.
16:20Not only did she know she was going to kill her children,
16:22she knew that she was going to have to,
16:24in order to make it look like somebody else did it,
16:27she was going to have to shoot herself.
16:28So she shot herself in the arm.
16:33She knew she could probably get away
16:34with shooting through the fleshy part of her arm,
16:37not do any permanent damage,
16:38not break a bone,
16:39not incapacitate herself.
16:41And then she arranged to take a bandage
16:44that she'd already folded up
16:45and put in the trunk of her car,
16:47it was a large piece of cloth,
16:48to wind it around her arm
16:50because she had shot herself in her own left arm.
16:53Downs then drove the six miles
16:56to the Mackenzie-Willamette Hospital in Springfield.
17:01Gunshot wounds,
17:02particularly multiple gunshot wounds,
17:04the damage that can be done is tremendous.
17:07If it's not destroyed something vital like the heart,
17:10then you've got serious problems with ongoing bleeding,
17:14and that can be rapidly fatal.
17:18A number of minutes could do it.
17:19If Downs had driven at top speed,
17:23she might have got help for her children
17:25in about ten minutes.
17:27But that is not what she did.
17:32Realizing the children were still alive,
17:35she drove very, very slowly.
17:39So slowly that she actually held up traffic.
17:43And what's amazing to me,
17:44and what makes this a special moment,
17:46is here are her children.
17:47They've been shot.
17:47They're on the literal precipice of death.
17:52And she's traveling ten miles an hour
17:54to make sure, from her perspective,
17:56that they don't get to the hospital on time.
18:00And we know this because of witnesses
18:02who pulled up behind her on the road,
18:04couldn't figure out,
18:05why is she going so slowly?
18:07And because it was such a winding, lonely road,
18:10these people had to follow for a long period of time.
18:13That represents a sordid departure from her obligations
18:18as a mother like I have never seen.
18:20That was her last chance to save those children.
18:23That was the last chance for her superego,
18:27for her moral self to step in and say,
18:29I've got to stop.
18:32And it didn't happen.
18:34And that made it a truly horrible moment,
18:37maybe more horrible than the shooting itself.
18:40Because at that point,
18:42she proved herself beyond redemption.
18:45Downs' peculiar driving continued to attract attention
18:53from other cars and their curious passengers.
18:57A family that happened to be on the same road
19:00had a child in the car.
19:02I think he was eight or nine years old.
19:04And earlier in the day,
19:06they had seen a red automobile
19:07with Arizona plates, which happened to be red.
19:12He says to his mother,
19:13Are all the cars from Arizona red?
19:17That's the kind of comment a child would make,
19:19but it would cement your mind.
19:21So they knew that they were following a car
19:23they would later identify as Diane Downs' car,
19:26who had a red Nissan car
19:28with red Arizona license plates on it.
19:32Diane Downs pulled into the Springfield Hospital
19:36about 30 minutes after she'd shot her children.
19:39She finally gets to the hospital.
19:42She spills out of the car,
19:44says to the emergency room personnel,
19:46Please save my children.
19:48Well, one of them has already died.
19:50The other two were just barely saved.
19:55Cheryl, the middle daughter,
19:58she was dead on arrival at hospital.
20:02She had been shot and she had choked on her own blood.
20:05She died in pain.
20:07Her daughter, Christy, has also been shot twice,
20:10but she's alive.
20:12Danny, the son, had been shot once
20:14and he was clinging on to life as well.
20:17On arrival at hospital,
20:19Christy was not even able to speak.
20:21So we may have a mixture of direct trauma there,
20:25injury to the brain from a stroke,
20:27and the shock, the horror of what's happened to her.
20:31And she ultimately suffers a stroke,
20:33most likely as a result of blood loss.
20:36So, in her case, it wasn't lethal,
20:39but it was totally life-changing.
20:41Danny has been shot and he is paralysed
20:45because of the damage to his spinal cord.
20:47Only one member of the family had a bandage on their wounds.
20:54She's got these three,
20:56one fatally injured child in the car,
20:59and she goes into the hospital.
21:02And she is the only one that appears to have a dressing.
21:05She's the only one who appears to have an injury
21:08that's been treated.
