Diane Downs sat in front of a parole board, pleading her case and hoping that despite her refusal to accept the guilty verdict that sent her to prison nearly 25 years ago, they would grant her request for parole.
For around two hours Downs told her story, describing her 7 year old daughter as lovable, and reaffirming her claims of innocence. And telling another version of the night that ended in the death of one of her children, and injuries to the other two.
Downs reiterated a story about having a boyfriend who claimed to be in the FBI and said she was on her way to meet someone who had photographs for him. She said she is not sure if the man who attacked her family was the man she was supposed to meet or a stranger who flagged her down.While Downs has always claimed the tragic night occurred at the hands of someone else, her two surviving children and investigators have maintained a much different story:
Her 7-year-old daughter, Cheryl Lynn, was killed and her two other children were seriously wounded in a shooting on a rural road in 1983. [...] The prosecution alleged Downs shot her children because she believed they were in the way of her relationship with a married man. At the time, Downs was a divorced, 27-year-old postal worker. After shooting the children, Downs shot herself in the arm before driving to a hospital, where medical staff noted her calm demeanor, prosecutors said. Later, as a video documented, she giggled at times as she re-enacted the attack for police.Full story..
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