Clinton Correctional Facility for Women Valley State Prison for Women
What was the place of detention for Diane Downs from 1987 to 1994?
Diane Downs Elizabeth Diane Downs ( née Frederickson ; born August 7 , 1955 ) is an American criminal who murdered her daughter and attempted to murder her other two children in May 1983 . Following the crimes , she told police a man had attempted to carjack her and had shot the children . She was convicted in 1984 and sentenced to life in prison plus fifty years . 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 ; her next hearing is set for 2021 . Early life . Diane Downs was born in Phoenix , Arizona , on August 7 , 1955 , to parents Wesley Linden ( 1930–2017 ) and Willadene ( Engle ) Frederickson . She has testified that her father sexually abused her when she was 12 years old . Diane graduated from Moon Valley High School in Phoenix where she met her husband , Steve Downs . After high school , she enrolled at Pacific Coast Baptist Bible College in Orange , California , but was expelled after one year for promiscuous behavior , and soon returned to her parents home in Arizona . On November 13 , 1973 , Diane married Steve Downs after running away from home . Their first child , Christie Ann , was born in 1974 . Cheryl Lynn followed in 1976 , with Stephen Daniel being born in 1979 . The couple divorced in 1980 because Steve thought Stephen Daniel , known as Danny , was the result of an affair Diane had . On May 8 , 1982 , Downs gave birth to a daughter through surrogacy . She named the child Jennifer before turning her over to her intended parents . Prior to her arrest , Downs was employed by the United States Postal Service , assigned to the mail routes in the city of Cottage Grove , Oregon . Cheryl Lynn , shortly before her death , reportedly told a neighbor of her grandparents that she was afraid of her mother . Shootings . On May 19 , 1983 , Downs shot her three children and drove them in a blood-spattered car to McKenzie-Willamette Hospital . Upon arrival , Cheryl ( aged 7 ) was already dead , Danny ( aged 3 ) was paralyzed from the waist down , and Christie ( aged 8 ) had suffered a disabling stroke . Downs herself had been shot in the left forearm . She claimed she was carjacked on a rural road near Springfield , Oregon , by a strange man who shot her and the children . However , investigators and hospital workers became suspicious because they decided her manner was too calm for a person who had experienced such a traumatic event . She also made a number of statements that both police and hospital workers considered highly inappropriate . Suspicions heightened when Downs , upon arrival at the hospital to visit her children , phoned Robert Knickerbocker , a married man and former coworker in Arizona with whom she had been having an extramarital affair . The forensic evidence did not match her story ; there was no blood spatter on the drivers side of the car , nor was there any gunpowder residue on the drivers door or on the interior door panel . Knickerbocker also reported to police that Downs had stalked him and seemed willing to kill his wife if it meant that she could have him to herself ; he stated that he was relieved that she had left for Oregon and that he was able to reconcile with his wife . Downs did not disclose to police that she owned a .22 caliber handgun , but both Steve Downs and Knickerbocker informed them that she did . Investigators later discovered Downs bought the handgun in Arizona . While they were unable to find the actual weapon , they found unfired casings in her home with extractor markings from the murder weapon . Most damaging , witnesses saw her car being driven very slowly toward the hospital at an estimated speed of , contradicting her claim that she drove to the hospital at high speed after the shooting . Based on this and additional evidence , Downs was arrested on February 28 , 1984 , nine months after the shooting , and charged with one count of murder and two counts each of attempted murder and criminal assault . Prosecution . Prosecutors argued that Downs shot her children to be free of them so she could continue her affair with Knickerbocker , as she claimed that he let it be known that he did not want children in his life . Much of the case against her rested on the testimony of her surviving daughter , Christie , who , once she recovered her ability to speak , described how her mother shot all three children while parked at the side of the road and then shot herself in the arm . Downs was convicted on all charges on June 17 , 1984 , and sentenced to life in prison plus 50 years . She was required to serve 25 years before being considered for parole . Psychiatrists diagnosed her with narcissistic , histrionic , and antisocial personality disorders . Most of her sentence is to be served consecutively . The judge made it clear that he did not intend for Downs to ever be free again . Aftermath . Downs two surviving children eventually went to live with the lead prosecutor on the case , Fred Hugi . He and his wife Joanne adopted them in 1986 . Prior to her arrest , Downs became pregnant with a fourth child and gave birth to a girl , whom she named Amy Elizabeth , a month after her 1984 trial . Ten days before Downs sentencing , Amy was seized by the State of Oregon and adopted by Chris and Jackie Babcock , who named her Rebecca . As an adult , Rebecca appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show and ABCs 20/20 discussing how she feels about her biological mother . She wrote to Downs in her younger years and has stated that she regrets it , regarding her mother as a monster . Downs was incarcerated at the Oregon Womens Correctional Center in Salem . She escaped from her cell in Oregon on July 11 , 1988 by scaling an 18-foot razor wire fence . For ten days Downs managed to escape despite a 14-state manhunt before she was recaptured . She received an additional five-year sentence for the escape . After her recapture , Downs was transferred to the New Jersey Department of Corrections Clinton Correctional Facility for Women after heavy lobbying from Hugi . The Salem prison was located 66 miles from Hugis home in Springfield ; during her ten days of freedom , Hugi had feared that Downs would attempt to travel there in hopes of contacting Christie and Danny . Despite significant security upgrades at the womens facility after the escape , state officials accepted Hugis argument that the risk of harm to Christie and Danny in the event of another escape was too great for Downs to remain incarcerated in Oregon . In 1994 , after serving ten years , Downs was transferred to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation . While in prison , she has earned an associate degree in General Studies . In 2010 , she was located in the Valley State Prison for Women in Chowchilla , California , but transferred out when the facility was converted to an all-male institution in 2013 . Author Ann Rule wrote the book Small Sacrifices ( 1987 ) detailing Downs life and murder trial . The book documents accounts by friends , acquaintances , neighbors , and her surviving daughter Christie , who question the quality of her parenting . A made-for-TV movie also titled Small Sacrifices , starring Farrah Fawcett as Downs , aired on ABC in 1989 . Parole hearing . Downs sentence meant she could not be considered for parole until 2009 . Under Oregon law at the time , as a dangerous offender , Downs would have been eligible for a parole hearing every two years until she is released or dies in prison . In her first application for parole in 2008 , Downs reaffirmed her innocence . Over the years , she said , I have told you and the rest of the world that a man shot me and my children . I have never changed my story . Her first parole hearing was on December 9 , 2008 . Lane County District Attorney Douglas Harcleroad wrote to the parole board , Downs continues to fail to demonstrate any honest insight into her criminal behavior...even after her convictions , she continues to fabricate new versions of events under which the crimes occurred . He also wrote that she alternately refers to her assailants as a bushy-haired stranger , two men wearing ski masks or drug dealers and corrupt law enforcement officials . Downs participated in the hearing from the Valley State Prison for Women . She was not permitted a statement , but answered questions from the parole board . After three hours of interviews and thirty minutes of deliberation , she was denied parole . Downs faced her second parole hearing on December 10 , 2010 , and was denied . Her next parole hearing is scheduled for 2021 .