Diane Downs
| Diane Downs | |
|---|---|
Downs in 1984
|
|
| Born |
Elizabeth Diane Frederickson August 7, 1955 Phoenix, Arizona, U.S. |
| Criminal charge |
Murder Attempted murder Assault |
| Criminal penalty | Life plus 50 years |
| Criminal status | Incarcerated; earliest possible release 2020 |
| Spouse(s) | Steve Downs (m. 1973–80) |
| Children | 4 |
| Conviction(s) | June 17, 1984 |
Elizabeth Diane Frederickson Downs (born August 7, 1955) is an American woman convicted of the May 1983 murder of her daughter, and the attempted murder of her other two children. Following the shooting, Downs told police a stranger had attempted to carjack her and had shot the children. She was convicted in 1984 and sentenced to life in prison.
Downs briefly escaped in 1987 and was recaptured. She is the subject of a book by Ann Rule and a made-for-TV movie based upon it, both called Small Sacrifices. She was denied parole in December 2008 and again in December 2010.
Elizabeth Diane Frederickson was born in Phoenix, Arizona to Danish and English American parents Wes and Willadene Frederickson on August 7, 1955. She is of Danish and English descent. She alleges that her father molested her when she was a child (although both parents denied that any such incidents ever took place, and in the late 1980s she recanted her allegations). She graduated from Moon Valley High School in Phoenix where she met her future husband, Steve Downs. After high school, she enrolled at Pacific Coast Baptist Bible College in Orange, California but was expelled after only one year for promiscuous behavior. She then returned to Arizona to her parents' home. On November 13, 1973, she married Steve Downs, her high school sweetheart, after running away from home. They were divorced in 1980, about a year after the birth of Stephen "Danny" Downs.
Downs was employed by the United States Postal Service assigned to the mail routes in the city of Cottage Grove, Oregon before her 1984 arrest and trial.
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