21:09So that suggests to me
21:11that actually she's put herself first again.
21:13She's made sure that she's okay.
21:15She's nursed her own injury
21:17whilst her children were in the car dying.
21:20Every action Downes took
21:22in the wake of the attempted murder of her three children
21:26was part of a perverse plot,
21:28one that painted herself and her family
21:31as the victims of a random attack.
21:33I think the fact in the case
21:37that is the most extraordinary
21:39is that after she mustered up
21:41whatever courage it took
21:42to shoot three of her children,
21:44she had to create the impression
21:47that somehow she was a victim.
21:50She wasn't a victim in this case.
21:51She was a coldly calculating mother
21:54who had decided to eliminate her children
21:56as the roadblock between her
21:58and her life with this man.
22:01Downes had concocted
22:02an incredible story
22:04about a bushy-haired stranger,
22:06a mysterious carjacker
22:07who shot her children.
22:09Downes claimed she managed
22:11to trick the murderous man
22:12and drove hell for leather
22:14all the way to the hospital
22:16in order to save
22:17her fatally wounded children.
22:20But as the investigation would soon prove,
22:23Downes' story was part
22:24of a desperate and devious scheme
22:26she'd formulated
22:27to get away with murder.
22:32The Mackenzie Willamette Medical Centre,
22:35May the 19th, 1983,
22:38Springfield, Oregon.
22:40So in the hospital,
22:41she starts to put aside
22:42her version of events.
22:44She says that the car
22:45was flagged down
22:45by a bushy-haired stranger.
22:47She said had been attacked
22:50on a lonely road
22:51late at night
22:52and she was on her way
22:53driving home
22:53and she sees a man,
22:55her story,
22:56and decides to stop.
22:58He's signalling for help.
23:00According to Downes,
23:01when she got out of the car,
23:03the bushy-haired man
23:04shot her in the arm
23:06and then he shot
23:07her three children.
23:10What didn't make sense
23:11is that he would
23:12shoot her in the arm,
23:14here,
23:14not in the head,
23:15not in the chest,
23:16but shoot her in the arm
23:17and then shoot
23:19her three children
23:20inside the car,
23:21blood everywhere.
23:22And then she claimed
23:24that she had her keys
23:26for her car
23:27on a ring,
23:29kind of like the ring
23:29that I have,
23:30and she said
23:31she pretended
23:32to throw it,
23:33the way you can say
23:34pretend to throw
23:35a ball for your dog.
23:37While he's distracted,
23:38she jumps in the car,
23:40she says,
23:41pulls her door shut
23:42and manages to drive off,
23:44she says,
23:44at high speed.
23:46I believe she said,
23:47I drove like a madwoman.
23:49The sensational story
23:50that Diane Downes
23:52told about the events
23:53baffled everyone.
23:58The story that didn't
23:59make sense at all
24:00was that Diane Downes
24:02would stop her car,
24:05open her door,
24:06and get out of the car
24:07for this man
24:08who she didn't know.
24:11But it was not just
24:12the odd tale
24:13that was troubling.
24:15Downes' extraordinary
24:16behaviour at the hospital
24:18also alarmed observers.
24:21According to the doctor
24:22in charge at the hospital,
24:24she was calm,
24:25she was quite self-assured,
24:27she appeared to be
24:27in control of her behaviour.
24:29She was occasionally laughing,
24:31she was occasionally giggling.
24:33Staff at the hospital
24:36described her reaction
24:38as surprising.
24:43Danny sustained
24:44a shot to the spine
24:46and when his mother
24:47was told about this,
24:48she seemed to be
24:49quite surprised.
24:50Oh, so it didn't
24:51hit him in the heart,
24:53suggesting that perhaps
24:54that was her intention
24:55when she shot him.
24:57Again,
24:58when she was told
24:59of Christy's injuries,
25:00she showed little compassion
25:02for her injured child.
25:05Diane told the doctors
25:06that if her daughter
25:08was going to have,
25:08you know,
25:09any kind of brain damage
25:10to let her die.
25:11This is very unusual
25:12as an immediate response.
25:17But it was her daughter
25:19Christy's reaction
25:20to her own mother
25:21that set alarm bells ringing.
