Where is Diane Downs Now: When Diane Downs’s three kids were sick in May of 1983, she took them to McKenzie-Willamette Hospital in Springfield, Oregon. Diane had been shot in the left arm and they were both covered in blood. The truth was much more nasty and frightening than what she told the police, which was that they had been the victims of an attempted carjacking. Diane killed her own children and then herself because she was in love with a married man who swore he didn’t want any more children.
The police would eventually track down Diane, and she would be found guilty of murder and attempted murder. Diane was expecting her fourth child during her trial; she gave birth to the baby two days after being sentenced to prison. The couple took the child to a hotel room and raised her as their own; they eventually gave her the name Rebecca or Becky. In light of recent developments, a new 20/20 episode offers an exclusive interview with Becky Babcock in which she discusses meeting her birth mother, Diane Downs, and the subsequent search for her.
Who is Diane Downs?
In May of 1983, American criminal Diane Elizabeth Downs murdered her daughter and attempted to kill her other two children near Springfield, Oregon. She told authorities that a man had tried to carjack her and shoot the kids after the crimes were committed. A jury found her guilty in 1984, and she was given a sentence of life in prison plus fifty years. In 1987, she managed a short escape before being caught again.
In December 2008, December of 2010, and again in 2020, Downs was denied parole.
Is Diane Downs Still In Jail?
The answer is yes; Downs is currently incarcerated in the Valley State Prison for Women. As a result of Christie’s testimony at her trial, she was found guilty of murder, two counts of attempted murder, and criminal assault. Downs was captured on July 21, 1987, in Salem, Oregon, after escaping from the Oregon Women’s Correctional Center on July 11. For her attempt to evade capture, she received an additional five-year prison term. She had two attempts at parole in 2008 and 2010 both of which were unsuccessful. By late 2020, Downs had applied for parole, but he was turned down.
