Diane Downs
Encyclopedia
Elizabeth Diane Frederickson Downs (born August 7, 1955) is an American convicted murder
er. She shot her three children, killing one, and then told police a stranger had attempted to carjack her and had shot the children. After her conviction in 1984, she was sentenced to life in prison.
Downs briefly escaped in 1987 and was re-captured. She is the subject of a book by Ann Rule
and a made-for-TV movie based upon it, both called Small Sacrifices
. She was denied parole
in December 2008 and again in December 2010.
, to Wes and Willadene Frederickson on August 7, 1955. She alleges that her father molested her when she was a child. She graduated from Moon Valley High School
in Phoenix where she met her husband, Steve Downs. After high school, she enrolled at Pacific Coast Baptist Bible College
in Orange, California
, but after a year, she was expelled for promiscuity and returned to her parents’ home. On November 13, 1973, she married Steve Downs. They were divorced in 1980, about a year after the birth of Stephen "Danny" Downs.
Downs was employed as a U.S. postal worker assigned to the mail routes in the city of Cottage Grove, Oregon before her 1983 arrest and trial.
, by a strange man who shot her and her three children. Investigators, however, became suspicious when they decided her manner was too calm for that of a person who had experienced such a traumatic event
.
Their suspicions heightened when Downs went to see Christie, now unable to speak since suffering a stroke, for the first time; Christie's eyes glazed over with apparent fear and her heart rate jumped dramatically. They also discovered that Downs had called a man in Arizona
named Robert Knickerbocker immediately upon arriving at the hospital, a married man with whom she had been having an affair. The forensic evidence did not match Downs' story; there was no blood on the driver's side of the car, nor was there any gunpowder residue on the driver's panel. Downs did not tell police she owned a .22 caliber handgun, but both Steve Downs (her ex-husband) and Knickerbocker (her boyfriend) said she did own one.
Investigators later discovered she had bought the handgun in Arizona, and found unfired casings that had been worked through the same gun that shot the children, although they were unable to find the actual weapon. Most damaging, witnesses saw Downs's car being driven very slowly toward the hospital at an estimated speed of five to seven mph
—Downs had claimed that she drove there at high speed after the shooting. Based on this and other evidence, Downs was arrested nine months after the event, on February 28, 1984, and charged with murder, attempted murder, and criminal assault.
Downs was found guilty on all charges on June 17, 1984, and was sentenced to life in prison
plus fifty years. Psychologists diagnosed Downs with narcissistic
, histrionic
, and antisocial
personality disorder
s. Most of her sentence is to be served consecutively. The judge made it clear that he did not wish Downs ever to regain her freedom.
Prior to her arrest and trial, Downs became pregnant again with a fourth child, and gave birth to a girl she named Amy a month after her 1984 trial. Ten days before her sentencing, the baby was seized by the State of Oregon and adopted soon after. She was renamed Rebecca "Becky" Babcock.
Downs escaped from the Oregon Women's Correctional Center
of the Oregon Department of Corrections
on July 11, 1987, and was recaptured in Salem, Oregon
on July 21. She received a five-year sentence for the escape.
After her escape, she was housed in the New Jersey Department of Corrections
Clinton Correctional Institution. In 1994, after serving ten years, Downs was transferred to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
. While in prison, Downs has earned an associate's college degree in general studies. As of 2010, she is located in the Valley State Prison for Women
.
Author Ann Rule
wrote the book Small Sacrifices
in 1987, detailing the life of Downs. A made-for-TV movie called Small Sacrifices
, starring Farrah Fawcett
as Downs, was released in 1989.
Diane Downs's last child, born shortly after her trial concluded, appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show
on October 22, 2010 and 20/20
July 1, 2011.
law as a dangerous offender
, she will be eligible for a parole consideration hearing every two years until she is released or dies in prison.
In her first application for parole in 2008, Downs reaffirmed her innocence: "Over the years, I have told you and the rest of the world that a man shot me and my children. I have never changed my story." Downs' first parole hearing was on December 9, 2008. Lane County
District Attorney Douglas Harcleroad wrote to the parole board: "Downs continues to fail to demonstrate any honest insight into her criminal behavior ... Even after her convictions, she continues to fabricate new versions of events under which the crimes occurred." She alternately refers to her assailants as a "bushy-haired stranger", two men wearing ski masks, or drug dealers and corrupt law enforcement officials.
