Danny Joe Carter
Appearances
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 8. Mommy Di
If there's anything that I can do, like keeping the light shining on Tex so that he doesn't get out on parole without anybody noticing what's happened, I would help not manufacture anything, but to make sure that he spends at least all the time that they did give him, which isn't that much.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 8. Mommy Di
I don't like it. I don't think he deserves to get out. People say he's an old man. Well, Billy Corey's 92. He's still going to work every day, wheeling and dealing. I've got friends that are 100 and in their 90s, so he could still have a very active life.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 8. Mommy Di
And the fact that he spent the last six and a half years incarcerated because he thinks that Billy manipulated things to cause him to get charged with murder and that I didn't lie and, you know, produce these depositions. And I know there's no telling what. would go on in your mind over six and a half years.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 8. Mommy Di
I've never been in prison, don't wanna ever go there, but I don't know where his mind goes with thinking about me. I would be resentful, I think, if everything was turned around. And somebody said, well, Danny Jo, he'd be stupid to do anything to you now. And I said, well, he was stupid enough to shoot his wife in the back while I was sitting right next to her. How stupid do you think he is?
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 8. Mommy Di
Oh, gosh. I think about her every day, probably several times a day. And it doesn't make me feel sad. I mean, sometimes I can get sad. I can get choked up about it. Yeah, I think of her every day for some reason that I wish that she was here. And I don't do it intentionally. It's just there are, we were like sisters for 42 years. And we have arguments like sisters, but yeah, I miss her.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 8. Mommy Di
I miss her a lot. But the memories are usually, you know, fond memories. The scene in Scarface, he's with a killer, and he's got this bomb in his lap, and they're following some senator or something. And they're supposed to blow his car up, but the senator's kids get in the car, and Scarface won't blow it up.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 8. Mommy Di
And this guy who's with him keeps running his mouth, you need to push it, you need to do it, you need to da-da-da-da-da, because they need to kill this guy right now. And so Al Pacino turns around, and he shoots the guy. His brains splatter all over the window, and he goes, look at you now. Look at you now, you son of a bitch. And Diane and I thought that was so funny.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 8. Mommy Di
But we would just say that out of nowhere.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
The Bench. I had no idea what had happened that night. I was on the West Coast in San Francisco when I got a call from Billy Corey, who had told me that Diane was dead and Tex was not. He said there had been a tragic firearms accident and Diane is no longer with us. I immediately texted and called Tex, which rolled to voicemail.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
Diane was still alive. In fact, she had regained consciousness, but she was not out of the woods yet.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
Tex had called his lawyer while waiting to hear about Diane's fate, with Danny Joe not certain why and what he might be planning.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
Danny Jo, still stuck at the police station, now learned of Diane's death in the worst way possible, by text. Her husband called her immediately.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
Craig Stringer, who had been out with McIvers and Danny Joe at Longhorns just hours earlier, heard from Tex.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
Rachel Stiles, Diane's girlfriend who had helped Diane plan her epic wedding, including that full covered wagon entourage for the guests, got a call from Tex, too.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
Diane was much, much closer to Austin than being a godmother. You could argue that she was neck and neck as his mother. In fact, when I received the call from Billy that early morning, my initial thought was that it was Austin that had died, not Diane. Billy Corey had an unbreakable bond with Diane, and now Billy was crushed.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
Tex told her something else in the condo, too.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
Tex also called Billy Corey to tell him the news. But it was Danny Joe who first spoke with Billy.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
To know Billy Corey is to know that he's the most loyal human on the planet. If he believes in you and cares about you, he's going to go to the end of the earth to protect you. Conversely, if you cross Billy or you do something that he feels was wrong, then you could not have a more powerful enemy.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
Diane had just passed away and Tex, according to Billy Corey and Danny Joe Carter, now fully lawyered up, behaved not like a grieving spouse, but as someone with something to hide. Everyone grieves their own way, but this felt different.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
She had supported him for years, helping him acquire a variety of multi-million dollar companies. But she was also there in the best moments, the singing, the trips, the parties. And what about Tex? He got on the phone with Billy, who asked him what had happened. But Tex didn't talk like a husband. He talked like a lawyer, telling Billy, on the advice of my attorney, I just can't talk about it.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
