12. Diane Downs - The Psycho Mother
37:03 Share

All right, you guys, we are jumping into an ad and I wanted to let you know that listening on Audible helps your imagination soar. Whether you listen to stories, motivation, expert advice, any genre you love, you can be inspired to imagine new worlds, new possibilities, and new ways of thinking.

Listening can lead to positive change in your mood, your habits, and ultimately your overall well-being. Audible has the best selection of audiobooks without exception, along with popular podcasts and exclusive Audible Originals. All-in-one, easy app.

app. Enjoy Audible anytime while doing other things, household chores, exercising, on the road, commuting, you name it. Audible makes it easy to be inspired and entertained as part of your everyday routine without needing to set aside extra time. You guys, since becoming an Audible member, I've found it so easy to fit more stories into my day. Recently, I've actually been listening to Twilight on audiobook and it's been a game changer during my daily walks.

So there's more to imagine when you listen. New members can try Audible now for free for 30 days with your first audiobook included. Visit audible.com slash MWMH or text MWMH to 500-500. That's audible.com slash MWMH or text MWMH to 500-500 to try Audible free for 30 days.

All right, probably not expecting me to start this ad, but I'm gonna start this ad. The Skims ad. And let me tell you about something that Peyton's been wearing. The Skims Soft Loungewear is amazing. Feels great.

- Payne wears it, she looks great, she feels great. - Okay, it has completely transformed my lounge wear game. I love everything I own from Skims, you guys know this, so does my husband, especially my new pieces from the Soft Lounge Collection. And I kid you not, you guys, it is soft. It is the softest fabric.

It makes me feel both confident and comfortable. And it's not just lounge wear. It's actually the first thing I reach for no matter what my plans are for the day. And my favorite piece is the soft lounge tank paired with the fold over pant. You guys, I have tried every ribbed tank on the market. Nothing beats this one and it looks so adorable.

with the pants set. It is like just the most comfortable go-to outfit and the soft lounge sleep set. I have two of them and it is like sleeping on a cloud. It feels good. You feel put together at the end of the night. You guys, it is lightweight, comfortable and stylish. I live in it. - Also, if you're thinking about getting it for your significant other, just do it. They'll love it.

Shop the Skims Soft Lounge Collection at Skims.com. Now available in sizes extra, extra small to 4X. And if you haven't yet, guys, be sure to let them know that we sent you. So when you go to checkout, please don't skip this step. After you place your order, select Murder With My Husband in the survey and select our show. The drop-down menu that follows, it's a great way to support the show. It lets them know we sent you. Again, you guys, go get murdered.

The soft lounge from Skims. The entire collection is so good. And then let them know Murder With My Husband sent you. Okay, we love you. Bye.

Hey everybody, welcome back to our podcast. This is Murder With My Husband. I'm Peyton Moreland. And I'm Garrett Moreland. And he's the husband. I'm the husband. We're just going to jump right into it. So today we are doing the story of Diane Downs. I got my information from www.thoughtco.com and an ABC 2020 called My Mother Sins. There's also a Lifetime movie called Small Sacrifices based on the Ann Rule book about this murder.

Diane Downs' full name was Elizabeth Diane Fredrickson Downs. She was born August 7th, 1955 in Phoenix, Arizona on May 19th, 1983, which happens to be our anniversary. Oh yeah. At around 10 p.m. Oh yeah, like you don't know our anniversary. I know our anniversary. We just had it. I also just had my birthday just in case anyone was wondering.

It was May 26th. And that's all I'm going to say. Okay, keep going. And if you need our P.O. box, send him a gift. Just kidding. So on May 19th, 1983, at around 10 p.m., Diane rushed into the McKenzie Willamette Hospital with her three children. Cheryl, her child, was dead, and Danny and Christy were barely alive. Diane had also been shot in the arm.

Diane told the doctors and police that they were shot by a bushy-haired man who had flagged her down on the road and tried to hijack her car. When she had refused, the man began shooting her children. She said that she pretended to throw her keys while he was distracted and she jumped back in the car and took off. Her daughter later claims that Hungry Like a Wolf was playing on the radio and the composite sketch that the police released of the man looks like the albino from The Princess Bride.