Downs participated in the hearing from the Valley State Prison for Women
in Chowchilla, California
. She was not permitted a statement, but answered questions from the parole board. After three hours of interviews and thirty minutes of deliberation, Diane Downs was denied parole. Downs was eligible to reapply for parole in 2010.
Downs faced her second parole hearing on December 10, 2010. She was denied parole, and, under a new law, will not be eligible for parole for another ten years; thus, she will have to wait until 2020 before she can apply for parole, when she will be sixty-five.
Murder
Murder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
er. She shot her three children, killing one, and then told police a stranger had attempted to carjack her and had shot the children. After her conviction in 1984, she was sentenced to life in prison.
Downs briefly escaped in 1987 and was re-captured. She is the subject of a book by Ann Rule
Ann Rule
Ann Rule is an American true crime writer.-Personal life:Ann Rule was born on October 22, 1935 in Lowell, Michigan to Chester R. "Stack" Stackhouse and Sophie Hansen. Her mother was a school teacher, specializing in developmentally disabled children and her father was a basketball, football and...
and a made-for-TV movie based upon it, both called Small Sacrifices
Small Sacrifices
Small Sacrifices is a 1989 made-for-TV movie based on the best-selling true crime book by Ann Rule of the same name. The film is about Diane Downs and the murder and attempted murder of her three children. It stars Farrah Fawcett, Ryan O'Neal, Gordon Clapp, John Shea and Emily Perkins...
. She was denied parole
Parole
Parole may have different meanings depending on the field and judiciary system. All of the meanings originated from the French parole . Following its use in late-resurrected Anglo-French chivalric practice, the term became associated with the release of prisoners based on prisoners giving their...
in December 2008 and again in December 2010.
Early life
Elizabeth Diane Frederickson was born in Phoenix, ArizonaPhoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
, to Wes and Willadene Frederickson on August 7, 1955. She alleges that her father molested her when she was a child. She graduated from Moon Valley High School
Moon Valley High School
Moon Valley High School is located in Phoenix, Arizona, USA, and is a part of the Glendale Union High School District. It is currently home to more than 1677 students and 100 faculty members. Moon Valley is one of Arizona's leading educational establishments and is an excelling school according to...
in Phoenix where she met her husband, Steve Downs. After high school, she enrolled at Pacific Coast Baptist Bible College
Heartland Baptist Bible College
Heartland Baptist Bible College is an unaccredited Independent Fundamental Baptist Bible college in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, which offers undergraduate diplomas in pastoral theology, missions, youth, Christian ministries, music education, Christian education , and secretarial science...
in Orange, California
Orange, California
Southern California is well-known for year-round pleasant weather: - On average, the warmest month is August. - The highest recorded temperature was in 1985. - On average, the coolest month is December. - The lowest recorded temperature was in 1950...
, but after a year, she was expelled for promiscuity and returned to her parents’ home. On November 13, 1973, she married Steve Downs. They were divorced in 1980, about a year after the birth of Stephen "Danny" Downs.
Downs was employed as a U.S. postal worker assigned to the mail routes in the city of Cottage Grove, Oregon before her 1983 arrest and trial.
Murder
On May 19, 1983, Downs shot her three children: Stephen Daniel Downs (born 1979, age 3), Cheryl Lynn Downs (born 1976, age 7) and Christie Ann Downs (born 1974, age 8). Downs drove the children in the blood spattered car to the McKenzie-Willamette Hospital. On arrival, Cheryl was already dead. Downs herself had been shot in the left forearm. Downs claimed she had been carjacked on a rural road near Springfield, OregonSpringfield, Oregon
Springfield is a city in Lane County, Oregon, United States. Located in the Southern Willamette Valley, it is within the Eugene-Springfield Metropolitan Statistical Area. Separated from Eugene to the west, mainly by Interstate 5, Springfield is the second-most populous city in the metropolitan area...
, by a strange man who shot her and her three children. Investigators, however, became suspicious when they decided her manner was too calm for that of a person who had experienced such a traumatic event
Traumatic event
A traumatic event is an event that is or may be a cause of trauma. The term may refer to one of the followiong:*Traumatic event , an event associated with a physical trauma...
.
