Diane Schuler
I had a very hard time starting this story. When I first read about what Diane Schuler had done, I knew I had to write about her. Soon, it became more than just a story to me. It became almost an obsession, as I was driven to find out all I could about this 36-year-old woman, her family, and that fateful morning in late July.
By all accounts, Diane Schuler was a superb mom, doting on her daughter Erin, 2, and son Bryan, 5, and her husband Daniel was head over heels in love with her. It seemed that she had everything she could ever dream of, and the Schulers appeared to everyone to be a strong, happy family.
But Diane Schuler was hiding a dirty little secret. She was a closet alcoholic – a binge drinker to be precise. Every now and then, for no reason in particular, Diane Schuler would drink. And drink. And drink. She would drink so much in such a short amount of time she would become delirious, and in time, unconscious. Diane also enjoyed smoking a little pot on occasion, and there were some reports I read that said she had insomnia and fired up a joint every night as a sleeping aid, but I couldn’t confirm that.
These drinking bouts were few and far between as far as I could tell, and there is some doubt about how much her husband either knew or chose to believe about his wife’s drinking problem. “I never saw her drunk since the day I met her,” said Daniel Schuler. My experience, and I have quite a lot of it, has been that you don’t live with a 
person for years and not wind up knowing everything about that a person’s drinking and drugging habits. On the other hand, there’s no saying how powerful Daniel’s denial actually was.
And that brings us to the morning of July 26th, 2009. The Schulers were wrapping up the annual family camping trip at Hunter Lake Campground in New York State’s Catskill Mountains. Everyone was in an upbeat mood as as Diane, Daniel, Diane’s brother, Warren Hance, and his wife packed up the Schuler’s red 2003 Ford Windstar minivan for the ride home to Long Island.
The plan was for Diane Schuler to take all the children and leave early, stopping at McDonald’s for breakfast along the way. There were no signs of trouble as she set off with her two children, Erin and Bryan, along with the Hance’s daughters, Emma, 8, Alyson, 7, and Kate, 5. At 
some point, Diane Schuler stopped to purchase a pain reliever at a convenience store, and reportedly there was still no signs of anything being wrong.
But shortly after that, as she drove down New York State Route 17 at the border between Sullivan and Westchester counties, something went terribly wrong. Diane Schuler got ahold of a 1.75-liter bottle of Absolute Vodka that the Schulers had brought up to the lake, and took a couple of healthy slugs from it. For the next sixty miles she drove aggressively enough that people would remember her minivan – She tailgated, she laid on the horn, she passed cars recklessly, shouting obscenities 
as she went by.
Witnesses also told New York State Police said the van was straddling two lanes, veering from one lane to another, and one witness said it appeared as if Diane Schuler were attempting to pass him on the shoulder of the highway. Another witness said the van drove across a grass divider at a service area on NY Route 87.
State police said while they can’t be absolutely certain the driver was Diane Schuler, the description of the vehicle and occupants and the time the incidents were reported “lead them to believe they are one in the same.”
Diane Schuler continued to hit that bottle of Absolute, and to hit on a joint while she drank. eventually, Diane started to feel a little, well, under the weather. She grabbed he cellphone and called her brother Warren, who from what I could gather was on the road 20 to 30 minutes behind her. She told him, she wasn’t feeling well, and she was sick to her stomach. She 
never mentioned the booze or the pot. He told her to pull over and wait for him – something about her voice told Warren his sister Diane was more than just sick. She told him she would be fine and continued on her way.
Warren Hance called his sister back. By now she had pulled over, Diane Schuler was teetering on the edge of drunken delirium. Again Warren ordered her to stay put – he would be there in just a few minutes, and he would drive them the rest of the way home. She hung up on him. He called back again and asked to speak to his oldest daughter, 8-year-old Emma. He could sense the panic in her voice.
“There’s something wrong with Aunt Diane!”
It get’s a little hazy here as to exactly what happened and in what order, but it is sure that Diane Schuler had again pulled over to the side of the road. Her niece had handed the phone back to her, or her brother called back again, I’m not sure which, and Diane had one last 
conversation with Warren Hance. She said something about having tunnel vision, which is very common in people who are extremely intoxicated. Warren begged her a final time to stay where she was – Diane Schuler tossed the phone out of the car and sped off.
At the intersection of Route 267 and the Taconic State Parkway, Diane Schuler finally made the fatal, tragic mistake she was almost fated to make that morning. She enter the Taconic going southbound on the northbound lanes. She never saw the “wrong way” and “one way” sign on the exit ramp she used to get on the parkway. She drove 1.7 miles like she was sober as a judge, straight as an arrow and centered between the white lines in the far left lane, until, at about 1:35 p.m., her minivan slammed head-on into a Chevrolet Trailblazer driven by Guy Bastardi, 49, and occupied by his father Michael, 81, and a close family friend, Daniel Longo, 74, heading to the regular Sunday family pasta dinner. Witnesses say the impact sounded like a massive explosion.
The Yonkers, NY, men never had a chance. All three were all killed instantly.
After the minivan crashed, it rolled down a hill and burst into flames. Passers-by pulled over and began pulling kid after kid out of the wreck, but it was a wasted effort. Erin, Emma, Alyson, and Kate were dead, as was Diane Schuler. Only little Bryan survived the crash with severe head injuries. One First Responder, the chief of a local volunteer fire department with 30 years of experience, said it was the worst scene he had ever witnessed. There were dead bodies, some seemingly much too small, laid out all over the 
Taconic State Parkway.
During Diane Schuler’s autopsy, it was determined that she had a blood alcohol content of .19 – more than twice the legal limit in New York State. Not only that, but she still had 6 grams of raw alcohol in her stomach. In other words, Diane Schuler was drinking right up until the moment she died, and her level was still going up. The Medical Examiner also determined she had smoked marijuana within an hour of her death at the most, but probably in the last 15 minutes.
In spite of the overwhelming evidence against Diane Schuler, the Schuler family circled the wagons and made a concerted effort to convince people that Diane wasn’t drunk when she destroyed most of their next generation. They said it was a stroke. They insisted that a lump on Diane’s leg must have been an embolism, and that it broke free, traveled to her brain and cause her symptoms of intoxication.
This one was my personal favorite; Diane Schuler suddenly developed diabetes (To be fair, she had some trouble regulating her insulin levels during her last pregnancy, but that cleared itself up after Erin was born), so she used the vodka to get her glucose levels corrected. I swear to god, Daniel Schuler’s lawyer, Dominic Barbara, spoke words to that effect at a press conference. It was during the same press conference, I might add, that Babara came up with the 
great “Anbesol” conspiracy. He tried to convince reporters that the Anbesol topical pain reliever Diane Schuler was using for a painful abscessed tooth she had somehow cause a false positive reading for alcohol.
Daniel Schuler sobbed and begged and pleaded with us to believe that his wife hardly ever drank. He told reporters that he never once saw her drunk or high. His beautiful, perfect wife was no alcoholic.
Not once did he mention the Bastardis, The Longos, or even his in-laws, the Hances, nor did he offer any condolences. Daniel Schuler had no tears for the victims.
Meanwhile, the Longos and the Bastardis were in hell. Not only did they have to deal with the grief of losing their loved ones, they now had to watch this farce play itself out in the media. Roseann Guzzo, Michael Bastardi’s daughter, said the Schulers’ denials came as “a blow” to the family.
“It’s like we’re being victimized all over again. I feel numb.”
Warren Hance and his wife chose to split from Diane Schuler’s family after this performance, instead forming a bond with the Bastardis and Longos as the three families mourned their dead.
The final insult came on August 29th, when a private investigator hired by Diane Schuler’s husband, Daniel Schuler, who obtained the findings of the Westchester Medical Examiner, said there is no evidence of cirrhosis of the liver or other diseases common to alcoholics.
Investigator Tom Ruskin said the lack of evidence of long-term alcoholism backs up the claims of “dozens upon dozens” of people who said she did not have problems with alcohol.
“To take that leap of faith, to believe that this woman took 10 shots, possibly in a 48-minute period – certainly defies logic – defies common sense and substantiates to a certain sense the family’s story, the witnesses’ story, that this is inconsistent with her personality.”
What Mr. Ruskin failed to mention was that the Autopsy report also failed to show any signs of the ailments Diane Schuler’s family is trying to use as excuses for Diane’s behavior on the day of the crash. And there is nothing that explains away the .19 BAC, the 6 grams of alcohol still in her stomach, and the extremely high levels of THC in her bloodstream.
And then there were Diane Schuler’s co-workers, who told the New York newspapers that she would drink after work on a regular basis. She had a favorite watering hole where she would enjoy a few of her favorite drinks, screwdrivers, or course, made with vodka and orange juice. Some said in the last two months Diane Schuler’s drinking had picked up, as she expressed some unhappiness with her marriage and her career.
As I researched this story, and read about the machinations the Schulers went through in there attempt to absolve Diane of any blame for what amounts to the murder of 7 innocent people, I felt like I was reading some of the ridiculous comment we get on PYSIH by family members, defending people who are so painfully guilty it dumbfounds most of us that these people can believe the things they are saying. Then I realized how they do it.
An open minded person – one who is looking for the truth – collects as many facts as he can, and draws a conclusion from those facts. He uses his experience and knowledge to discount false leads and bogus information, and hopes he comes up with the truth. Because that’s what the goal is, isn’t it, to find the truth?
Now, folks like Diane Schuler’s family, they go about things differently. They start at the end – they already know what the answer they’re looking for is. They’re desperate to get the facts to back up their “conclusion”. So they find hired gun “experts” to interpret evidence with their slant, pay lawyers like Dominic Barbara, who are willing to say and do anything if the price is right, to work for them. They ignore any evidence that doesn’t fit into their “answer”.
In my opinion, there is no room for argument. Diane Schuler may not have been a full blown alcoholic yet, but she was well on her way to becoming one. And there is absolutely no doubt in anyone’s mind, anyone who doesn’t have an agenda that is, that she was wasted out of her mind when she caused the death of those four little children and those three innocent men.
As I close out this story, I’d like to remind the Diane Schuler’s family about a few things that seem to have slipped their minds in their rush to salvage Diane’s reputation.
Erin Schuler, aged 2; Emma Hance, aged 8; Alyson Hance, aged 7; Kate Hance, aged 5; Michael Bastardi, aged 81; Guy Bastardi, aged 49; Daniel Longo, aged 74.
Remember them?
09/04/09 – UPDATE: DANIEL SCHULER AND DOMENIC BARBARA APPEAR ON LARRY KING LIVE
Daniel Schuler and Dominic Barbara have been at it again. On Monday night, September 1st, the pair appeared on Larry King Live and once again denied Diane Schuler was drunk when she drone the wrong way on the Taconic State Parkway and slammed in the Guy Bastardi’s SUV head-on, killing herself and seven others, including 4 children aged 8 and under.
This was all brought on by the release of Diane Schuler’s final autopsy results, which showed no signs of long term alcohol abuse. As I stated before, it also showed no signs of a stroke, diabetes an embolism, or any of the other ridiculous medical excuses the Schuler family has tries to use to excuse Diane’s behavior before in the hours before the crash.
Diane Schuler’s Autopsy Report
Now Diane Schuler’s family wants her body exhumed for a second autopsy. From what I have been hearing from experts, this is an excellent development. There are so many ways this can blow up in the Schuler’s faces, and nearly no chance of producing the results they are hoping for. This video explains it very well:
As you can see, the family of Guy Bastardi, Michael Bastardi, and Daniel Longo are getting more and more vocal. I’d wager a bet that these are people you do not want to get riled up. My advice to Diane Schuler’s family right about now would be to back off. But they won’t. They’re hell bent on proving Diane was the second coming of Mother Teresa. I think there in for a major disappointment, especially when those hair follicle tests come back. I almost pity Daniel Schuler when the reality hits him in the face – It won’t be a pretty sight.
The pictures, from top to bottom:
1. Diane Schuler
2. The remains of the Diane Schuler’s minivan
3. The minivan from another angle
4. The Hance family. The three girls are, L to R, Kate, Alyson, and Emma
5. Daniel and Diane Schuler, with Erin and Bryan. Bryan has fully recovered from his injuries.
6. Daniel Longo
7. Michael Bastardi
8. Guy Bastardi
Is Diane Shuler Roasting In One Of The Hotter Parts Of Hell?
- Yes, the very hottest part (67%, 777 Votes)
- Well, yeah, but it's not especially hot there (18%, 203 Votes)
- No, she's not in hell (15%, 175 Votes)
Total Voters: 1,155
Loading ...How about the Schuler Family As A Whole? Send'em to Hell Too?
- Yes, and don't forget that prick Barbara. (58%, 574 Votes)
- No (42%, 420 Votes)
Total Voters: 994
Loading ...
441 Comments »
I really don’t believe that anyone who had a stroke would have done what she did for any major length of time and or distance. People don’t have strokes the way they drink – a stroke is a scary thing that happens so infrequently that very few people build up a tolerance, while alcohol people build up a tolerance and think that their tolerance will let them handle anything while they are drinking or some feel they just do not need to wait as long as the other wussies.
I can belive the accident if she had a stroke, BUT not a head on driving the wrong direction.
WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE! SOMETHING WAS MEDICALLY WRONG WITH THIS WOMEN FOR HER TO DO THIS. YOU PEOPLE SHOULD BURN IN HELL FOR JUDGING PEOPLE THAT YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT!
Please don’t feed the troll! Please?
KateTwo, there are five basic types of trolls, listed below:
1. Professor-> This type thinks that because it can look up anything and everything on the internet, it is right about EVERY topic, ALL of the time, even if the “facts” it refers to are completely bogus. This type will go so far as to try and change its victim’s mind with what may seem like charming dialogue and moderate intelligence. In addition, this particularly nasty breed of troll will try to influence others to believe that the entire article, post, blog, etc, is wrong due to a typographical error.
2. Critic-> This troll uses the “geez, the mods, editors, site leaders have lost their edge, minds, etc. It’s time for this site to go” tactic. They typically rip-off the name of one of the more respected commentators and try to lead the flock away by proclaiming that the articles USED to catch their attention, but now, well, shit man, the site’s days are numbered. Another dangerous type of troll.
3. Screamer-> The most common type of troll. Curses, yo’ momma jokes, sexually explicit innuendos (sound like anybody yet?) and just plain crude language is this type’s ammunition. This type usually has more than one screen name, and once banned, comes back under a different, but eerily similar nym. Annoying, yes, but to be expected. Toying with them is perfectly acceptable, but not entirely fair, due to their miniscule mental capacity.
4. Prophet of Doom-> The scourge of other trolls. A P.O.D. goes on at length about how terrible trolls are and how they diminish a site’s effectivity. This type lives and breathes to fuel the fires of trolldom. If trolling activity lapses for a few days, this breed will toss some freshly lit matches into the flames.
5. Robot-> Self explanatory and entirely too common. A bot slips past the main line of defense (usually due to an influx of other types of troll activity.) Least dangerous type of troll.
Hope this helps, hahaha. Obviously I am at work right now, frittering away my time until 4pm EST.
NC
Very interesting! Thanks for taking the time to detail this!
This may not be a troll- but I do think there are people coming on this site in the last few days with the sole purpose of getting a rise out of people and just stirring up stuff to be stirring up stuff!
I’m not just talking about uNOhoot or the spam. This guy replied to a message that’s two years old, shouted actually, and used the exact same words as an earlier poster. I had an instant negative response.
Oh well.
Thanks again! I’m working, too. Conferencing with India. It’s their lunchtime now.
OH BULL FUCKING SHIT!!!!!!!!
SORRY DREW DUNCAN BUT THE BITCH GOT IN THE CAR DRUNK AND HIGH AS A BITCH AND THE POLICE SAID SHE HAD SMOKED WITHEN 15 MINS TO AN HOUR BEFOR SHE EVEN HAD THE ACCEDENT WITCH MEENS SHE HAD TO SMOKE IT IN THE FUCKING CAR WITH THE KIDS IN THERE AND I DO BEALIVE THAT SHE WAS DRINKING AND IF SHE HAD A STROKE SHE WOULDENT BE ABLE TO FUCKING DRIVE!!!!!!
YOU SOUND JUST LIKE HER ARE YOU 2 FUCKING RELATED BECAUSE IF YOU ARE I HOPE YOU ROT IN FUCKING HELL TO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WE DO KNOW SOMETHING ABOUT HER SHE WAS DRUNK AND HIGH AND SHE KILLED 7 OTHER FUCKING PEOPLE AND HERSELF SO FUCK YOU AND U CAN ROT IN HELL WITH HER AND ARE YOU A FAMILY MEMBER OF HERS CUS YOU SHURE DO FUCKING SOUND LIKE IT SO I HOPE YOU ROT IN HELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The argument that she did not have diseases common to alcoholics is a non argument-she could easily be a drinker who had not reached the stage where the liver has severe damage. I had a friend and co-worker who we all could see was unhappy, acting oddly but she functioned reasonably well and no one suspected -including her husband who lived with her and her in-laws who seen her every day and lived a block away-was drinking excessively until her step daughter was packing for a vacation and found multiple bottles hidden away in suitcases, storage rooms, etc. She had been drinking heavily for years and didn’t reach the DUI stage until much later, and her family and friends and co-workers did not suspect. The husband may not have seen her drink but it sure doesn’t mean she didn’t. Maybe he is arguing because the insurance won’t pay off if she was drinking and driving, or as a defense in a lawsuit. The painful fact is again all of the innocent people who died because of her selfishness and arrogance. Even IF if was a medical condition she was aware enough to call her brother and tell him she was having problems seeing-tunnel vision and she still did not pull over and stop and for that she doesn’t deserve any defense from anyone
This is not just a reply to what you have posted but to allpostings on this matter. I always try to see things from every point of view to understand what motivates people. I am physically ill by the thought of what this woman did to those innocent children. However, maybe what her husband is doing is just what he has to do in order to survive through this tragedy. Maybe he cannot accept that he did not know what kind of danger he put his children in when he put them in the van that day. Maybe he blames himself and just cannot psychologically handle the guilt. Maybe the only way he can get through this is to not believe it. Maybe he needs to exhaust every possibility that something/someone else was responsible for this tragedy no matter how ridiculous the theory. maybe he is so traumatized that he can’t see beyond his own pain – he cannot even consider the pain of the other families involved because his is too great and all encompassing. Maybe someone put the idea of hiring the attorney into his head and the whole thing took on a life of its own after the lawyer gave him some ray of hope that things were’nt as they seemed. I think it is important not to judge him too harshly yet.
I am curious about this story and the Law and Order episode that seems to be about it because in that episode they actually did make the accident the result of someone else intoxicating her without her knowledge. I wonder why they put that spin on it?
Anyhow, I just wanted to point out that people act in strange when when faced with tragedy and maybe this man deserves at least a little slack.
Yea sorry I don’t care how much of a wreck the husband might be, he doesn’t get to drag everybody else and their pain through the mud with his lies so he can “survive” what happened. He needs to step up. He’s hurting others with his delusions.
Oh look. A Schuler is doing something that hurts others to make their lives easier. That’s new and different.
I agree with Harley. It seems Mr. Schuler is putting his own damned self before so many others who deserve the truth. If Diane had a drug, alcohol and/or depression problem, her husband is partially at fault for letting it go that far. No wife has that much of a problem without her spouse knowing.
Or maybe he was just too self-absorbed all along to notice.
Either way, he’s not innocent and though I’m sure he’s going through a lot, he isn’t helping anyone but himself by lying and covering up the truth. My sympathy is not for him in this case.
I see what you’re getting at shannon, and I admire your compassion, but I think it’s wasted on Daniel and the rest of the Schulers (except little Bryan, of course). When he gave that press conference where he said Diane never drank, he had never seen Diane drunk, and Diane wasn’t an alcoholic, he absolutely knew he was lying. In his first statement to the NY State Police, he said pretty much the opposite, and so did his sister-in-law.
No, I’m quite convinced that hiring that shyster Babara and the lies were all part of a plan to affect the outcome the lawsuits the Schulers knew were coming.
Hey Max, what did Daniel & Jay tell the police in the beginning?
Hey Max the Cat. I agree this is a sad story but I have a more important question. What type of cat food do you like?
I’d feel some compassion for him, if he’d start telling the truth.
But not much.
Does anyone know how the little boy’s head injuries are? Is he critical or do they think that he will recover? The death of my daughter and nieces along with the injuries of my son would be enough for me to stop proclaiming her praises. The husband is just trying not to get sued from the other family.
Bryan is out of the hospital and seems to have recovered completely – physically. God only knows what his psyche is like now.
Never mix drugs unless your doctor prescribes them. Alcohol doesn’t mix with anything. Pot doesn’t mix with anything. NEITHER MIX WITH DRIVING. Even if you’re all alone at 3 AM and you have 2 blocks to drive home, you should never drive under the influence. Synergism is a killer.
This was pure selfishness. She was sober before she got drunk and stoned. She had presence of mind before she took swig 1. Those poor terrified children didn’t deserve to be victims of her disease.
There is too much wrong here to deal with.
I’d say the husband should go to an ALANON meeting since he’s so deep in de nile he’s in de mud but he probably doesn’t think he has a problem either.
I don’t know about anyone else, but I have seriously had it with these motherfuckers who think they can behave this way.
There are very few things in this world that I can say that I truly HATE. People who harm children and animals are at the very top of that list, along with drunk drivers. There is a rage that comes over me when I read about these pieces of shit who get behind the wheel shit-faced out of their mind.
It’s enough to make me lose all faith in humanity, which by the way I am very close to anyways, become a total misanthropist, and go out and shoot someone in the face at close range.
This just makes me sick!!!
I watched her husband’s press conference. He believed what he was saying but, it made no sense. Kind of hard to explain away the vodka bottle, the Blood Alcohol level, and the 6 grams of RAW ALCOHOL in the stomach as a tooth ache. Unless, she drank the alcohol to get rid of the pain from the tooth ache.
Happy to see the victim families pulling together.
I drove drunk when I was a practicing alcoholic. I did it alone, most of the time, coming back from the bars, trying very hard not to hit parked cars. Once I drove on a combination of booze and coke. I never hit anything, never got injured, and never got caught.
I do not deserve to have gotten away with it. I’ve been sober eight years, and I still don’t deserve to have gotten away with it. At least I never hurt anyone.
Very honest post, zillah. If only others on this forum were so honest.
I think the husband is honestly just in serious, serious denial. he cannot accept that his wife purposely chose actions that led to the death of his child and other innocent people.
I wouldn’t send him or any others from the family to hell, the day they wake up and realize what really happened, will be hell enough for them.
Part of the reason you got away with it was atitude…….
There are 2 types of drunks…. the ones that realize that they are not right and become extra cautious and the ones that think they are more powerful than the alcohol in their system.
While driving drunk is wrong, the wrong attitude only makes it worst.
True, Fred, very true. I don’t like to drive drunk because I’m one of those drinkers who gets pulled over because I’m doing 40 mph in the slow lane, paranoid as hell.
If you’re going to go somewhere drunk, walk for Gods sake. You might get mugged or raped but no one else will die. And if you get picked up for public drunkenness, it’s 6 or 8 hours in the pokey and then they kick you out again.
What does it matter if she were an alcoholic or not? She was a mother. She was driving. She drank and smoked pot and then refused to pull over. What she did was irresponsible, selfish, and criminal. The family should be grieving over those little girls and reaching out to the other families. They should not be making excuses for someone who made a fatal decision. Good people change, they make mistakes, they loose their way. To pretend it doesn’t happen only hurts those who remain.
exactly!!! and the thing that gets me too is this…. whether shes an alkie or not, she still killed people. if she WASNT an alkie, IMO it just worse… that means she didnt NEED a drink, but got hammered anyway.
Diane is not a alcoholic!!!
She just had some rum cake for breakfast… She just ran out of flour, that’s all.
EXACTLY!!!! Now we can avoid all that nasty alcoholism talk. ROFL
@VCBecky,
as a person with experience, i can tell you many drugs mix very nicely, alcohol and cocaine mix perfectly, pot and alcohol do too, but only if you first smoke and then drink.
i can also confirm that pot can help you sleep, i have quit smoking pot since Monday and am suffering from insomnia as a result (cold turkey from 200 euro a week to nothing).
don’t get me wrong here though, it’s not something i’m proud of, i’ve never should have let it get this far. this DOES prove however that pot is hardly addictive, i need no help with quitting and the loss of sleep isn’t all that severe.
had a bit of a hard time voting yes, but think she does deserve hell.
DualDenz, I am a daily pot smoker. I am a card carrying Californian. I won’t go into my medical problems (yes, I do have them!) but trust me, I am fully aware of the benefits and the limitations of marijuana. I spend 12 hours a day in front of a computer, and I would be unable to work without it. Several people would lose their livelihood if I had to stop working for pain, or for surgery – I own the business and there is no replacement for me. I am neither proud or ashamed of it, it’s simply a fact of my life. I’m not saying it’s purely medical, of course I enjoy it when I’m not in pain. I’d be a hypocrite to say otherwise!
I’ve seen firsthand the effects synergism has on people. Some people are not affected by it at all, some are. All drugs have different effects on different bodies, and when they are mixed, it’s unpredictable. Some people can do coke once and never have the urge again, while some are instantly addicted. Some people can do several hundred wippits (nitrous oxide) and be just fine, while others have a brain aneurysm their first try. By my experience, mixing intoxicants is stupid. Meaning no offense, of course. ;)
Sorry about the somewhat off topic post. What it all boils down to is that she knew she was going to become intoxicated before she took the first puff, or the first sip. There really is a time and a place for practically everything. Usually, behind the wheel of a car is a bad location for anything but driving even if you do not have a car full of future doctors, scientists, leaders, teachers. Who knows who she really killed with her selfish irresponsibility? Who will ever know what we all lost in that car?
I like to smoke pot occasionally as well as drinking. I do both at home, no driving involved. That is where it should be done if one chooses to do such things. I’m not proud of the fact that I like pot either, but it certainly helps curb insomnia which I have. I have driven drunk, but NEVER with my children in the car and NEVER going the wrong way down a highway or street. I, too have never had an accident, never been pulled over, and never killed anyone. I think if that did happen, I would hope to be among the dead. That is exactly why I do not drink/smoke and drive anymore. EVER. I cried when I saw the pictures of those beautiful children. May they rest in peace.
weed only became a factor in this when diane decided to smoke and drink at the same time. i am a habitual weed smoker, but i don’t drink. weed alone makes you extra cautious, extra paranoid and extra focused (at least for me). once you get drunk and then smoke a blunt, forget it. the spins set in and NO ONE can escape the spins.
Ew. The spins. I’d never had them until about a month ago. I had a happy brownie, I was playing WoW, and my toon was on a windrider. I have a large, panoramic monitor at home that seems to wrap around my head sometimes. WHOOOO boy, I just went right to bed after that. Hehe!
ok, this may come as a bit of a shock, but i see no problem in driving while stoned. i have done that on numerous ocasions (and i’ve seen offical tests clearly showing your driving ability is NOT impaired by being stoned). i feel comfortable that i wont cause accidents while stoned. i wouldn’t drive while drunk though.
I stupidly mixed pot and a bottle of wine one night. Very, very bad idea. I think I puked more than I have at any other time in my life. A horrible, horrible experience.
I only drove once while high, but in my defense, I honestly thought I was sober. I had had a few tokes early in the evening, and several hours later everyone else at the party was asleep, so I decided to drive home because I felt fine. For the first half of the trip, I was fine. But then as I drove through a tunnel, it seemed to take forever. I started questioning myself as to whether or not I was only going ten miles an hour or if my sense of time was way off. I concentrated fiercely the rest of the way.
About ten blocks from my apartment, a police car turned its lights on behind me. I FREAKED. I pulled over, positive I was going to jail for DUI. But the cop drove past me. I went home and vowed I would never ever drive after smoking pot again, no matter how I felt. I never did.
Hah! DualDenz, what makes me dangerous when I drive and smoke is paranoia! However it does remove my more assholish driving tendencies, that’s for sure. I need those tendencies to survive driving in So Cal.!! What was “Screw you, jerkoff! Instead of letting your slow and swervy as in front of me, you get my FINGAR! Fair trade, dickcheese!”, is now “Aw, man, sure. Get in front of me, dude. Happy Monday, man! It’s all good! Doesn’t the deadly smog make the sunset look AWESOME?”
AAAANyway…
Everything we put into our bodies, including food, affects everyone differently. This freakin’ Schuler bitch knew her limits. You can’t be her age and not know, especially if you’ve been able to hide it even if your husband isn’t very observant or honest with himself. I’d almost call it a murder/suicide.
BTW, I haven’t driven intoxicated since my early 20′s. Never drunk, certainly loaded. I think we all have at one time or another, but that doesn’t mean we’re smart for it!
so your children weren’t in the car eh? did you stop to think about other people’s children, whose parents were not driving drunk? before you get on your high horse about not having your children in the car….think about other people.
Erin, you hit the nail on the head with this whole thing. We don’t care what you do to yourself – think about other people! That’s all you really have to do. Destroy yourself in every imaginable way. Go ahead. Just don’t take other people with you.
I wanted to believe that there was something else wrong. I wanted to believe that some kind of medical complication caused her to flip out. I watched this story, and I saw how adamant the husband was, and it touched me. (Although I did think about the possible reasons why he could be pushing so hard, not the least of which was the car insurance liability.)
But then he started pushing way too hard. At some point you have to accept that the evidence is overwhelming. Had it been a small amount of alcohol in the blood, theoretically it is possible that a body could spontaneously produce it (I think). But not the amount she had, not the fresh alcohol in her gut, not the THC.
This was a tragedy, caused entirely by Diane Shuler, and it is made exponentially worse by her family’s denial. Shame on them.
Diane Schuler deserves to be in Hell. No doubt in my mind. When I first read about this tragedy it sounded like she had some kind of medical or psychotic experience that caused her to start driving erratically. But when I found out she was drunk and high, I went from being sad and horrified to disgusted and angry. A mother and father have lost ALL THREE of their children (I can’t imagine it), two other families have lost a son/brother/father/friend. And a man has lost a wife, a daughter and now it seems his mind.
I for one have to say that while I find Daniel Schuler’s desperation in acquitting his wife to be irritating, I find myself feeling a certain degree of sympathy for him. Don’t get me wrong, I think he had to have known his wife had a bad drinking habit (although I suppose it’s possible he didn’t, however unlikely) and chose to look the other way or pretend it wasn’t as bad as it really was. But I can empathize with his inability to accept that his wife is responsible for the deaths of seven innocent people – four of them children – one of them his own. It’s too humongous a horror with which to come to terms.
Michael Gangon’s and Martin Heidgen’s (and other drunk driving fucks who kill people then walk away from the accident physically unscathed) friends’ and family’s support of them is inexcusable. But those friends and family didn’t lose them (and a child) in the wreck. Their precious angel is alive and well, albeit sitting in jail, and their lack of empathy for the families of the people splattered on the road is shocking. Daniel lost his wife and daughter and three nieces in the wreck that his wife caused. Daniel cannot wrap his head around that and I doubt I could either.
But the sympathy I feel for him is unmatched by the heartache I feel for the Hances, Bastardis and Longos. It’s beyond my ability to comprehend… and I hope I never do comprehend it.
She is as guilty as it gets. I don’t care what nonsensical excuse anyone can pull out of their ass.. She was Drunk, High and cared nothing for anyone else! Not her neices, other drivers and most shamefully her very own children. She deserves hell.
When I used to drink and drive, I would find myself doing 40 mph in the slow lane of the freeway. If I was high, it was worse, and I would freak out going 25 mph down a city street. Better not to be doing it. It still freaks me out to be a drunk passenger in a car doing the speed limit. I scream “Slow down!” incessantly.
Attitude – I stated that the difference between this POS and another contributer is attitude. This bitch thought that she was more powerful than alcohol & other drugs…. the tunnel vision should have given her a hint…
Also if the tunnel vision did not scare her enough as to stop, then, to me it’s obvious that this woman was an alcoholic. Sure she can still “function”, I will NOT dispute that, but most people with problems do not exhibit them 24/7.
Like addiction to the net……… yes I am less productive, but I still function enough as to get a paycheck, feed my fat ass, bathe, etc…
Great coverage of this story Max! I understand how you could obsess over getting the facts on this case, and I feel no sympathy for Daniel Schuler…look at his mug in the video–just the still shot tells his story. He is a pissed-off, angry man and has nobody to lash out at so he has to hire that pathetic mouthpiece, as you indicated, to put his “truth” in front of us. It is almost as if he is incapable of emotion, he is so filled with anger and hate. Unfortunately, since the facts of the case are the facts of the case, Schuler will waste his money with Domidick Barbasshole trying to defend what is left of his dignity against the upcoming lawsuits…
Something I wrote in my profile on PYSIH may be appropriate to state here: Accountability and responsibility are what makes human existence stable; absent of this we become the society we are today. This is reflected in the minute-by-minute abuses of the political and legal systems in our world today, and here, if nowhere else, we get an opportunity to discuss these failures and the people that are the poster children for society run amuck.
If Diane Schuler isn’t in Hell then it’s just because they are overbooked and she is at the gate waiting for her space to become available.
It does not matter if she was an alcoholic or not. She drove drunk and killed 7 people. Many drunk drivers are not alcoholics. Daniel Schuler is no better than Michael Gagnon’s family. I bet Daniel is the enabler of Diane’s drinking. Making excuses for things like Diane Schuler did is like people who make excuses for Eric Harris/Dylan Klebold.
You SHOULD NEVER MIX anything with alcohol. It can cause adverse reactions.
They are exhuming Diane Schuler’s body because Daniel Schuler does not believe his wife was drunk despite autopsy report.
http://cbs11tv.com/national/wrong.way.crash.2.1158841.html
After reading that, I have just the faintest bit of doubt again. If the family is THAT adamant, maybe there is something. After all, mistakes can be made.
If the autopsy didn’t show anything about several legitimate disorders she had, is there any possibility that they examined the wrong body? I don’t know how autopsy procedures are, but if doctors can operate on the wrong patient, it seems reasonable, if far out, that an autopsy could be screwed up. (I just googled “autopsy mistakes, and it seems like it COULD happen.)
Anyway – the family is paying for it, so I have no issue with the body being exhumed and re-autopsied. But if there are discrepancies, it’s gonna be a giant cluster-fuck.
Anyway, unless and until something changes, I will assume that Diane Shuler was guilty.
Maz, let me tell you something. I spent weeks looking into this story. I read just about every article I could find. The people who are defending Diane are out of their minds. Every piece of evidence I could locate, every quote from every doctor, witness, and Law Enforcement official, every description of the symptoms Diane was showing before the crash, every statement by people outside of the family who knew Diane, point to her being a closet drinker who was wasted out of her mind at the moment she smashed into the Bastardi’s SUV. One thing I forgot to put in the story was that a smashed Absolute bottle was found at the crash scene – another piece of evidence the Schuler family chooses to forget about.
