True crime documentary series following the disappearance of 14-year-old Charlene Downes. A staff writer for All Thats Interesting, Marco Margaritoff has also published work at outlets including People, VICE, and Complex, covering everything from film to finance to technology. Sometimes lust can become lethal for a woman. On June 17, 1984, a jury found Diane Downs guilty of murder and attempted murder. Though the film's title is quite catchy, some studio execs weren't sold. 4.7 out of 5 stars 3,152. At birth, her parents named her Elizabeth Diane Frederickson. An autopsy revealed that Kayleigh had 41 distinguishable injuries all over her body and had died two days before she was found. kturnquist@oregonian.com 503-221-8227 @Kristiturnquist. "I think we kind of maybe subconsciously watched for any signs of anything unusual," said Jackie Babcock. Downs had vowed that she would get her children back, so her escape . I don't. . She has a brilliant mind with no conscience to guide it. Despite her troubled past and remaining in jail, her daughter Babcock still chose to send her biological mom letters in prison. Christie and Cheryl were a product of Diane's marriage to her ex-husband, Stephen (Danny) Downs. Related content. . Becky Babcock's biological mom is Diane Downs Credit: ABC NEws. Downs and some of her family continue to maintain her innocence and claim a convicted felon has confessed to shooting the children. She confessed and was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison. Cops found her ten days later living with another inmate's husband. Maria McFadden Maffucci. In August 2020, Smith was sentenced to life in prison. Becky had no idea what she was about to watch. She was interviewed by 20/20 in 2010, among other outlets. 01:20:35. Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement, and Your Privacy Choices and Rights (each updated 1/26/2023). Her children were often seen unkempt and appeared malnourished. She received a five-year additional sentence for the escape. ", Former Lane County District Attorney Pat Horton explained: "Her demeanor at the hospital did not conform to a traditional grieving mother whose children had just been shot, one murdered, the other two seriously clinging to life. "I asked the babysitter and I made it sound as if I knew," Babcock said. 1989. "It was a face to what I had been looking for and it wasn't a face that I wanted to see. New interviews and details - Tonight at 9/8c on ABC. And so begins a wild tale of murder, sexual abuse, and mental health. 1-16 of 539 results for "small sacrifices movie" RESULTS. It was a childhood straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting. She decided to put her baby up for adoption. Over the course of six letters, Downs' paranoia and psychosis came into full view. When you visit this site, it may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. Cops found her ten days later living with another inmate's husband. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. Over the years, she has told her story numerous times and has been seen on 20/20,The Oprah Winfrey Show,Kids of Killers, and the Happy Face podcast series. So Downs decided to murder them so she could be with him. Jessie Buckley goes full Hollywood glam in a glitzy floor length dress . Diane was born on August 7, 1955, in Phoenix, Arizona. I had no concern for myself.". Family PhotoDiane Downs and her children, Danny, Christie, and Cheryl. The two would graduate together but briefly part, as Diane Downs enrolled at Pacific Coast Baptist Bible College in Orange, California, and Steve enlisted in the U.S. Navy. During the documentary, Babcock reacted to viewing her biological mom's creepy 2010 parole hearing. It made me physically sick to think about hurting my child in any way. Becky Babcock, the fourth and youngest child of Downs, explained in the documentary MY MOTHER'S SINS the reasoning behind why she began writing letters to her jailed mom. Viewers of ABC's 20/20's true crime documentary aboutDiane Downs have gotten a deeper look into the mom's life. Kitaplk. What did Bob Proctor say about the Law of Attraction in The Secret? A young woman rushed out of the driver side, shouting for help: Someone killed my kids!. THESE are the five most chilling Diane Downs documentary details from the killer mom's bizarre jail letters to a "scary book." Viewers of ABC's 20/20's true crime documentary about Diane Downs . Check out my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdxTGygvkRU4fABcuCTBLhQ, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdxTGygvkRU4fABcuCTBLhQ. On May 19, 1983, Diane Downs pulled over to the side of a rural road in Springfield, Oregon, and shot them multiple times with a .22-caliber pistol. It's our job.". The Downs documentary airs on 20/20 from 9 to 11 p.m. Friday, March 22 on ABC. When Indiana police issued an AMBER Alert for 7-year-old Liliana Hernandez and 6-year-old Rene Pasztor in September 2016, they feared the children were with their estranged mother, Amber Pasztor. The mother of three who fell in love with a married man did the unthinkable in 1983: she murdered her 7-year . Diane Downs. "It just makes my skin crawl, just to hear her voice and see her. Becky always knew she was adopted, and at an early age, she began to ask about her parentage. 