Their suspicions heightened when Downs went to see Christie, now unable to speak since suffering a stroke, for the first time; Christie's eyes glazed over with apparent fear and her heart rate jumped dramatically. They also discovered that Downs had called a man in Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
named Robert Knickerbocker immediately upon arriving at the hospital, a married man with whom she had been having an affair. The forensic evidence did not match Downs' story; there was no blood on the driver's side of the car, nor was there any gunpowder residue on the driver's panel. Downs did not tell police she owned a .22 caliber handgun, but both Steve Downs (her ex-husband) and Knickerbocker (her boyfriend) said she did own one.
Investigators later discovered she had bought the handgun in Arizona, and found unfired casings that had been worked through the same gun that shot the children, although they were unable to find the actual weapon. Most damaging, witnesses saw Downs's car being driven very slowly toward the hospital at an estimated speed of five to seven mph
MPH
MPH is a three-letter acronym that refers to miles per hour, a measurement of speedMPH may also refer to:* Make Poverty History, a campaign supported by Bob Geldof to end poverty in Africa...
—Downs had claimed that she drove there at high speed after the shooting. Based on this and other evidence, Downs was arrested nine months after the event, on February 28, 1984, and charged with murder, attempted murder, and criminal assault.
Prosecution
Prosecutors argued that Downs shot her children to be free of them so that she could continue her affair with Knickerbocker, who had let it be known that he did not want children in his life. Much of the case against Downs rested on the testimony of surviving daughter Christie Downs who, once she had recovered her ability to speak, described how her mother shot all three children while parked at the side of the road, then shot herself in the arm. Christie was eight years old at the time of the murder and nine years old at the time of the trial.Downs was found guilty on all charges on June 17, 1984, and was sentenced to life in prison
Life imprisonment
Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...
plus fifty years. Psychologists diagnosed Downs with narcissistic
Narcissistic personality disorder
Narcissistic personality disorder is a personality disorder in which the individual is described as being excessively preoccupied with issues of personal adequacy, power, prestige and vanity...
, histrionic
Histrionic personality disorder
Histrionic personality disorder is defined by the American Psychiatric Association as a personality disorder characterized by a pattern of excessive emotionality and attention-seeking, including an excessive need for approval and inappropriately seductive behavior, usually beginning in early...
, and antisocial
Antisocial personality disorder
Antisocial personality disorder is described by the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, fourth edition , as an Axis II personality disorder characterized by "...a pervasive pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others that begins in childhood...
personality disorder
Personality disorder
Personality disorders, formerly referred to as character disorders, are a class of personality types and behaviors. Personality disorders are noted on Axis II of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders or DSM-IV-TR of the American Psychiatric Association.Personality disorders are...
s. Most of her sentence is to be served consecutively. The judge made it clear that he did not wish Downs ever to regain her freedom.
Aftermath
The surviving children eventually went to live with one of the prosecutors of the case, Fred Hugi. He and his wife Joanne adopted them in 1984.Prior to her arrest and trial, Downs became pregnant again with a fourth child, and gave birth to a girl she named Amy a month after her 1984 trial. Ten days before her sentencing, the baby was seized by the State of Oregon and adopted soon after. She was renamed Rebecca "Becky" Babcock.
Downs escaped from the Oregon Women's Correctional Center
Oregon State Penitentiary
Oregon State Penitentiary , the first state prison in Oregon, United States, was originally located in Portland in 1851. In 1866 it was moved to a site in Salem and enclosed by a reinforced concrete wall averaging in height...
of the Oregon Department of Corrections
Oregon Department of Corrections
The Oregon Department of Corrections is the agency of the U.S. state of Oregon charged with managing a system of 14 state prisons since its creation by the state legislature in 1987...
on July 11, 1987, and was recaptured in Salem, Oregon
Salem, Oregon
Salem is the capital of the U.S. state of Oregon, and the county seat of Marion County. It is located in the center of the Willamette Valley alongside the Willamette River, which runs north through the city. The river forms the boundary between Marion and Polk counties, and the city neighborhood...
on July 21. She received a five-year sentence for the escape.
After her escape, she was housed in the New Jersey Department of Corrections
New Jersey Department of Corrections
The New Jersey Department of Corrections is responsible for operations and management of prison facilities in the U.S. state of New Jersey...
Clinton Correctional Institution. In 1994, after serving ten years, Downs was transferred to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is responsible for the operation of the California state prison and parole systems. CDC&R is the second largest law enforcement or police agency in the United States behind the New York City Police Department which employs approximately...
