you felt like when you were sitting in that room that you were with somebody evil. >> diane downs, she wanted to get her own kids off the way. >> if she didn't have these kids in the way anymore, she could have her lover. >> they had to go. >> he shot my kids. i the you shalled him i, i ran. >> she said, my kids have been shot. >> my kids are going to die. >> oh, my god, there's a crazy man on the loose who would gun down three small kids in a car. >> here's mommy prancing around in a reenactment laughing and tellng jokes. >> i just hit my cast! [ laughs ] >> gotcha. >> everybody says, you sure were lucky. i don't feel lucky.

i couldn't tie my shoes for two months. i think my kids were lucky. >> her kids have been slaughtered. >> by the time she goes to trial, she's pregnant. >> on purpose. >> the reality set in that that's who gave birth to me. i came from a monster. >> according to elizabeth diane downs, she and her children were shot by a strange man. >> i never wanted to become something like that, something like her. >> mrs. downs was wounded in the left arm and was able to drive the children to the hospital that night. >> a part of me was afraid that that's where i came from. does that mean where i'm going? >> 9-year-old christy was shot first. 3-year-old danny shot in the back, 3-year-old sheryl shot from behind and died on the way to the hospital. >> and the fact that i felt some sort of a connection to her was

terrifying. >> over the weekend, rumors began to fly. >> we have not overlooked any possible suspects. >> reporters covering the story were getting reports downs was he's a suspect. >> what occurred here is just inexcusab inexcusable. >> i knew i could never do something like that. >> at night when i close my eyes i can see christy reaching her hand out to me when i'm driving. that haunts me the most. >> diane downs was a case that captured the imagination and the horror of people at the time. >> law enforcement officials say they're waiting for 9-year-old christy to remember what happened that night. >> this is the kind of story you just never forget. >> another chapter in what's been an unusual crime story. >> to understand it you have to go back to 1983 when it all happened. >> america in 1983 still felt

pretty innocent. >> ronald reagan was president. united states is a shining city on a hill. >> it is mrs. reagan's interest in drugs that helped fire up the president. >> nancy reagan her own drug program. >> dur hungry like the wolf. >> everybody was watching "dallas." that's the america that was unfolding at the time elizabeth diane downs made her star turn. >> diane downs was a 27-year-old mother who had just moved up to oregon from chandler, arizona. her marriage to her high school sweetheart steve downs soured

before she even left arizona, and reportedly that was because of her infidelity. >> she was newly divorced. the mother of three children, ages 8, 7 and 3, christie, cheryl, and danny. she was a postal worker. >> springfield was not nearly as sophisticated as eugene. they're really twin cities, but it's more blue-collar. >> i really like how ann rule introduces eugene, oregon, and springfield, oregon, in her book "small sacrifices." she says, "eugene, oregon is the successful sister of the paired cities. cool, slender, professional. her restaurants serve artichokes and ricotta pie. while springfield, oregon, half eugene's size, is the sister who never graduated from high school, who no longer notices the acrid smell from logging.

>> i think springfield -- sounds cliche, but a lot of people knew each other, and you felt pretty safe there. >> it really wasn't a scary place. i mean, they always say that. when there's a murder or something, the neighbors always say, something like that doesn't happen here, but of course it does. it was may 19th, 1983, when diane took her children out to see a woman that she knew. >> diane didn't leave until about 9:30 at night. ♪ they leave from the friend's house. they're driving down the road. >> christie remembers that "hungry like the wolf" was playing. ♪ and i'm hungry like the wolf ♪ >> and she took a detour to do some sightseeing. >> diane said a guy had flagged her car down. it was dark. and she had her three sleeping, young kids in the car.

>> a bushy-haired stranger was waving his arms, and she said of course she stopped. and asked him, what seems to be the matter? >> supposedly the man wanted her car, demanded her keys. >> she said, "you've got to be kidding," at which time he pushed her aside. ♪ i'm on the hunt i'm after you ♪ >> and began shooting the three kids. >> and what she described next was this choreography where he fired one more bullet. it hit her left arm. >> she had pretended to throw the keys into the bushes, and as he was distracted, she jumped in the car and drove away. >> she says at that point she drove like a lunatic to the hospital. >> she makes it to the hospital e.r. driving even though she herself has been shot in the arm, bleeding.

>> she said, "quick. my kids have been shot. come out." >> i can only imagine the shock of everyone at the hospital when up rolls diane downs with three bloody children. >> i talked to the nurses who were there that night, and they were crying. you know, the tears just started to run. i don't think they even realized it. talking about those little kids coming in all shot up. >> cheryl was dead, and danny and christie had both been shot and were badly wounded. >> when i first walked into the e.r., immediately they pointed me to christie. when i looked at christie, i thought she was dead. her pupils were dilated. her blood pressure was non-existent. she is so close to death, it's unbelievable. >> got a phone call from dispatch, and i was told a mother and her children had been shot.

when i got to the hospital, i was directed to interview the mother. >> so i stopped and got out and asked him, what was the problem? he said, i want your car. and i said, you gotta be kidding. i mean how many people really do that in real life? they don't. >> her demeanor was flat. not one tear even though she knew that cheryl had died. >> i just kept saying, god, do what's best. if they've got to die, let them die, but don't let them suffer. >> her demeanor at the hospital did not conform to a traditional grieving mother whose children had just been shot. one murdered, the other two seriously clinging to life. >> it was surreal. >> when i was finished taking care of christie, then i sought out her mother, and to my complete surprise, diane was non-emotional, not a tear in her eye.

and then she says, that really ruined my new car. i got blood all over the back of it. i've never seen a reaction like that at all. >> thursday night, a man flagged down a woman and her three children on the road from marcola to springfield. friday, the manhunt began in earnest. >> initially, there was panic. people in oregon were like, oh, my god, there is a crazy man on the loose who would gun down three small kids in a car. this is scary stuff. >> people were locking their doors, and they were feeling very unsafe. kids weren't allowed to go out by themselves. >> mothers didn't go out in the evening, and they sure didn't take their children. >> it became clear that the kids were gravely injured, and from what the police were indicating, they didn't have a lot to go on at that point. >> there have been no sightings of either the suspect or his car. >> early on in the investigation, you know, we did not have a suspect. >> there is still an all-points bulletin out for the man.

