‘I did not shoot my children’: Diane Downs faces Oregon parole board decades after murder conviction

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — An Oregon mother made national headlines in the ‘80s when she was convicted of murdering one of her children and attempting to murder the other two. More than 40 years later, she has maintained her innocence.

Elizabeth Diane Downs faced the Oregon Board of Parole for a hearing on Wednesday. She was first sentenced to life in August 1984, after she was found guilty of her three charges.

According to Lane County Circuit Court documents, the now-70-year-old woman was additionally indicted for two counts of first-degree assault earlier that year in February. The indictment shows she intentionally shot and killed her daughter Cheryl Lynn, and attempted to kill her other daughter and son on May 19, 1983.

But Downs has continually denied shooting her children, although she takes blame for the incident that occurred less than two months after she said she moved to Oregon.

“When people say, ‘Did you hurt your children?’ Literally, no, I didn’t,” Downs told the parole board. “Eight years ago was an epiphany for me, and it is like the floodgates have opened. If my children had not been with me on that road, nothing would have happened to them. I didn’t. I didn’t want somebody to shoot my children. I did not have a gun. I did not shoot my children. But if my children had not been with me that night, they would not be dead and injured.”

She claimed she and her children were on their way home after stopping by a friend’s house on the night of the shooting, when a man “flagged” them down and demanded her car. She said the alleged carjacker then pushed her aside before shooting the kids and her, and she subsequently drove to the hospital.

Downs also alleged her son told nurses “about the mean man who shot him.” Her attorney Venetia Mayhew said she is planning to submit a DNA motion for the case, noting the “false narrative” that has been shared of her client.

Mayhew also addressed Downs’ attempt to escape prison in 1987, saying that she was “angry,” “heartbroken” and “didn’t know how to fight for herself properly.”