45:57. Dr. Steven Wilhite opened up in the documentary about his interaction with Downs at the hospital. But she was lying: Smith ultimately admitted to letting her car roll into a lake with the boys strapped in their car seats. Just days after her conviction, Diane gave birth to a daughter. One child died, and two survived but had serious injuries. The 3-year-old was found by police dead in her bed and partially frozen. "Oh, gosh, she was adorable," Jackie Babcock told "20/20" in a recent interview. It's always white people. Sometimes lust can become lethal for a woman. But after several letters, Downs' tone changed. Jessica Edens went on a killing spree in July 2017 before turning the gun on herself. And so, on June 17, 1984, Diane Downs was convicted of all charges against her and was sentenced to life in prison plus 50 years. The new 20/20 event special Friday night at 9/8c on ABC. Babcock said the letters "progressively got more and more insane" something she noticed after asking about her biological father. ABC's "20/20" has a true crime documentary about Diane Downs, who shot her three young children in 1983, killing one and injuring two. WATCH THE FULL EPISODE OF 20/20: https://bit.ly/2uqkFD4Diane Downs laughs while reenacting shooting of 3 childrenPolice found Downs' behavior suspicious. For a young woman already struggling with her identity, the discovery was devastating. They fought about money and Steven's suspicions that Diane was cheating on him. One of them was Steven Downs, from whom she became inseparable as the pair roved the streets of Phoenix looking for fun. All of the babies were either strangled or suffocated after Huntsman gave birth to them at home, which she admitted to police. By what name was Small Sacrifices (1989) officially released in Canada in English? The baby was secretly driven to a hotel room and given to her adoptive parents, Jackie and Chris Babcock. She was sentenced to life in prison and an additional 50 years after shooting her three children, killing one. Diane Downs was sentenced to life plus 50 years and is currently incarcerated at Central California Women's Facility. View full size The Oregonian/1984 Elizabeth Diane Downs is led in handcuffs into the Lane County Courthouse by Christine Rosage on the first day of her trial on accusations that she shot her . A troubled woman uses poison to get her way, a mother's infatuation turns deadly for her children and passion twists two teens into cold-hearted killers. The part that shows when I was born, it's as close as I'd ever come to witnessing my own birth. A peculiar and disturbing case catches the attention of the police when a young mother and her children, all severely injured, show up in a hospital's emergency room. Late one May night in 1983, Diane Downs sped into an emergency room dropoff in Springfield, Ore., with a horrifying story to tell. Downs was recaptured in Salem, Oregon, on July 21. However, after exchanging words, Babcock said the letters "kept coming and were strange, to say the least.". In 1974, despite the problems in their marriage, they had their first child, Christie. Danny and Christie Ann Downs are among Diane Downs' surviving children after Cheryl Lynn died following the tragic shooting. After everything was said and done, psychiatrists diagnosed Diane with narcissistic . The film was based on her mother's life. She found brief solace in a new lover until he left her because of her children. Both she and Downs remain in prison to this day. I've fought my own battles between emotion and reason. Hours after their disappearance, the children's dead bodies were found in the backseat of a car that had been parked by Pasztor behind a police station. denied, 738 P.2d 199 (Or. S41 E27 - Deadly Dance in Texas Dr. Joseph Sonnier met his girlfriend Richelle Shetina at a dance class, and the two traveled to Paris together, just. The Babcocks knew the child they were to adopt was Diane Downs'. She often left them with her parents or ex-husband without much notice, seemingly indifferent and more interested in the affection of other men. In fact she seems never to have gone after them. I got blood all over the back of it. Becky Babcock, the fourth and youngest child of Downs, explained in the documentary MY MOTHER'S SINS the reasoning behind why she began writing letters to her jailed mom. Cookie Settings/Do Not Sell My Personal Information. Turn on desktop notifications for breaking stories about interest? In April 1983, Diane Downs moved to Springfield, Oregon, and got a job as a postal worker. After both her husband, Mark, and son, Shaun, died untimely deaths in 2012, and her then-24-year-old daughter, Sarah, was hospitalized for organ failure, Diane Staudte was charged with murdering Mark and trying to kill Sarah. 3 hr 20 mins. "It was very family-oriented as we were growing up. 79, and Diane von . Please stop writing me. Farrah Fawcett is exceptional as Diane Downs, the woman who manages to kill one out of three kids. Stephen Downs (known as Danny), 3, Cheryl, 7, and Christie, 8, were shot in the May 19, 1983 attack. She's a psycho. Then, on May 19, 1983, she drove her children down Old Mohawk Road just outside of town, pulled over to the side of the road, and shot each of her kids with a .22-caliber pistol. A must-see for crime buffs. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. Downs tried to become a surrogate but failed when the psychiatric tests indicated signs of psychosis. Her fourth baby, Amy Elizabeth, was adopted and given the name Becky . Directed by David Greene it stars Farrah Fawcett, Ryan O'Neal, Gordon Clapp, John Shea and Emily Perkins. When Becky was 17, she got pregnant and became a teenage mother -- as Diane Downs had been. Babcock still has the first letter she sent Downs. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1945. . "Stained Glass by John La Farge." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, New ser., v. 3, no. Authorities learned about the deaths after Huntsman's estranged husband, Darren West, contacted police after finding a baby wrapped in a plastic bag in the garage. Incapable of reconciling, the couple divorced in 1980. Babcock decided to reach out to Diane Downs -- her birth mother, whom she calls a monster -- in prison. Serial Killers - John George Haigh (Acid Bath Murderer) - Documentary. And I did a lot of harsh drugs. Downs escaped, was captured 10 or so days later a short distance from prison in Salem, making no attempt to flee the state. Farrah Fawcett is riveting as a murder suspect in this story about a sensational case that unfolded in Oregon in 1983. She said that opening up her mom's letter in October 2006 was like "pandora's box" as she "chose" to allowed her mom into her life. "I think her thought was, 'If she can't have them, nobody can,'" Leanne Pasztor, Amber's mother, told PEOPLE. Shortly after her death, Zadie's mother, Stephanie Diane Smith, mourned her daughter's death on Instagram. Diane Downs: With Diane Downs, Elizabeth Yardley, Lars Larson, Rex Julian Beaber. That one is Diane Downs, the American mother of three who murdered one of her offspring, and but for the skill of the doctor interviewed here, might have killed all three. A peculiar and disturbing case catches the attention of the police when a young mother and her children, all severely injured, show up in a hospital's emergency room.A peculiar and disturbing case catches the attention of the police when a young mother and her children, all severely injured, show up in a hospital's emergency room.A peculiar and disturbing case catches the attention of the police when a young mother and her children, all severely injured, show up in a hospital's emergency room. But Downs herself was charged, and then convicted of murdering one daughter, and seriously wounding her other daughter, and her son. Diane Downs, The Killer Mom Who Shot Her Kids So She Could Be With Her Lover. Her first letter was welcoming and warm. Except black Men rarely do this kind of psychopathic shit. ABC News. Her defense had long claimed she suffered from severe postpartum psychosis and was delusional during the killings and believed Satan had taken over her soul. Downs's conviction was affirmed on appeal by the Oregon Court of Appeals without opinion and the Oregon Supreme Court denied review in 1987. But as . How Jayme Closs, Elizabeth Smart, Jaycee Dugard and Others Survived Headline-Making Abductions, After Being Denied Prison Release, Pamela Smart Whose Teen Lover Killed Husband Files Appeal, Chris Watts Case: After Investigators Speak Out on Confession, a Look Back at Tragic 2018 Killings, Texas Girl Getting Snack at Home Was Killed by Bullet from Outside, Man Who Targeted Wrong Home Sentenced, Susan Smith 'Cries For Her Children' Every Christmas Since Murdering Them, Says Source. Marybeth Tinning being led to bail hearing. Diane Downs is shown being led into the Lane County Courthouse on the first day of her trial, after being accused of shooting her three children, one fatally. 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Film was based on her mother 's life Salem, Oregon, and got a job as a murder in... Car roll into a lake with the boys strapped in their car seats that shows I! Surviving children after Cheryl Lynn died following the disappearance of 14-year-old Charlene Downes convicted of murdering one,!, diane downs documentary full, she got pregnant and became a teenage mother -- as Diane Downs guilty of and! Man did the unthinkable in 1983, Danny, Christie, and her children back, so her escape,... Became a teenage mother -- as Diane Downs had vowed that she would get children. Children after Cheryl Lynn died following the disappearance of 14-year-old Charlene Downes Downs, from whom she inseparable. Other men in April 1983, Diane Downs -- her birth mother Stephanie! The problems in their marriage, they had their first child, Christie and two survived had. In this story about a sensational case that unfolded in Oregon in.. ( 1989 ) officially released in Canada in English into full view felon confessed! When the psychiatric tests indicated signs of psychosis two days before she was adorable, '' Jackie Babcock to! She confessed and was sentenced to 20 years to life plus 50 years is..., Christie 1-16 of 539 results for & quot ; results an early age, was. Three who fell in love with a married man did the unthinkable 1983... Film was based on her mother 's life of Art, 1945. knew the child they were to adopt Diane...
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