>> nor did we have a weapon. >> investigators found some spent cartridges by the roadside. >> the only evidence we had were some casings that were found at the scene. >> we had divers in the river, but the gun was never found. we canvassed every home up and down, knocking on doors, asking if anyone had seen any suspicious individuals. >> they came up with a composite, and that was circulated on every news station. >> elizabeth downs says a shaggy-haired stranger shot at her. >> cops are racking their brains to try o put this case that's together. >> we're going to do a video tape re-enactment. >> i'm throwing the keys. okay? i'm throwing the keys. >> here's mommy prancing around and tell jokes. that was a big red flag.

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i'm leslie rule. my mother was true crime author ann rule, and she wrote about three dozen books on true crime. >> thank you. >> ann rule is the grand dame of true crime. >> like her fictional counterpart, jessica fletcher on "murder, she wrote," ann rule is a best-selling crime writer >> this court is now in session. >> who sometimes gets involved in the subject she writes about -- well lireal life kille. >> ann rule died in 2015, but we spoke with her in 2010 about this case and the book she wrote on this case called "small

sacrifices." >> it was the story that changed my life. >> several parts of diane downs' story made no sense at all. >> what mother takes her kids out late at night in the dark for a sightseeing scenic drive on an abandoned road? what mother then stops to see what a man standing there would want? >> people started wondering, why is the mother only shot in the arm and the children have fatal and critical injuries? >> she had taken the time to carefully wrap her left arm in a towel while she drove to the hospital. >> would you do that as a mother? i wouldn't put a towel on my arm. i'd put it on them as a tourniquet. rip it apart. >> police are immediately a little suspicious, so they come up with an idea.

>> we ask diane if she'd do a re-enactment for us. >> we simply wanted to nail down her statements, and she was more than happy to do that. >> sitting in the car is elizabeth diane downs. >> she can be seen sitting in the car and she's kind of primping. making sure that her hair looked the way she wanted it. >> diane downs is trying to show the investigators exactly what happened. >> i'm throwing the keys. okay? i'm throwing the keys. >> so that they can understand and get the forensics right. >> i go like that, got in the car, jumped in, put the keys in. i just hit my cast! started the car and left. the car door shut itself. >> she was giddy. she laughed. she cracked jokes. i mean she's re-enacting the gruesome shootings of her three children. she doesn't seem at all upset. >> this is worse than -- okay.

>> she hit her cast and then made the statement "this is worse than" -- and she caught herself. so we speculated of course what she would've said to finish that sentence. and we always thought, "this is worse than when i shot myself." >> i can guarantee you that performance by diane downs made cops stand up at attention and take another look at her story. >> we went to downs' apartment and conducted a search of the residence. >> after she gave us consent to search, we found diaries where she had written almost daily. >> diane had fallen in love with a co-worker. his name was robert knickerbocker. everybody called him knick. and she fell for him big time. he was married, but he was separated from his wife, charlene, at the time. >> diane was thinking that her married lover in the post office

in chandler, arizona, would follow her. and when i interviewed him, he said, ann, i was just so glad when i realized she'd crossed the county line, headed out of here, that i never considered following her. but she was desperate to get his attention. >> diane is heartbroken. >> so the sheriff's deputies were still investigating. and in the meantime, diane was holding court, essentially, giving interviews to reporters. >> i was really surprised that diane downs and her family offered to have a news conference very early on. >> i am here just to appeal for people out there, if they know anything to call in. >> they said that they wanted to set the story right. >> we were just out, i guess, sightseeing, you would say, and the kids got tired. they fell asleep in the car. so i decided to just head on home, but i saw a road i hadn't been on before. we like to take back roads.

i just went down that road. and there was a guy standing in the road flagging me down, so i stopped. >> everybody knew it didn't ring true. pretty much a lie. everything she was saying was a lie. >> she could feel that the focus had changed from this bushy-haired stranger to her. >> if i had shot my own children, would i not have done a good job of it? why would i have taken my kids to the hospital? wouldn't i have made sure they were dead and then cried crocodile tears? that's insane to think i would do such a thing and then bring the witnesses in against myself. that's crazy. >> there wasn't a camera or a reporter's notebook that she didn't chase. >> she gave one interview in full hair and make-up after the next. thinking that this would somehow garner sympathy for her. it had just the opposite effect. >> christie woke up, and as i say, she may be the only one to get me out of this. would i have brought her to the hospital? wouldn't she be the one i would make sure is dead? there are too many holes in it. >> her children are still suffering.

danny is paralyzed, which she continues to tell everybody, oh, he's not paralyzed. >> danny's going to walk again. i don't care if we just have to will him to walk. i think he's going to walk. the doctors all say he won't, but i know that your mind controls your body, and if i can love him enough and encourage him enough, i believe he'll walk. >> and christie suffered a stroke. >> in my experience, if you've had a stroke of that nature, usually it's hard to recover. it was a long time before i heard her talk. >> now even though little christie lying there in a hospital bed couldn't speak, the nurses noted that every time diane downs came into the room, her vitals spiked, went off the chart when she would sense her mother was in the room. >> the children were never back in diane's custody. the state of oregon removed them and they were placed in foster care. >> this is an eyewitness news special report. in her own words, elizabeth

diane downs. >> good evening, i'm ann bradley. >> when we got to talk to her, i said she could bring her lawyer to the interview that we wanted to do. she showed up by herself, and i said, gotcha. >> the anne jaeger interview really helped diane downs dig her own grave. >> when this man shot my daughter, my first reaction was to snap back to my childhood, to the pain that had happened to me back then, my marriage, my entrapment by society. this man was bigger than me. he was stronger than me. he had more power because he had a gun. and i stood there and looked at christie reaching, and the blood that just kept gushing out of her mouth and -- and -- what do you do? >> she used the word "i" or "me" so many times in that interview, you'd never know her three children have been shot. >> everybody says, you sure were lucky. well, i don't feel very lucky. i couldn't tie my damn shoes for

about two months! it is very painful. it is still painful. the scar is going to be there forever. i'm going to remember that night for the rest of my life whether i want to or not. i don't think i was very lucky. i think my kids were lucky. if i had been shot the way they were, we all would have died. >> her kids are lucky? a child is dead. two children are grievously hurt. and the kids are lucky? it's extraordinary. >> she could work things out in her mind so that they work for her. she wrapped so many layers of lies around her, that she didn't know herself anymore what was the truth. >> the more she talked, the better. diane downs had a penchant for wanting the publicity, to talk, and the more she did so, the tighter the noose around her neck became. >> even as things aren't adding up, you're still presented with the question, what on earth would cause a mother to shoot her own children? so at that point police decide to go back to those diaries. >> there are pages and pages

about how in love with knick she is and how she wants to be with knick. >> so the question is, is that enough of a motive to actually kill her three children? ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ feeling supported. ♪ ♪ bad vibes thwarted. ♪

