Diane Schuler: An Interesting Perspective
When I first wrote up the Diane Schuler tragedy back in July of 2009, the facts were still coming in. I tried to keep every up to the minute with frequent updates, but it was impossible to catch every development when it happened.
Fortunately for this website, one of our regulars, FuzzyWuzzy, became admittedly obsessed with finding the truth behind all the bullshit that came out of the Schuler and Hance family camps concerning the head-on collision that claimed the lives of Diane and 7 innocent victims. He posted several comments stating his findings, and they were good – very, very good.
Because the Schuler and Hance families have worked so hard to confuse the issue as to what really happened the day in July, Fuzzy debunked just about every lie they told, and also came up with some very interesting theories about Diane’s thinking. He also didn’t have many nice things to say about Diane’s husband Daniel. I can safely say that I probably read 95% of the articles and official documents released on this case, and Fuzzy’s article here is hands down the most complete, thorough, and well written piece I’ve seen on the Diane Schuler tragedy.
But perhaps he may have gotten a little too close to the truth, because Fuzzy posted the same comments he posted on PYSIH on several other websites. He informed me the other day that those comments were being suddenly and systematically removed from most of the websites other than PYSIH. I found that a bit curious.
So, to more prominently display his work on our website, and to make sure people who want to read what he found out will be able to do so, I asked FuzzyWuzzy to consolidate all his comments into one article that I could publish on our front page. This is the result of all his hard work.
Please read this, you won’t be disappointed. Some of the author’s conclusions are pure conjecture – he states this clearly in a couple of places – but most of what he concludes is backed up with solid facts that can’t be made to disappear. Unlike those comments FuzzyWuzzy made on certain other websites, websites that don’t seem to hold the First Amendment in any kind of regard
-Max The Cat
The Diane Schuler tragedy on the Taconic in July 2009 has been out of the news for a while now. However, the innocent victims of her actions have recently filed a civil suit since the 
Westchester County DA declined to follow through on the case to examine the ‘strong fragrance of criminality’ noted by the victims lawyers. There is much to this story that has not been revealed, and the public has a right to know what kind of crazy people are driving our roads. There will never be closure for the victims, or for the many people who were affected by this story.
Since I drive the same route where this accident took place, I can’t get it out of my mind, seeing that spot week after week and trying to make sense of it. So much information was released by the media, the police reports, the surveillance video etc… that I could not help but look at it all in detail and try to make sense of it for myself.
Here is what I have come up with, much of it is based on the facts presented, much of it I have obviously inferred, but after many hours of consideration, I think my story is a reasonably plausible explanation for something so outrageous that it almost defies the 
human mind to comprehend.
The more I read about this case, the clearer it gets; it was a murder/suicide. The official story put out by her family is that ‘something medical had to have happened’. That the toxicology report saying she was drunk and high on pot is wrong. That she never drank. But the evidence is not there, and in fact has been disputed by family members who said she smoked pot regularly and her husband who publicly said she never drank, but told the police she drank the weekend of the crash.
I, and every other sane person, disagrees with the absurd theories put forth so far, Anbesol, stroke, toothache, bump on the leg…. etc. This is not the ‘mommy’s a secret addict’ story like the media has perpetuated to no end, she was uniquely crazy and suicidal and had to know what she was doing. Those people know what happened and have been protecting themselves since the brother first called the 
police and sugar-coated the situation as ‘a possible medical emergency’ and the husband only can say ’she was sober when she left..” so its not my fault. The husband hired shark lawyer Dominic Barbera and Tom Ruskin, convicted felon private investigator to defend Diane’s image to the public.
Private investigator Thomas Ruskin, 55, of CMP Protective & Security Group of Manhattan, was an NYPD detective until he was indicted in 1996 in Louisiana on a 12-count federal indictment, charging him with several felonies, including conspiring “to defraud various commercial airlines,” according to federal court documents.
After being put on modified duty, he retired from the NYPD in March 1999, a police spokesman said. Two months later, he pleaded guilty to a single federal count of conspiracy in 
Louisiana, a felony.
-Max
By way of background told by those involved, Diane Schuler, her husband Danny and their 2 small children went camping with Diane’s brother’s 3 children at their camper that was set up in a campsite in Sullivan County NY. The story goes that Danny went to the campsite on Thursday morning for a day or two of solitary fishing, just him and his dog. Diane worked Thursday and Friday, then packed up her kids, drove from eastern Long Island to Floral Park NY to pick up the other three kids and drive her brothers minivan to the camp site on Friday evening. None of the witness reports say anyone saw Diane at the campsite, but the owner said she saw them leave around 9:30 Sunday morning for the 140 or so mile trip back home.
They left a campsite in separate vehicles, with Diane taking all 5 kids under the age of 9 while Danny took the dog. Diane stopped at McDonald’s around 10 am, then stopped for gas 
around 10:45, then hit the highway to drop off her brothers kids and then pick up her car and continue home with her kids. The story did not pan out the way it was supposed to.
Here’s how it went.
At the first stop at McDonald’s, Diane was caught on video apparently (it has not been released) having a discussion with the cashier and then the manager trying to get Chicken Selects during breakfast since they do not serve them at that hour, eating and letting the kids play on the playground. She convinced them to make them. Maybe she argued with them at McDonald’s to get her kids their last favorite meal and let them play in the playground there since she was gearing up for the fatal ride. Was it premeditated? She fed the kids, got her OJ mixer to go. The McDonald’s employees told police she did not seem intoxicated.
Later, her defenders used the Chicken Selects defense and state the McDonald’s employees determined she was not drunk. Like no drunk person has ever successfully ordered at McDonald’s apparently. Of course; there is no chance the McDonald’s employee’s, especially a manager, will admit anything suggesting they allowed an intoxicated person to leave their premises with 5 children in a vehicle. So there is zero value in any statement made by these employees, they were not under oath, plus they were interviewed by a convicted felon (Tom Ruskin) and the statement is not consistent with the official police report which does not mention any manager interaction or special orders etc… They have every possible reason to 
lie to cover their liability.
Think about it, why has there been no crazy Dominic Barbera theory that she got sick after eating at McDonald’s? With all the crazy theories they have put out there you would think this would be on the top of the list. So is there some conspiracy between the McDonald’s employees and the Schuler’s. If they thought she was drunk at McDonald’s, and made a scene requiring a manager to intervene (which was not in the police report) and then they gave her what she wanted and got rid of her, that implicates them, if they say she was drunk, it also implicates Danny who said she was not drunk ½ hour prior. This is just not a reliable account as both parties stand to lose if they make any admission she was impaired.
The next video is of Diane at a gas station where she pulls in, pumps her gas, then walks into the store where she takes 8 steps in and back out, pausing for a second to ask the clerk something. This clerk declined being interviewed by police, but did speak to Tom Ruskin and apparently stated she was sober. But the video shows he did not even look up as she walked in, plus she is wearing sunglasses the whole time.
I watched the gas station video a couple of times, first, she walks in and out of the place in about 10 seconds, the guy doesn’t even look up as she enters and the exchange seen can’t be more than on second as she asks something as she walks out the door and gets in the van where she sits for a few minutes, possibly dumping vodka into the OJ from McDonald’s?
If anything the video shows her as a reckless driver. She drives like a maniac. She peels out from the pumps at a much higher rate of speed than other cars in the video, whips around 180 degrees past the other pumps on the wrong side, (if someone had been pulling up she would have hit them head on) then she flies out the entrance, staying to the left side of the entrance (IN) where oncoming cars 
would be coming in to the station, then you can see her zooming out into oncoming traffic lane on the wrong side of the exit to make her left turn across the lane of oncoming traffic! The only thing this video ‘proves’ is that drunk or sober, she is a terror on the road and a menace
It looks like she peeled out of that gas station with a death wish. She drove like a maniac until she was numb enough to not care. She must have told her brother and sister in law something in those phone calls that sealed her fate, she left the phone and with it all hope of being stopped or saved, she drove up the Saw Mill to the Taconic, turned around and came back to end it all. Was she not confused, but rather building up her nerve.
Many witness reports from the police detail her crazed ride down Route 17 and onto the New York State Thruway, where she tailgated, honked, flashed her brights, passed cars on the shoulder, stopped at least twice to be sick by the side of the road, drove on the grass at the Ramapo Rest Area.
The next stop was just over the Tappan Zee Bridge, where the crux of the ending of the story seems to have developed. One of her brother’s kids, Emma, called home scared, talking about the slurred speech of Diane. Several phone calls later with her brother and sister in law, something happened.
She got out of the car and left the phone by the side of the road to eliminate the distraction. The phone probably got dumped because the kids 
kept calling home. I think this is where her plan was crystallized. Something came out in those calls that she could not live with. She knew they were coming to look for her as her brother told her to stay there, he was coming to get her. As soon as the kids told the brother what the road signs said, she went in the opposite direction, north, up the Saw Mill so they would be looking in the wrong place. She was not confused, she was still making premeditated decisions to carry out the plan.
Then she told her brother she was on Southern State Parkway on Long Island, come on, no matter how drunk you are you can tell the difference between the 2 mile long Tappan Zee toll bridge soaring over the Hudson and Southern State pkwy. She had gone through the toll literally 30 seconds before making the call. She didn’t crash into the toll booth and was able to pull over to the pull off on the right shoulder. The 4 or 5 right hand toll lanes there are all cash only, since they claim they checked the time on her EZpass, that means she probably went through tolls on the left and had to navigate across at least 5 lanes of toll plaza traffic to the pull off without hitting anything.
The details of these phone calls are the key. But I am afraid the brother is not telling the whole story about the phone calls with Diane. Both of them talked to her, but I really think it was the kids that called 1st, then Warren called back and got her on the phone. The content of this call is the key to her mindset. I really doubt she said she wasn’t feeling well and had tunnel vision, etc…if she was slurring and calling her brother Warren by her husband Danny’s name, she was out of it and not going to be describing her symptoms like that. I think they are putting words in her mouth.
What was said that made her get out of the van and put the phone on the divider? What made her drive away in the opposite direction they would have thought she was going in to look for her?
She hung up on Warren, left the phone and took off in the opposite direction fully aware of what she was doing and she wouldn’t be distracted by his repeated calls her phone picked up as missed calls. So why didn’t he call the police right away?
Instead, he drove all the way to Westchester looking for her and then stopped at the police station. It was his wife Jackie who called the police from home after Warren left. In the police calls when they were looking for her, they never mention the vision, or confusion problems, he only describes it a possible medical emergency. The cops were probably looking for someone stopped by the side of the road when they should have put out an APB for a crazy confused driver menacing the population of the roads.
Tapes of phone calls to the police were released. Where they are attempting to track her cell phone. But it was too late, an hour had passed since the last phone contact with Diane, and by the time Warren arrived at the Police station, Danny was home already and everyone else was already dead. Another thing I noticed on the tapes of the brother at the police station is that when they are discussing the cell phone they mention that the voice mail says “Diane Hance” not Schuler even though the phone was registered under the name Diane Schuler and they were married for 6 or 7 years (according to the New York Magazine article, Danny didn’t even know how long they were married).
From this, a picture emerges that Danny went there on early Thursday, had a nice relaxing time by himself, while Diane had to work Thursday and Friday, then get her kids ready and packed up, drive to Floral Park, pick up the other kids, drive to the campground and take care of everyone. Even her brother and sister-in-law were having a weekend to themselves, but she was stuck with all 5 kids and a clueless husband.
They drank Friday night at the campground he says. Then Saturday Danny says they went to bed at 11:30 and he got up at 5. So, likely Danny crashes out, Diane has insomnia (as her family has stated she suffered from and smoked pot to fall asleep), so she stays up drinking and smoking all night. He gets up at 5 and goes fishing, leaving her to wake up the kids, pack up and get all the kids in the car to take them out for breakfast and then drive them home, drop off the kids in Floral Park then drive out to Suffolk while Danny and the dog went off in the pickup truck merrily oblivious. They supposedly leave together, but he doesn’t stop at the McDonald’s with her to help with the kids or anything, he keeps going, he doesn’t follow her, or take his son, or any of the kids. She then has to stop for gas too where she is probably looking for Tylenol since she is hung over. But her sister in law said she didn’t believe in medicine, so why was she looking for Tylenol?
In the police report, the brother then says this was the first season they camped at that campsite, so how does the owner say she knows them for years? And Danny says they have been going there for years. The brother is very vague with the times the kids called (‘sometime in the late morning”). Wouldn’t it have been tormenting enough so he would have looked at those call times over and over trying to figure it all out minute by minute? He and his wife had to know what was up, they both talked to a trashed Diane Schuler and had to know she was wasted. The kids were crying in the background. In the police report Danny says the brother called him and said there was an accident, but the police tapes have Warren talking to Danny before the crash trying to get information on the phone bill..etc. so they could track her.
On page 10 of the police report, a witness describes traveling north on the Taconic at 1:15 pm and being cut off by the minivan ALSO TRAVELING NORTH getting on the Taconic from the Saw Mill Parkway. This is right where the crash happened, about 200 yards north of the Saw Mill/Taconic merge. This means she went up the Taconic past the crash site, then turned around and got back on the same exit ramp in the wrong direction. She scouted the route! Probably saw a perfect spot to end it all and headed back down the road heading south knowing what was going to happen and where, there is a blind curve with a hill right at the crash site, no chance for the unwitting accessory to the crime to react evasively. There are two (2) turnarounds in that stretch of road, plus a lot of wide grass median and shoulder to change your mind if you wanted to.
Also, the husbands story about the vodka being his is total BS. He drinks beer, very few men drink vodka as their drink of choice, especially when they are beer drinkers. Vodka is a chick drink. And if it takes you 9 months to drink 1.75 liters of vodka, why are you carrying it around, why is it that important? The story about the vodka bottle is an example of the deep denial. That bottle costs 25 dollars, how frugal are they that they claim they carried the same bottle for a year? Sorry, but if you have a couple of drinks a week, that bottle is going to last 2 months tops. And who is going to go camping for the weekend and have one tiny little drink, then bring it home? So, that means they drink it at home too, so how could it last that long? Just doesn’t make sense. If the vodka meant that little to them why carry it around? They guy was sort of a cop, doesn’t he know it’s illegal to carry open containers? Oh, right, he said he didn’t pack it, so she did, without his knowledge.
A quote from the Steve Fishman article in New York Magazine (click here to view the entire article):
I want to know if Danny feels guilty in some general way, for inattention or absence or anything. “Absolutely not,” Danny says.
Wow. How can someone have no feelings of guilt at all? It is incomprehensible. Not even guilty for not following her down the road? For not calling her when she didn’t show up? He was home before they even crashed. I can’t possibly imagine not second-guessing every minute of that day and being overcome with guilt? Come on, guilt is one of the most basic human emotions there is, even when you have no control over a situation it is there. Is it possible this man has no emotions whatsoever? All he has lamented over is the loss of his wife and child, he never even mentions the 3 relatives, or 3 strangers that lost their lives.
The Fishman story told how Diane cut her mother out of her life completely since the age of 9, pretending she did not exist due to her choice to leave the family, even though the other siblings and her father did not shut her out and her mother has said she reached out to her for a relationship, stating it was Diane’s choice to keep her away. That is a huge thing to hold inside for 27 years. I do think this is the elemental key to the whole story.
The public photos released of her wedding are telling, how could she, or anyone there, not be thinking about her mother, who was not invited. How do you go through your wedding day holding that inside? Since it was her wedding day, everyone else had to suck it up and it was all about her and not mentioning the obvious absence of the mother, the rest of the family would have invited her to such an event. So she is controlling the social situation completely, holding everyone hostage to her demons. Then having children and depriving them of their grandmother, and vice-versa.
This pattern of controlling social situations and punishing people who love you most due to perceived transgressions only makes me believe the murder/suicide theory more. Did she punish her husband and brother for something we will never know about? I am on the side of the victims who feel there is much more to the story. On the one hand they say she is frugal, that’s why they carried the same bottle of vodka around for almost a year.
The NY Magazine article says she was compulsive shopper however, buying a $300 purse for her sister in law on the spur of the moment, going out for milk and coming back with a Jeep, or grocery shopping and coming home with a plasma TV. This sounds like someone with an impulse problem to me, not a frugal one. There is much more in that story and I recommend it for background as it is the only source of information on the dynamics of these peoples lives.
So what caused the rage that led to this act? There was a 17-second call dialed from Diane’s phone to a guy in Oyster Bay, only 10 minutes from where she works, that morning. I won’t put his name here, but it is in the press where he was interviewed after the police talked to him. All he said to the press was that it was “weird”. Interestingly his last name is one letter off from her brother’s last name. How coincidental that a random wrong number would go so close to home. Since it was one of the kids making the calls, maybe they accidentally dialed a contact or recent call? I mean who actually dials numbers on their cell phone, especially when you have called that person at least 3 times in the past 2 hours. You just go to the contact or the recent calls. So that number had to be in the phone.
The precipitating event is still a mystery, but there are many clues. Something came out in those phone calls that sealed everyones fate. Did the kids overhear something she couldn’t let them reveal? Did she decide to punish her husband and brother for something, like finding out some secret? For challenging her for her behavior? For giving her an ultimatum?
In conclusion, since there are really no plausible medical conditions that make you randomly drive on the wrong side of the road, disputing the intoxication option leaves only premeditated murder suicide. So which is it? They can’t have it both ways. The truth must be revealed or we all must live with the fear that this could happen to any one of us for no reason? The victims deserve the truth and the secrets Diane kept can’t be kept or we are all enabling her, even in death.
The Photographs Are, From Top to Bottom:
01. Diane Schuler
02. Accident Scene
03. Accident Scene
04. The Hance Family – The children are, from left to right, Alyson Hance, 7, Katie Hance, 5, and Emma Hance, 9. All three girls died in the crash.
05. Guy Bastardi, 49. Victim.
06. Tom Ruskin, private eye and convicted felon.
07. Michael Bastardi, 81. Victim
08. Daniel Longo, 74. Victim.
09. Map of the crash scene
10. The Schuler Family. The children are Bryan, 5 at the time of the crash, who survived, and Erin, 2, who did not.
11. An unidentified 11-year-old girl at the funeral of the three Hance sisters. This picture broke my heart.
730 Comments »
Fuzzy, thank you for this.
I cannot believe I misspelled the word ‘ass’.
Fuzzy, What a great write up! I feel for you having to drive that route everyday, what a waste…why didn’t she just kill her self?
Wow….you must have done a lot of wrong evil things yourself in your lifetime. To be so judgmental to a woman who by all accounts was a great mom and human being….shows you dont even like yourself. Your shameful and hopefully karma doesnt bite you in the ass. Very small thinker to say the least.
Fuzzy, they need you over at 60 Minutes.
While I’m not convinced that your conclusion is 100% correct, I must commend you on a great write-up of the events leading up to this terrible incident. Regardless of whether or not Schuler intentionally crashed, I think it’s been clear from the start that the picture being painted by the media and family members is entirely inaccurate, particularly the closet-alcoholic bits. The excuses made for her blood alcohol levels are beyond ridiculous; a percentage that high is always confirmed by second or even third tests in the lab, and even a false-positive from another medication would have registered a lower percentage, unless she was drinking gallons of toothache gel. In addition, false-positives for alcohol are usually the result of breathalyzers, as blood tests are significantly more accurate. Toothache gel affecting a breathalyzer I can believe, but a blood test? C’mon. I’m certain everyone here has already figured this out for themselves, though, given that it’s common sense.
In a lot of ways, I can understand why her husband would want to defend his wife from public scrutiny (though not to these extremes), but his actions seem to be more focused on defending himself. The same goes for other family members. I doubt there is any conspiracy between family members and the McDonalds employees; human selfishness tends to work on the individual level, with no need for group pacts in order to propagate a mutually beneficial lie. A better way of putting it would be a “silent conspiracy”, in which they all know they’re full of shit, but no one says anything out of fear of being held responsible.
You’re 100% correct about his statements regarding whether or not he feels guilty being very suspect. Hell, even I feel guilty when I read about this kind of thing in the papers, and I had nothing to do with the situation — why am I alive while other people’s lives are being cut short? In his desperation to rid himself of responsibility, the man is making it clear that he shares the blame. I just hope that he does feel some guilt, even if he won’t admit to it. I can’t stand the thought of this man not feeling SOMETHING in regard to his actions or lack thereof.
No matter what really happened, Diane Shuler will still be the primary cause of these terrible events. Her actions led directly to the deaths of numerous people, many children… and that is more than enough to convince me that this woman deserves some kind of divine retribution for her actions… if not eternal torment, then at least a finite punishment of some kind… anything to rebalance the scales.
Sorry, I forgot to expand on the original statement I made about not completely agreeing with your conclusion.
I don’t think there’s enough evidence to conclusively show that she was intentionally trying to crash. If we had access to those phone conversations, we might be able to draw conclusions, but as it stands we can’t make those kinds of assumptions.
That being said, I don’t completely disagree with you either. Your theory is feasible, even if it is just conjecture.
Regardless, I think we can all agree on one important and, in my opinion, undeniable fact: The ‘official’ story is complete bullshit.
Unfortunately, her previous behavior patterns of control, impulsivity, and selfishness would be consistent with her doing something like this, especially with drugs and alcohol on board. I knew someone with PPD who told me she was going to put her girls in her van and then drive it into a brick wall. (She got help that day). Seemingly “normal” people really are capable of things like this. I can’t bear the thought of how terrified those kids were in their last moments alive.
“her previous behavior patterns of control, impulsivity, and selfishness would be consistent with her doing something like this, especially with drugs and alcohol on board. ”
I completely agree.
Thinking about how scared the girls had to have been hurts my heart.
I appreciate all the support and comments. Thanks to Max for having the guts to publish this for me. I look forward to continuing the discussion.