Danny Jo Carter, who says she had wanted desperately to believe it was all just a horrible accident, was now convinced, based on Tex's actions, that it was just the opposite.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
Next time on Deadly Fortune.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
Unlock all episodes of Deadly Fortune ad-free right now by subscribing to the Binge Podcast channel. Not only will you immediately unlock all episodes of this show, but you'll get binge access to an entire network of other great true crime and investigative podcasts, all ad-free. Plus, on the first of every month, subscribers get a binge drop of a brand new series that's all episodes, all at once.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
Search for The Binge on Apple Podcasts and hit subscribe at the top of the page. Not on Apple? Head to getthebinge.com to get access wherever you listen. Deadly Fortune is a production of Sony Music Entertainment and Waveland Road. I'm your host and reporter, Dale Cardwell. Jason Hoke wrote and produced the series. Our associate producer is Marnie Zambri.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
This was a big mistake in the eyes of Billy. He started to doubt that Diane's death from Tex's gun was an accident. And Tex did not seem a bit remorseful about any of it. From Sony Music Entertainment and Waveland Road, you're listening to Deadly Fortune. This is Episode 2, Pulling the Trigger.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
And on the top shelves, there were hats upon hats upon hats. Diane McIver, a powerful woman who indeed did wear many hats, did not know her fate on the evening of September 25th, 2016. The night started out much like any other.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
Craig is Craig Stringer, another close friend of the McIvers, who had spent the day with them before meeting back up for dinner.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
While at Longhorn, Danny Joe, Diane, Tex and Craig dove into bloody steaks and red wine.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
After their dinner, Craig went on his way back home, and Danny Jo was now in the driver's seat, headed to the heart of Atlanta, with Diane beside her and Tex in the back again. After hitting traffic, it was then that Tex asked for his gun out of the center console.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
He said he had been concerned about Black Lives Matter protesters, something Danny Joe doesn't recall there being a particular gathering of protesters or a threat that night.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
They headed on towards the more familiar Piedmont Park area when, at a stoplight, a gunshot went off.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
Things were dire with Diane, who was slowly fading away.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
I rushed back to Atlanta from San Francisco, and I heard from Billy Corey again. He was blunt. We're going to go to Austin's soccer game. And that's exactly what we did. Austin Schwall is Tex and Diane's godson. Austin was probably 10 at the time. We all went over to Brookhaven, this group of friends, and we supported Austin in his soccer game because he had lost his godmother.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
Where was Tex's phone?
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
In another fateful choice, Tex directed Danny Joe to head to Emory Hospital, miles away, despite there being closer and better choices, including Grady Hospital, the number one trauma hospital in the South.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
Diane, barely hanging on for her life, finally arrived at the emergency room at Emory Hospital.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
An uneasiness set in between Danny Jo and Tex as they both waited to hear if Diane would pull through.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
Austin's parents, Anne and Craig, were also part of this inner circle. Diane had a particular affection for their son, Austin.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 3. Hiding
the press was hounding me they had been but this was Tex had been really putting pressure on me to speak to two atlanta journal constitution uh journalists and in front of his attorney he wanted me to make a deposition i didn't want to i didn't want to and
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 3. Hiding
I thought about it at one point, and then Jay Grover told me that the only reason that he said I'd made my deposition at the police department, the only thing another deposition would do is if things went south for Tex, that they could compare my two depositions, and if they didn't check out evenly, that it would make me not credible as a witness.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 3. Hiding
And so I didn't do it, and Tex was going to have somebody come pick me up, a detective come pick me up, and I didn't want to be at home. We asked if we could come spend the night with you.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 3. Hiding
Yeah, because he was, well, I don't know which day he called Tom repeatedly, and Tom wouldn't answer the phone. And that's when he left that recording on there that I was going to send him to prison.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 3. Hiding
At the time, I thought it was an accident, but I really didn't understand his behavior. It was very puzzling to me. I hadn't come to any conclusions except that I knew that I had this list of questions that I wanted to ask him, and I did two weeks to the day. on a Sunday at one of Austin's flag football games. I said, can I talk to you?
