Diane Downs
Case Overview A mother frantically drives her three young offspring to a hospital, their blood painting the interior of the car. It was 1984 in Springfield, Oregon when Diane Downs was convicted of shooting her three children, ending the life of one. Diane Downs was mentally unstable and obsessed over a man who did not want her. What was a peaceful and calm night quickly turned into a fight for survival. Downs had shot her three young children at close range in an attempt to win back the affection of the man she so desperately loved...
Crime
Nothing could have prevented the Downs children from meeting an unfortunate fate with their mother, but when fate is involved it tends to meander like a river for those who need it. Diane Downs attempted to murder her children in cold blood as they drove home on a lonely country road. Within the past years she had been involved with a man from Arizona with whom she obsessively loved. She was furious when he had broken off their affair in 1983 to be with his wife. Diane believed that her three young children were the reason for the affair ending when he “refused to be around her [when she had her three] children [with her]” ( Geringer 8) As a result of the termination of the affair, Diane followed the man home where she proceeded to stalk him and his wife, adding to the “neglect [her children endured daily]” (John Doyle), ultimately causing their demise. On Thursday May 19, 1984 at 10:48PM, Diane arrived at a hospital, her car was stained with hues of red, encumbered by the three delicate bodies starting to fade away. Doctors and nurses prepped the operating rooms as others brought along the seemingly lifeless bodies. Later doctors discovered that the children were shot at extremely close range. Diane could not supply an answer. When Diane was later asked to give a statement on the events that had taken place she stated that a “ big hairy stranger flagged down her car....pointed a gun through [her] car window, and
Crime
Nothing could have prevented the Downs children from meeting an unfortunate fate with their mother, but when fate is involved it tends to meander like a river for those who need it. Diane Downs attempted to murder her children in cold blood as they drove home on a lonely country road. Within the past years she had been involved with a man from Arizona with whom she obsessively loved. She was furious when he had broken off their affair in 1983 to be with his wife. Diane believed that her three young children were the reason for the affair ending when he “refused to be around her [when she had her three] children [with her]” ( Geringer 8) As a result of the termination of the affair, Diane followed the man home where she proceeded to stalk him and his wife, adding to the “neglect [her children endured daily]” (John Doyle), ultimately causing their demise. On Thursday May 19, 1984 at 10:48PM, Diane arrived at a hospital, her car was stained with hues of red, encumbered by the three delicate bodies starting to fade away. Doctors and nurses prepped the operating rooms as others brought along the seemingly lifeless bodies. Later doctors discovered that the children were shot at extremely close range. Diane could not supply an answer. When Diane was later asked to give a statement on the events that had taken place she stated that a “ big hairy stranger flagged down her car....pointed a gun through [her] car window, and
Cited: Geringer, Joseph. "Diane Downs: Her Children Got in the Way of Her Love." TruTv. Turner Entertainment Networks, Inc. Web. 23 Nov. 2012. "Pistol-packing Mama: The Diane Downs Case." Globe and Mail. Gale Biography in Context, 11 Nov. 1989. Web. 23 Mar. 2012. Roberts, Jay. Criminal Justice, Criminology, and Law Enforcement: Diane Downs. D-J ed. Vol. 3. Willamette, Illinois: Crime, 1990. Print. Encyclopedia of World Crime.