Unnamed Friend of Diane
Appearances
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
And I thought, well, that's fine. You know, I'll wait for you to do that. And I waited and I waited. And finally, the guy came up and he handed me the telephone. And I'm guessing that somebody had already commandeered the vehicle. So he handed me the phone and I took it back in there to text and I handed it to him.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
I die in love, children. And when Austin was born, before he was born, his parents asked if she would be the godmother to their child. And when he was born, he was like, you know, the golden child. I was crazy about Austin. He was a cute little boy. He was really sweet.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
And he's sitting down, and I'm standing up in front of him, and he starts scrolling on his phone. And I knew he was looking for his attorney's phone number. And he was, because that's who he called. As he's doing that and scrolling through, he looks up at me and he says, I don't trust these guys. Uniformed security police for Emory.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
Then he said, Danny Joe, I hate to see you get wrapped up in this. I thought, why are you talking like a criminal? He said, I hate to see you get wrapped up in this. And you just need to tell the police when they get here that you are just down here as a friend of the family. That just kind of blew me away. I stood back and I said, Tex, I just drove you into the emergency room.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
He looked at me and he goes, well, they don't know that. And it took my breath away. In my mind, I'm thinking, I get lost in Decatur all the time. Anyway, I don't have a car. Why would I even make, why did I need to make up a story about being down there as a friend of the family? I mean, now looking back on it, if I had said that, heck, I could be in jail.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
But at the least, be a totally incredible witness to anything. He was manipulating me. me or trying to. And, you know, I was usually the go along, get along girl. I don't, you know, I'm not a control freak, never have been. And I guess he thought if he told me to do something that I was going to do it.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
They asked Diane if they said, we're getting ready to intubate you. She had come. She had regained consciousness. And at one point she said it was an accident. Well, heck, I thought it was an accident, too. She didn't know what was going on in his mind. And they said, we're going to get ready. We're getting ready to intubate you. Do you want to talk to your husband? And she said, no.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
I don't know why she said that.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
Steve Maple showed up at the hospital 15 or 20 minutes later. At some point, they separated us, but we both ended up in the same room, in that little room. Tex's lawyer was there, and I had asked to see a minister. I just wanted to pray. I wanted somebody to pray with me. And I asked Tex, would you like to pray? And he goes, well, I hope we don't need that.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
And I was kind of disappointed, but I thought, well, I'm going to do it. So this woman was in there, and text came in the room with Steve Maples, his attorney that he had called. And then these two other guys came in, and I thought they were doctors dressed in plain clothes, but it was actually the police, the Atlanta police.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
I was afraid she was very, you know, connected to him, that he was going to end up being really spoiled and not be one of those children that you enjoy to be around. And that was not the case. He was an adorable, respectful, fun, sweet child and has continued to grow up that way. Everybody was second to Austin. Everybody was number two. Austin hung the moon and he was the world to Diane.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
And the doctor did come in and tell us that she was talking and what she said. And I was relieved. I thought, if she's talking, maybe she's going to be okay. Because I had no idea where she was shot at the time. And the police asked if they could talk to me. And I said, sure. So I walked out of the room. I didn't know they meant downtown.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
And so I went downtown with the police for four and a half or five hours, which was horrible, horrible, horrible. It was a desolate, empty building. I don't know where all the criminals were, but I was sure somebody was going to pop out of a corner someplace and get me because it was, well, it was horrible.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
one o'clock in the morning at this time but the two policemen sat in there and started asking me questions and they said that they were expecting a phone call well they were expecting the hospital to call and they got a phone call and they left the room and then I got a text from my husband that Diane had died I was devastated.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
I was absolutely devastated and I was angry that I was at the Fulton County Police Department in a, it seemed like an empty building, in an empty room by myself when I get a text. Yeah, it was awful.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
Tom called me and he said, what do you want me to do? And I said, go to the hospital and, you know, be down there with text. Because they weren't going to let him in the room with me. I didn't even know where I was. And I figured they would take me back, but they didn't. Tom came to Garnett Street and picked me up and took me back to the hospital where Tex had had an anxiety attack.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
But he was insisting that they were going to get the car back, the vehicle. And I thought, they are not going to bring that car around. And I'm not driving it anyway, and you can't. But he kept on and on, and I knew that the nurse had given him Ativan, I think, that night.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
And I thought, it's going to hit him any minute, and he's going to be out, and I don't want to have to drag him out of the car. I didn't want to mess with any of that. Tom drove us back to the condo and text said, can I borrow Danny Joe? I can't do this by myself. And he was talking about telling people and calling people.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
Tom left and went home, and I didn't think anything, you know, about being there to help him because at the time I still thought it was an accident. He started making some phone calls. He tried to call Billy Corey.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
The house phone rang, the landline, and I saw that it was Billy. And I picked it up and I said, hey, Mr. Corey. And he said, Danny Joe, what's going on? And I said, are you by yourself? I didn't want anybody to have what happened to me happen to them. And he said, Danny Jo, what's happening? What's going on? And I said, well, there's been an accident and Diane has died.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
Tex grabbed the phone and he says, I'll take this. And so Tex started talking to him and he said, well, I really can't tell you anything, any details. And I looked over at him and I thought to myself, you are talking to the wrong man and that dog won't hunt. And I don't know why he wouldn't tell him any details, but hey, he hadn't figured them out yet.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
He dug his own... It's not a grave yet, but yeah, he put himself in the position with his behavior. I think he thought he could say anything and that people would believe him.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