25:24Diane comes into the room
25:26where Christy is
25:27in the hospital
25:28and she leans over the bed
25:30and starts saying to Christy,
25:32I love you.
25:33And from the people
25:34in the room,
25:35they say that Christy
25:36looked absolutely terrified.
25:37They noticed that her heart rate
25:39had gone through the roof
25:40when Diane came into the room.
25:42So this is a little girl
25:43who is very frightened.
25:45She's afraid of her mother
25:46and this is a really clear
25:48indication of that.
25:50She's scared that her mother
25:51is going to try
25:52and harm her again.
25:53For one of the children
25:55to wake up
25:56with the memory
25:58that her mother shot her
25:59is just indescribable.
26:03The universe
26:04becomes unstable
26:07and untrustworthy.
26:10The sky has fallen.
26:13Her attitude
26:14and demeanor
26:15in the hospital
26:16was very unusual
26:17for the kind of incident
26:19that occurred
26:20to her own children.
26:22And so
26:23that was probably
26:24one of the first indications
26:26by the deputy
26:28who was there
26:28that this doesn't look right.
26:31As they did not believe
26:33Downs' version
26:34of the events,
26:35investigators quickly
26:36identified her
26:38as the prime suspect.
26:40In the aftermath
26:41of this attack,
26:42the decision is made
26:43to remove the children
26:45from Diane's care,
26:46to put them
26:47into foster care.
26:48They became
26:48wards of the state.
26:50So Diane at this point
26:51has lost her children.
26:55The police
26:56did not immediately
26:57arrest Downs.
26:58Instead,
26:59they meticulously
27:00gathered evidence
27:01in the case.
27:03State trooper
27:04and forensic expert
27:05Jim Pex
27:06was called
27:07the night
27:08of the incident.
27:09I received a call
27:10from the sheriff's office
27:12that there had been
27:13a shooting
27:14that involved
27:15a woman
27:15and her children
27:16and that there was
27:18a need
27:18to process a vehicle.
27:20Jim Pex
27:21closely examined
27:22the entire car
27:24that night
27:24and in daylight
27:26the whole
27:27of the next day.
27:28When he looked
27:29at the passenger's
27:30side door
27:31and the areas
27:32underneath the car,
27:33he made a series
27:34of discoveries
27:35that would break
27:36the case wide open.
27:38I spotted
27:39a blood stain
27:40in the door jamb
27:41of the passenger door
27:42and the direction
27:43was wrong
27:44and it came
27:45from the outside.
27:49According to
27:50Diane Downs,
27:51the bushy-haired man
27:52was standing
27:53outside the vehicle
27:54on the driver's
27:55side of the car.
27:57But Jim Pex
27:58had found
27:58that the murdered
27:59girl's blood
28:00had spattered
28:01back onto
28:01the door jamb
28:02on the passenger
28:03side of the car,
28:05the opposite side
28:06to where
28:07the bushy-haired man
28:08had supposedly
28:09attacked.
28:10You can see
28:11that there is
28:12a small blood stain
28:13here,
28:14so the door
28:15was open
28:16at the time
28:16that this blood stain
28:17was created
28:18outside the vehicle.
28:20The blood spatter
28:22meant the victim,
28:23in this case
28:24seven-year-old Cheryl,
28:25was shot
28:26at least once
28:27when she was
28:27outside the car
28:28on the passenger
28:30side of the vehicle.
28:31The strings
28:33are used
28:33to show
28:34the position
28:35of the origin
28:36of these blood
28:37stains
28:37from when
28:38they travelled
28:39through the air
28:39and struck
28:39the side
28:40of the vehicle.
28:42Crucially,
28:43Jim Pex
28:43also found
28:44some tiny
28:45droplets of blood
28:46under the car
28:47as well,
28:48on the rocker
28:49panel,
28:49on the passenger
28:50side.
28:52This particular
28:53slide shows
28:54the rocker panel
28:55that's underneath.
28:56You can see
28:56on this lower
28:57portion here,
28:58there are a number
28:58of very small
28:59blood stains.
29:00These are
29:01probably one
29:02to two millimetres
29:03in size.
29:04This discovery
29:05led Jim
29:07to an irrefutable
29:08conclusion.
