Diane Downs Conviction, Escape, and Capture | KATU In The Archives

may 19th elizabeth downs and her three children were shot in a parked car on a rural road near springfield down says she stopped to help a man flagging her down the man then opened fire with a handgun one child was killed eight-year-old christie and three-year-old stephen were seriously wounded and elizabeth downs was shot in the arm today downes appeared in lane county juvenile court for a hearing to take custody of her surviving children away from her oregon children's services division asked for a temporary custody order after downs tried to remove the children from a hospital and prevented police from talking to them it was also revealed today that authorities consider elizabeth downs to be a possible suspect in the shooting there has been a great deal of concern by everybody that the children testify one way or another the actions of the mother in the past few days have been less cooperative i think as far as having the children talk to the police down's attorney says she is only interested in the children's well-being he says police have been pestering christy downs night and day trying to get her to incriminate her mother today the child's attorney said christie told hospital staff there never was a male stranger on the road the night she was shot she doesn't know what happened and that's what we're trying to protect is to make sure she's not affected by people talking to her and that's why we're so pleased with today's ruling is that hopefully she will not be affected then by law enforcement hovering over her feeding her information or trying to to do things that may change her ultimate testimony everyone agreed the children need proper medical care so juvenile court judge gregory foote granted the temporary custody order to keep the children in the hospital children's services division will have responsibility for the children although the mother has lost custody of the children down's attorney says today's order may limit police access to them and force the police to pursue other leads there has been a real misdirection in this case it's easy to try and contact and try and blame someone who's close by it's more difficult to do a proper investigation and find out who really is involved for now christy downes and her younger brother stephen will remain in protective medical custody but their future is far from certain the juvenile court custody battle will continue just as soon as they're both well enough to leave the hospital in springfield steve tyler channel 2 news elizabeth diane downs has been isolated from her immediate family since may 19th that's the night she says a shaggy-haired stranger tried to commandeer her car shot her and her three children and then left them on a rural road seven-year-old cheryl died that night nine-year-old christy and three-year-old daniel were seriously wounded but survived elizabeth downs was in lane county court today because she had told reporters she visited her daughter christy on october 2nd mrs downes said little today slow elevators a visit with the children would violate judge gregory foote's order that downs not see the children while they undergo medical and physical treatment and while police continue their investigation a psychiatrist who's been treating nine-year-old christine said in court that it would create an intolerable stress for her to testify or to visit with her mother the judge agreed and quashed a subpoena for the child to testify in the contempt of court case the state had also summoned reporters to tell about stories they'd written wherein mrs downes admitted visiting the children in a meeting set up by her ex-husband in an interview monday mrs downs said she told her daughter she was a suspect in the case mrs downes continues to be a suspect in the shootings but no arrests have been made in eugene i'm jim hyde channel to me it was not long after diane downs and her children were shot on a country road near springfield that local authorities began to suspect the mother to this day downes claims a shaggy-haired stranger murdered seven-year-old cheryl critically wounded christie and danny and then shot her in the arm but the evidence soon pointed to downs nonetheless she granted interviews and held news conferences and an intelligent yet unusually calm person emerged with a history of violence and sexual promiscuity by the time she went to trial downs was eight months pregnant but would not reveal the father's name trial watchers gasped as nine-year-old christie told the jury her mother had pulled the trigger she was convicted and a few weeks later gave birth to a baby girl who was immediately adopted christy and danny were adopted too by district attorney fred hughey the man who helped send downs to prison in a channel 2 interview last winter down says that's what bothers her the most yes i've written to the d.a a couple times and asked him for my children's sake my kids know that i'm in prison and they need to know that mommy's okay because they're little christie's just turned 12. danny will be seven in in december and they need to know that i'm okay for their own a peace of mind today christy and danny are reported to be in a safe place and authorities are keeping a close eye on downe's family and anyone involved with her case with her history they consider her cunning and dangerous sandy pool channel 2 news this is downstream i recognize it to be a shirt for longing to die convicted murderer diane downs left behind her ripped laos evidence of her struggle to break out of the maximum security facility prison officials say dowse walked into the unsupervised prison recreation yard early this morning apparently she scaled this 18-foot fence maneuvered her way over the rolls of razor ribbon and jumped to freedom but not before triggering a perimeter alarm system the time the officer responded she was already out here and headed toward the vehicle downs ran along the prison gates and hid under this truck moments later a prison nurse arriving to work spotted downs and reported it to prison officials while they conducted an inmate head count downes ran to state street where she hitched a ride from a salem woman telling her that she was involved in a car accident and her boyfriend was injured an excited downs then asked to be taken to a convenience store where she could phone for help dowels was dropped off at this family restaurant about one mile from the correctional facility police believe she then traveled on foot into town salem marion county and state police officers joined forces combing the downtown area for downs state police dispatched air patrol as well officers say the escape was not well planned and downs could be headed to a number of locations they are currently checking prison visiting lists and patrolling the areas where most of her friends live officers are also stationed near the home of her two children who were abducted last year by lane county district attorney police say downs is considered to be dangerous i certainly would advise anyone in the area that she would have to consider her dangerous because it's pretty common knowledge that she is serving time for murder and attempted murder today's escape has forced correction center administrators to take a hard look at their security system the woman's prison does not have guard towers or patrol cars only the alarm system can alert guards and inmate is climbing the fence a security system that has now failed to prevent three breakouts in that area of the prison in the last 10 years we've had two previous escapes at this facility mr scheidler tells me over the last 10 years at that location the perimeter fence is not alarmed is alarm but the interior fence is not i would not consider it an effective deterrent and that's essentially how she got out she went up and over the single perimeter fence it's a house over here off of state street that through investigative leads and so forth by and we've had it under observation surveillance for a short period of time and she was ultimately arrested there does it look like she had some help from inside the women's current penitentiary there's a possibility of that from the piece of paper that we sent back to the fbi she didn't do what we said to start with just kind of stood there in the room like she didn't know what to do and finally she came out and we took her into custody the salem city police went with us and basically we didn't know whether she was there or not we had this address and we just went in there and secured the place and she was found upstairs in the bedroom with a fella what's your reaction to the capture of diane down made my day since convicted killer diane downs was captured yesterday at a salem house just blocks from the prison authorities have been trying to determine how she got there they traced downs to the house after finding a blank piece of paper with indentations on it in her cell sophisticated equipment revealed a map and a dress that had been written on a sheet above it though the men arrested at the house with downs said they didn't know her when she arrived wayne cipher indicated downes apparently knew him well she came over and said that she just got out of prison and jim leonard and i said fine i was asleep woke up as for me which was kind of strange i said she can stay she just got out of prison she can see and spend a couple nights cipher says he was once married to a woman now in the state prison he says he likes downs and was in the bedroom with her when police arrived i thought she was the most honest girl i'd ever talked to in my life then that sound weird maybe not i don't know she was pulling the work with the wool over my eyes it was a good trap downes is now being held in strict isolation in a secluded cell with no personal belongings she faces a disciplinary hearing tomorrow and could remain in isolation for as long as a year she's also being charged with second-degree escape that could add another five years to her prison sentence in salem sandy pool channel 2 news [Music]

Channel: KATU News

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Id: IaekQSEzsPw

Length: 9min 54sec (594 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 23 2022