The town after this was in Paranoia. So just to set up the way it was. Uh-huh. Okay. So Diane was oldest of four children in her family. She moved around until she was about 11 years old. Her parents had conservative values, which Diane followed originally until she was about 14. And just like every other teenager, she wanted to fit in. And so this is when she dropped her name, Elizabeth, and went by her middle name, Diane.

And what? Do you know why she did that? Why she dropped her name Elizabeth? It just seems kind of random. Yeah, I think she just literally wanted to completely change herself. Okay, got it. So...

Because she also changed her style. Like, everything about herself that she could change, she did. Okay. She began her relationship with Stephen Downs, who was 16, and lived across the street. And her parents obviously did not approve, but by the time she was 16, their relationship had become completely sexual. They were very close. They were full-on boyfriend-girlfriend. And...

Coming from conservative values, this was frightening for her parents. Yeah. After high school, Stephen joined the Navy and Diane went to Pacific Baptist Bible College. They were supposed to do like the long distancing and remain faithful to each other. But Diane failed at that after only one year and she was expelled from her college for promiscuity. Which like, okay, so it's a...

Baptist college. So what is being promiscuous? Like holding someone's hand, walking down the hall. It kind of reminds me of that movie. What's that movie with the A? It's a book too. Oh, yeah. Easy A. Oh, well, that's not. Yeah, sorry. Easy A. Yeah. That's kind of what it reminds me of. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So they...

They, Stephen and Diane just keep dating though, even though she obviously was being promiscuous at college. And in November, 1973, they decide to get married. And the marriage was obviously rocky from the beginning with them fighting about money and always fighting about infidelity. Diane would leave Stephen to go to her parents' home a lot. But despite these issues, they had their first child in 1974. So,

Her name was Christy. And guys, I'm just going to say it once again. A child does not solve marital problems. It's most likely only going to make them worse. And we see this happen case after case after case. So six months after having Christy, Diane joined, well, tried to join the Navy, but she came home after three weeks because of blisters on her feet.

I wonder why she wanted to go to the Navy. Like, I wonder what made her all of a sudden go, I want to be in the Navy. I think probably just because she needed something to do. I mean, her marriage wasn't good. It was a way for her to get out. I mean, a little foreshadowing. I don't think she loved being a mom. Yeah. Okay. So she later says, though, that the real reason she comes home was because Stephen was neglecting their daughter, Christy.

It wasn't because of blisters on her feet. Diane liked being pregnant, and that's in quotes. So in 1975, they had their second child, Cheryl Lynn. And also, children are not something you should have just because you like being pregnant. Yeah. There's 18 years after being pregnant. That's really hard. So Stephen decided to have a vasectomy after this. He was like, yeah, no more. Yeah.

But Diane gets pregnant again anyways and claims that the vasectomy didn't work. Okay, fishy. But Steven claims she's having an affair. So Diane decided to abort the baby and she named her Carrie. In 1978, the Downs moved to Mesa, Arizona and both found jobs at a mobile home manufacturing company. There, Diane started having another affair with lots of male co-workers and became pregnant again.

So in December of 1979, Stephen Downs, known as Danny Jr., was born. Stephen the older, the dad, decided to put his name on the birth certificate even though he says that he was for sure not the father. Like, the first time was okay, maybe the vasectomy didn't work. The second time was like, okay, she's cheating on me. Does Danny even know which...

Which father? Yes. Who the father is of the kid, considering she was sleeping with that many coworkers? Yes, I think that she did, no. Okay. So the marriage of Stephen and Diane lasted until 1980, and then they decided to get a divorce. They have three kids. Diane spent the next few years moving in and out with men, having affairs with married men, and also trying to rekindle things with Stephen. It seems like having affairs with married men was kind of her thing. Okay. Yeah.

So to help support herself, Diane decided to try to become a surrogate mother. Remember, she likes being pregnant. Yeah.