29:12When I found
29:13the blood spatter
29:14outside the vehicle,
29:16that was,
29:17you know,
29:17something is amiss
29:18in this story
29:19because that's
29:21a long ways away
29:22to shoot someone
29:23who was very close
29:24to the rocker panel.
29:25I knew from
29:26the size of the droplets
29:27that it was created
29:28by someone
29:28who's coughing blood
29:29or a contact,
29:31near-contact shot.
29:32The muzzle
29:32would have to be close
29:33to get droplets
29:34that were that small.
29:36And you'd have
29:37to stop back
29:37and think
29:38when the individual,
29:39the bushy-haired stranger,
29:41allegedly is standing
29:41outside the driver's door.
29:44Let's take some
29:45pretty long arms
29:45to get clear over there
29:46and outside
29:47the passenger door.
29:47What Jim Peck's
29:50did not find
29:51further confirmed
29:52their suspicions.
29:54There were no blood spatters
29:55on the driver's side
29:56of the car at all.
29:58If the bushy-haired man
30:00had attacked
30:00as Downs had said,
30:02Jim would have expected
30:03to find blood spatters
30:04on the driver's side
30:06of the car,
30:07but there were none.
30:10So, again,
30:11it arouses our suspicions
30:12in law enforcement
30:13that something is amiss here
30:15if someone's not
30:16telling the truth.
30:17It was clear
30:19to Jim Peck's
30:20and his fellow detectives
30:21that whoever shot
30:22seven-year-old Cheryl
30:24could not have been
30:25standing outside the car
30:27on the driver's side.
30:29The evidence also showed
30:31that the shooter
30:32fired the gun
30:33within inches
30:34of the victim's body.
30:36And that was significant
30:38in her case
30:38because one of the children
30:40had tried to open
30:42the car door to escape,
30:44either because Diane Downs
30:46was shooting
30:46the two kids in the back
30:47or because she had
30:48already been shot
30:49and fell out of the car
30:50and she was shot again.
30:56More evidence uncovered
30:58in the car
30:59showed how Christy
31:01and Danny
31:01had been shot
31:03and where those shots
31:04and where those shots
31:04came from.
31:06In looking at the clothing
31:08that all of the children
31:09had on,
31:10I was able to do
31:11specific tests
31:12to determine
31:13how far away
31:14the end of the muzzle
31:16was from each of them
31:18at the time
31:19that the shot was fired.
31:20You can tell both
31:22from powder burns
31:23because when the bullet
31:24is fired,
31:25there's a certain amount
31:26of powder
31:27that comes out
31:28and it's still burning.
31:29If a gun
31:30is fired
31:30at very close range
31:31to either clothing
31:33or to skin,
31:34it will cause burning
31:35around that
31:36that you will not see
31:38if somebody is shot
31:38from a greater distance.
31:41Jim Pex concluded
31:43the two children
31:44in the back seat
31:45had been shot
31:46by someone
31:47who'd fired
31:47from inside the car
31:49and from point-blank range.
31:52Detectives now had proof
31:55that Diane Downs' story
31:57about a mysterious
31:58bushy-haired stranger
31:59was a lie.
32:01Whoever shot the children
32:03must have been
32:04inside the car
32:05when they fired
32:06the fatal shots.
32:09The physical evidence,
32:11the blood splatter evidence
32:12did not conform
32:13to the way
32:14she described the crime.
32:15So it became
32:16pretty apparent
32:17pretty quickly
32:18that she was
32:19the perpetrator.
32:19Meanwhile,
32:22Diane Downs
32:23was left free
32:24to talk to the press
32:25and protest
32:27her innocence.
32:29I was decided
32:30to go ahead
32:31and continue
32:31to let her talk
32:32because we knew
32:34there was a relationship
32:35to her
32:36with this shooting.
32:38And so
32:39she continued
32:41to harangue
32:43law enforcement
32:44and imply
32:45that we're looking
32:46at her
32:47and that we weren't
32:48looking for the
32:49bushy-haired stranger.
32:50Yeah, she was right.
32:52We weren't.