These people are scum – they have chosen to support Diane over her brother Warren Hance and his wife, who lost all three of their children, and do it in as public a forum as possible. What kind of people act that way? They could have made quiet inquiries through a third party, out of respect for the victim’s families, and accomplished just as much as they have now. No, if they’re right about Diane I’ll dance in my tighty whitey’s on Main Street at high noon and post a video of it on the front page of this website.
Strangely, I am somehow hoping now that there was a mistake in the autopsy. *grin*
Seriously though, there is just the most minuscule chance, and I still have this nagging feeling that it has more to car insurance liability than in clearing the name of a virtuous woman.
Whatever, I am not holding my breath.
errr – more to DO with car insurance liability…. I got distracted by the thought of Max dancing….
I’ve had second thoughts about that – for everyone else’s sake. It wouldn’t be a pretty site.
Max,
After putting it like that, a little bit of my sympathy for Daniel Schuler has been shaved off. I still feel for the guy, what he is being forced to come to terms with is unfathomable. But you’re right. Why they feel the need to play this out in front of TV cameras is a tad bewildering.
*waving dollar bills* Just make sure I’m in the front row! I would give my life savings to see that! lol jk :)
As a friend, I have to tell you, the word ‘disappointed’ doesn’t begin to describe what you’ll be feeling afterwards.
Maybe I’ll stick with being the Designated drive for the Strip Club field trips that my shipmates demand to take each month, though. :)
Excuse me, Designated Driver. Been laid up with a sinus infection and some really good drugs all week
Here is one of those “mom’s blog” making excuses for Diane Schuler. Sick.
http://www.momlogic.com/2009/08/diane_schuler_was_not_a_bad_mom_alcoholism.php
Ha! you’ll never hear me saying mixing drugs is smart, on the contrary, but some mix quite well. i wasn’t trying to say it’s a good idea to mix drugs, it’s never a good idea to do drugs in general, let alone mix them.
absolutely no offense taken!
This is so, so sad. I understand that the family have difficulties accepting what that woman had done but their complete denial is ridiculous and an insult to the victims.
heads up, the Longo’s and Bastardi’s are from Yonkers, NY, not Long Island.
Diane Schuler did something VERY wrong. I live in Yonkers, and this case is on the news EVERY SINGLE DAY. what gets me about daniel schuler the most is the fact that hes got a 5 year old son who is STILL in the hospital because of his dum ass selfish wife,k but where’s daniel? ohh, hes on larry king or giving press conferences. worry about your kid, man! daniel schuler and his sister and law are milking the media for everything they can get and its disgusting. first of all, the sister in law has nothing to do with anything, i just think she is a fame hungry whore. daniel is just in denial, big time. he needs to wake up and realize, his wife was a dumass. many married people wake up one morning to this realization… it just normally isn’t preceded by your spouse taking out 7 innocent people, most of them children.
the longo, bastardis and lil bryan are in my prayers. daniel schuler- wake up, be a parent and try to move on. all this media attention is just making you look like an ignorant moron.
Thanks for that heads up LilMissSunshine – I’ll fix the story right away. But I thought Bryan had been released from the hospital a couple of weeks ago? Was he re-admitted?
You’re absolutely right about Danial and his sister-in-law. They are so wrapped up in their own agenda that they either aren’t aware or don’t care about the pain they are causing the Bastardis, Longos and Hances. And what’s up with that son of a bitch Dominic Barbara? Is he not a huge scumbag. Anbesol? Seriously? An-be-fucking-sol!!!? Diane Schuler was raising her glucose level with a bottle of Vodka? Someone should seriously hit that guy in the head with a lead pipe until his brain is damaged.
Daniel Schuler should be more worried about his surviving son, not denying that his wife is a drunk driver. Parents put their children above themselves. They are scum.
Dominic Barbara from the Howard Stern show ! That is a little funny. If you ever heard this idiot on his show.
Depending on what kind of testing you are using, Anbesol can indeed show up on an alchohol test. So can using hand-sanitiser. Or Windex. There are plenty of people involved in lawsuits right now who have lost their jobs because of it. You can look it up- it does not test BAC like the others, it identifies some kind of marker, and can even detect one drink you had from 3-7 days prior. But they didn’t kill 7 people.
The BAC test shows the level of alchol in the blood AT THE TIME. Since they state her current level, it’s obvious they used that test- so they really can’t claim the Anbesol defense. Also, she’d have to have swigged about 60 of those little bottles to have that volume of unprocessed alcohol in her stomach.
What I don’t get, is why does it matter if she wasn’t an alcoholic? She was a drunk driver. She killed 7 people. What I would like answered is why she had a large bottle of vodka in the driving area of her car, vodka she and and her husband took on a camping trip, if she wasn’t known to drink?
I think what the family means is that when she did drink, she was pleasant enough. They probably never had the joy of being in a car she’d driven afterwards. You don’t take vodka on a camping trip if you don’t drink. My guess is that Hubby drinks as well. A lot. And he’s probably pleasant when he drinks, too. He doesn’t like hearing that his wife was an alchoholic because it means he’s one too. If half my family had been wiped out by someone drinking, first thing I’d do is empty the liquor cabinet. But I’ll bet Hubby’s is still full.
I know people like that- my ex-in-laws. Every family gathering started off at 2pm with ‘just a little drinky-poo’. Which went on until about 2am, or until everyone passed out. But they were friendly drunks. They laughed a lot, were funny- when I had a drink with them. When I didn’t, they didn’t seem so pleasant. For example, some of the things they did while drunk-
FIL pissed his own pants in a restaruant parking lot while arguing that he was sober enough to drive after I hid his keys.
MIL fell on New Year’s Eve and broke her hip- FIL put a blanket on her and left her on the floor all night because they didn’t want the ambulance to see them drunk.
MIL took a header down the porch steps one time, on another, she almost took a header while holding my 6 week old son.
They, too, take along a ‘coctail kit’ everywhere they go, just in case no liquor stores are open. Even the 101 year old Nana drinks like a fish.
Which is why the ex is now an ex. He lost a kidney 2 years ago- but it wasn’t from drinking or the massive amounts of OTC painkillers he slugged back to deal with the hangovers, wink, wink.
Not every alcoholic has verifiable medical problems, or Nana wuold not be 101.
Hubby should not be allowed custody of the surviving child until he gets help for his drinking. I’m glad the mother died. Too often, the relaxing effects of alcohol enable a drunk driver to relax and end up being the sole survivor.
Hell? Absolutely.
Oh, I forgot to say- every single one of them would claim it wasn’t possible for one of them to have been an alcoholic- even if they’d killed 7 people with their drunk driving.
I just watched that video- Is it me, or is it just plain weird that nobody in the family is crying at all? Hubby screws his face up a couple of times, and at one point wipes away a tear that isn’t there. I can’t imagine even being coherent, much less being able to do a news conference without bawling my head off about my dead wife, child and other family children. When I’m in more pain than usual, my fiancee actually tears up- with real tears. And I’m not even dead.
Something is just weird about this whole thing. I notice nobody claimed she didn’t smoke pot ever.
c
This woman was a ticking time bomb and people are amazed that went she exploded she killed herself and others around her? Please, forget her husbands denial of the depth of her dysfunction-remember for some people as long as everything still looked all right it was all right. He has a lot of clean up to do because he failed his wife, family and the other people she killed because he chose to keep a blind eye to what was happening. Ignorance is not an excuse. Time and time again I have heard people time me that they let their children go to the abusive family member because “they said they would change” or ” I thought that everything looked okay then it was okay” of course then something happens to the child and I get the call. I am sick of people who refuse to take responsibility for their actions and blame it on alcohol or drugs. By the way, YOU are responsible drink, high or sober for your actions. I foresee years and years of therapy for the surviving child, hope they get a good therapist for him. Condolences to the real victims of this tragedy, Daniel Schuler and that fucking lawyer Dominic Barbara can go straight to the pit.
“Kim says:
I like to smoke pot occasionally as well as drinking. I do both at home, no driving involved. That is where it should be done if one chooses to do such things. I’m not proud of the fact that I like pot either, but it certainly helps curb insomnia which I have. I have driven drunk, but NEVER with my children in the car and NEVER going the wrong way down a highway or street. I, too have never had an accident, never been pulled over, and never killed anyone. I think if that did happen, I would hope to be among the dead. That is exactly why I do not drink/smoke and drive anymore. EVER. I cried when I saw the pictures of those beautiful children. May they rest in peace.”
You took EVERYTHING I had to say!! LOL. This my exact perspective, line by line!! I haven’t driven anywhere in an altered state since my early 20′s, and since I’ve had children, I’d NEVER do it again… But if by some miniscule chance I did, and I had someone BEGGING me to pull over so they could come continue the drive SAFELY, what kind of sack of sh!t am I to throw the phone out of the window instead of stopping? Better yet, does anyone else know their friggin’ limits?? Who gets that drunk (other than an alcoholic)? Getting piss-yourself-blackout-drunk is not EVEN FUN…. It’s MUCH more enjoyable to fall on the line somewhere between buzzed and tipsy and leave it at that!!!
As for Diane Schuler… Wow. I mean… wow. The husband *may* actually believe his version of the story, but HIGHLY unlikely. I think it’s more possible that he’s just trying to salvage her image. Shoot, the medical examiner must really have it in to frame a virtuous woman if he/she is willing to face prosecution for falsifying official records… Because given the amount of scrunity this case got, I doubt they tried to do anything less than a flawless analysis.
When I think about the terror those poor children and innocent men probably felt in their last moments, I must admit I hope Diane is in AT LEAST the seventh circle of hell….
ABeautifulLife-> I believe that she will be taking up residence in the second circle of hell. She drank to the point of oblivion, which is clearly gluttony.
There are actually Nine circles of Hell, the first being Limbo, neither here nor there.
1. Lust-> I assume rapists would wind up either here or in the sixth circle
2. Gluttony-> Max, you’d better watch out…. My old priest said that fat bastards go here (lol)
3. Greed-> This is where the IRS will be
4. Wrath-> This is where I would wind up at some point ;)
5. Heresy-> Ummmmm Dunno
6. Violence-> 90% of the morons featured here would wind up in the sixth circle
7. Fraud-> Identity thieves and Martha Stewart
8. Treason-> Every draft dodger and individual who went AWOL
And that’s it :) So yeah, either the second or the sixth for this dumb broad
So yeah, Limbo doesn’t really count, as it is in neither Heaven nor Hell
@ NavyCop
Thanks dude. Guess I’ll see you somewhere in the fourth circle then, because I get pretty pissed with the mothersuckers I read about on this site. But then again, I sometimes have thoughts of strangling some of them with a wire clothes hanger… Dang, does that make me sixth circle-bound then?
**pondering**
After seeing your picture and thinking you are at least quite cute (need a full body shot here), yeah circle 1 – lust for me ;-) !
Wrath for sure as well, topped off with a hint of gluttony, seasoned with some violence and a touch of greed (I am a bit too much of a pack rat).
Yes we are all guilty of some of the deadly sins, but many of these deadly sins based upon normal life activities done to an extreme.
1. Gluttony – we all have to eat…
2. Greed – we all want for ourselves, but the manner in which we attain and maintain is what sets the line……..
3. Wrath – if the stories here don’t stir up some of that in a person, then they are evil fucks
4. Violence – action taken too far, esp coupled with wrath
5. Fraud – when BullShitting becomes a way of life, when little to nothing can be done honestly.
Treason is inexcusable and heresy is usually defined by authority with an agenda as a means to force conformance, Al Gore and global warming being an example…
Good lord, Fred! Only quite cute!?
I only saw your face – need more……. (OK want more) body (skin preferred)…..
Fred, Fred, Fred. I am speechless :)
This makes me want to get a large tattoo in some prominent place on my body that says “DIRECT TO CIRCLE 6″. Hehe.
Well, she had a lump on her leg… That explains it.
That lawyer is ridiculous. I always have a real problem with people trying to deny something so obvious. Yes, being a diabetic could cause the same symptoms of intoxication (if she became hyper/hypoglycemic), however the large amounts of FUCKING ALCOHOL in her system pretty much negate that theory. Also, her lab values would have been funky in the autopsy if this were due to diabetes. I can not understand the level of denial these people are in. I must say, it does seem like something is off, but I really don’t believe that these autospy findings are that screwed up. The dad does not seem genuine, but I have no idea how I would act if my world fell apart like this. All of this seems crazy to me.
09/04/09 – STORY UPDATED: New Video added about Daniel Schuler’s appearance on Larry King, and the appearance of The Longos and the Bastardis on the Today Show in order to respond to Schuler.
….this is difficult for me (but not 1/1000 as dificult as what the families go through) because 4 years ago –to the day–i got pulled over for dui being a .21…every day i think how lucky it is that i was by myself and didn’t hurt/kill/injure anyone/anything…i have not driven since although i can legally…i still feel like its early in my recovery, and of course when i was caught wasn’t the first time i did it…i am so so sorry for endangering people’s lives…words cannot describe it…
You chose to drink then drive. Yes, it was dumb and dangerous. Yes, if you had hurt or killed someone, you would have had their blood on your hands forever. Yes, it probably was just sheer luck that the first time this bad choice you made came to the attention of law enforcement was before you got in a wreck and not after.
But there’s something you need to remember- you are genuinely sorry for making that mistake and you have learned a very important lesson from it. You know you will never, ever make that mistake again. Because you admitted to yourself it was something that should never be repeated, there is a possibility that you and/or someone else is still alive today due to your honest self-admission.
You deserve respect for that, from others but most importantly from yourself. Perhaps one day telling your story to someone else will prevent them from making the same dumb, dangerous mistake you did and then you will have paid what you owed and you’ll be square with the house again.
Please accept this virtual, electronic back-pat from doof and remember from now on, keep the dirty side down and the shiny side up.
Tell you what, if I were responsible for the deaths of my kids and/or nieces and nephews, my family would be DANCING on my grave! I cannot fathom how this bitch’s select family members are trying to make her out to be a good mother, let alone a good person. Burn in hell Diane Schuler. I hope the Devil has a nice big pineapple ready for insertion.
Please don’t take this the wrong way. My views on this woman is that she was a secret alcoholic and this accident was really no one’s fault but the woman driving. There are just a few questions I have.
One… Is it at ALL possible that the ME got blood tests mixed up? 8 bodies from a horrific crash, is there ANY chance that the blood tested was from one of the three men rather then the woman herself? Seems to me the odds are extremely unlikely but is that a reason for the second autopsy?
Two.. I know that diabetics can have a side effect that causes their breath to smell like they have been drinking. (I know this because the night before my mother died she went too the hospital and they dismissed her for that reason. They thought she was drunk, when it was this side effect instead. She died during the night from some kind of diabetic crisis. Can anyone possibly clear that up for me?) Is it possible that is what caused her higher blood alcohol level?
I’m not trying to dismiss what the woman did. I want to make sense of it. The woman should have stopped on the road and waited for her brother no matter the cause.
I can’t put much into the fact the woman had the vodka bottle in her van. I had a half a bottle of some kind of wine in my car for a year. My sister in law gave it too us at one point to use a sauce and I forgot about it. Of course, it was in the trunk of my car… And never touched until I tossed it finally. I don’t drink, I’m always the designated driver. I rather get the money drunks give me to take them home, plus the bars give free sodas to the designated drivers, so all’s good.
I’m sorry to hear that your mother was treated so badly by people who are supposed to know better Gabby. There’s no excuse for that.
You make a lot of good points in your comment. There’s nothing wrong with being a devil’s advocate, and there’s nothing wrong with the Schuler Family wanting to verify the results of the ME’s autopsy. My beef with them is the WAY they did it. Taking it to the most public of forums, the news media, hiring the worst possible lawyer, Dominic Barbara, and making the most outrageous and illogical excuses for Diane Schuler, without any regard for feelings of the families of the victims, shows them to be about as low class a group of people as I’ve heard about in a very long time. It’s really hard to believe people can act this way in public.
Thank you.
Yes, I agree, the family should have a little more tact. I stand firmly by what I said. No matter what the true cause, espically if the woman had a stroke or diabetic crisis, she should have stopped and waited. That is the main reason I belive she was drunk. She didn’t want to get caught.
Nothing makes me more angry then drunk driving. Reciently in town, a young girl was killed when her drunk friend rolled the car. The driver got nothing, not a ticket, no jail… NOTHING. Why? Because ‘she feels bad enough.’ I would like to make her feel worse. She should never be allowed to forget what her stupidty cost the other girl. The moment she forgets is the moment history repeats itself.
I would rather see pot leaglized, and everyone in jail for pot offences released, then MUCH tougher jail sentances for DUI offenders. I’m all for first time offenders getting 5 or 10 year sentances, what ever the term for attempted murder may be. Maybe people will think twice about drinking and driving.
This is not some things you can play ignorance over. Anyone who reads the paper, watches TV, listens to the radio, or looks at road signs KNOWS that drinking and driving is not only a crime, but can be deadly. I don’t know about your’s but our DMV has posters everywhere about the dangers of DUIs. You HAVE to be able to read to drive… Plus your there forever you can’t help but read them. Why does the courts allow such light sentances to these people, espically the repeat offenders?
“They thought she was drunk, when it was this side effect instead.”
Ketoacidosis? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diabetic_ketoacidosis
I’m sure the post I am responding to is out dated but in answer to the “wrong body theory” the DNA was past tense article related matched to her not once BUT twice. Even their (Schuler’s) PI told them of the second positive match. 1960 maybe, but today chances of a mixed up Toxology report is almost unheard of especially with the DNA. Also with the high publicity of this case. If I was Dan I would bury my head in the sand and pray no one else would even bring it up.
Pete’s sake I’m a strong stomached dude, but this story literally made me puke when I heard it the first time. I don’t drink but I’m a fan of “if you drink and drive and get caught–you NEVER drive again!” EVER. for any reason. Know this is severe, but then I think child molesters should get the death penalty as well, so, just me wondering, most of it would quit if both laws passed.
MY want is for them to install the spring loaded ground spikes that puncture your tires on EVERY exit ramp, so if you go the wrong way you aren’t going far on 4 blown out tires. It may not stop the total problem but it would really slim the chances of high speed disasters. I’m sick of hearing stories like this. This one particullarly was beyond criminal.
God Bless the Hences and the Bastardi’s and the Longo’s, and someone please take that child from Dan and give it some well deserved love and caring!!
P.S. I wonder what the toxoclogy reports would have shown on the kids? If she was smoking pot in the car with them there would have been trace evidence(?) My thoughts are that she stole away to the ladies room at the Mcdonalds after her stop at the Sunoco for pain meds or had a cup(S) in the van while the kids were playing on the toys at McD’s…just some thoughts is all. And the new laugh is that Dan is suing the Hences because it was their car she was driving ? Dan-”yes sir, felt good may I have another?” Sheesh.
Hmmm…
On my mom’s side of the family, I have an older sister who is going through alcoholic-related (as in, INDUCED) Dementia, and before that, basically literally “bottomed out” three times (the last time she lost ALL control of her functions, shat the bed while staying at our mom’s house…nice), before she finally quit drinking. She’s basically committed this suicide for the past twenty years, and I have no actual idea how it started (there’s the story how her husband abused her, but come on, he didn’t put the bottle to her lips), and another sister is a recovering alcoholic, who also is a recovering spousal abuse victim, but surprisingly, neither one of them ever caused a collision.
I also had, on my dad’s side, a distant cousin whom I’ve never met, but she was killed in a drunk driving INCIDENT (it’s never an accident when there’s booze involved) on her way home from work, and the icing on the cake was the guy who hit her friend’s car was an illegal alien who somehow managed to run out of HIS car and elude police for three hours. They caught him, but I don’t know if they just deported him or what.
I don’t know why I’m telling you all this, but alcohol is one hell of a liquid.
Yeah, I live like 5 minutes from here this happend. shes sick and twisted.
And De Nile is not just a river in Egypt anymore!
Why none knew her t work sy anything about er character? if se was a abusive with coworkers? did she like to scream at people?
Why none knew her at work? no coworkers say anything !!! if she liked to scream at people? she was an abusive boss to others?
Diabetic ketoacidosis can certianly make a person appear and even smell intoxicated- but I do not believe it can affect a person’s BAC. Also, her blood glucose readings would have indicaed if this were the case.
how can you drive the wrong way, and not be drunk… i’d totally notice signs not facing the right way… wow… just wow… poor babies.
burn bitch.
From what I understand, from reading information released in the media, she had undigested alcohol in her stomach. I think it was something like an equivalent of 10 shots of liquor.
I am absolutely not saying that she didnt have some medical problem. but there isnt any medical diagnosis that I know of that can explain undigested alcohol in ones stomach- aside from actually consuming the alcohol.
What I know about Diabetic ketoacidosis is little, but I do understand that symptoms come on rather quickly. They usually evolve over a 24 hour period and include severe abdominal pain and severe thirst. I have a friend who is a nurse in a dialysis clinic and when I called her to ask her about this she said the smell is more often than not fruity as opposed to alcohol-y. If Diane Schuler had been having an attack of this wouldn’t someone have noticed her discomfort? Shouldn’t someone have questioned her ability to drive?
I am not disagreeing that blood samples may have been mixed up and results may have been attributed to the wrong person; but I do think that the bottle of alcohol found in her car tells a story; as does the phone call to her brother and her cell phone being left behind.
I do think though that sometimes when an ME comes up with a result that isn’t kosher with a family its automatically deemed corrupted and I think sometimes families need to understand that just because something is revealed that they don’t like; doesn’t make it wrong.
I cant say that I have ever driven under the influence of anything; so I don’t know how easy it is to get confused and go the wrong way on the expressway. But it would seem that no matter how messed up you are; when you see a car coming at you, you would know something is wrong. It almost seems to me like that in and of itself would be a sobering experience.
Thanks for the link, dooflotchie.
I don’t think that the ME got blood samples mixed, or that it was a health issue. I was just asking if that was a possible reason for the second autopsy.
Everytime I hear about this woman’s family and their objections, I think they should have gotten Dr. G in there. The autopsy would have been done, finalized and on her TV show next week.
@Gabby: The reason why second autopsies are done is when the offical cause of death is in question and the family wants a second opinion from another medical examiner. The only problem is that any test results will not be accurate especially since the body decomposes and its not a pretty sight.
I am having such a hard time accepting the fact that a woman with a reputation for being a good mother and well-liked person would get into a car with five kids, drive for a while, stop for lunch and THEN get drunk and high and continue driving. Logically, this seems to be the case. But now I am compelled to wonder if Diane didn’t have some kind of mental breakdown after all that caused her to spontaneously go on a alcohol and pot binge. I think everyone agrees she was drunk and high. But I can’t help but wonder if she was consciously getting drunk and high or if she did have some kind of psychotic episode beforehand. I just can’t wrap my head around it. If she was alone in the car, I could fathom it. But she had FIVE KIDS in the car, two of whom were her own. Why would someone who wasn’t drunk when they started driving GET drunk while they were driving? I just can’t make any sense of it. Was she that apathetic and reckless? Or was she nuts?
So, maybe she DID have some kind of medical issue that caused her to totally lose her shit. Normal people (even people with alcohol problems) do not slam shots and smoke pot with THEIR FREAKING KIDS (and other people’s kids) in the car. She might have had a mild stroke or something and then her judgement was all askew. I don’t know but I just can’t see any mother getting black-out hammered with the kids right behind her, EVEN IF SHE WAS A CLOSET ALCOHOLIC. I have my battles with alcohol and have even had 2 dui’s (not with BAC as high as hers, and I didn’t hit anyone or anything and no one was in my car but me, BUT I COULD HAVE hurt someone and I learned my lesson) BUT I think there is something else here and my heart goes out to all families involved in the tragic situation. super sad.
Now you know all the conservative, bible-banging, bullshit propoganda-loving, ignorant retards are going to use this to say that pot is bad, conveniently ignoring the fact that this moron was plastered off her stupid ass. Just wait.
Oh shut the fuck up – as a matter of fact, I’m all for legalizing weed, and many of the commenters on this site like to indulge in a little herb. I can’t stand the fact that people’s lives are being ruined just because they like to smoke dope, while the guy next door can drink himself to death, turns into an angry jerk, fights everybody, get arrested – and do it all over again tomorrow night.
So don’t go assuming things before you read a few comments – it just makes you look stupid.
Max, honey, this guy actually made a little sense. Let me translate: “Now you know all the conservative, bible-banging, bullshit propoganda-loving, ignorant retards are going to use this to say that pot is bad, conveniently ignoring the fact that this moron was plastered off her stupid ass. Just wait.”
Translation: “Conservatives and Imbeciles are going to use this particular case to further their anit-marijuana agenda, while they turn a blind eye to the simple fact that Ms Schuler was also extremely drunk. Just wait and see.”
Oh yeah – Thanks NavyCop
I withdraw my previous comment, which turned out to be a perfect example of what I was lecturing fgdfgfg for doing. In other words, I ended up being the asshole here.
It’s okay Max, we love you any way and wouldn’t want anyone else to be our supreme leader. *bows in humble admiration*
How did you possibly misconstrue the post? It was obvious to me, on first read, that he was pro-marijuana and commenting on this incident being used to further the anti-pot agenda.
i just saw the name BO above ur name and it aint this BO from austin tx.m only comments on the bottom.
That lawyer is such a lieing whiney piece of shit, can we send him to hell too?
Please can we?? Only I have a suspicion that there is a photo by the entrance to hell with this attorney’s face on it with a not allowed in sticker across it-This guy would drive Satan and all his minions over the edge with his stupid inane commentary and excuses!
What a family of idiots!
I really, really want to see Max the Cat dance around on Main Street…:D
And then you will really, really, REALLY want to gouge your eyes out of your head with a ball point pen. (No offense, Max)
I was thinking about what the hell was going through Diane Schuler’s head when she plowed into the Bastardis’ car going the wrong way. I have a theory that to me makes perfect sense. Please note that this is not a defense of Diane Schuler (and most certainly not of her husband or his scumbag lawyer). This is only me still trying to make sense of this.
Reportedly, Diane had an abscess tooth. Anyone who has ever had one knows it can go from mildly irritating to agonizingly painful very quickly. After loading up the car she drove to McDonald’s. He tooth was bothering her a bit, but was tolerable at this point. While eating breakfast, she bit down on something which caused her tooth to become painfully inflamed. After breakfast she stopped at a gas station to fill up and hopefully get some pain relievers. When the gas station didn’t have pain relievers, she decided to grin and bear it and just get home as quickly as possible.
She got on the highway, hoping the pain would dissipate. It didn’t. She became more and more desperate to just get home, not even wanting to get off the road to run in and out of a drug store. In her desperation she drove aggressively, tailgating, honking, swearing and trying to get past everyone she perceived to be in her way. Finally at some point, she remembered the bottle of vodka under the seat.
She thought, okay, one sip, swished around in my mouth, should do the trick. When one sip proved ineffective, she took a bigger gulp. Then another. Then another. She probably didn’t think she’d drunk too much (and we all know that two or three big gulps from a bottle can easily equal ten shots, but would not seem like nearly as much). By now she was feeling a bit tipsy, but her tooth was still killing her. She then recalled the joint in the glove compartment. Okay, she thought, one toke will definitely take the edge off.
She had probably had enough experience with pot that she thought she could maintain control. Just the vodka? Maybe. Just the pot? Maybe. Both of them mixed together. No way. Almost immediately, she realized she fucked up. She became disoriented and panicked. Finally she had her first responsible thought of the morning. She pulled over. She called her brother and told him she was having trouble seeing and didn’t know where she was. Justifiably concerned, he told her to stay put and he would come get her.
Oh…shit… My brother is going to come pick me and the kids up and here I am drunk and stoned. Fuck! There’s going to be hell to pay. Now even more panicked, she left her cell phone on the highway (either absent-mindedly or to stop her brother from calling back) and decided to pull herself together and make it home.
She missed the entrance to the parkway, and in her “focus” wound up getting on the offramp in the wrong direction. Amazingly, no one happened to be getting off the parkway at that moment. So determined was she to drive safely and straight that she got in what she thought was the slow lane and remained rigidly in her own lane. Pot can make you focus, but it also makes you zone lots of important details out, like the fact that you are going the wrong way on the highway or the SUV that is currently speeding directly toward you.
I think it may very well be true that she wasn’t an alcoholic. It may be true that she didn’t have a psychotic episode. It could be that through a mixture of unbearable pain and very poor judgment, she started a chain of bad decisions that snowballed into disaster.
I have not read or heard anyone else put forth this particular theory. I did this mostly for my own interest and am simply sharing it here with everyone.
I heard Warren Hance’s eulogy at his daughters’ funeral. It’s heart-breaking.
I’ve got a different story…. one just as based on conjecture, but I think fits the facts a little better.
Diane was an alcoholic, but tried very hard to hide it from her husband, who she was becoming estranged from and the rest of her family. The long weekend had set her teeth to grinding and her head to aching as the lack of alcohol had sent her almost or completely into the DT’s. She concocted the plan to drive all of the kids back to give her a chance to drink and smoke to alleviate the symptoms. She was old hat at this sort of recovery, probably having drunk like this in one way or another since her early teens.
She stopped at the McDonalds and purchased orange juice to use as a quick chaser, but found the onset of DTs were too quick. The alcohol would actually take over two hours to offset the extreme state of withdrawal she was already experiencing. She purchased pain relievers but they did nothing for the ache in her head or the tremors she was feeling. The kids were getting upset and she was getting lost, inebriated, disoriented and starting to get very ill. She knew she needed to retain the alcohol so she smoked the marijuana she’d brought along for the trip. Still the shakes were coming, so she dosed herself more and more until finally she was just a filter titration system headed towards oblivion.
As she drove the wrong way, the motion of objects in her vision were a mild representation of scenery. The alignment in her car and her still barely functioning reptilian brain were trying everything in the drowning sensation of slow alcoholic unconsciousness to maintain, but finally, when the alcohol level in her blood hit the wrong level, her head lolled, her elbow dropped and the weight pulled the steering wheel into the cleft of the turn of the car, and her momentum and her victim’s momentum collided into this devastating crash.
She never knew a second of the terror the children faced. I don’t think their screams would have roused her. She was gone. Between the pot and the alcohol and the pain killer she’d taken before, she was dead to this world before the cars collided.
I think that’s what happened. I think the phone calls were angry interruptions. Her discard was fear she’d be caught so inebriated. She was concerned only for her discomfort and hiding the details of her condition from another adult. A coward, dying a prideful, coward’s death taking innocents with her.
That’s a valid theory as well, and frankly, it sounds like it is more likely what happened than my account.
No worries… I’ve seen someone detox before… It’s not pretty. They’ll lie to your face, scream and yell, really do anything to get what they want and bypass any restriction you throw up in front of them.
Parts of this story have not been filled in yet. Why was she going over the Tappan Zee Bridge to get to long island? Shouldn’t she have got off 87 and gone dowm the Palisades or GSP to go over the GWB? She was heading north to Briarcliff then coming back south on the Taconic? She was lost and far from where she should have been. Why did she go into Westchester? Who called her at 12:08? That seems to be the key moment, she was ok at 11:45 then got that call, then got lost and called her brother at 12:58 from the tappan zee bridge. The timeline, locations and missing time are key here and have not been explained. Her brother needs to reveal exactly what happened on that call with him, and why did he not call the police at 12:58? It took her another 1/2 hour to finally crash, what was he doing all that time? These are obvious gaps that people out there have information about but have not revealed.
Also interested in how the writer knows she went our drinking after work and other information that has not been out there much. Lets hear from your sources to prove it.
Happy to jp. The New York Post interviewed one of her coworkers at Cablevision – she was the one who told them about the after-work visits to the bar.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/regional/wed_woes_drove_crash_ma_to_drink_Mr6vxWRqeoQ7jj0oHM4T5L
Thanks. I’d be interested to hear more from this person as they claim they have still not found anyone who saw her drunk. its interesting to go back to the inital new reports, the story from the family seems to have changed quite a bit over time as more toxicology came out. what happened to the pot smoking for insomnia her family talked about? and the phone call to her brother where she was described as being drunk by the niece? did they find any evidence of pot in her car? I guess it was pretty burned up, but did she have anything in her pockets? it wasn’t her car, so she probably didn’t have a place to stash it.
This story broke my heart..but it just confuses the hell out of me. I just dont get what the helll Diane was thinking??? Or how noone knew she had a problem! Thoses kids must have been terrified!
I drink only on very rare occasions. The last time I drank was the previous Thanksgiving, when I had a few spicy egg-nogs.
I’m not an alcoholic. That doesn’t mean I couldn’t drive down to the package-store right now, buy a handle of vodka (yuck!), guzzle the bottle, and drive home heavily intoxicated.
What are they trying to argue? That because she wasn’t known to drink, that she couldn’t have been drunk?
I’ve never done heroin. Does that mean I couldn’t go out tonight, buy a bundle of dope, and overdose on it? “He couldn’t have died from a heroin overdoes – he wasn’t a junkie!”
Fucking morons, man. They found raw alcohol in her stomach! WHERE, pray tell, did THAT come from?
They found a BOTTLE of VODKA (or whatever it was) IN the VAN. But he goes to bed “…every night knowing his heart is clear..she did not drink…” OKAY! Her BAC was .19, they found six ounces of alcohol in her stomach, and a bottle of liquor in the van. But she “…couldn’t have…” drank.
WHAY…THE…FUCK??!?!???!
I am just in shock over the senseless deaths of so many innocent people. What in the world was going through Diane’s head that day? As an adult, she knew that it was wrong to be drinking while driving and wrong to be drinking with small children in the car. I can’t even begin to imagine the pain, horror, and suffering that Mr. and Mrs. Hance must be experiencing to have lost all 3 of their children. Also, the Longo and Bastardi families must be devasted to lose their loved ones so tragically. This whole situation just breaks my heart for everyone whose lives were affected by the actions of Diane Schuler.
As I read the story, I couldn’t help but think about the frustration that the Hance’s must have been feeling as they spoke to Diane on the phone and they begged her to pull over and wait for them. I shuddered and became angry at the thought that Emma must have felt because she knew that something was wrong with Diane and there was nothing she could do. I don’t like speaking negatively of a deceased person, but Diane Schuler was a selfish and narcissistic individual. This woman was blessed with the ability to be able to have children and she was living a life that many people would love to live, but she still felt empty for some reason. Apparently, she used alcohol to try and fill the void. How dare she endanger the lives of innocent children and people because she felt empty. I personally hope that she pays for what she did in the afterlife.
To the families and friends, I am so sorry for the loss of your loved ones. I send my sincerest condolences. No one ever deserves to lose someone in the tragic way that you lost your loved ones. May they all rest in peace!
