Small Sacrifices: Diane Downs, who turned 50 in August, remains in the Valley Prison for Women in Chowchilla, California. Her first hope of a parole hearing is four years away. Adopted by Lane County Prosecutor Fred Hugi and his wife, Joanne, in 1984, Christie and Danny--who somehow survived their gunshot wounds--, have no contact with Diane. They have both graduated from college. Christie is married and had a baby boy in 2005. Danny, a computer whiz, is still partially paralyzed from the bullet in his back, but he is living a happy and normal life. They have grown up in a very happy home with the Hugis. I heard recently from a young woman who insists she is the daughter Diane gave birth to a month after her 1984 trial, the baby who was adopted soon after. Thus far, she has offered no proof that she is who she claims to be. Danny's biological father, the man Diane selected because she thought he had "good genes," still lives in Arizona and has a family. His youngest son looks just like Danny did at the same age. Diane still insists that she and her children were shot by a "bushy haired stranger." For some reason, a person in Europe has established a website espousing her innocence. The site is full of misinformation, apparently fed to him by Diane herself. Among other things, the site claims that Diane never talked to me in person or wrote to me. That is totally false. Not only did we talk on the Oprah show, but I visited Diane in jail in Eugene, Oregon, and I still have letters she sent me.
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