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The Shocking True Crime Case of Diane Downs · Murder Files Unsealed

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  Speaker 1: Welcome back everyone. Today, we're diving into a case that'll
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  really stick with you, the Diane Down story. It's one
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  of those cases, you know, where it makes you wonder
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  what could drive a mother to do something so unthinkable
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  to her own children.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a case that really gets under your skin.
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  On the surface, it seems so baffling, so senseless. I mean,
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  a mother harming your own children. It's the kind of
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  thing that just rocks us to our core, right right.
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  Speaker 1: And it all went down in May of nineteen eighty
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  three in Springfield, Oregon. Diane Down shows up at the
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  hospital with her three kids, all shot.
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  Speaker 2: Three young children, Cheryl just seven years old, Christy who
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  was eight, and little Danny only three. They're injuries, they
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  were horrific. Cheryl tragically didn't survive, Christy she'd been shot
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  so badly she suffered a stroke. And Danny, poor Danny,
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  he was left paralyzed.
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  Speaker 1: It's just unimaginable the pain those children must have endured.
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  And there's Diane right in the middle of it all
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  with a gunshot wound to her arm, claiming she was
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  the victim of a carjacking.
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  Speaker 2: A carjacking gone wrong. On some des'line, Oregon road. That
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  was her story, a stranger, a struggle, the kids caught
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  in the crossfire.
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  Speaker 1: But even in those first moments, something wasn't adding up.
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  The hospital staff, the investigators, they all picked up on it.
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  It wasn't just the shock of the crime, but her demeanor.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, she was strangely calm, collected, almost like she was
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  detached from the whole thing. It was unsettling, especially given
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  the brutality of what had happened to her children.
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  Speaker 1: And then there were those statements she made, those little
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  things she said, those inconsistencies that made everyone wonder, is
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  she really telling us.
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  Speaker 2: The whole truth exactly? Those red flags, those slips in
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  her story that were hard to ignore, like why would
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  a mother frantic to save her children stop to call
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  of friends before calling for help? You know?
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  Speaker 1: And that's what's so fascinating about this case, those early details,
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  These seem so small, but they speak volumes. So let's
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  break it down for our listeners. Diane's story, the one
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  she told the police. What exactly did she say happen
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  that night?
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  Speaker 2: Her story was that a stranger flagged her down on
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  a rural road, tried to carjack her. She said. When
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  she resisted, he opened fire, hitting her and the kids,
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  and then, despite her wounds, she managed to drive herself
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  and her three critically injured children to the hospital while
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  the assailant got away.
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  Speaker 1: It's a harrowing story, but even from the beginning it
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  seemed like there were holes in it. And one of
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  the first things that really stood out was that phone
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  call she made from the hospital, right, the one too,
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  Robert Nickerbacker.
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  Speaker 2: Right, Robert Knickerbacker an old flame of Diane's from back
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  in Arizona.
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  Speaker 1: And he was married, right, So not just an old
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  friend she was reaching out to in a moment of crisis.
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  Speaker 2: No, definitely not. And that's what made that phone call,
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  amidst all the chaos of that night so strange. Why
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  call him? What was so urgent that she needed to
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  speak to him before anyone else.
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  Speaker 1: It does make you wonder, in the face of such
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  a tragedy, who do we reach out to? And what
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  does it say about us when that person is someone
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  with whom we have a complicated past.
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  Speaker 2: It's a fascinating question. And in this case that phone call,
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  it wasn't just to personal detail. It became a crucial
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  piece of the puzzle. A clue that suggested, maybe, just
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  maybe Diane's story wasn't what it seemed.
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  Speaker 1: So we've got this phone call to an old flame,
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  a married one at that, and it just doesn't add
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  up right. But the investigators they needed more than a hunch,
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  They needed cold, hard evidence. What was it about the
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  crime scene itself that started to poke holes in Diane's story?
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  Speaker 2: Well, the crime scene and more specifically, the forensic evidence,
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  it's all a very different story than the one Diane
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  was spinning.
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  Speaker 1: Like what what didn't add up well?
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  Speaker 2: For one, the blood spatter patterns, or rather the lack thereof.
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  There just wasn't enough blood on the driver's side of
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  the car, especially considering how badly the children were injured.
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  Speaker 1: You'd expect a blood bath, right, if her story was true.
