On May 19, 1983, three children were shot at close range in Springfield, Oregon, while seated in their mother’s car. Seven-year-old Cheryl Downs was declared dead at McKenzie-Willamette Hospital; her siblings Christie, 8, and Danny, 3, survived with catastrophic injuries—Christie suffered a disabling stroke and Danny was paralyzed from the waist down.

The children’s mother, Diane Downs, told authorities a stranger with bushy hair had flagged her down, demanded her car keys, and shot the children during a struggle. Investigators found multiple inconsistencies: spent .22 caliber casings at the scene, testimony that Diane had taken a .22 when she moved to Oregon, unfired cartridges at her home with extractor markings matching the murder weapon, witnesses who saw her car moving slowly toward the hospital, and secret diaries suggesting a motive tied to a relationship. After months of therapy Christie identified her mother as the shooter. Diane Downs was arrested February 28, 1984, tried in May 1984, convicted June 17, 1984, and sentenced to life plus fifty years.

Did anyone who knew Cheryl or the family notice behavior or events in the months before May 1983 that might shed light on what led to that night?