During his playboy years, Jack was known to have flings with nearly all the Jabot Models. Initially, Diane Jenkins allowed herself to be pursued by Jack because she believed it would increase her chances of becoming Jabot's top model. A night in bed together was always followed by a morning pressuring Jack for the top model job. But Diane fell hopelessly in love with Jack, and began to delude herself that she would end up Mrs. Jack Abbott. But Jack decided to marry young and innocent Patty Williams in an effort to show his father he'd finally "grown up." When Jack was late for their wedding, he was found in bed with Diane by his sister Ashley.

Diane and Jack continued their affair even after his marriage, and Diane threatened to tell Patty about it, if she didn't get the top model job at Jabot. So Jack gave her the job for the summer, but by fall, Julia Newman was instead appointed spokesperson for Jabot's new line of products. When a pregnant Patty was prompted by the scheming Jill to visit Jack at his office, she found him making love to Diane. She was so traumatized that she tripped over a plant in the lobby, and later miscarried.

After her recovery, Patty told Jack that she wanted another baby, and to move out of the Abbott Mansion into their own house. Later after overhearing Jack making plans for a vasectomy, and telling Jill that he only married Patty so that John would make him president of Jabot, Patty showed up at Jack's office ready to kill herself in front of him. Jack admitted how cruel he had been to her, and begged her to shoot him instead. So she shot Jack three times. One of the bullets left Jack paralyzed, but he eventually recovered after surgery. Patty had lost any memory of the shooting or what had led to it until Jack and her psychiatrist forced her to remember by re-enacting the shooting. Once she remembered, she left town and divorced Jack.

Diane, finally realizing that Jack would never commit to her, became involved with Andy Richards, partner in the Paul Williams Detective Agency. At first, Diane embraced the simple and uncomplicated life Andy offered. But several months into their marriage, Diane was tempted by Jack again and had an affair. Thinking that a gift Jack had for her was an engagement ring, Diane informed Andy that she wanted a divorce. But the gift turned out to be a bracelet and an admission that Jack would never commit to her.

Diane left Genoa City for Europe. While there, Diane realized she actually loved Andy. She returned to Genoa City to tell him, but discovered he was engaged to Faren Connor. Diane considered fighting for Andy but, seeing them together, gave up the idea and left Genoa City. Andy and Faren were married and soon expecting a baby, but their world fell apart after Faren miscarried, and turned out to be an amnesiac named Michelle Sanderson, with a husband, Evan, and child, Betsy, in Pittsburgh. Faren/Michelle regained her memory and returned to her family. But after Evan's lover, Janet, murdered Evan, Andy joined his new family in Pittsburgh.

Ten years since she had left, Diane returned to Genoa City a well-respected architect, admitting that her marriage to Andy had ended in divorce. Jack was excited to see Diane again, but Diane's memories made her mistrust Jack. To see Diane on a regular basis, Jack hired her to design a lake home for him. Jack's sister, Ashley, was livid that Jack and Diane were seeing each other again. She tried to pressure Diane into staying away from Jack, but thanks to Jack's continual persuasion and romantic overtures, Diane admitted to Jack that she still had strong feelings for him. They rekindled their romance and eventually became engaged.

Then Victor Newman decided to begin romancing Diane, originally to get back at Jack, but he ended up falling for her. Victor offered Diane a secret assignment to design the new Newman Towers, and mesmerized her with lavish gifts. Victor stole Diane away on a business trip, proposed on the jet, they were married in Nevada, and they honeymooned in the Greek Islands.

The marriage was going well, and Diane decided she wanted a baby. Victor countered that notion by having a vasectomy behind her back, at the suggestion of his former wife Nikki, but made a deposit at a sperm bank prior to the procedure. Diane was furious when she found out about the vasectomy. Then Nikki was shot by her new husband Josh's former wife. Victor arranged with Diane for a quickie divorce so he was free to remarry Nikki on her deathbed, so Nikki could die happy.

The plan was for Diane and Victor to remarry after Nikki's death. But Nikki lived. Due to his divorce from Diane being declared illegal, the marriage to Nikki was voided. A legal divorce was gotten from Diane, and a new wedding to Nikki was being planned. Diane was bent on revenge for being used and made a fool. Victor ended up having to give her a board seat at Newman to get her to settle the divorce.

Diane, still living alone in Victor's penthouse at Newman Towers, intercepted Victor's notice from Robertson Labs saying the renewal time was due on his sperm deposit. Diane decided to steal the sample to become pregnant with the baby he had deprived her. Diane, posing as "Mrs. Victor Newman," showed up at the lab with Victor's answer to the notice. She had purchased the appropriate freezer and arranged to have the deposit delivered to the penthouse where she kept it in the closet of a locked room. Both Ashley and Nikki found out that Diane had the deposit, and Michael and Brad knew about it too.