Um, but she failed two psychiatric exams that are required for the applicants. This test showed that Diane was actually intelligent, but was psychotic. Surprise, surprise. Diane thought this was hilarious though, and would brag to all of her friends about it. About failing the test? About being psychotic. Oh my gosh. I mean. Cause she thought it was like a joke. Like, oh, they thought I was crazy. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

So in 1981, Diane gets a full-time job as a postal carrier for the U.S. Post Office. Go girl. During this time, the kids would spend a lot of time with her parents, with Stephen, the father, and even with Danny's father. So they did know who the father was. Mm-hmm.

If the kids were with Diane, though, neighbors really voiced concern for the kids. They said that the kids were poorly dressed for the weather and they would ask for food a lot. And if Diane could not find a sitter, that she would just leave six-year-old Christy to stay home and care for the children. So I'm just, it's safe to say that she was not being a very good mother at this point. I know that things were hard in her life.

But she decided to have three kids. And so your responsibility is taking care of three kids. Yeah. So Diane finally gets accepted after trying again into the surrogate program later that year. And she was paid $10,000 for carrying a child to term. She decided after this to try and open her own surrogate clinic, but it quickly failed. And I'm just going to say like, we see this irreversibly.

erratic behavior of like i was a surrogate one time i'm now an expert and i'm gonna open my own like i see that common practice with a lot of these cases and the suspect that is involved just like extreme behavior yeah okay so not saying that it's wrong to try to start something but it's more like

I've done it one time. Now I'm an expert going in full force, going to start at NFLs. I mean, she did fail that test too. Yeah. I'm sure there's some accuracy to that. So it was around this time that Diane met coworker Robert Nick Knickerbocker. Their relationship...

um his name was just robert knickerbocker but they call him nick robert nick knickerbocker yes but they call him nick okay so their relationship was strong and diane wanted nick to leave his wife for her surprise surprise he was married um nick started to feel suffocated by diane and decided he was still in love with his wife so he ended the relationship with her with diane

Diane moved back to Oregon because of it and she just could not get over Nick. She would write him and they had their final visit in April of 1983. During this visit, Nick completely rejected her and told her that the reason that their relationship could not continue on and he couldn't

leave his wife for her was because he had no interest in and i quote being a daddy to her children i wonder if him rejecting her is what made her want him so bad because it seemed like with all these other guys she was just bouncing around probably because maybe they liked her i thought she was you know cute whatever i completely agree um i mean i've done that so i'm sure that she's done that

So I do think, though, that that comment and this final visit of rejection and for sure her relationship with Nick being over is what made Diane decide to do what she ends up doing in this story. What does she end up doing? So Diane was unusually calm during the whole aftermath of the carjacking experience. She even voiced surprise that a bullet had hit Danny's spine and not his heart.

So like the doctor comes out and is like, oh, he was hit in the spine. And she was like, wait, he wasn't hit in the heart. So she had absolutely no tears. She told the doctor that the blood was going to ruin her new car. The blood that was on the seats in her new car was going to ruin it. She's still at the hospital. One of her children is dead and the other two are dying. And all she can think about is the blood in her car.

Interesting. So she seemed concerned with getting in touch with Nick, but did not care to tell even the children's father, Stephen, or ask how the kids were doing. So when the doctor would come out, she would say, hey, can I use your phone? Like, I really need to call this guy. Not, hey, how are my kids doing? Not, hey, I need to call the kid's father. Yeah, it's like they're not even her kids. Her emotions for the kids are just like completely off. Yeah.

So obviously Diane's story does not hold up during the investigation. The blood splatters in the car did not match her version of what had occurred that night. And there was blood splatter on the outside of the car. But Diane had said that the kids were shot inside. So there's no way that it would have splattered onto the outside of the car. And gunpowder residue was not found where it should have been based upon where she said they were shooting from. The guy, the bushy haired man. I feel like people...

Forget all the time that how much forensics and how much you can do to catch somebody that murders people. She's just like, oh, my story is going to be great. I got this. Yeah.

