She knew that, if she got pregnant, that people would look at her and say, How could a woman who loves children this much and got pregnant have killed her children? What did she do?. It was honestly picture perfect., Diane Downs Children Now: Christie, Danny & Becky Today, Please review our privacy policy here: https://heavy.com/privacy-policy/, Copyright 2023 Heavy, Inc. All rights reserved. Look at her," Jaeger said. And Christie Downs, the only witness to the crime (her younger brother Danny was believed to have been asleep at the time), had suffered a stroke that impaired her speech and initially prevented her from telling police what she had seen. DIANE Downs is serving a life sentence for horrific crimes she committed against her own children. Although police had found spent .22 caliber bullet casings at the crime scene, an exhaustive search of the area did not turn up the murder weapon. He worked quickly and eventually was able to revive Christie. Thirty-five years ago, Diane Downs, now 64, was convicted of shooting her three children- Danny, Cheryl, and Christie- in Springfield, Oregon. Now Dianes youngest child is speaking out 36 years later. The girl was later renamed Rebecca Babcock. "Wouldn't I have made sure they were dead and then cried crocodile tears? Conflicting reports say Downs also acted as a surrogate during her fourth pregnancy, giving birth to a daughter after her trial in 1984. The circumstances of Becky Babcocks birth were troubled to say the least. I mean, obviously, if she's pregnant, she loves children, right?" After Babcock found out about her notorious mother, she decided to make contact. Christie Downs, now 44, and her brother, 39, were adopted by the prosecutor in the case. "Danny, a computer whiz, is still partially paralyzed from the bullet in his back, but he is living a happy and normal life. She has a son (born 2005) and a daughter, whom she named Cheryl in memory of her late sister. Growing up, Diane followed those values, however, after the age of 14, she became more rebellious and eventually dropped "Elizabeth" from her name and went by Diane. Learn about Diane Downs' children now: Christie, Stephen (Danny), and Becky. She wed Steve Downs in 1973 when she was just 17 and the couple had two children together . And I said to her, We don't know that. Critics said she deliberately became pregnant in order to garner sympathy from the jury. Between the verdict and sentencing, the court recessed so that Downs could give birth to a girl she named Amy Elizabeth. "She couldn't keep her mouth shut," Welch said. Watch the full story on "20/20" Friday, March 22, at 9 p.m. Here's what we know. "She talked all the time. Her three small children, Christie, 8; Cheryl, 7; and Danny, 3, were inside her blood-soaked car, shot at close range. [11] The forensic evidence did not match her story; there was no blood spatter on the driver's side of the car, nor was there any gunpowder residue on the driver's door or on the interior door panel. After months of physical and mental therapy, Christie Downs was finally able to take the stand and tell what happened to her that horrible night. Downs' launched a violent attack on three of her children, Danny, Cheryl Lynn, and Christie Anne in 1983. When she [Downs] showed up, her [Christies] pulse rate went up high and you could see terror on her face, Wilihite said. A judge had already placed Downs' two surviving children in protective custody. Despite her difficult start, Becky was adopted and says she had a good childhood. "The Sun", "Sun", "Sun Online" are registered trademarks or trade names of News Group Newspapers Limited. According to Glamour, the motive given for why Diane shot her kids was thought to be because the married man she was seeing at the time did not want any children. Investigators later discovered that she had bought the handgun in Arizona. Convicted child killer Diane Downs is seen on a video as the Oregon parole board unanimously rules that she remains dangerous and must stay in prison during a hearing at Chemeketa Community College in Salem, Ore., Dec. 10, 2010. While Danny and Christie survived, Cheryl, the middle child, was killed in the attack. "Why would I have taken my kids to the hospital?" She was later adopted by another family. All Rights Reserved. [7], On May 19, 1983, Downs shot her three children, and drove them in a blood-spattered car to McKenzie-Willamette Hospital in Springfield, Oregon. Conflicting reports say Downs also acted as a surrogate during her fourth pregnancy, giving birth to a daughter after her trial in 1984. Since his ex wife was sentenced to life in prison, he has not reappeared in public life nor has he given any television interviews about his family. [15] Christie Downs, Diane Downs' first child who testified at her trial, suffers from a speech disability. She then ran away from home and married husband, Steven Downs, in 1973, with whom she had three children - Christie Ann, Cheryl Lynn and Stephen "Danny" Daniel. View our online Press Pack. Please review our privacy policy here: https://heavy.com/privacy-policy/, Copyright 2023 Heavy, Inc. All rights reserved. They told of her obsession with a married man who didn't want her kids around. Her blood pressure was non-existent or very low. For further details of our complaints policy and to make a complaint please click this link: thesun.co.uk/editorial-complaints/, Diane Downs with her three children Stephen, Christie and Cheryl, Diane Downs is serving a life sentence for the attack on her children, Downs gave birth to a fourth child after her trial in 1984, Christie testified against her mother, pictured. 