Ashley looked for and found an old key to the penthouse. One day Diane walked in to find Nikki leaving, clutching a large tote bag. Diane later discovered the freezer unplugged and was furious that Nikki had beat her at her own game. About a month later, the sperm was mysteriously returned to Robertson Labs. Diane intercepted another letter stating, to her shock, that the sperm sample was back at the lab. She quickly went to a doctor who had the sample checked out, and she was artificially inseminated. After the baby's birth, she told Victor the boy was his, and he insisted on DNA tests. Diane was shocked to learn the test showed her baby, Christian Victor Newman, was not Victor's child after all. Soon afterward, Diane left town with her baby.

It was later disclosed that Nikki, with the help of Jack, had employed a detective's operative to get into Robertson Labs and switch the sperm samples to thwart Diane. But Nikki's attempt to help Victor resulted in Jack being the father when the man grabbed Jack's deposit as the nearest sample to replace Victor's. Nikki discovered this and was torn over whether to tell Jack he was a father -- especially since he was happily married to Phyllis and they were trying to have a baby of their own. So she decided to track down Diane in Milan to determine if Diane was a good mother. Diane proved to be a great mother, but Nikki was even more torn when she returned to the news that Phyllis could not have children. About that time, Diane, suspicious over Nikki's surprise visit, returned to Genoa City with her baby, renamed Kyle Jenkins after Diane's father, with his nurse, Graziella.

The discovery that Jack's stored sperm had fathered Diane Jenkins' baby, Kyle, was the turning point for the happy couple. Nikki finally told Jack he already had the baby he'd always wanted to raise in Kyle. Phyllis was torn between supporting Jack as he sued for sole custody of his son, and wanting the scheming Diane out of their lives. Phyllis went to friend and former lover, Attorney Michael Baldwin, for help, but refused his suggestion to throw the case by her testimony. Diane also approached Michael to represent her on the case.

Torn between two friends, Michael decided to bow out and let female lawyer Sydney handle the case. Once Phyllis was on the witness stand, though, Michael knew he had to take over the questioning and save both his friends. He badgered Phyllis about her former life and being declared an unfit mother so her own child, Daniel, was taken from her, until she broke down and blew the case. Phyllis was furious with Michael when Jack lost custody, but Diane retained her child, and Phyllis was free from Diane. Or so she thought.

Diane, plotting to get Jack by using Kyle, moved into the Abbott pool house. Phyllis and Diane began playing tricks on each other, Phyllis made sure the pipes broke and flooded the guest room when Diane threatened to move inside the house, and Diane assured her stay in the pool house with a broken leg by jumping behind Phyllis' SUV as she was backing up. Phyllis walked out when Jack wouldn't take her side, but she returned when her alter ego supplied her with a new plan. Jack agreed to her ground rules concerning Diane: Diane must not enter the main house, and Jack and Phyllis would spend time with Kyle together, not with Diane.

Then, the evening of the Newman wedding, the Abbott pool house burned down and the police called it arson. Diane said she was asleep by sleeping pill and barely managed to escape. Phyllis said she had left Jack and Kyle at the wedding because of a call that she was needed at Newman. Diane's friend Isabella saw Phyllis stopping at the Abbott mansion about the time of the fire. Phyllis said she had to change her gown after she sat on an ink pen.

Evidence was gathered against Phyllis, and she was indicted for arson and attempted murder. But Phyllis finally convinced Jack that Diane had set her up so that Diane could have him, and they entrapped Diane -- to such lengths that Jack took Diane to bed. Phyllis was acquitted, then found the note that Diane had written to pay a bum to call Phyllis away from the wedding. Jack and Phyllis used it as blackmail to get Diane to turn over custody of Kyle. Andy returned to Genoa City, divorced from Faren, and still nursing that soft spot he had for Diane, and they rekindled their relationship.

Diane used her Newman millions to help bail out financially strapped Jabot with "no strings" and offices at Jabot. Due to the friction caused by Jack working for Jabot and Phyllis working for Newman, Jack eventually gave his son, Kyle, back to Diane. Financially strapped Jabot had apparently let her go, and she was working as a beauty pageant consultant for Drucilla Winters at Newman Enterprises before that project was scrapped. Diane moved to Chicago.

In February 2010, Jack's new wife, Emily, asked Diane to return to Genoa City, to have Jack's son, Kyle, for a visit. By the time Diane and Kyle arrived, Patty Williams had taken Emily's place after putting Emily in a coma. Diane and Patty clashed immediately once Jack left them alone, with Patty having a hard time maintaining the Emily persona while Diane went on about what a nutcase Patty was back when she knew her -- when Diane was Jack's mistress, and his wife, Patty, a mere child. After a short confrontation with Phyllis, Diane and Kyle returned to Toronto, Canada, where they lived.