It doesn’t take guts to publish the another person’s truth FuzzyWuzzy. It takes guts and dedication and a strong sense of right and wrong to TELL the truth, as you see it. That’s what you did here, and you should be proud of it. It’s not easy to let strangers know what you’re really thinking, because now you will be judged on these words you’ve committed to a computer screen. A lot of people now not only know your opinion about the Diane Schuler case, but also have some real insight into the kind of person you are and what kind of principles you live by.
I’ve read your article several times in the process of editing it for publication, and soon there was one thing I became very sure of – that some day I’d very much like to call you my friend.
I’m glad he preserved your perspective on the issue. It’s not surprising that a lot of blog owners have tried to censor you. Regardless of any differences in opinion, I think that your write-up does provide us with some very valuable insight into the causes of this tragedy.
Plus, I’m a very big fan of free speech, so I’m always happy when a website owner or contributor shares those ideals, regardless of the opinions being expressed.
Is the police report currently available anywhere on line? PS – thanks for this. I’ve reluctantly come to the same sorry conclusion. I think she was a desparate woman. Unfortunately, I don’t think we’ll ever know for sure.
Interesting perspective. I wonder if she was in a blind rage, hated her life, spouse, kids, and was filled with the same sort of spite that turns parents into people who kill their kids just to get back at the other spouse and in that blind rage “wanted to show them all” that she was going to get back at everyone who had pissed her off…who knows? In the end its always that innocent that pay. What a selfish, vindictive, spiteful, angry woman who deserves to go to hell
“If anything the video shows her as a reckless driver. She drives like a maniac. She peels out from the pumps at a much higher rate of speed than other cars in the video, whips around 180 degrees past the other pumps on the wrong side, (if someone had been pulling up she would have hit them head on) then she flies out the entrance, ” I watched it 10 times, mostly the end. She drives as if there is no right lane at all (that she is uintersecting) and she very nearly hits at least two cars she’s trying to pull out in front of. It looks *insane*.
This was an excellently written article. Thank you both for putting it together.
The mulish-ness of the brother and husband have pissed me off for quite awhile now. Have more respect for the victims you dunces! More respect than just shame for yourselves and hurt pride! Diane fucked up and so did you as a brother and husband!
I believe that you are right, Fuzzy. She drank a very large amount in a short period of time (more than she usually did) and if, also being an insomniac, she was in a more fragile mindset to begin with that day staying up, smoking, and being hung over. The family said something she didn’t at all like, and she set out for revenge. Selfish, awful choice.
RIP baby girls and the Bastardi family :(
Thanks, fuzzywuzzy, this was well written and interesting and it sure sounds plausible. Max, thanks for printing this! I love that this is the only website printing it. Diane Schuler sounds like a fat, spoiled, selfish, load, and her husband probably couldn’t stand to be around her. I say that, not to excuse his dumping all the work on her while he went merrily off with his best friend. But still. Watching her waddle in and out of the quickee mart, her driving afterwards, reading about her spending habits and her treatment of her mother — sounds like someone is just a little too used to getting her own way. “If i’m unhappy, then everyone is gonna be unhappy.” And innocent people suffered for it.
I dunno, there is too much conjecture in this story.
I think Diane may have had a death wish, but people who have death wishes don’t normally plan to take innocent victims with them – especially if the innocent victims are their own children and they are the mother/aunt of those children.
There’s a lot more to this story, and someday, someone will piece it all together and write a long article or a book, but at this time we still need more information regarding the phone calls and her prior drinking history.
Yes, she was a selfish evil bitch for taking out 7 other people, but there are still many unanswered questions.
Without the facts, what else is there?
interesting reading
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2174580/
Maternal filicide-suicide
A significant proportion (16-29%) of filicides end in completed suicide by the mother (56). Many other mothers make non-fatal suicide attempts in association with their filicides. When mothers of young children commit suicide, about 5% also kill at least one of their children (57,58).
Filicide-suicides have much in common with filicides committed by severely mentally ill mothers (15). Most frequently, these mothers have altruistic motives (15,23). Similar to results of other studies (15,20,48), our recent American study found that maternal filicide-suicide perpetrators killed older children more often than infants (mean age of children killed was 6 years old). The mothers often had evidence of depression or psychosis (23). These mothers often take the lives of all their young children.
” When mothers of young children commit suicide, about 5% also kill at least one of their children (57,58).”
That means 95% of them DON’T kill at least one of their children. As I said, it is very very rare that a mother who wanted to kill herself would also kill her own children and nieces along with her.
Anyone want to be that this story, or a “slightly-altered” version of it, winds up on a “Law and Order” episode? I’m betting it’s already written.
Actually, Law and Order already aired a Schuler-type episode a few months ago Ivy Mike. I didn’t see it, but I do remember there was some controversy when NBC first announced it would air.
If one of my family members did anything to hurt my other family members or anyone else like this I would be the first on here to apologize for being related to them and to give whatever information I could about what happened! I would submit the story here myself! This story hurts to read, so many lives have been shattered… I don’t care what happened, the truth needs to come out and blame needs to be placed. God bless the families who have to deal with this psycho’s decision, let her rot in HELL! Great write up. I pray that someday this site won’t need to exist, but sadly it does. Keep up the good work.
The whole thing is just sad. If you really have to kill yourself… REALLY JUST HAVE TO DO IT, whether it be an accident or especially on purpose, is it too much to ask to leave innocent children out of it????? I mean, seriously. As a mother, I just feel sick when I read this and stories like this where children are brought into conflicts that they aren’t and never would have been a part of. Just so so sad.
This woman makes me sick. I read every article and story about her that I find and I’m just sick and angry with her. She threw it all away on what I think was a wild goose chase.
Here’s my ‘analysis’ of some things asked in the article:
“What was said that made her get out of the van and put the phone on the divider? What made her drive away in the opposite direction they would have thought she was going in to look for her?”
I’m willing to speculate her and her husband were separated or separating, possibly because of her drinking problem, and she couldn’t handle that on top of her already unstable emotions. There’s a lot that makes me think she suffered from Borderline Personality Disorder, the compulsive spending, the drinking and drugs, and the need to control everything – like not inviting her mother to the wedding, and demanding a non menu item from the restaurant. Even if that’s a broad leap, I still think everything that happened that day was about control.
I think when she was on the phone, she was freaking out. She probably threatened or said that she was going to hurt herself somehow and I’m sure this probably wasn’t the first time so they didn’t take it as seriously as they should have. She probably drank and drank and drank for hours leading up to leaving her husband and going home to squash the panic and fear of what would happen after the “vacation” was over and everybody went back to real life. The real life where she was miserable and her husband couldn’t stand her. While on the phone they probably told her they were going to call the police and she knew that if she got caught she would have to go to jail or the psych ward. She ditched the phone so it couldn’t be traced, and went back the way she came so nobody would catch up to her. She maybe only planned to lead them on a wild goose chase and hide away until she was promised unconditional love and forgiveness, or maybe she did plan to crash the car and take everybody down with her as punishment for not loving her the way she felt she needed, or maybe she was just so wasted that one mistake led to another. BPD’s suffer from black and white thinking. No gray area exists. The second they disapproved of her behavior was the second they stopped loving her, in her head.
That’s my thought. None of it is any excuse for what happened. Shame on her for not getting help, and if you’re reading this Daniel, SHAME ON YOU for letting this happen to your children. What she did to herself was her problem and hers alone but those were your CHILDREN. I’m sure you’re so spineless that you let her use them as pawns against you many times and you should have stood up for them. You should have protected them. That’s what daddy’s do, and that’s what they needed you to do. The SICKEST part of this whole subplot with you Daniel is that YOUR OWN CHILDREN recognized that they needed your help before you were ever able to give it to them. I hope to god if you ever have any more children, you get a backbone with them you worthless shit.
Harley: Really liked what you wrote and your analysis!
When I first heard about this case, I assumed it was just a sad story of drunk driving, but I’m more and more convinced that this was a planned, calculate suicide/murder tragedy.
My take is that the mom had a fight with her husband at the campground that night (perhaps they discussed a separation or a “things aren’t working out” talk) and then the next morning, Diane truly did leave the campground sober and seemingly fine. Many times, right before a suicide, people appear to be eerily serene.
She obviously planned to drink, since she packed the bottle of vodka that was normally to stay in the camper, and then she got orange juice from Mcdonalds (her coworkers later said that her favorite drink was a screwdriver).
She lit a pre-rolled joint up after McDonalds and smoked and drank in the van (the kids were quite young and probably didn’t truly understand what she was doing). Importantly, if she drinks often (which I think she does) then it’s easy to come off as “normal” in public, even if you have a buzz going. I don’t think she got truly plastered until close to the accident, when I think she started jugging the vodka in preparation for the crash.
She did it on purpose, to kill herself and to cause harm to others in her life. Obviously this woman had severe problems, and just b/c her family or friends didn’t pick up on it (supposedly) doesn’t mean they weren’t there. In fact, from the Newsday article, it seems pretty clear to me that Diane was a person who rarely if ever revealed herself, which can cause an overwhelming sense of isolation and bottled up rage inside.
What makes me mad is the husband literally acting as though she was perfect and did absolutely nothing wrong. I don’t think his lawyer is very good actually, b/c the husband should be told not to act like she was an angel, as that’s not credible (no one is as perfect as he’s claiming).
They mention towards the end of the documentary on HBO that Daniel never wanted any children. Since Diane did, she took care of them and did everything for them with basically no help from him. Now that poor little boy, the sole survivor, has to deal with his dad’s moodswings because he was never wanted. The one person who truly wanted him and took care of him tried to kill him. I was relieved when they said the little boy is getting some help. That’s a lot to deal with and his father refuses to acknowledge he needs help dealing with it. He said if Brian wants to talk about it he will. As a parent I know that’s rarely the case. Sometimes it’s like pulling teeth to get them to talk about the things happening in their life especially their feelings. Everytime Brian tries to talk about his mom and sister, Daniel changes the subject. I hope that Brian can move past all of this and have a somewhat normal life. With a father like that though, it seems impossible.
Very strange story. There is something definitely not right here, and I hope that one day all will be revealed. Very well thought out write up by the way.
You are correct, when you say something just isn’t right with this.. I just watched the HBO documentary “There is something wrong with Aunt Diane” I personally think, that it was her tooth. Her husband had claimed, she had an untreated abcess tooth for 2 months.. This can cause great infection that could affect her brain function. She probably drank the vodka, and smoked the weed for purposes of relieving severe pain. If you look at the death photo of her on the documentary, the left side of her face is swollen up to her eye, now this may have been caused by the crash, two and two just don’t add up.. I hope the family can find peace..
Actually, when you look closely at the documentary, you’ll see the dental records they are referring to are from 2005. If Diane indeed had an abscessed tooth, she would have been dealing with it for ~4 years at the time of the crash, by which time I’d imagine she would have dealt with it. I don’t think the records even said she had an abscess; I believe when you pay close attention, it states that she had a filling and/or cracked tooth. There’s no way a tooth infection was the cause of the accident. Her blood was tested 4 or 5 times thoroughly, and an infection would have shown up. This was some absurd theory her husband and his lawyer threw at the public to deflect attention from the real cause (which does not reflect nearly so well on him). It’s obviously worked, judging by how many people state that she had a toothache, and that was why she drove 1.7 miles the wrong way.
It does sound like a murder/suicide, although I don’t see why she would bother filling her gas tank if she was planing on crashing it in a short while. This story has been haunting me; thank you for writing and researching this article, Fuzzy. Justice can never be served, but maybe some day we will have answers as to ‘why’.
She may have filled the van up with gas in case her first plan failed…you know, finding the perfect spot.
She was probably thinking ahead, deciding that IF the one area was too busy, then she would have to scout out another portion of freeway.
Either way…if she wanted to die, she shoulda made her husband drive the kids home in the van, and just offed herself.
The question I’m asking is…what the hell was her motive for killing children along with herself?
Story has haunted me since seeing the HBO documentary and wondering where I was on Earth when it happened years before ?? Compelling article and just some thoughts to add or note what’s already been said so well. Especially peculiar and very terrifying, too, were the descriptions given by witnesses on 9-1-1 calls and later interviews of Diane Schuler’s dead-on death-grip and precision as she made it those 1.7 miles going on the wrong direction but maintaining possession of the far left lane (her left was it?) which would mean her potential victims’ far right and certainly the less aggressive sort of travelers, possibly even timid and only adds to the malicious nature of what is already an unthinkable offense. What caused this pattern or the change from what sounded like swerving and honking and children’s heads thrown from side to side in the back seat–tragic and chilling but made more so when conveyed by that couple who rightfully mourned their lack of any action that could have changed that day for 10 times the number who lost their lives for good. So WHY the concentration that so profoundly affected most of those witnesses–if not every single one who stressed this point and used words like ‘hell-bent’ or ‘determination’ or ‘hands rock-hard on the wheel’ … and goes with the suicide and punishing aspect as well. Punishing her brother who did allow the mother back into his life, his wife for having a mother and grandmother to her beautiful daughters? and not to mention a husband who contributed more than pedestal gazing and 5 ways to say ‘perfect wife and mother’; punishing useless husband, once-abandoning her own daughter/now grandmother and I suppose the rest of the world too, Diane Schuler, because the horrors of that day and the fact that we need something/anything to make sense because we are so haunted and disturbed by the images of a spastic entrance and exit of the convenience store, a pathetic plea for attention in rocking a minivan out into traffic, and then the heart-wrenching sobs from those 1st 2 men who tried to save kids but not before a huge and bloated murderer nearly crushed their feet and temporarily–even seconds that may have counted–blocked the way to rescue pure innocence and the world deserved better on this day. Thankful for all these thoughtful people who share thoughtful ways to try to come to grips with a story that may never loosen its own.
She filled the gas tank to provide fuel for explosion and fire. There could be no other reason, as harrowing as that sounds.
An empty tank of gas poses a greater risk than a full one. Just FYI. But, we are dealing with someone clearly out of her mind. Thoughts were probably cycling rapidly and her final decision was probably not made yet, but things were on their way.
I did not read all the comments, but I do like the information presented, the fact that it’s stated that somethings are missing and there are good conclusions.
As far as filling the gas tank
1. She thought the car would explode better with a full tank (false)
2. She knew by filling the tank an explosion is less likely (fumes catch faster than te liquid)
3. She was stilll “on the fense”
Also tank is low – she’s nuts – so certain things are NOT goingto be logical
As far as any coverup goes – MONEY – would there be less made if it’s found to be a suicide vs an act of intoxication with death as an UNintended result????
“As far as any coverup goes – MONEY – would there be less made if it’s found to be a suicide vs an act of intoxication with death as an UNintended result????”
Nice point Fred. We need an insurance adjuster to pop up. Is that even provable? If she was insured (life) wouldn’t the Payor be investigating into that theory if they could duck the payout? One would certainly think so.
For two months, I was an insurance sales agent for a company that sold life insurance. (Turns out I suck at sales, lol.) In our company’s life insurance policies, it was stated that if the insured committed suicide within the first two years of the policy, then there would be no payout. Most or all insurance companies have this clause. If the insured commits suicide before the two-year period is up, the company will usually refund the premiums to the beneficiary.
Why fill up the car with gas? So when she crashed, the car – and all evidence – would burn.
Where can I find her co-worker statements. Those are the people that spend the 2nd most amount of time with her.
Thanks Fuzzy. Interesting.
Thanks Max as well.
The only reference to the coworker ‘sheila’ was in one New York Post article early on, and i really don’t think it is substantiated. Just google dina schuler sheila’ and you will find it. Unless someone got to her quickly and got her to remain silent, i think it was made up. No one has come out of the woodwork with any dirt on this chick. She was under the radar all the way, by design i am sure based on her controlling nature.
Here is the link with the supposed ‘drinking buddy’ quote.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/regional/item_Mr6vxWRqeoQ7jj0oHM4T5L
The only real proof I have of a suicidal unhappiness in Schuler is the implausibility of either a 36 year old mother of two naively and atrociously BINGE drinking 16-18 ounces of vodka out of a 60 ounce bottle or a 36 year old mother of two “functionally” BINGE drinking 16-18 ounces out of a 60 ounce bottle. Only ignorant little girls binge drink into oblivion without forethought or notion of consequence. A 36 year old mother of two binge drinks because she has very serious personal issues or she is suicidal. Likewise, “functional alcoholics” don’t binge drink because such drinking leads to loss of function which is antithetical to the primary goal of the “functional alcoholic. That goal being a perpetual AND FUNCTIONING inebriated state. “Functional alcoholics” would not buy the largest available bottle of alcohol with a total disregard for the potential to get pulled and arrested for drunk driving. But a very depressed woman bent on suicide would buy such a bottle to ensure the job was done and could only wish that a cop would pull her over to give her the real help she needed.
From everything I’ve read about this, I believe this woman killed herself deliberately, along with her own children and the children of her brother, and the adults in the other vehicle. I’ve heard of other female wrong-way driving suicides involving children, and this seems to match the pattern.
What set her off? We may never know. Perhaps a revelation of infidelity (which I have theorized could be between her husband and the sister-in-law ~ which would explain why this is such a cover up. In some sort of effort to not let the deaths of Diane and the children be in vain – since she was driven to that point – all parties feel responsible to cover up. And would explain why she took the children – because she wanted to hurt the sister in-law and take away from her as the sister in-law had done to Diane. It also, could explain the phone calls to the brother ~ she probably called to apologize to him before hand in some cryptic way.) and/or other embarrassing sexual behavior, perhaps even something along the lines of questions rose about the paternity of a child, or something of similarly personally catastrophic nature. I’ve have searched endlessly and can not recovery any pieces of information regarding the marriage of D & D or any information regarding anything inside the history of this family. It could be completely plausible that somehow, some way, something happened inside this family during periods of separation that lead to the sister in-law becoming pregnant and one of the cousins’s actually being a sister to Diane’s children. Possible that this information was discovered previous to the camping trip in at one point the adults made a mature decision to leave the past in the past and move forward for the best interest of the all the children and that burden of carrying that secret was too much for Diane. Maybe while at the camp ground Diane watching all the children playing together and then looking at a man she loves – something broke inside of her and she carefully devised the plan and maybe she was the one calling all the “traveling home” shots and that fully explains why her husband was alone in the truck. She wanted him to live with their blood on his hands.
What happened, in my opinion, is what we will see happen more frequently in a society that claims killing one’s child in utero is a “fundamental right.” We will see more and more mothers mass murdering their children as acts of liberation. This seems to me an entirely predictable result given the nature of our culture. The fact that the liberal media won’t touch such a potential while clinging to the FA theory is also entirely predictable. The FA theory fits nicely with liberal modes of thought while the most plausible scenario casts a very dark shadow over liberalism’s unintended consequences.
Diane Schuler could have stopped so many times before she caused all this mayhem and death. In fact, she passively tried to stop herself on at least two occasions. The first was early on with the erratic and impatient driving (which at that point I believe it was rage that was causing her to driving that way – not the alcohol at that time.) and the second time when she called her brother. Yet, notice the pattern. When she was “visible” at the campground and at McDonalds she made sure to put on a good face and stay focused on her liberation. When she was “invisible” in the car and in the conversation with her brother, she was passively, but consciously crying for someone to stop her.
On last thing I’d like to point out here, is that I truly and whole heartily think that Diane’s autopsy coming back with Pot and Alcohol in her system was just a catalyst for this cover up. I belief that her family knows exactly what drover her to this point of insanity and walked around for days sick. Sick at the lost of their children, wife, sister, friend and positively ill knowing that it was rooted on them and that not only was she going to be shamed – the whole family was going to be shamed and brought down. I think Diane’s position with her company financially enabled these people to pay how they needed to spin out via media that the alcohol and drugs were found in her system and then to re-spin it like that was the “BIG DIRTY SECRET” that they don’t want out – hence fooling everything to focus on the drinking and not the real issue.
I for one minute do not believe this woman was an FA or and alcoholic of any sort. I think she was a very depressed and emotionally tormented woman with a touch of narcissism that in her state wanted out and wanted, what in her mind was justice. I believe that even with her grand delusions being in that state of mind ~ she needed to enable the inability to change her mind. I believe she was drunk and high and I believe that was just to get her to the “other side” so to speak. If you want to know what, how, when, where and why … someone will need to dig a little in to those families’ closet.
Very interesting analsyis melynn. The ny magazine article has the only background information i have found (linked from my article).
I have to disagree with your theory about the sister in law and the husband having an affair though. They lived in very different worlds it seems to me. And in different classes. The in laws seemed to have it all. A big house in the old neighboorhood (floral park). The brother in law is in real estate, the wife is athetic, running marathons and in great shape. The schulers lived out in suffolk county, in a small house. By looking at them they are not in the best shape. I think the husband was chosen based on his dullard qualities, he seems distanced from any sort of emotional development and was probably manipulated by diane. Again, read the linked article. I think if anything she was involved with a stranger to the others (maybe the wrong number guy?). Something happened that weekend of course. I bet she told the husband she was leaving and he had no clue why or that anything was missing in their relationship. Then her brother probably called her on being drunk, heard the whole story and went off on her. That could have drove her over the edge.
Anyway, i agree that she was not a regular binge drinker but knew the effects of vodka. She did smoke a lot of pot though apparently, which could cause paranoia. I think she was being challenged by people she did not respect, her clueless husband not understanding anything about her and her brother, who knew all the buttons to push.
Interesting discussion, i enjoyed your post.
Oh, Fuzzy Wuzzy. Have you not ever watched at least one episode of Desperate Housewives? I wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss my theory about the sister in law and the husband having an affair.
Opposites attract very, very much especially for two very bored and ingnored married people that are pursuing an affair full of passion and lust. It’s that naughtiness of it all that creates that explosion – and a part of that is the idea of the forbidden. And once something like this type of affair starts it’s perfectly common for one or both parties to get so caught up in the feeling of being alive and desired that something goes astray and some deeper darker secret is created. Hence my theory on the half-siblings.
With that said, I can not find this link you speak of and I am overly curious.
http://nymag.com/news/features/62043/
heres the link.
