I Read “Best Kept Secrets” By Child Killer Diane Downs So You Don’t Have To
Diane Downs: Best Kept Secrets is Diane Downs’ personal account of what she claims happened to her children on the night they were shot, written with the assistance of a ghostwriter. Despite being sentenced to life in prison for the murder of her 7-year-old daughter Cheryl and the attempted murders of her two surviving children, to this day Diane maintains her innocence.
The Facts
Diane Downs rushed her children to a Springfield, Oregon hospital on the evening of May 19, 1983. Her three children had been shot at close range, and she suffered one gunshot wound to the forearm– wrapped perfectly in a towel. Her daughter, Cheryl, was pronounced dead on arrival by emergency room staff, and they had to rush to save the lives of 8-year-old Christie and 3-year old Danny. Danny was paralyzed from the waist down, and Christie suffered a stroke that affected her ability to speak. Hospital staff would help Christie build up her strength again, and eventually she would be the prosecution’s star witness. However, in the court of opinion, nobody needed to hear Christie Downs say that her mother shot her to know that it is in fact what happened.
Diane’s story didn’t make sense from the start, claiming that a “bushy-haired stranger” stopped her as she drove down an unfamiliar…