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  Speaker 2: Exactly, it should have been a gruesome scene. And then
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  there's the matter of gunpowder residue, or again, should I
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  say the lack of it. They didn't find any on
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  the driver's door, no sign of a struggle, no indication
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  that a gun was fired from that close range.
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  Speaker 1: So the physical evidence it's already contradicting her story. It's
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  like the car itself was saying, wait a minute, This
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  isn't how it went down.
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  Speaker 2: And then you add in those eyewitness accounts. We talk
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  about the people who saw Diane's car on.
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  Speaker 1: The road that night, Yeah, what about them.
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  Speaker 2: Well, their stories didn't exactly line up with Diane's version
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  of events either. Several witnesses said they saw her car,
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  but it was moving slowly toward the hospital. Not exactly
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  the behavior you'd expect from someone who'd just been carjacked
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  and shot.
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  Speaker 1: Right, No, not at all. You'd think she'd be speeding,
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  rushing to get help. It's like every new detail, every
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  piece of the puzzle, just made her story fall apart
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  a little bit more. But they still needed that one
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  crucial piece of evidence, right, the one that directly connected
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  Diane to the crime.
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  Speaker 2: And they found it, although maybe not in the way
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  you might expect. Remember that suspicious phone call to Robert Nickerbocker, Yeah,
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  the old flame. Well it turns out that wasn't the
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  only interesting thing about him. Both Diane's ex husband and
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  Knickerbocker himself confirmed the Diane owned a gun.
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  Speaker 1: A gun what kind of done?
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  Speaker 2: A point two two caliber handgun, to be exact.
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  Speaker 1: And I'm guessing that's significant because.
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  Speaker 2: It's significant because the children were shot with a point
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  to two caliber weapon.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, so she owned a gun and it was the
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  same caliber as the one used in the crime. But
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  they never found the actual murder.
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  Speaker 2: Weapon, right, No, they didn't. However, at Diane's home, they
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  did discover something quite damning, unfired point two two caliber cartridges.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, so cartridges. That makes sense she owned a gun,
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  but how does that directly link her to the crime.
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  Speaker 2: These weren't just any cartridges. They had these markings, extractor
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  markings to be precise, and they matched the bullets taken
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  from the children.
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  Speaker 1: Extractor markings.
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  Speaker 2: It's like a fingerprint, but for bullets. Each gun leaves
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  a unique mark on the cartridge when a bullet is fired.
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  And these markings they matched the cartridges from Diane's home.
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  They were tied to the bullets that were fired at
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  her children.
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  Speaker 1: Wow, that's it, then, isn't it the smoking gun? No
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  wonder suspicion shifted so strongly toward Diane. But that just
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  leads to a whole other question, doesn't it. Why Why
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  would a mother do this to our own children?
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  Speaker 2: It's the ultimate question, And to even begin to understand,
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  we have to look at the prosecution's theory, which revolved
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  around Diane's relationship with Robert Nickerbacker. They believe that Diane
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  saw her children as obstacles in her pursuit of a relationship.
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  Speaker 1: With him, because he didn't want kids exactly.
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  Speaker 2: The prosecution painted a picture of a woman so fixated
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  on this relationship that she was willing to go to
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  any lengths to get what she wanted, even if it
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  meant eliminating her own children.
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  Speaker 1: It's hard to fathom, isn't it that someone could be
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  so self centered, so lacking in any maternal instinct, that
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  they would view their children as disposable.
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  Speaker 2: It's a disturbing thought, and it's a motive that's still
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  debated today. Was it purely about removing obstacles to a
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  relationship or was there something more, something darker at play.
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  We'll dive into those questions a bit later, but for now,
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  let's shift gears and talk about the trial itself, because
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  this is where things get really intense.
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  Speaker 1: So the evidence is piling up pointing towards Diane, But
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  then there's the trial. Can you imagine being on that jury.
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  It's one thing to suspect, but to actually decide the
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  fate of a woman accused of such a horrific act.
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  Speaker 2: It was a highly publicized case, and for good reason, right,
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  a mother accused of shooting her own children. The weight
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  of that, it's unimaginable. And in the middle of it
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  all you have Christy.
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  Speaker 1: Diane's daughter, the one who survived the shooting, having to
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  relive that night in court.
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  Speaker 2: And she didn't just relive it. She pointed to her
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  mother in front of everyone and said, my mom shot me.