Sorry but i still don’t buy it. He was happy as a pig in shit with her, i really think it was her, not him.
Fuzz … I read that article. While, I’ll admit it was VERY well written as the author is clearly brilliant as he lays out the map for all the BS, it also think still reeks BS. That Danny boy is either dumber then a box of rocks or he just blatantly doesn’t care and is going to lie to the end. The whole family. But I loved how it was interjected with all the contradictions. Very, Very cleaver!
I just found this article. It’s changing my conspiracy theory …..
http://www.expertclick.com/NewsReleaseWire/ReleaseDetails.aspx?ID=28193&CFID=1568086&CFTOKEN=77020581
Melynn, I hope to see more of your posts.
Now, what is FA?
Functional alcoholic, I believe.
That is correct Max.
So that would make me an RFA? A Recovering Functional Alcoholic?
Melynn wrote: “What happened, in my opinion, is what we will see happen more frequently in a society that claims killing one’s child in utero is a “fundamental right.” We will see more and more mothers mass murdering their children as acts of liberation. This seems to me an entirely predictable result given the nature of our culture. The fact that the liberal media won’t touch such a potential while clinging to the FA theory is also entirely predictable. The FA theory fits nicely with liberal modes of thought while the most plausible scenario casts a very dark shadow over liberalism’s unintended consequences.”
Just had to get your pet political paranoia in here somewhere, didn’t you? Can’t stop yourself. Even on a subject like this…and, of course, because the media won’t mention or in anyway give credence to such theories, that proves its a liberal conspiracy of silence and ipso facto proves you right.
Melynn, for someone who is seemingly intelligent enough to have given an otherwise plausible representation of such (the “have you never watched Desperate Housewives? ” culture shock notwithstanding), you are a one sorry-ass obsessive hatebag. With no sense of dignity of purpose whatsoever. Because (and I’m talking to a mental breezeblock here I know, but for the sake of completeness…) this tragic incident has absolutely nothing to do with anything you and your ilk like to wave placards about.
Guilt is what has kept diane’s family from telling the whole story. They all knew about her drinking and pot smoking but still allowed her to take thier children on vacation. They won’t tell the whole story because that means they would have to accept some degree of responsibility for the deaths of thier children.
I would say it’s both guilt and self-preservation. If it was guilt alone, they would have been more forth-coming in the investigation.
Fuzzy damn good write up! Damn good. I enjoyed your writing. But I hate the story. I am having problems holding back. The anger for the father knowing she had a problem and was not to be trusted at all. The lazyness not to do anythign to keep his children and the other children safe. And later the disgust over keeping her name clear to keep his own ass safe. I really hope I get a chance to visit that area to pay this scumbag a visit.
Max thank you for posting Fuzzy’s write up.
As to why it is being deleted from ther sites? Simple they are not as informed as you are over the laws dealing with public domain. The lawyers use big lawyer speak and scare people in to taking it down. But you know the law is on your side.
So what I’m going to do is post a direct link to this page from my blog. Then post a link in Facebook, then myspace. How about that shit eh? Fuck the shitheads who would cover this up.
FW – Good article. I am not usually a fan of people writing down their speculations, but in this instance, I am making an exception. I, too, thought murder/suicide when I first read the original article about this tragedy. The phone on the wall was the smoking gun for me. That shows a lot of presence of mind.
Max – Thank you for having the courage to publish this. I am from Long Island (now living in Florida, but all my family is still on the Island). It is the living land of the Stepfords. People are quite up in arms about this and have gone so far as to make death threats to those who are questioning Ms. Schuler’s sanity. The Long Island community is very protective of their own as a whole, lest property values of their homes dare go down due to a dose of bad publicity (end: sarcasm). Brave decision on your part to put this post up. Undoubtedly, you are going to get some hate mail over this…but you have a section for that, so at least you are prepared.
melynn, looks like i ran out of reply buttons….
So you are changing your theory to what? That she was an alcoholic? I read that article you linked, it is from August and does contain several inaccuracies. I do think she was a drinker, but not normal to binge like that. That was for a reason. She was probably sucking down vodka regularaly at home at night when danny was at work, but probably neer interfered with her life. The day of the crash she was drunk yes, but still managed to control her vehicle without going off the road or hitting a tree. She was in control enough to drive to her doom.
But whether she was an alcoholic or not, i think her excessive drinking that day was precipitated by some event that Danny boy is well aware of, but refuses to admit. btw, I have met boxes of rocks smarter than that Nedanderthal (i am a geologist and some of my best friends are rocks). I think she kept him around because he did not challenge her, she was happy to have him not question anything she did. So something had to have happened (to quote danny), and he knows what it is. Obviously he is still in denial to the family.
The Hance’s have stated ‘we don’t know what goes on on that side of the family” and at one point the Hances own lawyer stated that they had broken ties with the Schulers. That statement was immediately retracted however, for obvious reasons. I think the Hances have remained silent also for obvious reasons…
That article states they lived seperate lives during the week, so who knows what each was really up to. But Danny did not seem to think anything was amis, even when their communication amounted to her telling him the gutters need cleaning. I have more in depth conversations with the guy who pumps my gas! His terrible performances at his press confernce and with Larry King scream deception to me. According to the police report, he made an appointment to be interviewed by the police and kept them waiting through the press conference, only to refuse to talk to the police afterwards. PR was his main objective.
And why the Larry King show? He was trying to convince himself what he was saying was true. I think the truth is probably eating the guy alive. How could you feel no guilt, or anything? He only feels it in terms of his own loss. Very immature emotionally.
fyi , here are the inaccuracies in this article.
http://www.expertclick.com/NewsReleaseWire/ReleaseDetails.aspx?ID=28193&CFID=1568086&CFTOKEN=77020581
a broken bottle of Absolut vodka was found near the wreck.
The bottle was found in the vehicle under the passenger seat, reportedly a few days after the crash. I read a blog post somewhere where someone claiming to be an ER nurse when they brought her in said it was immediately obvious she had been drinking due to the odor of alcohol.
> State police, however, according to media reports “investigated” why Schuler, 36, a Cablevision executive, would have been driving the wrong way on a highway she had driven numerous times before.
This road is not on the route she ever would have taken to get to the campground, rather she made at least 2 wrong turns, getting on highways going away from Long Island.
>…he said, “She did not drink. She is not an alcoholic” However, the facts belie the claim. Schuler later modified his claim, telling investigators that his wife drank socially and “occasionally” smoked pot.
While he stated this in public, he had initially did tell the police she drank that weekend and that she smoked pot. I found no evidence he changed his story to the police, rather it was what he said in public that was inconsistent.
>While she was confused enough while on the road to call her brother, Warren Hance, to ask for directions home, he said there was “no slurred speech,” as if that’s the norm in someone under the influence.
Later reports say she was slurring and called Warren by her husbands name; nothing about the account of this phone call is reliable however in my opinion based on its wording, its all words put in her mouth.
>New York Post reported that a “drinking buddy” of Diane’s said, “She liked her drinks, she liked her vodka” (reportedly in screwdrivers).
This claim was never substantiated and only reported in the New York Post, so take it with a margarita’s worth of salt.
You’re right .. I go back to my origional theory. ESPECIALLY now that you point out hat the Hances has broken ties before. ~ Something happened and it was deep. I said it before. If we want to know what, we have to dig deeper then this surface.
Also, just the mere fact that her brother was worried enough after the phone call to rush out of the house and try to find her tells me that he knew what she was capable of.
If a relative called me and said she wasn’t feeling well I would have called the police, asked her to wait where she was, and then gone out to find her… but I wouldn’t have been panicked to the point that I felt everyone’s life in the car was in jeopardy. That tells me that the brother knew that Diane either had a drinking problem, or had severe emotional problems and had the potential to harm herself and others.
Clearly the family knew something was wrong (perhaps not to the degree some posters here are claiming though).
At the end of the day, I think that if her husband had been honest after this tragedy and said “I should have seen the warning signs, etc”, people would be more sympathetic.. it’s the blatant lying and denials that are bothering people.
To me, she is the only one to blame. The only way anyone else is to blame is if people actually knew she was drunk when she FIRST left the campground, and nothing was done. I feel that she didn’t start drinking or smoking until she left McDonalds. Remember, the crash occurred 4 HOURS after she left the campground, which is plenty of time to get totally wasted.
In January of 2008, in my home state of Massachusetts, a woman named Marci Thibault was driving with her niece and nephew in her car when she reversed direction on the interstate and then proceeded to pull over, strip them all naked and carry them into oncoming traffic on the highway, killing all 3. (Link to story is below). She had not been drinking or doing drugs, but her brother said she seemed perfectly fine when she left his house.
The Diane Schuler story immediately called this to mind and I have believed from day 1 that it was a murder/suicide.
FuzzyWuzzy – excellent reporting…very very good. Max needs to put you on his payroll.
My only thoughts:
In no way do I hold the Hances responsible and I really don’t think that they would cover for her at this point when she killed their three daughters. Maybe they should have called the cops first, but again, in panic we do not always follow the logical route. I am wondering what would make the Hances not want to reveal everything that was said in those phone calls..I’m not convinced that they are hiding anything as I don’t see the benefit to them to do so…
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2008/01/19/deaths_of_aunt_2_children_called_murder_suicide/
Holy – This is so beyong horrific. But this one is much easier explained. I went searching for more information after reading the article you posted. I read a lot … but I found this ….
“Four months earlier Thibault had been treated at McLean Hospital for a psychotic episode. She was discharged after six days with medication and a referral for outpatient treatment. Between her discharge and her death she was said to be 95 percent back to her old self.
On her way to her sister’s home Marci Thibault came to the attention of the state police. She apparently drove into the median area at full speed. When a motorist stopped to offer help she began to punch him. State police came to the site and questioned her. She told them she was having “a debate between good and evil.” The troopers considered committing her to a psychiatric hospital, but she calmed down, and they concluded they did not have enough evidence to do so.”
Marci was a schizophrenic. The incidence of Schizophrenia is slightly higher in men than women. Negative symptoms (e.g., social withdrawal, lack of motivation, flat emotions) tend to predominate in men; whereas depressive episodes, paranoid delusions, and hallucinations tend to predominate in women.
Schizophrenia usually starts between the late teens and the mid-30s. Usually the onset of Schizophrenia occurs a few years earlier in men than women. The onset may be abrupt or insidious. Usually Schizophrenia starts gradually with a pre-psychotic phase of increasing negative symptoms (e.g., social withdrawal, deterioration in hygiene and grooming, unusual behavior, outbursts of anger, and loss of interest in school or work). A few months or years later, a psychotic phase develops (with delusions, hallucinations, or grossly bizarre/disorganized speech and behavior). Individuals who have an onset of Schizophrenia later in their 20′s or 30′s are more often female, have less evidence of structural brain abnormalities or cognitive impairment, and display a better outcome. Schizophrenia usually persists, continuously or episodically, for a life-time. Complete remission (i.e., a return to full pre-morbid functioning) is uncommon.
The life expectancy of individual with Schizophrenia is shorter than that of the general population for a variety of reasons. Suicide is an important factor, because approximately 10% of individuals with Schizophrenia commit suicide – and between 20% and 40% make at least one suicide attempt. There is an increased risk of assaultive and violent behavior. Sometimes a suicide is methodically planned and deliberately committed. At other times, a suicide may be accidental – that is, the victim is acting out a hallucination or delusion when in a psychotic state. Families caution that in either of the above situations, there are some preventive measures you can take, although you can never guard completely against the possibility of suicide.
The first-degree biological relatives of individuals with Schizophrenia have a risk for Schizophrenia that is about 10 times greater than that of the general population. Concordance rates for Schizophrenia are higher in monozygotic (identical) twins than in dizygotic (fraternal) twins. The existence of a substantial discordance rate in monozygotic twins also indicates the importance of environmental factors.
Most families reported that a crisis or psychotic episode – that is, a severe break with reality – occurred a few months to a year after they began to notice unusual behavior. Some said, however, that the crisis occurred with little or no warning.
During a crisis episode, your relative will exhibit some or all of the following symptoms: hallucinations, delusions, thought disorder, and disturbances in behavior and emotions. Families who have been through these psychotic episodes warn that no amount of preparation can fully protect you from the shock, panic, and sickening dread you will feel when your relative enters this stage of schizophrenia. Understand also that your relative may be as terrified as you are by what is happening: “voices” may be giving life-threatening commands; snakes may be crawling on the window; poisonous fumes may be filling the room. You must get medical help for your relative as quickly as possible, and this could mean hospitalization. If your relative has been receiving medical help, phone the doctor or psychiatrist immediately. Ask which hospital you should go to and for advice about what to do.
Relapse can occur for a number of reasons, as well as for no apparent reason. Sometimes the ill person has stopped taking medication for a long enough period of time for acute symptoms to reappear. Sometimes the dosage of medication is not high enough to prevent the return of acute symptoms. Perhaps the person afflicted is not receiving enough support, either at home or from community services. Perhaps the individual has recently experienced some severe mental stress – the death of a loved one, the loss of a job, the move to a new place to live. Sometimes the individual is simply physically exhausted, or is using alcohol or street drugs in an effort to feel “better” briefly. Sometimes the cause may be something that can be dealt with quite easily. For example, medication can be increased, a brief hospital stay can be arranged, and more support can be found. Sometimes a psychotic episode will involve violence. Because of the altered state of reality, he or she may try to act out the hallucination – for example, shatter a window. Threats to harm him or herself, to hurt you, or to damage property. One mother said that her son kept yelling that God was ordering him to kill her.
Persons with schizophrenia are often more at ease with children than with adults. Although this does not indicate a sexual interest, it can, especially with men and children, lead to potential concerns. It is behavior that should be carefully monitored. Young girls with schizophrenia are vulnerable to sexual advances from adults. For men in the younger age groups, homosexual approaches may occur and may be experienced as frightening. In large cities, such approaches are not uncommon, and reassurance is needed that nothing in your relative’s behavior or appearance has triggered the approach.
I know someone who’s seen Diane’s toxicology and autopsy reports firsthand, and knew how to interpret them correctly. The levels of alcohol and THC in her system were so high it was surprising she was able to walk into that gas station, and there wasn’t any evidence of a stroke or aneurysm or any other kind of ‘medical emergency’ – she may have had high blood glucose if she ate fast food and was drinking alcohol, but that still wouldn’t really fit with what happened. However, if it was so high as to be an emergency, why would she dump her phone when it would’ve been her primary way to obtain emergency medical help?
My first thought was that if what her family had said was true, perhaps a revelation of child abuse or something drove her to the alcohol and marijuana. However, since she seemed to be trying to prevent the children from calling her parents, I think that either a) she completely snapped and had some sort of psychotic/bipolar/manic episode, or b) the children were about to inform the brother and sister-in-law of something she had done and that caused her to kill herself. Since she could’ve easily walked into traffic on her own, the question as to why she would kill the children as well still remains – perhaps she either wanted to hurt her husband and relatives, or permanently silence the children?
FYI, links to:
Autopsy and Toxicology report
http://longisland.newsday.com/data/pdfs/Diane%20Schuler%20autopsy.pdf
15-page police report
http://www.autopsyfiles.org/reports/policereport/schuler,%20diane_police_report.pdf
Victims Lawsuit
http://www.lohud.com/assets/pdf/BH1482601210.PDF
There are some more out there i couldn’t find active links to, such as the 8-page accident report and 46 pages of witness interviews. I have pdfs if pysih wants to host them.
FuzzyWuzzy –
I read through the police and autopsy documents, and I have a couple of questions:
(1) The police report indicates in a couple of witness statement that all 5 children were wearing their seat belts. I could not find any witness statement indicating whether or not Diane had her seat belt on. I think the answer to that could be telling. If she didn’t have it on, then it would be more likely that she was planning to kill herself. Just wondered if there were any reports on whether or not she was wearing it at the time of the crash.
(2) I’m thinking more and more after reading the autopsy report that she was not a closet alcoholic. I’m not a medical expert by any means, but it appears she had no liver damage or anything to indicate long term alcohol abuse.
Thoughts?
I’ve read this pieces few times now. I’ve also reread news articles regarding this incident. It seems that many people have a great desire to uncover truth here, but yet, are willing to be led by speculation. FuzzyWuzzy’s piece can not be described as journalism in any way, perhaps more as theory and speculation. This does not make it bad; it is merely important that those interested in truth remember the difference between fact and opinion. This piece by FuzzyWuzzy is more of an op-ed, and I see that even as a stretch. However, I do understand the point of writing this perspective.
As for the “why did this happened”…My instinct says that Diane Schuler was likely suffering from a mental disorder that had escalated over time, unchecked and uncontrolled. Honestly though, it was likely not unnoticed, just ignored. Given the drugs, drinking, and the shopping binges reported here and elsewhere, bipolar disorder seems likely. I can only imagine that the family members involved realized the severity of the situation only when faced with the calls from the road. If Diane were not a trusted person, no parent would have allowed their children in the car with her.
Diane’s husband seems to be painted as a bit of a monster by the media, but in truth, we must accept that he is dealing with his guilt and grief in a way that only he knows. If attempting to prove his wife innocent of a crime helps him to cope, he is allowed that right. His children are dead. His wife is dead. I suspect he cannot wrap his head around this quite yet. Is he clutching at straws claiming her innocence? Probably. But he is doing what he needs to make sense of all of this.
It is true that the content of the phone calls lies with the families. However, in no way is there proof that anything in these calls triggered the ensuing events. There is no proof that this was premeditated. Diane was intoxicated while driving, and very likely in a fugue state that, had she lived, she would not recall. Vodka is a common choice of alcoholics who are attempting to be functional because it leaves no residual odor on one’s breath. The bottle found in the accident was likely her car stash. Drunk drivers care little about open bottle laws.
Those of us who see ourselves as “sane” and define sanity in some way that precludes partaking this sort of event…will never truly understand how such a thing could happen. We can attempt to rationalize it, and use what we see as logic to plow through ambiguity and hazy facts to attempt to explain irradict behavior. But when faced with possible mental illness, rational thought seldom helps to shed light. Getting behind the wheel while intoxicated is never, ever rational.
I see nothing but Diane living a lie and getting away with it until the day that she died. This is a common thread amongst alcoholics. Are these events the fault of the family members who might have known, should have known, but did nothing to stop Diane? No, the blame is solely Diane’s.
All we can do is look at the patterns exposed in this incident and identify them in ourselves or loved ones. And, hopefully, prevent any similar future incidents.
I like your post fuzzy logic. My piece is of course based entirely on speculation, with facts to back up the model. I haven’t found too many facts that are outliers of my ‘novel’ however. I merely put my thoughts down.
No one ever said i was not insane, in fact many have, i mean look at the depths i was driven to by this story. Perhaps it hits too close to home in ways i don’t want to admit, or i am trying to convince myself i could never go off like that. No one wants their family dynamics to be spashed across the front page for 6 months, none of us, period.
Of course i have sympathy for Danny, how could you not? And for the in-laws who lost their family. They were caught completely off guard by this i am sure, espeically the mom of all those kids. How that family can go on day to day is beyond me; their grief and anger must dwarf anything we can imagine. And Danny’s way of grieving is of course valid and he is doing what he has to do to survive, its just that he flaunted it in the media when everthing was so fresh. Over many years, and learned from personal experience, the best advice i can ever give people who have sustained a loss is not to hold the way anyone around them handles their own grief, or deals with adressing your grief. People react differently, from ignoring it, to making stupid comments, to going on a crusade, whatever it takes is valid for them, and getting righteous about how someone else handles what is their most personal inner feelings is pretty self-centered. I can’t say i am not guilty of this, but, when you do it at self-sponsered press conferences and on national tv shows you are asking to be judged in a black and white court and you must be prepared to have your grief-stricken irrational mindset dissected.
Fuzzy Logic:
Excellent points. I have also read much about this case, and appreciate the discussions here. We are all speculating really, b/c we simply don’t know enough to make a first hand conclusion. I think you are right on with your theory that she had an undiagnosed mental disorder.
Several items stuck in my mind from the various articles on this case.
1) She “didn’t believe in medication,” and didn’t even have a primary care physician, making an undiagnosed disorder all the more likely.
2) The incredibly impulsive behavior: Binge drinking, pot smoking at age 36 with children (not to say everyone who smokes pot is irresponsible or impulsive), but very few people, even teens, smoke and drive with children in the car.
3) The shopping impulsivity: How many middle-class people go out for milk and return with a jeep or a flat-screen tv? This is not normal behavior.
4) From all the reports, she had an emotionally distant husband, who didn’t seen to understand the absurdity when he said he knew all of his wife’s needs and desires, such as “when the gutters needed to be cleaned.” That says it all really.
I think she had Borderline personality disorder as well (although it’s very difficult to diagnose someone after the fact), and binge drinking was one of her many impulsive behaviors. I don’t think she was an alcoholic, but like many BPD sufferers, she did everything in excess.
Pros and Cons of what was written:
Pros – it adds a dimension to the events that I did not know while following the story.
Cons – Max, you add so much personal speculation about what took place, you begin to loose my appreciation for your due diligence.
Ex. The McDonald’s connection? I could just as easily say that I’m 100% certain that if she were drunk, they would’ve called the police. And if they didn’t because 1. she wasn’t, 2. she didn’t appear to be, or 3. they wouldn’t know if she was or wasn’t, McDonald’s and the employees are not trained to spot drunks and report them. Also, while you would hope they would report a drunk driver, failure to do so would not result in any criminal or civil lawsuit (that doesn’t mean that they wouldn’t be sued).
Ex. She walked in the gas station looking for Tylenol? That’s your speculation. Her walking in, looking around and leaving after saying something to the clerk is enough for me. What was said to the clerk is the key, not you guessing what was said.
