Diane Downs: Sociopath Mom Denied Parole

Diane Downs was denied parole yesterday by the state of Oregon. The parole board informed Downs, in their view, Diane Downs was still a danger to society, that she minimized her crimes, and was less than honest.

The Oregon parole board deliberated two hours after 53-yr-old Downs answered questions via closed-circuit television from Valley State Prison for Women in Chowchilla, California.

Diane Downs was convicted in July of 1984 of murdering her 7-yr-old daughter Cheryl and the attempted murder of 8-yr-old daughter Christie and 3-yr-old son Danny. Downs received a life sentence plus 55 years for the use of a firearm used in conjunction of a crime. Yesterday was Downs first appearance before the parole board. Oregon law mandates Downs will be eligible for parole every 2 years.

The hearing lasted almost three hours. Part of the consideration of whether the three member board would grant Downs parole hinged upon whether Downs had accepted responsibility for her crimes. During the hearing Downs denied she shot her children.

‘I’m an intelligent woman,’ she told the board. ‘You’ve seen my IQ. It’s three points shy of genius. I’m not a stupid woman. . . . If I wanted to shoot my children . . . there was a whole lot of milk carton kids going around back then. That was the big thing. If someone had wanted to make their children disappear, she’d just have to make them disappear and cry wolf. I took them to the hospital to get help because I wanted them alive.”

Downs told the board she had been married since September of 1981 and that she wouldn’t let her husband visit her in prison.

‘My foolishness, my narrow-mindedness and Pollyanna (ways) have allowed too many disasters to come into my life for me to allow a hug, a kiss and a soda pop in the visiting room to risk my family.’

Downs claimed her husband had been killed in 2002 and that she was already engaged to another man with whom she had corresponded by mail.

When Downs was asked if there anything she was sorry for she responded she was sad her daughter Cheryl had died and would never have children.

‘I will never have grandchildren.’ Downs said.

Yesterday I wrote about Downs, Diane Downs, Small Sacrifices Murder Mom, up For Parole, and Downs’ crimes against her children and Downs’ past.

Diane Downs claimed she loved being pregnant, which was true. When Downs was 28 and entered prison in 1984 for shooting three of her children, Downs had been pregnant 6 times.

Downs had five babies. Christie was born in October of 1974. Cheryl, Downs’ second child, was born January of 1976. In between Cheryl and Danny, who was born in 1979, Diane had an abortion. Danny’s father was a 19-yr-old coworker of Diane’s. Diane’s husband Steve accepted Danny as his own, while Downs allowed the coworker to visit the Danny whenever she needed a babysitter.

In May of 1982, Downs gave birth as a surrogate mother in Kentucky. During this period, Downs was featured in an article in the Washington Post about surrogate mothers. While Downs was painted in a flattering light, her own children were severely neglected at home. Christie, at age 6, was left to babysit 5-yr-old Cheryl and 15-month-old Danny. At age three, Cheryl told a neighbor Downs threatened to kill her because Cheryl was ‘bad’.

Downs’ last child, a girl, was born in 1984 when Downs was in jail. The baby was adopted.

Diane Downs aborted, shot, sold, or gave up for adoption her five children.

Downs divorced Steve in the spring of 1981. Downs’ claim to the parole board, she remarried September of 1981, must have been a surprise as there is no record of another marriage for Downs after her divorce from Steve.

Downs’ was diagnosed as neurotic and suffering from Histrionic Personality Disorder, or HPD, by a psychiatrist assigned to evaluate Downs as a potential surrogate mother. Even though she was diagnosed a neurotic with symptoms of HPD, Downs was accepted as a surrogate mother.

Histrionic Personality Disorder, HPD

HPD is a personality disorder related to narcissism.

HPD is the only personality disorder linked to physical appearance. Researchers found individuals diagnosed with HPD generally have above average looks.

-Have a strong need to be the center of attention,

-Exaggerate, throw temper tantrums and cry if they perceive they aren’t the center of attention,

-Are naive, gullible, have low frustration levels and strong dependency needs,

-In personal relationships they use dramatization in order to impress others,

-Lack cognitive skills such as reasoning, learning, thinking, understanding, making decisions, and using memory.

Some symptoms of HPD include inappropriate sexual or provocative behaviors towards others and an overestimation of the level of intimacy in a relationship.

Downs was paid $10,000 when she successfully delivered the baby in Kentucky in May of 1982.

Downs formed her own surrogate company in Chandler, Arizona, in 1983. During this time period Downs was accepted a second time as a surrogate mother in Kentucky. In September, when Downs was about to travel to Kentucky for artificial insemination, she discovered she had a sexually transmitted disease. Downs blamed the disease on her lover, a married coworker named Nick (A pseudonym). According to Nick, he’d slept with his wife ‘Nora’ and with Downs.

When Nick broke off the relationship with Downs, she responded by ‘throwing a fit unlike Nick had ever seen’. Nick allegedly told Downs he never wanted to have children. According to Nick, Downs harassed Nick and Nora with phone calls. Nora, fed up with Down’s behavior, called the surrogate agency in Kentucky and informed them about Downs including the sexually transmitted disease. The agency terminated their contract with Downs. Downs surrogate agency folded.

Downs continued to obsess over Nick. In February of 1983, she relocated to Springfield, Oregon, where her parents resided. Downs continued to call and write Nick letters. In May, a frantic Diane Downs showed up at a hospital, her three children critically injured with gunshot wounds, inside her car.

Downs told the authorities a ‘bushy haired stranger’ stopped her car on a desolate road then demanded her car. Downs claimed when she refused, the man pulled a pistol from under his jacket, reached into her car and shot all three of her children. Downs claimed she fought the man for her car keys and was shot in the forearm. Downs claimed she jumped in her car and frantically raced to the hospital.

During the trial a witness testified they passed a car which matched the description of Downs’ vehicle traveling ’5 to 7 mph’. Prosecutors believe the witness saw Downs’ car during the time period after she shot her kids.

Downs’ behavior at the hospital immediately raised red flags with hospital employees. Downs’ concern, according to witnesses, she wasn’t wearing makeup. Downs spoke to a detective more about Nick–how he was a great lover–than her critically injured children. The first person she called when she arrived at the hospital was Nick, and not her parents.

Link to video of Downs talking about future relationships.

A link to Downs speaking to the parole book about the book, All Night, All Day, Angels Walking Over Me. Downs claimed she was given the book four days prior to her hearing.

The link to the parole board’s decision.

Source – Oregon Live – Diane Downs Denied Parole
Source – Oregon Live – In prison, Elizabeth Diane Downs’ imagination runs free
Image – Diane Downs Parole Hearing

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