Diane Downs Daughter speaks on 20/20 News Magazine
Rebecca Babcock appeared on ABC's 20/20 Friday night, talking about her upbringing and the impact of learning that her biological mother was a child killer.
Diane Downs had been in the news when she shot her own children, killing one of them and seriously injuring two of her other children during the infamous Diane Downs Murder Case in 1983.
During the trial in 1984, Diane Downs was pregnant with another child. The child was born 10 days before she was convicted for murder.
That child Diane Downs gave birth to was Rebecca Babcock. Babbock was adopted and had no knowledge for several years about her mother and her case. However in 1987 they were forced to tell daycare providers, family members and others close to Rebecca who she was because at that time Diane Downs escaped from prison.
Babcock herself had no knowledge of her true identity until she was a teenager.
The motive of the killing was written in Diane Down's Diary "Small Sacrifices". Small Sacrifices tells the story of a troubled Diane Downs who was married to a man who did not like her children. Downs wanting to preserve that marriage decided eventually to eliminate her children.
During that day the hospital where she drove to and ask for help remembers that Diane Downs told their emergency room personnel that she was flagged down by a man which eventually shot her and her three children. The police then ordered an investigation on the Diane Downs murder.
The murder was also concluded when Diane Downs daughter Christie was able to testify. She admitted that her mom shot them and killed her sister Cheryl.
After the murders a book entitled "Small Sacrifices" was written. The book Small Sacrifices talked about the Diane Downs murder case and was written by best selling author Ann Rule.
To this day, Diane Downs is in prison in California and still maintains that she is innocent.
