Diane Downs ~ Selfish Momster & Child Killer Part 2

 

We left off with Steve and Diane Downs divorced, her raising their children with his support. Their youngest daughter, Cheryl had asked him something very disturbing... saying she wanted a gun to kill herself because her mother said she was "bad." 

(How could such a young one be suicidal over how her own mother made her feel? Was this a premonition of what was to come??? As a father, should Steve have paid more attention to what his child was really saying???)

This may be where the story gets a bit confusing as I will be jumping back and forth between what was believed and what was the truth...

The fateful day was May 19, 1983. A distraught mother had driven to McKenzie-Willametter Hospital in Springfield, Oregon with her three children shot and a bullet wound in her arm as well.

It quickly became apparent how dire the situation was... Her son, who was only 3 years old at the time, was paralyzed from his waist down. Cheryl Lynn who was 7, was pronounced dead on arrival as Christie, was 8 years old, had a disabling stroke.

This is where it gets twisted... Diane Downs was now at the hospital with two critically wounded children, a deceased child and a wound of her own to cope with. She quickly told the authorities and anyone who would listen that she was carjacked; the male stranger shot all of them in the process. 

Fortunately for law enforcement, Diane was a terrible actress and she immediately became suspicious when her demeanour was way too calm for a mother (or anybody) who had just gone through a traumatizing carjacking that hurt and killed her child(ren).

The story she was telling did not make sense. She was cited as saying that she was driving home from a friend's place about ten that night, when she was driving on a rather secluded road and she was flagged down by a bushy-haired man. She pulled the car over, got out to speak of him and that is when he demanded her keys. She claimed that she refused, resulting in them getting into a physical fight. He pulled a gun on her, shooting her and then proceeding to shoot all 3 of her children. 

Somehow, she managed to keep the keys and was able to escape while he looked for the keys on the ground. Even though she was shot in the arm, she was still able to drive to the closest hospital. Here is where she really started to display even more irrational behaviour... While her children lay on hospital stretchers and in the morgue, she used the hospital phone to call Robert Knickerbocker, a man she had been in a relationship with.

Forensic testing quickly disproved her story. There was no blood nor gun residue on the driver's side of the vehicle. It wasn't just forensic proof that Diane was lying. Robert Knickerbocker quickly told the police how Diane had been stalking him, claiming she was willing to kill his wife so she could have him for herself. 

(He was actually happy that Diane had left Oregon and he was able to resolve his marriage with his wife.)

Between the lies Diane had been telling about the tragic event, and the authorities learning from both Steve Downs AND Robert Knickerbocker that Diane DID, in fact, own a .22 handgun. They knew things were not jiving and she became the number one suspect in the death of Cheryl Lynn, and the irreparable medical conditions she had caused her own children.

It was revealed that Diane had bought the weapon in Arizona, while she was married to Steve Downs... (eerie that Cheryl was the one who asked her father about the gun long before this, right???) They never recovered the gun, but they did find unfired casing inside her home, that matched the markings of the bullets retrieved from the gruesome scene. 

Another thing that really got her was there had been witnesses who disputed her statement that she raced off to the hospital. She was, in fact, driving excessively slow to the hospital, only going 8 to 11 km/hr (5-7 mph). The police had more than enough evidence against her and Diane was placed under arrest February 28, 1984 ~ NINE MONTHS AFTER!!!

To be continued....