It is beyond me why anyone at this point would have much sympathy with this woman. It does not really matter that she was drunk and stoned into oblivion. The fact is that she MURDERED 7 innocent people. How it happened has little bearing. Yes, it could have been a tragic accident if she had not been stoned or drunk but again she still killed 7 innocent people. The fact that the husband not once mentioned how sorry he was for the other families shows just how cold this guy is. I think he should go to hell too! Having said that, does he still have his job because if he admitted his wife smoked pot then we have to assume that he probably did too. The fact he was a civilian working for the police department and didn’t have to report his wife’s pot smoking is outrageous! Also, because he was in a company car he couldn’t follow her home and drive on the same roads? What kind of car was he in? This is just another weird aspect to this case.
My deepest sympathy to all who were touched by this sensless crime!!!
So what happened to the rush for more testing? I think Danny is stalling due to the calls to test her hair for drugs that he knows will be positive. This case went from way too much publicity to an eerie quiet. I think the facts when they come out will be illuminating.
here is some more ‘facts’ on the case from an old post at:
http://www.ncnlocal.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=1997
The sister-in-law of the driver that caused the deadly wrong-way, three-car crash that killed eight people on the Taconic State Parkway on Sunday afternoon called state police in Tarrytown around the time of the accident to report a problem with the driver. State police Sgt. Kenneth Cano, from Troop T barracks, which patrols the New York State Thruway, received a call between 1:40 p.m. and 2 p.m. Sunday from Jackie Hance, the sister-in-law of Diane Schuler, the driver of the minivan that caused Sunday’s crash. Jackie Hance called the state police two hours after her husband, Schuler’s brother Warren, spoke with his sister by cell phone, Cano said.
“His (Hance’s) wife said her sister-in-law was driving in a red Ford Windstar minivan with a ski rack,” Cano said. “She said her husband had called her (Schuler) and she said she wasn’t feeling well.”
Warren Hance told Schuler to pull off the side of the road and he would drive from his Long Island home to pick her up. Jackie Hance called the state police because her husband was unsuccessful in attempts to call Schuler back, Cano said.
“I think he told [Schuler] to pull over,” Cano said. “He tried calling her back and couldn’t get her. I got the impression that she was a very dependable person and it was unusual that he couldn’t reach her.”
Schuler told her brother, in the phone call, that she was driving back to Long Island from a weekend camping trip in Sullivan County via the New York State Thruway to Route 287 on to Interstate 95 and over the Throggs Neck Bridge, he said.
“The only thing about the phone call was someone in the minivan said they saw a Sleepy Hollow/Tarrytown sign on the road,” Cano said. “I didn’t sense any panic from the sister-in-law, but she was very concerned.”
Jackie Hance’s phone call came into police a few minutes after Sunday’s 1:35 p.m. accident on the Taconic. State police out of Tarrytown, including Cano, began a 40-mile sweeping patrol of Schuler’s possible route, checking the sides of the roads and rest stops, he said.
“When I got the call [from Jackie Hance], we weren’t aware of the accident on the Taconic,” Cano said. “I was looking for [Schuler] on the [Hutchinson River Parkway]. I had the impression that she had pulled over to the side of the road.”
Twenty-five minutes after the accident, Warren Hance arrived at the state police barracks in Tarrytown, unaware that his sister was involved in the crash on the Taconic.
I have no doubt that Diane was drunk and high. But, her husband could be on to something. Blood clots comes in all sizes – some small enough to be overlooked during autopsy. What if a tiny blood clot in a certain part of her brain caused Diane to become an instant alcoholic, the reverse of the following?
Jan. 25, 2007
Scientists ID Brain Area For Smoking Urge
Research Inspired By Stroke Victim Who Lost Urge To Smoke; Discovery Could Shed Light On Addiction
(AP) Damage to a coin-sized spot deep in the brain seems to wipe out the urge to smoke, a surprising discovery that may shed important new light on addiction.
The research was inspired by a stroke survivor who claimed he simply forgot his two-pack-a-day addiction — no cravings, no nicotine patches, not even a conscious desire to quit.
“The quitting is like a light switch that went off,” said Dr. Antoine Bechara of the University of Southern California, who scanned the brains of 69 smokers and ex-smokers to pinpoint the region involved. “This is very striking.”
The finding, reported in Friday’s edition of the journal Science, points scientists toward new ways to develop anti-smoking aids by targeting this little-known brain region called the insula. And it sparked excitement among addiction specialists who expect the insula to play a key role in other addictions, too.
“It’s a fantastic paper, it’s a fantastic finding,” said Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse and a longtime investigator of the brain’s addiction pathways.
“What this study shows unequivocally is the insula is a key structure in the brain for perceiving the urges to take the drug,” urges that are “the backbone of the addiction,” Volkow added.
Why? The insula appears to be where the brain turns physical reactions into feelings, such as feeling anxious when your heart speeds up. When those reactions are caused by a particular substance, the insula may act like sort of a headquarters for cravings.
Some 44 million Americans smoke, and the government says more than 400,000 a year die of smoking-related illnesses. Declines in smoking have slowed in recent years, making it unlikely that the nation will reach a public health goal of reducing the rate to 12 percent by 2010.
Nicotine is one of the most addictive substances known, and it is common for smokers to suffer repeated relapses when they try to quit.
So imagine Bechara’s surprise at hearing a patient he code-named “Nathan” note nonchalantly that “my body forgot the urge to smoke” right after his stroke.
At the time, Bechara was at the University of Iowa studying the effects of certain types of brain damage after strokes or other injury. While Nathan was hospitalized, stroke specialists sent his information to that brain registry. He was 38, had smoked since 14, said he enjoyed it and had had no intention to quit. But his last puff was the night before his stroke. His surprised wife said he never even asked for a smoke while in the hospital.
It is not unusual for a health scare to prompt an attempt at quitting. “That’s the quitting that’s not as interesting,” Bechara said.
Instead, Nathan experienced what Bechara calls a “disruption of smoking addiction,” and he wanted to know why.
Bechara and colleagues culled their brain-damage registry for 69 patients who had smoked regularly before their injuries. Nineteen, including Nathan, had damage to the insula. Thirteen of the insula-damaged patients had quit smoking, with 12 of them quitting within a day of the brain injury and neither smoking nor even feeling the urge since then.
Of the remaining 50 patients with damage in other brain regions, 19 quit smoking but only four met the broken-addiction criteria.
If Bechara’s findings are validated, they suggest that developing drugs that target the insula might help smokers quit. There are nicotine receptors in the insula, meaning it should be possible to create a nicotine-specific drug, Bechara said — albeit years from now.
More immediately, NIDA’s Volkow wants to try a different experiment: Scientists can temporarily alter function of certain brain regions with pulses of magnetic energy, called “transcranial magnetic stimulation.” She wants to see if it is possible to focus such magnetic pulses on the insula, and thus verify its role.
Other neurologic functions are known to be involved with addiction, too, such as the brain’s “reward” or pleasure pathways. The insula discovery does not contradict that work, but adds another layer to how addiction grips the brain, Bechara said.
What if I could teach pelicans how to talk? What if I can figure out how to make shoestrings into pure Palladium with the power of my MIND? What if I can sow doubt in the minds of a jury and help prevent them from blaming my wife for the vehicular homicide of a bunch of children and 3 unrelated people, and somehow keep myself from insolvency?
Oh wait, the last isn’t one of mine, it’s the husband’s transparent motivations. This sort of what if game isn’t very useful. It’s actually kinda a failure.
I wish we could teach pelicans to talk…….much more sensible use of our time than the efforts by the spouse to prevent blame from attaching to Diane for the multiple deaths she was responsible for…and then we could work on teaching ferrets to conjugate german verbs!
wonder whats up with this website?
http://danielschuler.com/
Nothing there now, but who knows what they are planning.
I don’t think this one is in Hell. She made some really horrible decisions to start drinking, after she started., the booze was in control. I know what that’s like! The booze has made me do some things my concious would completely disagree with. I feel sorry for the children here. They were helpless. Hopefully she just has to walk the Earth for an eternity in purgitory. Hell no, .forever in purgitory and misery., yes.
Despite popular myth, there are no brain cells floating around in alcoholic beverages that add thoughts or truly can exert any “control” on you. She was a murderer from the first sip.
If you think alcohol is taking control, you should instead look in the mirror, dead sober, and determine what inside of you is actually “taking control.”
http://loudnews.wordpress.com/2009/09/05/bastardi-daughters-have-no-compassion-for-the-living/
here is a disturbing website that discusses this accident. i have had numerous emails with this paper asking them to back up the claims of the story. All they do is parrot the shuler attorney claims of absurd explainations and blame the victims families for not going away. i repeatedly asked them for any facts; however, rather than quoting a single actual fact they were reduced to quoting scriptures to me. check it out and let them know how you feel.
Beyond insanity-brings blame the victim to a whole new level-the theory that she had encephalytis (sp?) causing the wreck? The site you found brings insanity and absurdity to a whole new level……
Disturbing isn’t the word. I left a comment, but I doubt this guy will have the guts to actually approve it for posting. I did challenge him to come here and take us on, but he won’t do that either. Anyways, it was a good comment, and I think somebody should get to read it, so here it is:
I would love to hear there response…if any of course. Those kind of people remind me of an old saying..”It is better to keep your mouth shut and give the impression that you have intelligence then to open your mouth and remove that impression from there minds”
It may be petty, but using the stars at the top of the article, give it 1 star.
i had a day long email exchange with someone at that website. Here is the conversation in it’s entirety.
On Sep 30, 2009, at 9:31 PM, Arnold The Pig wrote:
I feel sad for you that you don’t understand what a fact is.
I feel sad for us that the internet has allowed free speech to co-opt supposed journalism to the point where people like you think it is ok to spew misinformation.
I wouldnt give you the smug satisfaction of trying to talk me into a corner with your twisted logic. You would not succeed.
I have not accused that guy of anything. The only thing i want from you is to admit that you have no facts to support what he is claiming happened. What happened to the anebesol theory? You are pathetc pawns and are too blind to see how stupid you look. Look around, there is no public opinion support for this.
On Sep 30, 2009, at 7:57 PM, “Bocce Balls Productions inc. New York” wrote:
We wrote the truth, you just can’t handle it!
Where are Dan Schuler’s accusers, just you, there is no evidence, ask the New York
State Police and Westchester County District Attorney, there are no charges.
Experts have said, sickness could have caused Diane Schuler’s
confusion.
I feel sad for you that you can’t accept the facts.
Where you related to the victims?
Would you like to do an on camera interview with The Westchester News?
I see that you need to vent, would you like to vent on camera with us?
Let us know because we will be glad to accommodate you.
Remember the law in this country… Innocent Until Proven Guilty!
On Sep 30, 2009, at 6:16 PM, Arnold The Pig wrote:
Nope. I am going to keep writing until you back your truth claims about false information in this case.
On Sep 30, 2009, at 5:40 PM, “Bocce Balls Productions inc. New York” wrote:
Are you done yet?
On Sep 30, 2009, at 4:40 PM, Arnold wrote:
What truth???? You have not provided me with one single shred of truth, as i have repeatedly challenged you to do.
I will be forwarding this entire thread to your papers editor. I stand behind every word i have said. Can you say the same with a straight face? If any thing you claim is true, please back it up now on the record. This is a travesty of misinformation, guess your brand of lies is better than those of the evil westchestchester. You are made for each other, apparently.
On Sep 30, 2009, at 4:34 PM, “Bocce Balls Productions inc. New York” wrote:
If you can’t handle the truth stay out of The Westchester News!
On Sep 30, 2009, at 4:12 PM, Arnold Palmer PhD wrote:
My anger is healthy and is directed at this misrepresentation of facts by a media outlet. Dont analyze me how dare you quote proverbs to me.
I know you are a liar since in four emails you have not stated one fact beyond the propaganda by the least compassionate person on earth, barbara.
Here is what happened. Diane was trapped with that jerk and all those kids camping and couldnt call the guy she was having an affair with. He called her at 1145 and broke up with her She got plastered on the way home. Had a fight with her brother on the phone and decided to kill herself, punish danny by killing his kids and her brother by killing his kids. There was something about that phone call, she told her brother what she was going to do. He called the police and sped off to stop her. Her plan suceeded. That has as much basis in fact as your denials.
People as misguided as you should not be given access to the public to foster such misrepresentations of the truth.
Don’t bother responding with more proverbs unless you provide names, motives, and details to support you corruption and lying scenarios. This is the worst kind of abuse of the media.
On Sep 30, 2009, at 4:01 PM, “Bocce Balls Productions inc. New York” wrote:
I think you have a lot of misplaced anger inside, it’s not Dan Schuler’s fault
this happened, it happened, and we all have to live with it.
Just like 911, who’s fault is it?
Just like those little girls on the news that lost their lives in the house fire,
who’s fault is it?
We can’t control what we can’t control, but we can control
our lives by taking one day at a time, and by trusting God!
Proverbs 3:5&6
Here is another verse in the Holy Bible!
And we know all things work together for good for those that love God,
and those that are called by God, and predestined by God.
All Things, not some, but All Things.. even the Taconic Parkway Crash.
On Sep 30, 2009, at 3:41 PM, Arnold Palmer PhD wrote:
You don’t even mention his own inlaws who lost their entire family. Its obvious that her brother knows something too. What did he say to her that made her throw the phone out the window? Unbelievable
I still don’t see any reference to facts in your argument. You revert back to conspiracy mode, who specifically is corrupt, what is their motive, why would they do this? What do they have to gain. How many people does it take to pull off this conspiracy? Multiple agencies and labs and doctors. So i guess westchester is like nazi germany eh?
Sorry but we all have grief to live with. I really don’t feel the need to give him any extra compassion when he has not once publicly shown any, not even to his own family. He still has a son, his inlaws have lost everything.
On Sep 30, 2009, at 3:27 PM, “Bocce Balls Productions inc. New York” wrote:
I think if you pull your hand away from covering your eyes,
you will be able to see clearly. Try it!
The facts are this… you cannot believe a government so polluted by corruption
Lies and deceit, that covers up the facts in so many minuet details. A man like Dan Schuler
has nothing left except his little boy, he’s a man with grief beyond our knowledge, a man
in mourning beyond comprehension, a man so numb from a situation that is so surreal, he can’t
Feel his heart or possible know his soul. What State of mind is this world in when we are not
afraid to attack a broken man.
He who is without sin cast the first stone…
On Sep 30, 2009, at 2:59 PM, Arnold Palmer PhD wrote:
I have no idea who i am speaking with or who wrote that article But you state it as if it were fact when it is opinion. using shulers words verbatim as fact, and call it the truth but don’t even use quotes or attribute it to him. In a case where everyone craves the facts as part of the healing and rationalization process you just perpetuate the denial statements. If you have facts to back up your opinion lets hear them. Give us all the catharsis we need in this case. The known facts are pointing toward a different truth than is evident in this opinion. How you call that an opinion i don’t know. Its my opinion that it is dark during the day.
Tell me the way it is, please. Thats all i want is the truth.
On Sep 30, 2009, at 2:48 PM, “Bocce Balls Productions inc. New York” wrote:
You know everyone is initialed to their opinion, I respect yours and in-return
you should respect the opinion of our viewers. The way you see it, is not the
way it is…
On Sep 30, 2009, at 2:34 PM, Arnold Palmer PhD wrote:
Sorry if you think i was the abusive one, but your slant of blaming the victims is too much to take. Even if the men in that truck were drunk escaped murderers, it was the actions of diane schuler that caused their deaths for no good reason. The husband has never aplogized, after first admitting she smkes pot, on the advice of thata barbara lawyer he has done nothing but try to cover his tracks personally. Its all about him. Then you jump on the band wagon refuting toxicology and all logic to say she had a stroke. Well i know many stroke victims and none of them acted the way she did. What about the obvious hours of horror she put those kids through? Absolultely they knew they were in danger way back on rt 17. Why exacerbate a bad situation by siding with the ones at fault over the innocent victims? Whoever they are they deserve justice and its clear schuler knows they have the law on their side and all he is doing is pretending to be in denial when
he is not and is only trying to save himself. If he had once said he was sorry he would not have this backlash against him.
My responses to you were in the appropriate tone for the level of arrogance on your part to politicize a human tragedy so you can vilify some poeple who did not ask to be put in the public spotlight.
I drive that road every week, i saw the miles of skidmarks of people swerving to the right to avoid that maniac. There is .43 miles of shoulder immediately preceeding the crash site. I spend hours on that road reliving the terror. It was a death wish and it came true. Too bad she didnt just stop on the bridge and jump off and spare all those lives.
Good luck with your agenda.
On Sep 30, 2009, at 1:18 PM, “Bocce Balls Productions inc. New York” wrote:
Keep your focus on your opinion about the story,
and maybe we’ll approve it.
I’m talking with him/her now. I don’t think I’m getting through.
There are too many unanswered questions, too many assumptions.
I have no interest in proving Diane’s innocence yet I am still drawn to this story as I feel it is an article that is missing a few chapters.
Why did Diane call her brother and not her husband?
Diane’s body was fried, how are accurate toxicology results obtained by this?
Ethanol the same alcohol found in vodka is also found in gasoline.
I am leaning toward the conclusion that Diane downed all this liquor, but something is still nagging at me that perhaps, her brother knows much more than he has admitted to.
Best to list those and go through them. Ten thousand lines of code looks like a lot of work, until you’re at the 9999 th line of fully debugged code and you hit the carriage return to type the last statement. This list is pretty good, but let’s move on.
An interesting question, but why would this affect the missing chapters?
Her cause of death wasn’t smoke inhalation or even burning. She was killed on impact. Her body was burnt to a crisp, alcohol and blood were found, drawn and tested. To toxicology tests, they’re extremely accurate in most cases, and toxicologists have very simple and sometimes complex tables that can help determine metabolic rate, decay, denaturing of protein and an extensive library of information about alcohol in the body. It’s a very mature science with a very, very solid body of knowledge.
Vodka is 35-50% Ethanol by volume. The vast majority of the remainder (roughly 65 to 50%) is water. Gasoline is up to 10% Ethanol, but the US standard is roughly 5.9%.
Gasoline is immiscible in water, and absorbs only a small amount of water when exposed. The Ethanol is stable in suspension of the fuel. If they had found 6 grams of Ethanol in her stomach that would mean they’d found almost 94 grams of Gasoline in her stomach. If you want to stress 10%, we’re still talking about 54 grams of pure or less than 2 ounces of gasoline that make it from the gas tank or engine into her stomach and then don’t show up on a toxicology report where the Ethanol does?
No, the absorption rate of alcohol is swift, finding a few grams, which is a very, very small amount of alcohol in her stomach is conclusive that she was drinking to up to a few minutes of the crash or as she crashed. Even after death, her stomach doesn’t stop processing alcohol, it’s actually the cease of blood flow to give fresh blood to the organ and to dilute the alcohol that stops absorption.
That’s a reasonable question, but I don’t see why there’s so much concern about the facts and time line as listed above?
Her alcohol content is easy to determine, or at least relatively easy to determine from the toxicology reports. The timing of the phone calls is easy. The absurdity of the Ambesol TM theory is easy. The brain tumor is easily discounted. As far as assumptions, despite the old adage about making an ass out of “u” and “me,” there’s a difference between reasoned assumptions supported by fact and the assumptions based only upon someone’s uninformed opinion.
Should say wasn’t burnt to a crisp.
jason – did you have a fun conversation over at that Westchester website?
Diane’s body was not fried – Only part of her left leg was charred. You can read the autopsy report here as part of our article.
I’m not so sure her brother hasn’t told the whole truth. He has nothing to gain by protecting the sister that killed his entire family, unless he’s worried about being sued because he was the owner of the mini-van she was driving.
Whether she was an alcoholic or not is, I believe, a moot point. No matter how often she used alcohol and/or drugs, or how many “illnesses” she was suffering from, or whether or not she had a stroke or diabetic episode….NONE of those things cause you to drive in the aggressive, erratic way Diane was witnessed to be driving before the crash. If anything, any one of those “excuses” would have made her drive more slowly…much more slowly. It is obvious to me that she was on a suicide mission, and also that she must have been very, very angry with her husband and brother at the time. Obviously she was using the children to punish them for something. I read somewhere previously that the husband and brother had planned on fishing that day, while she returned with the children. Was that what she was mad about? A trip that was supposed to be a family event, yet the men dumped her off with the kids once again while they went to have fun? Obviously, the men know much more about the situation than they are admitting, they are just trying to cya…
Being told you’re going to hell by someone obviously convinced they’re more saintly than you, rarely is a lot of fun. I don’t think I reached him/her with any of my words. If you think it’s needs repeating here, that’s fine, but for the most part, he/she just seemed to be convinced that very soon we’d all be meeting our maker and that we’d all be sorry.
I’ve been out of town this weekend, I have this one post I wanted to make, but Admin rightfully talked me out of. It’s about a family member convinced of the persecution of their loved one despite everything said about them, and it’s pretty tragically sad. Someone ought to do a study and simply commit people when they start down this route. It’s so painful to watch and it’s not going to get better without professional help.
Our family is adamant because, first of all, we know this is not something Diane would have done. It is hard waiting this long for the proof to come out, but when it does (and it will, rest assured), I hope Baby Erin, Allie, Katie, Emma and ESPECIALLY poor Diane can FINALLY Rest In Peace. Second, we need to fight for Diane’s innocence for Bryan’s sake. The last thing he needs is to be able to hop online when he is a bit older and healthier, “google” his mother’s name, as I did, and find TRASH such as the lies (yes, your words on this website are LIES) on this site. It’s funny, are YOU (meaning the creator of this nasty website) also associated with the Bastardi’s, like the Westchester M.E. is? Yep, he’s a close family friend… has been for years.. so I’m guessing you are, too. Thank you so very much for slandering my family’s name.
Oh good grief! More babbling of injustice and ‘just wait for the proof’ BS from a delusional family member.
Please, tell me what the Bastardi family has to gain by all this conspiracy BS you spout? Don’t you think it would be a hell of a lot easier for them if this POS woman had had a medical condition instead of being so evil as to get drunk/high and kill a bunch of innocent people?
Your family has a lot more to gain by denying the facts and trying to spin your BS. Oh, and I love how your despicable family implies that the victims are at fault or less worthy of sympathy!
Thank you for showing your true colors as selfish people-easy to see where the drunk, doper murderer got it. Perhaps her behavior wasn’t as aberrant as you are so desperate to have us believe.
Sorry, but no one here at PYSIH are in any way associated with the Bastardi family. In fact, until Diane Schuler reduced the number of Bastardis on Planet Earth by two, we’d never heard of them, or the Schulers for that matter. And to tell the truth, considering the circumstances of our “introductions”, we wish we never had.
Now, let’s get to the lies I supposedly told when I wrote this article. You’re going to have to be more specific than than, because you know, I distinctly remember verifying everything I wrote with a legitimate source, just like any other journalist. Things like police reports and press releases and autopsy reports. I need names, dates, sources of your information proving that I lied. Otherwise you’re just another horses ass like Daniel.
Explain to me the 6 grams of alcohol in Diane’s stomach, the drug tests that showed she smoked pot less than 45 minutes before she killed 7 innocent people, the .19 Blood Alcohol Content in her blood, urine, and eyeball fluid and her erratic behavior on NY Route 267. Why did Diane toss the phone out of the van a half hour before she killed nearly everyone in it? These are all facts backed up by either the official autopsy report or the New York State Police. Are you saying there is a vast conspiracy to “get” Diane Schuler?
And here’s the kicker for me. What does anyone gain by saying Diane Schuler was drunk at the time of the accident? As far as any lawsuit goes, the fact that she was driving the wrong way on the Taconic damns her sober or drunk, legally speaking. Do you realize how many people would have to get on board from Law Enforcement and the Medical examiner’s office in this incredibly high profile case for the conspiracy to succeed, all for a gain of nil? Does that make any sense at all, because that’s what the Schulers are essentially trying to get us to believe.
As for your claim that the Westchester County Medical Examiner is a close personal friend of the Bastardis, I’m calling you on that. You’re a bald faced liar. Who told you that – Dominic Barbara? The only bigger fool than him is his client.
Oh yes, let’s not forget the Hanse’s little daughters. Kate, Alyson, and Emma must be rolling in their graves every time one of you people tells anther lie about what caused Diane’s erratic behavior. Because they know the truth. Well, Bryan does too – I wonder how he’ll reconcile his memories of that day with what his family will tell him “happened”. Have any of you considered that? I doubt it. If Bryan ever reads this website, my conscious is clear, because I told the truth – can you and the rest of your family say the same? Can his father say the same?
And what’s taking YOUR tests so long to complete? I can’t wait to see them, especially the hair follicle tests. It’s going to a real pleasure shoving those results up the Schuler family’s asses one by one.
So Max… when do I get to buy you a beer? ;)
LoL – I don’t drink Becky, but I’ll take a ginger ale. Diet – I can’t handle the hard stuff. :>)
YOU ARE SUCH A WILD MAN! I love ginger ale, but my all-time fav is creme soda. If there is a God, he/she drinks creme soda.
Sadly the delusional family member can’t even sum up a tidbit of sympathy for the dead victims..only “poor Diane”…says a lot about the family now, doesn’t it? The grief stricken families of the innocent victims concocted a conspiracy to frame Diane for ….what? I would think the family of the victims would feel better if it had been a medical condition, something unpreventable rather than knowing their deaths were the act of a selfish self centered arrogant person.
I read on another site somewhere a post by an RN at the hospital when they brought Diane Schuler in that is was apparent that she was intoxicated. i guess you could smell it on her?
Anyway, i think the ‘family’ could have avoided all the backlash and negative feeling very easliy by addressing the victims first and then apoligzing publicly and then moving on to Diane’s prediciment. Everyone would be more sympathetic if it weren’t for the blatant denials of fact and inference. At first it seemed they may be heading that way until Danny lawyered up and it took a turn into the gutter for him. They were almost on the verge of being forthcoming when the whole story shifted. I am curious what hard evidence they can produce to come up with a different story?
Wonder what the cops will come up with. Did she have pot with her? Did a gps tell her to get on that road? was all the evidence burned up?
in keeping with listing sources, here is the one i referenced in the last post.
http://www.topix.com/us/2009/08/driver-in-deadly-taconic-crash-diane-schuler-was-drunk-had-marijuana-in-system-say-sources
As an RN who works where they took her dead body, I can tell you they knew the results in minutes. Why not tell everyone up front? If the world knew the truth people would have spit on her casket instead of crying over it. And what kind of stupid husband did she have? He allowed his wife to take 5 kids to there death as well as kill 3 innocent men and don’t forget the 3 injured people. The 3 injured people will be living in pain longer than it takes her body to rot in the ground. It angers me that the truth was not told right away “to protect the families”..eventually they would know the truth and now they have to be hurt and angry all over again. And please tell me the auto insurance company is NOT going to give her family one cent!! If they give her family replacement value for her vehicle and pay for the dead in the car they are saying its OK to drive drunk and high. And the nerve of her taking her brothers 3 kids in her hands…your own brother. This story is so sickening I wished she lived just so she could get 40 whips at a whipping post. Please, those that read this, don’t drink and drive and give to MADD who has helped in many ways to stop sensless tragedies like this. I guess we need DWI/DUI stops all day and night as this happened in the early afternoon and no one thinks anyone is drunk then.
A long time ago I was doing research at the medical examiners office in Dallas and was watching autopsies on totally burned bodies. They had been in a plane crash. The pilot had had a heart attack. He was fixing to retire and was showing a new guy what route to inspect oil and gas lines. They were both crispy and burnt beyond reconition. It is amazing that even when a body gets burnt like that that you can still do a totally complete autopsy. The bodies insides might be like a medium rare steak but it does not erase what is there. Only in temperatures like when a body is cremated and nothing but bones fragments remain is there little to find. The body is an amazing thing. I am anxiously awaiting the results of hair test on Diane and still would like to see her husband tested as well.
I still want to know why her husband could not drive his vehicle on the same roads and she could. I also would like to know if he still has his job in the police department.
My heart still goes out to the innocent victims and their families!
http://loudnews.wordpress.com/2009/08/07/long-islands-diane-schuler-is-she-really-a-drunk-and-drug-addict/#comment-103
This paper just doens’t get it. Freedom of speech should not apply to people who don’t know what they are talking about. give us all a break. See ya in hell Diane.
Also misses a point-doesn’t matter if she were a drug/alcholic -you can get plastered only one time in your life, decide to drive and kill people….even if they could prove she was not an alcoholic drug abuser, that would not negate the fact that she drank, drove and killed people……..
i guess i did my work well. that Westchester website threatened to send the FBI to my house.
That’s mildly hypocritical given they believe the government is so corrupt…
If the FBI does show up, will you share some of the money you get from suing them and him? Nothing big, I figure 2% should be about 200K or so, I’d like to add a new addition to the house, a pier on the lake, etc….
Did they really jp? On what grounds? That you told them the truth, and invaded their fantasy? Like Jason, I also find it ironic that their siccing the government on you, after professing that the have no trust of gov’t institutions.
BTW, how are you getting your comments approved – mine are being completely ignored, and there not even as good as yours are. It might have something to do with PYSIH…but I don’t get any response at all from the webmaster.
search the site for Shculer and it will give a list of the many articles, many of them don’t seem to have any moderation of the comments. Although after i went on there, they are probably screening them all… :)
here is what they said.
“If you send us one more threatening defaming comment, we will make sure the FBI come knocking on your door. You have said some really sick things about this blog that we did not release onto the internet. Do not send us any more of your comments.
You are the only one who is obsessed with this story, no one else. We are investigative News Reporters doing our job, we inform the public about our findings, that’s what we do.
Now go away and do not comeback this way again unless you want the FBI knocking on your door.
The Westchester News “
They can send you a cease and desist letter, but they can’t send the FBI after you. If you interfere with their site functionality and thus the collection of revenue they can sue you, but it’s a long and hard road.
Wow maybe they will bring the men in black with them. hope they get their meds adjusted as they seem to believe their delusion that they are investigative journalists……
I heard the phone tapes that were just released with the police and warren hance. Interesting that when they are discussing calling diane’s cell phone they mention her voice mail says Diane Hance, not Schuler.
Thanks jp, I have those tapes now. I’ll add them to the Update I just did on this story. I’m becoming more and more convinced that this “She’s sick” line was a deliberate attempt to cover up the fact that she was drunk and they knew it. It just sounded fish the way the guy through it out there for the cop, without any prompting. I smell a rat.
Did you ever hear a 911 call by a person who committed the murder, like a husband reporting the murder of his wife? He always starts laying out his alibi to the 911 operator instead of just reporting the crime – offering to many details, especially ones that make him look innocent. I felt I was hearing the same kind of thing when I heard, “She’s sick.”
I saw this posting on craigslist (‘best of’, titled ‘I saw that crash on the Taconic last Sunday…’) – while it is long, it is a stunning first-hand account from a witness to this tragedy:
link: http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/nyc/1306619502.html
Text: Driver in N.Y. wreck that killed 8 was intoxicated
Im sure other people on this board must have seen it as well. I was drvivng home from my summer house upstate. There was a 10 minute rain storm so everyone slowed down, then the rain stopped and everyone sped up again…. Suddenly about a mile from the turn to get on the sawmill, cars just stopped . Brake lights as far as I could see. Stopped in the middle of a three lane highway…There were trees in the median bewtween the north and southbound lanes, and behind the tress was a huge, black plume of smoke going up into the sky. I was on a motorcycle, so i could go between the cars and move up to see what happened. Once I came around the bend, off to the side of the southbound lane, a mini van was upside down, completly engufled in flames. I could feel the heat from the flames as I pulled by. Hundreds of people were running from both sides of the North and South lanes of the Taconic. I pulled over and got off my bike, and try to take in what was happening.
The burning mini van was popping and sparking every once in a while, I assume something inside was making small explosions as they caught fire. I pulled behind a white van on the side of the highway, a Chinese man got out and was talking to me but frankly i cant remember a word we said to each other. About 20 feet from the burning mini van, there were clusters of people kneeling around what I assumed were the crash victims. Every 10 feet or so, there was another cluster, kneeling down. Each one had a person pumping the chest of the victims while the other people were helping any way the can. Everyone was running with they’re cellphones screaming frantically.
I noticed what looked like a station wagon, across the median. The entire front was smashed to the point where you wondered where the hell the engine could have gone. it looked like the cars front began at the front seat. I noticed the cluster of people closest to me, probably 15 feet away, and I saw a pair of tiny blue shorts, and small legs sticking out from the group of people. I knew it was a child, and as the father of a 6 year old daughter, I knew it was a girl. I couldnt see her face, only her blue shorts and her legs. Nothing was moving. A man in a white shirt was pumping her chest, and screaming for help. I thought for a moment of walking over to see what i could do, but it was so chaotic, and there were so many people already. People just abandoned theyre cars on the highway and ran to help. I looked at her legs, and there wasnt a scratch on them. I looked at the man pumping her chest, with the white shirt on. Every so often he’d turn to scream something, and there was no blood on the front of his shirt.I thought about what she may have looked like from the waist up, and I’m really glad I never got to see her face. There was one cop there when I arrived, and you could see on her face, that she was really freaking out. She must have just pulled up before I got there and was assesing the situation. I’ll never forget the look of panic on her face. One man ran passed us and got a first aid kit out of his trunk. All this happened in probably 4 minutes. Now you could hear people screaming to get back in they’re cars because the fire engines couldn’t get through . The fire engine was stuck behind all the cars on the Northbound side. Sirens and lights wailing.. An EMS guy jumped from the fire truck and started running towords the scene, screaming into his walkie. I noticed a man leaning against his car weeping. Total strangers were coming up to him and huggin him, and by his body language and his movements of what he was describing, I knew he was one of the people that pulled these kids out of that burning car. He was inconsolable. So were the people hugging him. I got back on my motorcycle, and turned on to the Sawmill, back to NY. I saw her legs and blue shorts over and over again. i could not get them out of my head. I pulled over a mile down the road, got of my bike and starting crying harder then I’ve cried in a long time. I’ve been a New Yorker for 23 years. It takes a lot to shock or disturb us, but holy shit , this disturbed me.
It was a horrible thing to see. It’s effected me in a surprising way, still is a week later. I have a daughter, and the thought of course thats been running through my head, along with the never ending vision of those little blue shorts, and pale white legs, not moving, it could have been her. In my dreams when i see the man in the white shirt pumping her chest, i walk over and see my daughters face. Not a scratch on her, just eyes closed as if shes sleeping. I imagine thats what that little girl looked like while they were desperatly trying to get her to breathe.
