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Diane Downs arrives at the hospital
10:48pm- Diane pulls up to McKenzie-Willamette Hospital laying on her horn. WHen the doctors and nurses rush out to see what the comotion is Diane exclaims "Somebody just shot my kids! Call the cops! He shot my kids!" The doctors and nurses don't ask anymore questions and hurry the children in. -
Diane's story starts to fall apart.
11:30pm- Diane Downs is at Old Mohawk Road, the supposed scene of the crime when the police figure Diane herself to be a suspect. The police start to further question her and what she is saying now doesn't match up to what she said in the beggining. Could it be because her story is a lie? -
Diane Downs shot her three kids.
10:00pm to 10:30pm- Diane Downs was driving on an old cld country road with her three children after a night out with their close family friend. Diane waited untill her kids Christie- eight years old, Cheryl- seven years old, and Danny- three years old were asleep when she pulled out her gun and shot them. She then drove them to the hospital, driving slow enough to have them die before they got help. -
Diane Downs goes to the scene with the police.
11:15pm- Diane Downs goes to the alegid scene of the crime with head chief of the Springfield Police Department Robin Rutherford. On the car ride there he is shocked that Diane is not in more of a panic or showing any signs of distress but figures the trama hasn't set in yet. It's not until she walks through the crime with them that she seems suspisious to him. She is laughing and cracking jokes the entire time, she seems very comfotable even though her kids h=and herself have just been shot. -
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Diane Downs' Crime
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Diane's parents arrive
12:15am- The cops bring Diane back to the hospital and her parents are there waiting for her.After a lot of crying and praying her mother calms down enough to relize that her daughter is showing no emotion to the event. When she asks her daughter what happened Diane again gives a different stroy then she had told the police or what she had said originally. Her mother figures the no emotion is because she is still in shock but the police figure it's something else. -
Danny's recovery
4:15pm- Danny has good circulation in his toes and fingers. He can also feel his feet being touched. However the doctors think it will be a long time until he can stand on his own. -
Cheryl is pronounced dead.
3:05am- Seven year old Cheryl is pronounced dead. Doctors stop working on her and focus on the other two kids. When Diane hears the news she doesn't seem to care at all. The police again pick up on this weird behavior. -
Danny's recovery
1;00am- The doctors tried to get Danny to move his legs but that was hopeless. They used eletric stimulators on his brain and had braces on his legs while he was sleep deprived. With the help of the brace ans stimulus Danny could move his legs. -
Danny's recovery
Danny is making great recovery and is really starting to respond to the treatment. To build up his muscles Danny can now stand up on the side of his bed. However it will be a long time until he can walk. -
Christie's recovery
Christie can now follow objects with her eyes although she has very poor eye sight. She can also slightly move her right arm and leg. She is slowly making her way to recovery, soon people can visit her in the hospital. -
Diane's approched by the cops
The cops spent a long time observing Diane at the hospital and they found her behavior stranger than ever. They decide to put her in the pile of suspects. When they approch her to tell her she will need to appear in court she does't say anything and just runs to the phone to call someone. After that the cops left and didn't see Diane again until the day of the trial. -
Christie's encounter with her mother
Now that Chrsite has full vision in her eyes her mother wants to see her. When Diane enters the room Christie starts screaming and crying, she seems terrified of her own mother. Diane stops visiting because the high blood pressure is bad for Chrisite but the cops don't stop wondering why CHristie was so scared of her own mother. They can't know until one of them talks. -
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CHristie and Danny continue to recover
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Diane is arrested
Lane County Sheriff's Deputies arrested Diane Downs as she entered the Cottage Grove post office where she worked as a part-time letter carder. Diane still was not proven guilty but has to remain in jail and away from her kids until she is proven inncoent. -
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Diane's trial
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Christie goes on the witness stand
Christie goes on the wirness stand at Diane's trial. There while she was being questioned she not only admits that she saw her mother shoot her brother Danny and sister Cheryl but she saw her mother shoot her and herself also. Christie's apperance that day in court gave everyone a different perspective in the case, also even though she is a heartless woman Chrisite admits that she still loves her mother. -
Diane is sent to jail
Diane is found guilty of one murder and two attepmts of murder. She is faced with life in prision plus 50 years. Diane shows no emotion as her verdict is called. -
Diane has another chilld
Diane once again is pregnate with a baby girl. The baby is born on June 27, 1984 and the baby was immidiatly taken away from her. The baby was adopted by Chris and Jackie Babcock and renamed Rebecca Christine. Rebecca grew up not knowing about her mother, but once she found out she had a tell all interview with 20/20. -
Diane escapes from jail
8:40am- After three years of prision Diane escapes. She scaled two, 18-foot fences surrounding the prison, climbed under a pick-up truck, and waited several minutes before calmly walking away like nothing happened. Prison officials believe Diane Downs wore several layers of clothing to avoid wounds from the barbed wire atop the fences. A ripped striped shirt was found under the pick-up truck where Downs reportedly hid after scaling the prison fences. -
Diane was found.
After a ten day search Police recaptured Diane. She was sent to a New Jersey State jail and has to finish the rest of her sentence there.