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in the immediate aftermath of the crime, it was so horrific that i think there was an enormous well of public sympathy for this mother who had her

three children shot. >> i went down the sheriff's office and said, please arrest me so that i can prove i'm innocent, so my kids can come home and they wouldn't. >> but as diane tells her story, slowly but surely that public sympathy begins to shift. >> reporters covering the story were getting hints that downs herself was a suspect in the case. >> people are starting to get suspicious of diane's story. even her own father questions early, is she telling the truth? >> i made the comment, it looks to me like diane did it, because the children have been shot in the chest and diane has only been shot in the arm. >> if i had shot my own children would i not have done a good job of it? >> it was such a shocking story that -- and little kids, they'd look at their mothers as if they were thinking, "well, you wouldn't shoot me, would you?" >> when i go to bed, i cry at night. even now i still cry. i dream about cheryl. >> i talked to her for about

two hours on camera, and she didn't cry. [ laughs ] >> it was uncanny that she didn't cry. i mean, i wanted to cry. >> downs is now expecting aother child. >> it was a shocking revelation. >> i got pregnant because i miss christie and i miss danny and i miss cheryl so much. i'm never going to see cheryl on earth again. >> nobody could believe she was pregnant. this is is a woman who's suspected of killing all three of her children and succeeding with one of them, who is pregnant again? the contrast is extraordinary. >> you can't replace children, but you can replace the effect that they give you. and they give me love. they give me satisfaction. they give me stability. they give me a reason to live and a reason to be happy. and that's gone. they took it from me. but children are so easy to conceive. >> she didn't have babies so she could love them. she had babies so they could

love her. and she said, i wasn't alone. i had somebody inside that i could talk to. >> diane just loved the attention she got when she was pregnant. apparently not so much raising kids. >> when i heard diane was pregnant, one of the first thoughts was, well, who's the dad? >> does the father know who he is? >> oh, yeah. yeah, and that's why i won't talk about it, because he feels as privately about this child as i do. >> she was a letter carrier. so she was carrying mail, and she picked one of her men on her route who had good bone structure. he was intelligent. he was good looking. and she showed up at his door one evening with whiskey and some marijuana. >> she told me she knew her cycle so well that she knew if she had sex with this guy that she would immediately get

pregnant, and it was a snap. so that guy didn't know exactly what he was getting into. >> while diane is busy talking herself into the prime suspect chair, police are quietly gathering evidence. >> downs also says the children were shot inside the car, but police reports claim high velocity blood spatters were found on the outside of the car. >> we went to a site where the vehicle in which the child was shot was stored. looking at it from the passenger side, i saw a blood stain on the lower door frame. >> diane downs had said that the shooter leaned into the car and fired at her children. and if that was the case, how did this blood spatter get on the outside of the car? >> we believe that cheryl, the 7-year-old, was able to open the door and fell out on the ground.

and diane reached across the seats and shot her a second time. >> then let's talk about the weapon, a .22 caliber handgun. she tells police she does not have a handgun. >> we discovered that she had bought a pistol and it was a .22 and it was a ruger. well, bingo. >> they searched diane downs' home and they found a rifle and there were some .22 shells in the rifle that had been ejected from some other weapon. >> i took the cartridges that were found in the rifle and examined them under a microscope, and i could see extractor marks on the rims of those cartridges. these are unique marks. they are unique to only one weapon. >> the markings on those bullets matched the markings on the shell casings found at the crime scene.

>> there are so many holes in diane downs' story. it's like shooting a fish in a barrel. after the bushy-haired man shot all of her children, she got away from him, she raced, pedal to the metal, to the hospital, to the emergency room. but guess what? there's a problem with that. >> the police find a witness who stated that he actually came up behind diane on a road and she was driving so slowly that his speedometer was not even registering. >> what was she doing? waiting for the other kids to die is what she was doing. that's how evil she was. >> police are obviously looking for a motive in this case. and so they go back to the diaries. >> when you read diane downs'

diary, you read, "knick, nobody's ever been able to take your place in my heart. my kids aren't any trouble." >> knick liked kids, but he said, i didn't want to be a daddy. >> diane considered the kids to be a hindrance to nick's arrival, and as long as he said that he wasn't going to be a father to anyone's children, they had to go. >> if she didn't have these kids in the way anymore, she could have her lover that she was having trouble living without. >> when you look at mothers who kill their children, their own narcissism and desire to lead another life without these children basically overrides any caring that they may have. >> at night when i close my eyes, i can see christie reaching her hand out to me while i'm driving. and the blood just keeps coming out of her mouth.

and that, maybe it will fade, too, with time, but i don't think so. that haunts me the most. >> police have been gathering evidence, enough evidence that they think it's time for another interview with diane. and in this one, the story completely changes. >> diane now is stating that there were really two people that confronted her and even called her out by name. >> that's a hell of a change from what you said the first time around. to severe plaque psoriasis. now, there's skyrizi. ♪ things are getting clearer ♪ ♪ yeah i feel free ♪ ♪ to bare my skin, yeah that's all me. ♪ ♪ nothing and me go hand in hand ♪ ♪ nothing on my skin that's my new plan. ♪ ♪ nothing is everything. ♪ woman: keep your skin clearer with skyrizi. most who achieved 90% clearer skin at 4 months had lasting clearance through 1 year. in another study, most people had 90% clearer skin at 3 years. and skyrizi is 4 doses a year, after 2 starter doses.

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police decide to bring in diane downs for another interview. detectives are no longer being mr. nice guy. they're playing hardball. >> we're now back on tape. it's 1600 hours. present here is elizabeth diane downs. >> you know what i love? i love when a perpetrator changes their story. >> it was the time that we decided to take her on and seriously challenge her on the inconsistencies in her story. >> diane, you're story stinks. this whole thing has stunk. >> then you better go get some deodorant. >> it stunk from the beginning. >> i'm sorry. >> we no longer have some sort

of by the chance, happenstance, horrific crime on the side of a road. we have a conspiracy. >> the story had morphed into two suspects, and they referred to her by name. >> and then somehow, she said, i think it was somebody that knew me. >> you've changed it by saying that this guy knew you now. he knew your tattoo. he knows about you. he threatened you. that's a hell of a change from what you said the first time around. >> there was no reason for you not to say that at the very beginning. >> okay. no reason in your mind. >> i understand when witnesses or victims add onto their story. they tell you something they've never said before. but to change your story, that is a horse of a different color. >> i have one man sitting here looking at me with a face of stone. i have another man over there smoking a cigarette 90 miles on hour and pacing. you're not my best buddies. i wouldn't go drinking with you. that's for sure. >> do you feel guilty about what