I rode by the spot yesterday coming back from upstate again. Theres a big chunk of earth where the mini van rolled and scorched grass where it sat and burned. I thought I saw a cross with some flowers on it , but I wasnt sure.
As the facts come out about what really happened, and turns out this woman was drunk, and high, I’m torn between anger and incredible sadness. Anger as an adult and father, who’s sole purpose in life is to protect, and teach my child right from wrong. Anger having seen a dead child laying in the middle of the median, knowing that child was probably singing or playing with her doll, having no concept she was going the wrong way on a fucking highway, trusting her mother. Completely innocent. My God, I hope 4 those girls died on impact. Never knowing what hit them. I can honestly say, having sene that wreckage, they must have.
Sadness as a husband and father. This man will now have to explain to his only living son, what happened to his mother and his sisters one day. Not to mention the aunts and uncles of the nieces she also killed.
If anyone from these shattered families do read this, you have my deepest sympathy . Its little help but try to take some solace in the fact that hundreds, and I mean hundreds of people ran to help as best they could. It was utter chaos, but these people had the instinct and bravery to jump out of theyre cars, and run to a burning car to pull everyone out. They did the best they could with the little they had. It was truly inspiring……
I will NEVER get the image of those little blue shorts, and legs out of my head……I don’t have some big message to end on or a moral of any kind. I’m simply getting what I saw off my chest, though it will be with me for the rest of my life.
Thanks for listening.
Peace
** I’m not commenting about my opinions on this case. More, I wanted to point out what the writer of this posting stated very clearly — there has to be literally hundreds of other victims of this catastrophe, and those are the people who were there and valiantly did all they could to help. I would bet the things those people saw that day will never be forgotten.
Thanks Ellen, but I posted this letter as part of the Diane Schuler Update, back on Wednesday. Your conclusions are exactly the same as the ones I came up with – If you head over to the Diane Schuler Update, you can read it for yourself.
Thanks, I did just that (read the updates), plus many other stories on the site. Thanks very much.
i hate this “i need pot to cure insomnia” deal.
guess what, if you have insomnia….use legal, doctor prescribed pills. especially if you have children in the home!
‘Legal, doctor prescribed pills’ have, like pot, different side effects for different people. Those pills put me to sleep for 12 hours straight even if I break them in half. Ever try to break one o’ them suckers in quarters? I’m talking the plain-wrap over the counter versions. I’ve tried the prescriptions. They’re worse. I need 6-8 hours of sleep a night to feel awake and well rested the next day. 12 and still groggy is unacceptable. I cannot function that way.
Pot has been around for thousands of years, tried and tested by generations of people all over the world and not all of them for recreational purposes. I’d be a hypocrite if I said I don’t enjoy it, but so would many who uses Vicodin for pain. I don’t get those nasty side effects with pot. There is no hangover. There is no stomach cramping.
That aside, I agree with you. You shouldn’t smoke pot around children any more than you should drink alcohol around them. The thing with pot is that they can be affected by simply breathing the air around them. Unless they happen to be in the bathroom with the puking, then alcohol certainly does affect the air around them. Especially whiskey puke. Yeesh.
Lots of reasons for yes, lots of reasons for no just like alcohol. We’ve all heard it all before, so no rehashing is necessary.
I live in California. I believe in the responsible use of recreational and/or medicinal drugs by responsible adults. I believe I should be able to pop an aspirin, roll a joint or pour myself a shot, just not all at the same time, if I feel I want or need to. I believe in my ability to be responsible and conduct my life within the laws of my state and local governments and with a sense of the safety of those around me.
Diane Schuler is the kind of person who makes the rest of us look bad. She is in the minority just like other drunk drivers. There are WAY more responsible drinkers than irresponsible ones, it’s just that the responsible ones get no press.
The Federal government has been instructed by our Commander in Chief (however anyone feels about the man, that’s what he is) to stop wasting their time and money busting legally operated marijuana collectives and hauling away otherwise law-abiding citizens when they could be focusing on hardcore crime.
“Legal, doctor-prescribed” sleeping pills are generally more hazardous than marijuana. They cause more side effects (including hallucinations), impair your judgment to a larger extent, and can become toxic at surprisingly low doses — you can’t even OD on pot, given the way it interacts with the body. Frankly, I’d rather a parent smoked a joint before bed than have them pop an Ambien. Even over-the-counter sleeping remedies, such as Nytol, are more potent than marijuana. Sleeping pills induce very, very deep sleep, which can prevent a parent for waking if their child needs them. Weed, on the other hand, usually won’t cause that kind of blackout, provided that you’re using it in moderation.
That having been said, one should NEVER smoke pot (or use any drug that may impair their ability to make quick decisions, including non-recreational medications) before driving. Although it seems that it was mostly the liquor that contributed the accident, the weed definitely didn’t help.
Either marijuana or alcohol could have contributed to this and it would have been a ‘simple’ case of stupidity-induced DUI. But both intoxicants together, with a car-full of kids? Is it possible to be that stupid? I have to believe part of Diane was suicidal. She had to know on some level exactly what she was doing. I can’t believe anyone is that stupid, especially a grown adult in charge of multiple innocent lives.
I’ve been reeeeally drunk before. I’ve been reeeeeally stoned. I’ve been both at once even though it’s not smart to combine two different drugs. We’re all idiots sometimes. It’s. O.K. to a point, sometimes being an idiot is fun. Sometimes it’s fun to run down the alley singing “Henry the 8th” at the top of your lungs, and it hurts no one.
I have NEVER driven under the influence of anything. How can you be so intoxicated that you disregard something so important and still remain conscious? I won’t even walk down a street that way for fear of staggering into an oncoming car or some other idiotic thing like that. Even deep in my cups, I’ve never been that stupid, selfish or reckless.
I try to understand Diane’s decisions that night. I just can’t.
vcbecky, I’m not buying your whole innocence thing. Everyone has hurt other people in some way, shape or form. Your sanctimonious attitude further fuels the evidence that you have done harm in some way. Maybe you are not being honest with yourself. There’s alot of that going around. I’m sure you have done bad in your life but maybe are too narcissictic to be able to admit your own shortcomings.
I can’t even begin to comprehend what the families must be going through. Christ, how do you even find the will to go on living after something like this? They say time heals all wounds, but I don’t think it can ever fully heal something like this. It’s such a tragedy, and a PREVENTABLE tragedy at that.
I hate that people try to defend this woman by saying that she was too drunk to realize how much of a danger she was. I’ll concede that, after a certain point, she was too intoxicated to realize what she was doing, but the fact remains that she was SOBER when she chose to pick up the bottle and start chugging it with a group of kids in the van with her. She was completely in control of her actions when she started drinking, and I very much doubt that she didn’t realize how out of hand she got while drinking.
I also don’t see why people think that claiming she wasn’t a alcoholic somehow proves that she wasn’t drunk during the accident. You don’t have to be an alcoholic to get totally shitfaced and do something really, really irresponsible. Plus, if she wasn’t an alcoholic, it would make her even more culpable for what happened, as there would be no addiction that might help explain why she even started drinking while driving in the first place.
I can understand why her family doesn’t want to accept the truth, even if they’re going to great lengths to preserve their denial. It’s frustrating to watch, but I don’t think it’s fair to vilify them for it. People don’t think clearly when they’re in grief. They say and do things that seem illogical, because they’re not thinking logically — when you lose someone very suddenly in a traumatic way, the grief can be severe enough to drive you into borderline insanity, which is hardly the fault of the bereaved.
The whole thing is just tragic for everyone involved. It’s so fucked up that one bad decision can take the lives of so many people, and destroy the lives of countless others. Christ, if only she had pulled over and waited for her brother… or not started drinking in the first place… what the hell was going through this woman’s head?
I can not believe all the people here posting that driving while high on pot is ok. I have smoked pot since 12 years old am in late 40′s now. I have been stupid enough to drive high and let me tell you no one should do it, its bull, it effects people different you are all stoned to one degree or another and it changes your perception of what you see, hear and focus on. I’m not one of those people who think we should all smoke pot but I do believe if you are going to do it, do it at home away from your children and don’t drive alone much less with your precious kids in the car. Thank god I never did my children are my life and I would never want to harm them so if diane schuler didn’t want to hurt people she should not have lit up or drank. The husband should apoligize to all and shut up and focus on taking care of who he has left. The last victim of his wife’s behavior there son.
Wanna know one of the reasons you’re in your late 40′s? Because you don’t get intoxicated and drive. It helps to refrain from putting your drunk or stoned ass behind the controls of a huge, combustible metal object that can do speeds upwards of 120mph if you want to live to your late 40′s.
I firmly believe Diane was suicidal on some level. I can’t understand any other reason for her behavior.
Never drive while intoxicated. Listen to that tiny, sane, sober voice when it tells you to put your pride away, stop, stay alive and let others live.
Please.
thank goodness the son survived, has he spoken about the ride prior to crash? I would question the mixing up of tissue samples if not for the undigested alcohol in her stomach. She would have had to be drinking steadily and smoking, something her son surely could have noted as typical or unusual behavior?
Scary statistic I read today in an insurance risk publication-yeah I have a boring day job-only 1 in 1,500 trips by drunk drivers results in a police-reported accident and subsequent court conviction…also alcohol related crashes account for around 40% of the 40,000 or so people killed each year on US highways. So imagine how many more Diane’s there are out there…
>I would question the mixing up of tissue samples
No way they mixed up the samples. How many other drunk stoned accident victims came into the Westchester morgue on a Sunday afternoon. How many samples could they have had lying around to mix up?
One of many things that bothers me is the fact that many people actually buy into the notion that Diane Schuler was sober prior to, and during that fateful drive, simply because she appeared lucid at McDonald’s.
Well, we have a town drunk whom everyone knows here and this guy can remember details and hold a pretty cogent conversation even though he is always, always drinking and is, in fact, homeless and sleeping on a park bench. And he drinks constantly.
So, in my opinion, it is possible that Diane “looked” sober but was already intoxicated.
I also do feel that Daniel Schuler is a weak, spineless, dishonest type who consciously minimizes how much his wife depended upon alcohol and drug use. This very fact makes me extremely angry and I have no respect for those who support him.
Barbara is a lawyer with zero morals.
as a recovering addict and drunk,{now over 2 yrs clean from hard shit,and goin on 60 days off booze} i can relate to the family of denial.im the black sheep of m family,in fact we dont even talk any more,as reputation means more than anything to these fools.its been bout 10 yrs since we have spoke a word to each other,but i AINT bitchin bout it,my mom was hooked on xanex but of course it was her.so shshshsh.lol.its been a long road but i love it just the way it is,thye can have the denial,ill take the honesty of recovery.
Hey bo, sounds like my family probs, I haven’t had a drink in nearly 10 years (my choice) also haven’t had a toke for about the same time, for me the drink was just social, as in not an everyday thing, but when I did I got paro, the dacca actually made me angry to the point where I would start fights just for the hell of it, so when I hit 30 and lost me knee cap I gave them both up. As for family I have come to learn that they are the ones missing out, and that makes me smile every single day :) if your on fb, let max know your email addy and we’ll chat there, actaully we should all be on fb so we can spread this site all over the world :)
come to think of it at 46 yrs old i have my own teethe still,and i DONT NEED VIAGRA,HELL YEA
when I was young, i swallowed a bunch of headache pills. At the emergency, I was accused of doing other drugs and taking other pills which they said they found in my system.The only thing I had was the cola I used to swallow the pills. Therefore they were seriously wrong. A pure lie. So I do believe that her husband may be right. I do bel The combination of something else in her system came out as alcohol or drugs. Don’t be so fast to point the finger. It happened to me. Can you imagine if it happened to you and you knew damn well that whatever they said they found is a lie and wrong. I sure know from experience. I was alive to speak up.
I had a similar thing happen to me, I was taken to hospital after taking too many pain killers after having a lot of alcohol in my system from the night before – basically my liver was knackered (it was never that great anyway) but they told me I had high amounts of THC in my system which just couldn’t of been true I hadn’t even been around pot in over two months. If they had told me that there was a small amount then that would have made sense because it can take a long time for THC to leave the body completely but according to the psychiatric nurse It was clear that I was lying when I said I hadn’t smoked or digested pot in over 2 months and in fact she was pretty sure I had used in the couple of days before I was taken in. The amount they actually found could have been so small that it could have been from passive smoke. but once a user always a user no?
You didn’t interview enough people before writing this. How about me and my mother? People who spent every day with her and trust me would know if she was an alcoholic, as my grandfather is one. Let me ask you as I see you have voting on this, why should her family be in hell? What did 5 year old Brian do? I think you’ll be in hell for having a web site like this. Get a real job
You’re obviously just a kid, so I’ll go easy on you. I suggest you read the 15 page police report that was released months ago. Daniel and his sister-in-law did a good job of describing Diane the alcoholic and chronic marijuana user. And no matter if she is an alcoholic or not, there’s no question she was drunk and high the moment she killed 7 people and herself.
As for the rest of your comment, I attribute that to an immature mind that has failed to grasp adult concepts. Get back to me in 10 years and we’ll talk.
Who would want to waste their time interviewing more people who will lie for Diane?
I and many others saw her coming down the road the wrong way. It seemed very deliberate to me, intentional, full knowledge of what she was doing. She could have pulled over there was time. I don’t know why others don’t point out there where many drivers honking at her and pointing. She accelerated to 80 she was going much slower and able to pull over prior to deliberately crashing.
I drove that road a lot back then. For weeks afterwards there were a mile of skid marks all over the road from people swerving to the right out of her path. And of course the huge black burn mark and dead grass lasted a lot longer.
Well…this place never fails in surprising me man.. LOL.. Trusting you are all doing decently today. Enjoy the day, and always keep smiling. Then stab someone in the chest as you continue to smile. LOL.
Somebody needs to take the writer to school with them, so he can relearn the difference between “their” “there” and “they’re”. The mistakes are waaaay too frequent. :(
Canuck, there had to be a kinder way to say that.
The writers, editor and owner of this site do not get paid for their hard, very emotional work. Any donations made to PYSIH are used, to my knowledge, for keeping the site online. At the very least, we owe them tact and kindness for having dredged through records and gruesome evidence to put it in some coherent order for the rest of us. Have you ever made sense out of someone else’s insanity? It can’t be easy.
Corrections are always welcome, but there’s no need to be so rude about it.
Though I have visited this site several times, this is my first time posting a comment. I remember, vividly, hearing about this story when it first happened, because my boyfriend and I were traveling through NY on our way back home to IN when this tragedy occurred. Now, I will admit that I didn’t read all of the comments posted above, therefore, if what I am about to say is redundant then I apologize. Currently, I am in the second year of my medical residency and I have to say that the “drinking vodka to get her blood sugar under control” is a COMPLETELY ignorant bull shit excuse to try and explain this woman’s actions! Ask any doctor, nurse, diabetic, or anyone who has ever taken a high school level human biology class and I’m sure they will tell you that it is a ridiculously ignorant excuse. Sorry if this comment reads like a poorly written rant, but it’s late and I’m tired. Anyhow, I’m pretty sure this Schuler lady is burning for eternity while the innocent victims of her incredibly selfish actions are in heaven.
PS…Max, VCBecky, and several of the other regular posters that I have seen on here…you all are fantastic and I enjoy reading your postings!
Hello Doc! Rants of all kinds are welcome here, poorly written or otherwise. There have been times when I was so effected by a story, and it was so late and I was so tired, all I could manage was “bAH BAH BAH FUCKERMONSTERGOESTOHELLFUCKITALL BAH BAH BRERNNNNNBBB.” and then I passed out and drooled on my keyboard. Your post is head and shoulders above that! Complete sentences! WOOO!
That whole ‘vodka/blood sugar’ thing really struck me as dumbassery, even though I have no medical training. There has to be a better, safer way for someone to get sugar. That same liquor store where she got her vodka? I bet it has Abba Zabba as well. Call it a hunch.
This story is one of those life-changing ones. There are plenty of shocking and unbelievable crimes archived on this website, but THIS ONE touches the most people. THIS ONE would justify the entire website even if it was the only one listed. It’s so full of ‘why’ and ‘wrong’ and “oh my GOD!” that no one who reads it will ever forget it. And as long as Mr. Schuler keeps the truth to himself, it will not be over because there will be no closure for anyone.
P.S…. thanks. :)
He, the husband, is hiding vital information about their marital relationship. He’s doing this, in my opinion, because he’s too afraid to be 100% honest and admit his wife may have relied on alcohol and pot because there were problems in their marriage. I watched the news video, which featured his attorney answering questions, etc. To me, he looked angry. Very angry. Not devastated, nor said, but angry. And I wondered, why that emotion? I think the answer is guilt…My theory is that he dropped a bombshell on her at the campground (e.g., ‘I’m seeing someone else’ or ‘I’m in love with someone else’) and she went over the edge.
I do believe that Diane was drunk and high at the time of the crash based on the toxicology report. However, your statements in this story about how she drank from a bottle of vodka is just a fictitious account of what you THINK happened. As is the part of the story about her smoking a joint. You can’t just write something that you really know nothing about and lead people to believe it’s the truth. Were you in the car with her? Was the bottle you refer to found in the car? Near the scene? Were you on Route 17 that day to see her driving erratically. As I said, I do believe she was totally at fault and not some mysterious affliction she had. But I also don’t fill in the blanks using my own imagination. I just wish stories posted on websites like this were forced to be categorized like others we find in libraries… in this case – fiction.
TOTALLY AGREE! Diane obviously is at fault 100% but the story you have spun on this website is just creating more HATE! She is guilty but most of what you have written here are things that you just do not know! She was smloking a joint while driving with the kids in the car, dont you think that one of the nieces would have told her father on the cell phone that her aunt was smoking? You are only trying to inflame an already hot topic. Hope you are proud of yourself! I am so sorry for all family members involved on all sides. What they all are going through is just plain aweful but crap like this site is discusting! You are pathetic and should be just as ashamed of yourself as Diane should be if she were still alive. Maybe she is in Hell but you will follow right behind her……
I just finished watching the HBO documentary on Diana Schuler, and the family is clearly in denial as to the alcohol levels and marijuana evidence. The evidence is clear and this was an unfortunate tragedy. They would better serve the victims of this accident with just admitting to it, instead of thier ridiculous quest to try to change the real truth. For the real victims of this tragedy, I send them my most sincere condolences…….
The Honaker Family
It’s a disease.
i just watched the HBO documentary something wrong with aunt diane what saddens me the the most is the shulers denials on the fact she had alcohol and drugs in her system. why does a person put lives of others in danger clearly she had problems and demons in her life.the lawyers claims of a lump in her leg ???!!!!! ya that causes one to get drunk and smoke weed plz lamo. the little boy going to need much therapy the rest of his life and the sister in laws attempt to tell him what a loving mother diane was ????? PLZ WAKE UP SHE WAS A DRUNK WITH DRUGS IN HER SYSTEMTELL HIM THAT MRS SHULER. My heart goes to the Hances , and to the other family who lost loved ones due to the actions of diane shuler. So now the husband wants to sue the Hances, typical trying to get blood money out of a senless tragedy caused by his so called saint of a wife as he puts it.How he can sleep at night is beyond me.
I don’t care whether she was an alcoholic or not. I am, no question about it, NOT an alcoholic. I’ve never been drunk, I’ve never actually had more than two drinks in one day, and it’s rare that I even have one. So . . . hardly even a “drinker,” let alone an alcoholic. But if I chose, knowingly and of my own free will, to consume the amount of alcohol that Diane Schuler consumed, and then engage in some activity requiring focus, control, and a quick reaction time, I would be 100% of whatever consequences ensued. Apparently Schuler wasn’t drunk when she started driving that day, which suggests that the decision to drink and drive wasn’t even an decision made under alcohol-induced impaired judgment. Whether or not she’d ever touched a drop of alcohol in her life prior to that day, she chose a course of behavior that showed complete disregard for her own life, the lives of her two precious children, the lives of her three beautiful nieces, and the lives of everyone else who happened to be on the road with her. There is no excuse. In fact, in light of the undeniable fact that she was extremely intoxicated when she died, I’d think the Schulers would EMBRACE the idea that she was an alcoholic. One might look with slightly more compassion upon a woman in the grip of a chemical addiction than a woman who had total rational control over her behavior who nonetheless chose to drink while driving. One might. Slightly.
After watching the HBO doc, I think Diane was a drinker & pot smoker as all of us have a tendency to be. Yes, lab results don’t lie and she killed her family & the others and no excuse whatsoever. In my mind, I feel like her tooth was killing her, she had pain that was out of control/blinding, the gas station didn’t have pain meds so she started numbing with vodka (back many years rubbing bourbon on toothaches was usual). One vodka shot led to 2, then she was feeling pretty nice & kept drinking probably losing track of how much she was swigging. Then feeling groovy & tooth pain gone, she thought a little bit of pot would be the perfect buzz. Diaster. Shame on her husband for not accepting it could be this simple.
I’m about the same age as Diane would be… it would never cross my mind to use an old-timey home remedy of alcohol for a toothache (especially while driving). This isn’t 1900.
Also, what world do you live in where you say she was a drinker and pot smoker “as all of us have a tendency to be.” That is a crazy statement… you should branch out to some other relatives and friends if that is your experience in life.
“As all of us have a tendency to be”? Um, maybe if someone held me down and forced it on me long enough for me to develop an addiction. But of my own volition? Not even slightly tempted. Sorry.
Im curious to know how soon after she left the gas station, and various other places she stopped that the accident occured, because all of the people that saw her and conversed with her said she was sober 100%. People on the parkway calling 911 also said that she was going straight at like 70 mph and didnt even tap the brakes. If you’re drunk and high wouldnt you be like swerving all over the place? This entire situation doesnt make sense. Im not saying she wasnt drunk or high by any means, but im trying to understand why/how this otherwise loving mom got high and extremely drunk fairly quickly and caused such a terrible accident. Call it a conspiracy theory, but i think the coroner and all parties involved are hiding things that could potentially change the way we look at diane schuler. It’s easier to make the public and families involved hate the primary cause if shes drunk and high than if she’s having a dental emergency that resulted in very painful infection that clouds your brain the same as drugs and vodka. All im saying is that NO ONE knows this family, NO ONE knows her, and the only person that knows what happened for sure is dead, and she took 7 people with her. it is an unfortunate situation, and condemning someone to hell, when you have no clue what kind of person she was, and you werent there in that van with her that day is very disturbing. Its sad that people are so quick to judge, when its not your place. as i said earlier, im not saying she wasnt drunk or high or on some kind of suicide mission, but the fact is people wont even accept the fact that there might be more to the story because they’re narrow minded and judgemental. my view is that this was 100% her fault, and she wasn’t thinking clear enough to be able to drive, she put everyone at risk by getting behind the wheel of that van, but there was probably much more to the story than anybody will ever know and judging her is ridiculous. oh and i agree that her husband just needs to let it be. all he’s doing is re opening old wounds.
allie, is it your place to judge us for judging Daniel and Diane? You do realize that’s what you’re doing, right? If you’re thinking of God and the Christian bible when you say ‘it’s not your place to judge’, you’re missing the entire point of that concept. It’s a sin to twist the word of God and pass it off as the true word, isn’t it? I can only assume, since I’m not a member of any religion, that that’s the case. Please correct me if I’m wrong.
“Call it a conspiracy theory, but i think the coroner and all parties involved are hiding things that could potentially change the way we look at diane schuler.”
please look at the above statement which I quoted from your post. Then please think of the number of people you’re talking about. Imagine the number of people that you think it is, and then triple it at least for something close to the truth – ALL of them would have to be working with each other to bury whatever it is you think they could be hiding that might change anyone’s mind. The kind of cover-up you’re talking about would require a lot of money, a lot of threats, a lot of blackmail and a lot of time to orchestrate. It would also require some kind of conspiracy genius to even begin to orchestrate such a thing – the person would have to know the ins and outs of every aspect of any investigation that might happen and they’d have to know everyone involved.
Does Daniel Schuler strike you as a person who is savvy enough to pull off such a farce? He couldn’t even see that his poor-me statements that he made on the documentary, about what his wife was supposed to be responsible for, and about how his surviving son is a burden to him and he never wanted kids, would cause huge damage to any remaining impression of good character that anyone had of him. ‘Savvy’ is not one of the words I’d use to describe Daniel Schuler. I’d start with ‘moronic’ and work my way down from there.
If you can reconcile all of that, ask yourself one more question:
WHY?
WHY would all of those people conspire to cover up what really happened? Why would it be so important for all of those people to band together and weave a net of lies?
I’m a very good liar. I’m so good that I don’t lie anymore. I don’t like having that kind of control over people, because it’s wrong. It’s disrespectful and cruel. One thing that every good liar knows is that the fewer people who know you’re lying, the longer your lie will seem like the truth. If more than just you knows that you’re lying, the other person or people will eventually spill it. That’s just human nature. Good liars also don’t outright lie – they will weave parts of the truth into their lies to make them more realistic, and to make them fall into line with known facts.
Daniel Schuler, you’re a terrible lliar.
First off, that was not meant in a religious way, Not one person on this earth deserves to be judged by anybody else because all that person is doing is looking at the outside situation. Now, since you dont have a religion, unless you just read the bible for fun, trying to interpret/tell somebody that they’re wrong about something that is very dear to other peoples hearts is very dangerous. I myself am a very devout christian. and trying to pick a fight is rude. Second, I was just saying that I dont believe the entire truth was told. I dont doubt for a second that she was not a capable driver in her condition, but what i am saying is that she is being portrayed as a terrible person, and nobody knows her. There are alot of things that dont add up, and alot of it was probably hidden from the public, causing them to form some very harsh opinions about what kind of person she was. The facts stand that diane schuler left the campsite with 3 neices, her daughter, and her son. and Stopped at several places on her way home where everyone that saw her said she was 100% sober. All the people that managed to avoid her said she was driving straight, didnt even tap the brakes and was going like 70. instead of swerving all over the road like the stereotypical drunk. There was something wrong with diane schuler that was not found or could not be proven by the autopsy, and we will probably never know what it was. And though my veiws on this seem like conspiracy theory, I just see so many discrepancies in the story the public knows, that i cant help but keep an open mind towards the real reason the whole thing happened. Again, diane schuler, if she really cared about the safety of the children, would have pulled over and stayed there. but she made a stupid decision to stay on the road and 8 people are dead. And daniel isnt helping her case. Im very sorry if this entire response sounded rude, im just very passionate about my beliefs, and i dont think that the story told was the entire story. And my whole conspiracy theory from earlier wasn’t meant to sound insane, and i do admit that it did sound quite crazy. it was just intended to mean that the public wasnt told the entire truth, and that its easier to make her out to be this terrible monster, than it is to think that maybe there is another reason this all happened.
I know a lot of drunks can fake sober…. and really…. driving 70 MPH straight without swerving…. Um thats not a suicide mission not at all…. Lastly no matter what kind of person Diane was in her everday life, that day she decided to drink a bottle of vodka, smoke a lot of pot… with 5 innocent children in the car. This woman had no regard for anyone or anything that day and that is the CHOICE she made. Noone made her do it, she CHOOSE to make those decisions. I have to agree with Becky here there is no conspiracy here… Just a horrible horrible day for way to many families all because of choices ONE person made.
ok, again, opinions are the only thing that can be formed on this matter, no one knows what was going through her mind, only what we have been told are the facts. Thats all im saying. NOBODY knows why she did it, everything is speculation. and the only thing that stands true are the facts, she had a high blood alcohol content, large amounts of thc in her sytem, and was otherwise incoherent. She stopped a couple places, and the employees said she seemed sober, and i would assume if you have that much alcohol in your system, not even the most shit faced drunk could have faked it. after that she had a few incoherent phone calls, and the accident occured after leaving her cell phone on the side of the road. The motive for this erratic behavior died with 7 innocent lives. Diane schuler, was otherwise incompetant, and not fit to drive that day, she did it anyway. why? no one will ever know. everything is just opinions.
Research “Functional Alcoholism” please.
Those calls weren’t incoherent by who’s recollection? How would you know for sure.. because Team Daniel told you?
Your opinion is based even less on the facts than Fuzzy’s or mine, or anyone else who agrees with these logical possibilities that we’re all tossing around.
Your opinion is based on a desire to see the lighter side in spite of the obvious lack of one.
Your opinion is based more on emotion than anyone’s, even those of the people who are obviously trying to vindicate Daniels evil actions. At least they have an understandable agenda. You? You’re trying to ‘benefit of the doubt’ at the expense of logic.
Heck, it seems to me that your own brain is coming to logical conclusions, it’s just that you yourself won’t let them come to the fore because they do not fall into the category of ‘benefit of the doubt’.
Someone does know why she did what she did. He’s just not talking.
Or, in your research of “functional alcoholism” read any and all comments by NavyCop….. I’m sure 90% of them were made after a shot or two. At least, that’s what I recall…..
“First off, that was not meant in a religious way,”
Oh, bullshit. Read on.
“Not one person on this earth deserves to be judged by anybody else because all that person is doing is looking at the outside situation.”
Really? What about the victims? Can they judge? What about a Judge? Can he? By our own sense of logic and truth, we are built to judge. We protect ourselves by judging others on a daily basis – ‘that guy looks dangerous, I should take me and my kids and just walk on the other side of the street’.
“Now, since you dont have a religion, unless you just read the bible for fun, trying to interpret/tell somebody that they’re wrong about something that is very dear to other peoples hearts is very dangerous. I myself am a very devout christian.”
Your response was very interesting at points, especially the badly veiled knock at me for not being a religious person. You assume that I’ve read the bible ‘for fun’, when in fact I make it a point to read anything I can get my hands on, about all of the worlds major religions. How else can I say that I do not believe in something? You describe yourself as a ‘devout christian’ but you weren’t thinking of Jesus or God when you made your statement about judgement? Really? Hence “Oh, bullshit.”
“and trying to pick a fight is rude.”
How is expressing a contrary opinion to yours an example of me ‘picking a fight”? If you don’t want a discussion, don’t post. It’s just that easy.
“Second, I was just saying that I dont believe the entire truth was told.”
Wait, are you trying to pick a fight with the producer and director of the documentary? Tsk, tsk.
“but what i am saying is that she is being portrayed as a terrible person, and nobody knows her.”
WRONG. Her husband knew. Her husband knows. He’s just not telling in order to save face.
“everyone that saw her said she was 100% sober.”
I appear sober when I’m not sober. Some people are good at playing sober if you don’t know them.
“All the people that managed to avoid her said she was driving straight, didnt even tap the brakes and was going like 70. instead of swerving all over the road like the stereotypical drunk.”
She’s not the ‘stereotypical drunk’ if she was able to appear sober with that much intoxicant in her blood stream. Re-read your own words and realize that she was suicidal. THAT is why she did not swerve, she wanted to be hit. THAT is why she was going so fast, she wanted it to kill her and obviously the children in the car as well. Otherwise, why not leave them at the camp site? Why not leave them at the fucking McDonalds where they’d be safer even with strangers than they would be with her and what she planned to do?
“i cant help but keep an open mind towards the real reason the whole thing happened.”
I wouldn’t call that an open mind so much as a very naive mind. That’s not a shallow jab – that’s my actual opinion.
“Again, diane schuler, if she really cared about the safety of the children, would have pulled over and stayed there. but she made a stupid decision to stay on the road and 8 people are dead.”
And we don’t know enough to think of her as a terrible person? Do you not read what you write?
“Im very sorry if this entire response sounded rude, im just very passionate about my beliefs”
But if we respond by expessing opinions and juding people, we’re wrong for it. It’s ‘passion’ for you, it’s ‘wrong’ for us. Got it.
“i dont think that the story told was the entire story.”
Which is exactly why people are calling for Daniel Schuler to man up and tell the story. He knows more than he’s telling.
“And my whole conspiracy theory from earlier wasn’t meant to sound insane, and i do admit that it did sound quite crazy. it was just intended to mean that the public wasnt told the entire truth, and that its easier to make her out to be this terrible monster, than it is to think that maybe there is another reason this all happened.”
Your theory didn’t sound insane – it sounded illogical. The public will never know the entire truth – we never find out the entire truth of anything, but at least all victims involved are trying their best. Daniel could have been seen as the poor, victimized, unknowing husband. He sure screwed that up immediately, didn’t he?
You yourself gave good, solid reasons for thinking of Diane Schuler as a terrible monster, it seems you just didn’t realize it at the time. The benefit of the doubt is a good thing, but giving it repeatedly when you’re so obviously being lied to repeatedly, when that person won’t do the right thing and tell the truth, well, continuing to give the benefit of the doubt just means you’re foolish. It means that you’re easily duped. Some people are so desparate for a brighther side that they will take fools gold for the real thing. There is a reason this happened, and Daniel Schuler isn’t telling.
by the way, im not trying to start a fight or anything, and im not judging anybody who has formed their own opinions on her, im simply saying that either we as a public were not told the entire truth, or the only person that knows the entire truth is diane. I really dont wanna be bullied, i just wanna bring a different perspective to this whole situation. as does everyone who comments.
Yes you are judging anyone who formed an opinion on her – you judged me as closed-minded and rash. You judged me as a person who is in a hurry to demonize someone who might not deserve it.
“im simply saying that either we as a public were not told the entire truth, or the only person that knows the entire truth is diane.”
Oh Allie. You said a whole lot more than simply that.
“I really dont wanna be bullied, i just wanna bring a different perspective to this whole situation. as does everyone who comments.”
Responses that are contrary to your beliefs and presented passionately are ‘bullying you’. I’ll add that to the list.
There are plenty of perspectives. The point is to apply Occams Razor. I have a personal preference for Bertrand Russell’s interpretation: “Whenever possible, substitute constructions out of known entities for inferences to unknown entities.” The actual, original concept (admittedly from Wikipedia since it’s tough to put into words in a way that people who aren’t familiar with the concept can understand. Accurate in spite of Wikipedia) “The razor is a principle that suggests we should tend towards simpler theories until we can trade some simplicity for increased explanatory power.”
If Daniel Schuler wants to avoid being continuously sliced to the bone by the razor, he needs to provide something believable that’s supported by facts that we’re already aware of. He’d have to have facts to back up his claims because he’s already proved himself to be a repeated liar and a literal cad, to say the least.
Otherwise, we will continue to go off of what we DO know, which is actually quite a bit when you sift out the lies tossed into the mix by Daniel and his toadies… and we will continue cutting. Eventually, with enough diligence, we can get a larger chunk of the truth out into the open where it belongs. Very few of us care how that affects Daniel personally. Honestly, he may as well tell the honest truth. It’s not like the world could possibly think any less of him.
