Diane Downs
Diane Downs
What do you think about the murder case of Diane Downs who was convicted of murder and attempted murder of her own children?
On May 19, 1983, Downs shot her three children: Stephen Daniel Downs (born December 29, 1979, age 3), Cheryl Lynn Downs (born January 10, 1976, age 7) and Christie Ann Downs (born October 7, 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 was carjacked on a rural road near Springfield, Oregon, by a strange man who shot her and her three children. Investigators, however, became suspicious when they noticed her manner was too calm to have experienced such a traumatic event. Their suspicions heightened when Downs went to see Christie for the first time; Christie's eyes glazed over with fear and her heart rate jumped. Ref.
Source 2This case was later made into a movie called "Small Sacrifices". You can review the movie here:
Source 3Diane Downs purposely got herself pregnant so when she was brought to trial she could gain public sympathy. When the baby was born she seemed to not be interested in the child who some people nicknamed "The Child of a Monster".
Diane Downs was diagnosed with three personality disorders including narcissism, sociopath and something else I couldn't quite catch from a 20/20 report.