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 3. Hiding
So we went over by ourselves, and I asked him why he was doing this with the clothes and the jewelry, because it was all in the works. He says, well, I'm just doing what my attorneys are telling me what to do.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 3. Hiding
I asked him where her cremains were because he'd made a huge deal out of her cremains and if he wanted some and making this special urn for hers for him to keep them. He didn't know that I knew that he had driven down there and talked to the woman at the crematorium and walked out and said, her estate will pay for that and left them there. And I knew that. So he lied to me.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 3. Hiding
He said the woman hadn't called him. And I knew that was a lie. It just... made me put a lot of emotional space that I didn't care. I did not want to be friends with him. If it was an accident, it was an accident, but his behavior was irreprehensible. I didn't want to have anything to do with him.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 6. Unspun
It makes me very, very, very angry. It makes me nervous because I know that he thinks that if it weren't for me and Billy Corey, that he would never have been incarcerated. I mean, he asked a lot of people at different times to fall on their sword for him.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 6. Unspun
The fact that he has even been recorded saying I was going to send him to prison makes me very nervous for him to be out with some extra money that something might happen to me.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 6. Unspun
I like him a lot. And, you know, it is very possible that he didn't know exactly how much that was in there. I don't know what his relationship with Mary Margaret Oliver, but I don't think she had to give anybody any information, especially the prosecutors, about how much money there is. So I don't really know. I don't know what to think about that.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 6. Unspun
Me and you and friends of Diane's, Billy Corey, that we were all getting what we wanted because Tex finally had to admit that he killed her. Well, everybody knew that he killed her. He was the only one sitting in the back seat with a gun. He did it. That was never a question. I mean, but he never would say it. He never would. Well, he never said he was sorry.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 6. Unspun
But, I mean, when he said, yeah, you know, I'm responsible for her death, that meant absolutely nothing to me. Immediately afterwards, I felt like, you know, I didn't quite comprehend everything because it's all so wordy about what was actually going to happen to him. And I didn't realize until... that even if he goes to serve the rest of his time in prison, that he gets out in the middle of 2025.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 6. Unspun
Oh Lord, she would not be happy. And thank God she's in heaven and not having to worry about this.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 6. Unspun
Yes, she did tell me that she wanted Austin to have the ranch. Diane would have wanted Austin to have money, yes.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 6. Unspun
We got up and ate breakfast. I'm sure it was probably sage sausage biscuits with fresh jalapenos and drank coffee and we were talking about planning. Diane was the ultimate planner. Yeah, we were making plans, detailed plans about that we were getting all of our bags right at the door so that we could like stay out and play as long as we wanted to.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 6. Unspun
And then at 6.30, our bags were at the door so that we could leave. I was going over to this judge's, it was a local judge's house to pick up some venison because I was going to make 36 quarts of chili and, you know, dole it out to everybody. Because that's what I did until I found out from the trial that was in 2018.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 6. Unspun
So it was two years, almost two years later that he had gone down to the barn and asked Tanner if he could take me home. You know that. And Tanner said, no, I can't. Diane would have been really, really, really upset. That might not have been a big red flag to other people, but for me, it was a huge blinking red light. It gives me goosebumps right now.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 6. Unspun
There was a huge, yeah, we called it a range. It was a big mound of dirt, a small little mountain of dirt. And we would carve out shelves on there and put plastic bottles or targets or whatever and shoot.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 6. Unspun
That could have been a possibility at that point. that certainly would have fit in with something that we did all the time.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 1. Tex and Diane
Her dad left her, and the last time she saw him, she was standing at the mailbox crying, and I think she was about six years old.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 1. Tex and Diane
Diane would not go to therapy for a long time. And I told her one day when she was dealing with something that I had gone as far as I could with her. And she needed to go see a real therapist because she thought that people that went to therapists were crazy. And she wouldn't even tell anybody that I went because she didn't want anybody to think her best friend was crazy.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 1. Tex and Diane
She finally figured out that her mother had been married and divorced five times and she didn't have a great relationship with her mom and she didn't want to be that person. She didn't want to be divorced. She was very well off and she was beautiful and she was not a timid person at all. not wanting to be like her mother was a very strong motivation.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 1. Tex and Diane
And she had gone to see a therapist one day, and she called me. She says, I finally figured out why. So I think that kind of stayed with her for a long time. That was probably the reason that I didn't know about certain things that she kept private, because in the years before, there was nothing that she wouldn't tell me.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 1. Tex and Diane
Most of the people that were there could not figure out why I wasn't there that night. And I'd kind of been, well, when she distanced herself from me, I figured I was uninvited. I don't know, it might have been a better thing had I shown up, but, you know, that's in the past.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 1. Tex and Diane
Well, Diane was in the process of getting a divorce. She wasn't divorced yet. She bought a condo in Buckhead, and Tex lived in that condominium building. And they had been at some functions together, but Diane really, she knew the name, but I don't think she'd ever really been introduced to him. And he started trying to get people to introduce her to him.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 1. Tex and Diane