To all who live in denial I must say that the ” toxicology reports do NOT lie”. Diane Schuler was drunk and high. I could give a rats ass if Diane had any issues with drinking or drugs before that fateful day or not. She CHOSE to drink and drive, and she CHOSE to smoke pot while she was not only in care and control of some pretty precious cargo, but she also chose to drink and drive while in care and control of several thousand pouds of metal travelling at a high rate of speed while heading the wrong way. The cost of these tragic and selfish decisions resulted in eight deaths, including those of three others not in travelling in her vehicle with her, as well as her own daughter. One child survived, a child I am most certain will wish some day to soon, that he had not. His mother died, his sister died, his cousins died, three strangers died and he lived. I would imagine survivors guilt will all but consume him in this lifetime, along with the knowledge that his father did not want either him or his sister, as well as knowing and living with the shame that this is all due to his mothers inconsiderate and selfish choices. There is more here than meets the eye alright, starting with the fact that Daniel is a lieing sack of shit. He is angry alright!! angry that for all the times they had done this before,having left the camp ground after consuming alcohol, but that this time Diane screwed up and ended up killing seven innocent victims, one being her own child. Here are some facts that allow many to judge this ugly slefish human being we are lucky to be rid of, Diane Schuler.
1. Daniel Schuler claims he does not remember anything from that day but for his son Bryan fighting for his life. Daniel Schuler changes his story claiming he tied up his boat and returned the trailer to wake his wife up where he had coffee with her before loading thier belongings to leave. He then recants his story and says they had breakfast before leaving, yet Diane made a stop so the children could have breakfast at McDonalds. So.. did they or did you NOT have breakfast with the family Daniel ? Did you have breakfast and NOT feed the children?? You certainly have a good memory for not being able to remember that specific day!!! ” Liar”
2. Her husband claims publically he did not know Diane ever drank nor that there was alcohol at thier trailer home, but on Larry King admitts to knowing there was alcohol in the trailer consumed when around the camp fire. Consumed by the Schulers that is, and not friends dropping by for a visit.. Why do Diane’s coworkers say she drank quite often after work at her favorite watering hole and loved her screw drivers.. who is not telling the truth here, Daniel or her coworkers?? Well..Daniel…” Liar ”
3. Daniel claims that his wife did not use drugs and yet “Jay” the sister in law speaks vividly about Dianes consumption of pot to help her sleep and deal with stress. Did Diane partake of this before or after also consuming sleeping pills or oxycontons perscribed to her by her dentist in the documentary Daniel ??
4. Why was the scene where Diane is leaving McDonalds with two large pops in her hands cut from this documentary Daniel ?? Is this selective news reporting ? When entering and leaving the gas station why is Diane shown to be holding her head?? Did you hit her Daniel ?? Did you beat her ??
Those are just a few reasons to be considered. I also imagine if any of those children could speak, they would certainly be judging Diane right now. Perhaps Daniel is angry because one actually did survive. One who may one day actually reveal the truth behind this families lies!! Daniel is now sueing the parents of his three nieces who died for loaning then thier mini van..what an unimagineable bastard you are Daniel !! I pray one day Bryan exposes and barries you all and all those who are helping you to keep and hide the truth behind these eight deaths.
the facts dont lie. they found alcohol and marijuana in her system. they tested blood again and found the same results. daniel is so convinced his wife wasnt a drinker and smoked weed occasionally. everyone has secrets and maybe she drank and smoked alot more then he noticed. he worked nights, she was alone every night, when she could have been doing her thing. people sometimes just snap, and I think thats what happened to her. theres no rhyme or reason to it sometimes. They found vodka in the mini van and the test showed she had to have smoked the weed an hour or less before the crash. Either she just went crazy and purposely killed her family or she was so fucked up she had no idea what she was doing. I dont care how fucked up you are, when your drivng for 1.7 miles on the wrong side of a highway your bound to realize what your doing is wrong and im sure her 8 year old niece said something to her at which point anyone who was not trying to do damage would stop. theres no evidence of a stroke or any medical condition just the ETOH and THC which points to the cause of the accident, daniel is in denial, nobody wants to be remembered or have a loved one remembered as a drunk who killed 7 people, hes trying to save face. then he complains he didnt want children and is left taking care of his son who survived the crash. that fat asshole should stop and think of his son for a second. he was in a major accident where he saw his mother, sister and cousins die, he has slight eye damage over it not to mention the emotional damage the poor kid will live with the rest of his life. if i ever saw daniel i would beat the piss out of him, grow up dude, man up and take care of your poor son and stop having your sister in-law taking care of him. that kids need u more now then ever and u complain your stuck taking care of him you selfish fat fucking loser. diane wont be in hell but your fat ass will be.
I have read so much on this case heard so much from the family on this case…and watched the documentery on this case …..personally I feel Daniel put his wife on a very high pedastel and from what her friends said it almost sounded like he was very territotorial about her ….obbsessive …a few comments he made he never wanted kids it was Diane who did….and ya now i am a single father stuck with my son…..and Jay does need to bk away she has her wown life and family. I believe Diane was a closet drunk …..and i am disgusted how this family can keep on denying that she didnt have any problems …..i would like them to show me a perfect person ….come on Dan and Jay ur on …oh thats right one one they clainm to be a perfect person and a saint is dead along with 4 children and 3 other victems of Dianes erractic and crazy behaviour……u know if i wasnt so strong on how i percieved this i wouldnt make the next comment but how do we know it wasnt a suicide ……many ppl do it and have taken many family members with them ….i kind of feel that ….but again that is my own personal feeling. I like what the sister of Guy Bastardi say she prayed and forgave Diane shuler on what she sid she is now praying for the other family members as they r just in such denial and they do need to come to some peace. personally i feel they will not find any and poor little Bryan will be in therapy for the rest of his life not due to the accident but to the asctions of how his family is acting over this……
A few things
Hell is nonexistent but if there was a Heaven or Hell, Dianne would be in Hell.
Daniel looks like a typical Long Island lummox. According to “There’s Something Wrong w/ Aunt Diane” on HBO Daniels mother babied him & he managed to find a wife that did the same. Daniels mother even referred to him as Diane’s child. He didn’t seem too bright to me & had a job as a security guard.
He claims he never saw his wife drink but they also worked opposite shifts. She worked a real job during the day and he worked his lucrative security job at night. While he was out she could have gotten into the sauce. It doesn’t matter if he has ever seen her or not. People masturbate and no one sees them do it. I’m not saying that Diane was an alcoholic but she chose to drink (& smoke) that day.
The son is the sole survivor of that crash therefore he is a young Bruce Willis in Unbreakable. Hopefully when he gets older he will remember some of the events leading up to the crash.
The next people that Daniel will sue will be the weed dealer for selling laced weed & Cablevision (Although I would not mind the latter)
We live in some interesting times where people think that opinion is > fact. Fact(s) cannot be ignored and the bottom line is Diane drank, she smoked, she drove, and she killed. The sooner Daniel and Jay (who is typical LI “classy lady” Trash but strangely turns me on) admit that the better off they will be. The family doesn’t care about the facts; they just don’t want Diane to be the poster woman for drunk driving which is what she is and always should be!
“Hell is nonexistent but if there was a Heaven or Hell, Dianne would be in Hell.” You’re correct without meaning to be. Hell doesn’t yet exist, according to the bible. It’s supposed to come into being later on. If you mean that as a jab at the believers, you failed.
Don’t hate before you educate yourself. Otherwise, you look like an idiot.
Vbecky,
I’m not into internet arguments & pork rinds like you seem to be. I think you have a lot of time on your hands since you seem to post in every update on this story. I happened to remember this story and HBO aired the movie over the weekend and it caught my interest. If you believe in Heaven/Hell/Easter Bunny that is fine.
Do yourself a favor and stick to the subject of Diane’s irresponsibility & her husband’s denial. In addition please get out more, maybe a walk or something :)
Thanks
Ha! Weight jokes! How fresh. What wit! It’s tingly.
45, if you post on a forum, expect responses. If you don’t like them, refute them. Stooping to idiotic and presumptuous insults that miss the mark by more than a mile should be beneath you. Or would be, anyway, if there was any more room down there.
Again with the assumptions – I don’t happen to believe in anything that’s remotely religious, but that doesn’t mean I have to conduct myself like a disrespectfully ignorant and socially retarded person. My disbelief is based on knowledge, unlike yours which is based purely on the need to feel that you’re better than someone else. I don’t need to insult an entire belief system to make me feel that I am intelligent and logical. Some people are so low, as you have demonstrated, that they need to shove entire religions down in order to stand on top of them for a better angle on the world that they’re about to shit on.
I understand that it’s embarrassing for you to be corrected when you’re trying to rip Christianity down, as I did to you when I pointed out that hell doesn’t actually exist yet according to the religion you’re trying to slander, but you really should be embarrassed. Insults that are based on false information never have much of an effect, but you don’t seem to get that. Hopefully you do now. Humiliation is a wonderful teacher, unless you’re a dumbfuck. You might have a bit of trouble with that.
The next time you attempt to insult, do yourself a favor – hit on some real, verifiable shortcomings and your barbs might just sink. In other words, do precisely the opposite of what you have done in this thread and you might just get away with it if your target is someone of very low self-esteem.
HBO aired the special recently and I remembered that I posted on this site.
VB, you should take your own advice. I know my post hurt you deeply but you deserved it. Humiliation is a good tool especially for people like you who seem to like posting (& judging) online all day. I hope in 4 months you have gotten out of the house. I feel bad for you bc this is probably the only attention you get.
Stop whining
Anyone that says one bad thing about this woman or her family are stupid people. The woman did not drink, she did not drink! Period end of story. She was not a drunk. If this was caused by alchohol then she was 10000000000% out of her mind and had NO CONTROL of what she was doing and then after being 1000000000% out of her mind meaning she had no control of her self due to a Medical problem most likely a stroke of some sort or mass delusions drank the vodka and had no idea she was doing it . My point is this woman was as good as person as it gets and I might not even know any people as good as her. She was an excellent mother and wife and a great employee and frined to many people who all say she was not capable of this. People do not have secret lives of crugs and binge drinking . Something very terrible happened here. It was a medical endused situation and it was there is no fault in this. Its a tragedy and thats it. The only bad person or persons iin this entire thing are you people who write terrible things about a situation you know nothing about!
Wrong. 100% wrong. I can not reiterate this enough. DIANE MADE THE CHOICE TO DRIVE AFTER CONSUMING ALCOHOL. There is ZERO, ZILCH, NADA, NO evidence showing a stroke, seizure, heart attack, diabetic incident, etc. The AUTOPSY showed her BAC was .19%, along with UNDIGESTED alcohol STILL IN HER STOMACH. 10 drinks’ worth of undigested alcohol according to the toxicologist. .19% is more than TWICE the legal limit in NY.
If she was able to operate a vehicle with that much alcohol in her system and stomach, then that alone SCREAMS that she was a functional alcoholic.
Choices, Steve, Choices. That is what this situation boils down to, Dianes moronic choices.
“Steve”: a situation we know nothing about? I’ve read the autopsy report, the police report, and the toxicology report, and also learned the second testing of the samples supported the original toxicology report.
I’ll lay odds that “Steve” is Daniel Schuler. His verbage is a dead give-away.
Steve, you must be a friend or family member who is buying this bullshit from the Schulers. Most of the rest of the world knows it’s bullshit.
Diane was an alcoholic. Diane was an irresponsible pothead. Diane had no abscess, and from all that I have read, there’s nothing in her autopsy or current medical records to show that she was in any pain at all. There was a huge amount of alcohol still undigested in her stomach, in spite of all that was already in her blood stream. There was THC in her blood stream, such a large amount that she would have to have been a regular smoker to even remain conscious to drive a vehicle in the first place. Diane was a terrible mother, Steve. It doesn’t matter what she did up until the point that she murdered her own kids and other children she was related to because as soon as she did that, all of her ‘nurturing’ and ‘good mothering’ went right out of the window. Ask her remaining son, who literally flew out of the window, how it was to soar ‘like superman’ and then you try to tell us that she was a good mother.
While you’re at it, find another case where someone went insane and started downing alcohol and smoking joints out of the blue as a result of that insanity, when they never would have otherwise touched the stuff. That’s what you say happened here, right? Please, find it for us. I dare you. I dog dare you. I double dog dare you. Triple dog dare gets your tongue stuck to a lamp post, so don’t make me do it.
Can you please deliver a message to Daniel for us? The message is: TELL THE TRUTH AND STOP BLAMING ANYONE BUT DIANE, OR PEOPLE WILL NEVER STOP QUESTIONING AND YOU WILL NEVER GET ANY MORE PEACE THAN YOU’RE ALLOWING DIANE’S VICTIMS TO HAVE.
Only fools believe their tripe, Steve.
Thanks for delivering the message.
I got something incorrect here – it turns out that Bryan didn’t ‘soar like superman’, that was a misconception at the time. Instead, he was buried alive under the bodies of his cousins and his sister until someone found him. Yeah, that’s a whole lot better. Isn’t it nice to know that he’s not in therapy at all? Daniel is a paragon of fatherhood.
I tend to agree with those who think Steve might be Daniel… weird language, weird understanding of math (no such thing as 100000000%, hate to tell ya), weird capitalization (Medical) that mimics the dullard’s brain skills we all saw in the documentary.
Hopefully it is Daniel. That would mean that he got the message. Whether he takes it to heart er even understands it is another thing entirely.
Daniel, we all know what you look and sound like. While none of us will physically attack you (none that I’m aware of, anyway) you should expect to get spit on for the rest of your life. Literally. You should expect people to expectorate upon any expolsed part of your body, preferably on your face, any time they happen to recognize you.
In fact, I’d like to make a personal request of everyone else on the planet – If any of you ever run into Daniel “the selfish child” Schuler, spit on him. Make sure it’s a loogie please, so it sticks – a green one would be nice and festive. Just randomly and constantly cover him in saliva and mucous to the point that the doesn’t feel safe leaving his house without a full wetsuit, diving mask and hood. Shit, if I had my way, he’d actually need the swim fins.
I was hoping it was Daniel too, but alas, it is not. Steve is posting from Antelope Vally, CA.
I have little doubt that Danny boy is too damn stupid to set up a proxy, so I’d say that eliminates him. I could be wrong of course.
Steve, your post shows that you don’t have even a basic understanding of what personal responsibility means. It doesn’t matter what kind of person Diane was before she drove a minivan full of little children to their deaths. No one cares if she was the perfect mother. No one cares if she was a certified miracle working saint. The moment she made the decision to drink and drive, all bets were off. It doesn’t matter why she started drinking – even the best reason you can come up with is really just an excuse.
Diane Schuler was absolutely, 100% responsible for the deaths of Emma, Kate & Alyson Hance, Erin Schuler, Michael and Guy Bastardi, and Joe Longo. Warren Hance isn’t. The State of New York isn’t. Her sore tooth isn’t. A phantom stroke isn’t.
Do you see what I’m getting at Steve?
When fools like you attempt to deflect blame from Diane or minimize her responsibility, you commit the ultimate disrespect to the victims and their families. They deserve the truth, and, not to be funny, you can’t handle the truth, so you blame everyone and everything except the person who was driving the minivan. Do you think you can fool the dead? Do you think it’s right how Danny drags the Bastardi and Longo families through that crash scene over and over again? Have you heard the things that they’ve said, about how every time he insists his wife isn’t responsible, Daniel reopens wounds that never have time enough to heal? Are you denying that if Diane had somehow survived the crash, she wouldn’t be facing seven counts of negligent homicide, or possibly even second degree murder?
Stop now, please, not for me, but for all those people who are suffering to this day because Danny, and Jay, and you, and others, can’t accept the truth that is right there in front of you.
this woman drank 10000000000 proof vodka, smoked 10000000000% potent weed and, coupled with her death wish and disregard for any other human, she deliberately drove in the wrong direction and killed many innocents. why didn’t the cow just drown herself at the campground?
Okay I know Steve probably won’t see my reply, but really? REALLY? You can’t believe that anyone would say bad things about that selfish drunk pig? That just blows my mind, I can’t even get past that inane comment to even address the rest of your post. Oh my God. It just boggles the mind that ANYONE would DEFEND that piece of shit!!!
My heart goes out to all these people. We have no right to judgae anyone. I totally believe that our God is a forgiving God and only he can judge any of us.
Diane Schuler does not deserve to be in hell and her family doesn’t deserve what the public is doing here. I believe that all 8 of the adults and children are all with Jesus. Those of you that are judging her have no right. Our bible teaches us to forgive and to love and all the hate I’ve seen on this website makes me sad.
God Bless Diane and the children and the other 3 adults that perished that day. I truly hope that something good comes from all of this. All of you that have judged her and want her in hell should NEVER judge anyone. Only God can and will judge us.
Judgement is a natural knee-jerk reaction towards the perpetrator of any violent or ridiculously stupid act. Somehow, I think Diane evaded God’s blessing. Her actions leading up to her death were far from Christian. (Yes I can say that, I’ve been a devout Pentecostal for some time now.)
Without Judgement, our judicial system is useless, so chill on YOUR judgement of our reactions and stop with the hypocrisy.
L. Martin: Something positive will come from this tragedy if just one person re-evaluates their decision to operate a vehicle after over-indulging.
Diane was a private person, and I’m sure she would have been mortified if she know that her private life WAS exposed and millions of people viewed her mistakes and her lifeless corpse.
With all due respect to your personal beliefs, it is extraordinarily arrogant to assume that everyone shares them. Beware of mounting the pulpit on PYSIH, L. Martin. If Heaven is so easy to get into, what’s the point of all of the rules?
Hey Marty, I’m going to let you in on a little secret. I know for a fact that God only judges us in the afterlife – that’s his territory exclusively.
But down here, on earth, if you fuck up like Diane Schuler fucked up, your ass belongs to us.
I watched the HBO documentary about her and have come to the conclusion that she did this on purpose as a suicide/murder. I think she was fed up with her perfect little life where she did everything for everyone and snapped. Her loser husband knows more than he is saying. Something happened on that trip that triggered her. She was just too smart for this to happen the way it did. I think she hated men and the irony being her only son survived. And you know how God loves irony.
I haven’t seen anything to suggest she hated men. By all accounts she loved her father and her brothers very much, and was devoted to her son. Her being guilty of one evil act doesn’t mean she’s therefore automatically guilty of another (hating men).
I think that all of this speculation and slander is disgusting. What happened to the concept of humanity. Websites like this are pathetic. What happened that day will remain a mystery, and what you are doing is wrong. Have some respect for those who lost their loved ones. Poor Bryan does not deserve to see the mother he loved so much be demoralized and attacked when the woman can not even defend herself. Yes, 6 grams of alcohol were still found in her stomach and did not enter her blood stream as it had not absorbed. Ethanol is the active ingredient in alcohol, also found in gasoline. Did you know alcohol enters your system faster through inhalation? Perhaps, when the car was ablaze she inhaled gasoline, and possible the alcohol that came from the smashed bottles. No one has the right to judge this woman, her loved ones, or prolong the tragedy with disrespectful comments. Prove it BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT. Stop sitting at your computers and writing such negative and disturbing comments. No one will ever know what went on that day, especially you pathetic people who seem to have it all figured out. Get lives, and show some decency and respect. God forbid a tragedy like this ever happens to your families.
“Perhaps, when the car was ablaze she inhaled gasoline …”
C’mon, you’re just kidding around, right?
It’s already been proven beyond any reasonable doubt that she drank alcohol and smoked pot that day. You may not understand what “reasonable” means. For instance, it’s not reasonable to think she inhaled fumes which condensed into vodka in her stomach much as it’s not reasonable to think a unicorn floated down from heaven and crapped the vodka into her.
For one thing – she wasn’t breathing or swallowing anything while the car was burning. She was dead. For the other… what have YOU been drinking this evening to suggest something so preposterous?!
Also, demoralizing… I do not think that word means what you think it means.
No Kate, it’s true. Why just the other day, I huffed a fifth of Jack Daniels with a couple of my buddies.
I am, of course, being facetious – The scenario that our friend Lucia here is trying to use to muddy the waters even more is ludicrous. As ForlornW already said, Diane almost certainly died from blunt trauma cause by hitting the steering wheel/dashboard at 70 MPH, so she wasn’t breathing when the car caught fire.
But this was actually my favorite line from Lucia’s comment:
Does that include Daniel and Jay Schuler Lucia, and do law suits count as disrespect?
Look dearie, as long as buffoons like Danny & Jay are running their mouths about an abscessed tooth and a stroke, why shouldn’t anyone be able to speculate about what happened that day?
Who are you to say we can’t?
Yep, her neck and back were broken, and her aorta was torn. While there was some burning on her legs, no smoke damage was noted on the autopsy, meaning she wasn’t alive to breathe in any smoke.
I am so `at the end of my rope with you self-righteous fucks telling us that what we are doing is wrong. I’ve gone out of my way to explain it, as have many others in this very thread and others related to Diane Schuler. If you can’t be bothered to read the thread before you take your finger out of your asshole and shake it at us like you are on some moral high ground, then none of us owes you any courtesy.
In closing… shut the fuck up Lucia, you self righteous cunt. If you don’t like this website, go away. I promise, no one here will miss you.
Calm down Beckala, remember what Julius Caesar said:
Illigitimi Non Carborundum (Don’t let the bastards get you down.)
I knew those 4 years of Latin would be useful some day – LOL.
Slander, humanity, mystery, demoralized, absorbed, Ethanol, gasoline, right, judge, prolong, tragedy, disrespectful, disturbing, respect, God, forbid and the phrase “Beyond a reasonable doubt” are all terms, concepts and raw words you misused in the statement above. All of this commentary falls beneath the level of libel, not slander, the closest definition you came to with humanity was in benevolence, which you miss in the deconstruction of “why” we choose to burn a drunk and high murderer in effigy. It’s not to spare or hurt Bryan, it’s to spare people like the Bastardis and Vances from another murderer just like Aunt Diane.
Diane was not the first and she was not the last. We’re not prolonging this tragedy, the thousands of drunks who continue to drink inebriated are. Diane is just one more suicide bomber in the great and stupid cause of stupid drunks who think they know their limits and choose to blow themselves up and kill a few families. That’s my humanity for you, I choose to be here because it raises awareness and maybe,just maybe burning someone in effigy, who deserves it, will knock some sense into someone like you.
I say these things, because it is my right as an American citizen to scream from the rooftops when I know something is wrong and I type these words in judgement, because I’ve actually read the Bible with a capital B and know that God’s special wrath is for those who harm children or use their pride in the support of more sin. You are absent faith if you think your little prideful speech and derivative from Matthew and Luke actually impresses us, because the majority of people you just maligned have actually read the rest of the chapters. For example, do you remember this?
“People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers”
It’s in Luke, after defining good and bad fruit. You might even call it judging. Actually, you should figure it out awfully soon.
Beyond a Reasonable doubt? Diane doesn’t grant us that, just as snipers, shot by police, bombers resisting arrest and monsters killed by their own hand, when they fear capture so much they suicide. They don’t submit to the courts, so the language of the courts is unneeded. They murder the public at random, and thus anyone may judge them, just as Diane and her drunk and drugged up kind have for the entire history of the motor vehicle, horse drawn cart, or any other conveyance carried by something other than a man or woman’s own two feet. A former President, one of our worst killed a man riding drunk on his horse. I decry that murder as well.
Gather this box of words you misused and learn them. That’s the plank in your eye. Turn to the true meaning of words you actually know and write down what you really mean.
That’s you. That’s what you managed to say. Was it the effect you were looking for? Did you think you really understood the nature of Ethanol better than someone who has studied it? How about the Bible, have you lived a life worthy enough to invoke the words of Luke and Matthew when you obviously don’t know the context? Have the walls been torn down enough on your understanding of the legal system of the United States of America and the state of New York, that you realize you just don’t know what you’re talking about? Are you ready to learn how to use a dictionary before you abuse the English dictionary enough to resurrect Daniel Webster as a giant boot that should come down from the sky and crush the life from your tiny, tiny soul? Are you ready to join MADD or BADD, or some other group, who makes it their mission to stop these real tragedies?
Or are you going to stand there, doing absolutely nothing useful, and reply that I’m a mean guy, who sits on a computer all day, and crushes you with your own damned words?
I litterally was so angry that I stuttered while I typed…. That was kind of impressive actually.
Yes, I noticed Jason. It’s understandable though, considering the depth of Lucia’s arrogance. She isn’t stupid, like Jerry what’s-his-name was. Oh no, she thinks WE’RE stupid.
As usual, you dissected your opponent’s comment and made her look very, very foolish. It’s your gift man, and you show your appreciation for being given this gift by how well you use it.
gasoline does indeed contain ethanol in some grades in some states, it is not the type of alchohol that you can drink however. besides when it burns it is no longer alcohol. the heat causes the oxygen to break away and combine with carbon. and is hence no longer alcohol. this is the most stupid post ive ever seen, and shows you simply are grasping at straws without even the most basic knowledge of chemistry.
“Perhaps, when the car was ablaze she inhaled gasoline, and possible the alcohol that came from the smashed bottles.”
Oh come on now.
She didn’t inhale SHIT! She was dead the second that she rammed through the Bastadis’ vehicle.
You are defined as an “alcoholic” when alcohol has left you with consequences. This may have only happened once to this woman, (doubt it), but it happened big.
She may have been an alcoholic all or some of her life, by definition she was. Who cares. She’s dead as fu_k and I’m calling her a murderer.
As far as drinking goes, my x only showed the effects of alcohol when he was “sober” and needing a drink. Trembling, paranoia, irritability,…etc. All of those symptoms would disolve with a drink, and he’d become what most people percieve as “normal”. He functioned well, but when he didn’t drink, it was awful.
Just goes to show there’s no mold to fit into, with alcoholism. Thats why in my eyes, she’s a murderer. Who really cares about drinking habits at this point?
So, don’t most people well working family people use their bank accounts for everyday purchases? I know I do and I would be surprised if this family didn’t. So if drinking was an everyday occurrence, wouldn’t there be record of her purchases? Also, where do you buy pot? I know this might sound naive but wouldn’t someone squeel about those purchases too?
I agree with you James, unless she used cash for alcohol purchases. Some of us don’t use bank cards for things we may be ashamed of….?
Diane, who smoked for a long time to fight insomnia, had no trouble finding pot. It’s easy to find practically anything in any major city of the US if you want it. If she was as much of a ‘rock’ as her family likes to say that she was, she knew where to get what she wanted.
As Elizabeth said, she could have used cash to buy alcohol. She definitely used cash to buy pot – street or dispensary, that’s always cash. It’s easy to hide large, frequent purchases when you and your husband work opposite hours, and he’s such a pussy. She probably took care of the books too, so it’s even easier.
On that note, I believe Daniel always knew that Diane was an alky, and an irresponsible pothead. Otherwise, why would he deny it in the beginning, only to confirm it when the rest of the world shouted “BULLSHIT” after the autopsy? Because he’s a dumbass, you say? You’re probably right, but there has to be more to it than that.
She was the breadwinner of the family, of course he’d overlook all kinds of stuff. It’s all about who’s payin’ those bills. Now that she kicked the bucket, he’s suing for his cheddah $$$.
I guess being a male prostitute was out of the question… (I personally dig BBM – big beautiful mens, but he needs a spine)
Pot’s ridiculously easy to find, and not so expensive one would notice specific transactions from cash taken out of a bank account. And all the evidence of Diane’s drunkenness that was required was found in Diane’s body; there’s no need to dig through her bank records to see what she spent on liquor.
Am sadly distressed for all who died. I feel so bad for the husband. He doesn’t deserve to have to deal with what is left behind. He’s trying hard to keep his head up, and be strong for his son. I am still skeptical of medical tests. Maybe she did have health issues that caused this to happen. Only GOD knows.
What story are you reading about, Elizabeth? What documentary did you watch? Are you from “The Schuler Zone”?
Daniel Schuler is not trying to be strong for his remaining son at all. Daniel Schuler so much as admitted that he’s a selfish, childish, black-hearted prick by stating on the recent documentary that he never wanted kids, that taking care of the kids was Dianes job and that he resents having to take care of his remaining son. His own mother said that Daniel Schuler is a child. How do you think his remaining son will feel when he sees that documentary some day, and finds out that daddy didn’t want him, and daddy didn’t want to raise him after mommy killed half of the family?
How can you be skeptical of the medical tests, yet have faith that Daniel Schuler is trying hard to keep his head up and be strong for his son, in spite of all he said? That’s absolutely amazing to me.
“Skeptical of the medical tests”, I really would like you to explain that. Skeptical in that you think they’re lying about the results, or skeptical that such a thing as a ‘medical test ‘could be accurate? Elizabeth, medical tests are admissible evidence where blind, naive faith is not. I have to think that even GOD thinks you’re a fool.
The selective memories of Diane’s supporters amazes me to no end. Let me refresh yours Elizabeth.
Not only did the toxicology report show that Diane was blind drunk and high on dope when she crashed into the Bastardi’s SUV, the results were verified by retests done and supervised by people hired BY THE SCHULERS. In addition, the autopsy showed no medical reason for Diane’s erratic behavior.
The results were reviewed by one of the most respected forensic examiners in the country, and his opinion was that they were correctly done and accurate. He did not see any evidence that she was self medicating, or that a stroke caused her to have a change in personality, and he seriously tried to discourage Daniel and Jay Schuler fr0m continuing to believe it.
Does any of this ring a bell Elizabeth?
You have nothing to base your ‘medical reason’ theory on, except wishful thinking. Promoting it as a legitimate alternative to what the evidence shows is wrong, and honestly, offensive to me and everyone else who cares about the victims of this tragedy. Can you imagine how the Bastardis and the Longos must feel every time they hear this trash theory?
the oj/casey anthony juries had 12 elizabeths/lucias on them….i’m convinced of that.
oh….and a few tiffanys as well.
i think that u all are insensitive bastards. Its like you have nothing better to do then to try to slander this woman’s name. Isn’t the situation a tragedy enough. I mean its bad enough that these people lost their lives. And instead of being considerate of her son that survived you all talk shit about his mother like he will never grow up and see this shit. And that’s the problem with you white people all you do is judge others. Who are you to say that anyone deserves to go to hell when the only one who is to make that decision is GOD. Im not saying at all that drunk driving is exceptable is ridiculous. Then that other family it sounds like all they want is money just money hungry BITCHES on that documentary OMG its soo sad. I feel as if only GOD knows what truly happened that day. I also believe that the police are crooked and they just wanted to close the case to save their asses from the media because when she made those pit stops before the accident the employees never said she was intoxicated so where did she have the time to drink with a car load of children who spoke to family right before and they never mentioned mommy or auntie was drinking they were old enough to know what alcohol is and if she was drinking before and that much and if she smoked weed before she would have smelled like marijuana and alcohol so p;ease stop this is ridiculous and so evil of u to make this website because if u were good people you would not judge and make this website and say that someone deserves to go to hell I mean who the FUCK are you!!!!!!!!!
Who are you calling white?
You’re nuts. She was drunk. She murdered 7 people and killed herself.
The ER nurse said her body smelled of alcohol. She DID smell of alcohol. Get your face off Daniel Schuler’s thang and learn to read and think.
And punctuate, for the love of god.
Ok Bitch do we have to start on you. Your a fucking cunt ass bitch. You just want someone to be on your pussy hmmm is that why you have no avatar awww are you fat and ugly too are you looking to get someone to stuff their face in your dirty pussy awww i feel sooo bad for you and the people that breed your funky ass but its cool maybe if you were getting dicked down or if you had friends you probably would have at least been too busy to respond to me Oh and why dont you get your face out her thang and get a life and stop worrying about the dead BITCH for the love of GOD LMFAO at these bum BITCHES
You’re really bad at this. Go back to high school, this time without flunking out so you can drink all day.
Seriously. All you’re causing me to feel is intense pity for you. I mean, how do you even manage to type? You’re so stupid I have a hard time believing you actually purposely know how to use a keyboard.
You have the literacy and wit of a fourth grader. You are really, really, pitiable.
Dumb as a bag of hammers, but pitiable nonetheless.
Jees ForlornW – what ddid you say to piss Tiffany off? I thought about banning her for her mouth, but then I though, “wait, she’s arguing for Diane’s side. All she can do is make things worse for them.”
I call people like Tiffany “Boat Anchors” because they just drag their side of an argument down, down, down…I mean, what intelligent person would want to agree with her?
Max, I took a dump in Tiffany’s Lucky Charms, my bad. I think that’s why she’s all pissy. >:D
You’re a bad NavyCop. Bad!
Apologize to Tiffany before she has a stroke or something…LOLLOLLOL
I will NOT apologize, she accused me of being MARRIED! lmfao. To an undercover flaming Gay guy of all things! She deserved poo in her Lucky Charms :)
um, that would be me…
Tiffany, I am embarrassed for you.
You’re welcome.
oh and for VC becky you fat ass bitch and Matt the Cat or whatever and anyone else who has anything else negative to say also deserve to go to HELL . But there will be a judgement day and don’t think for one second that you will not be judged based on the filthy comments that you say about the dead when you really don’t know. But ‘im sure you see that on a daily basis considering the fact that your a fat sloppy bitch you see GOD doesn’t like ugly HAHAHAHA hopefully when you start focusing on yourself and not the dead you will start loosing weight and stop being a fat statistic i bet your stuffing your face right now as we speak and for the Gay Cat Man LOL I mean really of all people you should have entirely nothing to say when your sexuality is like so going to HELL I mean what str8 guy has a fucking cat as their avatar you fucking butt ramming loser and this what i mean people who judge when they need to be judged themselves you fucking sicken me and i wish that you would even try to respond and see if you don’t get your ass handed to you BITCHES!!!!!!
kids, don’t let yourself get bitter like tiffany here. learn to forgive your abusive parents…and the uncle that touched you. oh, and the husband that beats you and the children that don’t speak to you anymore.
lmao!
-editor
How are you any better than anyone here? You call vcbecky a, what was it? Ah yes, a “fat ass bitch” and openly question someone’s sexuality based solely on his profile picture (not avatar.)
Based on your theory that anyone who says anything negative deserves hell, doesn’t that also mean that you deserve hell?
Of course it would take a NAVY COP to try and come save the day bitch go back to wherever they shipped you off to and yes that includes me so i will see all you punk ass bitches there and we can take it from there and yes hes a fucking flaming GAY and she’s fat thats exactly what I see and you weren’t you supposed to be in hell already or oops i guess GOD speared you this time maybe next time your not so lucky if you really are in the Navy or is your undercover flaming Gay husband there hmm for all you know he has the cat mans dick too far down his throat
Sheesh, what has you all ticked off? All I did was ask a question.
Hahaha – you’re so precious. How old are you sweety, 11?
OMG, Navy Cop, I hope that you’re OK! I read in Tiffany’s ridiculous post that God “speared” you.
You’d be surprised at how quickly a spear wound can heal :) Granted I no longer a whole stomach, but I’ll manage, roflmao. Perhaps it was His way of telling me I needed to lose weight? Baaaaazinga, fat joke directed at NavyCop’s chubby self :D
Fat jokes – A great way to measure how intelligent a person is, how fast they go to the fat jokes.