Ex. Her speeding out of the gas station? Was she and was her pulling into traffic as you say it was? My point is that the camera filming her actions is on time lapse. Watch her walking across the parking lot – she is “skipping” because of the delay, which speeds up her actions. The same will be true for her driving out of the gas station – she will appear to drive faster than she is. Also, there is no way to make a competent conclusion about her safety entering the road with this footage. We can’t see left or right and the cars will appear to be driving faster than they are. Also, she poured more vodka and OJ? Not needed with all the other great stuff you have.
Your other facts, about her turning around, leaving the phone, etc are excellent tidbits that I had no idea about.
Try leaving out the personal commentary and repost to the websites that took it off. I bet they leave it up.
Pros and Cons of your comment
Pros
1) Reasoned commentary
Cons
1) Misdirected at Max, despite attribution in italics in the post.
2) Your argument that this, an expansion and support of a comment on the preceding post, despite extensive evaluation, as a comment, seems mildly hypocritical. This is like a letter to an editor.
Jake
Ex. The McDonald’s connection? (that doesn’t mean that they wouldn’t be sued).
This was my only point on this, that if the manager and the clerk talked about it later and said ‘ohhh shit, we are screwed’ by the time the cops get to them they say what they need to say to avoid being sued.
Ex. She walked in the gas station looking for Tylenol? That’s your speculation.
It is well publicized in the news that she supposedly asked for tylenol at the gas station, i didn’t make that up, but of course have no ‘proof’ that is what she was looking for or what was said. In fact the police report says that clerk refused to be interviewed, so this comes from Tom Ruskin and Dumbinic Barbarian.
Ex. Her speeding out of the gas station?
Now this i take sexception with, i watched that tape over and over again and it is not the absolute speed of her vehicle. I say right away the video was not linear with respect to time. What i looked at was the relative positions of the moving vehicles and how much each moved frame by frame. This made it clear that her vehicle moved much farther than any other in the parking lot. The clincher for me was studying the acceleration of her pulling away from the pumps, you can see the van lurch as she hits the gas, indicating a rapid acceleration. Then the van leans into the turn she makes as she whips around 180 degrees. In the time it takes to make that turn another car in the video moves only one car length while hers travels probably 100 feet. ALso, this is a shortened vidoe, there is a >5 min one out there where she is shown pulling out and making a left and exiting the frame.
I wonder if she was maybe yelling at the kids and that’s why she drove so crazy and then went the wrong way onto the Taconic.
Thanks very much, Fuzzy. I have to admit I’ve been fascinated with this case… less so by what she did than by how her family reacted.
First, I love this site, I love how thorough and complete the facts and details are.
I think the author makes grandiose statements left and right throughout this “article” it’s not an article…it’s an opinion piece. Some of his accusations are probably well founded while others are in my opinion, completely off the wall and completely unsubstantiated. Although it seems he was able to examine all the evidence put forth thoroughly he did not really present most of it here (for example when he refers to the 10th page of the police report but doesn’t show it to us for review)
But anyway’s, If i were in a similar situation that my sister called me shortly before she caused an accident which killed herself and her 5 children…I certainly wouldn’t protect her. I would be enraged and disgusted that she murdered 5 innocent children. I would totally throw my drunken sisters butt under the bus.
I have to agree that the author makes a keen observation about the way she was driving, but oddly enough in the surveillance video she doesn’t seem disgruntled or aggressive in her actions, she seems very normal except when she begins driving.
I have never heard about this case except for when I read this piece and I must ask, isn’t it easy enough to figure out if she was intoxicated at the time of her death by reading the autopsy report from the coroner’s office? Excuse my ignorance but what would be the benefit in the police and other officials have in covering up this tragedy? Could anyone enlighten me at all?
By the way i COMPLETELY disagree with the argument that “functional alcoholics” wouldn’t purchase large quantities of alcohol. I have a family member who is a recovering “functional alcoholic” who would drink an entire handle of vodka or bacardi everynight and get up and be productive at work the entire next day. (just as a side note)
and i’m sorry not to monopolize…but I see the evidence provided by Fuzzy Wuzzy in a reply, and now i can read the background of the story too. thanks Fuzzy, good work up on your POV of the facts
>Excuse my ignorance but what would be the benefit in the police and other officials have in covering up this tragedy? Could anyone enlighten me at all?
No.
Answer to both questions. There is no reason, motivation, or logic to why any officals would cover it up. The family had argued they got the samples mixed up or whatever. But it was a boring July Sunday afternoon, there were no other mass-casualty events to mix them up with. I never saw the point of disputing the only actual facts in the case and making up excuses that are way more crazy than mine.
And as i have stated many times, these speculations are mine and mine alone and were developed by letting my overactive imagination run wild with the limited facts and media coverage. I would not have done this if the truth was simply told in the first place. And i don’t think the other family is involved in a coverup, but what is the point of hashing it out in public. They are the discrete ones dealing with their losses privately while the husband has sought out the public eye. You get what you deserve if you put yourself out there.
Interesting perspective. I think the murder-suicide theory is valid, but just as a theory (as you have said). However, I don’t think it explains what she did that day any more satisfactorily than the theory that she was drunk and stoned, freaked out when she realized her family knew where she was and were coming to meet her (thereby discovering her state) and tried desperately to make it home despite being totally impaired so as to not deal with her brother’s wrath. Her “scouting out” the location of the crash is certainly a possibility, but it doesn’t make any more sense, in my opinion, then her simply having gotten turned around and winding up driving the wrong way on the same stretch of highway she was just on. Regardless, whether she intentionally killed herself and the children with a total lack of regard for whomever else crashed into, or decided to drown her sorrows in pot and booze while driving with five kids in the car and refusing help when it was offered to her, reveals her to be a controlling, self-absorbed person with little or no regard for the well being of others. It’s pretty bad for her soul either way.
Question: I know several calls to the brother were made. Some were made by a child in the car, but wasn’t at least one made by Diane herself? At the very least, we know she did say (supposedly) that she wasn’t feeling well.
One would think that if she intended to hide the problem (drunkenness) she would NOT have said this to her brother. Let’s say the niece called her father and said something was wrong, if Diane wanted to cover it up, she could have said “Oh no, everything’s fine; I have a slight headache but I’m fine,” or the equivalent. Obviously she said something that compelled her brother to leave the house and find her.
That kind of disputes your idea that she was panicked about her brother trying to find her and discovering she had been drinking. I feel the multiple phone calls were an irrational cry for help, or made before she got to the point that she was totally plastered.
I don’t know, I’m still on the fence about this being a planned murder/suicide, versus a drunk/high woman crashing her car. If the intent from the start was to kill herself and her kids, why allow a child to call in the first place, or why even tell her brother there was a problem?
Any ideas?
Matt
As i said above, those phone calls are key. We probably will never know who dialed all the calls from the car. From what i recall, Diane supposedly called on the earlier side with their ETA and let the kids talk to their mother. She was apparently lucid at that time. The later calls from the Tappan Zee Bridge.. Who knows. Regardless of who made the calls, i do not believe the accounts given that she complaining of medical aliments in a coherent way, if she was slurring and confusing who she was talking too then it was probably her brothers word describing her condition. The sister in law was never interviewed, so we do not know the real story here.
i think whe she went into that gas station she wasnt looking for pain reliever like ever gas stations have but maybe she was looking of liquor….not beer. they have beer but maybe they didnt have vodka or what have you? she did look crazed. i had to live with a manipulator for 20 years she is one i can tell just my seeing her on that video. i kmow u say how can u tell, well when u suffer mental abuse from a manipulator for so long u can see them from a mile away coming at you….trust me u know when u know.
i think whe she went into that gas station she wasnt looking for pain reliever like ever gas stations have but maybe she was looking of liquor….not beer. they have beer but maybe they didnt have vodka or what have you? she did look crazed. i had to live with a manipulator for 20 years she is one i can tell just my seeing her on that video. i kmow u say how can u tell, well when u suffer mental abuse from a manipulator for so long u can see them from a mile away coming at you….trust me u know when u know.
I agree, the way she looked around that place was like she was looking for shelves of booze or coolers, she did not look at the counter or behind it where they would normally have something like tylenol. Just curious wtfcrazy, what you saw in her that suggested your observation of manipulator?
I disagree on this point.
Diane, as a woman who clearly drank often and/or in excess, surely knew that only liquor stores in New York sell liquor… you can’t buy liquor at a gas station or grocery store in NY.. everyone knows that, and certainly a woman who drinks regularly would know that.
Perhaps she asked the gas station attendant if there was a liquor store nearby.
I have no horse in this race I barely remember hearing about this on the news when it happened. And I stopped reading approximately half way through. As a criminal investigator myself (computer forensics, fraud, financial crimes) I have to tell you this is a fairly amusing ‘investigation’ YOu make these suppositions and then pass them off as fact. This is 1 example: “She then has to stop for gas too where she is probably looking for Tylenol since she is hung over. But her sister in law said she didn’t believe in medicine, so why was she looking for Tylenol?”
In two sentences she has gone from “probably looking for Tylenol” to “so why was she looking for Tylenol”?
The entire structure of this article, investigation whatever Fuzzwuzzy has done here is full of these types of comments, guesses and supposition that suddenly become stated as fact.
I understand you guys are trying to be entertaining and all but I am going to do some supposition here and guess that this stuff has been yanked from other sites due to these types of comments.
Investigations would be incredibly easy if I could fill in the blanks with my own guesswork like has been done here. Something in the chain of evidence doesn’t fit? Jam it in there and make it fit. However, were I to do something like this with a case that goes to trial beyond prosecutorial misconduct I couldn’t sleep with myself if I ginned up information like this.
The whole paragraph about the vodka and what beer drinkers drink, how long a bottle should last is again presented as a complete series of guesses, comments on human behavior with no back up and ultimately no relevance to the real issue here.
This is actually a pretty good site but I think you lower the quality of the site by posting stuff like this.
Fuzzywuzzy don’t quit your day job you don’t have the patience to develop fact or you are hoping for sensationalism and if the latter is true that is fine just do yourself a favor and make sure you spell that out when you do that kind of stuff. I do notice that the post right above this by you there is you talking about she is looking for booze and Tylenol again. She is dead, you have no proof about this at all. have some decency and retract that stuff. And if you ever get proof of the theory then you can boldly and openly state it.
John
Maybe you should have some familiarity with the story before posting. It was everywhere for months, so no idea how you missed it.
I don’t believe i stated anything as fact; it is all my complete speculation. IF you bothered to read it, you would have seen me state that over and over.
I stand by the contention that my ‘pulled out of the air’ conclusions, make more sense then what the family and their lawyers and investigators have tried to shove down our throats as explainations. You say I jammed in guesswork, well how are we expected to believe that anbesol caused it, that she was burned in the fire and turned her blood to alcohol, or that she had a TIA or some other completely irrational claim by the family. If you followed the story you would have heard these things coming out day after day.
Hey, i said it before, if you put yourself out there like this expect to be hammered by absurd speculations until you come clean with the truth. I have no intention of quitting my day job, and infact was invited to post this here by PYSIH. In fact i wish this godamn story would stop haunting me.
That tylenol quote you cited; I was trying to convey the swirling disbelief upon reading these contradictions. To clarify;
>“She then has to stop for gas too where she is probably looking for Tylenol since she is hung over. But her sister in law said she didn’t believe in medicine, so why was she looking for Tylenol?”
>In two sentences she has gone from “probably looking for Tylenol” to “so why was she looking for Tylenol”?
The only speculation on my part was that she was hung over, my bad, maybe she had a blinding migrane. It is stated in the police reports that a) she was looking for tylenol (i didn’t make that up), and b) that her sister in law said she didn’t beleive in medicine and used pot instead. SO it is a valid result to have these contradicting facts make my head spin resulting in a couple of circular sentences meant to convey that ‘does not compute’ feeling.
If more investigators, like yourself John, were on this story and not fly by night ones like me, fuzzy wuzzy, maybe some shreds of truth would come out to disprove my confabulated story.
fuzzy, I think most people here realize that this guy states he’s an investigator to give himself credibility but then admits that he knew next to nothing about the story. Investigators by their nature pay attention to big news stories that are mysteries. Like vcbecky said, he failed to absorb the main point: it’s speculation based upon your personal reflection. (Can he read? does he have any reading comprehension or retention? Apparently not.)
I am surprised that your post has been removed from other sites. I question why, and think it’s suspicious. The blogosphere, etc. is full of speculation. It’s a red flag for me when more than one site takes down a post of your type. Comments are opinion. Posts are opinion. That yours was deleted is suspicious.
I also think that you’re not obsessed. I think you were simply the one to get this theory out there, thereby confirming the private thoughts of many others who didn’t bother to take the time to write it all out.
John, I’m not going to repeat what vcbecky and fuzzy wuzzy have already stated. They’ve already slammed you pretty good for your lack of knowledge about the subject matter and for missing the author’s (fuzzy) honest and open admission that what he was writing was pure speculation.
I’d just like to know, now that the errors in you comment have been pointed out to you, and it’s obvious to everyone how wrong your entire premise was, do you plan on posting an apology to fuzzy wuzzy? It seems like the stand up thing to do, IMHO.
Oh Max, I don’t require any apologies… in fact it is the overzealous nay-sayers I am hoping for, someone with real discourse on the actual story. And by that standard, that last post was pretty pathetic. John may have missed my point about speculation, but he also failed to do anything but take a few decidely low caliber potshots at me and not address any element of the story whatsoever; so why did he bother posting it?
Where are the folks defending Mrs. Schuler? The crackpots on her side ranting about how since Danny Boy simply said he never saw her drunk so she simply couldn’t have been, and that all the tests were wrong and the conspiracy of the Westchester Co agenicies and the ??? Where are they now? The ones who assume a white middle class professional mother who just has to be innocent?
Personally, I take exception to John’s comment where he says my comments were probably removed from other sites ue to my overspeculation. In fact, i was much more offended by the classist, and racist comments that took the family at their word and blindly defended her with out using a single fact (take that Westchester News site that threatened me with the FBI while they tore the Westchester Co authorities to pieces, accusing them of corruption and lying and coverups?) I think that is more slanderous leagally than wondering aloud what demons aflicted the poor woman.
Personally, i think he could not get past my poor sentence structure in this passage.
“She then has to stop for gas too where she is probably looking for Tylenol since she is hung over. But her sister in law said she didn’t believe in medicine, so why was she looking for Tylenol?”
I agree, it looks like i am speculating on what she was buying when in fact i was speculating why she was looking for it. My bad, back to grammar 101.
What if during Diane’s brother’s phone conversation w/ her he said this is the last straw, i’m turning you over to Child Protective Services and hope they take your kids away until you get off drugs and alcohol. Diane then becomes enraged and commits murder/suicide by intentionally crashing the car. She was a vindictive bitch, this is not only very possible but probable. I don’t pity the Schuler and Hance families but greatly feel for the other non-family victims.
yup, that is it in a nutshell. My whole point, that call was the key. I am sure we will never know the truth about it, no matter how many lives it affected, the truth will never be told, unfortunately. Everything surmised above is irrelavent when it comes down to it. She was just reckless up to that point, then it became a mission.
that’s it exactly. This was not planned, but she had probably thought about suicide before (don’t many folks from time to time?!) She was upset, driving recklessly, then the call, then the mission changed. Like someone else said below, the phone on the wall clinched it for me.
Suicide is always an act of anger and often of revenge. There’s no doubt in my mind that this woman, who was estranged from her mother and no doubt even her “adoring” husband, was angry and out for revenge.
The “hand to the head” in the gas station video showed distress to me. Not finding what you want, or even knowing what you want. Deciding what to do, buying time, etc. Deciding to leave quickly. At that point, she was in a chaotic mental state. I do believe she was speeding out of the gas station. It’s quite clear that brief episode was reckless.
Where are the folks defending Mrs. Schuler? The crackpots on her side ranting about how since Danny Boy simply said he never saw her drunk so she simply couldn’t have been, and that all the tests were wrong and the conspiracy of the Westchester Co agenicies and the ??? Where are they now? The ones who assume a white middle class professional mother who just has to be innocent?
The whole Amy Bishop shooter reminded me of Diane Schuler. Someone who just seemed to lose her mind completely. The husbands had the same reaction…never saw anything suspicious. Not that I would expect either to divulge too much…but nothing??? I mean these people killed inocent people…intentionally! No signs, nothing?? Witnesses stated that when Diane Schuler was on the Taconic (heading the wrong way) she didn’t swirve, was speeding and seemed fixated on the road…I can’t even imagine what those kids were going through. What a horrible way to die. As far as the Hance family goes, they may have known something was up, but not to this extent. They lost all of their children for God’s sake.
This case is drawing parallels in the reactions also, people defending or rationalizing her behavior, such as this article. There is such a trail of anger and hate behind this woman, how can anyone rationalize her reactions, I mean people have percieved injustices done to them every second of every day, but how many borrow guns, practice at the firing range, then take it to a meeting?
http://www.wowowow.com/relationships/amy-bishop-was-scorned-woman-erica-manfred-448818
Read the comments, people are seeing through this for what it is. This chick deserves an entry here herself.
Which also brings to mind Roman Polanski, who also deserves an entry.
Erica Manfred must have gone to the same journalism school as Ann Coulter and Michael Moore. I didn’t read one comment that agreed with anything she had to say in her article. What an angry, self righteous bitch. I left her a comment myself – here it is, for what it’s worth.
Nice comment Max :)
I also see the parallel between Bishop and Schuler. I think it is the result of enabling by family members and their class standing.
Both have had issues for 30 years, in Schuler’s case it was cutting out her mother when she was 9 and holding that grudge which manifested itself eventually in the murder/suicide. Her family knew this stubborn trait and should not have allowed themselves to be victimized by it and be forced to live within her parameters…. they could have refused to go to her wedding if the mother was not invited, and when she had kids and withheld the relationship with their grandmother the brother or husband should have made it clear that it is time to build a bridge for someone elses sake other than her extremely selfish perception of being dissed. She commited her first murder by pretending her mother was dead. She was probably holding the whole family hostage for over 27 years with this selfish act.
Bishop on the other hand was sheilded from the law many times with the help of her mother and father and whoever they had in their back pocket. Also her no-good husband who seems to have been complicit at least since they supposedly sent bombs to her old boss. This guy should be held responsible; he knew she had the gun and was practicing with it, knew she was disgruntled… didn’t he know she had already shot and killed someone? If that was your wife, wouldn’t it raise a flag or two? “Gee honey, why are you putting the gun in your purse?” Obviously he felt her pain if he made comments about wanting to kill the boss who fired her. They are two of a kind and just becasue she is the one who pulled the trigger this time, he should be held complicit. It was a lifelong conspiracy with those two.
To use these obviously highly mentally disturbed people as examples of why women go postal only makes it clear how beyond the pale their behavior is. Sure, we have all had raging feelings of being mistreated, not getting what we deserve, etc… but for 99.99999% of us it inspires us to overcome the abuse, make ourselves better and get on with our lives.
No one gets the pass to commit murder under any scenario, I couldn’t care less what stresses this PhD was under, or Diane Schuler with her six figure income. What about the people constantly under mind numbing stress that don’t lose it, or the poor and minority victims of discrimation and abuse who put up with it? Or oppressed people worldwide who are victimized by their governments and live with nothing but fear.
These women are siezed upon by the media simply because they are white upper middle class and make an easy example to frighten us all of what is all around us, waiting to snap. When in fact they are outliers in the land of crazy, protected by their class standing and people in the same class who can’t imagine they should be held accountable for their actions.
I still think this could be a mental illness + drug/alcohol-fueled delusion/hallucination rather than a deliberate murder/suicide, but we will never know the answer.
I was ruminating about your piece last night….I can understand the mindset of a mother at the end of her rope…what I can’t understand is taking out ones’ nieces…I don’t even like to drive my brother’s kids period.
Then it dawned on me…the common denominator of everyone in that car is grandma. Grandma could be the target for her rage, and the family members that are silent are so to protect her feelings.
I think Diane was overwhelmed with her life and was deeply afraid of becoming her own mother…I wonder if there were significant financial problems as that is a common denominator of male family annihilator cases (Peterson, Entwhistle, Vaughn, etc).
Totally agree
Interesting point but I don’t agree with everything.
To begin with, did she have marital problems? Very likely. Did she drink? apparantly so. Pot smoker? Maybe. The McDonalds conspiracy theory is not likely. If they said she didn’t appear intox., I believe it. I doubt the entire staff would ignore an intox. person who is traveling with many small kids. It wouldn’t take more than 2 sec. to call 9-1-1 and report her. Secondly. I viewed the surv. tape at gas station. I have seen many “professional” drunks in my day and not one of them can be twice the limit and walk as well as she did, not to mentioned stoned. Then fuzzy mentioned her hesitating to leave the pump before driving away. Maybe she was putting her credit cards/wallet away, maybe she was waiting for one of the kids to buckle up. I have 3 small kids who many time struggle with seatbelts. She wasn’t necess. dumping vodka into her McD OJ. The drive off. Definately nuts and irresponsible, but all she is guilty of here is driving like an A-hole. The apparant suicide. Does anyone here know if she was wearing her seatbelt? Assuming by the impact and aftermath, she likely would have been ejected in not wearing it. The kids are just a sad sad story. Burning to death. If she did intend suicide, I don’t think she believed this accident would happen as bad as it did. She might had thought they would survive since the impact would likely be head on, killing only the front seat passangers. But still very sad to know someone can ever do this to anyone, no less children. Her alcohol/pot smoking. One one can blame her for alcohol use as long as she did it at home in a controlled envt.. So her hubby saying she never drank was irrelevant (with exception to crash). Pot smoking, well thats another story. I wonder if her husband and dead child would test (+) for traces in their blood? If she smoked nightly, it is likely that traces are in her kids blood or hair due to 2nd hand smoke exposure. What ever the reason, it is a tragic ending. I wonder if her husband will have her exhumed. I haven’t seen anything in the news lately. However, well written Fuzzy.
I think that your essay is very interesting, I just do not agree. I believe that this woamn was a closet drunk, not on a suicide mission. I personally knew a drunk who could walk and talk like any sober person while ieing completely inebriated. Princess Diana was killed by such a drunk driver. The driver looked totally sober but was drunk as could be at the time. The woman had issues that she concealed well. One of those issues was a useless husband.