She looked at me one day and she says, Danny Jo, she said, I've got enough money to buy anything I want and all I want is your hair. The hats were part of that. She would wear her hair done one day, maybe put it up the next day, and then for about two days she'd wear hats, and then it would start all over again. She had a winter and a summer closet in her house.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
20 feet long by maybe eight feet wide. There was a summer one and a winter one.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
Well, she was driving. They did have a roadie of red wine and a Yeti cup that they kind of passed back and forth. I was sitting in the passenger side. in the front and Diane was driving and Tex was in the back behind me. I figured he was probably working on his green sheets or I think that's what he called them for keeping up his hours, billable hours.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
Diane and I were talking, Tex was doing his work and we went right to Longhorn and I was absolutely starving. We got there and there was a little bit of a line or a wait And I said, well, let's go to the bar and have a drink. I wanted to eat and I wanted to eat there and I wanted to eat then. So I knew Diane wasn't going to turn down a glass of red wine. So we went to the bar.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
We were talking about politics because it was 2016 and the debates were going on and all that. And so we sat at the bar. They had a glass of wine. I was drinking water. And then we went to the table and sat down and Craig got there. So we probably ate. It was probably maybe 8 o'clock or so.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
We just talked about stuff. I remember thinking when Tex got up, he left a full glass of red wine, which was unusual for glasses to go left full. He drank red wine all the time. He was drinking red wine that night. Yeah, I didn't quite, I was just surprised. I didn't really think that much of it.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
That was the one thing that kind of stood out in my mind, that he had cleaned his plate and Diane asked me who was going to lick the bowl, which was kind of one of her things.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
There was a person in a red dress. I don't know if it was a man or a woman. And I don't know what they were doing out there at 9.30, 10 o'clock at night. But that's the only person I saw.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
No. There hadn't been any protests around there.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
And I realized she was really shot. So I... turned on the flashers, started honking my horn and blinking my red lights because there was one vehicle sitting in front of me. It was a slow red light. They finally moved and I ran the red light. I said, Tex, where's the closest emergency room? I can drive, but I don't know where the closest hospital to right here is.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
All I was thinking is I needed to be able to get her someplace as quickly as possible, as safely as possible. And I said, well, you're going to have to direct me because I can't navigate. I'm geographically challenged. I can't navigate and drive at the same time. So he told me where to go.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
He held her head and he said, Diane, Diane. And I started to try to talk to her. She started hyperventilating and then she made noises like I've never heard a body make. And I thought she died because it was not things that she could control. I just wanted to get with the hospital. I don't know. I was feeling like I can't panic, if that's a feeling.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
I didn't want to panic because I needed to drive and I needed to be safe. I needed to drive like an ambulance driver. The thought went through my mind that I should call 911. And my phone was in the back seat in my purse because Friday, it just went kaflooey. I could text from it, but I couldn't make any phone calls. So I'd use Diane's phone all weekend because mine didn't work.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
It was plugged in right next to him in the back seat. And I didn't think about calling because the next thought was, well, what am I going to tell him? I'm going to sit in this parking lot while my best friend bleeds to death. And I didn't know if she was bleeding or not because I didn't know where she was shot.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
Why? He said, Emory, he said they went there. And I guess he had been there. Diane had never been there. All I was thinking was being safe. I had to run several red lights and look at the traffic and make sure I didn't hit any, that I wasn't going to create any accidents because I was probably driving, you know, 50 miles an hour. As we were going down Morningside, Tex said, be careful.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
There might be people out here with baby carriages. And it annoyed me. And all I said was, not now. Because there weren't going to be any people out there then. I've got this. I said, I've got this. So I wasn't going to slow down.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
We got out of the vehicle. The valet came and got the car. I got out. He got out. And after he tried to get her out, they brought a wheelchair out. They didn't have a gurney. He was directing me to like I didn't know how to drive into a valet. And I thought, what are you doing? There were several times that I was wondering why he did things. And he was still calm. You can see it in the video now.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
We went out. They put her in an emergency bay. She had been unconscious. When she made those noises, she lost consciousness, and she never regained it. Until she got back and they were giving her fluids and stuff, she regained consciousness momentarily. There was a very small waiting room there within the emergency rooms, and we were in there.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
Tex said something about the doctors were thinking about taking her to Grady. You know, I thought, well, that's what we should have done. But, you know, it was too late then. The situation was too volatile to move her because every time they took her off, she would, I guess she would flatline.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
He sat in this little waiting room. I'd had to go give them her insurance cards and her driver's license and all that information. They called me out of there twice. And I couldn't find her driver's license because she'd stuck it in a little pocket. So I dumped her whole purse out because I'd grabbed her purse.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
She would carry thousands of dollars of cash and there was no telling what kind of little bag of jewelry she might have in there because she loved her jewelry. So I kept her purse with me when we got out of the car because I really didn't want to stay in there with him. I thought it was an accident.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
I did not want to talk to him because I didn't want to comfort him and I just wanted to be away and I couldn't figure out why all these people around because there was Emory security walking around, why they didn't ask us to separate, which they eventually did. But I didn't want to talk to him. And I finally walked back in there because it was odd to just stand out in the hallway.
The Binge Crimes: Finding Mom's Killer
Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger
And he looked at me and he said, I need my phone. And I asked him where it was, and he said, well, it's plugged up in the back seat. And it was my another opportunity to have a purpose, so I said, I'll go get it. And I went out to the valet and I said, I need to get the phone out of the backseat of my car. Can you get it? Well, no, we can't do that. But we'll bring the vehicle back around.