32:54Downs was now
32:56the only suspect
32:57in the murder
32:58of her daughter,
32:59Cheryl,
32:59and the attempted
33:00murder of her
33:01other two children,
33:03Christy and Danny.
33:06All three had been
33:07shot at night
33:08in the family car
33:09on a lonely
33:10country road
33:11after a day out.
33:13When forensic expert
33:15Jim Pex found
33:16spent bullet cases
33:17inside the car,
33:19he determined
33:20that all the victims
33:21had been shot
33:22with a .22-caliber
33:24semi-automatic weapon.
33:26So they issued
33:27a warrant
33:28and searched
33:29Diane Downs' house
33:30in Springfield.
33:33The police are quite
33:34surprised at what
33:35they find.
33:35This does not look
33:36like a family home.
33:37This looks like
33:38the home of a rather
33:39narcissistic single woman.
33:41So there are three pictures
33:42on top of the television
33:44stand of Diane.
33:46Also, one of the things
33:47that the police find
33:48is a unicorn,
33:50which appears to be
33:51a kind of memorial
33:52to the children.
33:54It has their names on it
33:55and a date on it.
33:56But surprisingly,
33:57this wasn't something
33:58that Diane came to acquire
34:00after the attack.
34:02It's something
34:03that was already
34:03there before.
34:05So she's memorializing
34:06her children
34:07even before they're dead.
34:14The question becomes,
34:15how can a mother
34:16maim two of her children
34:18and kill another child
34:20and live with herself?
34:21And the answer is,
34:22she can live with herself
34:24only if the only thing
34:25in her universe
34:26was her narcissism
34:29and herself.
34:30Her children don't exist.
34:31They, from her perspective,
34:33was an obstruction
34:34between her and her new love.
34:37Beyond that,
34:38they were nothing.
34:40When the detectives
34:41found Downs' diary,
34:43her motivation
34:44for attempting
34:45to murder her three children
34:47was eerily clear.
34:49In that diary,
34:50she talks an awful lot
34:51about the co-worker
34:52that she's become
34:53incredibly fixated on.
34:55And it becomes
34:56quite clear to the police
34:57that this relationship
34:58with them is the reason
34:59that she's tried
35:00to kill her children.
35:01It was because
35:02they were the barrier,
35:03they were the obstacle
35:04that was standing
35:04in the way
35:05of her relationship
35:06with him.
35:07During the search,
35:09the police also found
35:10a .22 caliber rifle
35:12and their hopes
35:13were piqued.
35:15It was certainly suspicious
35:16it's a .22 rifle.
35:18So, you know,
35:19is this potentially
35:19the murder weapon?
35:20We took the rifle
35:21back to the crime laboratory.
35:22I test-fired the rifle.
35:23I test-fired the rifle
35:24and compared the tool marks
35:28created by the rifle
35:30to the cartridge casings
35:32that were found
35:33at the scene.
35:34They were different.
35:35So the rifle was not used
35:37in the commission
35:38of this crime.
35:40But the unspent bullets
35:42found in the magazine cartridge
35:44did provide a vital clue
35:46that would help solve the case.
35:49Even though the marks
35:51on the cartridges
35:52from the rifle
35:53didn't match test fires
35:55that I performed
35:57with the rifle,
35:57they had the same
35:58extractor marks on them
36:00as the casings
36:02that I retrieved
36:04from the vehicle.
36:07The extractor marks
36:09are made
36:09on the soft shell casing
36:11when a bullet
36:12is ejected
36:13from the barrel
36:14of a gun.
36:15The way the gun
36:16gets rid of that bullet
36:17is a thing called
36:18an ejector
36:19as that gun cycles,
36:20pulls the shell back
36:22and then kicks it
36:23out of a port
36:24and it's gone
36:26and then chambers
36:26another round.
36:27Let's say you have
36:28a pistol
36:29that's already loaded
36:30and you decide
36:31I want to unload the gun.
36:33You would then
36:34release the magazine,
36:35that's all the other bullets,
36:36and then,
36:37pointing it in a safe direction,
36:39you pull the slide
36:40and when you pull it back
36:42it will take
36:42the unfired bullet,
36:44so bullet and shell,
36:46and kick it out of the gun.