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Of course, being married, she has also changed her last name. Crime author Ann Rule wrote on her website: "Christie and Danny who somehow survived their gunshot wounds have no contact with Diane. Wilhite said he and the hospital staff who worked on the Downs kids on that horrific May night were not surprised by the outcome of the case. The woman who was on trial for shooting her own children was pregnant again -- and it was no accident. Downs was sentenced to life in prison plus 50 years for killing her 7-year-old daughter and wounding her two other children on a rural road outside Springfield, Ore., on May 19, 1983. What happened to Diane Downs' children? The baby was taken by the state and delivered to adoptive parents. As for Danny, he has kept his life private. At birth, Downs named the child Amy Elizabeth. Though she shot all three children, only Cheryl died Christie and Danny survived . As an adult, Rebecca (Becky) appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show[18] and ABC's 20/20,[19] where she discussed how she felt about her biological mother. [28], In her first application for parole in 2008, Downs reaffirmed her innocence. "Danny, a computer whiz, is still partially paralyzed from the bullet in his back, but he is living a happy and normal life. Christie Ann, born in 1974, is the eldest of the Downs children, and Stephen Daniel, known as Danny, born in 1979, is the youngest. Although Downs denied having ever owned a .22 caliber gun, ex-husband Steve Downs told police she took one with her when she moved to Oregon. In 1983, Diane Downs said stranger shot her 3 kids. [8][9] Upon arrival, Cheryl (aged 7) was already dead, Danny (aged 3) was paralyzed from the waist down, and Christie (aged 8) had suffered a disabling stroke. They have both graduated from college. On May 19, 1983, Diane shot the children Cheryl, 7, Christie, 8, and Danny, 3 multiple times at a close range. The revelation would shake Becky Babcock's young world and take her on a journey of self-discovery, filled with ups and downs, she said. After months of physical and mental therapy, Christie Downs was finally able to take the stand and tell what happened to her that horrible night. Whats fascinating, though, is to see how differently her children including the fourth one, who she conceived after her original surviving ones were taken away from her responded to her doings. But Im on track and Im really happy with the way life is.. She says things to me like, Boy, this has really spoiled my vacation, and she also says, That really ruined my new car. "I got pregnant because I miss Christie and I miss Danny and I miss Cheryl so much," she said. Downs said she then faked throwing her keys to divert the gunman's attention, pushed him out of the way, jumped back in her car and raced to the hospital with her badly wounded children. In 1984, Diane Downs was convicted of shooting her three children, 3-year-old Danny, 7-year-old Cheryl, and 8-year-old Christie. Like us on Facebook atwww.facebook.com/TheSunUSand follow us from our main Twitter account at@TheSunUS, News Group Newspapers Limited in England No. Diane Downs was one of the most infamous murderers of the 1980s; the emotionally flat blonde was convicted of shooting her three children, killing one of them, along a roadway in Springfield, Oregon. The girl was later renamed Becky Babcock. Famed true-crime author, Ann Rule, provided an update on them by writing on her now defunct website: Christie and Dannywho somehow survived their gunshot woundshave no contact with Diane. We just ignored it, Wilhite said. Suspicions heightened when Downs, upon arrival at the hospital to visit her children, phoned Robert Knickerbocker, a married man and former coworker in Arizona with whom she had been having an affair. When I looked at Christie I thought she was dead, he said. Diane Downs was convicted of shooting her 3 children, killing 1, in 1983. In court, according to Glamour, prosecutors argued that Downs motive to get rid of her children stemmed from the fact that her boyfriend at the time did not want kids. Therefore, they grew up privately and continue to live their adult lives privately. "And it grew dark and upon their return home she decided to -- to do some sightseeing. Photo: September 26, 1988. She was afraid of her mother. Downs told investigators that she and her children had been shot in a carjacking, but police found a secret diary detailing her obsession with a married man who did not want kids. Becky Babcock was born while Diane was incarcerated. Too much for her own good, Welch said. "They have grown up in a very happy home with the Hugis.. And as long as he said that he wasn't going to be a father to anyone's children, they had to go.. When I see what others have suffered, I think my boss probably saved my life.. "And so the quickest, simplest way was to eliminate the