The markings on the bullets found in Diane's home. So the cops like went and searched her house and found bullets were also found on the shell casings at the crime scene. So if you've ever watched CSI, literally you can picture the scene I'm talking about. They put it under the microscope, they turn it a little bit and then they put the other sample under and they turn it a little bit and then they match up the lines on the two. And that's exactly what happened here. Her bullets from her house and the shell casings from the crime scene were the same bullet.

oh that's so cool so so diane's arm had been broken when she was shot but it was completely superficial compared to the children's wounds i mean one of her children was dead the other two were like severely severely injured ones in a coma the other one was shot in the spine and all she did was break her arm with a like a bullet so she also failed to admit that she had a 22 caliber handgunned

The cop said that a 22 caliber handgun was the weapon used for the crimes. Oh, I forgot I had that there. So, I mean, they didn't like match the gun specifically and say it's for sure this one, but it was that type of gun. Mm hmm.

When cops discovered her diary, they found an obsessive amount of writing about her love for Robert Knickerbocker and a lot about him not wanting to raise her kids. Like she just kept stewing over the fact that he didn't want to be a part of her kid's life. Oh my gosh. They also discovered a unicorn that Diane had purchased a couple days before the crime. The kids' names had all been inscribed onto it as if it was like a shrine to their memory.

but keep in mind they weren't dead or dying yet yeah shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell at every stage of your business from the launcher online shop stage to the first real life store stage all the way to the did we just hit a million orders stage shopify is there to help you grow shopify helps you turn browsers into buyers with the internet's best converting checkout up to 36 better compared to other leading commerce platforms

and sell more with less effort thanks to Shopify Magic, your AI-powered all-star. Peyton and I love Shopify. We have been using it for, I mean, I've been using it for six years now, so many years, and it's amazing. It just keeps getting better and better with more updates. It's easy to use. It's user-friendly. Shopify powers 10% of all e-commerce in the US, and Shopify is the global force behind Allbirds, Rothy's, and Brooklyn, and millions of other entrepreneurs of every size across 175 countries.

Sign up for a $1 per month trial period at shopify.com slash husband, all lowercase. Go to shopify.com slash husband now to grow your business no matter what stage you're in. Shopify.com slash husband. Okay, let me guess. Your medicine cabinet is crammed with stuff that does not work. You still aren't sleeping, you still hurt, and you're stressed out.

That's how it was for me, so I cleared out my cabinet and reset my health with CBD from CB Distillery. CBD Distillery's targeted formulations are made from the highest quality clean ingredients, no fluff, no fillers, just pure effective CBD solutions designed to help support your health.

In two non-clinical surveys, 81% of customers experienced more calm, 80% said CBD helped with pain after physical activity, and an impressive 90% actually said they slept better with CBD. I have personally used CBD before to help me sleep. I used to have a lot of trouble sleeping and I couldn't figure out what to do to help. And honestly, CBD did help. And if that's something you're struggling with, yeah.

Give it a try. Check it out. If you struggle with a health concern and haven't found relief, make the change like I did to CBD Distillery. And with over 2 million customers and a solid 100% money back guarantee, CBD Distillery is the source to trust. You guys, we have a 20% discount to get you started. So if you've ever wanted to do CBD, now is the time. Visit CBDistillery.com and use code husband for 20% off. That's CBDistillery.com.

.com code husband. CBDistillery.com code husband. Hola. Como esta? Hola, como estamos? Want to learn a new language? Well, the best way is to uproot your entire life, move to Spain, and live there for the rest of your...

I made that up. I went off the ad. Let me go back to the ad read. The best way is to uproot your entire life. Drop your... Oh. You literally followed the ad. I didn't read the rest of that. Drop yourself in the middle of a new country and figure it out from there. I just want to let everyone know that's what I did. But... That's what I did. It worked. If you're not ready for that, you can still learn a new language the next best way, and that is with Babbel. See you.