In October 2010, just as Jack and Phyllis were celebrating their reuniting, the Abbott manor doorbell rang, and there stood Diane. Diane claimed to want Jack to get to know his son, but Phyllis refused to let history repeat itself and warned her she had better not try. After sparring with Victor, seeing Nikki fallen off the wagon, meeting Tucker McCall, and observing Jack and Phyllis apparently quarrelling and non-exclusive, Diane decided it was time to enroll Kyle in school and give life in Genoa City a try once again.

Mid-October 2010, a storm was brewing with a tornado right behind it. Phyllis and Jack took shelter from the storm with family including Summer, Kyle, Daniel, and Abby. When the power went out, they started a fire in the fireplace to roast wieners, popcorn, and marshmallows.

Diane accepted the job working for Tucker, and they went to his place to seal the deal, and ended up in bed. A tornado blew out the windows in Tucker's apartment, and after they got dressed, Abby and Daniel arrived at the door looking for Ashley. When Ashley arrived awhile later, she overheard Abby tell Daniel that she was sure that Tucker was cheating on her mother. Abby confronted Tucker and Diane, but Ashley sent them home. When Phyllis heard that Diane was staying in town and accepting a job with McCall Unlimited, Phyllis posted a story on the Restless Style website exposing all the dirt on Diane. Once Tucker saw the story, especially that Diane was not a partner in the company she worked for in Toronto, he rescinded his job offer. Diane threatened to expose their one night stand to Ashley if she did not get the job, but Tucker told her to go ahead – no one would believe Diane. Later Diane attacked Phyllis for the article and Jack for apparently condoning it, and Diane told Jack he would never see his son again. While Diane was away desperately looking for work, Kyle read the article, ditched his baby-sitter and went after Jack and Phyllis, demanding to know if his mother had really done all those things. Jack ended up breaking it off with Phyllis while he mended his relationship with his son and Diane, but they would still meet at her place or for dinner. When Jack found a past-due notice for Diane's room at the Athletic Club, he paid it for her until the end of the year.

Nick ran into Diane at the Athletic Club, they had dinner together, then he took her back to the ranch where they made love in front of the fireplace. But when Victor returned from his trip unexpectedly, Diane sneaked out the back door. Later Diane accepted a job from Victor as in-house architect for Newman, her first project to be the renovation of the ranch house. She also accepted Victor's invitation for her and Kyle to move into the carriage house, and carried on with Nick after hours. But after Diane was caught by Victor too often at Nick's, Nick told Diane he wanted to be just friends. Later the same evening, Diane and Victor became lovers again. But unable to resist Nick, she often returned to his bed as well. Victor spotted Diane necking with Nick, so Victor called her away to the Valentines benefit at Gloworm, where he presented a large donation to the puppy love fund and declared Diane the woman in his life while Nick, Nikki, and Deacon looked on. The next day, Diane apologized to Nick and informed him that she had been asked, but was going to refuse Victor's offer to move in. But Nick had seen Diane's true colors, and told her not to refuse on his account, so Diane accepted Victor's offer and moved in with him. When Jack returned to town and discovered that Diane was now living with Victor, he insisted that Kyle live with him.

After his loss at the arbitration hearing, Victor went home a broken man. Not finding Diane, he went to the stables to go for a ride, and found Nikki there preparing to do the same. They commiserated about the verdict and the destruction of their family, and ended up making love in a pile of hay. Diane came looking for Victor, saw them, and left. Later, Nikki and Victor agreed that it was just a one time thing. To help convince himself, Victor told Diane they were flying to Las Vegas on the Newman jet to be married. Diane balked at his assumption and not even being properly proposed to, Victor attempted to make up for it by charming her and a new dress for the occasion, then told her that he would be awaiting her answer on the jet. After Diane got his blessing from her son Kyle, and ran into Nick, and gave one last attempt to be with him instead, Diane met Victor on the jet. They flew to Las Vegas, and with Michael as their witness, were married on the jet. Victor, Diane, and Michael arrived back in Genoa City for a reception at Gloworm, and were met by Lauren and Katherine, the only remaining friends who Victor could invite. Phyllis and Jack later reluctantly dropped off Kyle for the party, and to return to live at the ranch. Fresh from her breakup with Deacon, Nikki walked in looking to drown her sorrows in a drink and discovered the wedding party. She left after making eye contact with Victor, then drank herself to sleep in her room at the athletic club.

