The most destructive of all emotions, jealousy, can cause a person to enact revenge on the person who did them wrong. This is shown in the Case of Diane Zamora because a jealous Diane killed Adrianne, for a relation between her and Diane’s boyfriend. Love can blind a person to kill their “rivals”. No matter what, with all of the facts given throughout the entire case, Diane did deserve to get life in prison. Diane Zamora lived a nice life in the town of Mansfield, TX. She kept to herself and was madly in love with David Graham, who was a track star wanting to go into the Air Force Academy(qtd in.
The two began dating in August 1995(qtd in Murderpedia) and they hit it off. After about a month into being together they announced their engagement to each other’s families. They planned to marry after finishing their academies in 2000(qtd in Murderpedia). Although the two were madly in love and planned to spend the rest of their lives with each other their relationship was seen as an “unhealthy obsession” according to friends and family members. David dominated the relationship and was seen as possessive with her, always having his arm around her(qtd in Murderpedia).
Even at her graduation he efused let her hug relatives that came to congratulate her on her accomplishment(qtd in Murderpedia). The relationship between Graham and Zamora, to them, was love at first sight but really created more harm than anything else. Though everything on the surface seemed fine with the couple David allegedly cheated on Diane with Adrianne Jones(sophomore), a teammate on the Mansfield High School track and field team. The sexual encounter happened on the way back from a meet in Lubbock, TX behind an elementary school on their way back home(qtd in nytimes).
This incident happened on November 4, 1995(qtd in Murderpedia) and Graham felt guilty for his actions and didn’t tell Diane until about a month later. On December 1st, after keeping this secret from Zamora, he told her about the interaction he had with Adrianne because of the guilt that had built up over time(qtd in Murderpedia). Diane was shocked when she heard the news and then was hit with rage demanding that he “atone for his transgressions by killing” Adrianne Jones(qtd in Murderpedia).
David, conflicted with the idea of killing Jones, agreed to do so anyways. Now the planning stage began on exactly how they would take Adrianne out. After conspiring for a while the two inally had a plan that they agreed on. The original plan was to take her out to the Joe Poole Lake, break her neck, and before dumping her body into the lake they would clean up the body, to get rid of any evidence(qtd in nbcnews). To carry out the plan David calls Adrianne to take her out on a “date” and he picks her up on December 4, 1995 around midnight(qtd in Murderpedia).
David starts driving and finally comes to a stop on a dark, back country road and opens up the hatch back in his pickup truck to let Diane out to confront Jones(qtd in Adrianne Jones Case). Diane asks Adrianne, ” Well-did you enjoy sleeping with my oyfriend? ” and Adrianne responds with, “No. There was too much guilt. “(NBC News). Then David tries to break Jones’ neck, but is unable to because she fights back. When Diane notices that the attempt to snap her neck isn’t going to work, picks up a barbell weight, and smashes it into her head(qtd in NY Times).
Adrianne is still conscious and makes her way out of the car and is crawling to a nearby barbed wire fence. Both Diane and David are conflicted on whether to finish her off or leave her to die, but ultimately Graham decided to shoot her in the head twice(NY Times). Both leave the scene f the crime and wash the car inside and out to make everything seem normal. For the longest time both Diane and David flew under the radar for the murder of Adrianne Jones until the fateful day in September of 1996.
The reason the two weren’t caught was because they did not fit the profile of “coldblooded killers” until closer inspection took place(qtd in True Crime Cases). Late one night at the US Naval Academy Zamora was hanging out with her roommates and they were talking about the worst thing they have ever done in their life. Zamora began to say that both her and Graham “hold each other’s fates” in their hands. One girl’s response was “What did you do, kill someone? ” and Zamora’s answer shocked the others saying, “I didn’t kill anyone, but because of me, someone’s dead. “(Crime Time).
Along with those girls Midshipman Jay Guild knew of the murder and kept it quiet, not telling anybody in charge(qtd in NY Times). Eventually somebody ratted out Diane to the authorities, causing both her and Graham to be arrested on September of ’96(qtd in Murderpedia). Both Diane and David had separate trials set to determine their future fate, both not ending so well. Diane’s trial occurred when she was 20 years old, 3 years after the murder, In Fort Worth, TX. The trial took a total of two and a half weeks and that was because some of the evidence made it seem like she was innocent(qtd in Chicago Tribune).
After nine days of testifying to try and save her and her future the jury was sent to determine the verdict. The jury, 12 people, took a total of 6 hours to come to a conclusion that she was guilty after relooking at the evidence(qtd in LA Times). On that fateful day in 1996 the judge, Don Leonard, found that Diane Zamora was guilty for the murder of Adrianne Jones and sentenced her to life in prison, due to the Jones’ request to not give her the death penalty, with chance of parole in 40 years(qtd in Murderpedia/People).
Her parole date is September 5, 2036 in which she will be 58 years old(qtd in Murderpedia). After all that time she got away with the murder all the lies had caught up to her. Now she is located at the Mountain View Unit in Gatesville, TX(Crime Time). Ever since she has been put in jail she has had some interesting history within her prison life. Diane Zamora, even in prison, has found love with another inmate named Steven Mora. The two have never met face to face, but they stay in contact through prison mail sent back in forth(qtd in Free Republic).
Both fell deeply in love with each other and sent a letter to the “County Clerk, requesting a marriage license”(Murderpedia). On June 17, 2003 the couple was officially married by a San Antonio judge, in which the wedding ceremony was performed with “Zamora’s mother and a male friend”, who represented the “imprisoned couple in the country’s first performed the wedding ceremony in which Zamora’s mother and a male friend stood in for the imprisoned couple in the county’s first proxy marriage. “(Off The Kuff) The two remained married until 2010 when they divorced(qtd in Murderpedia). Diane was also interviewed by
Dateline in 2007(qtd in Murderpedia). During that interview her story changed again saying that the murder was all David’s plan and she just tagged along. The murder of Adrianne Jones was due to “his guilt, her anger and their passion for each other. ” Also Zamora was so deep in love that she admitted she was “stupid”for committing the crime. With the crime that was committed and all the facts put into place Diane Zamora deserved to be locked in the slammer for life. Don’t let “love”, high school relationships, get too serious because the likelihood of them working out perfectly is slim.