36:48She had apparently
36:49done this,
36:51had cycled
36:51some rounds
36:52of ammunition
36:53through the gun
36:54and they had
36:55ejector marks on them.
36:56Even within
36:56the same brand,
36:58make,
36:59model,
36:59and year
37:00of a gun,
37:01those ejector marks
37:02are somewhat unique.
37:03Even if you had
37:04two identical Ruger pistols,
37:06the ejector marks
37:07will be slightly different.
37:08They're imperfections
37:09in manufacturing
37:10of the gun.
37:12There'll be small differences,
37:13but there will be differences.
37:14Jim Pex
37:16placed two .22 caliber bullets
37:19side by side
37:20under a comparison microscope,
37:23one ejected
37:24by Downs' rifle
37:25and the other one
37:27that was found
37:28inside the crime scene car.
37:30What you have
37:31is a split image
37:32down the middle
37:32and what we're looking at
37:35are extractor marks.
37:37And as you can see
37:38by the fine striations here,
37:41these extractor marks
37:42were both made
37:43by the same extractor,
37:45which means
37:47there is a relationship
37:48between the cartridge casings
37:50from the crime scene
37:50and the cartridges
37:53from her apartment.
37:57Then we knew
37:58that this is
37:59a breakthrough moment
38:00where there is
38:01a relationship
38:02to the fired casings
38:04that hit the children
38:05to the cartridges
38:06that were inside
38:08the tubular magazine
38:09of the rifle.
38:10Checking sales records,
38:13police knew
38:14that Diane Downs
38:15had owned
38:16a Ruger .22 caliber
38:18semi-automatic pistol.
38:21After test firing
38:22one exhaustively,
38:24Jim Pex
38:24found similar
38:25extractor marks
38:26on the bullet casings.
38:28He concluded
38:29that a Ruger .22 caliber
38:31pistol
38:31was the murder weapon,
38:33but it was never found.
38:35While Diane Downs
38:37managed to dispose
38:38of the gun,
38:38but at home,
38:39she had a rifle
38:40that also shot
38:41.22 caliber rounds.
38:43And when the police
38:44processed this evidence,
38:45they found
38:46that they were
38:46the same manufacturer
38:48as the bullets
38:49that were used
38:50to shoot her children.
38:51They had ejector marks
38:53on them,
38:54some of them,
38:54that were the same
38:56as the ejector marks
38:57from the pistol.
38:58The bullet casings
39:00and their telltale
39:01extractor marks
39:02were enough
39:03to convict Diane Downs
39:05for the murder
39:06and attempted murder
39:07of her three children.
39:09On February 28, 1984,
39:12nine months after the crime,
39:14she was brought
39:15into custody.
39:17When the arrest
39:18finally went down,
39:19I think the whole town
39:20breathed a sigh of relief.
39:21She appeared
39:22at the Lane County Courthouse
39:24for her arraignment.
39:26After the charges
39:27were read,
39:28Diane Downs
39:29sprung a major surprise.
39:31Her attorney stands up
39:33and after he's finished
39:35all the legal arguments,
39:36says,
39:37and besides,
39:38Your Honor,
39:38my client is pregnant
39:40and it would be bad
39:41for her health
39:42to go to jail.
39:44I was sitting
39:45in that courtroom seat.
39:48You could hear
39:48the entire room
39:50take a big,
39:52deep breath.
39:53It was stunning.
39:54Just absolutely stunning.
39:57According to rumors,
39:59the father
39:59was a local reporter.
40:02There was one reporter
40:03that had sex with her
40:04and I can tell you this,
40:06it wasn't me.
40:07And she became pregnant
40:09from that.
40:09But she loved
40:11the attention
40:11that she got.
40:13By the time
40:14the trial began
40:15on May 8, 1984,
40:18Downs was
40:19eight months pregnant.
40:20Obviously,
40:21she was pregnant
40:22at the time of the trial
40:23and this was something
40:24that I think she thought
40:25would help her
40:26garner quite a bit
40:27of sympathy.
40:27Her antics,
40:30however,
40:30were not enough
40:31to fool the jury.
40:32A mountain of evidence
40:34went a long way
40:35to convincing them
40:36of Diane Downs'
40:38culpability
40:39in the crime.