A couple months went by, and Victor and Diane enjoyed a convenient relationship. But as always, a family crisis brought Nikki and Victor together when Victoria's adopted baby was taken from her. Commiseration led to their making love. Diane walked in on them, and took a photo of them in bed with her cell phone. Afterward, Nikki felt guilty, but Victor told her that they belonged together. Later Victor told Diane he was getting an annulment. After Victor walked out to go for a horseback ride, Diane smashed the blue and white plate which had been the center of the décor at the ranch forever. Later Michael brought the annulment papers for Diane to sign, giving her a larger settlement than stated in the pre-nup. Nikki stopped drinking again, and was attending AA meetings where she would run into Deacon. When Victor caught Nikki merely having dinner with Deacon, he threw a fit at her and tore up the annulment papers.

After repeated attempts to talk her mother out of marrying Tucker, the day before their wedding, Abby got drunk and trashed the park which was decorated for the wedding before passing out in a fountain. Awakened by a cop, Abby was arrested for vandalism. Victor and Ashley met Abby at the jail, and vowed to let her sit there as a lesson, but Tucker talked her into behaving herself, and she was released. Later a rehearsal dinner was held at Gloworm, where Abby played nice to Tucker's face, but was hatching a plot to expose him as a philanderer to her mother. She sent a text message to Diane from Tucker's phone to meet him at the Abbott cabin, and one to Tucker from Malcolm's phone to meet him there for his bachelor party. After the dinner, Abby, instead of driving her mother home, drove her toward the Abbott cabin. When Ashley realized how drunk Abby was, she attempted to get her to stop the car, but in their struggle, Abby stepped on the accelerator just as Tucker was walking across the road, and was struck by the car. Diane was behind them in her car and was first on the scene to tell the police what she saw – an apparently drunk driver who appeared to purposely run a man down. After the emergency workers pulled Ashley and Abby from the wreckage, Ashley told them that she was driving to protect Abby.

Tucker's condition was critical. With a fractured skull and subdural hematoma, Kay gave permission for surgery to relieve pressure on the brain. Afterward, the doctor reported that they had found another bruise on the brain which caused a coma from which Tucker might not survive. Meanwhile Diane admitted to the detective that she was meeting Tucker, and that Ashley may have found out, so hitting Tucker may not have been accidental. Victor threatened the detective to take no further action, and confronted Diane, calling her a slut and telling her that there would be an annulment with no big settlement. Tucker's attorney, Nelson McGinnis, was called in to announce that Tucker had a living will stating that no extraordinary measures were to be taken to save his life. Kay refused to allow it, but following his instructions, the doctors took him off the ventilator, expecting him to die. But Katherine made Tucker breathe by shear willpower.

When Victor discovered that Diane had made plans for a liaison with Tucker the night before Tucker was marrying Ashley, Victor called her a tramp and said the annulment would no longer make her a rich woman. In fact, their not having been married for a year, invalidated the pre-nup and Diane would get nothing. Victor took back all the gifts he had given Diane, including her engagement ring, presented her with her packed bags, and threw her out. Diane got Jack to take Kyle, and jobless again with nowhere else to go, Diane took Adam up on his offer to be his roommate, knowing it would further infuriate Victor. Before Adam was even aware, Victor had Michael get a court order to keep Adam and Diane from crossing Victor's property to get to Adam's, so they moved to the Athletic Club.

Diane followed Nick and Adam to New Mexico where they went to prove that Sharon's "death" had not been a suicide. Adam stayed, and Nick and Diane made love in her room after they arrived back in Genoa City. But Nick let her know that it was just sex, he still was not interested in furthering their relationship because he could not trust her.

Adam plotted with Diane to keep Victor busy on the day that Newman stock went public while Adam told the world that Victor was dead, so that he could buy shares when the prices fell. Then when Victor let them know he was alive, the stock would rise and Adam would sell and be rich. At the last minute, Diane let Jack in on the plan, so he was poised to do the same. Diane went to the ranch, told Victor that she was pregnant by him, and he demanded a paternity test. As she was about to leave, she faked severe pains, and begged him to accompany her to the hospital in the ambulance. They left after Diane disabled Victor's cell phone. As Victor held Diane's hand in the ambulance, Adam began to execute the plan. Michael heard the newsflash that Victor had had a stroke and died. He tried to phone Victor, but got no answer. Adam in his hotel room and Jack at Gloworm with his laptop each gave the order to buy as soon as the stock price began to fall. Genevieve Atkinson joined Jack and marveling at his stock market skills, slyly accused him of having insider information. After the market closed, Adam, Jack, and Diane met for a champagne celebration of their profits. Victor showed up and told them they would never get away with it. Later after reviewing the facts with Victor, Gus from the F.C.C. determined that stock manipulation could not be proven against Adam, but possibly could be against Diane. After Adam paid Diane off in cash and revealed the trouble that she was in, Diane prepared to leave town, but was caught by Gus who told her that she would be arrested if she tried. Victor filed a lawsuit charging Jack, Adam, and Diane with stock fraud and personally handed each of them their grand jury summons. But Victor later made a deal with Diane to change her testimony to say that Ashley did not deliberately running down Tucker in exchange for the S.E.C. focusing on Jack and Adam. Diane carried out her part of the bargain, but Victor was unable to keep his. Furious with Adam and Victor for taking advantage of her again, Diane made deal with the D.A. to tell all she knew on Adam and Jack in exchange for immunity. Jack responded to the summons by informing Adam that he was shutting down the Newman Fund, so Adam just convinced their clients to move their investments to his new company, Oak Alley Partners.