Speak like a whole new you with Babbel, the science-backed language learning app that gets you talking. Wasting hundreds of dollars on private tutors is the old school way of learning a new language. Babbel's 10-minute lessons are quick and handcrafted by over 200 language experts, ready to get you talking your new language in three weeks because talking is the key to really knowing any language.

Designed by real people for having real conversation, Babbel gets you talking. You guys, I actually use Babbel to brush up on Spanish when we travel. I love it. It is so easy. And then I can actually kind of keep up with what's going on. And with over 16 million subscriptions sold, Babbel's 14 award-winning language courses are backed by a 20-day money-back guarantee. So there's no pressure. Buy Babbel and travel.

Here's a special limited time deal for our listeners right now. Get up to 60% off your Babbel subscription, but only for our listeners at babbel.com slash husband. Get up to 60% off at babbel.com slash husband spelled B-A-B-B-E-L.com slash husband. Rules and restrictions may apply.

So a man ended up coming forward later to tell the police that that night of the hijacking, he had actually passed Diane on the road because she was driving five miles per hour to the hospital. With the kids in the car. With the kids in the car dying. She told the police she rushed. She sped to the hospital. And this guy vividly remembers passing her on the highway because she was only driving five miles an hour.

What in the world? She was waiting for them to die. Yeah, that's horrible. So my favorite line from the interrogations, which keep in mind, a lot of these interrogations are broadcast because this crime, I mean, these three kids are shot, one of them dead, the other two critically injured, and it's a mom. It kind of went widespread. This is a pretty popular case. And so you can watch a lot of these interrogations. But the detective says, Diane, your story stinks.

And she says, better go get some deodorant. Literally genius. What in the? I mean, I'm not going to lie. It's kind of weird the cop said your story stinks, though. I guess it's kind of weird language. I don't know. I know. But I just think it's hilarious. Yeah, that she said. That's what she replied with.

So during the interrogation, she changes her story multiple times and also admits at one time that she knows who did it, but she isn't going to tell the cops. So they're like, Diane, Diane, you've been changing your story. And she's like, you know what? Actually, I think I know who did it, but I'm not going to tell you because you're the cops and that's your job. So you go figure it out. It's super secret. Yeah. My kids are one's dead and the rest are dying, but I can't tell you. I can't do your job for you. Oh, my gosh.

The strongest evidence against Diane ended up actually being her surviving daughter, Christy, who was old enough to kind of comprehend what was going on, but she was in a coma. She couldn't talk months after the crime because of a stroke that she had suffered from the attack. Oh, that's horrible.

When Diane would visit Christy in the hospital, so keep this in mind, like her kids are still in the hospital and she has access to them because they're her children. Yeah. Christy would show signs of fear and her vitals would spike, but she couldn't say anything because she'd had a stroke and she couldn't talk, which is just scary. Yeah.

When she had finally relearned how to communicate, she went to therapy and she wouldn't talk about what happened. They would ask her about that night and she was too traumatized. PTSD. Yeah. The therapist finally told her to write what happened and write down the name of who had shot her and then they would just burn it because...

It wasn't like she was admitting to it if it was getting burned. And the therapist wouldn't look at it. So they kept doing this until over and over and over until she wasn't ready to burn it anymore and she was ready to read it. And so finally when the therapist read it, she went and told the prosecutors the truth. She said that that night Diane had randomly pulled over on the side of a quiet road and

and got out and got something from the trunk. This is what the daughter wrote? Yeah, she's telling this to the prosecutors. Okay, the therapist is telling this to the prosecutors. Yes. Okay. So Diane had randomly pulled over on the side of a quiet road and got out to get something from the trunk. She got back in, kneeled on the front seat,

and began shooting Christy and her siblings. Oh my gosh. She then shot herself, wrapped her arm up in a towel, and drove slowly to the hospital. So this is what I think is, I mean, that whole paragraph I just read is atrocious. Yeah. But as a mom, she wrapped her own wound...

