The Murder of Diane Drake, Part One

Murder, She Told

Kristen Seavey

True Crime, Society & Culture, Documentary

4.9 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 11 March 2025

⏱️ 38 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

1980 - Newport, Rhode Island. On March 21, 1980, as wind and rain swept through Middletown, Rhode Island, 19-year-old Diane Drake got ready for work. But she never made it there. The next morning, her nude body washed up on Easton’s Beach. Witnesses later reported seeing Diane the night she disappeared, walking—and even hitchhiking—along the three-mile route to work despite the harsh weather. But Diane had always warned her younger sister, Jean, never to hitchhike. Would she have ignored her own advice? Forty-five years later, Jean is still searching for answers. And to this day, she believes one thing: Diane Drake knew her killer. Blog with sources and photos will be available later today. If you have any information on the murder of Diane Drake, please contact the Rhode Island Cold Case Unit tip line at (401) 468-2233. You can also call the anonymous tip line at the Newport Police Dept at (401) 846-2606. Donate to the Diane Drake Memorial Scholarship Fund at Roger Williams University. Choose ‘Make a Gift to RWU’, select Other, and write in Diane Drake Memorial Scholarship: https://www.rwu.edu/giving/ways-to-give If you contribute to Diane's scholarship, please email me at [email protected] for a gift. Support Murder, She Told: https://www.murdershetold.com/support Learn more: murdershetold.com ----- Instagram: @murdershetoldpodcast Facebook: /mstpodcast TikTok: @murdershetold Episode Sponsors: One Skin: Get 15% off your order at https://www.oneskin.co with the code MST Newspapers: Get 20% off with code murdershetold at newspapers.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Kristen Cevi. This is Murder She Told. murder, she told.
0:32.8	It was mid-Marche, and 19-year-old Diane Drake was with her good friend and roommate Elaine.
0:37.7	They'd made their way down to Broadway and Newport, Rhode Island, to the Pachli-scented shop of a local card reader. When it was Diane's turn, the card reader told her to shuffle
0:43.1	the deck and focus intently on the question she wanted to ask. Diane closed her eyes and thought hard.
0:49.6	Should she ask about her family, one of her eight siblings? Or perhaps her boyfriend, Billy, who had recently broken his hand at karate?
0:57.6	No.
0:58.6	She promised herself that she'd think about her own future, her own ambitions.
1:03.6	She had an idea of where she wanted her life to go.
1:06.7	She was in her second year of studying criminal justice at Roger Williams University
1:10.5	and thought she might want to go into social work or perhaps juvenile corrections. She was in her second year of studying criminal justice at Roger Williams University
1:10.9	and thought she might want to go into social work or perhaps juvenile corrections,
1:15.1	maybe even work as a National Parks Ranger.
1:18.2	Diane asked about her future.
1:20.9	She placed the deck in front of her and watched as the woman flipped through a few cards on the table.
1:26.2	The fortune teller pointed her finger at one
1:28.4	card. See him? She asked, searching Diane's face for any signs of recognition. Diane stared blankly.
1:37.7	A bad man, dark hair, dark complexion, darkness all around him. Beware of this man. She lifted the cards scanning
1:48.9	for meaning. The woman returned them to the deck. I can't see anything. I can't see a future.
1:56.3	There's nothing. The girls left the shop and Diane tried to shake the eerie feeling that shrouded her
2:02.3	like a heavy cloak. Just a silly card reading, nothing more. But she'd tell her sister about it later,
2:09.4	shaken by the ominous visit. Within one week, Diane Drake would be dead.
2:25.3	Diane Ruth Drake was born to Captain John Drake and Francis Drake, who went by Fran on May 3, 1960. We spoke with Diane's younger sister Jean, who said that her mom was basically pregnant for a decade.
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