They were the first words out of Tiffany’s mouth – I’d say that puts her in the trailer park white trash category.
You stay classy, Tiffany – folks like you do more to drag your side down than most of us on the other side do. You’re the best.
Oh, Tiffany. I only just saw this. You’re a very funny person!
I’m sure that calling any woman ‘fat’ is about the worst insult you can imagine. I’d rather be Jaba the Hut, than a brain-dead, naive twit like you. I’m not fat, sweetie. Try again.
Tiffany, I just wanted to apologize for pooping in your Lucky Charms…. That’s probably why you got so irritated. Either that, or the sand in your vajayjay.
The person who wrote this surely has NO LIFE! Who takes the time to write something that has NOTHING TO DO WITH THEM? You are extremely pathetic. We all make mistakes and no one is “innocent” in this world, we all have our wrongs and rights! Who are we to judge someone? When you walk a mile in that persons shoes than maybe than you’ll understand what she was going through. This is such a waste of time and everyone else’s time.. Writting all of this & the people deciding “if she is in hell” it’s extremely disgusting from everyone part. Let the women and the kids REST IN PEACE
Have more respect for the Family and the family of the victims. There is still the little boy that survived the crash. How do you think he would feel reading all of this? Vise versa how would YOU feel if one of your family members would of caused that crash??? Would you still be talking all that bullshit then?
Get a life and quit talking about other people have more RESPECT!
You damn well bet I would, Mother Sanctimony. We show our respect for the victims around here by not buying the lies of those who victimize them.
If that little boy was reading this site, first, where the everlovin’ hell is his so-called father? Second, he would see every single person here supports him and wishes nothing but peace and health for him.
And it always cracks me up when some self-righteous, holier-than-thou hypocrite shows up here to comment and accuses the people here of having no life.
Madame, you are the one visiting, reading, and commenting on a site you hate. If one of us has no useful life, it’d be the one doing that at nearly 2 AM.
I’ve proudly proclaimed on multiple occasions that if one of my family members maimed, tormented, injured, murdered, or otherwise harmed another human being, I would be the first in line to kick the ever living crap out of them. If they died in the act? Even better, then I would be the first in line to say “Yup, my asshat of a relative, brother, sister, mother, father, child, whatever did that and they deserved whatever punishment, consequence, etc they got. They’re dead? Oh, how sad, maybe they shouldn’t have been doing whatever they were doing at time of violent demise.” I have no pity for dumbasses, child molesters, murderers, rapists, etc. Do the crime, do the time, otherwise, fuck ‘em.
I don’t know if I’ve mentioned yet, NavyCop, but I like you and respect you. Thank you for your service.
I’m sure you have. And I’d like to say, that you always make excellent points, everything you post tweaks my brain in a wonderful way :) I’m not in the service anymore, but my brother is. Joined because of me, he says, lol.
Well sweetheart, I wrote this story, and I’ll be happy to respond to your rant. First off, and I’ve stated this a couple of times before, I would never have written this story if Danny and Jay hadn’t made the decision to take their campaign to minimize Diane’s blame for the death of 7 innocent people public. THEY made it my business.
They made it my business when they claimed, among other things, the toxicology tests were wrong, that some mysterious lump on Diane’s leg caused the crash, that the Ambesol she used to treat a toothache caused her high BAC, etc, etc, etc…
What difference does it make if I’ve walked in Diane’s shoes or not? As a matter of fact, I’ve been clean and sober for eight years now, but before that I drove intoxicated many times, and it’s only by the grace of God that I never hurt anyone. The point is it was wrong when I did it, and it was wrong when Diane did it. She is solely and completely responsible for the consequences of her decision to drink and drive.
What’s pathetic are the enablers and excuse makers like you, who can’t handle the simple truth that Diane Schuler is a murderer. What’s disgusting is reading that she was a model mother and a saint, as if that somehow absolves her of all blame. What’s painful is watching the Bastardi’s and the Longo still suffering like the accident happened yesterday, because of Daniel and Jays refusal to shut up and accept the facts – Diane got drunk because she wanted to, and the reason doesn’t matter – it surely won’t excuse her from her responsibility.
I wrote this story for Emma, Alyson, Kate, Erin, Joseph, Michael, and Guy, because they deserve to have the truth told. That’s what we do here – we stand up for the truth when buffoons like you try to blow smoke up everyone’s asses. YOU disrespect the dead with your bullshit theories, your rants against the truth-tellers, and your futile attempts to deflect and minimize blame away from the one person who is guilty here – Diane Schuler.
One last thing – This is not a religious website, and we are not religious kooks damning people to Biblical hell, or encouraging others to do it. Our poll is a symbolic representation of our anger and disgust at a person’s criminal actions, and nothing more. It’s a joke, a hook to get people interested in our site – if you had a sense of humor you might have figured that out for yourself…
“The person who wrote this surely has NO LIFE! Who takes the time to write something that has NOTHING TO DO WITH THEM? ”
Umm… just about every single reporter on the face of the Earth, daily.
Of all the retarded statements made here, nearly hourly is seems, you win this hour’s prize. Since this is the internet, the best prize I can offer are in the form of words…
“Fuck off.”
Congrats.
“The person who wrote this surely has NO LIFE! Who takes the time to write something that has NOTHING TO DO WITH THEM? ”
Umm… just about every single reporter on the face of the Earth, daily.
LOL…I was going to write the same thing! “Uh…journalists?”
To answer your first question Mary you! HA didn’t see that one coming did ya? Stupid cow.
Now I have a life. A hell of a better one than you. Rather obvious as I am not full of judgment and hate life yerself. Suck it!
Lady I am a combat veteran. I have seen first hand what disgusting things human being can and have done to eachother. If this was a family member of mine I wouldn’t think twice about stopping him/her from sucking down weed and alc in the first place. Good lord what a stupid cow you are!
I would liek to strongly suggest you go out to the closes bar to your home. Have a few drinks. Loossen up, relax. Then look around the bar. Find the man you like best, take him home and let treat you liek the stupid cow you obviously are.
this is a little long but please read on, you will find it interesting.
Like you I have followed the story of Diane Schular for some time and have come up with a little different scenario. I have a theory that I believe is highly likely given the facts. (ok it is more like an “educated guess”. )
First I think it is ridiculous to assume that Diane Schular smoked pot in front of those children while driving. (For one thing this is just not something moms do in front of kids old enough to rat them out to the rest of the family)
The amount of THC reported to be in her system was extremely high and is not consistent with someone who has simply smoked, marijuana however it is typical of someone who has ingested THC laced treats such as those sold at medical marijuana dispensaries. (the kind made with fat soluble green butter that is quickly absorbed into the bloodstream )
I feel Diane could have procured this from a friend, co-worker or random stranger who knew she was having severe pain issues and urged her to try some, so she took it along for the trip (OR a second scenario: she found the treat somewhere and ate it not knowing what it was … but seriously who because who eats stuff they find?) I am guessing that after Diane could not find gel caps pain reliever at the only gas station around for miles she decided to try taking a bit of that stashed away brownie, and possibly deciding it was indeed yummy ate much more than one who was prescribed the medicine would. I do not think she had any idea of the potency of said treats and probably had never ate one before, so grossly underestimated their effect.
She may have assumed that this was no different than your everyday variety down-home weed she sometimes smoked to go to sleep. (FYI the high from eating THC laced brownies is nothing like that….it creeps up and hits you like a freaking freight train!) You are suddenly very very stoned. You are also very VERY thirsty…this is a side effect of ingestion. At this point she could have asked for the kids to pass her something to drink and having nothing else they handed her the Vodka…. Or she unwittingly, maybe unknowingly grabbed it herself just wanting to quench that terrible thirst. But either intentionally or accidently she drank it lost the better part of good judgment all together. As a result sometime between leaving the gas station and leaving the rest stop she also became belligerently drunk. ( From the time she pulled out of rest stop she basically began driving like an asshole. )
You may ask if it is it possible that she didn’t not know she was drinking Vodka after ingesting medical Marijuana…Sure that is possible, especially if it was a flavored variety . Could she have drank the equivalent as a can of soda is 45 minutes or so? Of course, major cotton mouth is guaranteed! At any rate the ingestion of medical marijuana would explain tunnel vision, feeling sick, delirium, confusion and even the strange serene look on her face witness reported seeing as she sped the wrong way in the fast lane and above all the consumption of so much alcohol by a woman who of all accounts was normally a very responsible ‘social drinker:”
Her relatives who believe that Diane would not willing drink or endanger those children in her right mind are correct. For her to do so would be completely out of character. However she was not in her right mind, she was not herself at all, but in an extremely altered state that once begun became a tragedy of errors, whether she intentionally initiated them or not.
I think this explains the ‘mystery’ as termed by her family . Does it mean Diane herself was actually not responsible for the deaths of 7 people? Not really. Even in this state she could have and should have pulled over and asked for help, or waited for her brother who was reportedly on the way. But per interviews with friends she was a “can do” “large and take charge” person who did not like to ask for help…(and probably did not admit when she screwed up). These traits above all seems to be her undoing, but I have a gut feeling that she did not intend to get into that altered state by any means. It just unfortunately, happened.
I feel that at least one other person knows how Diane ended up in this state. But it is very doubtful anyone would now step forward and say ” I gave her one of my Granny’s glaucoma prescription Brownies for her toothache… she told me she ate pot cookies once in high school but maybe I should have told her the two were a universe apart… sorry”
“First I think it is ridiculous to assume that Diane Schular smoked pot in front of those children while driving. (For one thing this is just not something moms do in front of kids old enough to rat them out to the rest of the family)”
Moms don’t do that in front of kids old enough to rat them out, unless that mom (and I use the term loosely in this case) intends to kill the kids. If they’re about to be murdered, who cares what they see?
“The amount of THC reported to be in her system was extremely high and is not consistent with someone who has simply smoked, marijuana however it is typical of someone who has ingested THC laced treats such as those sold at medical marijuana dispensaries. (the kind made with fat soluble green butter that is quickly absorbed into the bloodstream”
What amount would you consider to be ‘consistent’, and where to you come by this information? “Simply” smoked, would depend on the strain/strength of the marijuana. “THC laced treats” take at least an hour to kick in – according to the autopsy, she had smoked within 15 minutes of the crash. Incidentally, there are many more ways to make ‘treats’ than just using butter, but that’s another website.
“I feel Diane could have procured this from a friend, co-worker or random stranger who knew she was having severe pain issues and urged her to try some”
What random stranger is handing out pot brownies? Who cares where she got it from? What grown, take-charge person would take that kind of advice?
“I am guessing that after Diane could not find gel caps pain reliever at the only gas station around for miles she decided to try taking a bit of that stashed away brownie, and possibly deciding it was indeed yummy ate much more than one who was prescribed the medicine would. I do not think she had any idea of the potency of said treats and probably had never ate one before, so grossly underestimated their effect.”
She was driving a carload of children at this time, and not all of them were hers – this would enter into anyone’s decision to smoke/ingest pot or alcohol in spite of any pain, right? Potency or not, she knew damn well what she was doing.
“She may have assumed that this was no different than your everyday variety down-home weed she sometimes smoked to go to sleep. (FYI the high from eating THC laced brownies is nothing like that….it creeps up and hits you like a freaking freight train!) You are suddenly very very stoned. You are also very VERY thirsty…this is a side effect of ingestion. At this point she could have asked for the kids to pass her something to drink and having nothing else they handed her the Vodka…. Or she unwittingly, maybe unknowingly grabbed it herself just wanting to quench that terrible thirst.”
Again, she was driving a carload of children, not all of them were hers. What kind of dumbass would even THINK of ingesting any sort of drug, including alcohol, under these circumstances? I am really enjoying the thought of someone with cotton mouth grabbing a bottle of Vodka and unknowingly swigging enough of it to get so drunk that there was a significant amount of vodka still undigested in their dead stomach. Have you ever tasted Vodka? That’s just… stupid. And the idea that one of the kids handed her a bottle of Vodka that suddenly appeared within their reachable distance has got to be one of the most ridiculous aspects of your post… so far.
“But either intentionally or accidentally she drank it lost the better part of good judgment all together. As a result sometime between leaving the gas station and leaving the rest stop she also became belligerently drunk. ( From the time she pulled out of rest stop she basically began driving like an asshole. )”
She never had good judgment, or she would have endured whatever pain and not taken anything illegal to curb it. This was no mistake, unless you’re just trying to make excuses for her. That’s called ‘enabling’.
“You may ask if it is it possible that she didn’t not know she was drinking Vodka after ingesting medical Marijuana…Sure that is possible, especially if it was a flavored variety . Could she have drank the equivalent as a can of soda is 45 minutes or so? Of course, major cotton mouth is guaranteed!”
OH this is so funny! Flavored vodka isn’t easily detected as alcohol? I’ve had cotton mouth. When your mouth is that dry, your mouth will absorb any liquid that hits it and you will sharply taste that liquid. WATER has a sharp WATER flavor when you’re pouring it into stoned cottonmouth. You can’t be this naive. Were you a D.A.R.E. student? You sound like one.
“At any rate the ingestion of medical marijuana would explain tunnel vision, feeling sick, delirium, confusion and even the strange serene look on her face witness reported seeing as she sped the wrong way in the fast lane and above all the consumption of so much alcohol by a woman who of all accounts was normally a very responsible ‘social drinker:””
Medical is no more potent than street. You’re making it seem as though medical marijuana is some sort of Wonder Pot. NONE of what you described is a side effect of marijuana by itself, but they can be side effects of synergism. That’s already been established.
“Her relatives who believe that Diane would not willing drink or endanger those children in her right mind are correct. For her to do so would be completely out of character. However she was not in her right mind, she was not herself at all, but in an extremely altered state that once begun became a tragedy of errors, whether she intentionally initiated them or not.”
Her own husband is confused as to the character of his dead wife. Who are you, that you can assume any of this? There is no proof that Diane was someone with good character at any point in her life.
“I think this explains the ‘mystery’ as termed by her family . Does it mean Diane herself was actually not responsible for the deaths of 7 people? Not really. Even in this state she could have and should have pulled over and asked for help, or waited for her brother who was reportedly on the way. But per interviews with friends she was a “can do” “large and take charge” person who did not like to ask for help…(and probably did not admit when she screwed up). These traits above all seems to be her undoing, but I have a gut feeling that she did not intend to get into that altered state by any means. It just unfortunately, happened.”
There is no mystery, it’s simply a coverup perpetrated by a ‘man’ who is a child in a desperate attempt to patch his ego and somehow save face. A large and take charge person would never have allowed herself to get so inebriated, and then driven a car full of people – the kind of control-freak that Diane seems to have been would never allow herself to become out of control. Your GUT is naive and grasping at straws. Things like this don’t ‘just unfortunately happen.’ I can’t believe you actually believe any of this. I’m hurting for you, and it’s not just pity. Your naivete is physically painful to me.
“I feel that at least one other person knows how Diane ended up in this state. But it is very doubtful anyone would now step forward and say ” I gave her one of my Granny’s glaucoma prescription Brownies for her toothache… she told me she ate pot cookies once in high school but maybe I should have told her the two were a universe apart… sorry””
WHAT TOOTH ACHE? There is no tooth ache, there was no tooth ache, and the only people who believe there was ever a tooth ache are Daniel Schuler and his toadies. There was no weird diabetes effect, there was no leg lump, there was no stroke, there was no freakin’ tooth ache. Your ‘brownie theory’ is bunk, and your twisted logic is almost nauseating. Please tell me you don’t deduce for a living.
i have to tell you that you are wrong, i remember at age 8 going to the drive inn with my family and there was another car my aunt and uncle and their kids were in and they were passing a joint between the two cars open windows…so believe me people do messed up shit in front of their kids
Kim, you’re totally right. I worded that incorrectly, and did not get my point across.
Diane was considered to be a good mother, a conscientious, detail-oriented person, and something of a control-freak. Supposedly, she was a paragon of mom-ness. That kind of mom would not have done such a thing in front of her kids. That’s what I meant, but all of that is just my opinion anyway.
Diane’s family confirmed she smoked pot regularly. Good lord, do some reading before you postulate nonsense like some accidental pot overdose.
You are a liar. You promised it would be interesting if I read on. It wasn’t.
hahahahahaha….best post yet. and you have some stiff competition w/vbecky and max the cat.
I have to wonder how long you’ve really been following this case, when you don’t even know the proper spelling of “Schuler.”
Is some other website holding a “Write The Most Off-The-Wall Theory About Diane Schuler” contest? I can’t believe some of the “excuses” her defenders are using to absolve her of any responsibility.
There was no food in her stomach. She didn’t eat pot brownies. I bet that she smoked up at the rest stops.
Ok I understand everyone is upset because of what she did and from what everyone is say if true because none of us were there on the highway or in the van with her or in her life so none of us know anything about her to judge what type of person she is and I believe only GOD can judge who goes to hell or not, but there is still a little boy out here that lost his mother and family and I dont think its fair for us as the people to talk about her because he has to grow up hearing that his mother was a drunk and couldn’t have cared about him or his family that was in the car. Hey everybody has the right to voice their opinion and say what they want but bad mouthing her is not making it any better but for YOU!!! Not for the family’s who loved on were killed or her family because at the end of the day everyone is hurt
Jenni, on behalf of everyone who has already had to deal with far too many of your kind of vacuous, arrogant posts on this subject, at this point all I can say is… shut the fuck up with the attempts to make us feel guilty for judging this hideous bitch and her monster of a husband. If GOD doesn’t like it, let GOD speak up. If GOD needs a mouthpiece, you are a terrible choice. Your flailing post won’t work, and if such a tactic were ever to work it would have to be worded and posted by someone vastly more intelligent and articulate than you are. In my opinion, you’re a self-righteous asshole, Jenni. I mean that.
We aren’t ‘upset’, we’re OUTRAGED. How can you not be? Are you such a self-righteous asshole that all you see is a bunch of us judging an innocent person, or are you just posting from The Schuler Zone like so many other sycophantic Daniel enablers? You’re gullible and stupid. Shut up, you judgmental, hypocritical, emotionally retarded freak.
If the little boy matters so much, why would his dad reject him? Why would his dad treat him like nothing but a burden? Why would his dad speak out on television about what a burden he and his dead family are/were, about how taxing it is for Daniel to raise his damaged, remaining son, about how he ‘never signed on for this’… why would his dad allow such graphic posters of his remaining sons mutilated mother to appear on a documentary for HBO, which is seen all over the planet? Why would you require that strangers treat him with more kindness than his own father will, and yet you’re not pointing a finger at that bastard Daniel Schuler at all? What planet are you from?
GOD will judge when Daniel gets to GOD. Until then, MAN will judge and arrogant preachy dumbasses like you won’t change our minds and in fact, all your kind of mentality does is further solidify my kind of mentality.
Care to walk through Matthew, Luke and Romans and find anywhere else you can about judging and then read the rest of the chapter and context?
Perhaps when you’re done you can delve into this thing called “bibliomancy.” It’s a kind of “magic” where you take a holy book, flip through the pages and point at a passage and then say it completely out of context as the answer to a question. I don’t encourage Bibliomancy. I encourage a full reading of the context of a quote. To do less is to think when you see a Movie’s Commercial and it takes micro snippets of a critic’s appraisal, and cites a statement like “This movie is less than sensational and will not be added to the list of Summer Blockbusters for 201l,” and instead puts on their commercial, “The Washington Post says, ‘Sensational,’ ‘added to the list of Summer Blockbusters for 2011′.”
That’s the level to which your “biblical quotes actually go.
I think Bryan has bigger problems than the fact that some of us have harsh things to say about the fact that his mother’s reckless actions cost the lives of herself, his sister, and his cousins, and could easily have killed him as well. For instance, he’s going to have it hanging over his head that his mother’s reckless actions cost her own life, those of his sister and cousins, and could easily have killed him as well.
“but there is still a little boy out here that lost his mother and family and I dont think its fair for us as the people to talk about her because he has to grow up hearing that his mother was a drunk and couldn’t have cared about him or his family that was in the car.”
Yes, well, the truth hurts. If I was in Bryan’s position, I’d agree that my mother was an irresponsible piece of shit who killed my sister, cousins, and other innocent people because she drove drunk and high.
1. Daniel said he went to the camp on Thursday to set up the camp and do some fishing. EZ pass records actually show him going through at around 6 AM. Presumably, since he said he was going on Thursday, he didn’t work that day, and he did not sleep at home on Thursday night. Where was he? Was he with someone?
Where was Jay’s husband on Thursday night? Where was Jay?
2. In the police interview, Daniel said they took a bottle of vodka to the trailer and kept it there for the season. It was Jay who later said they took it back and forth.
If what Daniel said was the case, and this was one of their earliest summer visits to the trailer, and the middle of July is obviously the middle of the summer season, the fact that Diane packed it suggests that she had no intention of returning to the trailer, possibly that she had every intention of consuming it on the road.
Also – in the police interview Daniel said she had consumed 2 daiquiris on Friday night, and Jay said that Diane liked to have Pina Colada’s at family events. I think these are drinks based on rum. There was some suggestion that she liked to stop at a local bar for screwdrivers after work. It seems that Diane was more of a drinker than anyone is admitting to.
3. Daniel said that she had packed the bags and he loaded the car, but he didn’t see the vodka.
Since she had so many children to carry, and the three nieces had gear that needed to go home with them, why did she also end up carrying the grocery and kitchen bags? He carried the laundry, he said, why didn’t he carry everything that was going to their home? Also, how did the bottle of vodka end up in the front seat? If it was hidden in a grocery bag where he couldn’t see it, wouldn’t it have been in the rear of the car with all the other bags? Diane must have moved it to the front, where it was found. This also suggests intent to consume at least part of it during the drive.
4. Daniel said they had coffee, breakfast and another cup of coffee before leaving the camp. Why did they need to stop at McDonalds for more breakfast a mere ½ hour later? Also, Daniel said that Diane needed to make some stops for gas and at the stores, before returning home. Yet, he also said they needed to get on the road before traffic and they needed to get the nieces home in time for a dress rehearsal. How did an unnecessary extra breakfast and stops at the stores with 5 children under the age of 9 fit into those plans? Wouldn’t it have made more sense to shoot the nieces home first, then continue on with the day?
This suggests that Diane made a change in the original plan, something that Daniel understands and is not willing to reveal He later made up a story that fit the events as they unfolded. To me, this suggests that something happened during that visit that broke Diane psychologically. Maybe something having to do with the 9 minute phone call on Saturday night, maybe having to do with Daniel’s unexplained absence on Thursday night. Maybe something that also included her brother and his family.
She was a strong willed person, one who sometimes acted impulsively. She was also someone who was emotionally damaged, though she kept it under wraps. She was extremely tightly wound – and you would expect something that undermined all her defenses to send her spiraling out of control. My suspicion is that she was extremely angry, and felt like she had provided Daniel with all of this, and now she was going to take it away from him.
5. Diane drank so much and so quickly that she had to stop to be sick a couple of times during the drive. Yet, she continued to drink, and even added marijuana to the mix. When the crash occurred, she had unabsorbed alcohol in her stomach. Alcohol is absorbed very quickly – so she must have just taken a drink when it happened.
Before being overcome with alcohol, she surely was in a place where she was rational enough to know she knew she needed to stop. She drank a lot in a very short time. Why did she continue forcing more alcohol into her system?
She spoke with her brother’s wife and her brother during the drive home, but not her husband. When she was in trouble, she called her brother, not her husband. Why? Once she had her brother on the phone, she called him “Danny” – she obviously had her husband on her mind. The story was floated that he was planning to go fishing, but it didn’t seem to go anywhere, and Danny’s story was that he went straight home. Why didn’t his wife call him when she was having such terrible problems?
There were several calls to wrong numbers, before Diane left the phone behind. I suspect she found one of her nieces trying to make calls for help and knew that if she had been able to get through, the highway patrol would be looking for her. So, she left the phone behind and took off in the opposite direction. She needed to put distance between herself and the cell phone that could be tracked. If she were found by the HP, she would be arrested. Her whole life would come crashing down around her ears – she would suffer a complete loss of control of her own life. This would have been intolerable, and could have pushed her beyond a point of no return.
This website is a shame. This was such a tragic event and all the hateful things that people are saying about Diane Schuler makes it even more tragic. This family has already had to deal and are still dealing with this horrible situation. Why make it worse? I can guarantee that all of the people commenting on this page are not perfect. We need to take this and learn from it. I believe that only God can judge us. You people have no place in judging this woman. Get over yourselves and get a life!
Hello idiot.
When you realize that there is a difference between “not being perfect” and “getting drunk, getting high and killing 8 people” then come back and talk down to us.
Until then, shove your head up your own ass and keep crawling until you completely disappear.
lmao mike. for a while there vcbecky had taken the lead in my race for the pithiest, most hilarious responses to these religious-spouting morons, but you’ve once again regained the lead.
If you think we’ve been rough on poor Diane, you should see how we talk about baby-rapists.
Nothing we could say, no matter how nasty, could possibly make the death of eight people more tragic. You want to blame someone for making things tragic, talk to Diane Schuler.
I leave it up to you to decide if that was just my fancy, subtle way of telling you to go to hell.
That’s great, I think God will judge us, I do not think you truly understand what our judgement call in this regard is, nor do I think you actually have read enough of the relevant passages of the Bible yourself. This is my opinion, but based upon context clues, I’m pretty sure you need to sort yourself out and pull the plank out of your eye before you talk about our specks.
I direct you to the first amendment of the United States Constitution and to the shiniest portion of my ass. Please bite me there.
I have a life. A life that includes advocacy against drunk driving. That advocacy is strengthened and supported by fact finding and public will in this matter. My life is furthered by the directed purpose of trying to save lives on the memory of the murdered. I’ve lost too many people for you to tell me what is worthwhile in this particular discussion. There, my motives are freaking bare to you. I have an agenda here. I have a reason to add this little soap box to my life, but I have a question you’ll probably never answer, why are you here?
I overrule your “judgement” of this site and the people here. You’re a butcher who wants to let drunk drivers get away with murder. You don’t want things to change. You want to be able to get loaded up and kill yours and other people’s children on drugs and alcohol. You want to make that a constitutional right.
That last little rant, if it makes you angry in how I mischaracterized your goals and intent, was me demonstrating how you were bearing false witness against the members and contributors of this site.
You are without light and will probably be condemned if you don’t wisen up, actually read that Bible you swing around like you know the contents of, and find faith where it really belongs–listening to what other people are feeling and knowing and focusing less on what you think you know or understand.
I’m smarter than you, but I know there are good opinions and ideas somewhere in that little mind of yours that can spark you into being a better person. Wake up, learn about people before you judge them and take a gander at the depth people went to here to understand this story. This site is deeper than the pool of thoughts and worth much more than your stupid comment.
Good points, Jason.
In reply to Ariel’s comment “This website is a shame.”
I am so glad that this website exists and I am grateful for all the research and analysis presented. I am glad that there are stand-up people in the midst of this tragedy that REFUSE to accept the smoke and mirrors and lame excuses for Diane’s choices.
vcbecky said it best when she wrote: “We’re not ‘upset’, we are OUTRAGED …”
“I can guarantee that all of the people commenting on this page are not perfect.”
Well, none of us drink and smoke pot while driving. So we’ve got Diane beat.
I have a question….has anyone considered that Diane might have been hung over the morning of the accident? That would explain a bad headache and her looking for Tylenol at the local convenience store. Also, sometimes when people are badly hung over, they will drink a bit in the morning (bloody mary, for example) to “ease the pain” of a hangover. Maybe she had a screwdriver or two, “reactivated” her buzz, and kept drinking.
I really don’t understand for the life of me why someone would be drinking and smoking pot in the morning with all those kids in the car????
10 shots of undigested vodka in her stomach at the time of her death, as well as enough in her bloodstream to put her well above the legal limit. I’d say this was more than just a case of ‘hair ‘o’ the dog’.
There’s no indication she was looking for Tylenol.
I loved this article. I just finished watching the HBO documentary on this drunken, ignorant, pathetic, stupid woman and it made me so angry. I feel so sorry for the families lives that Ms. Schuler ruined. Then I got to reading about people that were “shocked” that HBO showed her fat ass laying there dead. It didn’t bother me at all, although I would have much rather her have lived to serve the rest of her miserable life in jail!!!!! The only tragedy here is the other people lives that she took, and their families that are still suffering from all of this. This woman was pathetic. If she were on a suicide mission, why not stick a gun to her fat head and not waste any innocent lives? It just pisses me off!!!
I am not going to speculate about this womans history with drinking and drugs the fact remains her BAC was was high she was drunk a and behind the wheel that day. Nothing matters except for what happened on that day. I just wastched the documentary and they said they tested her tissue samples twice and did a DNA text to make sure it is hers and it confirmed the initial findings. I get not wanting to beleive that your wife or sister could make such a massive error in judgement that could lead to devestating issues but they are looking for explinations that do not exist. They continue to look for medical miracles to cause her blook alcohol level to spike. That is very sad and unfair to those others who lost someone. Trying to explain away this tragedy. Sometimes good people make bad decision. As they talk about her in the documentary they paint this perfect picture of her. Perfect wife and pefect mom. It is not a far fetched idea that someone would drink secretly or not under the pressure of trying to maintain perfection . They later talk about him and how he comes off to even his own child and how he said he never wanted children and she was supposed to take care of this. That picture perfect life is a lie. I don’t beleive at all at this point that something else is to blame for this horrible tragedy besides Diane Schuler. All of the speculation and theories are just that. The facts are she had THC and alcohol in her system.
I had just got done watchng a recorded HBO documentary on this and it broke my heart. We may never know the truth as to why this all happened, so quickly do we focus on the blame and not the victims that parrished that tragic day. My heart goes out to all families involved and my condolences.
Tracey, this entire series of threads is entirely about the victims who perished. It is disrespectful to allow these lies to go on. It’s disrespectful of the direct victims, their families, the rescue workers and everyone involved for Daniel Schuler to be allowed to point blame at anyone but his own wife.
I resent your rash conclusion that the victims are being ignored. I think it’s shallow, unfair, selfish and egotistical of you. I think it indicates a complete lack of understanding on your part, for the reasons that we’re here to express our outrage in the first place.
Wow, way to prove what Tracey was saying there, vcbecky. Nice hateful tantrum you just displayed. You strike me as someone who just LOVES blaming people and jumping all over them under some deluded belief that you’re so perfect that even people who question you are as bad as the Mrs. Schuler. I’ve been stumbling across other posts of yours and find myself really not liking you at all.
I don’t believe Mrs. Schuler was a monster. She wasn’t a child-abusing drunk, nor a bad person… but the denial she had about her actions resulted in the worst kind of tragedy and she IS responsible for all those deaths regardless. However, I don’t think she believed her actions would cause her to die in such a horrible way. I don’t think her husband is an evil man and I honestly believe that he was unaware of his wife’s drinking and I do believe he is in denial of the truth now that it has come out… and I really do believe the Schulers want to prove to others that Mrs. Schuler was not the person that all evidence points to, but facts must be faced and they do need to accept those facts… but their lives were just as devastated as any others who suffered at the hands of this one woman.
You, vcbecky, desperately want them to be awful in your mind so you can sit there and judge them and make them out to cruel and horrible and not a shining example of humanity that you clearly believe yourself to be. You’re the one being shallow. You’re the one oozing of egotism. You’re the one who shows no understanding towards others and it’s pretty annoying to see in your posts.
The only reason I don’t feel Mrs. Schuler belongs in Hell, is because I don’t believe she would have ever seen this coming. I’m not saying that excuses her of what happened, but I am saying that I bet if someone told her what her future WAS going to be, that would be enough of a shock to get her to finally seek help she so desperately needed.
Johhny boy oh johnny boy. What a complete and utter lack of understanding. Is it painful to be that stupid? Seriously? Maybe Becky should paint pictures for you to understand?
I am very sure Becky is at home under her bed crying her eyes out because you don’t like her. I am having a hard time not busting out in tears myself. We just want to be loved by the whole entire world sooooo bad!!
Kid I will tell you this as simple as I can: Piss the fuck off! I mean this from the bottem of my heart.
Anyway… I anticipate a whole post from you about how I’m ignorant and insulting to all the other people that want blood and all that jazz, but I honestly don’t care one iota what you have to say. Like I said, I’ve read your posts and conclude you’re just made of rotten and you have nothing to say worth reading.
I’ll tell you who really belongs in Hell. There was a recent news story about a family that locked their child in a box and then tried to argue that she died due to a horrible hide and seek accident. The child was horribly abused and it turned out that she was suffocated in that box for eating something that I guess resulted in that day’s reason for torturing this girl. The four adults who took part in this ritual cruelty are the sort that belong in Hell and deserve the hate that’s being spouted at the Schulers.
I doubt you can see the difference. I imagine you’ll have your version of MY life story posted here soon… and it will be as much of a fabrication as all the other things you post about people.
Oh well.
My spot in hell has been reserved for me for a few years now. I have no worries what so ever.
You are ignorant. I re-read Becky’s post twice and found nothing wrong with it. You obviously have no understanding what is tring to be done here. That is why you are ignorant.
My life is just that my life. Full of mistakes and bad judgment just as most any other. But I atleast try to figure out what someone is trying to say before I open my ignorant mouth.
Geee you read a few posts I have written and know my very core? Good lord why are you not on Oprah or working as a shrink. You’de be swimming in money if it were true…oh wait it’s just bullshit from a keyboard cowboy trying to use big words. Well in that case I stand by my words: Piss the fuck off.
You could have had a point, with there being a difference (somewhat) between the purposeful evil of one family and the (somewhat) accidental evil of another, but you wasted it by making too many assumptions and lying (that you’d be here as an article full of lies – have you killed anyone? raped children? left a wake of victims wounded and suffering behind you? No? Then you made an idiotic statement.)
So in response I can only say – piss the fuck off. As Mulch has already said.
Wow, I just saw this.
Huh, how funny. :)
“She wasn’t a child-abusing drunk”
She was a child-killing drunk.
“I don’t think her husband is an evil man”
He’s a cold-hearted asshole.
“You, vcbecky, desperately want them to be awful in your mind”
vcbecky doesn’t need to make them awful in her mind. They ARE both awful through their actions. Only their stupid defenders don’t see it.
vcbecky isn’t hateful at all. She, like many of the regulars here, are intelligent and tell it like it is.
Eeek, sorry for the typo. I meant “she, like many of the regulars here, IS intelligent.”
Here’s my question: was this an unintentional accident by Diane Schuler or suicide?
OK … here goes. I should be working, but I just have to say something.
If you just watched the HBO documentary, and learned about this site, and feel compelled to post something here: Please STOP and read these three suggestions.
