Diane Downs shot her own children (Image: abc News)
In May 1983, a tranquil section of road near Springfield, Oregon, became the scene of one of America’s most chilling murder cases.
Diane Downs, a 27-year-old divorced postal worker, turned up at McKenzie-Willamette Hospital late one evening with a gunshot injury to her left arm and her three young children bleeding in the back of her car.
Her seven-year-old daughter Cheryl was declared dead soon after she arrived at hospital. Her other children – Christie, eight, and Danny, three – sustained critical injuries.
Downs told police the family had been ambushed by a “bushy-haired stranger” who stopped her on a country road and opened fire. Yet from the instant she entered the hospital, suspicions began to emerge.
Medical personnel later gave evidence that Downs seemed calm and collected, a response that struck them as peculiar given the circumstances.
Diane Downs shot her own children (Image: abc News)
Investigators would subsequently state her behaviour was inconsistent with that of a mother who had just witnessed the shooting of her children, reports the Mirror.
According to Downs, she had been driving home late that evening when she spotted a man standing in the road. She maintained he demanded her car keys, shot her during a struggle, then fired at her children before she escaped and drove to the hospital.
Police quickly uncovered evidence that contradicted her version of events. Forensic analysis revealed no blood splatter on the driver’s side of the vehicle where it would be anticipated if the shooting had occurred as she described.
Investigators also discovered no gunshot residue matching her account of events. Witnesses additionally contradicted her story, with one motorist subsequently informing police that Downs’ vehicle was moving at walking pace en route to the hospital and not at the desperate speed anticipated from someone escaping a gunman.
It also came to light that Downs neglected to reveal ownership of a. 22-calibre handgun, despite evidence she had purchased one during her marriage.
Diane Downs claimed they’d been shot at by a stranger (Image: abc News)
Whilst the weapon itself was never found, police subsequently discovered unfired ammunition with markings matching the murder weapon.
“There were a number of things which didn’t make sense, even that first night. Sightseeing when it’s pitch black out? And why are the kids fatally or near-fatally wounded, and she, being right-handed, is shot in the left arm? I mean, think about it. She’s the biggest threat to him, not three sleeping children,” said Detective Doug Welch.
As the authorities investigated further, they found a potential motive. Downs was engaged in a relationship with a married man who did not want children.
Prosecutors contended she regarded her children as barriers to the life she desired and that the shootings were a deliberate attempt to eliminate them. During the trial, a psychiatrist summoned by the prosecution provided some of the most disturbing testimony.
He told the court: “She shows no remorse. She regards her children with no empathy and as objects or possessions. Any feelings she has for them are superficial and only extend to how they are part of her and her life.”
However, the most damning evidence emerged from within Downs’ own family.
Following months of rehabilitation, surviving daughter Christie recovered her ability to speak and subsequently testified that her mother had pulled over by the roadside and shot all three children, before turning the weapon on herself to create the impression they had been attacked.
Her testimony directly contradicted Downs’ claims and left the jury visibly shaken. On 17 June 1984, Downs was convicted of one count of murder, two counts of attempted murder, and two counts of criminal assault.
She received a life sentence plus 50 years, with the judge directing most terms to run consecutively, making plain he anticipated she would never walk free.
Diane Downs claimed they’d been shot at by a stranger (Image: abc News)
The case captivated the nation and subsequently inspired the book ‘Small Sacrifices’ and a television film starring Farrah Fawcett. Yet even whilst incarcerated, Downs continued to generate headlines.
On 11 July 1987, she fled from the Oregon Women’s Correctional Centre by scaling an 18-foot razor-wire fence.
She evaded capture for 10 days, sparking a nationwide manhunt spanning multiple states before being apprehended and returned to custody. She was handed an additional sentence for the escape.
Downs’ two surviving children, Christie and Danny, were subsequently adopted by the lead prosecutor in the case and his wife, providing some stability following years of trauma.