Despite the popular belief that parents are a child’s guardian angels, some people’s parents may turn out to be monsters. It’s heartbreaking that one mother attempted to murder her young children, despite the fact that being a mother is one of life’s greatest joys. Christie Downs, then three years old, is the protagonist of this survival story after her mother, Elizabeth Diane Frederickson Downs, shot her multiple times. Know more about Stephen Danny Downs.
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Who exactly is Diane Downs?
The history of the monstrous mother who attempted to murder her three children is critical to my telling of this gruesome story. Elizabeth Diane Frederickson Downs rose to prominence as a leading serial killer of the 1980s after shooting and killing one of her three children on a highway in Springfield, Oregon.
Daine Frederickson was born in Phoenix, Arizona to Wesley Linden and Willadene (Engle). Her father began sexually abusing her when she was only 12 years old. She married her high school sweetheart, Steve Downs, after graduating from Moon Valley High School in Phoenix.
Diane was expelled from a California college after a year for promiscuity and returned to her parents in Arizona. Daine and Steve Downs married in 1973, and their daughter Christie Ann was born the following year. The couple divorced after Diane’s extramarital affair resulted in the birth of their son Danny in 1980. Diane gave up her parental rights shortly after giving birth to her daughter in 1982.
Diane was stationed in Cottage Grove, OR to deliver mail to local residents during her time with the USPS. Christie’s parents divorced in 1980 when she was five years old. Diane Downs attempted to murder Christie and her siblings because her new boyfriend refused to have children.
Diane’s Statement
Diane Downs’ request that Christie looks after her siblings while she went out and found a new partner was an obvious sign of neglect on her part. Diane Downs was able to marry her high school sweetheart, have three healthy children, and eventually free herself from her abusive father despite her traumatic upbringing.
They had no idea what their mother was capable of. Diane remarried soon after her divorce from Steve, but her new husband, Robert Knickerbocker, didn’t want to “be a daddy,” so they divorced as well. Moreover, Diane reacted in an unusually motherly manner.
Diane Started a New Life
Diane Downs managed to start a new life for herself despite a troubled upbringing caused in large part by her alcoholic and abusive father. She married her high school sweetheart and had three healthy children: Christie Downs, Cheryl Lynn Downs, and Stephen “Danny” Downs.
So Diane Downs began dating in the hopes of finding a new partner, and she promptly neglected her children. When Robert Knickerbocker realized he didn’t want to “be a daddy,” he divorced her. On May 19, 1983, Diane Downs attempted to murder her own children. She later told police that a “bushy-haired stranger” shot at them while attempting to carjack her.
Diane Downs’ children all had tragic endings. Cheryl Downs, a young girl known as Cheryl Downs, died in the hospital. Danny Downs was only three years old when he was paralyzed from the chest down. Christie Downs was temporarily mute after suffering a stroke. When she was able to speak again, she blamed the shooting on her ruthless mother.
Diane’s decision to murder her children in 1983 resulted in widespread tragedy in Oregon. On May 19, 1982, she shot her three children and drove them to McKenzie-Willamette Hospital in Springfield, Oregon. Downs’ left forearm had been pierced by the blow. According to her account, a strange man kidnapped her and the children from a rural road near Springfield.
Diane’s Trial Decision
Christie later explained that God spared her the agony of describing her mother’s heinous crime. Christie, Diane’s surviving daughter, testified that her mother shot all three of her children and then shot herself in the arm while parked on the side of the road, and her testimony was critical to the prosecution’s case.
Who is Christie Downs?
“When I looked at Christie, I thought she was dead,” McKenzie-Williamette Medical Center’s Dr. Steven Wilhite previously told ABC. She was pure white… She was no longer inhaling anything. It is completely unacceptable that she is this close to death.
Hugi, the prosecutor in this case, looked after Christie and Danny. That’s why he took them in and incorporated them into the clan.
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