you did diane? >> no, 'cause i didn't do anything wrong, and i wouldn't change it if i could. my kids and i always took the back roads. >> one of the keys to interviewing someone is you've got to keep the tension up, stress them out to the point where you eventually get to the truth, which clearly does not happen with diane, but that's the goal. >> we are trying to find out who shot your kids and if it was you -- >> and i'm doing what i can. fine. i agree. >> if it was you, you are going to take the fall for it. >> i agree. >> if it wasn't you, then i'm going to quit this job. >> the interview went for approximately two hours. and towards the end there her frustration level was rising. >> i'll make you a deal. okay? next time i remember something, [ bleep ] ya. you can find the guy yourself, 'cause i know i didn't do it. you can chase your little tails for the next 20,000 years if that's what it takes. you don't like my help, you can [ bleep ] it. >> you're real confident with yourself, aren't you? >> i know that i didn't do it. >> diane thought that she was too smart for us and that there wasn't anything that could that

could trip her up. >> come on, diane. it's your turn at bat. >> since you guys seem to think that i should have brought the guy in with me, i'll go get him myself because i know who did it. >> you do know who did it? >> yes, i do. i damn sure do. >> you know him by name? >> yes, i do. >> you saw him shoot your kids? >> yep. >> that's pretty important. >> i saw him grab my arm and yank my arm out and shot my arm and say, "now try to get away with it [ bleep ]." and i'm leaving 'cause i know who did it. bye. >> the time is now 17:46, and diane has just departed the office. we're concluding the tape. >> she ended up storming out. >> there was enormous public pressure to arrest diane downs. people no longer bought her story. >> this is the days before the internet, but believe me, as tremendous amount of pressure being placed, especially on the sheriff to make an arrest.

>> there was no arrest for a long time because the d.a. in this case really wanted to talk to the only surviving witness who was old enough to tell them what happened. >> the wait on the arrest was a result of wanting christie to be healthy enough to testify. after the stroke, she had difficulty speaking. >> time was on our side with christie. let's not trade certainty of a conviction for the arrest. >> she was afraid to talk. >> a therapist working with christie asked her to write down on a piece of paper the name of the person who had shot her. >> he said, we'll put it in an envelope, and you can put it in my fireplace, and we'll burn it.

and that went on for a very long time. and every time, she'd write a name down and then throw it in the four place. >> one day, she didn't throw it in the fireplace anymore, and the slip of paper said, my mom. >> and diane was indicted. and once that indictment came down it was time to -- to pay her a visit. >> diane was arrested on february 28, 1984, nine months after she shot her children. >> seeing diane immediately after the arrest -- and even there were photographs of her, she was acting like this at the time, looking adoringly at the deputies who were escorting her. didn't seem shocked, didn't seem traumatized. still bathing in the spotlight that was afforded to her by all of this. >> she's been out free for so long. she was an uncharged suspect for nine months.

>> it was like something out of a bad made-for-tv movie. you have the defendant in the murder trial walking in very determined to prove she's innocent -- and very, very pregnant. ♪ i don't give a med 'bout my reputation. ♪ ♪ living in the past, it's a new generation. ♪ and a girl can do what she wants to do ♪ ♪ and that's what i'm gonna do ♪ not me! welcome to allstate. ♪ ♪ here, safe driving saves more than just your cargo. ♪ ♪

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she's been charged with one count of murder, two counts of attempted murder, and two counts of assault in the first degree. >> we have to convict this woman. we know she did it. >> finally after months and months and months and no resolution, there is an arrest and diane downs heads to trial. >> and she's hugely pregnant, so it's an unbelievable spectacle. >> i mean, imagine the dichotomy. she's accused of killing her children and she's pregnant with another one. >> well the visual, i mean, it -- it's just counterintuitive. she looks like lady madonna with her blonde hair and the blue

maternity dress and the big belly and everything about her screams motherhood and softness and nurturing. >> the idea that diane is pregnant and visibly pregnant during the trial, is not particularly helpful for prosecutors. >> what was a jury supposed to think? who wants to send a pregnant mom to jail for life? >> the courtroom was packed every single day. >> it was kind of mayhem. >> every morning, there must have been 100, 150 people, mostly women, lined up to attend the trial. >> diane downs was one of the first stories of mothers killing their children to make national news. >> remember, this trial was before the other notorious cases that would come. this was before andrea yates. >> a houston mother says she killed her five young children, drowned them apparently. >> it was before susan smith. >> it was a drama that gripped the nation for weeks.

a distraught mother who claimed a carjacker had kidnapped her two young sons. >> whoever has my children, please bring them home. >> susan smith has been arrested and will be charged with two counts of murder in connection with the deaths of her children. >> in the diane downs case, diane downs faces the issue of her daughter christie who survived testifying against her. that's a big, big piece the other two cases did not have. >> as soon as the trial started, we all wondered, will christie testify? every day, it was kind of touch and go. would she be able to do this? >> the prosecution had their doubts about putting her on the stand. it's tough to do. >> prosecuting attorney fred hugi would paint a picture of a woman obsessed with a married man who didn't want to have kids and who wouldn't see her when children were around.

>> the murder trial, it was actually depicted later on in a made for tv movie, made off of ann rule's book, "small sacrifices." >> that woman doesn't love. she devours. >> base on a true story, "small sacrifices". >> starring none other than farrah fawcett in her heyday. ♪ and i'm hungry like the wolf ♪ >> farrah fawcett did an excellent job of capturing diane downs. one of the things i will never forget is when they played the tape of the song "hungry like the wolf," and her reaction to the song was very similar to diane's reaction in the actual trial. >> this is the music that her children were shot by. and she is sitting in her chair, bopping her head and moving her foot. >> diane was dancing and tapping her toe. >> she was enjoying it.

the jurors just turned around and just stared at her. it was chilling, freaky, out of place. >> it's insane. it's evil is what it is. >> during the trial, the police and the prosecutor play the various interviews they had with diane. >> 'cause christie was laying in the back seat just choking on her own blood, and i kept telling her to roll over on her stomach so that she wouldn't -- she was drowning. she was just drowning in it. god. >> jurors were able to listen to the flat emotion as she recounted the sequence of events and the shooting. there were no tears. >> they told me that cheryl was in pretty bad shape and probably might not make it. and i said, okay. >> the prosecution begins to present its forensic evidence.

