Tex and Diane seemed like the perfect Atlanta power couple. But things went horribly wrong one night on their way into the city. Binge all episodes of Deadly Fortune, ad-free today by subscribing to The Binge. Visit The Binge Crimes on Apple Podcasts and hit ‘subscribe’ or visit GetTheBinge.com to get access. The Binge – feed your true crime obsession. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: What is the story behind Tex and Diane McIver?
Listen to all episodes of Deadly Fortune ad-free right now by subscribing to The Binge. Visit The Binge channel on Apple Podcasts and hit subscribe at the top of the page or visit GetTheBinge.com to get access wherever you listen. The Binge, feature true crime obsession. The ranch was Tex and Diane McIver's 85-acre estate in Edenton, just outside of Atlanta.
Chapter 2: What was the significance of the ranch in their lives?
The place is spectacular, surrounded by a beautiful white fence and stone columns, and woods for miles to ride horses. The ranch is truly beautiful and totally fit with who Diane and Tex were. hanging on the wall, a sign that said, We don't dial 911, with an old rusted pistol mounted right under.
Danny Joe Carter had been out at the ranch on September 25, 2016, and Danny Joe, Diane, Tex, and Craig Stringer laughed for a night of steaks, red wine, and laughter at the Longhorn Steakhouse. This was a nice outing for the friends, especially for Danny Joe and Diane, who were still working on repairing old wounds of some bumpy moments in their friendship.
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.
Chapter 3: What events led to the fatal incident?
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.
But tonight, things were good, and Danny Joe was acting as the designated driver, taking Diane and Tex to Atlanta after their dinner in the McIvers Ford Expedition SUV. Diane was the passenger. Tex sat behind her. As they approached the connector, traffic was backed up for miles.
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.
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.
Chapter 4: What happened during the ride to Atlanta?
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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Chapter 5: How did the tragic accident unfold?
My name is Dale Cardwell. I cut my teeth as an investigative reporter in Atlanta, often chasing down public figures with much to say, but also much to hide. I've run all over the city in a news van chasing scammers, liars, and downright bad people. One reporting run proved to be faithful.
I was working on a story about a controversial airport advertising plan at Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, full of lawsuits and money. And there, I met a man named Billy Corey, a well-known businessman and behind-the-scenes political power broker and kingmaker. That day, Billy Corey encouraged me to go after that story. We struck up a friendship and continued to stay in touch over the years.
As I continued on in my career, I imagined I had my own set of superpowers and decided to set off in a new direction. I quit my local TV gig at WSB TV in Atlanta and ran for the U.S. Senate. I'm Dale Cardwell. You may know me from my 23 years as an investigative reporter, but for the past year, I've been...
As I was driving in Atlanta thinking about my campaign and what I could do to really make a splash, I passed by Corrie Tower and I had an idea. I made an appointment with Mr. Corey, sat in his office, and told him I wanted to spend as much time as I possibly can camping out on the top of your tower to make a big splash.
Something that would be picked up not by just the local media, but everywhere. I wanted to go viral before that was a thing. Billy Corey said it was okay. Go for it. He owned the tower after all. The tower stands 300 feet tall, located right at what locals call the connector heading north into Atlanta from the airport.
It's across from Grady Hospital and just around the bend from what used to be Turner Field, the former home of the Atlanta Braves. A bit of a relic from the 60s version of Atlanta, the tower was originally created by Georgia Power as part of a steam plant operation that powered local homes. Today, over one million people drive by the tower each day.
And that's why Billy Corey bought it back in 1994, as an advertising and billboard opportunity. I fought through the rain, the sun, and freezing temperatures for seven days and seven nights to promote my campaign. Once I was atop the tower, my bright idea met with reality, a soul-sucking race to nowhere.
See this guy right here? This is a man who's determined to bring about change in America politically. But he's not doing it like Romney, like Obama, like Hillary Clinton, like Huckabee. No, no. He's willing to hang out on top of a 320-foot tower just to get his message across. These are live pictures you're looking at, folks. It's been like 10 degrees and with the wind chill below.
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Chapter 6: What was the aftermath of the incident?
Unlike any other politicians, he's got no money to pay for commercials. And you know what? It might be working. He's running for Senate. Joining us now from that 15-foot ledge at the top of the 320-foot tower is Dale Caldwell. Hey, Dale, thanks so much for being with us. All right, man, here's your opportunity. You're on CNN. You're right.
You don't have money to pay for commercials, so what's your message?
Here it is. For 23 years, I've been an investigative reporter going behind the lines of power and big government to bring people the real story.
I imagine David Letterman picking up on this, or Leno, or any number of outfits in Hollywood. I would be known not just in every living room in Georgia, but nationwide. It would be my peanut-pushing moment. But as they say, timing is everything. And doing this all during a writer's strike was ill-timed.
Your favorite television shows will go away. And they may not come back.
The only thing I caught during those seven days was a cold. Though I lost the race, I won the respect of Billy Corey for my audacious swing into politics. Little did I know our paths would continue to cross in unexpected ways in the coming years.
It was over 30 years ago that Clifford Olson first called me. Secret phone calls from Canada's most notorious serial killer.
I knew I was killing the children, but I couldn't stop myself.
Now it's time to unearth the tapes, because I believe there are still answers to be found. I'm Arlene Bynum, from CBC's Uncover, calls from a killer. Available now.
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Chapter 7: What challenges did Diane face throughout her life?
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.
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 two shared so much together. Diane had been through a lot. She had been in a bad marriage and had finally escaped filing for divorce.
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.
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.
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.
It took her that long, I think, because she never wanted to be divorced.
Diane's childhood had been tough on her, too, and as a little girl, her dad broke her heart.
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.
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