Witnessed: Fade to Black - Deadly Fortune | 2. Pulling the Trigger

Episode Date: January 8, 2025

Diane McIver is dead.  What had happened that night? 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

Get groceries delivered across the GTA from real Canadian Superstore with PC Express. Shop online for super prices and super savings. Try it today and get up to $75 in PC Optimum Points. Visit superstore.ca to get started. 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. 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. 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 Schwal 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. Austin's parents, Anne and Craig, were also part of this inner circle.

Diane had a particular affection for their son, Austin. Diane loved 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.

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 is not, 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

of Diane. 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. 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. 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. Two, pulling the trigger. She looked at me one day and she says, Danny Joe, 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. 20 feet long by maybe 8 feet wide there was a summer one and a winter one. And on the top shelves there were hats upon hats upon hats. Diane MacGyver, 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. 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. 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. We to turn down a glass of red wine. So we went to the bar. 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 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. Craig is Craig Stringer, another close friend of the MacIvers, who had spent the day with them before meeting back up for dinner. We played golf. It was September 25th on a Sunday afternoon.

We got through play at about 6 o'clock. We all split. I went to my condominium. They went to her ranch. We met back at Longhorns at about, it was probably 830. Tex made a point to me that he was not having a drink tonight or he was only drinking one glass of wine tonight. And then you normally have three bottles of wine at a meal. We went outside, we hugged, we kissed. Tex was my best friend too.

I mean, it was like, I played golf with him when they got married. I played golf with him when they got married. I played golf with her every weekend, if it wasn't raining or whatever. Then when they got married, I played with him and her every weekend. Tex became a very good friend of mine. Diane would beat him up and beat him up and beat him up. He would still just chug along. While at Longhorn, Danny Joe, Diane, Tex and Craig dove into bloody stakes and red wine.

We just talked about stuff. I remember thinking, you know, when Tex got up, he left a full glass of red wine, which was unusual for glasses to go left, you know, 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. 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. After their dinner, Craig went on his way back home and Danny Joe 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. 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. 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. No protesters? No. There hadn't been any protests around there. They headed on towards the more familiar Piedmont Park area when, at a stoplight, a gunshot went off. 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, text, where's the closest emergency room? I can drive but I cannot, I don't know where the closest hospital to right here is. 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 gonna 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. Things were dire with Diane, who was slowly fading away. He yelled her head and he said, Diane, Diane. And I started to try to talk to her. She like 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 to the hospital. I don't know. I was feeling like I can't panic if that's a feeling. 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 it had Friday, it had, it just went kaflui. 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. Where was text's fault? 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. 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. 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. 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. I love when the sponsors of our programs are selling products I already use. And that's why

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So pick up a McValue Meal today at participating McDonald's restaurants in Canada. Prices exclude delivery. Diane, barely hanging on for her life, finally arrived at the emergency room at Emory Hospital. 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, and 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 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 given 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. Tex said something about the doctors are 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.

An uneasiness set in between Danny Joe and Tex as they both waited to hear if Diane would pull through. He sat in this little waiting room. I 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 had stuck it in a little pocket so I dumped her whole purse out and I because I'd grabbed her purse. 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. 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 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. 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 backseat. And it was my another opportunity to have a purpose so I said I'll go get it and I went out to the ballet and I said I need to get the phone out of 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 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 this the guy came up and he handed me the telephone and I'm guessing that somebody had already commandeered that the vehicle. So he handed me the phone and I took it back in there to text and I handed it to him 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. Then he said, Danny Joe, I hate to see you get wrapped up in this. I thought, why are you talking like a criminal? 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. He looks 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, but at the least be a totally incredible witness to anything. He was manipulating 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.

Diane was still alive. In fact, she had regained consciousness, but she was not out of the woods yet. 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 getting ready to intubate you. Do you want to talk to your husband? And she said, no. I don't know why she said that.

Tax had called his lawyer while waiting to hear about Diane's fate, with Danny Joe not certain why and what he might be planning. Steve Maples 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. Texas 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. 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. 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, 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 gonna pop out of the corner someplace and get me, because it was, well, it was, you know, 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. 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. With TD Direct Investing, you can get live support. So whether you need help buying a partial share from your favorite tech company, opening a TFSA, or learning about investing tools, we're here to help.

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questions. Skincare, makeup, parenting and more. We have got you covered. Oh yes, we do. We'll speak with industry insiders, celebrities and our close friends. And give all our honest and unfiltered thoughts always. Listen to Lipstick on the Rim now on Apple or wherever you get your podcasts. 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. 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 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 Garnet Street and picked me up and took me back to the hospital where Tex had had an anxiety attack. 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 at a band I think that night. 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. 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. Craig Stringer, who had been out with the MacIvers and Danny Joe at Longhorns just hours earlier, heard from Tex. Tex called me at 4 o'clock in the morning and told me that Diane had been in a terrible automobile accident and Greg, she passed away. I said, tell me, he said, tell me what happened. I'm like, gosh, we just left from dinner

at nine, third, nine o'clock. He said, well, her and Danny were in the car. They were 10th and Piedmont when he shot her. He was telling me this story and I said, "'Tex, tell me what's going on.' He said, "'Greg, I don't want you to get involved in this.' I said, "'Well, Tex,' I said, "'I am involved in it.' I said, "'I bought y'all dinner tonight.