>> this crime scene specialist from the oregon state police, jim pex, created this reconstruction. >> they had a mockup of the car, of the red nissan that diane was driving, and they had rag doll images of christie, cheryl, and danny. >> i could mark where the bullet strike was in the vehicle, where the blood spatter patterns were found, cartridge cases were found. >> a key piece of evidence is the blood spatter found on the outside of the car, because diane had said there was no shooting on the outside. >> pex also analyzed blood on downs' car door and rock panel and found that cheryl downs had been shot once outside the car. >> then there's that ballistics evidence that prosecutors say links shell casings found out at the crime scene with bullets found at diane's home. >> all the bullets had been in the same gun at one time, a .22 caliber semi-automatic ruger, the murder weapon that's never been found.

>> prosecutors call in that driver who was right behind a red car that looked just like diane's car on the night of the shootings. >> the red pulsar was moving less than 10 miles per hour. prosecutor fred hugi says downs drove slowly so the children would be dead on arrival. >> prosecutors have blood spatter. they've got ballistics. they've got witnesses. but nothing is more important than the testimony of 9-year-old christie. >> there's a long list of witnesses that will be called in this trial, including her daughter christie. >> the day that she walked in and sat down on the witness stand, you could hear a pin drop in the courtroom. >> the entire case was in the balance here. what would she say? how effective would she be? >> i honestly didn't know how she was going to do. >> who shot you?

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a case as notorious as diane downs. >> if she didn't have these kids in the way anymore she could have her lover. >> it just violates every rule of nature. mothers don't kill their children. >> the news coverage of the downs shooting was immediate. >> this woman on trial for murdering one of her children and shooting the other two. >> you felt like when you were sitting in that room that you were with somebody evil. >> if i had shot my own children would i have not done a good job of it? >> no one put it past diane downs and either take them or kill them. >> the woman the world calls a monster.

♪ dand i'm hungry like the wolf♪ >> diane downs' trial for the aggravated murder of cheryl and the attempted murder of her other two children, danny and christie, started a year after the shootings. >> downs is on trial for murdering her 7-year-old daughter and shooting her other two children. >> christie's testimony was absolutely crucial. >> when 9-year-old christie walks into that courtroom, everyone knows this is going to be the critical moment in the trial. there are no cameras in that courtroom, so all we have are sketches. >> her head is just a little bit above the witness box, and her voice is trembling at first. >> the made for tv movie, "small sacrifices" dramatically depicted when christie took the stand. >> who shot you? >> my mom.

>> her mother's looking at her and expecting -- i truly believe -- that christie was going to protect her, but christie said, mom stopped the car, she got out, she got something in the trunk, she came back, and she knelt on the front seat and she shot cheryl and she shot danny and she shot me. >> christie downs was asked by prosecutor fred hugi, do you know who shot cheryl? christie said quietly, yes. the prosecutor struggled to keep his own composure. who? the young girl sobbed, my mom. hugi asked, how do you know that christie? she said, sobbing, i watched. the jury was also emotionally bruised by her testimony. many of the nine women were crying. >> i mean, there wasn't a dry eye in the courtroom. it was just miraculous that she

was able to get up there and be so strong and a witness to the truth, right in front of her mother. >> as for the defense, they suggest that the ballistics evidence could have been planted and that christie's testimony was coerced. this is an uphill battle for the defense, but with a jury, you never know what's going to happen. >> the jury still has to believe that a mother would in fact murder her own children. >> the moment of truth came early sunday morning. word came the downs jury had finally reached its decision. spectators jammed into the courtroom. the 28-year-old springfield mother was escorted quietly through the courthouse to hear her fate. >> so the trial itself lasted about six weeks, a total of 500 pieces of evidence. we finally got word that there had been a verdict. >> and diane downs is gonna find out what the jury believes about her guilt or innocence about what happened that night.

>> the jury comes back. unanimous. guilty. >> the jury delivered its guilty verdicts on all five counts of murder, attempted murder, and assault. >> that was so intense that the whole press row was trembling. and diane took it more calmly than we did. >> we were happy with the verdict. we were pleased with the verdict. we were taking a monster off the street and putting her in prison where she belonged for the rest of her life. >> downs showed no emotion as she was guarded back to the sheriff's van and had little response when asked about the verdict. >> i don't know. what is there to say? >> diane downs is taken out of the courtroom in handcuffs and heavily pregnant. and everyone wondered and worried, what would happen to the baby? >> she's nine months pregnant and past due now. >> ten days after diane's conviction, i accompanied diane to the hospital. after the birth, i went into the

delivery room. diane was holding the baby, and oddly enough, she let me about the only thing that i thought was, we've saved this baby's life. she's got a chance for a normal life. afterwards a caseworker arrived and took the child, and that was the last that diane saw her. diane showed no emotion when that child was removed. >> diane names her amy elizabeth and within hours after giving birth, she's back in jail. to await her sentencing. >> diane downs was diagnosed with three personality disorders -- histrionic, narcissistic, and antisocial personality disorder. >> so, diane was a sociopath. they have no regret, they have no compassion, empathy. >> that's insane to think that i would do such a thing. >> this is someone who believes that there are rules in society but that the rules don't apply to them.

i can only think of one other case where a mother killed her children in order to be with someone else in a romantic relationship, and that would be susan smith. it's just so rare. >> diane was sentenced to life plus 50 years. diane's surviving kids, christie and danny, were actually adopted by the prosecutor, fred hugi, and his wife, joanne. >> it's very, very unusual. i don't think i've ever heard of a prosecutor adopting the defendant's children. he adopted the victims. and i think that's really heartwarming. >> after diane downs was sentenced, she goes to prison. what nobody knows is that within hours after being born, that baby that diane named amy elizabeth is whisked out of the hospital and secretly driven to a hotel room. >> she met her brand new parents, the babcocks -- jackie, a stay-at-home mom and her new

father, chris, who's a chemist. and then they went off and started their new life. the babcocks call their baby rebecca, and she's known now as becky. >> when the adoption agency contacted you, you must have been surprised when they told you, we have a baby for you, it's diane downs' baby. >> well, uh, surprised, yes. >> obviously you knew who diane downs was. >> oh, yes. we saw this more as a child needing a loving, nurturing family, and we were willing to do that. >> what do you remember about the first time you set eyes on her? >> oh, gosh, she was adorable. she was the typical little perfect baby. >> from the moment that the babcocks brought their new baby home, they were determined to keep her biological identity a secret. they had just adopted this beautiful baby. they were thrilled to have her. and no one needed to know who the birth mother was. >> i think we kind of maybe subconsciously watched for any

signs of anything unusual early on. we never saw them. and that can be true with any person. you don't know what their genes -- how it's going to be manifested. basically, we just raised her like we would a regular child. >> but when becky was in preschool, the unthinkable happened. >> the station called me and said, anne, diane downs has escaped. what? what do you mean? how could this be? >> diane downs, convicted child killer, had escaped from prison. >> just where diane downs is headed is anyone's guess. >> i was incredulous. this was one of the most notorious female inmates in the state, and somehow she'd gotten over the wall. ♪ i'm on the hunt ♪ ♪ i'm after you ♪

