Diane Downs Children

Case background and investigation

On the night of May 19, 1983, Diane Downs, a 27-year-old postal worker, arrived at a hospital in Springfield, Oregon, with her three children, all of whom had been shot. According to ABC News, seven-year-old Cheryl died, while eight-year-old Christie and three-year-old Danny survived with serious wounds. Downs had a gunshot wound to her left arm. Later reporting describes lasting injuries to both survivors: UPI reported at the time of the verdict that Christie was left with a speech impediment and limited use of one arm, and that Danny was paralysed.

Downs told police that a stranger with bushy hair had flagged her down on a rural road, demanded her car at gunpoint and opened fire on the children. Wikipedia's account, which draws on contemporary Oregon newspapers and Ann Rule's book, places the scene on Old Mohawk Road shortly before 10:30 pm. Investigators doubted the story. Inside Edition reported that authorities found her manner detached, that her account shifted, and that no blood spatter was found on the driver's side of the car.

Downs was arrested on February 28, 1984, nine months after the shooting, according to ABC News. Prosecutors argued that she wanted to be free of her children in order to pursue a relationship with a married man in Arizona who did not want children. A central part of the state's case was the testimony of Christie, who, Inside Edition reported, told the court that her mother stopped the car, took something from the trunk and shot the children.

UPI reported that the jury of nine women and three men returned guilty verdicts on June 17, 1984, after a 31-day trial and about 36 hours of deliberation. Downs was heavily pregnant at the time; the daughter she gave birth to shortly afterwards was placed for adoption, ABC News reported. ABC News gives her sentence as life plus 50 years. The two surviving children were adopted by the prosecutor who tried the case, according to the same report.

Downs escaped from the women's prison in Salem, Oregon, on July 11, 1987, and was recaptured on July 21, ABC News reported. The case became widely known through Ann Rule's 1987 book Small Sacrifices and a later television film.

Downs has always maintained that she is innocent. According to Wikipedia, her first parole hearing was held in December 2008 and later hearings followed, all ending in denial. KPTV reported that after a virtual hearing in October 2025 the Oregon parole board again refused release on December 16, 2025, finding that she has a mental or emotional disturbance that makes her a danger to others, and that she cannot petition again until 2031.