. While in prison, Downs has earned an associate's college degree in general studies. As of 2010, she is located in the Valley State Prison for Women
Valley State Prison for Women
Valley State Prison for Women is a state prison for women in Chowchilla, California. It is across the road from Central California Women's Facility.-Facilities:...
.
Author Ann Rule
Ann Rule
Ann Rule is an American true crime writer.-Personal life:Ann Rule was born on October 22, 1935 in Lowell, Michigan to Chester R. "Stack" Stackhouse and Sophie Hansen. Her mother was a school teacher, specializing in developmentally disabled children and her father was a basketball, football and...
wrote the book Small Sacrifices
Small Sacrifices
Small Sacrifices is a 1989 made-for-TV movie based on the best-selling true crime book by Ann Rule of the same name. The film is about Diane Downs and the murder and attempted murder of her three children. It stars Farrah Fawcett, Ryan O'Neal, Gordon Clapp, John Shea and Emily Perkins...
in 1987, detailing the life of Downs. A made-for-TV movie called Small Sacrifices
Small Sacrifices
Small Sacrifices is a 1989 made-for-TV movie based on the best-selling true crime book by Ann Rule of the same name. The film is about Diane Downs and the murder and attempted murder of her three children. It stars Farrah Fawcett, Ryan O'Neal, Gordon Clapp, John Shea and Emily Perkins...
, starring Farrah Fawcett
Farrah Fawcett
Farrah Fawcett was an American actress and artist. A multiple Golden Globe and Emmy Award nominee, Fawcett rose to international fame when she first appeared as private investigator Jill Munroe in the first season of the television series Charlie's Angels, in 1976...
as Downs, was released in 1989.
Diane Downs's last child, born shortly after her trial concluded, appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show
The Oprah Winfrey Show
The Oprah Winfrey Show is an American syndicated talk show hosted and produced by its namesake Oprah Winfrey. It ran nationally for 25 seasons beginning in 1986, before concluding in 2011. It is the highest-rated talk show in American television history....
on October 22, 2010 and 20/20
20/20
20/20 is an American "television newsmagazine", , broadcast on ABC since June 6, 1978. Created by ABC News executive Roone Arledge, the show was designed similarly to CBS's 60 Minutes but focuses more on human interest stories than international and political subjects...
July 1, 2011.
Parole hearing
Downs's sentence makes her eligible for parole consideration after serving 25 years, and under OregonOregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
law as a dangerous offender
Dangerous offender
In Canada and England and Wales, certain convicted persons may be designated as dangerous offenders and subject to a longer, or indefinite, term of preventive detention in order to protect the public.-Canada:...
, she will be eligible for a parole consideration hearing every two years until she is released or dies in prison.
In her first application for parole in 2008, Downs reaffirmed her innocence: "Over the years, I have told you and the rest of the world that a man shot me and my children. I have never changed my story." Downs' first parole hearing was on December 9, 2008. Lane County
Lane County, Oregon
-National protected areas:*Oregon Islands National Wildlife Refuge *Siuslaw National Forest *Umpqua National Forest *Willamette National Forest -Government:...
District Attorney Douglas Harcleroad wrote to the parole board: "Downs continues to fail to demonstrate any honest insight into her criminal behavior ... Even after her convictions, she continues to fabricate new versions of events under which the crimes occurred." She alternately refers to her assailants as a "bushy-haired stranger", two men wearing ski masks, or drug dealers and corrupt law enforcement officials.
Downs participated in the hearing from the Valley State Prison for Women
Valley State Prison for Women
Valley State Prison for Women is a state prison for women in Chowchilla, California. It is across the road from Central California Women's Facility.-Facilities:...
in Chowchilla, California
Chowchilla, California
Chowchilla is a city in Madera County, California, United States. Chowchilla is located northwest of Madera, at an elevation of 240 feet . It is a principal city of the Madera–Chowchilla Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 18,720 at the 2010 census, up from 11,127 at the 2000...
. She was not permitted a statement, but answered questions from the parole board. After three hours of interviews and thirty minutes of deliberation, Diane Downs was denied parole. Downs was eligible to reapply for parole in 2010.
Downs faced her second parole hearing on December 10, 2010. She was denied parole, and, under a new law, will not be eligible for parole for another ten years; thus, she will have to wait until 2020 before she can apply for parole, when she will be sixty-five.
Further reading
- Rule, Ann. Small Sacrifices. New York: Signet, 1987. ISBN-0-451-166660-4