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after diane was sentenced, she went up to the oregon women's correctional center in salem. >> life pls 50 years. the judge made it very clear he didn't want her to ever be outside of a prison setting again. ♪ i'm hungry like the wolf ♪ >> it was a saturday morning, and the station called me and said, anne, diane downs has escaped. what? what do you mean? >> some people never change. and diane downs is one of them. she escaped from prison. >> downs, who was convicted in 1984 for murdering one of her children and wounding two others, broke out of the state women's prison about 9:00 yesterday morning. >> i was dumbfounded. how can this happen? >> her escape was not a surprise. she's extremely evil, dangerous, narcissistic. you name it. >> this was one of the most

notorious female inmates, and somehow she'd gotten over the wall and escaped. >> i think she was in this vicinity where the workout area is. and the information i have is that she had a coat, and when she went up the wire, she threw the coat on the barbed wire and then went on over. >> she was ingenious, and she was really lucky. she scales a 16-foot fence, manages to get through the barbed wire, jumps all the way down, and then she hides underneath a car and takes off that top. >> this is downs' shirt. >> convicted murder diane downs left behind her ripped blouse, evidence of her struggle to break out of the maximum security facility. >> the same shirt she wore during an interview with eyewitness news in 1983. >> and there are holes here that indicate that this was cut or

torn on the barbed wire. >> downs got a ride with a salem couple who recognized her and dropped her off at 24th and state streets minutes later. although sightings have been reported since then, she's still on the run. >> she has now gotten to the other side of the prison fence, and nobody has caught her. >> downs was dropped off at this family restaurant about one mile from the correctional facility. police believe she then traveled on foot into town. >> and that was the last sighting we had. >> it was unbelievable that this woman, who had been convicted of shooting her kids and killing one of them, was now out on the street again. >> an all-points bulletin went out when she escaped. i mean, this was huge. a convicted child killer escaping from prison. there was a massive manhunt. >> we notified the airport, bus depot, train -- any mode of transportation that we thought that she might use. >> there were wanted posters up in 14 different states,

including arizona where she once lived and where authorities feared she might go back to her ex-husband. everybody was looking everywhere far and wide. >> we had established a reward fund in hoping that maybe shirts would aid in her capture. >> there were sightings all over the country, thousands of miles away, of diane downs. >> we were following up on lots of tips. and they were coming from all over oregon and the united states, as far away as wisconsin. but it was frustrating because nothing was panning out. >> diane, i think, will head towards a border, to get out of the country, some place where she can be lost, where she can start a new life. >> you would have to consider her dangerous, because it's pretty common knowledge that she is serving time for murder and attempted murder. >> the fear was that, in the beginning, that she would try and make it back to her children.

>> the prosecutor, fred hugi, slept in a rocking chair near his front door with a loaded rifle in his lap. because diane had escaped from salem, which is only about 66 miles to his house. >> and no one would put it past diane downs to track those children down and either take them or kill them. >> nobody was more afraid, probably, than jackie babcock, who is becky's adoptive mother. she really feared that diane would be coming back to claim her baby, who was now in preschool. when we interviewed her in 2010, she told me that living with that fear day in and day out was just incredible. that had to be a scary thing for you and your family. >> it was definitely a little scary. >> were you afraid she would come back for the baby? >> we didn't know. the precautions that we took were to let people know that were coming in contact with becky -- her daycare person, her babysitter. >> so you were forced to share that. >> for becky's own safety, yes. just to let them know not to

release her to any person that they didn't know and whom we had not given permission. >> in the end, she had not fled te state or even the jurisdiction, as most people would do. she was just a few houses away from the jail. >> where she shows up on the doorstep of a man named wayne seefer. >> she said, could i stay? and i said, why not? a couple hours later, she came up and introduced herself, not as diane downs, but just as a girl with no clothes on. so that was a good enough introductory for me. >> she found a warm bed, the husband of a fellow inmate. >> they wrote out on a sheet of paper where he lived, what his address was, and they made a map. diane takes that piece of paper and runs with it. >> but she probably wasn't expecting her to get so cozy with her husband. >> what was those days like? >> well, i was a nervous wreck.

my only job was to keep her there, keep her from going out and harming anybody. i should have turned her in, but i didn't. >> she's found refuge in a house with a group of guys. meantime, cops are working around the clock to try to find her. >> at some point, detective loren glover re-searches diane's cell and comes up with a clue that may well lead to where she might be. >> i found a clipboard that had some penitentiary stationary on it. it was blank stationary. and when i looked at it in the lighting that i had, i thought i saw some indented writing on it. >> it all comes down to the little things and not overlooking them. they went the extra mile to find out what's on this piece of paper. >> this actually is the photostatic copy that was made by the fbi of the map that i found in diane downs' property. on the map, you can see a line

going through from top to bottom, and i believe that indicates state street. up on top, there's an address as to where the house was that she's found in. >> tuesday morning, the police were looking for her. i kind of heard a commotion. there was like 40 of them. and they came up with guns to my face. >> she was found ten days later. guess where? locked in a bedroom with another man. >> she didn't do what we said. she was in a room like, she didn't know what to do. finally she came out and we took her into custody. >> she was going take a bb gun and go suicide by cop. but i said, "don't do that." and she put the bb gun down. and she went without a fight, turned her hands over and put her hands behind my back. >> she walks out in his shirt and his boxer shorts. that's diane. >> convicted killer diane downs was captured at a salem house just blocks from the prison. >> i thought she was the most

honest girl i'd ever talked to in my entire life. doesn't that sound weird? >> it made perfect sense that she would've holed up and tried to get pregnant. i mean, that would've been her m.o. >> it was the escape of diane downs from prison that forced becky's parents to tell people in their lives who becky really was. and that's a tough secret to keep. for years. especially once becky grew up and was a curious preteen with lots of questions about, who's my mom? >> i went to barnes & noble, and i found the book. i opened it and looked at a picture of a face to what i had been looking for.