40:40Then,
40:41her surviving daughter,
40:42Christy,
40:44took to the stand.
40:46This little girl
40:47had to have been
40:48under
40:48so much strain
40:51and stress.
40:52Her mother's
40:52tried to kill her.
40:53She's living
40:54with a new family.
40:56Her sister is dead.
40:57Her brother's
40:58in a wheelchair
40:59for the rest of his life.
41:00And now,
41:01she has to sit
41:02in front of a room
41:03full of strangers
41:04and talk about
41:06the most difficult
41:06night of her life.
41:10She gets up
41:11on the stand
41:11and when the person
41:13asks her the question,
41:14who shot you
41:15and your siblings,
41:16she says,
41:16my mom did it.
41:17This was one
41:21of those moments
41:22in court
41:22where everything
41:24is dead still.
41:25Nobody dares breathe.
41:28Christy laid out
41:29how her mother
41:30first shot Cheryl,
41:32then turned
41:32and shot Danny
41:34in the back,
41:35then shot her
41:36twice in the chest.
41:37The testimony
41:38just tore
41:40your heart apart.
41:41This wasn't
41:42the critical
41:44piece of information.
41:45There was lots
41:45of physical evidence
41:47of what Diane Downs
41:48had done.
41:49But I think
41:50this was essential
41:51in making sure
41:52that Diane Downs
41:53was convicted
41:53of the crime
41:54she committed.
41:56On June the 17th,
41:581984,
41:59the jury found
42:00Diane Downs
42:01guilty of the murder
42:02of her seven-year-old
42:03daughter Cheryl
42:04and the attempted
42:05murder of her daughter
42:07Christy
42:07and son Danny.
42:09She was sentenced
42:10to life in prison
42:12plus 50 years.
42:15Ten days
42:17after she was
42:17found guilty,
42:19Diane gave birth
42:20to a baby girl.
42:21The child
42:22was immediately
42:23given up
42:23for adoption.
42:25At the same time,
42:27the prosecutor
42:27in the case,
42:28Fred Hughey,
42:29adopted the two children
42:31who survived
42:32their mother's attack.
42:35After the trial
42:36was over,
42:37Fred adopted
42:38the two children
42:39and he did
42:40a wonderful job
42:41of raising
42:42those two kids.
42:43So I admire him
42:45for that.
42:46That was a
42:46lifetime commitment
42:47to be the father
42:49and his wife,
42:50the mother,
42:51to these children
42:52that they really
42:53deserved
42:54and that Diane Downs
42:55denied to them.
43:03In prison,
43:05Diane Downs
43:06managed another surprise.
43:08on July 11th,
43:101987,
43:12three years
43:13after her incarceration,
43:15she escaped.
43:16She got out
43:17of the prison
43:18easy as pie,
43:19climbed the fence.
43:21She was loose
43:22for more than a week
43:23and she was only
43:24about ten blocks away.
43:26She was staying
43:27with some men.
43:29Later,
43:30one of the men
43:30said he thought
43:32she was trying
43:33to get pregnant.
43:34Diane Downs,
43:35the mother
43:36who tried to kill
43:37her three children
43:38was returned to prison
43:39where to this day
43:41she protests
43:42her innocence.
43:44I can tell you
43:45that for all the stories
43:46I've covered,
43:47Diane Downs stands out
43:49because this woman
43:50was pure evil.
43:52She did something
43:53that's unheard of.
43:54She violated
43:55that sacred duty
43:56and attempted
43:58in cold blood
44:00to kill
44:01all three of her children
44:02for no other reason
44:05than to increase
44:07her chances
44:07at having
44:08a particular boyfriend.
44:10I don't think
44:10there is anything worse
44:11than this kind
44:13of betrayal
44:14by your own mother.
44:15Your mother
44:16is the one
44:17that should nurture you,
44:18should protect you.
44:19The cold-hearted
44:21murder of her daughter,
44:22Cheryl,
44:23and the attempted
44:24murder of her
44:25two other young children,
44:27Christy and Danny,
44:28makes Diane Downs
44:30one of the world's
44:32most evil killers.
44:34The Cold-Fest
45:01The Cold-Fest
45:04You