To all potential posters: please understand: there are people on these commentaries here (there are five total) that have been following this particular tragedy from the BEGINNING, not just since the HBO documentary’s first air date.
I am NOT one of the early posters, but I have followed the Diane Schuler story, first in bewilderment – and then in disgust. Maybe I don’t have the right to say the following, but I’m going to anyway.
Before you post:
1. Know what this site is about. This is actually not a site specifically about Diane Schuler. It’s about people who make bad choices and hurt innocent people and deserve a little publicity. I have two words for objectors: First Amendment.
The moderator for this specific story (Max the Cat) has said on numerous occasions that the reason this story has not died down or gone away is because of the lies and audacity of Diane’s husband, Daniel.
There probably wouldn’t even be an HBO documentary about the story if it wasn’t for his activities since the crash.
Daniel’s current activities? He is suing the state of New York for a faulty roadway (despite the fact you can google-map the location that Diane entered the Taconic Parkway and see two one-way signs and two “Do Not Enter” signs).
He is suing Diane’s brother (Warren Hance, the owner of the mini-van that Diane was driving and the man that lost his three beautiful daughters in the crash: Emma, Alyson, and Kate), stating that the van was faulty. (?)
He is also suing the estate of Guy Bastardi, the driver of the SUV that Diane hit in the wrong-way head-on crash. ( I am at a loss for words.)
He maintains right up TO THIS MOMENT that Diane was NOT drunk or high on that day, despite indisputable evidence to the contrary. His excuses for her actions are not consistent, plausible or believable, and frankly, they are insulting to any one with a three digit IQ.
Perhaps Daniel should have his own entry on PYSIH so people interested in the current lawsuits and legal aspects of this case (that would be me), can follow and discuss.
2. Don’t post without context – that means: out of respect to longtime posters, please read all previous comments contained in the five threads FIRST. These threads go WAY back in time.
At the very least, search all the commentaries for pertinent topics that you want to discuss. It’s easy to do: with the specific story or update up on your screen, hit CTRL F (within Windows) or COMMAND F (on a MAC). A window will pop up at the top of your screen, and you can type in a word or several words. The site will jump to relevant posts.
Be creative. For example, don’t just search for “hangover”; search for “hang over”, “hungover”, “hung over”, “Hair of the Dog”, etcetera.
3. If you notice you that are feeling self-righteous, sanctimonious, “holier-than-thou”, if you happen to notice a plank in your eye, or feel the need to chastise any one in the threads because they simply refuse to accept obvious GARBAGE about this case, please reconsider posting here.
The regular members of this site will take care of you in short order. They suffer neither fools, trolls, sock puppets, or uninformed people.
If you still feel you have something of value to contribute to the dialogue, even if it disagrees with someone here, then post away.
But leave sanctimony at the door. It’s boring and a waste of time. Head on over to HBO.com and post there.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. It’s “back to work” for me.
Marry me, you saucy and brilliant minx.
you said this so well, i was actually ill after seeing that Daniel is suing everyone! what a piece of crap…as soon as i saw Dominic was one of his lawyers i knew he was crap…and to make 100K off the HBO documentary using the last words his niece spoke is an outrage..bless her mother and the new baby she has on the way..i hope they find strength..while he continues his assinine reaction to what his wife did…he should have just shut his mouth for the benefit of respecting those that lost their lives…
Wow, just read this post. In your “research”, where did you find that she was in fact drinking from that bottle of Vodka? We don’t really know what she drank. That bottle of Vodka found broken in the crash…well of course it would be broken. Hello! I have read nothing that says she drank alcohol all the time. So what if she smoked pot once in awhile? Millions of people do it. When did she have time to do all of this? Nobody saw her drinking or smoking. The niece never mentioned that in her call to her dad. I know what the toxicology reports say….but from what witnesses reported, it was obvious something was medically wrong with her. To call her a “murderer”, is ridiculous. She didn’t intentionally kill anyone. There’s a reason it’s called “accident”. And I also find it hard to believe that you can live with a person, know them better than anyone, and not see that they are abusing alcohol and drugs. You can’t hide that. No way. If you’ve truly followed this story, as you say, then you could at least see both sides. But obviously, you’re close minded. And I don’t care if you bash this comment or delete it. First time visit to this site anyway.
how can you say this is not murder..she was on the wrong side for about 2 miles! and even drunk driving accidents are still considered accidents but people go to prison for them…and when did it seem that something was medically wrong with her..and why on earth would the niece say “Aunt Dianne was drinking something” Vodka is colorless and odorless so obviously the girl would have thought it was water…she was a murderer..sorry if you drink and drive and kill 2 families i’d think you were a murderer. and yes you can hide drug or alcohol abuse from your family even in the same home…i’ve seen it done tons of times…how nieve are you?
She had the opportunity to stop and wait for her brother….didn’t SHE call HIM and say she wasn’t feeling well? She COULD HAVE prevented the entire incident very easily by pulling over and waiting for him.
While it is not the norm to know exactly what type or brand of alcohol was consumed by a dead person (at least to my knowledge), It’s very telling when a bottle is found at the site of a crash-regardless if it was broken or not.
What type of person smokes dope then takes a bunch of children for a ride?? In my drug days, the last thing I ever wanted to do was drive around when I was in that state of mind.
Finally-FOR GOD’S SAKE!!!! This was not an ‘intentional’ murder, BUT she was intoxicated and presumably stoned. Her negligent actions resulted in the MURDER of those people (From Websters Dictionary: Murder: the crime of unlawfully killing a person, especially with malice afterthought)
Got it???
“To call her a “murderer”, is ridiculous. She didn’t intentionally kill anyone.”
“Intent” only applies to murder in the first degree.
“When did she have time to do all of this? Nobody saw her drinking or smoking.”
It took Diane 4 hours between leaving the campsite to crashing on the Taconic. That’s a large span of time.
There are no “two sides”. This isn’t “How is everyone feeling today” at group therapy.
This is a murder investigation. The only people who think there are “two sides” to this are those trying to pretend Diane wasn’t drunk. No reasonable person could look at the evidence and arrive at any other conclusion than Diane Schuler was drunk, that she had compounded her intoxication with pot, and that she willfully chose to do these things and they resulted in 8 deaths, four of them children and three of them completely blameless strangers.
You have more patience than I EVER will.
Here’s the thing: the car Diane was driving was a borrowed car. Why in the world would ANY bags that were to end up at her home be put into that car, when her husband was driving straight there? It put an addtional, unncessary butden on her to unpack the borrwed car and repack the bags into her own car, in order to take them home.
UNLESS – she packed the vodka with the intention of drinking on the way home and she insisted on taking the bags with her.
That may well be, but we can’t underestimate the sheer lazy whininess of Daniel. I have an ex who would have had a baby fit if he’d actually been expected to do his part; I would have rather taken everything with me even having to unpack, repack, and unpack again than have had to deal with that.
Of course, my ex was also abusive, and I haven’t seen anyone involved suggest Daniel was physically abusive.
Yeah, I can just hear Daniel: “Aw, c’mon, I’m already taking the dog! Do I have to take BAGS too?”
Oh boy I don’t even know where to begin. I too have followed this case from the time it happened. I just got finished reading all the posts and I am right there with all of you who believes this woman should rot in hell. The husband makes me sick to my stomach and he is the one who is going to ruin Bryan’s life….that child will never have a normal life with his dad raising him. Wish someone would fight for custody of him SOON. DENIAL . I agree there is alot more to the story we have not heard as far as their family problems go.but the facts will never change of what we all know …she drove drunk and high that day and murdered all those innocents. As the mom of 3 children I would NEVER forgive a family member. She should have black roses on her grave. Poor Bryan….I think of him every day.
If you are an experienced marijuana smokerdriving usually isn’t a problem unless you have some other health issue. It’s like taking antidepressants or blood pressure medication. Once your body is used to it you can do it (unless someone spiked your joint with something else).
Alcohol is not that way. Alcohol causes major impairment. Diane Schuler’s behavior that day was consistent with alcohol impairment, not marijuana impairment. Trust me, if she had only the equivelent of 10 joints in her instead of 10 drinks everyone would have made it home that day. Marijuana wears off in a couple of hours and she would have had to have smoked some in front of the kids in order to be high at the time of the accident. By all accounts she would not have done that. She should have found a drug store and loaded up on Ibuprofen and OraGel or found an emergency room.
I don’t think the Schulers are lying about Diane’s habits and I don’t think Diane was a habitual drinker. I think her family is in deep denial that she did this. I think she was just trying to kill the pain from the toothache. I don’t condone what she did. I think it was a desperate act commited by someone who had a lot of problems showing weakness of any kind. She was trying to make it home and made a serious mistake. The fact that she did drink far too much on this day seems to indicate that she was not an experienced drinker at all.
I can just imagine what the victims families are going through and do not mean to undermine that but the fact of the matter is that this was a good lady who had one very poor lapse of judgement. I think the Shulers should give up any further attempts to clear her name and focus on little Brian’s recovery. They should apologise to the Hance’s and Bastardi’s for being in denial for so long and try to rebuild what is left of their lives.
Ah yes. The magical, mythical toothache for which there is no evidence – that abscess that did not show up in the Xrays at autopsy, the badly damaged by decay tooth that was also not noted in autopsy.
“I think she was just trying to kill the pain from the toothache.”
*sigh*
Prove pain.
Prove toothache.
For that matter, prove diabetes, leg lump, aneurysm, stroke, inhalation of gasoline that left residual alcohol in her stomach, a yeast infection that made alcohol in her stomach.. there are some that I am forgetting. Why in the world would you accept the ‘toothache’ scenario without proof?
An autopsy didn’t show anything was wrong with her except that she had about 10 shots of alcohol still undigested in her system, she had high levels of THC and alcohol in her bloodstream and no health problems. So what freakin’ toothache are you typing about? The fabled abscess? ‘Cmon, man! Everyone and their mother has already rejected that piece of bullshit. She was NOT self-medicating for ‘toothache’. Diane used marijuana to help her de-stress and sleep according to her own family, I.anderson. Why in Jeebus name would she use her sleep meds AND alcohol while she is driving with a carload of kids like that?
Please, please, please… think!
vbecky, there is plenty of evidence that Diane had a severe toothache.Friends and family noticed her holding her jaw in the weeks before the accident. I think she tried to get a root canal/crown done but the pain was too great from the abcess and she walked out of the appointment. Her dentist probably wasn’t using the right tools. After you have had an abcess, you need special tools that usually only endodontists have. I know because this happened to me. My dentist was smart enough to know when to quit and send me to the endodontist. Diane should have first been given antibiotics to clear up the infection and then gone to the endodontist. That and some laughing gas would have gotten her through, and this accident would not have happened, no matter how much pot she smoked. Her decision to use alcohol was probably based on people’s (bad) advice to rub whiskey on babies gums while they are teething. Maybe in her desperation, that’s what she was thinking. Either way, this was not the act of an experienced drinker.
Diane was a pleaser, probably because her mom left her so young. She did not take care of herself like she should. However, in general, people are not educated about dental problems. I only know because I had a dental abcess and I have a friend who is a hygienist. If not, I would know nothing about it. I was able to make it through the procedure but Diane was not. Once again,I believe the family when they say she didn’t drink regularly. The vodka bottle had traveled back and forth to the campground several times. If she were an alcoholic, it would have been gone. Ask any alcholic and they will tell you that.
I also doubt that a dental abcess or nerve pain from a dental abcess is something that pathologists look for during an autopsy.
What’s even more sad is the fact that psycho father, Daniel, now no longer has a relationship with his brother-in-law and sister-in-law of which whom have lost their entire family who he is now suing. ALL because he persists his wife was not drunk. AND, again, this poor little boy who has not only lost his ONLY sibling and his dumb mother, but his cousins who it sounds like he was very close too and his Aunt and Uncle. All because the dumbass father continues this ploy to rant and rave about his wife’s “perfectness” …. oh well…. whatever. Wish he would go jump off a bridge. My Heart breaks for little Bryan. He truly belongs with the Aunt and Uncle (the ones who lost their 3 beautiful girls)…. Just my opinion.
People like this ruin smoking and drinking for everyone, I am so sick of people banging on about how pot ruins lives, PEOPLE RUIN LIVES! I am a perfectly functioning person who from time to time enjoys taking part in smoking weed because I have no children, I don’t drive and even if I did you don’t mix drink or drugs with children or driving! Bah Pot ruins lives, idiots ruin everything. This woman destroyed lives because she was selfish and irresponsible not because of pot.
Exactly. Shitholes like Diane Schuler don’t make it any easier for the normal, every day people who smoke pot as often as someone who isn’t an alcoholic would take a shot, or drink a nightcap to unwind after work.
THERE WAS NO ABCESS TOOTH THERE WERE NO MEDICAL PROBLEMS AT ALL… THERE IS ONLY BULLSHIT FROM THE FAMILY OF THE DRUNK AND STONED DIANE SCHULER>>>For gods sake WAKE UP this is nothing but a cover-up Diane Schuler was nothing but a MURDERER fucking Period!!!!!!!! The truth is what was not told!!! But I am sure we will KNOW THE TRUTH when the liars are exposed for what they are….LIARS!!!!!!!!!!!
Everyone should get off their high horses! we don’t know exactly what happened we only have an idea. 8 people died, not 7, 8. It is sad that people judge Diane and they didn’t know her. I didn’t know her. I will not say she is a horrible person, and she was certainly not a murderer, as there was clearly no itent to kill anyone.
My deepest sadness goes out to all the victims of this tragedy and their families. No one deserves to die that way, no one.
Just remember: judge not, lest ye be judged.
See, now, “Everyone get off their high horses” can be considered a judgmental statement, so that would make you a hypocrite. In my law enforcement opinion, having a .19% BAC, having 10 undigested drinks’ worth of vodka in her stomach, and toking up before driving on the wrong side of the highway intentionally means she was looking for something more than time to kill. I.E. Opportunity, Capability, and Intent (the trifecta of crime) were all present, so she murdered the other 7 and accidentally killed herself in the act.
“I will not say she is a horrible person, and she was certainly not a murderer, as there was clearly no itent to kill anyone.”
1) If this was a murder/suicide situation (we don’t know for sure but arguments for that theory are pretty solid), then yes, there was intent on Diane’s part.
2) She’s still a murderer even if there was no intent/premeditation. That’s why charges such as vehicular homicide exist. She ended the lives of 7 innocent people through her actions.
Yeah, it’s actually a fact that she’s a murderer. She chose to impair herself and chose to drive impaired knowing the risks. She murdered 7 people, including her own toddler daughter and badly injured her own son.
That’s murder – causing death through negligent actions for which any reasonable person would understand could and do cause death.
I’m sorry. I don’t understand. Which is it? Is she a drunk or did she have intent to kill? I don’t know. I doubt anyone does either. I doubt we ever will. If she knew what she was doing at the time, not by drinking, but rather by trying to kill her children and her neices, then she was not well. Mentally unstable, a sick human being who needed help.
If she was drunk, then there was no intent to kill. As intent is defined as “A determination to perform a particular act or to act in a particular manner for a specific reason; an aim or design; a resolution to use a certain means to reach an end.” Which she would not have had.
I am not defending her actions. They were wrong. If she was drunk she should not have even been around children let alone. If she was mentally unstable as you are saying she way, then how can I blame her for that anymore than I could blame a disabled man for having polio. She obviously had no rational thought of what she was doing. Therefore could not have known not kill herself and 7 others. And lets remember people, homicide and murder are two different things. Murder is committed with treachery premeditation while homicide is committed without planning and sometimes without an intention to kill.
Please donot mistake what I am saying as I think that Diane was right. I do not. She did wrong. What I am saying is that, people should not codemn others in this hateful way.
Asking for mercy on her behalf is what, if not a defense of her? You do one thing, but insist that you are doing another. I have no respect for your unrealistic, inhuman viewpoint. You won’t see it that way, you’re so stuck on your horse.
How do you know she had no intent to kill? She got herself drunk and stoned while driving a car full of children. I can’t imagine more intent to kill than that. She was SOBER when she chose to get drunk and stoned, Jax. How can you so blithely gloss over that? You’re naive and obtuse and too full of yourself to make any real sense.
She is guilty of ‘Felony Vehicular Manslaughter’ by definition, which is not ‘murder’, as you say. Most of us believe she is also guilty of murder – something caused her to flip, and decide to take her kids with her into the next life. Driving a carload of kids while drunk and stoned is NOT a mistake. When someone decides to kill someone else, that’s murder. “Vehicular Manslaughter’ applies to the two men who died in the other car – they were not in her car, she didn’t plan to kill them. ‘Murder’ applies to the children in her car. She was sober when she chose to start drinking. She chose to get behind that wheel with that carload of children. THAT, Jax, is murder premeditated. It is not a mistake, it’s murder. She gets no sympathy, and her enabling husband and his cronies are only making it worse. The key here, Jax, is not for the public to drop it, but for the Schuler clan to stop tearing the scabs off for their own selfish reasons.
You can be drunk and have intent at the same time. You’re creating a false dichotomy.
While there is some debate as to her intent, the drunkenness is already proven, and as choosing to get drunk and then choosing to drive is a negligent act with a high chance of resulting in death or injury, what she did is murder.
You don’t seem clear on the concept.
Here you go for starters. Note it’s considered homicide… or murder.
Regardless of whether she ever thought to herself “I’m going to murder everyone in this car while committing suicide”, she still murdered her nieces, her daughter, three men who never met nor did anything to her, and badly injured her son.
MURDERED them.
Need any more handholding through the definition?
I just noticed you don’t think homicide and murder are the same thing. How clever to define words any way you choose to support your argument!
Only, Merriam Webster doesn’t agree with you. Look under the synonyms there for homicide and you’ll find murder. Further more, one of the definitions of murder is:
: to slaughter wantonly : slay
Then of course slaying is:
: to kill violently, wantonly, or in great numbers; broadly : to strike down
Tell me again how she didn’t murder 7 people. Or you could just use correct definitions.
Technically, murder and homicide aren’t perfectly synonymous, particularly from a legal point of view. Homicide is the killing of one human being by another human being. Murder is killing with malice aforethought. According to these legal definitions, all murder (of human beings) is homicide, but not all homicide is murder. Some forms of homicide are not illegal: accident, self-defense, a cop shooting a suspect in the line of duty, a soldier killing his enemy in battle, the execution of a convicted felon. Some forms of homicide are punishable by law even though they aren’t legally considered murder, because they resulted from negligence or gross indifference to the well-being of others. If Diane Schuler deliberately crashed her vehicle with the intent of killing those children, that would make her a murderer under the law. If she was simply a selfish bitch who valued her booze more than she valued those five precious children in her care, what she did could probably not be called murder in the strict legal sense. That doesn’t mean that what she did was in any way justifiable, or that, in the circumstances as we understand them, she wasn’t every bit as deeply at fault in those deaths as she would have been had she shot or stabbed four children and three strangers. LEGALLY, unless it can be proven that Ms. Schuler acted deliberately with malice aforethought, her crime is properly classified as vehicular homicide resulting from negligence due to intoxication. Morally? The bitch is a fucking murderer. Since she’s not alive to be charged, I don’t see that it makes a difference what we call it.
Homicide and murder are definitely two different things. Although I know my sister was murdered before hand, she was a passenger in a car that was hit by a train and she was killed and they called it “Homicide” which carried hardly any punishment. It’s a long story why I KNOW it was murder and they just couldn’t prove it and I was very young at the time to know what all to do to fight it but I have a strong feeling I’m going to pick up where I left off, even if its been since 1990.
Aletheia, that’s broadly true, but not specifically true. Most places have specific definitions for murder that definitely fit this circumstance.
Here’s the definition of third degree murder here in MN:
(a) Whoever, without intent to effect the death of any person, causes the death of another by perpetrating an act eminently dangerous to others and evincing a depraved mind, without regard for human life, is guilty of murder in the third degree and may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than 25 years.
That’s assuming she didn’t intend to murder everyone, of course. If she did intend to murder her van full of children. If she did, it’s first degree murder.
(a) Whoever does any of the following is guilty of murder in the first degree and shall be sentenced to imprisonment for life:
(1) causes the death of a human being with premeditation and with intent to effect the death of the person or of another;
Here in MN, that is.
In New York one of the definitions of second degree murder is this:
4. Under circumstances evincing a depraved indifference to human life, and being eighteen years old or more the defendant recklessly engages in conduct which creates a grave risk of serious physical injury or death to another person less than eleven years old and thereby causes the death of such person
Though it seems more likely she’d have been prosecuted for some form of vehicular manslaughter, most likely aggravated:
A person is guilty of aggravated vehicular homicide when he or she
engages in reckless driving as defined by section twelve hundred twelve
of the vehicle and traffic law, and commits the crime of vehicular
manslaughter in the second degree as defined in section 125.12 of this
article, and either:
(1) commits such crimes while operating a motor vehicle while such
person has .18 of one per centum or more by weight of alcohol in such
person’s blood as shown by chemical analysis of such person’s blood,
breath, urine or saliva made pursuant to the provisions of section
eleven hundred ninety-four of the vehicle and traffic law;
plus:
(4) causes the death of more than one other person;
(5) causes the death of one person and the serious physical injury of
at least one other person
Wikipedia describes murder as needing “malice aforethought” but as noted, local laws do not necessarily agree with Wikipedia on this.
Though even Wiki defines malice aforethought as this:
Reckless indifference to an unjustifiably high risk to human life (sometimes described as an “abandoned and malignant heart”)
In which case, even Wikipedia agrees what Diane did was both homicide and murder.
Again, Jax’s micro-defining was done in a way very convenient for them, and not really adhering to what happened here, or what the law might say.
Much like their assertion that she either had intent or was drunk but could not have both, even though at bare minimum she intended to drink, which caused her to murder these children, the Bastardis, and Mr Longo.
Or, even better:
Under state of mind (iii), an “abandoned and malignant heart”, the killing must result from defendant’s conduct involving a reckless indifference to human life and a conscious disregard of an unreasonable risk of death or serious bodily injury. An example of this is a 2007 law in California where an individual could be convicted of third-degree murder if he or she kills another person while operating a motor vehicle while being under the influence of alcohol, drugs, or controlled substances.
I would like to start by agreeing that “everyone should get off their high horses” was judgemental, and I apologize. That was not my intent.
Furthermore, my intent was also not to defend the unknown actions of such a woman. My hope was only for those who are condemning this poor woman to hell for her actions look to themselves and their own.
It is extremely sad, that we as a population should result to such horrid name calling. If she was this demonic person you all (who never even knew her) are saying she is, then she is no longer with us and that is punishment enough.
To go on and put the families of the victims through more misery is very wrong.
In my opinion, the right thing to do would be to remove these posts and let the families morn in peace. All of the families. This name calling and vilifying is making matters worse.
I have been following this case since the beginning and it is sad that the Shuler family has yet to move on. That being said, I don’t know that I could have. I have been on both sides, a victim of tragedy, and the family member of someone who commited an offence. Neither is a good place to be. Please keep in mind how you would feel if your family member had made a mistake or was being accused of something you did not believe she had done.
Please have the sympathy for these families that you would want bestoyed upon you in such an occassion.
Again, my thoughts are with the victims of this horrible accident.
Jax, I would be the first to accept that my family member had committed a crime if presented with as much proof as the Schuler family has been. My brother is facing possible assault charges, which would lead to non-judicial punishment at the least, for threatening to “paint the side of the ship” with a sailor who has been throwing playful jibes his way.
I myself have been sent to anger management classes, with the alternative being a bad conduct discharge from the Navy, for verbally assaulting another sailor.
The difference between us and the Schulers? The boldness of accepting responsibility for our wrongs. It has become a rarity for someone to accept personal responsibility for wrong-doing. Diane made choices, choices that led to the deaths of seven innocents.
Exactly this. If a family member put the rest of our family in this position, we wouldn’t expect the rest of the world to love them for it. The problem is that Daniel Schuler is preventing the families of his wive’s immediate victims from moving on. He is not in denial – he’s trying to protect his own ass.
The Schulers are not good people, Jax. Practically everyone who knows about this case is demanding truth, for the sake of the dead! It is hideously disrespectful of Daniel. These posts are intended to make him realize the public outrage, and to hopefully convince him that no one is buying his bullshit and he needs to just stop tormenting the rest of the mourners. This isn’t a matter of ‘holier than thou’ or ‘high horse’. It’s a matter of respect for the dead.
In fact, the Bastardi family appreciates this website, and at least one of them has posted as much on numerous occasions. Remember the Bastardi’s? There were the two grown men who were murdered by Diane when she hit them head-on. They seem to have been forgotten in our outrage about the children in Diane’s car. These two men had absolutely NOTHING to do with anyone in Diane’s family, and yet they paid the ultimate price. Their families and loved ones continue to pay that price, and their wounds can’t even form scabs because Daniel keeps picking them off with his repeated and ridiculous theories and denials.
Daniel is the disrespectful person here, not anyone else who posted – not his enablers, not the regulars, not the writers. He is not in mourning for Diane or anyone else who died in that crash – he is in mourning for his own lost freedom and that’s about it.
Regarding the Judge Not thing – you demonstrated an extreme inability to take your own advice. Jason, an amazing regular poster, would quote something to you about an eyeball and a plank. I’m sure that you can figure the rest out by yourself.
Please understand I am not demeaning the loss of the Bastardi’s. I feel for them in a way you probably will never understand. I hope that in the end they find some peace amongst all of this horrible tragedy. That being said, I sincerely hope that they are not taking pleasure from draging this through the mud. I can’t imagine that they are. I don’t know them personally, but I imagine them to be good people, who had a tragedy happen to them that they did not deserve. They deserve peace after all of this. That being said, I feel as though I am a hipocrite for perpetrating this vicious cycle of hate in this way. That was not my intention. But apparently I am just putting fuel on the fire.
I don’t want to hurt anyone. I want everyone to be able to move on. More importantly I want people to learn from Diane’s mistakes. I especially want people to learn from Daniels mistakes and not sue your family members (I don’t have words).
Diane is gone. Please remember that. She is gone and cannot do anymore damage then has already been done. I think now, it is us that is doing more damage. We write on here, Daniel tries to validate his wifes existence and sues a bunch of people. (Thats so wrong I don’t even have words, and I’ll admit that is judgemental, but common people you don’t sue someone who’s family has just been killed.) I am just saying this hate is only breeding more hate, and that can never be a good thing.
Diane is gone, obviously Jax. Her husband, however, continues to re-injure the living victims, don’t you get that? The very idea that anyone should have sympathy for him just disgusts me. You disgust me for your misplaced sympathy and your bleeding heart. People like you have ruined society so much, we can not say what we truly mean without someone like you popping out of the woodwork to shake your ‘kinder than thou’ finger at us. Shove it.
I resent your blind opinion that I can’t relate to this situation or to the Bastardi’s as much as you do. That’s really a very stupid, vain assumption to make, much like the rest of your assumptions about who we are and what we are doing here.
Make your assumptions. I will continue to shake my head, and hope that you shake yours hard enough to clear it before posting again. You do not understand what we are doing here, and your protestations are silly at best, but painfully ignorant in reality. You are obtuse and blind, Jax. I have nothing more to say to you, because you simply won’t hear it.
NC, we all make mistakes. We are all overcome by emotion sometimes, even those who don’t want to admit it.
The difference between us and Diane/Daniel? We have the emotional maturity and respect for others that allows us to fess up and apologize when we know we are wrong, and try to make amends, and try to learn from the situation to make ourselves better people.
If this life has a specific goal, it’s personal growth and self-improvement. Even people who are followers of the New Testament must understand that, without self-improvement and personal growth, you aren’t getting any closer to Heaven and in fact you are being un-Christian because this includes treating others with due respect… a very Christ-like thing from what I’ve read.
I feel strengthened when I admit to and learn from mistakes. I feel so much better about myself when I apologize when I know I am wrong. It feels good to give someone else that validation sometimes. It strengthens other peoples’ opinions of you because it shows that you respect them and that their thoughts and ideas matter to you.
For anyone who thinks that apologies are a sign of weakness, you are wrong and it is you who lacks strength. Some people are just too weak, too pussified to admit when they are wrong, and try to make it right.
I agree that Daniel is acting foolish with his lawsuits. He is a selfish lazy jerk who put too much responsibility off on his wife. I do think he and other family members were legitimately confused in the beginning because Diane was not a drinker. That part I believe and I don’t know how anyone, including Dr.Phil, Larry King or any of the sanctimonious a-holes on this site can be so sure that she was a secret alcoholic. There would have been signs. I think it was because she was a pot smoker and all the old farts equate that with being a Manson follower. I know my parents do. The fact is that people who smoke pot are far less dangerous then those who drink, as evidenced by this tragedy. I know that if my children or anyone I care about had been killed in this accident, I would go ballistic but the fact of the matter is that it was human error. We are all human. We all make mistakes that affect others at any given moment. People don’t usually die because of it. Diane paid the price for her mistake.
Daniel Schuler is a selfish, cold-hearted piece of shit who will NEVER earn my sympathy. He is the one who won’t let the other families find peace with his continued delusions of Diane’s perfection.
I’d like to start by saying I’m not Christian. I do not believe in heaven or hell. I have studied the old testament and new. I believe in doing the right things in life, and treating others the way I would like to be treated. I don’t believe in judging things I am not accutely aware of. I believe that in life horrible things happen, and sometimes those things can be avoided.
“Even people who are followers of the New Testament must understand that, without self-improvement and personal growth, you aren’t getting any closer to Heaven and in fact you are being un-Christian because this includes treating others with due respect… a very Christ-like thing from what I’ve read.” – Do you remember the part “he who is without sin may cast the first stone.”
It is not Daniel’s place to apologize for the actions of another individual, mainly his wife. Keep in mind he lost his daughter as well. It is not his fault that his wife made a horrible mistake and it cost 7 other people their lives. Her actions are her own fault. He is responsible for his own action. Those are the things he should apologize for.
I am not saying that what Daniel is doing is right. In fact I think its wrong to keep this going regardless of who is doing it (because there are multiple families involved). That being said, I think I understand why Mr. Shuler started this. I don’t believe its because he thought his wife is innocent. I think its because of the litigious nature of society. No matter what he thinks he cannot admit that his wife drove drunk, because that would open him up to wrongful death suits and frankly he can’t afford them. What he needs to do is stop publisizing it. This is making matters worse and now a great percentage of the population hates him as well.
What I think is disgusting is that he is suing his own family members for “misrepair” of the minivan she was driving. That is simply gross. It is unacceptable to treat someone like that. Do I think I have the right to say that person should go to “hell” because of it, absolutely not. Thats just causing more pain and suffering to others, thats never okay. It is not justice to hurt someone because they hurt you. Thats revenge.
And please understand this, I am not cannonizing Diane. She is not a saint. I just don’t believe its okay to judge people like this. I am sad that we have not moved beyond this as a population. I’ll be the first to admit that I have hated people for things that they have done to me or my family. But, I never publisized it on the internet. That doesn’t make me righteous that makes me vindictive and vengeful.
Please just have compassion for all survivors in the things that you write. Maybe if the population didn’t vilify her, when she isn’t even alive to defend herself, this would not have gone this far. He started this ridiculous campaign advocating for Diane only when the people starting demonizing her. She was not right but condemning her to hell is not right either.
My thoughts are with the families of this tragedy.
Your preaching is affecting no one, Jax. Preaching isn’t just limited to religion – you simply don’t understand what we are doing here and your assessments of the effects this is having on the ‘victims’ is way off the mark. You are acting as a drunk driving apologist, no matter how you couch it.
I’ve used this metaphor before, but you’re new, so let’s sort this out. Before we could talk, crimes of passion, abuse and terror occurred among our ancestors. The most elemental communication we as animals or specifically humans, is the communication of pain. We literally scream out in pain at an instinctual level. It may be the founding stone of our communication, because pain means danger. Sometimes we run to it, trying to relieve that pain, sometimes we run from that danger. Over time, the call out of pain became the tone and call out of our languages.
Another cultural reference from this time, became the fireside story. A collection of dangers, skills and notes on where and when you can eat, stacked on top of grunts, whistles, clicks and screeches, formed the basis of a story. A story is the collection of related information in a memorable and/or enjoyable form. Sometimes the information is false or fanciful, but the story often contains lessons or key facts within it for developing communication or calling someone or a population to action.
The purpose of this site is to tell the story, support the victims(and sometimes there are victims it serves better), to provide a release from the anger of a story, and finally for entertainment through communal outrage. It is a gradual and linear improvement on the fireside story time, with a medicine man mediating disputes. A large community can come, be heard, be addressed and/or corrected, while others are comforted from the tragedy by the consolation of community. A community containing love, even if you can’t recognize it. The love is expressed in shared grief and anger at the failure of the criminal. It works quite well, and if you’ve found something that beats it, I’d like to see the study you figured it out from. You call this revenge, and I call you out. Find where this site does anything more than channel what would be an angry mob swinging torches, into people who are merely communicating their anger.
I too have read the old and new testament, I finished the chapters you discuss only single quotes from. You read the Bible like many failed Christians do(though you are not apparently a Christian); you snap up quotes or short lines to try to support your position and drop the context. It’s like when Movie critics called the movie “Battlefield Earth the worst adaption of an Incredible book, I’ve ever seen,” into something like “famous film critic says “Battlefield Earth…Incredible!”
The context of the casting of the first stone is fairly simple. The Pharisees wanted Christ to destroy his popular appeal by applying an unpopular punishment on a common practice of the time. Adultery was frowned upon, but a huge number of people were doing it, just as they do not(I’m not in this group, incidentally). “Judge not lest ye also be judged, ” occurs in chapters where you’re suppose to evaluate people by the fruit or thistles they produce. Judge, in context apparently does not prevent you from judging, in this context. You’re supposed to pull the plank out, before you talk about your brother’s speck. You have a plank in your eye, and the plank is prideful ignorance of what this site is, who the people on it are, and why we’re here.
Amber Hagerman’s kidnapping was a horrible crime in 1996, and her killer was never found. Her family and many people inspired by the Story of her death and kidnapping, helped to form the Amber Alert system. The Amber system was followed by Silver Alerts and other local alert systems for specific cases. The story and community gathered around a horrible tragedy, they burned the evil doer, in mental effigy, even if he could not be caught, and they activated those who could do something to make the world better.
I have a goal in bringing awareness to this story. Two days ago, Bethany would have been 40 years old. Her 4 daughters would have been alive as well. Michael Gagnon though killed them. He drank and drove, and when I was sorting out my feelings and grief, I came to this site and I poured out my rage. I stopped thinking about trying to get a sniper rifle into position to shoot Michael Gagnon. I found a place for my feelings and I made this a cause instead of a movement for revenge. These are things people here helped me with.