children.". Conflicting reports say Downs also acted as a surrogate during her fourth pregnancy, giving birth to a daughter after her trial in 1984. Elizabeth Diane Downs (ne Frederickson; born August 7, 1955) is an American criminal who murdered her daughter and attempted to murder her other two children near Springfield, Oregon, in May 1983. [2] She has testified that her father sexually abused her when she was 12 years old. At around 10 p.m. that May night, police said Diane Downs pulled over to the side of a country road near Springfield and shot her three small children multiple times at close range. According to witnesses, she then drove at a pace of between 5-7 mph to the local hospital, where she then claimed to hospital staff she had been car-jacked by a stranger who shot herself and her children. She was convicted in 1984 and sentenced to life in prison plus fifty years. Powered by. Although Downs denied having ever owned a .22 caliber gun, two of her former lovers told police they recalled seeing her with one. They had another sibling, born in the middle, in 1976, Cheryl Lynn, but she didnt survive the shooting. In 1987, just three years into her sentence, Downs escaped from the correctional facility in Oregon where she was being held. Downs Family Diane Downs and her three children. A few years later, Babcock watched a miniseries based on her mother, and it broke her heard and her life went on a downward spiral, ABC reported. The baby was taken by the state and delivered to adoptive parents. It was scary. Becky is the fourth and youngest child of Diane who is currently serving a life sentence for shooting three of . Downs said: "I got pregnant because I miss Christie and I miss Danny and I miss Cheryl so much. The baby was taken by the state and delivered to adoptive parents. Golden State Killer: Where Is the Prolific Rapist and Murderer Today? They also found a diary in which she expressed a desire to be with a married man, and the focus of the investigation shifted to Downs herself. Powered by. When police arrived at the scene, Downs, 27 at the time, told them a bizarre story of being flagged down by a bushy-haired stranger on a dark and deserted country road. Diane Downs is currently serving her sentence of life plus 50 years at Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla, Calif., where she's been since August 1993. Downs, herself, started feeling sick and was told by a supervisor to rest after seemingly showcasing symptoms at work, where she refurbishes bicycles for underprivileged children. When Downs went on trial in May of that year, she was pregnant again. [5] When Downs went to trial in May 1984, she was again pregnant. Becky Babcock is speaking out about her infamous mother, Diane Downs, who was convicted of killing her own 7-year-old child and attempting to murder her other two children, ages 8 and 3, in . "I knew within 30 minutes of talking with that woman that she was guilty": Surgeon who helped save one of Diane Downs' kids in 1983 after she shot her recalls chilling interaction. He and his wife, Joanne, adopted them in 1986. Danielle Peterson/Statesman Journal via AP, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. [29] She was not permitted a statement, but answered questions from the parole board. That's insane to think that I would do such a thing and then bring the witnesses in against myself -- that's crazy.". Police arrested Downs Feb. 28, 1984, nine months after the shootings. The Daughter of Diane Downs. Not just a son, but a couple of other children as well, including a daughter, who she named after her dead sister, Cheryl. After being recaptured, she was transferred to a more secure facility. . The stroke Christie Downs suffered impaired her speech and initially prevented her from telling police what she had seen. [27] A made-for-TV movie, also titled Small Sacrifices, starred Farrah Fawcett as Downs, and was aired on ABC in 1989. They told of her obsession with a married man who didn't want her kids around. According to ABC News, as of March 2019, Becky was 34-years-old and working in Salem Oregon as a behavioral health coordinator for children. In 2017, she posted on Facebook about a new job, writing that she works with the mentally ill helping to give them a better life.. [3] Much of the case against her rested on the testimony of her surviving daughter, Christie, who, once she recovered her ability to speak, described how her mother shot all three children while parked at the side of the road, and then shot herself in the arm. In a statement to Heavy, Terry Thornton, Deputy Press Secretary of California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, stated, Elizabeth Diane Downs, 64, is currently housed at Central California Womens Facility. The couple divorced in 1980 because Steve thought Stephen Daniel, known as Danny, was the result of an extramarital affair by Diane. Email us atexclusive@the-sun.comor call212 416 4552. [30][31][1] Downs maintained her innocence in all parole hearings. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your device and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. 24/7 coverage of breaking news and live events. It hasnt been easy, but it has been worth it. 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