Great Essay.
To add my deep thoughts:
From what I’ve read Schuler did not drink before or during work, but she needed to drink a lot before returning home. On the date of the crash, she WAS doing exactly what she normally did: getting drunk on the way home.
Normally, her husband was at work when she arrived home since he worked a night shift. She probably overdid it on Sunday because she would arrive home when he was there.
Obviously, things in the marriage were pretty damn bad, so no need to go into that again. I don’t think she had issue with being a mother, but had issue with being Danny’s wife.
I think she was feeling ill and when she pulled the car over, the one child called her father, Schuler’s brother, Hance. I think either Schuler heard him or spoke to him herself. The brother probably knew his sister was drunk. The Hance’s daughters were old enough to figure that out and notice exactly what their aunt was pouring into her drink. I don’t think Schuler considered these girls could read a bottle or notice it under the seat.
When Hance found out, I think he threatened her with calling the police and how her kids would be taken from her, etc. At that point, I believe Schuler threatened to harm the kids if Hance called the police– “I hear any sirens, etc. I’m crashing this minivan from hell.” From what I remember, she was in front of one of the police barracks when a call was made.
It puts Hance in a pretty damn serious catch-22. I think at that point their was no way she was NOT going to crash the van; it was the girls noticing what she was drinking and it was the phone call that sealed their fate.
After the crash, there’s no way Hance could go public with that. And really, while I know three others were killed, he just lost his children, so it may not be a priority to go public. He was just in a no-win situation. I don’t blame either him or his wife. This may sound crass but what they are dealing with is on a whole other level than the other victim’s families. The sister just murdered your children after they called you begging for help and you were helpless to offer any, do you really care about talking to the police? No, screw the world.
I don’t think she was in a blind rage, but she was in a blind panic because she was caught. You cannot talk your way out of this especially when it involves family.
As far as the Mc and gas attendant, at best, her actions only look suspicious in hindsight.
fixed courtesy of your friendly neighborhood editor
-max
Whoa… thank you for this post! Thank you for providing a place for different opinions and takes on this and other cases.
I watched Oprah today, about alcoholic mothers who get behind the wheel. Diane Schuler was the lead segment. Daniel Schuler declined to be on, but his P.I. was on briefly. The toxicologist then came on and debunked his theories. It was gratifying! Not to mention horrifying, and quite damning. They did every single kind of test imaginable (about 4 or 5 tests in all, I think). It all came out the same: she was deadly drunk and recently high.
I think it is very possible that Diane Schuler’s back was against the wall and very possible that she did indeed commit murder/suicide. She was probably in deep financial trouble, knew she was addicted to alcohol and pot, and was probably having an affair (the cell call to the local guy minutes before the crash). Daniel Schuler is simply afraid of losing everything through a lawsuit, and possibly going to prison. That’s why he’s been lying his butt off. The attorney is simply bluffing to minimize damages.
Having worked on both sides of personal injury law as a secretary, I knew immediately that the Schuler family was INSTRUCTED by their attorney Barbara to deny knowledge of Diane’s alcoholism and marijuana use. Do not admit anything, and for god’s sake don’t apologize or express regret. It’s basic defense 101.
Just a heads up about McDonald’s and fast food restaurants and businesses in general:
Businesses DENY responsibility for injuries and accidents,directly or indirectly. Case in Point:
My daughter was injured at a McDonald’s when she was 2 years old (she is now 26). Her forehead was split open and it required several stitches. During the entire ordeal, NO ONE from McDonald’s came outside, no one offered even a Band-Aid or expressed concern. It was literally ignored, even though she was a toddler and there was a lot of blood.
When I called the McDonald’s the next day to demand why no one offered to help, the manager told me “we are instructed not to help in any way as that might cause the impression that McDonald’s is liable” I told them to go to hell. I KNEW my daughter was at fault for her injury, but attorneys assume EVERYONE is going to sue.
There’s another thing I’d like to point out here, which I haven’t seen yet. The little Boy, Brian Schuler, was in the hospital until his release in early October. That’s a huge hospital bill. The Schulers probably had good medical coverage through her job (don’t know about his), and they’d have to pay. The clincher is, the insurance company is going to try and recover their outlay by probing just how much Daniel Schuler knew about his wife’s condition (1) that morning and (2) her history of drinking and using. Because Diane Schuler is dead, there’s no one to refute that her husband knew about her problems and/or her conditionin general and in particular that morning UNLESS he complained to others (friends, neighbors, relatives). If he did complain, there’s a complicit silence for whatever reason (sympathy,not wanting to get involved, etc).
Insurance companies have always spent beaucoup bucks trying to figure out what really happened when there’s a heavy outlay. They often prevail when there’s a cover up/complicit silence. I will be interested to see how that particular angle turns out.
That right there is why Daniel Schuler is lying. Yes, he was in denial to a certain extent, but in my opinion he did know something. At the very least, the insurance will go after reimbursement of their costs in this matter. Again, that is the main reason for the lying. You don’t hire someone like Barbara if you’re in the clear.
A question: where was Diane Schuler’s cell phone ACTUALLY found? Some reports say “by the side of the road near the Tappan Zee by a motorist” and other reports say “on top of a wall (elsewhere)”. Either way, it shows she didn’t want to be GPS tracked or distracted or questioned or instructed any further. Still think it’s an important piece of information.
Sorry for the “spamming” Max, but there are other items such as the fact that Schuler hired a D-list celebrity divorce attorney for a case completely unrelated to his expertise.
After reading the facts and speculations in this case, I believe no attorney in their right mind would take this case – where’s the money for them?! There is at the very least a questionable connection to Mr. Barbara.
We’ll probably see the auto insurance companies auto going after Mr. Hance as the owner of the vehicle. In addition, the insurance companies providing employer medical insurance to both the Schulers. Mr. Hance knows something he’s not coming forward with. Mr. Hance has omitted details of those phone conversations. He’s been purposefully vague. Now that the grieving process is further along, Mr. Hance (Mrs. too) needs to spill some very pertinent info. Won’t do so unless offered a deal they can’t refuse. In other words: consequences of various kinds.
Yeah, I find it infuriating that they get away with saying nothing just so they can protect themselves legally from the truth. The world is twisted when the truth can be ignored if it costs someone money.
The cell phone was found in the parking area just past the Tappan Zee toll booths sometime before 9am July 27, according to the police report. It has been stated in the media that it was on the barrier wall, but the police report says “found in the parking area adjacent to the Tappan Zee Bridge toll plaza” and that the person who found it called the last number dialed and was told the person whose phone it was died in the crash.
While I agree Diane Schuler was being self-destructive that day, I’m not sure this was a suicide. I think she drank heavily for a reason that day — maybe a fight with the husband? I do believe she was so drunk by the time she crossed the Tappan Zee that her good judgement was gone. She left the phone so her brother couldn’t call, she really thought she could make it home. But she made a mistake, headed north instead of south, realized she was going the wrong way, got off the exit, drove a couple of blocks, only to enter the exit thinking she had turned around.
Yeah, and then she DRIVES ONE POINT SEVEN MILES INTO ONCOMING TRAFFIC. No amount of alcohol or marijuana can allow to actually think you are doing something sane when driving into oncoming traffic. She would have realized it IMMEDIATELY and pulled over.
Appears to me that she either lost complete touch with reality for some reason or planned to do it sadly.
I have a possible theory I have not heard mentioned. It is plausible that Diane Schuler was a SEVERE closet alcoholic and the camping trip required her to maintain at least some level of sobriety. She no longer had all of her “hiding places” to drink or hide alcohol. She also had the kids around and was in closed quarters. She made have decided to somewhat “white knuckle” the short camping trip, but ended up going through MASSIVE alcohol withdrawal, including hallucinations and delerium tremors. She was losing touch with reality, seeing things, shaking and realized she just wasn’t going to make it home. Being a perfectionist and controlling, she probably looked to over the counter pain medication to quell the withdrawals, even pulled to the side of the road to try and get it together to make it home. Finally, she felt she had no choice but to pound the vodka when the kids might not be looking, just to stop the hallucinations, visual disturbances and get home. The surviving child mentioned “Aunt Diane is sick and can’t see”. This is withdrawal with hallucinations. There were also witness reports of her vomiting on the side of the road. Again, withdrawal, not intoxication. By the time she pounded the vodka, it was too late, she had lost touch with reality and was lost.
If you watch the video of her in the gas station she’s moving as steady as you would expect from any sober person. I have personally never gone through the DTs, but I have seen people who have gone through it, both voluntarily and involuntarily. One thing that was pretty consistent was the shaking. Some to the point where they couldn’t walk properly. No one mentioned her shaking like crazy, and she seemed relatively steady. Other than that, it’s a theory that might have merit. I don’t think Danny boy would have noticed his wife’s drinking, considering it has nothing to do with himself. But wouldn’t an alcoholic of that level have managed to do at least a bit of internal damage? I would think that any ME worth their salt would be able to recognize a chronic alcoholic. You can’t hide your drinking everywhere.
Actually, we don’t know that the surviving child said that; indeed, I think he likely did not. It’s been confirmed several times that he has no memory of the crash itself, and either no memory or little memory of the pre-crash events. I suspect he has said no such thing, but Jay Schuler (Diane’s sister-in-law), and Daniel said that he did in order to back up their story. It makes sense that he’d have no memory of what happened, given his young age, his severe head injury, and the fact that it was an extremely emotionally traumatic experience.
Additionally, in the documentary, Jay says that he remarks that he ‘flew out like Superman’ upon Diane’s car hitting the other car. This is, IMHO, blatantly untrue, and was probably made up by Daniel, who might have thought it sounded childlike. However, witnesses to the crash say that the child was on the bottom of the heap of children, and that’s how he survived. They mention that they had to pull the children out of the car, and no-one was ejected. Moreover, if the child had ‘flown out’ of the car upon the moment of impact, he would have landed on the highway, where he would have almost certainly been killed by oncoming traffic.
All in all, there’s not a great reason to believe this kid knows anything about the crash that could help us.
Newsday has this article today, wonder how the civil suit is going?
Schuler family hopes no alcohol, drugs will be found in test
The family of Diane Schuler is awaiting new toxicology test results it hopes will show the West Babylon mother was not drunk and high when she drove the wrong way on an upstate parkway last summer, killing eight, including herself.
Samples of Schuler’s blood and other fluids were turned over in February to NMS Labs, a state-certified firm, said Dr. Millard Hyland, Westchester’s chief medical examiner. Hyland’s office conducted the tests showing Schuler’s blood-alcohol level at 0.19 and “high levels” of the psychoactive substance in marijuana in her system.
The July 26 crash on the southbound Taconic State Parkway in Mount Pleasant sparked national headlines and helped spur state legislation making it a felony to drive drunk with children in a vehicle. Killed were Schuler, 36, her 2-year-old daughter, her three young nieces and three Yonkers men in a sport utility vehicle struck head-on by Schuler’s minivan.
Schuler’s husband, Daniel, has vowed to clear his wife’s name, saying she was too good a mother to drive impaired.
Thomas Ruskin of CMP Group, the private investigative firm hired by Daniel Schuler, said Tuesday the lab is retesting for alcohol and drugs, but also ensuring there wasn’t a lab mix-up. The samples are being tested against DNA obtained from Diane’s toothbrush and undergoing additional tests about which Ruskin would not elaborate.
Results are due “in a short period of time,” Ruskin said. “We are being methodical.”
Hyland said Schuler’s family waited long enough to retest the samples to ensure the new results will differ. The samples degrade over time, he said.
“There will be a reduction in all the drug results,” Hyland said in an interview.
Ruskin said the tests were not conducted right away because the Schuler family had to raise money. Such tests could cost $10,000, experts said.
Toxicology experts had differing views about the new tests. Dr. Elliot Gross, a former New York City chief medical examiner, said, “I would think there won’t be substantial differences, if the samples were properly stored.”
But Bruce Goldberger, professor of toxicology at the University of Florida College of Medicine, said marijuana levels fall over time even in well-preserved samples. “I wouldn’t expect the results to be the same,” he said.
NMS Labs declined to comment.
Irving Anolik, a spokesman for the family of Yonkers crash victims, father and son Michael and Guy Bastardi, said of the new tests: “I don’t anticipate any different diagnosis.” The Bastardis are suing Diane Schuler’s estate and her brother, Warren Hance, who owned the minivan Schuler was driving.
After the test are completed, the Schulers will make a decision about exhuming Diane’s body for a new autopsy, Ruskin said. But, asked about an exhumation Tuesday, Daniel Schuler’s attorney, Dominic Barbara of Garden City, said: “That’s one of the things that’s going to be happening real soon.” He declined to elaborate.
Interesting and well-researched theory. I’m not entirely sure, though. To me, it sounds as if she probably had not slept well the night before (insomnia was mentioned) and here she was having to drive 5 young children by herself over a long distance. She’s tired and irritated–her aggressive driving (tailgaing, etc.) shows that. She wants to get home, and she’s got a whopper of a headache. She stops for Tylenol, can’t find any and in desperation to get rid of her pounding headache compounded by 5 most likely hyper children, she decides her “insomnia cure” (i.e. marijuana) might help. I don’t know when she drank–the night before or perhaps during the trip. Maybe she thought it would calm her nerves or maybe in her whacked-out state, she thought it was water–who knows? But I think she had an adverse reaction to the two together (hence her being sick at the side of the road) and this happened. The one fact that is indisputable is that her husband is deplorable: not only did he contribute to her state, but then he keeps picking at the scab by dragging these ridiculous theories and half-truths into the spotlight. I agree there’s probably more story we’ll never know, but I don’t think she crashed intentionally. I do think he knew she shouldn’t be on the road in her frame of mind and couldn’t care less because he didn’t have to deal with it. Now the friends and families of Diane’s victims are paying the price.
I also want to add that I think that’s why she did not appear intoxicated in McDonald’s or the gas station–because she hadn’t used the marijuana yet. I think after she did that, it had a very bad reaction with the alcohol that she ingested at some point. As far as the phone, she was probably getting even more irritated (and irrational) as she drove and her niece was messing with it, so she just grabbed it and tossed it aside like you would if your kid had an annoying, beeping toy going off and you had a headache. It just sounds like everything came to a boiling point and her way of dealing with it led to the deaths of 7 other people.
Just my take on it….
Maybe she baked some pot cookies since the kids would be there and she couldn’t smoke in front of them. That could have made her sick as well as maybe explain the really high THC levels. But that would probably make you too spaced out to even drive. The police reports did not mention finding pot or paraphernaila in the car, so where was it? So maybe she ate some when she woke up and it got way too intense while she was driving and she was speeding to try to get home, then used the vodka to try to calm down. That would explain a lot of the slurring and the condition she ended up in, it seemed to get worse as she drove.
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Hi –
There is one inaccuracy in this article that should be fixed – I live close to the accident site and the tappan zee bridge. You said that Diane must have had to cross many lanes of traffic to get to the pull off after the tolls. However, this is not true. There is the exit 9 to tarrytown right after the tolls and the pull off area. There is an EZ Pass exit for people who are going to get off at that exit all the way on the right. Therefore, it is most probable she went through that toll booth. Also, it would be almost impossible to cross the traffic there before the pull off is right in front of the tolls, she would have to have turned and driven perpendicular to traffic to get to the pull off.
I think it’s very interesting what you have put together. There is something very wrong with this whole story – the denial, lies, etc. However, this one little fact did lead me to question the rest of your theory.
That is exactly correct, she went through the toll booth on the right.
Well, to be fair, all the lanes also accept ezpass. She could have gone to any one. I should not have thrown that conjecture in there, i agree.
Any chance the children poured the vodka in her cup? Depending on several factors, vodka doesn’t have the strongest taste. This would fit with the story that she didn’t know why she was falling ill. And it would make sense of much of this whole mess. I know you would rather crucify her (even though she is already dead), and that you probably don’t even want to entertain an alternative viewpoint, but … what if that is what happened? Kids do stupid things, and they really could have done this.
Yes kids do stupid things. They break things and try to cover it up. They skip school. Hell once I told the biggest kid in school that he is very stupid and his mom looks like a dog.
Pour vodka in someon’s drink? What in the hell are you smoking? Please go away and never look back. Stay as far away from here as you can. We live in reality here not in some drug soaked world like yerself. Please go to hell
LoL Mulch – He sounds like me when I was tripping on really bad acid. I hated those bad trips man.
Yeah buddy, and the kiddies kept asking her for a kiss and sneaking a shotgun in on her – that’s how she had such a high level of THC in her system too. You know how those 7, 8 and 9 year old kids are.
We’re all for alternate viewpoints, but we do ask that they make sense. I can see why you use the “anonymous tag. I wouldn’t want to use my real name either if I the best theory I could come up with was this nonsense. My God man, what were you thinking?
Well the kids obviously rolled her a joint.
Small, nimble fingers are a plus!
If by some, odd, rare, twist of the universe, this actually happened. To hell with her still for giving the kids easy access to a handle of vodka.
You believe in Santa, the Pussy Troll and Hanukkah Harry too, don’tcha. AGAIN with the lack of Occam’s Razor. This is not The Twilight Zone, dammit.
Please, leave those poor innocent children out of it. They were victims on a hell ride that gave them the scariest moments of their life, then ended in violent, horrible, painful death. Again — Leave those little kids alone.
>Any chance the children poured the vodka in her cup?
That is about the most alernative viewpoint I can imagine.
Maybe they were all doing shots and passing joints around the car while singing White Rabbit.
Was just wondering today about this case and found this site. Finally, someone that put to theory so many of the unanswered questions in the case!
I’m wondering why Daniel Schuler has not come out with the results of his own toxology testing yet. That was at least 2 months ago that he announced it was in motion.
I don’t know why she was drinking and smoking but I agree with the theory that when she was found out (whether it was the kids that first alerted the brother or Schuler herself) the brother went ballistic and she knew she had royally F-ed up and went off the wall on a drunken suicide mission.
THIS is what should be happening everywhere to educate children!
http://www.ocregister.com/news/students-249726-nicas-court.html
They held real court in a high school gym, and sentenced a drunk driver in front of 300 students. What an amazing lesson for them. I hope it sticks!
It is clear that Diane Schuler wanted to take out all the grandchildren so the grandmother (her mother) would never be able to see them at all. I believe Diane planned to have them all in the van at once. I also believe her brother knew about it. I don’t think Diane’s husband cared what she did and didn’t pay attention to Diane enough to be aware of her intentions.
Your comment made a light bulb go off over my head. What if the neices were talking about grandma and it hit a nerve? Kids say all kinds of stuff without holding back — we’re going to visit grandma, I love grandma, I want to call grandma….etc. Maybe they were talking about grandma all weekend and on top of everything else it was just enough extra pressure to snap Diane’s brain, in which her mom no longer existed.
Very interesting theory…. especially since her kids didn’t get to see grandma, but the others did, so who knows what that could have triggered. RIP.
hmmm, that is interesting. Ties it altogether. The mother issue may be paramount to it all. Good point!
Isv239, you think that Diane’s brother knew that she was going to kill all of the children–include his own? I don’t think that’s very likely.
And if her brother and his wife had any doubts about Diane’s ability to keep the kids safe, they wouldn’t have let her drive them anywhere. They were clearly ignorant of the extent of her problems–as was her husband–but because he’s a pretty dim bulb.
Funny how simply you discredit multiple corroborating eyewitnesses if they don’t fit your theory while basing lengthy conjecture on uncredited, uncorroborated, probably out-of-context statements. I would watch out for defamation suits if I were you.
I agree that something interesting and as yet unexplained happened that day, and that the woman’s family is not being totally honest. i was hoping this page would be more informative than others, but this was just some weird and kind of frightening rant. Chill out on the baseless judgments and stick to the facts.
“Some of the author’s conclusions are pure conjecture – he states this clearly in a couple of places”
Sound familiar Dale? When I introduced Fuzzy’s story at the very beginning of the article, I put this disclaimer in. I don’t understand what your beef is.
We’re not too worried about defamation lawsuits from a family that wouldn’t know the truth if it hit them, well, head on.
Pardon me if I’m wrong, but if you’re going to shout ‘defamation of character’, don’t you have to prove there’s good character to defame in the first place?
That might be an up-hill battle for you in this case, Dale Cooper.
Did you mix up “multiple corroborating witnesses” with “family and friends in blatant denial” again? I thought we talked about this…
lmao! Harley, you slay me….LOL.
Don’t even get me started on your “head on” comment! I almost choked laughing.
>>simply you discredit multiple corroborating eyewitnesses if they don’t fit your theory
I don’t recall doing this. Could you be specific? I do recall making it all up off the top of my head using offical police reports and family member statements though. Got a better version? Lets hear it.
I feel Diane threatened to do what she did, when she spoke to her brother on the phone before the accident. The brother knows.
Also, the brother allowed his children to be with Diane, knowing she smoked weed.
So i can’t find any information on this case. Anyone know what is happening with the civil case? Schuler said the retested toxicology results were due way back in the winter.
WHATWHAT?? You mean Mr. Schuler is keeping his private toxicology reports to himself? Can anybody tell me why that might be? Anyone? You in the back?
Seriously if you find anything, I’d be interested in seeing it. I’m pretty sure it said exactly what they’re denying though so of course they’re a secret. It’s easier to believe a lie if nobody knows the truth.
He probably shaved his head and waiting for ‘clean’ hair to grow back before the victims could test him for long-term drug use too.
It’s amazing how people will jump to conclusions based on conjecture. And to then criticize with some really hateful language the family of this woman is sickening. You people have been watching too much Law and Order and now think you are armchair detectives.