Forgive this giant block of text, but I felt you deserved a chance to see what this is really about. I know it can be hard, but you should try to read the About page before you spout off. You might also try to read the Bible for comprehension, if you choose to do this sort of thing.
I by no means am trying to demean or insult your grief in any way. My point is simply, that although the intention of this site may be admirable. The point maybe for communal relief, the effect is the opposite. I fear that the communal condemnation and insults of this woman who is not here to defend herself is causing her husband to take up action against those who should be finding relief.
I can say, though I will not go into it, I have been in a similar situation. I do not find solace in this type of behaviour. It is not the condemnation of her actions that makes me angry. No one can agree with that. It is how it is demonstrated. To say these words in person would actually be considered assault. Though to say it on the internet, it is a release. Here, I find hatred. That sadens me. It was hatred and blind rage that took away the one that I loved, and that behaviour will never be okay with me. I’m sorry. You seem like an intelligent and educated man, so please, I mean no disrespect. But sometimes the cure is worse than the disease.
I simply wanted to say my peace. I wanted to explain that this site may be hurting other victims as well as helping some.
Good luck to you all. I mean no disrespect. But I do not agree with your point. The “plank” is out of my eye. I see things clearly. I have let go of my hate, and it was only at that point that I could really move on. I hope one day you took can move on, and learn to love those who need it the most.
Good luck!
found this on taconictragedy.com…..
HBO Documentary
My view of the HBO Documentary:
Where to begin? From Diane Schuler’s friends that hadn’t seen her in ten years, to the family’s ultimate show of love; exposing Diane’s dead body to the world, the HBO documentary was a farce beyond comprehension. “There’s Something Wrong with Aunt Diane” seems to fade in comparison to “There’s Something Wrong with HBO and the Schuler Family.”
The use of psychiatrists to replace medical examiners cast immediate doubt on the integrity of the documentary. To give conflicting scenarios and excuses for medical information already determined by medical experts, and documented in autopsy and toxicology results only proved that there is no mystery to this horrific story. Lacking a dentist, the documentary uses dental records from four years prior hoping viewers can believe an abscessed tooth lasts for four years.
In an attempt to add to the “mystery”, a cell phone call made at 11:37 is described as a happy and normal conversation. In addition to knowing that this can never be confirmed, the documentary omits that a signed deposition states that Diane was seen vomiting on the side of the road at 11:45. The doc also doesn’t mention that the calls placed by family members were made AFTER the accident, not as Diane was driving as the documentary depicts. There is some mystery however, the conflicting story as to just when the family learned of the second set of test results. The mystery is who to believe when no one tells the truth.
I did feel a moment of compassion in hearing that Brian was not in counseling, after hearing Jay state that he remembered “flying out of the car like superman”. Since Brian was found trapped inside the van in his car seat, I worry what they fill his mind with. I was also a bit shocked to see the picture of their two year old daughter carrying a beer bottle.
You may want to view the Sunoco video on my website, the documentary showed an edited view.
Watch how the van pulls out of the station.
Well, some call it denial. I call it a farce. Maybe Liz Garbus should quit her day job.
First of all, it doesn’t matter if Diane was an alcoholic or not. What matters is that she got into her van drunk and high off pot and killed 7 innocent people, including children!!! That is horrific, unforgivable and indefensible! Her husband needs to face the facts and stop being in denial. His dead wife is a murderer!!!!!!!!!!
I wouldn’t comment on whether the woman who was driving the wrong way was impaired. I worked in the NYS Courts for many years and have been shocked by many things. I will give her the benefit of the doubt. I will even give her the benefit of the sign. What cannot be overlooked is the fact that the children didn’t have seatbelts on. I don’t have a clue whether they could survive a 70mph HEAD ON accident. IMO anyone who drives w/o putting their children in carseats or properly fitting seatbelts are irresponsible already. I don’t plan to go to Hell so I won’t see anyone there. I Pray the Family recieves peace. The only way is through accepting the truth.
Hello Maggie,
On page 9 of 15, paragraph 6, item 33 of the official police report, the volunteer fireman involved in the rescue efforts “stated that all five children were seat-belted”. The report also confirms Erin was in a child seat.
The police report (easy to Google), along with the Autopsy and Toxicology reports are required reading for serious posters.
When you read the Toxicology report, I’m sure you will want to withdraw your “benefit of the doubt” comment about whether or not she was impaired.
The official statistics confirmed the actual speeds of the vehicles at the point of impact at Schuler: 85 MPH and Bastardi: 74 MPH, which is unbearable to think about.
I agree with you regarding: peace will come through accepting the truth. It could happen. :)
If there’s a hell, I wouldn’t be surprised to end up there. But some of my best friends will be there too, so we’ll be fine. ;)
And yes, it’s a fact she was seriously impaired. Her blood-alcohol content is well-known and verified.
Maggie, Don’t go away! Come back and tell us more about the New York state court system. That’s the arena for the final chapters of this tragedy.
my two cents: much like the disgruntled worker who takes out innocents in his workplace before blowing his head off, or, worse, the angry but cowardly father who murders his family before offing himself, i believe this evil bitch had a grudge, spent hours ‘working up’ (vis a vis, booze, weed) the nerve to kill herself, didn’t gave a god damn what innocents were going down with her and deliberately drove the wrong direction to kill herself. in fact, i believe she was so angry, so full of vengeance, that the more harm she could inflict on others she would have.
Does anybody have a theory why my sisters body would not have ANY blood left in it to test for the autopsy due to her being a passenger in a car/train wreck? We were able to have a open casket.
That’s why when I first came here I was so strong with my doubts with Diane. I know how much they screwed up EVERYTHING they did in my sisters case. Diane was in a horrific crash and she still had blood to test?! And another reason was, and this is the honest truth, the investigating officer in my sisters case told me he found a pot pipe in her purse. I said Ya? He said Well,she must have liked to smoke a little weed. I said Ya?! He said This was a accident, just forget about it! And this was after I gave them MANY reasons why it could have been murder! And my sister wasn’t even the one driving?! I just don’t understand?!
But that’s why I was so huffy when I first came here. I was thinking more about my sisters case and not educating myself more on Dianes case.
Wow, Pam. I’m no doctor, but that sounds really nuts to me! I’m not saying YOU are nuts, I’m saying that I can’t believe any car crash could completely exsanguinate a body. THAT is nuts. To drain a body entirely takes time, from what I’ve read, and there aren’t many natural ways for that to happen in a very short period of time. I would have to think that there would be SOME blood in her body that could have been tested.
Pot didn’t kill her, especially if she was the freakin PASSENGER. No wonder you’re so wound up!
I’m very sorry about your sister, Pam. And I’m sorry for your pain. I wish things like this never happened to anyone.
That is really odd, Pam. :( I don’t blame you a bit for being suspicious and upset.
In Diane’s case, she died almost instantly. Her neck and back were broken, and her aorta tore (which bleeds, but only into a body cavity). She bled very little externally because she was almost instantly dead/heart stopped pumping. Most of her blood would have been in her body.
If you happened to see the pictures taken right after her death, you might notice despite a couple open wounds, there was very little blood. There was also very little bruising for someone whose jaw was broken in several places.
The reactions we have to injuries stop upon death. She’s not very bruised nor bleeding because her heart was no longer pumping.
It’s part of how they can tell if an injury or mutilation happened before or after death. After death, there might still be tissue injury, but very little blood or bruising.
If you don’t mind me asking, Pam … who was the driver? This DOES sound suspicious.
Thanks for agreeing with me! His name is Dan Kohl, pronounced “Coal”. I know he’s out of prison now. He just got out not long ago. And NO not for killing my sister! For stealing someones checks! He got 5 yrs probation for the wreck. When he first entered prison I sued his insurance company to pay for my sisters funeral and the rest went to her 8 yr old daughter. BUT! haha he was telling people he was going to kill me because of doing that haha He said to his lawyer he needed that money to raise HIS daughter and who he meant was MY NIECE!!! And believe me, he is NOT her father!! This guy is a total NUT!!! I don’t know for sure where he lives now but at the time it was Bells Mills,Pa and the wreck happened there, leaving Cloe Dam, which where they were supposed to have gone that day there would be no way they would be in that area or heading in the direction they were heading. There are SO MANY things that don’t make sense. From little things to big things.
Thanks you both! The asshole that was driving the car is a NUT! Truly a NUT! Of course he wasn’t hurt! And of course we didn’t know he was a true nut until afterwards! He said the rail road lights weren’t flashing and I obtained the video and rights from the news station, who was at the scene within 10 minutes, that showed the the RR lights were working. And he gave a 100 different stories and did a 100 different odd things after she was killed. One example…He called the bar that she worked at, only a few hours after the crash, and told them, Hi! This is Dan (YES, another Dan!) the guy who killed Debbie today! Why would someone do that? The cops told me, Well people cope with things differetly. ???????? WHAT??? That’s NUTS!!! But my husband said,as we have been talking about it recently, that there had to be blood left in some of her organs. So, I don’t know. I have to figure out my next step. But I did finally get my husband to sit still long enough to watch the documentary about Diane and he thinks, with no doubts, she was drunk and high. He said, Even “if” she didn’t do this all the time, she did it that day. He’s a volunteer fireman and a QRS and hes seen so much. He just has no doubt about Diane and her actions. My son and his girl-friend feel the same way. My son said, Oh she was drunk and high and killed all those people and there’s no way around it!! I was the only one saying, Well, what if?? haha
Oh, and would anybody know if brain fluid would have blood in it? Surely it would? I honestly don’t remember why he even told me this, but the funeral director told me that she had ALOT of brain fluid that needed to be drained? Maybe he told me that pertaining to when we could start the viewings? I had to take care of everything because, as you can imagine, my mom was out of it so I did all the talking to everybody. Unfortunately, I was young and didn’t have the “Balls” I have now and when I thought I came to a dead end I thought there was nothing more I could do. But I’m older and I hope, wiser now.
I’ve been reading all comments and have to put in my two cents. After seeing the documentary, there were so many hidden hints at what was really going on with Diane and her husband. Daniel didn’t know she was a pot smoker and drinker because he wasn’t around! He worked nights. Plus, doesn’t sound like he was very in tune to anything about her. “They talked when something needed to be done around the house like clean the gutters.” And when his own mother said he was like Diane’s first child I can really see the picture. I’ve been in a similiar situation (my husband almost more like another child/responsibility than a helping partner). She was so tightly wound up she needed stress relievers to deal with pent up stress but couldn’t admit it. She drank and smoked in hiding because she didn’t want anyone to know she could have a weakness…she was a control freak with tremendous responsibility (the job she had shows she had a lot of responsibility there too), a family for which she had to do EVERYTHING, and she had to fulfill everyone’s expectations of her to be superwoman. I don’t think she had any intention of committing suicide, I think she saw the opportunity to imbibe in her secret vices while alone with only children, unintentionally drank too much and smoked weed which can make you paranoid and sick when drinking, and when she realized she was about to get found out because she’d gone too far, she totally lost it. She kept driving in an effort to get home without being caught. No one has said (I don’t think) if the direction she was driving on that highway would take her home…? Was she totally off track? She made a mistake and turned on the wrong road in her lost capacity. The OCD in her made her just keep going to maintain some semblance in her mind of her being in control – which she definitely was not.
The documentary wasn’t intended to clear her name, as stated by some I don’t think, and if it was, it certainly didn’t. It only showed how dysfunctional the family is, and makes Daniel and Jay look like idiots.
After watching the documentary on HBO “Something is wrong with Aunt Diane” I have decided being married to Danny Schuler would be enough to get me to drink. I am not minimizing Diane Schuler’s guilt. I believe she drank in secret and did a lot more pot than anyone around her realized. She also worked full time, did all the house work, was the sole caregiver of her kids (including Danny because that’s the way he acted), did all the cooking and basically was responsible for the entire household (bill paying, buying gifts, decorating). That’s a tall order and a lot of times we think that people who do this much are super moms and we wonder where they get their energy–well Diane Schuler showed us how people under a lot of stress get through it. She is ultimately responsible and I believe she didn’t stop on that fateful Sunday because more than anything she was a afraid her double life would be exposed and she couldn’t bear to be seen as anything less than perfect. But her husband, Baby Hughey, was perfectly happy to let Diane do everything, never offer to help, etc.
At one point in the documentary he said being a single parent was getting old. You mean like what your FULL TIME WORKING wife did BY HERSELF WITH TWO KIDS EVERYDAY is getting old?
It’s obvious to me that the big lug liked being taken care of and letting his wife do everything not caring or even asking if she needed help. And it’s sad that Diane felt that she either couldn’t ask for help from baby Hughey or didn’t because she wanted to keep her secret life secret.
I suspect Diane Schuler was already under the influence when she pulled into the gas station. Impaired judgment would be the only reason a “perfect” mother would leave five children unattended in a car to go into a gas station store. Just because she was not falling down drunk and slurring her words, does not mean she was sober. Just because she could carry on a conversation does not mean she did not have alcohol and pot on board. I suspect Diane’s choice of vodka as her “spirit” of choice is that it is not easily detectable by smell; many women drinkers chose this alcohol for this reason. My heart goes out to the Bastardi and Longo families. Dan Schuler and his sister-in-law, Jay, are wacko’s. And Dominck Barbara is scum.
She didn’t have a stroke…she had a migraine. She kept saying she couldn’t see..which leads me to believe she was experiencing Auras. Migraines cause extreme pain…but not to the point where you’re going to keep driving your car down the taconic in the wrong direction. Regardless of WHAT sort of pain she was in…in the end, it was HER DECISION on how to handle the pain (swigging booze) and it was irresponsible <– this is if you want to go with her husbands theory
I wouldn't consider Mr Schuler to be sane in any sense of the word (hello??? he said he was pissed his wife died cause now he's stuck taking care of his son who *btw* was lucky to survive the accident in the first place…piece of shit much?) . To sue his own family (who lost three daughters as the result of his wife's stupidity) is just appalling…his fruitless attempts to canonize his wife have probably done more harm to her name than good.
Was Diane an alcoholic?? WE DON'T KNOW!!!! Given her husbands ignorance AFTER her death…I'm pretty sure he wouldn't have known either.
Whatever led up to her decision to DRINK (which there is NO disputing..and im sorry…she didn't confuse vodka for water and drink 10 drinks worth..get real) she is the one responsible for this horrendous crash….its fine to try to get people to remember her for the good things she's done with her life..but to come out like some crazy guy shooting all this nonsense around and suing people..definitely makes the family name and diane's herself..look tawdry, cheap and crazy…a perfect picture of complete lunacy!
The sheer ignorance this man displays
When did she say she couldn’t see? I’d really like to know. I agree with the rest of it, but I don’t agree that she was in any pain at all. The ‘migraine’ theory has been debated to death on this blog. I’m sure it’s difficult to find those threads, but if you look you might be able to. Good luck. ;)
The video of her going into the liquor store does not show a woman who is in physical pain, in my opinion. When you go into a store to get meds for an immediate condition, usually you’re holding or favoring the injured area. She would have been rubbing her temples, her eyes, her forehead. She would have been weaving while walking at the very least, especially if she was experiencing auras. It’s just what people do when they are concentrating on their pain, even though they know that it won’t help. Most of the time, they don’t even know they’re doing it.
I wish Daniel would stop suing people and just get out of the public eye. He should leave the remaining victims alone. He’s such a selfish, socially retarded asshole, I doubt he will back off any time soon. He has something to prove to the rest of the world – that Diane wasn’t an alcoholic, and that nothing happened to provoke her suicide. Her actions reflect badly on him, in his opinion, and Daniel is obviously the only person that Daniel has ever cared about. The rest of us may not have had that opinion of him at all, we would have seen him as the mourning widower that he should be. We would have seen him as a victim. The only person in his family that I feel for at all is his ‘son’, Bryan. Daniel is a terrible father, he’s not getting Bryan into therapy and he has said that he doesn’t want Bryan and that he never did. (‘son’ in quotes because the word implies that somewhere there is a ‘father’.)
It should have been Daniel in that car with Diane. And they should have run it off a cliff.
If you chugged as much alcohol as Diane did, you wouldn’t be able top see much either.
Let’s put it this way:
If you voted for George W.Bush, you killed over four thousand of our fine young military people for no reason plus over one hundred thousand Iraqis, many of them innocent. In my eyes, your lapse in judgement makes you much more of a mass murderer than Diane Schuler. I’m sure you wouldn’t see it that way, but that is the damage YOU have done while walking this planet. Your ignorance, like Diane’s is a killer. Ignorance kills.
If ignorance kills, why aren’t you dead?
hahahahahahaha…..great response mike!
If you read what i wrote…I said that that is DANIELS theory..not mine. If you watch the documentary they discuss the possibility that she was self medicating…I’m simply saying that even if that WAS the case..she still exhibited poor judgment..I get chronic migraines and they certainly don’t cause me to drive the opposite way down the highway.
I agree with your last paragraph about Daniel (which is pretty much what I said in my original entry) I’d like to also say that since the documentary/”mock”umentary on HBO “there’s something wrong with aunt Diane” that Bryan is apparently in therapy…which is a plus at least
I did watch the documentary. Of course.
My last paragraph is what I’ve been saying for a couple of years, along with a number of other people who have followed this case. It’s a universal impression, which is why it is so disgusting that he’s keeping up with it. No one is arguing with you, no need to get defensive.
I’ve read since the documentary, that Bryan is no longer in therapy. Of course, there’s so much convoluted info out there, it’s nearly impossible to follow it unless you keep up on it on a daily basis.
My two cents: In my family, if a family member did something like what this bitch did and had the audacity to survive, they wouldn’t two seconds after the cousins and I got done with them. If they didn’t survive well the feeling would be “good riddance” and the body might be buried.
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I have watched the documentary several times and have cried each time. I have read everything I can about Diane’s story. It makes me so very sad that so many innocents were killed that day because of Diane’s choices. I smoke pot almost every day. There’s no particular reason I smoke, I’m not stressed out or overworked. I just like it. My long time husband has no idea. I have never smoked in front of him and I don’t carry it around and drive when using. I get it from a friend I’ve known for over 20 years. She said the stuff the younger people get these days is way stronger than what we smoke. I believe Diane was fighting tooth pain, I have also experienced severe tooth pain and it was truly awful. She chose to self medicate with vodka, probably beginning at the McDonald’s and then continuing in the van. When that didn’t help the way she needed it to, she smoked. Whether she chose to do this in the van with the kids or while stopped somewhere we will never know. But she did smoke and she probably smoked some powerful pot that put her way over the edge. She panicked and became paranoid about being caught driving in that condition. But rather than pull over and let her brother help her, she continued to drive. I don’t want to believe she intended to kill herself and those kids or anyone else. But she did, because she chose to keep driving. I cry the most for the children in the van going the wrong way. The older girls had to realize they were going the wrong way and that their aunt was going way too fast and was not even trying to stop. May they all rest in peace together in heaven.
There is no evidence that Diane smoked that day. She had a high level of THC but she was a big girl and THC stores itself in the body fat. I am a former lab tech and I should know. I’m sure the old broad they dug up for the documentary didn’t consider this. She wouldn’t have smoked it in front of the kids. They would have smelled it. She mostly smoked at night to go to sleep. There was no mention of finding any pot or pipes in the vehicle. Regardless, as much as the ignorant people on this site want to blame pot for this accident, it had nothing to do with it. Alcohol killed these people. Boozers don’t want to admit it because when they are filling their grocery carts to the brim with booze at CVS they want to hate their convienient scapegoats, the evil pot smokers.
Competitive with you are at covering this you’ll plan in advance to write a novel on the stock market… and that i is normally the first buyer.
I believe that Diane had a migraine that was brought on by her bad tooth. I then feel that her tooth infection was so far gone that she had a flash fever that made her delireous and she drank the vodka thinking it was water. Not many people have ever seen someone have a fever this high but it makes you think and see and do things that are abnormale. She was probably not even aware of the kids being in the car. I am saddened by the fact that one day a little boy will be sitting at a computer and type in his mothers name and see this web site. Shame on the person that thought of it and I pray that your family never end up one one like it.
And I pray one day you will be able to use that mush you have stored between your ears.
If it had been my mother I would have demanded the truth not some drummed up bullshit steaming pile of shit that you presented us with.
Well Janet I believe you are an idiot.
She was drunk and high. It doesnt matter how or why she got that way. Her ” bad tooth” was from years ago and how many people have mistaken vodka for water? Really? I guess its because they taste just like one another, right?
After the phone call from her brother, she panicked and drove the wrong way on purpose to get as far from the call site as she knew that her brother was coming to get her. Like all addicts, she didnt want to be outed.
The kids were crying and screaming in the car during one of the phone calls, obviously she knew they were there but maybe her headache made her deaf too.
As for her son, his father should be monitoring his activity online as long as he is in his care. But he wont because he is just as guility as she was.
PS. You spelled delirious and abnormal wrong
I don’t care that you think Diane had a toothache or any of the other list of far-fetched, unsupported, undocumented medical conditions that you claim she had and lead to her actions. She’s one more drunk, stoned driver who murdered her blood and perfect strangers.
I’m upset that some day a young boy will do a search on his mother’s name, and people like you will try to candy coat the horrible thing she was and did because you think that makes the world better or somehow makes what happened unimportant.
People died you soul less, un-christian, unthinking blob of useless. It makes no sense to sweep these murders under the rug. It makes so much more sense to make this an allegory that might stop the next drunk from going down the road and killing other people.
Well put, Jason. Blob of useless — good one.
Oh, she was an alcoholic alright. I drank for 20 years and didn’t show any physical signs of alcoholism. This January, I will have NOT drank for 20 years. Thank God for the moment of sanity that got me sober.
I have been obsessed with this case for awhile now. I didn’t read all of the comments but I would like to say that as far as I know, the Hance’s were home that weekend. They didn’t help pack the cars at the campsite, because they weren’t there. Sorry for being a pointer-outer, I have nothing but live for this site and the amazing folks that run it. And just for the record, I hope she sizzles like a sausage. Selfish bitch.
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Dainel is an ass. Wake and deal with the fact that your wife killed all those people. I think he is worried about being sued and that is why he is trying to sue the dead girls family now.
Diane Schuler is an hero.
i’ll just ignore the troll above me.
anyway, i have something to say to everyone who’s been saying things along the lines of “judge not, lest ye be judged”.
i’m ready to be judged. go ahead. i’m not a very good person. i’m an alcoholic, for one thing, which i’m sure has caused my friends and family plenty of stress and emotional pain. i lie a lot (which facilitates the alcoholism). i’m very impulsive and make pretty bad decisions pretty often.
i’ve done incredibly stupid things when drunk. however – here’s where i see fit to judge diane – none of them have hurt anyone but me (other than emotionally, but, like i said, go ahead and judge me for that – i do it myself daily).
a great example of my incredible drunken stupidity is the time i got myself hit by a car. it was completely my fault. i was jaywalking at night wearing all black. and you know what? i took responsibility. i dropped all charges against the driver. i wish i could have done more, since i caused him the trauma of seeing a young girl’s body bounce off his windshield.
do you see what i’m saying here? i made a mistake. i suffered the consequences of that mistake. i didn’t try to blame anyone else for my mistake. therefore, judge me for making a mistake, but i reserve the right to judge diane schuler, because my actions have never caused another person to die.
and that’s because i know i’m likely to make mistakes, so i take precautions. i’ve mentioned this before: i don’t drive, i don’t have a car, i don’t have a driver’s license, and i don’t even really know how to drive. i don’t have kids and don’t babysit. i’ve never hit another person in my life.
so bring on the judgement, if it means i can keep judging a fucking moron who decided to drive drunk with kids in the car, and her fucking, fucking asshole of a husband who won’t stop suing everyone for his wife’s dumbass decisions.
(oh, also i swear a lot. you can judge me for that too.)
I’ll be the first to admit that I am a damn stupid drunk. Just to name a few I’ve…
1. Got into a literal pissing contest, forgetting that I am a female and therefore lack the hardware to get any distance with my stream.
2. Managed to make a bunch of people’s “stupid quotes list” on facebook at a time when that site was regulated to a few colleges only.
3. Woke up in one or two ‘coyote ugly’ type situations.
4. Went out drinking in semi-professional drag with a bunch of drag queens and let them ‘auction’ me off
You get the picture. What I have never done is put anyone else in any type of harmful situation. Even with the coyote ugly nights I used protection. My best example is the time I drove to a college party, got completely hammered, stumbled into my van, causing a dent, then needed two people to support me in a half-mile trek to the nearest bus station to get back to campus. In three inch heels. Forgetting there was no bus service the next day, and therefore having to embark on a two and a half mile trek back to pick up my van with the blisters from the night before. It wasn’t the end of my college drinking career, but it was the point where I got smart about making sure there was a DD so I didn’t have to retrieve my vehicle the next day.
Judge me for my mistakes. Judge me for letting my three year old dress herself, completely forgetting it was picture day, and judge me for buying the photos because they were freaking hilarious (tutu, snow boots, polka dot leggins, sports jersey, jean jacket, and plastic fireman’s hat if you’re interested). Judge me for badly breaking a man’s heart. I’m not perfect. I’m never going to be perfect. I have laughed at people who wear themselves out trying to be perfect. But what I do doesn’t kill people. It doesn’t hurt them (save for the broken heart, but he’s happily married with a kid now, and I don’t think he would have been as happy if I hadn’t broken his heart).
I cast stones. I shouldn’t. I should feel compassion for everyone, but I can’t bring myself to do it. I can’t empathize with people who take lives for whatever selfish reasons they have.
Do I think most drunks who go out on the road and kill someone woke up that morning and thought “I’m going to go get pissed and mow down some family?”. No. Do I care? HELL no. Because they made the decision. Most of these stories have people driving for miles drunk. Diane drove 1.7 miles the wrong way down a busy limited acess highway. Michael Gagnon drove 4. Each passed people going the correct way, and neither noticed something was horribly wrong and/or cared to do anything about it. I’m not particularly religious, but the church I go to says that every human has the right to dignity and respect. But I can’t muster it for people like this.
So judge me for judging them. In the end you’ll find that my little rants on a website are probably much less concerning to whoever is upstairs.
This article and a lot of these comments are in such bad taste. It doesn’t matter what happened, she was still a human being, a mother, a wife, a daughter and sister to someone else. You people are really sick. Until you lose a loved one, don’t be so quick to judge and condemn people. Think of their families. You should be ashamed of yourselves.
Nikki, these drunk drivers have already taken friends from me. Your attempt to dissuade fails to recognize the reason Drunk Drivers have to be burned even after they kill someone.
Margaret Mitchell, the writer of Gone with the Wind, was killed in 1949 by a drunk driver who had been cited 23 times for traffic violations including drunk driving. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Mitchell#Death
The creep who killed her got 4 months in jail.
Michael Gagnon, who killed my friend Bethany, her newborn Vadie, her daughters Lacey and Hailey and her step daughter Jordan, got 43 years. Had Diane survived her suicide attempt, she’d have gotten a similar sentence.
The reason the sentences have gotten stiffer? Because people pay attention and started noticing that the only way to stop drunk driving was to give the penalties teeth and enforce the laws on the books. Bringing attention to Diane’s case may help to finally make DUI Homicide a capital crime–that’s worth it.
I am thinking of the families, Nikki.
I’m thinking of the parents who will never be able to tuck their kids in again. I tuck my daughters in at night, and it’s because of people like Diane Schuler and Michael Gagnon that I worry that this might be the last time I get to tuck them in. It makes it hard to put them down and let them sleep. As a mother my first job is to protect and love them, and I can’t imagine how I would feel if they were taken away from me and I failed to protect them.
I’m thinking of the children who have to grow up without parents. I’m a daddy’s girl, even though I’ve got two of my own. I would have been devastated not to have him around to walk me down the aisle. Not to have my mother there to call in the middle of the night when I have a crying baby who won’t go to sleep. Or, if I was younger, just to have a loving force taken away and have to deal with the pain and loss.
I’m thinking of the brothers and sisters who have lost their best friends.
I’m thinking of the grandparents who have to sit by the coffins of their grandchildren.
I’m thinking of the aunts, uncles, cousins, etc, who have to look at that seat their relative always sat in and realize they’ll never hear that story they’ve heard a dozen times already again. The one they’d do anything to hear just one last time.
I’m thinking of the friends, like Jason (who rocks, BTW) who are still fighting years after the fact to keep the memories of the victims as the most important thing, because it’s much easier to find the name of the asshat who decided that driving was a good idea after pounding a few back.
I’ve lost people I love. I have been fortunate enough that none of them were through violence or an idiot drunken driver, but I’ve sudden, unexpected loss. I also know what it’s like to fall to your knees in the middle of a hospital and beg anyone who will listen to take everything you have as long as your child pulls through this operation or survives after being put on a vent after birth (I had to do this twice).
What I am not thinking about are those people who are so damn selfish they can’t just kill themselves and be done with it. They are so damn important that it doesn’t matter they’ve had drinks numbering in the double digits- they have things to do! What these people, and I use that term lightly, do is nothing short of the ultimate selfish act- especially a woman like Diane Schuler who had children in her car and still didn’t think twice about putting the bottle to her lips. Even if she was Mother Teresa before that day, she still put herself over the children in her car and everyone on the road in danger. And seven people, not including herself, paid the ultimate price because of whatever issues drove her to drink that day.
So, Nikki, maybe you should look up Jason’s friends, the Griffin family, who were killed a few years back. Hell, just look up baby Vadie’s picture, if you can still find one. Eight weeks. That’s all that baby got in this world. My baby passed the eight-week milestone a month and a half ago, and I’ll remember that one because the day she turned eight weeks was the first day she gave me a big toothless grin. I’ll even sound cliche here, and ask what might she have been if she grew up? Or any of the children in that car, or the car driven by Diane Schuler? Did the inventor of the cure for cancer die that day? We’ll never know, because this woman you want us to have compassion for made a damn choice. Look at the pictures of the little girls who died in this crash, and remember where your compassion should truly lie.
There is not much I can add to this discussion that hasn’t already been said. But regardless of whether or not this woman liked to indulge in pot, or was a closet alcoholic (I believe she was), I just keep thinking one thing while watching the documentary and reading everything about her: psychotic break. I believe that is what happened that morning. There is no other explanation for a woman who had by all accounts never left anything to chance, to become so unglued. She had a death wish, and I believe this to be the direct result of a psychotic break. The blame falls on her and I’m sure her husband’s “I don’t want kids, this is your job, and oh by the way make sure you maintain a $100,000 a year job and a spotless home, thanks” mentality didn’t help. What kind of a man does this to INNOCENT victims and tells his long survivor son to stop crying over his mother’s death because it won’t bring her back? A man who looks out for #1 above all else.
sorry for the typo, that should have read “lone survivor”
I’d really like to see a medical reason behind the finding of raw alcohol in someone’s system if they weren’t consuming alcohol. What she did was selfish, no matter her reasoning. I could go on & on about what she shouldn’t done, but none of that would bring back those girls & the other innocent people who’ve passed due to her lack of self control. I hope the families of the victims can somehow find peace, I couldn’t imagine losing a child, let alone more than one in such an awful way. They were crying in the background of the phone calls. The panic in their hearts, they knew the whole way that something was going to happen & they didn’t have any control over it.
All of the comments ‘reprimanding’ the majority of the posters here for vilifying “poor Diane” just make me ill. WHY should anyone have compassion for that drunken pig? I feel sorry for anyone who feels they are suffering in this life, I truly do. But when dealing with that said suffering involves chugging alcohol while driving a minivan filled with little ones,well, that’s where MY compassion ends. And she didn’t have a single thought as to the strangers whose lives she would alter, either. It just boggles the mind that anyone would feel even an iota’s worth of sympathy for someone like Diane Schuler.
Diane Schuler has failed far worse than her own mother had. Such a shame for the Bastardi, Longo, and Hance families. Hopefully Daniel’s stink in rehab helps with his denial.
First of all I hope Diane Schuler rots deap down i fucking hell because she is a crazy fucking bitch and needed to die!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The only people i feel sorry for is the other family she hit and the kids i dont feel sorry for her nor her fucking husband or the fucking bitch of a sister in law stop fucking lieing and deal with the fucking truth she was a fucking bitch and she deaserved to fucking die i hate drinking and driveing just as much as i do texting while driveing if you want to drink and drive/text an drive do us all a faver and get a gun and shot yourself in the fucking face enstead of kill somebody els that doesent deserve to fucking die
First of all I hope Diane Schuler rots deap down in fucking hell because she is a crazy fucking bitch and needed to die!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The only people i feel sorry for is the other family she hit and the kids i dont feel sorry for her nor her fucking husband or the fucking bitch of a sister in law stop fucking lieing and deal with the fucking truth she was a fucking bitch and she deaserved to fucking die i hate drinking and driveing just as much as i do texting while driveing if you want to drink and drive/text an drive do us all a faver and get a gun and shot yourself in the fucking face enstead of kill somebody els that doesent deserve to fucking die
ok look watch the movie on HBO documetery and watch what the husband says he didnt know eny thing about the vocka bottle and then he says they usally carry one with them so that right there should tell you hes a fucking lieing cock sucker and needs to fucking deal with the fucking truth that she was drunk and high and she fucking killed the kids and the other family that she hit she was a crazy fucking bitch and so is the sisster in law and the fucking husband and i hope they all fucking rot in fucking hell because of that stupied shit
Although I do agree that the husband should take some responsibility for this, please learn how to use correct punctuation and how to spell. That was the longest run on sentence I have ever saw. Also, please don’t try to say it was a typo because leaving out/adding a letter is a typo, not putting any kind of punctuation in a paragraph is poor grammar. Sorry if I sound harsh, but it’s seriously hard to read and to take you serious. I know hurtful….but true(just like your name except spelled correctly.)
Sorry Tiffany im lazy to put punctuations in stupied shit like this so i just fucking keep typing lol so im sorry i will next time tho and the husband i hope he hits a gard rail with just him in the car and the fucking gard rail goes thro his body. sorry thats how i feel and I am alloud to say it.
I think this story just goes to show that people often have secrets, problems and issues going on that no one else knows about, and in this case even her own husband. I just feel sorry for the families of the people who were killed, especially the mother of the 3 nieces. My heart goes out to them. I don’t think Diane was a bad person, she had a problem. And I don’t think we can really judge her, only God can do that.
Diane Shuler’s husband is just an asshole. Period. He’s an asshole now and I quite sure he was always an asshole. He’s in denial ! People go thru that after a major tragedy and when you;re an asshole on top of it….well. Need I say more ? The bad thing about vodka (besides drinking it when you’re driving with a carfull of kids) is that before you know it, you could have put away way too much before it really starts to kick. Throw in some pot and wow. What was this woman thinking for Christ sake ? Why did she turn left and head in the complete wrong direction from the way home ? She had made this drive many times. This thing is so tragic !