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Diane Fleming


Inmate Name: Diane Fleming Charge: First degree murder, Adulteration of a food substance Sentence: 30 years and 20 years, concurrently Prison: Fluvanna Correctional Center, Virginia Diane Fleming was born in Colorado in 1957. When she was four, her parents moved back to Fredericktown, Missouri. Her grandfather had some horses, pigs and cows, and for Diane, it was like growing up on a farm. When Diane was six, her sister Donette was born. Donette says that her big sister was very giving, sewing Barbie doll clothes for her, and brushing her hair daily. Diane also excelled in her studies. At Fredericktown High School she met her boyfriend Charles Ellinghouse; her college plans were derailed when she found out she was pregnant. She graduated college in May and got married in June, giving birth to Charles Jr. who went by Chuckie. But in 1979, Diane’s marriage ended in divorce. Then, in January 1981, Diane married Charles Tanner, a Marine, and moved to Northern Virginia where he was stationed. The following year, Diane had another son Jeffrey. Once again, her marriage failed, and in 1986, Diane and Charles Tanner separated. By 1989, Diane was ready to date again, and placed a personal ad in the local newspaper. She began dating another man named Charles – Charles, or Chuck Fleming. In March 1990, Chuck proposed and the two moved to the Richmond area where he had gotten a job as a maintenance mechanic at a tobacco company. The two were married in September with Diane’s sons, Chuckie and Jeffery moving in with them. But there were growing pains right from the start between Diane’s oldest son Chuckie and his new stepfather. The tension was temporarily relieved, however, when Meagan joined the family in 1993. Three years later, Diane discovered her husband was having an affair with a co-worker. Chuck confessed and, according to Diane, the couple was able to put that behind them. By 2000, 43-year-old Diane Fleming and her 37-year-old husband Chuck had bought a home in Midlothian Virginia, where Chuck continued to enjoy a passion for physical fitness. According to Jeffery, he had a home gym, and would play basketball up to four times a week. He was also experimenting with protein shakes, and an over the counter bodybuilding substance called creatine. On Sunday, June 11, 2000 Diane and Chuck mixed some creatine into a popular sports drink. Diane says that Chuck used more than the recommended amount despite her protestations; he went to bed early that night. When he got up for work the next morning, he complained he was not feeling well but refused to go to the doctor. When Chuck’s condition deteriorated, he let Diane call the rescue squad and he was rushed to a local medical center. The doctors were unable to help him and after two days, he was taken off life support. In the meantime, police questioned Diane and searched her home. Diane showed the police a bottle of sports drink Chuck had mixed with creatine that was still in the refrigerator. They also found bottles at Chuck’s office. When the autopsy report confirmed the cause of death to be acute methanol poisoning, the police ramped up their investigation. In late June, Diane and her two sons took polygraph tests. Jeffery and Diane passed, but her son Chuckie did not. Diane grew concerned that he had become the number one suspect. Diane claims that in an effort to protect Chuckie, she switched out the hard drive on the computer to hide his Internet searches on horror movie websites. It was the missing hard drive that would later become a key piece of evidence against Diane. On June 14, 2001, Diane was charged with first-degree murder and adulteration of a food substance. Her trial began on February 19, 2002. The state’s evidence against Diane came down to two key points. The first was the methanol found in the sports drink in her home. And the second was the missing hard drive. According to a witness who testified at Diane’s trial, Diane confided in her that she had thrown the hard drive away so that she would not appear to be a jealous wife, by using a piece of software to break into Chuck’s emails. In addition, a police computer expert testified that an Internet search for methanol poisoning had been made on the family computer nearly a month before Chuck’s death. But Diane maintained that she made the search only after receiving the diagnosis from the hospital. The jury found Diane guilty on both counts. Diane was sentenced to 30 years in prison for first-degree murder and 20 years for adulteration of a food substance. The judge ruled the sentences would run concurrently. In 2007, a renowned toxicologist and pathologist, Dr. Mohammed Ali Al-Bayati did an independent review of the case. His findings, published in the journal, "Medical Veritas" in 2008, concluded that medical evidence showed that Diane is innocent. But some feel that Dr. Al-Bayati’s findings are not strong enough to overturn Diane’s conviction. In prison, Diane lives in the honor wing, and is a teaching assistant. She continues to maintain her innocence, and has a loyal group of supporters working on her behalf to get her a new trial.