I'm your best friend.' I said, "'You know, what the heck?' He said, "'I just can't tell you.'" And he hung up on me. Well, I called him back twice and he kept confirming his story that she, you know, was in an automobile accident. So, you know, he was planning his retreat,

how he was gonna get out of this thing. And then he came up with a story about the gun. Tech said that they hit a bounce, which they didn't, and it made the gun go off. Well, he had gotten the gun from Diane out of the pocket of the car, and it was in a Publix bag, and he left it in the Publix bag so he wouldn't get any residue from the gunpowder. 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. I get a call about, I guess it was about six o'clock that Monday morning and it was Tex.

I don't normally get up at six o'clock on a Monday morning. So I could tell the total beast boy something had happened and I said, what's going on, Tex? And he said, I may need your assistance later on this morning. Because I was Tex's private, our personal bookkeeper. And we had met with his accountant the week before and pretty much gotten all the financial stuff discussed and presented. And I thought, what else do you really need?

So I said, well, what's up, Tex? And then there was a pause. And the next words out of Tex's mouth was, Diane is dead. I jumped out of bed and started screaming. I'm thinking either she fell off a horse or they were in a car accident. I said, I'll be over there as soon as possible. So I jump up, I get dressed, and I go to the condo.

It was probably eight or nine o'clock by now. When I go in, Tex was just totally broken up and just started crying. And he says, I can't live without my girl. He never thought Diane was going to die. And when they got to the hospital, and everybody always questioned why they went to Emory. Well, Texas office is there at 12th Street and Peachtree. And he took that route when, you know, because because Tex and Diane's both their doctors were at Emory and that's the route that he always took so in his mind you know Emory's my hospital and that's where our doctors are so they took that route to you know to Emory. When I got to the condo that day, Tex spent most all day in the bedroom, took a few phone calls but he'd be just sitting there looking at photos of he and Diane.

I mean it was really pathetic and just heart wrenching. His doctor had come, had given him some, not tranquilizers, but you know something to sort of maybe calm him down. When the evening came around, Dr. Hoosk asked me, he said, would you mind staying here at the condo tonight and I'm going to make you in charge of the medicines. I did. I went home, got my breathing machine and came back and slept on the sofa. Tex did not sleep a whole lot that night because he kept coming into the kitchen.

And I didn't sleep that much either. I just think he was just in a daze. He didn't know what had happened or, you know, what he was going to do. Tex told her something else in the condo too. When they got there and they got Diane into the emergency room, you know, she emphatically told the doctors it was an accident. And knowing how outspoken Diane can be, if she had any thoughts that Tex killed her or shot her, she would have certainly voiced that opinion.

But no, she said it was an accident. Tex also called Billy Corey to tell him the news. But it was Danny Joe who first spoke with Billy. 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 really, I didn't want anybody to have

what happened to me happen to them. And he said, Danny Joe, what's happening? What's going on? And I said, well, there's been an accident and Diane has died. 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 him out yet. 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. 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. Danny Jo Carter, who says she had wanted desperately to believe it was all just a horrible accident, was now convinced, based on Texas actions, that it was just the opposite. 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. Next time on Deadly Fortune.

Ten seconds after I entered the Corey building and walked into that big room there were beautiful photographs of Diane. Picture, picture, picture, picture, picture, picture, picture. None of the pictures. Dexen. And Mr. McGyver wanted ten small miniature urns, if you will. Classic with a western flair or theme. Your life is irrevocably changed. Diane MacGyver is dead. There will be a price for that, there will be consequences for that. And you need to start reconciling and moving forward that way. Don't want to wait for that next episode? You don't have to. And you need to start reconciling and moving forward that way. and hit subscribe at the top of the page. Not on Apple? Head to GetTheBinge.com to get access wherever you listen.

As a subscriber, you'll get binge access to news stories on the first of every month. Check out the Binge channel page on Apple Podcasts or GetTheBinge.com to learn more. Deadly Fortune is a production of Sony Music Entertainment and Waveland Road. I'm your host and reporter, Dale Cardwell. Jason Hoak wrote and produced the series. Our associate producer is Marnie Zambri. Production support provided by Tim Millard. Audio engineering by Shane Freeman. The original score for Deadly Fortune is by Thomas Avery.

Jason Hoke is the executive producer on behalf of Waveland Road. Executive producers for Sony Music Entertainment are Jonathan Hirsch and Catherine St. Louis. If you love the show, tell your friends, and don't forget to leave a review. Thanks for listening. You