Adam discovered that Diane had met with the D.A., and he confronted her, but she denied that she had made a deal. Adam disclosed his plan to frame Victor for Diane's murder which he promised would land Victor in jail, leave them both very rich, and Diane in another country with a new identity. Although Diane proclaimed it risky, she agreed to the plan. After Adam left, Diane called the D.A. and confirmed their agreement to convict Adam. Adam was later served with a grand jury indictment for stock manipulation and fraud, and his computer and files were seized. Victor removed Adam from the Newman board due to the disgrace he had brought to the company.

As part of Adam's plot, Diane told Victor that she was turning state's evidence against Adam, so had to disappear and could not take Kyle. Then she convinced Victor to sign papers to become Kyle's legal guardian. Adam gave Diane cash and forged identity papers in the names of Jennifer and Timothy Bilton. Diane sent Kyle to boarding school in Switzerland as Timothy, telling him not to contact anyone, and that she would be joining him soon.

Victor confronted Diane when he found out that she had filed an alienation of affection lawsuit against Nikki for causing the demise of her marriage to Victor. Diane showed him the photos she had of them having sex while he was married to Diane, and the video of Abby's confession to running over Tucker, and demanded a payoff from Victor. Diane screamed at Victor not to hurt her and caused a scene hoping to be overheard, then called the police and had him arrested. While Victor was being arraigned, Victoria paid Diane a visit and threatened that the Newman family would make sure that Diane got what she deserved. Meanwhile Nikki disappeared from rehab after discovering Diane's photo of Victor and Nikki in bed on the front of a tabloid with the headline "Once a Stripper, Always a Slut".

Jack confronted Diane about secreting their son away. Diane bargained to hook up with him again to give Kyle a family, and removed her clothes while someone watched from the window. Jack refused, and Diane told him that he would never see his son again. Later Jack publicly threatened Diane. Adam met with his attorney Leslie and realizing that Diane had not only ratted him out, but cost him his hedge fund and his board seat, said that Diane was bound to get herself killed.

Diane violated Phyllis's protective order against her and asked Nick to pay her to go away in honor of their past, to which Phyllis countered that it only proved she was a whore. Ashley and Abby found out that Diane had the video of Abby's confession, and Tucker commented that Diane should have been dealt with before now. Ashley later met with Diane and Diane offered to give Ashley the video for cash. When Ashley refused, Diane admitted that she had sex with Tucker, and Ashley slapped her. Michael witnessed it and offered Diane money to leave town for her own safety.

Adam offered to continue with the frame up of Victor if Diane would recant everything she had told the D.A. Diane agreed and wrote it up. After Diane received a message that the funds from Adam had been deposited in her Swiss bank account, she left a text message for Kyle that she was on her way. Then she sent a text message to everyone who had threatened her to meet her at the footbridge in the park. The next morning, viewers saw those same people looking suspiciously like they had just killed someone. Meanwhile Diane's body floated face down in the stream in the park. Murphy went there to fish, discovered the dead body, and called the police. The autopsy results were that Diane had been hit over the head ten times with a blunt object, an impression of a Harvard ring was found on Diane's arm, and a small key was found in Diane's mouth.

One by one, the suspects who had received Diane's text were questioned by newly rehired detective Ronan Malloy. Adam said nothing but recalled meeting Diane at the stream, and how they had set up the scene to frame Victor, emptying the contents of Diane's purse, creating drag marks, putting her blood on a rock, and placing Victor's stolen watch under it. Diane told Adam she didn't trust him and had taken precautions; that Gingerman, the man who photographed the ambulance leaving the ranch, would be naming Adam as his source for the "Victor stroke story" if she did not make it safely to Switzerland. Ronan showed Adam Diane's exoneration letter that they had found with Diane's purse. Adam gave an alibi as being at the Athletic Club bar, and tipped them to suspect Jack as he left. When questioned, Jack claimed he had never gone to the park, but recalled how he had met Diane on the footbridge and confronted her about Kyle's whereabouts, accused her of not changing at bit, and using their son. Jack tipped Ronan to suspect Victor.

