Susan Staffel

Caseworker, Susan Staffel of the Children Services Division (CSD) was engaged by Prosecutor Hugi in his efforts to take control of Diane's children. Staffel would eventually put the case for the State before juvenile judge Gregory Foote to have control of the children under the authority of the CSD. But as we shall see, her role or mandate took on a sinister aspect. Staffel gave the impression of a compassionate character but in reality was anything but. Especially towards the mother of the children and her parents. Diane came to view her actions or role as that of an, 'imperious God'. And this 'God' had an insidious sense of duty in the work she was about to undertake because it would incorporate lies, contradiction, and the manipulation of the children, Christie and Danny. She made her dislike of Diane Downs quite clear from the beginning of her intervention. Her task was only too obvious, incriminate the mother..at any cost.

Diane was always cooperative with the authorities and she duly attended a meeting requested by Staffel. This was held at her attorney's office with Jim Jagger present. During this meeting the CSD worker asked Diane to reveal some information about herself. Diane obliged. She told the CSD worker of a disciplined childhood where any displays of emotions were suppressed and frowned upon. Such displays could even invoke mild punishment. She went on to tell of her marriage to Steve Downs at a young age. A marriage that went disastrously wrong after a number of years, and their second child. She told of Steve, the self-centred man who was interested more in the sexual aspect of married life than any commitment to the family as a unit. It was a marriage with the well worn recipe for a break up. And that's exactly what happened when Diane, fully aware that she was in a loveless

marriage resorted to having an affair (and not without some encouragement from her husband). And her pleas to her husband for another child had been ignored. A desperate woman taking desperate measures. Fights and arguments had raged long before her third pregnancy however and Diane, sometimes beaten unconscious, had the scars to prove it.

During the separation, she admitted to a number of affairs in an effort she said, to find the elusive 'true love'. One of these affairs was with Robert Knickerbocker (see Nick). Knickbocker was a co-worker and it proved to be a lengthy and emotional rollercoaster for her. Not least of all because of his on/off promises to leave his wife and start a new life with Diane. Whatever happened in her life however she had always put the children first. And even though she had strong feelings for Knickerbocker she told him in no uncertain terms that the children were hers to take care of and no one else's. Eventually when she realised that Nick had no intention of leaving his wife she decided to start the new life for herself, and the kids, away from Arizona and especially away from Nick, who by now had become something of a pest. She eventually transferred to a new post in Oregon, leaving behind the traumas of Arizona. It was to prove a disastrous move of course. Staffel also interviewed Lee West, the father of Diane's third child. He had offered her $200 a month child support but she had refused it. When Staffel asked his opinion of Diane's treatment of her children he told her, "they're always dressed nice, and always have popcicles or something stuck in their mouths".

At the custody hearing Susan Staffel told judge Gregory Foote that the children had made significant comments about their mothers involvement in the shooting. Of great importance she said was Christie's statement that she had saw her mom put a gun in the trunk of the car the morning of the shootings. Christie was right about this and later when she (Christie) was shown two drawings of guns (a revolver and an automatic) by Paula Krogdahl. She picked out the revolver as the one she saw being put in the trunk. Diane had declared this particular weapon to the investigators who took it and later eliminated it as the weapon used in the shootings. But Staffel did not make this clear at the Hearing and left the impression that Diane had put the weapon, used in the shooting, in the trunk of her car. Angry at this manipulation of the facts, Diane later approached Staffel at her office. She asked the CSD worker why she had given such a false impression about the gun? "Well, Diane, sometimes you have to lie" she was told. At a further Hearing Staffel denied saying this when questioned about it by Defense attorney Jim Jagger. Following this treachery Diane decided when possible, to tape her conversations with Staffel.

The CSD caseworker also claimed that Diane's children were making progress without visits from Diane. This was completely untrue, as recorded by the many nursing staff reports, Diane's own experience, and those present who were either staff or 'guards' (and which they could not deny). Such fabrications however would give Staffel the power to limit Diane's visits and eventually curtail them. Claims by the authorities regarding 'reports' about the children would play an important role in the investigation and trial. On many occasions when the children were subjected to interrogations there was no one present from Diane's side to verify what was said between interrogators and children.

Missing Reports

It is not surprising therefore that many claims made by the authorities regarding what the children said during these

interrogations are not supported by 'written reports'. These reports should have been handed over by the D.A's office to the Defense which they were obliged to do for possible inclusion at trial. Unfortunately the absence of these reports were not discovered missing until it was too late. This mysterious anomaly was overlooked among the thousands of documents handed over to Jagger's office. What was eventually discovered was that there was no reports regarding Danny between May 25 and June 20 which can only mean that they were either not written at all, were withheld by the authorities, or simply destroyed. The reports on Danny resumed June 21 and continued until his discharge from hospital. Reports written or quoted by nursing staff regarding things that Danny said were not admissible in court because of his age. That did not stop Prosecutor Hugi however who, contrary to the court ruling was able, by clever and subtle wording, to give the impression that Danny had made statements that claimed Diane had taken part in the shootings. Staffel herself also quoted Danny to nurses at the Custody Hearing yet neither nurse or Staffel produced written proof of what the child is supposed to have said. When eventually there was a request made for the missing reports. The request was denied by the hospital authorities, D.A's office and CSD. One can only assume therefore that these reports were in some way damning for the prosecution or, a contradiction of what was claimed regarding Danny and what he is supposed to have said.

In her testimony Staffel claimed that when a 'visitor' asked Danny what had happened to him, Danny had replied, "my mommy, it went bang, bang". The caseworker did not identify this 'visitor' however, nor produce a written report to support her claim. The 'bang, bang' words used by Danny have a simple explanation. They had manifested themselves because of Danny's favourite game that Diane had played with him on one of her visits. Danny had used these same words during the game and Susan Staffel was present when this game was played. She chose not to mention this episode in her testimony however.

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