You think you can criticize us for being disgusted with the behavior of Diane Schuler’s family? The same family that dragged Diane’s victim’s families through a media circus full of bald faced lies and made up excuses for why Diane couldn’t possibly been as drunk and high as the autopsy proved she was. The same family that promised new test results from a new autopsy that would prove that the Westchester County ME screwed up the original results, but is now suppressing those new test results? The same family that stood up in front of the press, the public and God and told lie after lie after lie about Diane’s Drug and alcohol use, all the time knowing they had told the New York State police an entirely different story. Are you serious?
Go away, now, before I kick your virtual ass all over this thread. If you’re looking for a fight, you’ve come to the right place, because this case caused me a lot of pain, and I don’t like people who defend this murdering bitch and her despicable relatives. You better be sure you have the moral high ground though, or you’re in for a very unpleasant experience.
haha.. max, tell her how you REALLY feel.
This just out.
http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/2010/June/29/Schuler_finalrpt-29Jun10.htm
State Police conclude investigation into Taconic crash that killed eight people
HAWTHORNE – State Police Tuesday announced they have concluded their investigation into the July 26, 2009 collision on the Taconic State Parkway in Mount Pleasant that killed eight people and injured three others.
Diane Schuler, who was drunk, was driving the wrong way in a van full of her family’s children, was killed. Toxicological reports indicated she was high on alcohol and marijuana at the time of the crash.
Investigation and Collision Reconstruction analysis revealed that the Schuler vehicle was traveling southbound in the northbound lanes of traffic at about 85 miles per hour when it struck a car carrying the Bastardi family, which was going northbound at about 74 miles per hour.
The crash occurred primarily in the left hand land of the northbound lanes of traffic on the Taconic.
Schuler’s blood alcohol content was .19 percent; the legal limit for intoxication in New York is .08 percent, as was earlier announced. The autopsy had also revealed she had approximately six grams of alcohol in her stomach that had not yet been metabolized. She also had a high level of the active ingredient in marijuana in her blood.
Schuler had left a summer camp in Sullivan County and was driving south back to her Long Island home when the crash occurred.
I’ve never been high on alcohol….but I’ve been pretty damn low.
Not this low though. I’m sad it’s taken them so long to confirm what everybody already knew.
There is something about Fuzzy’s comments that rings true. When I first started reading, I thought it was going to be nonsense, but it surely was not. Other theories are possible also. Closet drunk is possible as well – people don’t really ever think things are as bad as they are. I am watching something like that unfold with one of my friends now. Denial is inexplicable and poweful.
Harley’s additional comments are also logical. I doubt we will ever know really, but the phone in the lot is very disturbing. Diane might have forgotten it, but she also might have become angry with the niece’s and BIL’s calls and tossed it. Or she could have planned their deaths, certainly possible.
Diane probably had some kind of untreated personality disorder such as BPD or Narcissistic PD or bipolar. No normal person behaves as she did. She had to know she was driving like a lunatic and she was able to navigate the roads. She was no innocent in the least. People with personality disorders must be held responsible for their actions and are not crazy. She was very angry and very aggressive so I do think it is possible she had a death wish. Narcissists like to take others with them.
I wouldn’t be so quick to criticize the husband. Personality disordered people can be almost impossible to deal with, but can often charm people into enabling them. They also seek out people to lean on who can be victimized.
I don’t like the idea of the Bastardis suing the Hance and Schuler families – it’s too much considering their loss, but I don’t know what I would do in their place.
I guess people saw this. Diane Schuler was going 85mph. http://www.news12.com/articleDetail.jsp?articleId=254975&position=1&news_type=news
When I read the autopsy, I wondered how anyone could ingest this much alcohol and get on the road with children. Why???? She was not only .19 but there was .6 ungested alcohol in her stomach. This indicates that she likely did drink at that gas station stop. http://www.lohud.com/assets/pdf/BH14176392.PDF
My last post. I got caught up in this story today.
A driver who swerved to avoid her said she was in total control.
This is from an ABC article.
“One of the drivers in her path, Richard Rowe, managed to avoid a crash with Schuler who he said seemed “in total control.”
“I don’t understand. She was in total control of the car,” Rowe said. “Maybe initially she was confused, but she had lots of time to correct her mistake. If we had been 30 seconds later, we would have been hit by her.” ‘
This is correct.
She was in complete control of her car. I didn’t not need to swerve and in fact only noticed her because of all the honking, I looked and saw people driving and other passengers pointing.
I looked over at the van and it was not going all that fast, I can’t say how fast but it wasn’t 80 and it was indeed, in control and while it happened extremely quickly, I felt something about the face of driver that spoke of both fear yet determination. The driver knew she was going the wrong way and it could have pulled over. The decision to move into the traffic was deliberate in my opinion because there seemed to be time, a decent opening in the traffic and drivers all around noticing what was going on.
You were there that day, on that road, and saw Diane Schuler in her van? Sawit, this must haunt you.
This specific case is very important to more than one regular visitor to this website. Any insight you may have would be a blessing to all of us. Thank you so much for posting.
Yeah it’s pretty crazy.
I was coming home from a business meeting at a friends house near nyack and I went over the Tappan Zee.
Then I headed back home up north to Dutchess County where I live, up the Taconic.
It’s all very hazy but still it put me in strange state of shock for about a year now. I was driving along and I heard a honk honk honk and turned to my right and there was a car honking and pointing.
I looked up ahead and saw a car coming down the wrong way.
In my minds eye it is on the left, but it may have been on the right or maybe in front of me. I know that sounds weird but even now when I think of this I get a little nervous and shook up about it.
I thought, oh my gosh this person is going to cause an accident. And she didnt seem to be going all that fast. I just sort of felt as if she knew and there was look, it was hard to see past the windshield but I was close enough to see in, I could see her hands on the wheel. I want to say I am more confident she was to my left and she could have gotten off the median.
Anyway…. she was going straight ahead and I thought, she better pull over or she will cause an accident.
Then, she past me and I was looking just straight ahead, but in my periperal vision I saw something leap in my rear view mirror and I heard a low, not to loud THUMP and I thought, oh my gosh, I bet that car going the wrong way hit somebody.
Then I looked in my rear view mirror and by this time, I was down the road far enough so that I could see clearly a rise of very thick brown blackish smoke a huge plume of it in my rear view.
I didnt know what the accident was about or how bad or anything. I knew that I should just keep driving and I continued on my day.
I went to Adams market in Pleasant Valley and went shopping and then went home and cooked dinner and I forgot all about it.
Then, the following week I read the news on the internet and the reality of it came to me. I still couldnt believe it so I kept checking the map on line and timing and eventually I was able to come to my senses of what I experienced and it shook me up pretty much for the year, inside.
The very awful thing is that I want to get out of my mind is that at the toll on the Tappan Zee there was a red van in front of me, that cut me off and I thought , what an idiot, and then I saw that there were children in the van. I thought, oh my gosh, this person is crazy and I almost called the police or said something to the toll taker, but I didnt say anything.
I want to say that it wasnt her.
I dont understand the timing and I have no evidence if it was her.
If it was her, I am not sure what to think of all of this.
there was somebody else i thought in the driver seat or leaning over somehow I could see two people, at the time, I didnt think adult and child, just two people I thought in the front or somehow one leaning over on the passenger side to make it appear as if two people were in the front.
One person was driving a woman and another that was in the passenger seat a girl upset putting her arms out like saying what are you doing you arr going the wrong way and the driver looking straight ahead that’s what I thiink I saw
What an experience sawit.
I’m glad you’re okay.
And, you can really tell a story. I was on the edge of my seat.
Last post for me on this….
The weird thing is. My story begins days after the crash.
I just for some reason and trust me I am not a bad nor a negligent person, simply was stunned and thick.
It took me so long to figure it out.
When I saw the plume I called my girl friend from my cell phone told her that I may have seen a bad accident but wasn’t sure.
So when I read about the crash I just started to wonder if that was the crash I experienced.
My mind didn’t connect the dots. Then I mapquested things and checked my arrival and departure times and my cell phone calls
I remained in disbelief.
Then I talked to a friend who explained to me that I was in some kind traumatic state of shock
I am actually a nerves oif steel type but it is true I have been in shock and it just is completely and utterly a horrific situatuon.
I do believe in God and I do believe that God will eventually comfort those in need. Over and out.
Thank you for sharing that sawit. I can understand how it all came together for you later. It was surreal and unfathomable.
It must have been difficult for you to relive that enough to share it with us. I can’t begin to tell you how grateful we are, SawIt. Thank you.
I wonder when it occurred to the older kids that they might die, how long they suffered in abject terror before they died, and what would drive anyone to take children with them on a suicide run. Why did she have to do something so terrifying to them, if she did have to kill them too for some reason? Why didn’t she wait until she’d dropped them all off, then run her damned self off a cliff or something? Why did she deliberately kill the children? How was she able to block her mind from the sounds that must have filled that car? How much selfish hate did this take?
Did she drink and get stoned because she knew what she was about to do, and wanted to be as numb as possible for it? Did she decide while sober that yes, this is the way I have to do it? Is it possible that the actions she knew she would take caused her to get inebriated, and not the other way around?
I can’t think about this anymore. Forgive me, but it is too much. I need to vanish for a bit. See you all soon.
I didn’t realize you actually saw it, sawit, and thought you were being figurative. What a horrible memory for you.
If Diane S. did this deliberately, her bahavior is trully that of a monster. Maybe that is why she didn’t stay put (as the brother asked) and left the phone and drove the wrong way. She had to have terrible anger – like the rage she exhibited on the road and the children crying probably made it worse, having the opposite effect it would have on most people.
What I don’t know anything about is alcohol and pot together. The effects could be anyone’s guess. I got drunk once and I could see making some of the mistakes she made. I have never smoked pot, but it must enhance the effects of the alcohol. I know I would never have driven any children home while drunk; I know that would take some thought, even from a drunk. Though I had a BIL who did it. I’d baby sit and he’d come to pick them up loaded. I’d insist on driving them or follow him, depending on what I thought his condition was – I finally insisted on having him call me when he got home so I could always drive the kids back. I should have called the police on him.
Fuzzy, your article and follow ups connect the dots and leads us in the right direction to what happened. There are a few suggestions from other comments which leads us to a similar conclusion as yours. There are a couple of facts that can not be overlooked : the toxicology report : her blood alcohol was 0.19 (equivalent of 10 drinks 80% proof alcohol) with more alcohol in her stomach which did not have time to metabolise at time of death. There was a substantial amount of marijuana which could be pinpointed to the hour when last smoked. Dianne also had a 2 year old child – she may have suffered from post partum depression for a while. Dianne seems to have had a husband who liked to be “alone” with his dog, leaving the kids and all the chores to the wife while she also had a full time job. Everyone suggests Dianne seemed in control, and no indication of intoxication. Someone suggested she may have suffered from the manic phase of bi-polar disorder, yet she did not believe in medication. The family may have noticed her drinking and marijuana abuse, and threatened intervention to have her committed or hospitalized? We dont know. But the last phone call, which made her leave the cell phone behind, was the trigger. Who did she talk to and what was said? When a depressed person is on the edge, all they need is the magic words to push them over the edge. All the anger and hate and frustration of her own mother leaving her as a child, an uncaring husband, and hopeless situation, insomnia, drugs, alcohol, feeling despertely tired… Something in her mind clicked and we dont know what that was – to make her deliberately and willfully turn the car around the wrong way, and speed into a head-on collision with her own 2 children and brothers 3 children to a sure death taking the lives of 3 more people, 3 unsuspecting men driving down the road. May God rest the poor victims soul, who never saw it coming. The brother and husband should come clean and tell the truth about the last conversation and what led up to this. There could be a very simple explanation. She may have turned around trying to go back for the cell phone she left behind, using impaired judgement, speeding up the road the wrong way???
The final report on this case came out today (6/30/10). The police determined that Diane Schuler was driving 85 mph. I think this adds credence to the theory that this was absolutely intentional on her part.
If she had lived, she would have been charged with 7 counts of vehicular homicide in the least. If it happened in Nassau County, it would have been 7 counts of second degree murder. She was a killer, no matter what the circumstances.
It would be interesting to know the conversations in those phone calls and the circumstances under which the cell was left behind, but, in the least, she killed herself, 7 other people (4 of whom were young children), and seriously injured her son.
She appeared angry or determined as she stomped around that gas station mart. For her to have that much alcohol in her stomach, she had to have gulped down a lot of liquor in a very short time (after already drinking and smoking pot for who knows how long). Why gulp down 6 to 10 shots in less time than it takes to digest it, if it is not deliberate (an hour or two to digest each ounce)? The person who avoided hitting her said she seemed in total control and had plenty of time to correct.
The stories told by the family never made sense. Her SIL said she smoked marijuana every day. Why would the brother go to get her? He sounds like a brother in denial and maybe overprotective. It is an absolutely horrible story of anger, selfishness, drunkenness. People with personality disorders or bipolar are crazy makers and it sounds like this is what was going on here.
It was more than post partum or depression. It is hard for me to feel sorry for her, no matter what her mental state. I don’t care about her depression or her problems with her mother. No one skates in this life, but we don’t go out and drive drunk if we have any concern for others. If I were her juror, I would not have sympathy for her. I have great empathy for everyone else she affected. If the family knew, they are paying the most terrible price.
This police report at the time of the accident gives some answers.
http://www.autopsyfiles.org/reports/policereport/schuler,%20diane_police_report.pdf
According to the police-
One of the witnesses said Diane looked terrified as she drove by, hands clutching the wheel. The witness got a quick close look. The crash was within seconds of that. Perhaps she realized too late.
She drove like a maniac before pulling into the McDonald’s and was likely drunk at that time.
She left the cell phone on the barrier while she was vomiting at a stop, which she did twice.
both hands on the wheel, clutching one at around ten and the other at around two
Terrified and straight ahead going through with it, her out was to pull over to her right instead, she moved over to her left in the oncoming car
Wow. thanks, Sawit. Most interesting.
I didn’t realize that you meant you literally saw it. I thought you were speaking figuratively. How awful to have that vision in your mind. I just read all the comments – sorry I repeated too much of what was already said.
According to the police report at the time of the accident, when Emma spoke with her mother, the children were crying in the car.
The most tragically haunting thing about this entire case is the children in the car that day. No one on earth should be ever subjected to that kind of terror for hours like that, and at the hands of their own mother, and trusted aunt. The men in the other car were probably happily talking and thinking about the family dinner they were going to, oblivious to the car full of kids in sheer terror careening towards them; there was no time for them to even break or react, the driver probably only saw the whole thing as a flash, I mean the cars came together at over 150 mph on a blind curve, they never saw it coming. Lucky them. But those poor kids. Even if this woman had one sane, compassionate rational cell in her body she would have stopped driving at the begging of the terrified kids. I can’t even imagine what they were put through by this selfishly deranged, possessed murderer. If only one of the kids could have pulled out the key while she was on the phone or puking by the side of the road. No living creature deserves to be treated that way before being killed, it is a torture worse than anything any crazed government or terrorists would even ponder. And that my friends is the reason Diane Shuler will be seated as the Queen of Hell for all Eternity.
I too keep thinking of the kids. What they experienced, no adult should go through, let alone an innocent child. Although I might make an exception for Schuler. She is a selfish, disgusting, egotistical bitch. She destroyed those children and her other victims and scarred the lives of the survivors, all becauase she didn’t have the balls to stand up to her husband or brother or whatever the hell was pissing her off. Or maybe she was just mad cuz life in general wasn’t treating her fair. Wah! I hope she’s sizzling as we speak.
I spent about 10 minutes thinking of what the kids must have gone thorough, then I had to force myself to stop. I can read page after page about any crime, internalize all of it, and be able to sleep at night so long as I don’t put myself in the shoes of the victims. I am too empathetic, and always have been. I just can’t handle it.
Well bless you for your empathy Beck. Thinking of the victims the way you do shows way more compassion than the family members and babymammas s who show up on this site and scream about their love and compassion and loyalty for whatever soaphair it is they’re defending. You don’t brag about it which makes it all the better.
I have a way overactive imagination when it comes to animal cases and they haunt me for days. I usually identify more with animals than I do with people anyway.
Kids are a close second.
I agree Fuzzywuzzy. It is heartbreaking. It is the thing that captured me in all this – it is a horrible story mostly because of the childrens’ suffering. How could Diane not stay put???? Especially when she heard the children crying!!! When you read Diane’s autopsy, you understand the devastating injuries they all suffered.
I happened upon this page two days ago and then started researching it. When the accident happened last year, I ignored it because I knew it would be painful to think about. I don’t read any stories like this, generally, because I don’t want to know since I am helpless to change it. Prior to coming upon this site, I thought Diane must be somewhat sympathetic.
It was devastating for me to read about the children crying in the car 20 minutes or more before the accident (from the report). One witness said that while Diane was puking in the lot, the older girl (Emma) looked upset. That image – horrible. Thank God they didn’t suffer afterwards (except for little Bryan). I hope he will be okay.
Diane took too long to get to the accident location, even with traffic, so she possibly pulled off somewhere to drink and smoke pot – in front of those children. It makes me sick to think of it.
I am devastated for the family she left behind as well. The parents and the grandfather – omg – I am so sorry for them – there is nothing that could cause them to deserve this. That is why I don’t believe in the lawsuit for a million dollars – for a dollar, maybe, to get at the truth. But, honestly, if I were Daniel, I wouldn’t give too much information, given the situation.
To get so ossified that you hurt children??? How could she???
It is a most selfish crime. It is cruel beyond comprehension.
I understand denial and most people do not think this could ever happen to them so I understand her family’s reaction when they received the calls from Emma. They acted as most people would have acted and would not have been able to stop her at that point. I don’t understand Diane’s reaction at all. Were I on her jury, I would put her away for life.
People on blogs keep commenting that Diane was normal at McDonald’s because that is what has spewed forth from the sleazy lawyer. Diane drove into McDonald’s like a loon – she was definitely not ok. And she ordered chicken nuggets for breakfast??? People said she looked fine in the gas mart – she didn’t to me – she looked intense and confused. It shows what propaganda from the ridiculous lawyer can do. Diane was likely stoned when she left that campground, but she was obviously good at covering it up.
@Sawit – yes, one witness thought she chose to go right into the oncoming car and several did say that she had her hands confidently clutching the wheel at 10 and 2. But with that alcohol level combined with a lot of pot – who knows what was going on in her mind –
She chose to drive drunk and stoned and that is guilty enough.
Just read the police report more thoroughly. I didn’t realize that Diane S. first missed hitting a car and made no effort to avoid a head-on when she did. She then hit the car of Dean and Angela Tallarico immediately before the fatal accident and was seen speeding up to avoid the accident. This avoidance and the alcohol/pot might have eliminated her reaction time and her understanding, explaining her not pulling over.
She probably had almost no peripheral vision from the drinking. Tunnel vision might explain her staring straight ahead?
I think she was hallucinating from the pot and Vodka
Its hilarious I said I wouldn’t post anymore and truth be told I am seeking attention and this website actuallky gives me the creeps.
I just want to say that death can trick us into thinking that all is bad. Did you ever see that movie with cat stevens music hariold and muade?
I have three friiends that died by suicide and it seems to me as a normal average joe I have seen a bit too much of untimely death.
I think the best thing to do for the bastardis and longis s to clasp our hands in prayer and just thankful to God that God will comfort their hearts.
The impact of the beautiful things that the people who died are always goinmg to bless us as people. Through the next few years and forever the gifts of joy and knowkedge peace wisdom and love it will keep going on and on and on and on. That’s god that does that. He heals the broken hearts and reaches betond our humanness into pure love. Our father. Ok? Amen.
I don’t know why I started posting here in the first place because I definitely don’t like any attention. The image of the deceased victims haunts me.
I don’t think Diane S. was consciously trying to kill, but she did. This should be a lesson for everyone who thinks a “little” pot and a “little” alcohol is something that won’t affect them when they drive.
I sent this story to my friend whose son was drinking and driving recently and had a bad accident in which no one was hurt but two cars were totaled (his level was .14 and the cop let him go out of concern for his being arrested for a felony at his young age). This boy did agree to go into rehab after reading this story – so that is one good thing that came from this blog.
I am sure no one in Diane S’s family ever believed her capable of what she did. It would be unfathomable, especially given her prior history. That level of pot and alcohol could cause her to lose all reason and to hallucinate. She never should have taken the first steps with her compulsive tendancies.
I hope that everyone affected by this tragedy will find peace. I have also seen a lot of death (not suicide fortunately) but I do believe God heals because that has been my experience. But no one should ever have to suffer the way these families are suffering.
Major typo
I meant to say not seeking attention
I left out the word not by accident
I have to stop reading this site now its too upsetting
I am sorry for the confusion about the typo
Facsts:
Yes I am traumatized by what I saw
Yes even though she was bombed I am inclined to believe she knew she was going to cause a horribe accident
Now reaLy good bye
That is certainly a real possibility and you saw it. I’m sorry you were traumatized by it sawit. Who wouldn’t be. God bless.
I don’t know if you will come back sawit, but I witnessed a horrific accident like this back in the 70′s. Drunk boys were speeding and went over the guardrail at over a 100 miles per hour. I won’t mention the conditions of the bodies as he took the roof right off two cars and landed on another. The drunk boys had beer cans all over the car. People called for help from the phone on the highway – the Meadowbrook. The boy who had been driving ,and who was quite drunk but walking just fine, was verbally abusive to the cops and walked around being arrogant and nasty to everyone. The scene was so horrible, I went into a state similar to yours and wandered back to my car in a daze when I saw there was nothing I could do. Later his mother was in the papers carrying on that her son was suffering to because he had to go to jail (for two years). Ironically, the accident was so bad, my husband, a NYC Fireman at the time, was called to the scene. It was the first and last time he was called to an accident scene in Nassau County.
sawit’s account just goes to prove how many people were affected directly from this event. It was traumatizing enough to imagine the horror of those involved, but the horror Diane Shuler put first responders through and just unprepared regular folks (those she didn’t kill) driving around on a sunny sunday afternoon in July. I am sure there are 100′s of people with stories of that day and a year anniversary coming up that will trigger PTSD; how could it not. We are not unfeeling. From sawit’s account I can see how unreal it must have been. Being totally unaffected by it physically by missing being involved in the actual crash and not even sure what you saw or how to process it. I can relate to having to think of it in the part of your mind that you don’t let gain control and debilitate you. You try to go through your regular activities, but it has to haunt you. I beleive sawits account due to the way the reconstruction of events was described; putting it out of your mind and then having it seep back in. It was a micro-second event, but when the mind wraps around it, it is a whole other horror story. I applaud sawit’s posting, but it is probably in their best interest not to come back here and get caught up in it more. I hope sawit can heal from that, and another thing Diane Schuler is responisble for.