Victor told Ronan he did not respond to Diane's text, but recalled to himself how they had met at the stream, and Diane had convinced him that Adam was setting him up for her murder by showing him that Adam had planted Victor's watch under the blood-covered rock. Diane narrating "from the grave," told how she asked Victor to help her, and when he refused, she attacked him. And how Victoria watched from the shadows as Victor raised the rock as if to strike Diane with it. Later Victor ran into Adam at the Athletic Club bar and presented Adam with the watch. Victor told Adam that he was going to use it to prove that Adam murdered Diane, and that try as he might, Adam would never outsmart him. Later Victor recalled seeing Diane floating in the stream. Diane, narrating "from the grave", admitted that she didn't even know who killed her.

Kyle phoned Jack but hung up, so Victor, Michael, Paul, and the police cooperated to help locate him. He was finally identified by tracking children who traveled alone, and Jack went to Switzerland, told him of his mother's death, and brought him home. Jack was livid when immediately upon their arrival, Victor handed him papers giving him guardianship. Jack tore up the papers and vowed to fight it.

Abby recalled meeting Diane at the park where Diane taunted her with the key to a safe containing Abby's confession video. Diane, "narrating from the grave" told how they fought over it. Eddie the Athletic Club bartender told police that Abby got drunk that night and he cut her off, but he did not recall the exact time. Abby left and blacked out afterward. Adam offered that they could give each other an alibi since he was also at the bar that night with a woman he picked up, but Abby declined.

Tucker recalled confronting Diane about Abby's tape and Diane's exposing their one-night-stand to Ashley. Tucker grabbed her by the neck and said he would kill her. But in his weakened condition, Diane was able to shove him to the ground and walk away. Tucker later came up with a rash which he probably got there since the area was full of poison sumac.

Nick recalled meeting Diane, and her threatening him with bringing the Newman family to their knees. They struggled, and his phone fell to the ground calling Ashley and recording Nick threatening to kill Diane on her voicemail.

Ashley recalled meeting Diane, and how Diane taunted her about having sex with Tucker. Diane told her she was the worst mother ever for not believing her own daughter about Tucker's infidelity. Ashley knocked Diane to the ground, and lost her cell phone, saying, "I'm not finished with you", as Ashley followed her into the bushes. The next night Ashley went back to the park looking for her phone, and was surprised by Nick. They shared their experiences with Diane the night of her death, but did not find the phone which could get them both in a lot of trouble. Afterward, Nick began receiving calls from a blocked number playing back the recording of his threatening Diane. Nick informed Ashley that someone had found her phone and knew that the two of them had met Diane the night she was killed.

Phyllis met Diane, who threatened to post online for their kids to see, the photo of Nick and Phyllis having sex on the office desk. They slapped each other, Phyllis picked up something from the dirt, and one of Phyllis's acrylic nails broke off. During questioning, Ronan noticed that Phyllis had recently had her nails done, and later accused her of being the owner of the nail found at the crime scene. Deacon upon seeing Phyllis, told her, "I saw what you did."

Since Adam's Harvard ring did not match the imprint on Diane's arm, Ronan got a search warrant to check out Jack's. But after Kyle overheard Ronan, Kyle stole Jack's ring so that Jack would not be implicated by it. Ronan later let Adam know that they had evidence that the gouge in Adam's ring which had disqualified it from matching the mark on Diane's arm had been made since the murder.

Ronan questioned Victor about the guardianship papers which could have been a motive if he felt that Diane had double-crossed him by sending Kyle to Switzerland. Victor responded by giving Ronan his watch asserting that Adam had stolen it to frame him. Since Adam was the prime suspect, Ronan said he would be happy to check it for Adam's prints.

Jack and Michael arranged Diane's funeral, which the police and all the murder suspects attended. Jack told how he knew Diane since they were young, that she was audacious, savvy, gorgeous, and irresistible. Jack would be forever grateful that she gave him his son, Kyle; that the very best of Diane lives on in Kyle. Michael said that Diane must have watched a lot of Mae West marathons; that she was irrepressible; that she lived and loved without restraint. Victor agreed with the others, but said that Diane had a softer side, most evident in dealing with Kyle, whom she adored and loved. Afterward, Ronan had Kyle removed and announced that he knew he'd been lied to by most of them, and that there was physical evidence that all of them were at the crime scene that night. That since they obviously didn't conspire to kill Diane, each must be hiding something else that is only making them look guilty, so he suggested they correct their lies.

More clues turned up during the murder investigation:

Victoria, Phyllis, and Deacon were seen by police surveillance at the crime scene the day after the crime.

Abby told Ashley and the police of her suspicion that Tucker had killed Diane, and that he had a rash from poison sumac.

The fish and game department discovered their surveillance camera had been stolen from the park.

Viewers saw someone watching video from the night of the crime on a laptop.

Abby recalled washing mud off her hands.

Pillows with sayings embroidered on them turned up in Diane's suite that Kyle said he'd never seen before.

There was a leak in the police department, as these clues and the murder scene photos got out to the public. Ronan called in Paul for help, saying that he was the only person he knew that he could trust.

