Much i put on that face and tell everybody that i m fine. i ll never be the same after this. those were, to be sure, serious charges, but they also made clear police believed tex didn t mean to kill diane. tex had dodged a murder charge, but his sister said tex didn t seem to get that. he just kept saying, but it was an accident. i said, but someone died. i don t know what he thought. who knows what was going through his mind at that point? tex mciver was released on bond, and while he seemed clueless about why he was charged with anything, diane s friends and colleagues wondered if he had been charged with enough. i was angry. it is like i didn t care i didn t i didn t care what i was angry, i didn t care what happened to him. in the months since diane s death, dani jo had become suspicious about tex s behavior during that final, fatal drive. so we asked her to take us along the route they drove that night.
Up. best friends and confidants. dani jo was a cosmetologist with a front row seat to diane s brilliant career. she loved crunching numbers. and along with billy corey, i think she learned how to wheel and deal. she rose through the ranks. and with her boss blessing became president of the company. hiring, firing, and calling the shots. she would say, i don t want to hear about the labor pains, just show me the baby. jay grover was a vice president at diane s company. when she started in business here in atlanta, there were not a ton of female executives. no. absolutely. and i think that s what one of the things that really set diane apart. i mean, she was a a woman in a man s world. she had a big personality, loved clothes, furs, hats, and kids. although she never had any of her own. she survived one bad marriage and was in her 50s when she met tex mciver.
Dani jo that diane was alert. and she said that diane had spoken and that her heart was strong. they had taken her up to surgery. by then police had arrived. they wanted to talk to dani jo outside. they wanted to drive the route. oh, they drove the route with you right then? yes. then they took her to headquarters for questioning. she told police what happened in the car. he woke up, and i guess he had it had it in his hand, and he just pulled the trigger. as she sat there, dani jo was still thinking diane was going to be okay, but then they had gotten a call, and they they both left the room. i was sitting alone, and then i get this text from my husband. no. no. that diane had died. it turned out the gunshot wound through diane s back was
This is the underpass where tex says he first began to worry about the homeless people in the area. dani jo says there was no danger. nothing that would have kept you from driving away, going on your way? no. just a few minutes later we came to where they made that fateful stop in midtown, atlanta. and it was, says dani jo, just a stop. we were sitting at a red light. no bump? no bump. you know the rest. diane was shot and dani jo took off for the hospital. she says she was frantic, but tex, she says, was calm. as a matter of fact, at some point a little bit farther up he told me to slow down and be careful, that there might be people out here with walking with baby carriages. wait a minute. his wife is wounded in the front seat here by his hand, and he s telling you to slow down? yes. at the hospital diane was
Diane s assistant, terry brown, says diane would do anything for that little boy. he was the sun for her. the moon and the sun, i guess. the stars. he was the whole thing. it s all about austin. that was never more obvious than at the birthday bashes she and tex threw for austin. an annual exercise in excess. we love you very much, don t we, darling. yes, forever. and ever. bye-bye! bye, i love you! three weeks after austin s 10th birthday, tex and diane, with their friend dani jo, were headed home after a weekend at the ranch. they were driving a king ranch ford expedition, virtually identical to this one, and they made a short stop for dinner. it was september 25th, 2016. the day everything changed. after dinner, they headed for home. a trip of about 45 minutes.