Wow FW, great write up I have been trying to follow this story . It is still unbelievable today as it was last year. I was up in Sullivan County last week, drove by some campgrounds wondering was this were the Shuler’s last stayed? I agreed with you on many points. She sounds like a control freak who snapped. She wanted to hurt her brother( who probably said a few things on the phone to her , he now regrets)( wished he had gotten his children home safely first) he probably took up for his Mom also so double pay back, She wanted to hurt her husband , who she probably did walk all over / but wished he wouldn’t let her, as stated by other bloggers.Yes she belongs on this Web Site….Those poor children. I wish the Hances would state what was said in the phone conversations,,,,but they are suffering 100 times over everyday. Thank You Max the Cat as a lover of True Crime I Love this site really hepled while trying to “discover info on this horrible case”. And also to the Victims in the other car, both Families…..I hope that your Law suit can help uncover the truth. Diane…….what can I say..So Sad, so not Necessary. Did you say you were Sorry when you reached your next destination?????………….???????????????????????????
Excuse me folks, her Sister -in-law says “she didn’t believe in Medicine” . When you have a raging HOver , you do believe in Tylenol…………Please , she was looking for Tylenol or something like it. Come on ,who hasn’t taken a Tylenol/ Advil after waking up with a HOver in the morning??? Am I the only person in this Country who knows that secret???? She may not have believed in meds , but I am willing to guess that is why she walked inside,,,,,,Now I wonder what IF she had been able to buy some…………..Again too sad for further words.
I haven’t read every one of these responses to the article, but I did read well over 1/2 of them. One of the things that came to my mind is that what she did was equivalent to the guy who brings the shotgun to his ex-wife’s house and blows her and all of the children away (and anyone else who might be there). This is just another method to accomplish the same thing.
I think (and I might be wrong about this) that many people who are suicidal use alcohol (and/or drugs) to help them get rid of any “annoying” inhibition they might have. She wanted out of this life and she was just narcissistic enough (and what suicidal person isn’t narcissistic) to want to make “the others to pay for what they did to her” while she was on her way out. I suspect there was some major dysfunction in this extended family and many dysfunctional people are really good at “looking good.” This was NOT a spur-of-the-moment idea. She needed all of the time she used to get herself numbed up to the point of carrying out her plan, but I suspect she had considered this for some time.
Interesting article on the victims of Diane Schuler out around the 1 year anniversary coming up next week.
http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/wrong-way-crash-on-taconic-parkway-painful-anniversary-for-4-families/19555506
I hope there is more information coming out about this story. I am dying to hear what the testimony in the civil case reveals.
Interesting perspective. Reminds me of the apparant oblivious attitude of Russell Yates with Andrea Yates. I say apparant because it was actually wierd sociopathic sadistic abuse of his wife and children. He saw where they were headed.
As the 1 year anniversary of this tragedy approaches, I came upon what’s easily the most insightful perspective of the crash. Fuzzywuzzy and Max, hats off for publishing this piece.
Adding Insult to Injury.
Taconic-ma kin in $100G film deal
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/celluloid_zeros_fVKeVSoc1EF4yyJmo910FK
The family of wrong-way DWI killer Diane Schuler is cashing in on the tragedy — getting paid more than $100,000 by a movie company that plans to exhume her body and test the remains to see whether she suffered a stroke, sources told The Post.
Contacted about the movie, Barbara admitted he brokered the deal.
The company “will exhume the body and pay for all the testing to see if she suffered a stroke or not,” said Barbara, who insisted that he arranged the movie deal for free.
Michael Bastardi Jr., son of Michael Sr. and brother to Guy, was outraged.
“It’s pretty pathetic that he’s cashing in on his wife — the murderer who killed seven innocent people. It’s disgraceful,” he said.
Daniel Schuler, 38, refused comment, saying, “I’m not interested.”
I really wish I had Daniel Schuler’s address. I’d really like to send him an evocative letter.
Public information in media released autopsy report, page 4:
http://revsworld.com/SUPA_Forensics/Class_Notes_SUPA_Forensics/Pathology/Diane%20Sheuler%20Atopsy%20results%20Taconic%20crash%208%2009.pdf
not sure if this has been mentioned earlier, but the anniversary coverage points out two things I didn’t know about this case. Danny Schuler initally lied about what time he went to the campsite – it wasn’t the afternoon before, it was early Saturday morning. He crossed the Harriman toll at 6:29 am, and arrived at the campsite 5 hours earlier than Diane did on Saturday. Which means he wasn’t home with his family Friday night. Where was he?
The other thing left out of earlier reports is that a call from Diane’s cell phone on Saturday night was 9 hours long.
http://www.lohud.com/article/20100726/NEWS/7260357/Taconic-crash-1-year-later-A-lasting-wreckage-and-many-questions
Wow, 9 hours! That is new information. Wonder who that was? Maybe the ‘wrong number’ dude from the next afternoon?
9 hours? 9 HOURS?? Wow. and Schuler’s lies . . . this year old story seems to get more and more incredible. Somehow we have to get to the bottom of this.
I live in the New York State county, Westchester, in which this thing happened. The newspaper that covers Westchester, the Journal News, has never let it die down. They keep beating the drum about it, even a year later. They keep talking about it endlessly. They are obsessed, preoccupied & fixated with it.
My questions: Why? What do they hope to accomplish by rehashing it over and over and over again?
Rehashing?? How can you rehash something that is still a mystery. People know the real story has yet to come out. We have been fed lies for a year. The story must be kept alive until the simple truths are told. The victims will never rest until Mr Schuler explains it all. I just rewatched his press conference and he lies boldfaced, saying he went up to the camper on Thursday to ‘open the camper and get some fishing in by myself before the kids came up’. Maybe he was ‘hiking the appalachian trail… ‘. Then he denies knowing where the vodka came from. The story isn’t going away until he puts it to rest. Do it now Danny.
Fuzzy Wuzzy……..Good points. But the thing is this: If Danny ever does come clean about this, chances are he’ll wind up in some mighty deep shit. I think that he knows that.
So don’t hold your breath.
Marc, I’m sure the coverage gets tedious, but I hope it continues. Something’s gotta give; somehow the truth must out. Continuing, unrelenting pressure may be the only way to do this. When I think of those poor kids in Schuler’s car, and all the innocent lives she took and the pain she caused, I think that people can’t talk about this enough.
E……The only way the truth will ever be revealed about this thing is when Danny tells it, and like I said to Fuzzy Wuzzy, I don’t think that’s ever going to happen.
@ Marc, you don’t think public pressure could help bring that about?
E……The public in this area is sick & tired of having been force fed with this terrible incident for a year now. Almost everybody around here, including myself, just wishes that the paper that won’t let let this die down, the Journal News, would shut up about this. The only real pressure for the truth to come out is from the Bastardis and the Longos, and that’s easy to understand.
Marc, the community shouldn’t be bored. The community should get involved and be supportive of the victims families. The community should demand answers.
Vcbecky………The only way for the truth to come out would be when the Bastardis and the Longos hound out Danny 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year in any legal way they can.
They could do it. It’s merely a question of numbers. They are 2 families, he is just one person.
Poet and philosopher George Santayana said: “Those
who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
Hey Fuzzy Wuzzy, that is a great story and very believable. What I would like to know is the 9 hour phone call that was made the night before. I read it in a news story and wonder who in their right mind makes a 9 hour phone call. Maybe, this could hold more of the clues too. Also I read that Danny lied about the time is supposedly arrived at the camp ground that it was actually just a few hours before Diane arrived. Do you know anything about that? I do belive that it was murder-suicide. I know that when I accidently turned into a one way street that I knew immediately that I was not where I was suppose to be due to all the honking and such. I did not go more than 20 feet and found a place to get out of the way and turn around. In looking at the footage of the road where she drove there were just too many places where she could have pulled over, off or turned around. Why was she driving on the grass when she pulled over too. Was she really off the road of just off a little. I also want to know, that is the news reports that were just after the crash there was something written about that Danny couldn’t drive on the roads she was taking due to it was his work vehicle. Could someone check this out? I don’t live is that neck of the woods and thought it a very strange statement. Thanks, and again great article.
Sorry glazed donut just saw you have the same questions I do. Didn’t mean to repeat.
Well, you learn something new everyday on this story. Even after all my research over the past year, i missed the fact that Danny changed his story. So he told the cops he went to the camp early thursday afternoon for fishing before the kids got there, (the guy has a son, wouldn’t he want to take him fishing too?) then he boldly stated this lie at his press conference (where he talked to the media and left the cops standing there waiting for a second interveiw and left without talking to them); then when they looked at ezpass records he revised his story to leaving early Friday morning arriving just before Diane. I guess it didn’t matter if he told the truth now, since DIane was not there. So where was he Thursday night into Friday morning? Then the 9 hour phone call from Diane Schulers phone saturday night. What went on up there? Who was Danny with Thursday night, who was Diane talking to Saturday night? Isn’t it an easy thing to look at phone records to see? It couldn’t have been a misdial because whoever was on the other end would have hung up, so what is the deal with that? This shifts the whole story to something going on between them rather than some mother issues or whatever I made up in the story. She must have found out he was not where he was supposed to be.
Watch this press conference; have you ever seen two more guilty looking people than Danny and his sister-in-law? The way they nod no to how there were no marital problems, and yes to how she was not drunk, they are trying to convince themselves of some big lie.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ho8m0F3tskk&feature=fvsr
Why are the police being so tight lipped about all this , do these people know people? , don’t understand a Nine Hr phone call?? Did they(police) know who it was the only time you make a nine hr call is when ur drunk and the other person on the other line is drunk I only hope the Bastardi’s and the other family get that money, sorry work in the medical field the only stroke involved was someone DRUNK out of their mind. Daniel you Sir are a coward, and why are the Vances protecting her???? GIVE me a break God Rest those Litttle Angels souls, loser Mom, sounds like she was turning into her own Mom some one she wouldn’t even speak to , to sick sad for words , let the Truth Shine . Petpet
I got clarification from the news outlet that this was a mistake. The call was 9.7 minutes, not hours. They have not said who she called.
…call made from Diane Schuler’s cell phone on the night before the July 26, 2009 fatal crash on the Taconic State Parkway lasted 9.7 minutes, not more than 9 hours as previously reported. The error was due to a misreading of cell phone records obtained from police that listed the duration of calls in seconds, not minutes. In this instance the call lasted 587 seconds
Thanks for correction
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/07/27/2010-07-27_1_yr_after_taconic_2_families_battle_on.html
Trying to prove wrong-way driver Diane Schuler was not impaired by booze and weed when she plowed into another car, her husband plans to have her body exhumed for an HBO documentary.
News that Schuler’s family was offered $100,000 by a movie company left the kin of Michael Bastardi, 81, Guy Bastardi, 49, and Daniel Longo, 74, disgusted on the first anniversary of the disaster.
Regardless of whether this guy gets 100,000 dollars or 1 dollar, this is a travesty unless it is simply Dan Shuler sitting in a room finally telling the whole truth. It is like spitting on the graves of every innocent victim of this if they even mention the insane theories they have purported, such as burning sugar into alcohol or using anebesol or some other absurd idea. Do they take us for idiots? He is the one with the answers now, along with her brother who had the last phone call with her. I know the Hance’s will not cooperate with this film, so it is going to be one-sided Dan Schuler fantasy. I hope he answers the question as to why he said he went there on Thursday early when he really went there at 6 in the morning Friday; where was he? Who was Diane Schuler talking to on the phone on Saturday night? What was really said in that phone call from the Tappan Zee Bridge? Those are the only questions that are important to find the truth.
The murder/suicide plot just doesn’t ring true for me for one simple reason. There are too many variables. Had she driven the car off the Tappan Zee Bridge, I would believe it. But driving the wrong way down a highway doesn’t ensure you will even collide, much less kill yourself and everyone in your car (which she didn’t, as her son survived).
Drove this road again yesterday. Saw the cross left for the Bastardi and Longo families. I was driving 65mph and every car on the road passed me. What struck me was how many chances to turn around there are between the place she got on and where the crash was. First, about 200 yards past where she got on there is an official turnaround, with two paved u-turns. Then there is a long stretch with a grass median with no guardrail. The stretch where the crash occurred is a blind turn and a hill; she was heading downhill and turning to the right, the Bastardi’s were turning to the left and going up an incline, there is a lot of underbrush. No way they could have seen her coming.
So, the year anniversary of this crash is over. Some new information came out, but nothing has been revealed to substantially change my interpretation as to what happened that weekend. In summary, the two things that came to light recently, or that i just missed amid the huge volume of information, are the fact that Danny Schuler told the police in his first interview that he went to the camp on Friday during the day to get in some fishing by himself. The police wanted to interview him again, so he invited them to a press conference – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ho8m0F3tskk&feature=fvsr – The police sat there and listened to his public statement, along with his claim that he was there early Friday, he then left without speaking to the police, more concerned about his public image than with the truth. When the police checked his ezpass records, they found he crossed the Tappan Zee Bridge at 6:29am Friday and arrived not long before Diane. So he lied repeatedly about his whereabouts on Thursday and Thursday night until he was busted by police; this fact was never publicized though it was alluded to in the police reports. He also lied about when he learned of the crash. In police reports he states that Warren called him and said there was an accident, but the tapes have Warren calling Danny when they are still looking for Diane, asking about the phone records and other real-time items before the crash. Wouldn’t you remember being part of a frantic search for your wife and kids? Was he that out of it that he forgot that part? He sounds pretty spaced out as Warren is asking him specific questions, with Warren asking ‘are you with me Danny’ when he does not respond to questions. http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/item_2i6tGpFIANDKOdKaFNJ5dK
The other thing was a 9 minute phone call made by Diane on Saturday night from the campground. It has not been revealed to whom she spoke. So possibly, a triggering event happened that weekend when maybe Diane confronted him as to where he was. So she was pissed at Danny and called a ‘friend’. Then driving home she must have been livid, when she talked to her brother, he reported that she was confused and called him Danny, so if she thought she was talking to Danny, perhaps she spilled some information about what was going on, continuing the fight or discussions they were having. So Warren gets an earful of things he has no clue about. He reacts and freaks out and tells her he is coming to get her etc…. but now, he knows too much for her liking; she dumps the phone since they are trying to track her with GPS, and she goes in the opposite direction. Who knows what Warren told his wife before taking off to go find her with their father. Jackie is left at home as they go off on the wild goose chase. Maybe she thinks Warren called the police, or maybe she finds out more information from Warren as he is off looking for her, but she is the only one who called the State Police; Warren was trying to handle it through local police administration, not 911 emergency. This lost valuable time and missed resources looking for her. The tapes of these calls have a relatively calm police reaction looking for a minivan with a medical emergency. They were probably just put out a call to look for a van parked on the road or at a rest area with someone being ill, not a crazed maniac driving around. The key information missing in this story is held by three people, Warren Hance, who cherry-picked his words in describing the conversations he had with Diane and what he knows about what was going on that day, Jackie Hance who spoke to Diane and knew she was trashed and who knows what else she heard, but she refused to talk to police at all and is the one who heard what was going on as filtered by Warren; whatever it was it alarmed her enough to override Warren’s decision not to call 911 and get the State Police involved; and finally, Danny Schuler, who knows where he was on Thursday night, knows what Diane’s reaction was and what happened between them, knows who she called that night, and knows what her state of mind was when she left that campground. The other missing piece is the ‘wrong number’ call made from Diane’s phone during the drive. According to the police report, all the conversations from the van before the 1:03 phone call were from the kids to their mother and father, so they had the phone. The wrong number was to a guy who lives nearby. A lot more raw information first came out and several phone numbers were revealed that have since been redacted from the tapes published online – http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/item_2i6tGpFIANDKOdKaFNJ5dK -. Back then, I compared phone numbers from the wrong number guy and the Hance’s; they are not similar and no way would the kids have dialed a number directly into the phone; they had been calling home all morning and probably used a contact or recent calls in the phone to dial with one or two buttons rather than entering the area code and number every time. So maybe the wrong number was a number Diane had called recently, like the night before? So my interpretation of what pushed her over the edge has evolved a little, probably less of the festering control/mother/long-term crazy reaction to possibly reacting to a real-time situation developing during the weekend; Danny not being where he told her he was going to be, her contacting an ‘friend’, Warren finding out too much information and her becoming angry at the world.
So no matter what this information adds, it doesn’t change the basic premise of Diane Schuler being a crazy person hell-bent of murder/suicide just waiting for a triggering event.
“9 minute phone”
I understood it was a 9 hour phone call?
Side note, I’ve linked from your post on 7 other boards over the last few months since you wrote it. You’re now link three on a Google Search of just the name Diane Schuler (as well you should be). Your attention to detail in the case has earned you kudos from the MADD group I am a male auxiliary for.
Jason……It was in fact a 9 minute call. The reason that it was said to be a 9 hour call was because of the fact that the newpaper that first reported the story, the Journal News, of White Plains, NY, can never get any facts right & and many times reports wrong information.
Great! What a thing to be famous for. I wish i never heard the name Diane Schuler, or saw that black mark on the road and all those skid marks. The terror was palpable diving that road after that. Thank god i don’t have to do it regularly anymore.
I wish that Mr. Schuler would just tell the truth and releive me of this obsession. I just can’t let it go until it is explained; the innoncent vitims also need closure, its about time. DO IT DANNY!
OK, I’ve read every thread and was a police officer for 10 years. I believed fuzzywuzzy’s theory from the begininng but I can tell you from my experience, after listening to the intensity in the female troopers voice during the phone calls and Warrens voice in the background, they ABSOLUTELY knew that this was more than a “medical emergency.” I would bet everything I own that a direct threat was made from Diane and that was why the police took this so seriously, why Warren was panicking and got into his car right away, and why the childrens mother was inconsolable already. I would say it with 99% certainty that Diane made a direct threat to hurt the children and that is what they were acting on. Reports of people just operating erratically with kids in the car is not THAT rare of a call in law enforcement, unfortunately. Pinging a cell phone is something that takes much paperwork/reporting that the phone company requires before they determine if it is necessary. This is a VERY time consuming process and that trooper knew something was very wrong and was basically PRAYING that someone could speed the process along. We would never ping a cell phone because someone was operating erratically with children in the car. Put a BOLO out for the vehicle, yes. I dealt with a case like this before. The only reason the D.A. had to release the truth about the case I was involved in was because there were so many witnesses to the incient. At first, they were going to hide the truth regarding my incident to protect the family as everyone involved was killed. But so many witnesses started blogging on a local newspaper website the D.A. actually told the family he wanted to keep the truth a secret but could no longer because the public was in such an uproar over what was seen and thus being blogged about. Coverups do ABSOLUTELY happen, especially in cases where the person at fault is already dead. Mostly it is done out of compassion for the survivors because really, what good is it going to do anyone? If Schuler was smart, he’d realize that their initial attempts to make this seem like a fluke and that maybe the public would let it die are NOT WORKING and he should sheepishly admit what happened and go on with his life. Give the survivors some peace. The parents of the 3 girls wont come forward because people will be ALL OVER THEM with questions like “How could you let your kids get in a car with her if you knew she was depressed/alcoholic/had a mental illness?” The truth is, hindsight is 20/20 and we all know someone who is a little off. Im sure they never imagined that she’d do this. Think about it, she never did anything close to this before.
Just to make it clear, in the case I was involved in, there were no people outside of the family that were hurt/killed. That is why it was intially agreed upon by all parties to keep the circumstances private due to the involved womans high school aged children who were completely innocent. It was not to get out of any lawsuits or anything like that. Everyone involved was related and on the same page. But bystanders were blogging about what they witnessed and a lot of people were concerned that there was a crime perpetrated by an unknown assailant among other things. I DO NOT agree with the coverup that appears to be going on here as the families of the 3 men are owed the truth and whatever compensation they can get. I believe something was said in that phone call and at that minute a lot of things started to click that may have seemed insignificant before………..like her previous behavior, etc. I dont think she had a wreckless life for a long time but rather a complete break after a short period of strange behavior that people did not address because A) it is a difficult subject to broach (are you going insane?) B) a lot of people with mental illness will go to great lengths to hide it due to the attached stigma. People do have complete breaks without being completely and outwardly loony beforehand. TRUST ME! Ive seen it first hand in an incident you would never believe. It took me months to believe the truth. She was completely normal, successful, beautiful, happy and then BAM. The truth about what goes on behind closed doors came out after the incident and after something like that, you have a hard time believing that ANYTHING is impossible. Diane Schuler had a complete break with reality after suffering for however long with a mental illness.
FUZZYWUZZY!!!!! WHAT KIND OF A MORON ARE YOU???? LIKE MARC SAID, DANNY IS NEVER GOING TO SAY ANYTHING BECAUSE HE HIMSELF COULD WIND UP IN JAIL!!!!! NOW LET IT GO!!!! YOU REMIND ME OF THAT STUPID PAPER THAT MARC MENTIONED THAT WON’T LET GO OF THIS!!!! THEY THINK THAT BY TALKING ABOUT THIS ENDLESSLY, THEY’LL BRING EVERYBODY BACK FROM THE DEAD!!!!
WELL, IT AIN’T GOING TO HAPPEN!!! NOW GO GET A LIFE!!!!!!
