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The Story of Diane Downs

Author: Ann Rule

May 19, 1983, began as any normal day would. It ended with a blood-spattered car, two children critically wounded, one dead, and a surprisingly calm, barely injured mother arriving at the McKenzie-Willamette Hospital in Springfield, Oregon.  At the hospital, the desperate staff fought to save the two children who were still barely alive: Danny Downs (aged 3) and Christie Downs (aged 8). Meanwhile their mother, Diane Downs, who was suffering a minor gunshot wound to the arm, calmly walked police through the events of the night: a mysterious shaggy-haired stranger, an attempted carjacking gone wrong, a frantic drive to the hospital. But something didn’t sit right with the police or the hospital staff.

Even from the very beginning, watching the wounded, comatose children, lead prosecutor Fred Hugi knew that their mother had tried to kill them, and that he would rescue them. He would prove that Diane Downs, even then laughing and strangely calm, would pay the price for the successful murder of one child (Cherly Lynn Downs, aged 7) and the attempted murder and lifelong maiming of two other children. The cat and mouse game had begun, and while everyone knew what Diane had done and why, they didn’t know just how to prove it. They only had one chance to make a conviction stick.

Small Sacrifices is one of Ann Rule’s earlier (and better) books. In its nearly 500 pages, Rule carefully tells the story of the police’s patient chase of Diane Downs and how they found the evidence to convict and imprison her. On a side note, the state recently considered her parole after four decades in prison based on her maintained statement of innocence and request of the now available DNA technology. Her appearance before the board happened in late October 2025. You can listen to her full hearing online. In December 2025 she was denied parole.

In Small Sacrifices Ann Rule is meticulous with details, setting the stage, providing numerous excerpts from interviews, and tying evidence together so completely that what comes out is more story than recitation of fact. Granted, it is a tragic story, one that we wish was not true. But it is very well told and engaging in its precision and humanity. Unlike some of Rule’s later books, the research here truly shines, and while she expresses empathy and delivers into human emotions, she avoids the moralizing and saccharine sentimentality that downgraded some of her later offerings. This one is pure quality, and it’s utterly captivating to watch how investigators take what is clearly known (we, as well as everyone else involved, firmly feel that something is NOT right here – that Diane is guilty) and seek evidence to sustain it. From the beginning, it is a difficult case. The two survivors are children. Danny, at three, is not a reliable witness, and Christie suffered a stroke and could barely speak.

Diane Downs in 1984

This was also before DNA evidence, and everything happened sans witnesses on a rural road. How then do you prove what is evident?

The story progresses. We see a snippet of the crime, but then we go back in time to Diane’s early life. Her self-proclaimed traumatic childhood, her marriages, her affairs, her work, her pregnancies, her work as a surrogate, and later the after-effects of universal suspicion, her TV appearances, her conflicting (recorded!) accounts, her reactions during the trial, and even her eventual escape and recapture. It’s a whirlwind ride, one that would be truly wonderful if only it were fiction and real people – real children – were not hurt. Still, Rule uses her storytelling ability to give us insight into the justice system and into this strange woman and what potentially motivates her to think and act as she does.

Note: Rule was unable to interview Diane herself, and so much of what we hear from the convicted killer is through police tapes, TV interviews, and letters she initially wrote to Rule, who even admits that Downs hated Small Sacrifices and the way in which she felt it portrayed her.

Alongside The I-5 Killer and The Stranger Beside Me this is one of Rule’s best offerings. If you are looking to start reading true crime, any of these three books is the perfect place to start. Highly recommended.

– Frances Carden

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Frances Carden
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