Cell phone GPS records showed that Nick called Ashley the night of the murder from the park.

Footprints at the scene matched a pair of shoes that Victor had recently purchased. Although a search warrant turned up nothing at the ranch, Ronan showed Victor a photo of Victor wearing the shoes hours before the murder.

Diane's cell records showed that all the suspects were sent text messages to meet her in the park

Adam transferred a lot of money into Diane's Swiss bank account.

Police were dragging the creek, hoping to find more clues.

The key found in Diane's mouth unlocked an abandoned lockbox in the athletic club safe which had been Diane's. It contained her diary, and on July twenty-fifth, there was an entry saying that if anything happened to her it would be done by Victor or Adam, and five pages were missing from the days just before her death.

Ronan sent Phyllis a blackmail note so she and Nick met him at a warehouse causing Phyllis and Nick to admit their secrets of meeting with Diane the night she died. Ronan took them in for questioning, but later let them go. Phyllis came on to Ronan, who seemed to be interested. Weeks later after catching Nick and Avery in an embrace, a jealous Phyllis called Ronan, and they had sex on her desk.

Victor's shoes were found at a Goodwill store outside of Racine, and a donation receipt was found in his closet. Ronan brought Victor in for questioning, but Victor claimed he had been set up by Adam. Leaving Adam and Victor alone in his bugged office, after each accused the other of the murder, Ronan overheard Adam admit that he had talked to Diane at footbridge but she had not yet spoken to Victor, so Victor had to have talked to Diane later on the night she died about Adam setting him up. Adam left the police station and spoke to an unseen person at a warehouse, and accused them of writing Diane's "bogus" diary.

Ronan began studying the pillows found in Diane's room, deducing that each was connected to a person. "Its Good to Be King" was Victor, "Yes I am evil" was Adam, "Girls Just Want to Have Funds" was Abby. On a hunch, Ronan tore Abby's open and found a memory stick inside which contained Abby's video confession. Ronan confronted Abby with it as motive to kill Diane, but let Abby, Phyllis, and Nick go and had them followed. Abby was later arrested for the attempted murder of Tucker, but Tucker had the charges dropped.

One evening, a text message was sent from Ronan's missing cell phone to all the Diane Jenkins murder suspects except Adam, telling them to meet him at a warehouse. The suspects gathered and the surveillance tape of everyone's encounter with Diane in the park began to play, revealing everyone's secrets from that fateful night. They hid the tape before Ronan arrived. Adam arrived at a pumpkin patch and surmised that Patty Williams had summoned him. Meanwhile, Genevieve's housekeeper, Myrna Murdock, who had been badly burned when Genevieve's house exploded, lay in the hospital covered in bandages except for a cat tattoo; the same tattoo as Patty Williams. Patty had apparently been posing as Myrna, had been tormenting the suspects with information she had gleaned from the stolen park surveillance tapes, and the explosion at the mansion had kept her from joining them at the warehouse.

On Thanksgiving Day, Ronan received an anonymous tip in the Diane Jenkins murder case that the murder weapon could be found at Newman Enterprises. Following up on it, Ronan found a zippered case containing a syringe and a drug in Victor Newman's office safe. Patty Williams had planted it in Adam's desk to frame him, but Adam had found it and put in Victor's safe so that Victor would be further implicated. Victor was taken in for questioning, but claimed that he had been set up. Ronan ordered Diane's body exhumed for another autopsy which showed succinylcholine, the drug found in the syringe, in her bone marrow. The drug causes short term paralysis, and was only available to someone with hospital pharmacy access.

Nikki was also called in for questioning by Ronan, thinking that she fit the saying on the final evidence pillow "No Place Like Home". Ronan confronted Nikki with the knowledge that she had gone missing from rehab the night of Diane's murder, but when Michael arrived and caught him questioning her without her lawyer, Ronan let Nikki go. But Ronan later discovered that Nikki had rented a car and used just enough mileage to go to and from Genoa City and Dubuque. Arriving at the ranch with a warrant for Nikki, the police found Victor in the barn, supposedly drunk. Victor broke down and admitted to Diane's murder, and Adam arrived in time to verify that he had seen Victor do it.

The DA was happy, but Ronan and Paul felt that it had been too easy; something was just not right. Ronan interfered during Victor's arraignment claiming that Victor was not the murderer, which caused the judge to postpone and Ronan to be fired from the GCPD. Afterward Victor's fingerprints suddenly were found on the syringe, and it was revealed to viewers that Victor had paid a police detective to bring him the case in jail to put them there. Ronan and Phyllis teamed up as detective and journalist to figure out who really killed Diane. Ronan received an email that was meant to appear to be from Diane with the missing section of video showing Nikki passed out covered in blood next to the murder weapon rock. Although Michael and Sharon tried to talk Victor into stopping what he was doing, and Avery tried to find more evidence, Victor's arraignment was rescheduled. But as the judge accepted Victor's guilty plea and had sentenced him to 25 to life, a drunken Nikki broke into the court room and confessed.

