Diane Downs: Best Kept Secrets

By Diane Downs and Elizabeth Diane Downs

Other side of the same story as Ann Rule's "Small Sacrifices" -- child-killer Downs attempts to explain why she didn't do it. Kind of a home-made production. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 096227450X
• ISBN13: 9780962274503
• Release Date: January 1989
• Publisher: Danmark Pub
• Weight: 0.42 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 4.1" x 7.1"

Customer Reviews

Mind of a Mad Mother

I have been captivated by this case for a long time. I'll admit that I didn't have much interest in Diane Downs' version of events after reading my favorite author's book " Small Sacrifiaces" by Ann Rule. As we all know though, every story has two sides, maybe more. Her oldest surviving daughter, Kristie Ann Downs, Testified in front of the Grand Jury that yes her mother did shoot her, her sister Cheryl Lynn who did not survive and her brother, Stephen Daniel, the youngest child who did survive. I cried and prayed very much for these innocent children, I still do and I know that they grew up in a warm, loving home with prosecutor, Fred Hugi and his caring wife, legally adopted Kristie and Danny. Diane states in her book that the state of Oregon, where all this took place, tampered, distorted and hid evidence and documents that otherwise would've proved her innocence. We don't know for certain what happened on that lone country road on May 19, 1983, but we must give Diane a chance to tell her story. If we don't hear both sides of the story how can we have a fair and just legal system? I personally believe Diane needed her lover at all costs, he made clear he didn't want children and even had a vasectomy in his late twenties. Diane probably saw her own children as unsurpassable obsticales in her way of " the love of her life" as she said this man was. I believe Diane may have loved her children, but in a very sick and distorted way. To make things easier for her, she somehow began to see her children as objects or possessions thus making it easier for her to rid herself of her own children. If she truly loved them, she would've been able to see her children as human beings with every right to live and would not or could not harm them, much less try to kill them. Diane only loved them as her own personal possessions and saw them as merely an extension of herself. Diane sounds quite convincing though and probably either believes what she's saying or what she did was totally justifiable in her mind, a common trait of the sociopath. She is currently serving a life sentence, as the death penalty is outlawed in Oregon, at the Edna Mohan Correctional Center in Clinton, New Jersey. It is one of the most highest security prisons for women in the country. Diane Downs was convicted in June, 1984.

Two sides

I am sorry to see that so many of you think that this book was bad. I found it to be very interesting. I think the reviews for this book are very one sided opinions. There are 2 sides to every story and the book is just telling her side. If you don't have any interest in the whole story then don't read the book. I am not saying she is innocent but she does have the right to tell her side. I know the law is flawed that's why I choose to read her side of the story. I think the book was good and you have an interest in this story then you should read it.

........wow..........

Let me start out by saying that it surprises me that people have been reviewing this book up seen last year. The only reason that I read it to begin with was because it was a school assignment that I had to do. But once I begin, I found myself unable to put it down. The book itself is very good because of the way it affected my emotions though words. This book isn't just about the personal opinions of the "criminal" Diane Downs, it has the facts to back it up. And if people could just read it throughly enough, I believe that it has all the facts and logic to get rid of all the doubts that people have of her. The only people that, I think, should stay clear of this book are those that conjure up the evils they place upon others. But by seeing the responds of other people in here, I think I said it to late. This is for Elizabeth Diane Downs: the author, the victim, the mother, and the human being.

fascinating

As an alibi for the crimes Diane Downs committed, this book is a joke and full of holes. But as an in-depth glimpse into the mind of a sociopath who actual believes that the horrible things she does is perfectly fine, this book is fascinating.