I was over there one day waiting on some delivery, and the condo was empty. They had good security. Nobody was supposed to be up there. And I heard a noise, and I walked by the door, and there was an envelope on the door. And I said, Diane, somebody came up here and put an envelope under the door. I called her, and she says, well, open it.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 1. Tex and Diane
And so I started reading this letter, and it was signed Claude Lee MacGyver. And then it had text under it. He wanted her to go to dinner, and she didn't go right away. He was pretty persistent with getting somebody else to put in a good word for him. And one day she put on her baseball cap and her workout stuff. She said, well, I'm going to go up there and have dinner with him. So she did.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 1. Tex and Diane
She came back and she said, well, he's a really nice guy. I enjoyed talking to him, but he's too short and he's too old. It could be tumultuous. She would go up and grab her toothbrush and everything and bring them back downstairs and say that they weren't going to date anymore. Eventually they did, and it was exclusive, and it was a lot of fun.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 1. Tex and Diane
I think Diane definitely wore the pants. They had very common interests politically, business-wise. She could out-lawyer him. She usually won most of the arguments, but Tex wouldn't really argue with her about anything. If there was some kind of business thing that he thought something should go one way and she thought it should go another, it could get heated up in something like that.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 1. Tex and Diane
But personal things, they did not argue. I used to look at him sometimes because Diane wasn't the easiest person in the world. She could be abrasive with you when she thought you needed to hear something or even kind of joking around. And sometimes it wasn't very funny, but she would do that to Tex and tease him about his golf or his cooking. He liked to cook.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 1. Tex and Diane
Didn't do it very well, but it didn't stop him. She would go on and on about something that he had done that was terrible or, you know, kind of making fun of it. And he would just shrug his shoulders and kind of go, well, darling. And I used to look at him and think, what does that really, what do you do with that? Does it just roll off your back or is everything so good that it balances out?
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 1. Tex and Diane
I'm driving, and Diane says, well, get off here. We get off, and about that time, she starts yelling at Tex to wake up. because obviously he dozed off in the backseat. to look at ways. I thought, we don't need to look at ways. You know exactly where we are. And she says, well, get off here. Get off here.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 1. Tex and Diane
Diane was so much fun. She was absolutely hysterical sometimes. She would get up and sing when we had parties, and Cowboy Roy would be up there with the microphone and dance. She didn't sing, but she didn't care. She was going to have a good time, and she loved to have a good time. She wanted everybody to have a good time, and she knew how to throw a party.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 1. Tex and Diane
And the ramp to get off at Edgewood is kind of a long curve and goes down the hill a little bit. And Tex woke up, and he said, well, girls, I wish you hadn't done this. This is a really bad area. This is a bad area. And I thought, it's not really that bad of an area. I wasn't paying attention, I was paying attention to driving. So we got to the bottom of the ramp and the light was red.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 1. Tex and Diane
Vacations were not restful vacations with Diane, because it was, you know, you were up at, what, 7.30, you go out to dinner, Jackson Hole, Wyoming, you're up at the crack of dawn so you could have breakfast so you could get on these snowmobiles because you were going to ride for eight hours. And if you didn't start early, you weren't going to get back in time.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 1. Tex and Diane
Everything was usually a go, go, go thing. There was not a lot of just sitting around and taking it easy on vacation. He would take the plane up and get Cowboy Roy and whatever hors d'oeuvres and red wine and just go take off and fly around Atlanta and have a cocktail party in the air.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 1. Tex and Diane
And he asked Diane to hand, he said, well, he said, darling, hand me my gun. And I knew that there was a 38 that was in the console right below my elbow. And she said, Tex, I don't even know where your gun is. Well, I knew that it was there because I'd driven that vehicle a lot and I just knew it was there. I had both hands on the steering wheel because it's dark. It's a huge vehicle.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 1. Tex and Diane
And he said, it's in the console. Well, she went to lift up the console and I glanced down and I don't see it. He said, it's in the bag. There was a Publix bag, one of those brown ones, and it was in that bag, which was odd, I thought. I started to reach down and get it. But I was like, no, she doesn't have anything to do. Let her hand it to him.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 1. Tex and Diane
If that's going to make him feel like he's Mr. Protector or whatever, let her hand it to him. So she did. She handed him the gun. But I did notice some people on the sidewalk. I guess they could have been walking from dinner or whatever, and Diane says, turn here. So I was going down Piedmont, and I thought, that's great. We can just take a straight shot. And she and I were just
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 1. Tex and Diane
talking about the debates and, um, you know, I tattoo eyebrows and she had decided to find that she'd worked up the nerve to do it. We were talking about that. And of course it was the time of year that you just switch out your closets and she was doing that. And that was a, that was a two or three day project.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 1. Tex and Diane
Uh, because of the amounts of her clothes, she had gone from the two closets to storage units. So we were talking about when that was going to happen, and we got around Piedmont Park, and I stopped at a traffic light. Diane was playing with the door locks, and I said, what are you doing? She says, I'm making sure it's locked. And I was like, okay, she's just playing. She was a little tipsy.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 1. Tex and Diane
And then, within seconds, I heard this loud explosion. I didn't realize that it was in the car, which amazes me, but I didn't. I just turned to the right and I was thinking, what exploded? Did somebody hit us? And I'm thinking, no, nothing's jarring me or the car. About that time, Diane sat up and turned around to look toward the center of the console and she said, Tex, what did you do?