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  Speaker 1: Wow. Just the thought of that moment, a child accusing
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  their own parent of such a thing, that must have
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  been incredibly powerful, incredibly difficult for everyone in that courtroom.
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  Speaker 2: Oh. Absolutely, it was a pivotal moment in the trial.
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  Christie's testimony, the way she delivered it, it was heartbreaking,
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  but also so clear, so certain, there was no doubt
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  in her mind.
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  Speaker 1: So she identifies her mother as the one who shot her.
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  But the prosecution's case, it went beyond just Christie's testimony, right.
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  They wanted to understand the why why mother do this?
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  So they had Diane evaluated by a psychiatrist.
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  Speaker 2: Right, and this is where it gets even more complex.
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  A psychiatrist he diagnosed Diane with narcissism, histrionic personality disorder,
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  and antisocial personality disorder a plot to impact there.
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  Speaker 1: So these diagnoses, what do they tell us about Diane?
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  How might they have played a role in what happened?
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  Speaker 2: Well, they paint a picture of someone who needs to
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  be the center of attention, who manipulate situations, who lacks empathy.
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  It's like, in her mind, her desire for a relationship,
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  for a certain kind of life, it outweighed everything, even
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  the lives of her children.
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  Speaker 1: And the psychiatrist, what did he say about her mental
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  state at the time of the shootings.
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  Speaker 2: He said that Diane showed no remorse for what she
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  had done. And get this, he said she viewed her
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  children as possessions, obstacles.
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  Speaker 1: In her way, obstacles. It's just chilling, isn't it to
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  think of your own children that way? But it does
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  seem to support the prosecution's case that she saw them
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  as a barrier between her her and Robert Nickerbocker.
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  Speaker 2: Right, that was their argument that her desire for this
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  relationship was so strong that she was willing to do
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  the unthinkable.
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  Speaker 1: So the jury's heard the evidence, the eyewitness accounts, the
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  forensic experts, they've heard from Christy and from the psychiatrist.
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  What was the verdict?
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  Speaker 2: After weeks of testimony, the jury found Diane Down's guilty
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  guilty on all charges murder, attempted murder, and criminal assault,
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  and the sentence life in prison plus fifty years.
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  Speaker 1: Wow, no leniency at all.
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  Speaker 2: No, the judge, he called her crimes unthinkable, despicable, and
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  deserving of the harshest punishment. Those were his words.
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  Speaker 1: And what about Diane? Has she admitted to the crime.
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  Has she expressed any remorse for what happened?
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  Speaker 2: No, She's maintained her innocence throughout the years, saying she
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  was a victim of a random carjacking.
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  Speaker 1: Even after all the evidence, all the testimony, Even.
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  Speaker 2: After all of that. She's appealed her case numerous times,
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  she's been up for parole, but she's never.
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  Speaker 1: Wavered from It's hard to imagine, isn't it sticking to
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  a story so many believed to be a lie, even
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  when you're facing a lifetime behind bars.
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  Speaker 2: It speaks to a certain kind of psychology, doesn't it,
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  a need to control the narrative even when the truth
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  seems so apparent.
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  Speaker 1: And Christy and Danny, what's become of them.
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  Speaker 2: In a really heartwarming turn of events, they were both
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  adopted by Fred Hugy, the Lee prosecutor in the case,
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  and his wife Joanne.
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  Speaker 1: Wow, that's amazing to open your home to the children
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  of a woman you helped put away for life.
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  Speaker 2: It is, and it speaks volumes about their character, their compassion.
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  They provided Christy and Danny with stability, with love, with
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  a chance in a normal life after all they've been through.
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  Speaker 1: It's a reminder that even in the darkest of circumstances,
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  there can be light, there can be healing. This case,
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  the story of Diane Downs, it's a tough one. It
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  stays with you. It makes you question everything you thought
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  you knew about human nature, about a mother's love. But
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  it's also a story of incredible resilience, the strength of
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  the human spirit to overcome even the most un thinkable trauma.
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  And it reminds us that the pursuit of justice, while
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  sometimes imperfect, is a pursuit worth undertaking.
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  Speaker 2: Well said, and sometimes the most important thing we can
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  do is listen to these stories, learn from them, and
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  never forget the victims.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely, thanks for joining me on this deep dive. It's
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  been heavy, but important and to our listeners. Thank you
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  for listening. We'll be back next week with another case,
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  another deep dive into the dark side of human nature.
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  Until then, take care.