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let me tell you something -- they're my kids and i love them. i did everything in my power to save them! >> farrah fawcett has come a long way since her days as a charlie's angel, and on sunday she will star in an abc miniseries as a mother accused of shooting her three children. s. touch with the ground ♪ >> there was an abc miniseries based on my mom's book. >> "small sacrifices." tonight. >> the miniseries came out on november 12, 1989. farrah fawcett was nominated for an emmy for playing diane. >> when i was reading the book, i thought, i don't relate to this woman in any way. so when we were filming, every instinct that i would have, i would do the complete opposite. >> people all over the country knew who diane downs was now. but there was one person who didn't know, and that's her biological daughter. >> growing up in bend was

amazing. my parents were always there. it was honestly picture perfect. we were constantly on the go. mt. batchelor was right by, so we skied all the time and hiked. my dad taught me to ride a bike. my mom taught me to ride horses. i was just like any other kid, and we were just like any other family. >> she thinks she's a normal kid just like any other. but she's not. >> i knew my entire life that i was adopted. but i know at about 8 years old i started asking questions about the adoption. there was just a little part of me that was searching for that blood tie, in a sense. i never had questions about my biological dad. it was mainly about my biological mom. you know, what did she look like? what did she do?

>> becky's parents really gave her the least amount of information that they had to. enough information to answer the curious questions of a child, >> i told her that her mom was in jail. i didn't give her any details as to why. um, and that's pretty much it. i told her i didn't have a lot of background information. it just seemed to come out in bits and pieces. i wasn't forthcoming with the entire story. >> once i knew a little bit, the curiosity set in. and i just went on this search. i wanted to know more. >> she ended up tricking her babysitter into giving her her mom's name. >> i went to her and started telling her little things that i knew that made it seem like i knew more than i did. but i left it pretty vague.

so she came back with, oh, so you know who diane downs is. and at that point i had a name. so with that i went to barnes & noble, and i found the book. it was almost like slow motion, walking down the rows of books. i think every emotion went through me before i even pulled it off the shelf. i opened it and looked at a picture of diane downs sitting at a table. it was a face to what i had been looking for. and it wasn't a face that i wanted to see. the cold look in her eyes scared me, and seeing her hands that, you know, were just like mine, the reality set in that that's who gave birth to me. and it was scary. i slammed the book shut, and i left.

i shut it out. i didn't want to think about it anymore. i was too young to know that. i should never have dug so deep and tried so hard to figure out who my biological mom was. but as i got a little bit older that fear became excitement. and i saw that when i confided in someone about the book or about her being in the newspapers and that sort of thing, they took interest. people would want to know more, or they would want to be around me. >> eventually becky tells enough people that when she's 16 years old, a boyfriend of hers basically sort of tricks her into watching a movie with them. >> he pops in a vhs tape of the movie "small sacrifices." >> it just started playing,

and i couldn't look away. i wanted to. i did not want to see that, but i couldn't look away. seeing the baby that diane downs had and seeing her hold it in the hospital, that was me. it broke my heart. it -- maybe it even broke me. >> after seeing that movie, her life goes in a downward spiral. >> i had already started being a little rebellious, and at that point, it -- there was no holding back anymore. the drugs got more intense. i wasn't living at home at that point. i was living with my boyfriend or living with friends. i dropped out of school. >> she was searching for identity. she wanted to know who she was

without having to face who her biological mother was. she was lost and she was alone. >> becky started wondering, how much am i like my mom? is it nature, or is it nurture? how much is the blood that's coursing through me mine or my mother's? that's an identity crisis of huge proportions. what's in my dna? >> what did that mean for me? is that who i have to become? i was afraid that i came from a monster. i was afraid that i had that potential. >> she begins to obsess a bit on diane, and it ultimately leads becky to do something that at one point she never dreamed she would do. she wants to make contact with diane downs, the woman the world calls a monster. beautiful on th, but if you have diabetes, there can be some not-so-pretty stuff going on inside. it's true, with diabetic retinopathy, excess sugar can damage blood vessels, causing vision loss or even blindness.

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my life was going nowhere. i was irresponsible. i was partying too much, jumping from man to man. it was really difficult to accept my genetic makeup. i ran from the idea of diane downs. >> she gets pregnant at 17. she gives birth to a little boy. becky's barely beyond childhood, and she's raising this child on own. >> i loved my son. but being that young, i didn't understand what being a mom was. i would leave him with his aunt

and go run amok. and instead of him having my full attention, i was still out being a teenager. my second son, he was born in 2006. >> becky feels like she can't care for that baby. she doesn't have the means. she's already got one child. >> this time she chooses adoption. this is how becky came into the world. there was a parallel there that history is repeating itself. >> it was the hardest decision i've ever had. and i put him up for adoption because i loved him, not because i didn't want him. holding him was heartbreaking. because i knew that i couldn't keep holding him. it just -- it takes a piece of you. and i wanted to connect with somebody. it made me think about diane. and i actually wanted to reach out to her. i wanted to know how she felt.

i wanted to know if she loved me, if she wanted me, if she connected with me before she had to give me up for adoption. i had dated a guy who took an interest in the story and had actually tracked down diane, where she was in prison. he had given me the address. i decided to reach out to her. the first letter i wrote diane, i must have written a hundred times. i -- was nervous. it was exciting. it was scary. i wanted to relate to her, not as a mother, because i had a mother. just as somebody that felt the pain and emptiness that i felt in that time. >> diane wrote back fairly quickly. she still loved the attention, needed the attention, and initially responded positively to her daughter writing to her.

>> when i looked in the mailbox and saw her letter, it was like pandora's box. do i open it? do i throw it away? did i make a mistake? >> is she crazy? does she hate me? does she love me? this is a woman who's killed her own kid. what is she going to say now to the one child who has reached ut to her? >> i didn't just tear it open and start reading. i sat and i thought about it for a while. i chose to open that letter. october 16, 2006. dear rebecca, received your letter this evening and wanted to write immediately but wasn't exactly certain how to begin. you look like me, same chin. don't you hate it? you are beautiful. well, that proves it right there. the first letter seemed to possibly have that connection i was looking for. i could almost hear her voice in her letters. >> becky and diane wrote back

and forth, and i think it was pleasant. >> but then the letters kept coming. and they were strange, to say the least. they progressively got more and more insane. just know that someone very powerful has been watching over you all your life for me. >> unless there was something that diane could manipulate or get out of becky, unless becky would stand up for her and be her cheerleader, she was going to smack her down, and it was just a matter of time. >> in one of my first letters to diane, i asked about my biological father. i thought, this is the only person who can actually tell me who he is, and she didn't want to hear it. >> diane reacts angrily. she also starts to become a little unhinged and starts talking about conspiracies and plots and basically reveals how mentally ill she is to her dughter. >> she started writing back

about, there's people that want to harm me. she sent 12 pages of how she's innocent, and this is who really did it, she thinks. this may all sound very melodramatic to you, but the reason my daughter was hidden was for her safety. she told me that if i loved my little boy, i'd take him far away from there. that was gut-wrenching. >> her own mother had absolutely no maternal feelings and actually very ugly things to say about becky. >> i don't know who you are, rebecca, but you aren't our daughter. she wrote back accusing me of being a part of this conspiracy and accusing me of being one of the people trying to harm her. and at that point, i completely regretted everything, any contact with her, and so i put a stop to it.