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 1. Tex and Diane
And he said, the gun discharged. I turned around and looked at the same place she was looking and I could see his hand moving. I could see the bag and I could see the gun and the poof of smoke. I'm thinking there's a bullet hole in the bottom of the car. I put both my hands on the steering wheel and I thought she is getting ready to tear him a new one.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 1. Tex and Diane
And I just want to get home, want to get home, get my car and they can have it out because there's a bullet hole in the bottom of this car. And within still seconds, it seems slower now to talk about it. She turned around and sat straight up in the seat and was just facing forward. I wanted the light to turn green.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 1. Tex and Diane
And she sat forward and kind of turned around toward me and she said, Tex, you shot me. I realized that I didn't know where that bullet was.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 1. Tex and Diane
Diane and I, um... had a falling out because I had developed a drinking problem and she knew that I needed to quit. I knew that I needed to quit. And we got crossed up one day and she said she had to distance herself from me. So the wedding, yeah, it was blowout. It had been planned. We had meetings every Monday night for a year. about the food and the dress and da-da-da-da-da, everything.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 1. Tex and Diane
We are total opposites. I mean, I was short and fluffy, and she was tall and thin, and she was a numbers cruncher and a workaholic. And I didn't go to work until noon, because I would stay at work until 7 or 8, which suited her, because she was such a workaholic that she never left early. It just kind of evolved.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 1. Tex and Diane
I know two of her oldest friends, but she worked so much, she didn't have a lot of women friends. We just talked about stuff, girly things, and she was usually just, you know, all business.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 1. Tex and Diane
Well, right after I met her, I went to work in another salon, and there was a Diane there that did hair, and it was too confusing. And she was there first, so I was the one that got to have a nickname, which I'd never really had one. But Diane called me Diane for years. Matter of fact, the hairdresser Diane, we would all go out, and somebody might approach us and want to know what our name was.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 1. Tex and Diane
Right. You know, Diane, Diane, Diane. They thought we were lying. So Danny was a name that I used to use when I'd go to high school dances. And I didn't want the guy to know my real name. And I thought Danny was cute. So it stuck. But one of my girlfriends did not like the salon owner. So she refused to call me Danny. And she made up Danny Jo.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 1. Tex and Diane
Once you kind of say double names in the South, they just kind of get stuck and people that, you know, don't call me anything but Danny Joe. So I feel like a bank robber sometimes. She married this guy. He could be a lot of fun, but he just had some anger issues, and there were some really tough times there for her. It took her 10 years, but she finally got a divorce.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 1. Tex and Diane
It took her that long, I think, because she never wanted to be divorced.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 7. Extended Family
Oh, Lord. She would not be happy. She would have a lot to say about it. All of our ears would be burning if she had a chance to say her piece. And thank God she's in heaven and not having to worry about this. But yeah, she would not be happy.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 7. Extended Family
Diane would have wanted Austin to have money, yes. Diane crossed all of her I's and dotted all of her T's and she knew where every quarter of a penny was. So I don't know if not having anybody look at, I mean, with Craig and she would want it looked after to make sure that things happen like she thought they should.