And continued driving, but didn't wrap any of the children's clothes. Oh, yeah. I mean, she obviously didn't care about. I don't have any kids, but I have your siblings. I have people in my life that I care dearly for. And I would always, instinctively, not even thinking about it, make sure that they were being taken care of. Oh, I think that's a natural instinct. Yeah. 100%. Diane continued to put off the police.

By claiming that the man might have known her, but the police obviously did not believe her. And on February 28th, 1984, after Christy had admitted what happened, nine months after the tragedy, Diane Downs was arrested and charged with murder, attempted murder, and criminal assault for her three children. Wow. Diane ended up getting pregnant again. Oh my gosh. Before going to trial.

And it came to be discovered that she showed up to someone who she used to deliver mail to.

like on her route. She just showed up to this man's house with whiskey and some pot and slept with him randomly. So she, it was a hundred percent on purpose. She's, she claims that she was missing her children so much that she needed another one and she knew she was ovulating. Whoa, this lady's crazy. Yeah. So the trial began May 10th, 1984 and lasted six weeks. That

Diane was so super pregnant at the trial. And so the prosecution was worried because how do you convict a nine month pregnant woman to life in prison for killing her children? Well, one of her children. That's a good point.

So prosecutor Fred Hugie laid the state's case out and Diane's daughter, Christy, testified against her own mother, which is a really big deal. It is super traumatic, not only for children to revisit the trauma they've been to and talk about it, but to get up in front of an audience and in front of their own mother who's sitting in front of them and talk about it.

Yeah, because I think it would be easier if that girl was older, like me, right? Because I know logically, like, what? My mom just tried to kill me. But she wasn't that old. I mean, old enough to know what happened, but. Exactly, which probably made it so hard. That's crazy. So during the trial, the prosecutor even played the song Hungry Like a Wolf because that was the song that Christy claims was playing on the radio when her mom started shooting her and her siblings, killing one of them.

And when they play the song for the jury and everyone, Diane is sitting obviously next to her team. Yeah. And she starts dancing. Like just, you know, clapping along, moving her head, nodding her head, tapping her feet to the song that she killed one of her children to, but shot the rest of her children. And so...

Obviously, her person was like, her defense team was like, stop, stop. What are you doing? Stop, you know? Yeah. She's just grooving out in the middle of court. The defense claimed that Diane's father had sexually abused her and that was her reason for being promiscuous, getting pregnant again and her inappropriate behavior. The jury found Diane guilty on all charges. All the evidence was stacked against her.

So she's going to be in there for life. Wow.

Diane gave birth to her fourth child who was named Amy, but she was immediately removed from Diane and adopted. She was given a new name of Rebecca Babcock and Diane's father denied the accusation of incest and Diane later recanted the claim stating she was only doing it to try to help the trial. Okay, so can we go back for a second to the car? So she just pulled over.

all of them. Like there was no other information. Just shot them and. Yeah. She pulled over, got the gun out of the trunk, came back and kneeled on her front seat, which is why the blood splatter. So what she claimed was the bushy haired man leaned in through the window and shot them. So that's why she kneeled. Yes. So she opened her door and kneeled and her whole

Her whole story with the bushy haired man doesn't make sense because think about this time. It's what the 80s. Yeah. And she's driving a car, which most likely was not a push to start. Am I correct? Yes, you are correct. So she claims that he she had taken the keys out. Right. Yep. And then pretended to throw them. But then so that he could go get them. But then somehow got back in the car and somehow hungry like a wolf was playing.

Would music still play if a car wasn't started? Yeah, if you turn your key, at least in my truck that I had. But she claimed that she had the keys outside of the car. The key was not in the ignition. Oh, well then no, I don't think it would. I don't know. I can't remember. I don't think it would. I feel like sometimes when I would take my keys out, it would actually play until I opened my door. Yeah, but her door would have been open. She'd gotten out to talk to the guy. Yeah, they probably wouldn't have. So from the get-go, the story just didn't make sense in general. Yeah.

So, her father, who she claimed sexually abused her, still believes to this day that Diane is innocent. And he is offering $100,000 to anyone who can offer information on the man, the bushy-haired man, who shot her and her children. If anybody finds the bushy-haired man and let me know, I'd be really interested. I just think it's like parents can't accept. I don't know. I'm not a parent. Unless, I don't know, maybe, is he still alive? I don't know. Oh.