Another page from Diane's diary written the day before she died was left by Patty on Ronan's windshield. It told about the sexual encounter she'd had a few days before her murder. Meanwhile Nikki found a video file on Deacon's laptop of Deacon and Diane having sex. Nikki took the video to Paul and Ronan. Since the video was shot on super 8 film, like the video at the warehouse and the one Ronan received showing Nikki passed out next to Diane's dead body, they were able to surmise that Deacon had a super 8 camera and had made all the videos.

When Nikki caught Deacon attempting to retrieve the camera and film from where he had hidden it, Deacon kidnapped Nikki and took her to the warehouse. Claiming that he had been protecting her all along, Deacon showed Nikki a video of her killing Diane. But Ronan arrived with the police after finding the film that Deacon had hidden behind Gloworm. That film showed Nikki hitting Diane over the head with a rock in self-defense after Diane tried to stab Nikki with a syringe. Deacon was arrested for kidnapping. Ronan showed the film to the D.A. and Victor was released from prison.

Ronan subpoenaed all of the Diane Jenkins murder suspects, and he and the DA questioned them about the evidence that still did not add up. Deacon arrived in handcuffs saying that Diane had come to him when no one would help her, wanting to back out of framing Victor with Adam because of Kyle, so she asked him to videotape that night in the park. Deacon admitted that after he witnessed Nikki kill Diane in self-defense, he had hit her more times to make it look like someone bigger and stronger than Nikki had killed her, and he was the one who put Diane's body in the creek. Deacon said he had taken the syringe, Ashley's cell phone, and the security camera from the tree, and had hidden them in the alley behind Gloworm, but they had disappeared later. When no one would confess to taking Deacon's stash or the embroidered pillows, the DA arrested them all for obstruction of justice.

At Genevieve's invitation, Paul went to her mansion to interview Myrna about the strange goings-on there. But Patty heard him arrive and grabbed a bag and disappeared to her old hideout, the Newman potting shed. Paul searched Myrna's room for clues to why she had left, and took her computer. Later Paul found a photo from the park surveillance camera on it. Paul started putting the clues together and realized that his sister Patty may have been posing as Myrna. Then Deacon identified Patty's photo as being the person who was there in the park helping him clean up after Diane's death. Patty was later captured after shooting and paralyzing Jack Abbott, and when it was discovered that she had been the missing link in the Diane Jenkins murder, charges were dropped against all the suspects but Nikki. Deacon remained in jail. Patty was sent to a maximum security prison hospital.

Eleven years later it was disclosed that Diane had faked her death with the help of Deacon Sharpe and a cadaver from the morgue, then fled to Los Angeles. She claimed to have spent most of that time in therapy dealing with all the things she had done in the past. Diane, using the name Taylor Jenkins, set Jack up by text to discover that his son Keemo had died and that he had a granddaughter, Allie Nguyen. Diane managed to buy Keemo's house in LA and exposed to Jack there that she was alive. Diane begged Jack for forgiveness which he refused, her motive being that she wanted to be a part of their son Kyle's life again. Former rival Phyllis Summers who had accompanied Jack to LA showed up and gave Diane a piece of her mind.

Jack decided that he had to be the one to break the news to Kyle that his mother was still alive and had faked her death despite Kyle being just a little boy. Jack vowed not to try to influence him against his mother. Kyle decided to give Diane another chance and they began having lunches, meeting in the park, and letting her meet her grandson Harrison. Diane explained faking her death was more about protecting him from living on the run with her or knowing she had abandoned him. As word got out that Diane was back, everyone had to confront her. Nikki told Diane if you had to play dead, at least have the courtesy to stay that way. Only Michael genuinely was happy to see her again.

Diane and Phyllis continually had confrontations, and Phyllis finally kicked Diane out of her hotel. Diane moved to the Genoa City Athletic Club courtesy of Kyle. Then Phyllis reverted to her old jealous insecure self, flaunting her relationship in front of Diane. After Jack overheard Phyllis rage at Diane that Jack was hers, he broke it off with Phyllis.

Summer joined Kyle in Genoa City and Jabot bought out the financially strapped Marchetti. Kyle and Summer moved back to Genoa City and Kyle became CEO of Marchetti. Diane approached Kyle about helping her find a job in PR in Genoa City as she intended to stay. She explained that she had been unable to resume her career as architect, having no past experience in her alias name so became a residential Realtor, and now technology had passed her by. Kyle found a job for her in PR at Marchetti. Summer insisted that Phyllis and Diane call a truce, but Phyllis had a hard time with it and Diane kept baiting her, only being nice when Summer was around.