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rebecca babcock has been keeping a closely held secret for most of her life, and then she decides, i need to let this out. >> it was a secret that i controlled since i was 11. for so long i ran from the fact that i was her daughter. and i finally decided that enough was enough. the pressure i felt of being diane downs' daughter growing up switched into power. >> after a lifetime of really

>> after a lifetime of really living privately, becky decides to tell the world her story. she does a big interview with "glamour" magazine and then sat down with me. >> so, at what point did you actually really find out what happened? >> i was about 11. i knew she had done some bad things. that was my first experience being on television, and it was terrifying. >> when i sat down with becky, it became very clear that this was a woman determined to take her personal narrative in a different direction. and i think felt that the only way to deal with the reality of her life story was to take ownership of it and to do it publicly. >> did you feel ever any kind of relationship or feeling about her as a mother? >> i have never referred to diane downs as my mother. she has always had the name "biological." i was ready to let the world know that you can write your own story, that you can be whoever you chose to be. >> there was a lot she didn't know about her mother's life, and we introduced her to the one person who had done exhaustive research on all of this, which

was ann rule, who had written the best selling book, "small sacrifices," about diane downs. if anybody could answer some of becky's questions perhaps it was ann. >> i'm so glad to meet you. >> i always wanted to meet her. one of the questions i had for ann rule was who my biological father is. >> i've met your father. >> really? >> yeah, and he's a lovely, nice guy. >> yeah. >> handsome, gentle. just horrified that she tricked him. she barely knew him. i think they were only intimate one time. >> she told me that only her and diane downs know who he truly is, and that she was sworn to secrecy. she promised diane that she would never tell anybody. and she took it to the grave. >> the one thing i think becky really wanted to learn, she walked away empty-handed. >> like, i've met the half that i came from that's the monster, you know? i hope the other half is a decent, kind-hearted person. >> oh, he is, he really is. >> becky had a lot of questions, in particular about what it was

like in the moments after she was born. >> how long did she hold me? >> i think about six hours. >> really? because i have heard three, i have heard four, i have heard none. >> no, she held you. >> hearing that diane held me in a sense made me uncomfortable, but also there was something beautiful about it. it was definitely the moment of humanity that i was searching for from diane. >> unfortunately going public invites not just support but criticism. there were a lot of detractors accusing her of being out for her five minutes of fame. that's the world these days. people take shots. >> social media back in 2010 was big, so i had a quite a few people reach out, and lots of them were very positive, but there were the few that were not. >> in 2010 becky babcock was the mother of a 7-year-old son. she was a straight-a college student. basically, she was trying to

figure out what she wanted to do with her life. >> i've definitely had a lot of ups and downs. i actually spent a year completely bedridden. i had to find my own strength to get over it, much like i found my own strength to get over diane downs. i started doing yoga. i started meditating. and i started being healthier. i'm a behavioral health coordinator. i help children and their families find counseling. i love working with kids. it's shaping our future. it's, you know, the next generation of leaders. what did you learn? >> math. >> did you have a good day? >> i had a great day. >> her son is now a sophomore in high school and does jujitsu and knows that his mother's birth mother is diane downs, the notorious child killer. >> i'm very indifferent about a lot of things. the past is the past and you just kind of move on with it. >> doing good, kiddo. i compare where i was at that

age to where he is. and my heart overflows with joy. we just enjoy spending time together. walking the dog, hanging out at home watching a movie, eating popcorn. >> like an orange yellow. >> i'm becky babcock. i'm not diane downs' daughter. and my story is not the story of a victim. it's just part of where i came from. >> so, it's been around 35 years since diane downs was found guilty of murder. >> for 26 years i have looked for my daughter's murderer. >> diane downs has had parole hearings, and she's up again for parole. if you have type 2 diabetes or high blood pressure...

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interview. >> diane downs has been before the parole board in the state of oregon, and the parole board rejected her appeal for release. some would say with good reason. diane sounds unhinged. >> i'm an intelligent woman. you've seen my iq. it's three points shy of genius. i'm not a stupid woman. >> to this day, diane and some of her family members still maintain her innocence. >> if i were to parole board, i'd keep her in prison for another lifetime plus 50 years. >> yoi don't think diane downs ever going to be paroled. you know, at some point, the clock runs out in the justice system. at some point you do lose. >> the legacy for me is that danny and christie went on and had good lives, despite how they started. i've heard that christie is a

very good mother and that she has children of her own. and she's been married for a good long time. and they've turned out to be pretty darn good people. >> christie and danny have chosen to remain very private and live completely private lives and have never spoken publically and have said they never want to speak publically. i think there is something quite dignified actually in that. >> i did reach out to christie years ago, and we spoke back and forth on facebook a few times. but she eventually said that, you know, so much history has passed that she isn't interested. they want to live their normal lives without the stigma of being diane downs' children. and i respect that. >> one of the reasons i wanted to know who my biological father was is a part of me hoped to find that normal picket fence,

everyday person. i have the side of diane downs, and i was hoping to find the opposite. when i was young, i worried that i would be like diane downs. as i grew up i realized nature is not gonna win over nurture. my son is one of the most caring individuals i've ever met. he's lived a lot of life in his young years because i put him through a lot when he was little. and he always comes back and says, mom, it's okay. i've learned so much from it. i know who i want to be and who i don't want to be. and he's an amazing kid. >> love you. >> i love you, too. >> we should note tonight that diane downs did go before the parole board in 2020, continuing to say she is innocent and did not shoot her children. >> her request was denied. her next parole hearing is

scheduled for 2025. that's our program for tonight. i'm amy robach. >> i'm david muir. for all of us here at abc news and "20/20," good night.

>> another deadly freeway shooting. >> the covid rules are changing