So on July 11th, 1987, Diane actually escapes the correctional center by scaling a barbed wire fence. Was she pregnant? No. Okay. But still, this girl. And she claims that she was looking for the bushy haired stranger that had hurt her children. Oh my gosh. But she was recaptured 10 days later and she received an additional five year sentence for the escape.

And was moved to California after the attempt because the prosecutor who adopted her two children was scared that she was coming back for the kids. And he didn't live that far away from the correctional center. Yeah. Might I just add, when she escaped prison, she went to a, they found her at a house of an inmate's husband. So someone that she was in prison with, a girl, said, oh yeah, this is where I live. And then she went to that address and was sleeping with the inmate's husband. That's where they found her.

Out of all the, she could have escaped. Like she could have left the country. No, she went just a little bit of ways. Cause it was 10 days. Yeah. What? Yeah. So she was eligible for parole in 2008, but claimed her innocence and was denied. I mean,

I don't know. It seems like sometimes to get parole, you have to say you're guilty. Yeah. Which is kind of hard if there's people who aren't guilty. Yeah. But yeah, I don't know. So I don't, I don't know. But she has continuously changed her story around even accusing the police of being guilty.

the bushy haired man. And she received a second parole hearing just in 2010 and refused to take responsibility again. And so she was denied and she will be eligible for parole again this year in 2020. So she's still in prison? Yes, in California. Okay. So the interviews...

for this story that was on the media because it blew up were so bad. I think it was the main reason that America prosecuted her, not the jury, but like everyone thought she was guilty because of the interviews which she was giving. And we see this with narcissistic psychotic behavior. There's interviews where she talks about the blood spilling out of her daughter's mouth while she was driving. And then she like finishes up the sentence with a smile.

Like, oh, yeah, the blood was just spilling out of her mouth. She laughs when she's reenacting the gruesome shootings. Like, she's going, oh, he came to the car and he did this. And she's all chuckling and, like, making light conversation with the people. She claims that they were out sightseeing that day. And she just talks so nonchalantly about the death of one of her children and the attempted deaths of the others. That's crazy. I'm surprised that the...

Her defense team didn't try to claim insanity. I know. Because she sounds like she's a little bit crazy. I bet she wouldn't have let them. That's the type she is. Yeah, she seems like, yep. Okay, that's a good point. So she also complains in interviews that people were calling her lucky. Like someone was like, well, do you find yourself lucky? I mean, your children were severely injured and you just got shot in your arm.

And she was like, I don't count myself lucky. I can't eat. I haven't been able to tie my shoes for two months. My kids were lucky because they just died. They didn't have to endure this pain of having to go through the pain that I'm living with. Okay. Well, I'm glad she's in prison. Yeah.

That's crazy. So yeah, those interviews, you can look them up on YouTube. Just Diane Downs interviews. She's so creepy. She laughs. She smiles. It's so eerie. That's nuts. Yeah. And I'll put, I will post some of these clips and images on our social media. So go follow us. We are murder with my husband on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Also, those are linked in the episode notes as well as all of our sources. Yeah. We are continuing to do one a week. Yeah.

every single week. Yeah. We've been getting a lot of good feedback on our social media. So if you're interested in joining in those conversations or, you know, kind of seeing what other people were thinking about some of these murders, go check those out. And we can start like discussions on Facebook or Instagram. I don't know anything. Totally.

And also, well, my wife can. Yeah. Just remember that a share, a like, a follow word of mouth really, truly helps us out leaving reviews and,

I mean, we really want to keep doing this and we really want to take it farther. So we're trying to work on, you know, doing that on our end. And we would really appreciate the help on your end. Yeah. Like, please leave a review if you can. Like my wife said on Spotify, Apple, whatever it is, it really does help. Yeah, we would love that. And yeah, that is the story of Diane Downs. I love it. And I hate it. Goodbye.