CRASHCOW!!!!! YELLING AND USING MULTIPLE EXCLAMATION POINTS DOES NOT MAKE YOU RIGHT!!!! NONE OF US CAN LET GO OF WHAT THIS BITCH DID, AND HER HUSBAND WILL NOT ALLOW CLOSURE!!!! NOW GO GET FUCKED!!!!
It’s the worst kind of people who want to forget things like this. Just wait till it happens to you. How can you give a pass to an idiot like this? You may as well hand out vodka at the toll booths. This jerk should be dogged til he is tired of lying and spits out the truth. I really think he is the guilty one here. He drove her to go insane that day and then made it out like he is innocent and she is perfect. Give me a break, he is a lying sack of cheating sh*t and she was a psycho killer b*tch. He pushed her over the edge, then lied to the public, the police, his family and God about it. He sleeps rested… nice buddy, rot in hell.
fuzzywuzzy well said.
say goodbye krash.
-editor
Daniel Schuler says it is the same bottle of vodka they tote back and forth every weekend? Okay, so who is to say that since according to him Diane always packed it that she wasn’t going through vodka during the week and brought a different bottle each time. Did he just assume it was the same bottle each time?
And I’m sorry, but it she is so frugal as to keep the same bottle a whole year, she is not buying Absolut, she would be buying that cheap stuff in the plastic bottle.
Maybe she went out for asprin and came home with vodka… badum bump…. (reference to her going out for milk and coming home with a jeep) It makes no sense. Danny drinks beer, not vodka. He is in ‘law enforcement’ which means he knows its not cool to travel with open containers under the seat. My argument above is that if you drink that little vodka, why is it so important to carry it around? You are going to pack a 1.75 liter bottle to make one drink on a weekend camping trip??? Danny said he drank beer and she drank vodka. It was her drink not his. I doubt he had a clue what she was up to with the booze. He claimed they took 9 months to go through a bottle, that comes to like 3 drinks a month. The guy worked nights, she had kids, had to stay home, i am sure she was having more than 3 drinks a month.
You know, it just strikes such a personal nerve with me. Not that I would go out and drive drunk the wrong way and kill 7 innocent people, but depression is a really tough thing to deal with.
You look at her older pictures, she is a thinner, attractive woman. Her autopsy states that at the time of her death she is 204 pounds at 5’2″, I think. Believe me, that right there is enough to bring your self-esteem down to zero.
I too am a professional woman, same age now as Diane when she died. I went through a terrible period about 6 months ago, almost a mid-life crisis or a nervous breakdown. On the outside, I was a happy, satisfied woman who had no complaints. At home I was a sad, miserable drunk who would stop at the liquor store on the way home every night to pick up a bottle.
I was suicidal. And what was my plan to ensure that I wouldn’t fail at that too? Ram my car at a high rate of speed into a stone wall that was on my way home. It was all planned out, but the difference between Diane and I is that I flinched and got help.
I’m with you on this one. Great article, really makes you think.
Just wanted to add: I guess the point of my post is that I see a lot of myself in Diane, so if anyone has doubts about someone being like this, I am living proof. I have manic/depressive episodes with binge shopping, I have relationships with men I can “control” so I don’t get questioned and I have even gone into fugue states as someone above mentioned. I am highly functional, I have a great job, no one gets to see the other side. But as bad as it can get, I would NEVER take anyone else’s life. I’m making myself out to sound like a real peach, aren’t I? :-)
Brooke, you’re making yourself out to sound like a human. ;)
You hit on the main difference between Diane and yourself, that you would never take someone out with you. There are distinct lines between “Human” and “Monster”. Even in the depth of your depression, you’re still human. Diane decided to become a monster.
Do I feel sorry for Diane? Part of me does, sure. Part of me aches for her, that she felt so desperate that she would have to kill herself. That little bleeding heart I have for her is entirely squashed to jelly beneath the weight of what she did, and who she did it to. In short, she was clinically depressed and her issues were being ignored by the one person who could have helped her (her husband), but fuck all that because she killed a bunch of innocent people.
Many of us here are clinically depressed, many have been suicidal as well. You’re in good company here, believe me. We all make choices, no matter what our minds are doing to us at the time. We all must be responsible for those choices in the end.
Good afternoon people,
I come across this wesite on occasion and read what you are saying.
I would like you to know that I will never give up on finding the truth for all the reasons my father and brother were killed by the drunk Diane Schuler. Although I cant speak about the civil suit I want you to know alot of your theories are shared by us. I appreciate your insights and I will be in touch from time to time.
Mike Jr.
Hello Mike Jr. We’re so sorry you have to deal with this. We wish we could help, but all we can do is speculate and try to add up the details.
Thank you so much for posting. We really would appreciate anything you can say on the subject (court permitting). This is one of the stories many of us are very emotionally wrapped up in because of the magnitude of the tragedy, and how it is being mishandled by the Schuler family. You and all of the other victims deserve the truth, at the very least, from the Schulers. Much strength to you, Mike Jr. We’re pulling for you and all of the victims in this case.
Bless you Mike. I’m so sorry you lost your dad and your brother. I’m thinking of you. Hang tough; don’t give up. There’s a war on between good and evil and we all know what side the Schulers, including Diane, are on. Again I’m sorry for your loss.
Mike, if you or your family would like to speak to Danny, one of the survivors from the Michael Gagnon disaster, I’d be happy to put you in touch. I’m not saying he’ll do it, but I bet he would. He’s put together out of stronger stuff than I’ve ever seen, and based on your comments, the two of you have it inside of you both. Whatever that is, I commend you for it and wish you condolences and best of luck.
Mike Jr. So sorry for your losses, I am totally an advocate of your plight and have pursued this so the victims are remembered and Daniel Schuler does not get to deflect all your pain and refocus it on his own delusions. I drove by the cross recently and again vowed to keep this story going for the sake of the innocent victims. I too am from a large Italian family and i know the loss of a patriarc and brother must be devestating. As much as i am driven by the audacity of the lies perpetrated in this story, i am also driven by the vindication of your family’s sensless losses and marginalization by the family and the media. Please do come back and share what you can. We are all dying for some new facts. Fuzzywuzzy….
Fuzzy,
I appreciate how you are keeping this story alive while I am
continuing an ongoing battle against the egrecious acts of the
Schulers, the delusional attorney and convicted felon investagator.
I thank everyone here for their condolences. I will not allow
my Dad and Brother to be denied justice that they deserve. Remember lies have short legs and the truth will prevail.Everyone
involved in this tragedy lost family….but there were to many cover ups and all out lies that can not and will not be ignored…I will keep
you all up to date as much as I can, again thank you….talk to you all
soon……
Mike Jr.
To Mike Jr , I hope and pray that your family prevails as they have to fight to uncover the truth. I have had a morbid obession with this case also.It is my prayer that your family has been able to pick up the pieces I do not understand why Jackie Hance can just NOT speak to the police.anyway Best wishes I truly hope that your family recieves the justice and answers it deserves.
Fuzzywuzzy as always excellent work keeping this sad unfortunate story alive , while that Bum Daniel just sits and does nothing , I feel bad for the Hances but they need to take a STAND and come forward and quit covering up for that MURDERER Diane , God Bless All………………
There’s actually no mystery here, in my view. This creature was both drunk & stoned. She got that way while she drove. She simply didn’t know what she was doing. I read the autopsy report. After seeing how much alcohol & marijuana she used in a relatively short time, I think it’s a miracle that she was alive before the crash.
Mike, Jr…….consider this: the murderess killed 7 innocent people.
I’m 100% certain that God has sent her straight down to Hell & she will burn there forever. And if Danny boy really had anything to do with this, God will see that he is reunited with her.
Edwin: Thank you for that post. In a round-about way that is what I was trying to get at with my post. I really see no mystery in it either with the facts in the autopsy report. Her family is either lying or clueless; she was depressed, possibly bipolar, drove drunk and stoned that day and killed 7 innocent people.
Brooke, you very clearly made your point in that other post, don’t doubt it. :)
She did what she did with obvious intention. Anyone who drinks/gets high and drives, KNOWS what they’re doing no matter what their state of mind. Diane KNEW she was going to die and take some innocent people with her before she took the first shot or the first puff. She was a filthy, selfish, scum-sucking murderer, there’s no question about it. Either of those drugs alone should keep any sane person from getting behind a wheel. Both at once? That’s a no-brainer, particularly for an adult who is responsible for children. Mistakes like this simply don’t happen.
Her goal, I believe, was to hurt others as badly as she felt she was hurting, and end her own pain in the process. I have not an ounce of sympathy for her or her lying family. She did this deliberately, and they are deliberately covering it up.
I personally don’t believe in any specific afterlife, but I still hope there is a Hell for people like Diane. The entire Universe runs on balance, from the smallest particle to the largest mega-galaxy. Diane’s crimes will be balanced, one way or another. That’s just how it works.
Hellishly spooky. I just finished going over all the reports Fuzzywuzzy listed here and re-read everything.
Honest to God, this woman murdered these people. The report the trooper filed regarding the people she “missed” because they swerved out of her way was downright chilling. Do they know how close they came to dying? She was on a mission and it becomes crystal clear when you read the evidence of the other drivers on the highway.
And did anyone catch the picture of her husband for his interview with Vanity Fair? Lights on but no one home??
Yeah, it was the 2 miles of skid marks on the road that really haunted me driving that road in the weeks after. So many cars obviously veering to the right, out of her path left marks all over the road.
Need your broken heart broken some more? This is from the mother of the three girls killed in the accident; the one Danny barely mentioned and the children of Diane’s own brother. Sometimes the anger against the perpetrators overshadows the pain of the victims, but here it is laid out. This whole fight is for the sake of the victims and not forgetting them. In the words of John Lennon; ;how do you sleep at night?”…..
http://blog.hancefamilyfoundation.com/
What I know….
People often ask me if I feel better than I did a year ago. The answer to the question, simply stated is “no.” My mind is much clearer, but with clarity comes a lot of heartache and anguish. I miss my girls more than I could ever write in words. I have cried every single day since the accident; holding it in would be worse, so I always allow myself to cry.
I know what it is like to spend birthdays and holidays without the girls and it is so painful. The quietness of the house is like a punch in the stomach every time I walk in the door. I could be gone all day or just five minutes, the punch is just as hard. Our house was very loud most of the time with three girls, a dog and always a few friends always running around.
I know what it is like to watch life go on around you; and not being able to get out of quick sand that you feel you are drowning in. I saw one of Katie’s friends back in April that I had not seen since June of 2009. I was speechless; she changed so much. What would Emma, Alyson and Katie look like? I know I have spent hours thinking about it. One of the most difficult things for me is realizing I can never say, “Remember last year when me and the girls did….” That breaks my heart. Can you break a broken heart? I know the answer; it is yes.
I know Warren and I have had many difficult, dark days- and on those darkest days; God always sent a friend our way. We are fortunate that our friends are the best of the best and we have many shoulders to lean on.
I know that there is no way to get through a tragedy like this without friends and family walking by your side and holding your hand every step of the way.
Love,
Jackie
Oh man, this kills me… Every single drunk driver should read this. Honestly. Maybe then they’d understand the pain they’ll cause that one time they fuck up.
Oh, that just made me sob. It’s devastating.
Will this ever stop? This happened a long time ago! Who cares? Drop it!
It will stop when the truth is provided so the families and friends who were affected by this hideous bitch and her selfish bastard of a husband can get some closure.
This happened one year ago. How is that a ‘long time ago’ for such a thing? Are you nuts, or just stupid?
We care. Obviously you do too, or you wouldn’t have posted.
Drop it? Nope. Seems like you can’t either.
I thought the Tsunami name for a Troll was kinda cute. Perhaps this one should only be sterilized with a blow torch instead of fed into a chipper shredder.
I gotta agree, it is one of the better troll nym’s I’ve ever seen. Credit where it’s due! Hehe!
Yeah, good plan. Let’s forget everything that ‘happened a long time ago’; truth and justice are over-rated.
What kind of heartless moron would post this kind of comment directly after the heartbreaking words of the mother of three innocent victims. By her words you can see she has forgotten about it, now can’t you? Your life must be all rivers and rainbows since you have no soul and just forget all unhappy things after a year. Good for you.
You sound like Danny himself.
Ever feel like maybe you wrote something that really matters, Fuzzy? All of this angry uproar really has to make you feel good about the hard work you put into it, and you deserve every happy bit of it. I mean that most sincerely. :)
If you hadn’t hit several raw nerves and at least come within clawing distance of the real truth, there wouldn’t be this much spitfire activity on this specific PYSIH entry. No one would be concerned enough to post such venom. Small justice, but it’s some.
Sue Nammy is probably Danny Schuler’s scumbag lawyer. He’s too busy trolling message boards to respond to requests for comments on the 911 tapes
released.http://www.lohud.com/article/20100830/NEWS02/8300364/Police-release-911-call-tapes-from-Taconic-crash
Danny……Be a man. Tell the truth. The whole world knows you’re sitting on it.
I count three posters who say “It was a year ago, get over it, move on.” They probably know Schuler.
Some more 911 tapes just came out on this.
http://www.newsday.com/long-island/towns/long-island-now-1.1732330/more-911-calls-from-schuler-crash-released-1.2242290
why not go to the page Glazed Donut linked and leave a comment? Our friend Krash Kowalski was there being a jerk already.
http://www.lohud.com/article/20100830/NEWS02/8300364/Police-release-911-call-tapes-from-Taconic-crash
Just reading the motorists’ accounts, hearing their voices in my head — my heart sped up and my mouth got dry. I can only imagine how the Bastardis feel, imagining their loved ones going happily along, minutes from death, with no clue. Who would even have a clue?? That some drunk crazy fat bitch would be speeding along their way, indulging in a death wish, all because (I think) she didn’t think life was treating her the way she deserved?
How heartbreaking this is. I truly wish the bereaved families some peace. If that’s possible.
http://www.lohud.com/article/20100831/NEWS02/8310378/Schuler-PI-reverses-self-on-drug–alcohol-findings-in-wrong-way-Taconic-crash
Big surprise. Private Investigator Tom Ruskin has split with Schuler and now agrees that Diane Schuler was indeed drunk and stoned. He left when Danny and Barbera sold the story to HBO.
Seems to me that the husband is profiting from a criminal venture… If only they’d charged and/or investigated him, or searched the home his wife and he shared for drugs and drug paraphernalia at the time. I actually think you can and should get away with smoking marijuana, right up to the point where you become a danger to others. I think that distinction should be made. I again, don’t do it, but this is so frustrating. HBO pays this guy 100K for his story? What’s going on here?
Laws for alcohol would stand perfectly for marijuana with some minor alterations having to do with BAC, etc. That’s how I conduct myself anyway, and I have yet to hurt anyone because I was stoned. Common sense. Yup.
If I was Danny and/or Barbera, I would spend that money to reimburse the victims families for funeral expenses. I doubt 100K would cover it all, but it’s the acknowledgment that counts at this point. The families and friends need closure. No amount of money could ever suffice.
Aside from that, SHAME ON HBO! If I had cable, I’d cancel them!
Entourage was good, but is bad now, but TrueBlood is so much fun…
It’s not just the nudity….
And the Atlantic City one with Steve Buscemi.
I’ll wait and pass judgment when I see the documentary. It might be very enlightening and ultimately helpful to the Bastardi family.
TRUEBLOOD! You said it. I love Eric. I want to slap the living shit out of Sookie — Gad, I even hate that name — but otherwise a great, fun show.
Mad Men is still my favorite though.
“They just didn’t have the money at the time,” Ruskin said. “Danny’s a very modest-living guy. Diane was the source of income threefold over Danny, so upon Diane’s death died the major income producer of the family.”
http://www.lohud.com/article/20100727/NEWS01/7270337/Report+:%20Daniel%20Schuler%20signs%20deal%20to%20exhume%20his%20wife+'s%20body%20for%20film
HBO?? NOOOO!! Nonononono (banging head against wall) . . . .
http://www.lohud.com/article/20100831/NEWS02/8310378/Schuler-PI-reverses-self-on-drug-alcohol-findings-in-wrong-way-Taconic-crash
We are getting there people…….
Mike Jr., I have so got my fingers crossed for you. How wonderful it would be if you, and all of us, finally got some answers. Please share with us whatever you can.
“I think the findings from the medical examiner and the autopsy look to me like they were accurate.” I hear some hesitation in the PI’s words, which is understandable, given that he took a stand on behalf of this scum. (Yeah CYRUS I said S-C-U-M.) But at least Ruskin came forward and spoke.
See, Danny? See the good example, right in front of you?
Why am I getting a warm, happy “justice is about to be served’ feeling? :D I’m on pins and needles and I don’t even know anyone who was directly involved in any part of this.
And WTF is this about HBO buying the story from Danny and Barbera? Whatever money they make needs to go to the families of Diane’s victims. It won’t go far no matter the amount, because of the sheer number of people involved and the amount of their suffering, but it will at least be something. They shouldn’t be allowed to make a single cent off of this tragedy.
Good news Mike jr; I hope there really is something happening here. Notice how Ruskin abandoned the party line as soon as he is off the payroll. A few more guilty conciences (sp?) and the truth will be revealed. Too bad Danny doesnt have one.
I see that there has been some name calling here. Do the name callers realize that they could be tracked down and sued for libel and defamation of character?
To what exactly do you refer?
This has been tested in court already Cyrus. It’s my First Amendment right to call a spade a spade, and Daniel Schuler a liar, and Dominic Barbera a scum sucking ambulance chaser etc, etc… on the internet, without fear of being sued. After all, it’s just my opinion, even if it is the truth.
you cant slander a liar with the truth.
Cyrus, you are ignorant. AND you probably smell really bad. AND you probably have hairy palms.
Please. Sue me. No, really, I’m totally begging for it.
“Always.” “Perfect.” “She was a saint.” (paraphrase) I just skimmed again Dan Schuler’s interview in NY Magazine. A more nauseating portrayal of self delusion I can’t recall.
Look, let’s get real. What’s being done here is beating a dead horse.
This was, of course, a terrible accident. But nothing can be done about it more than year after the fact. You can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube. Give it a rest. Permanently. Now.
Look Dick, if you’re tired of this story, don’t read about it – that your right. But for a lot of us, we want to know the truth about what happened that afternoon. We want Daniel Schuler to apologize to the Bastardis the Longos and the Hances and admit he was lying all along. He owes it to the survivors and the public.
Who do you think you are, telling people how they should feel, when they should stop mourning and when a multiple murder is a ‘dead horse’. You’re a heartless, enabling asshole, and so are the rest of Danny’s supporters.
‘Give it a rest. Permanently. Now.” You impotent moron. Was it the ‘Now.” that you thought would get to us?
If you don’t like all of this hemming and hawing over innocent lives which were snuffed out by Diane Schuler and her fucked up marital problems, stop Googling her name. Permanently. Now.
Last month, on the annivesary, the Journal-News published a story and made mention of a very long phone call (several hours) from Diane Schuler’s cell to another person. I haven’t seen any mention of that anywhere else, no mention of who she was talking to. The story is now archived on LoHud so you have to pay to read it, or I’d link it.
Why are so many people here trying to hang the whole thing around Danny’s neck? Was he driving that van? No. Was he even in the van? No. Where was he? He was more than 100 miles away from the scene of the crash. He had nothing to do with it. Stop knocking him.
Worm, he lied about EVERYTHING. He strung the victims families along, all the while they were begging for closure. He is a piece of SHIT for being so selfish and he deserves no peace. We will keep knocking him, and there’s not a damned thing you or your cronies can do about it.
Well Becky-you beat me to the punch. Because Danny is a big fat liar. I don’t like the idea of anyone trying to defend someone for killing their children (and other people’s children) and making up retarded ass excuses for them. Then the icing on the cake is that he said he feels not one bit guilty. Boy, if it were me the what ifs would be endless. What if I would have helped out a little more…What if I would’ve taken a kid or two instead of just my fucking dog…..What if we would have traveled carivan style…..What if I would have paid just a little more attention to my wife’s state of mind…..What if I would’ve stopped for breakfast with them….See what I mean. The what ifs are endless.
Looks like we have attracted a pathetic loser with a talent for coming up with cute little trolling names….
Oh for Christ’s sake. “Senta Peade”? Really?? “Dick Long”? “Sue Nammy”? God but Dan Schuler has some idiots for friends. Really think you’re clever don’t you? Why not take some nyms that are accurate? Like Major Payne — that one’s a real scream, isn’t it?
Definitely hitting some nerves here. Some of these posts are beginning to sound like threats to me.
http://www.newsday.com/long-island/schuler-probe-no-evidence-of-medical-examiner-error-1.2250998
An investigation paid for by Diane Schuler’s family turned up “no evidence” to contradict Westchester authorities’ findings that the West Babylon mother was drunk and high when she drove a minivan full of children the wrong way on the Taconic State Parkway, a private investigator said Wednesday. Ruskin said he is still investigating the case but is not being paid by the Schuler family any longer. He said he believes something caused Schuler to get drunk and high that day, but he wasn’t able to reach any firm conclusions.
Even this guy wants to know what happened. Wonder how much Danny spent to find out that the sky is indeed, Blue?
Please, let all the dead rest in peace. All the flaming that I have seen here does not permit that. Let the wounds heal, and let everyone who died in that crash rest in peace….even Diane herself.
Once justice is served, Fred. That’s the only gripe left here. The living cannot rest in peace until then – the dead are already dead.
Why are many people here so hard on Daniel Schuler. He looks like a good guy to me.
Now this is just a pathetic attempt at trolling.
I mean come on – you’ve got to do better than this if you have any chance of getting an angry reaction. All I did was laugh a little, and fart.
You are really fucking dumb.
I hear he is dating tax lawyer Roni Deutch now, a more respectable couple I could not imagine. Upstanding pillars of the community no doubt.
I don’t really know why that’s hilarious, but it is. I cringe every time her commercial comes on because of the huge emphasis she puts on her last name. Completely annoying.
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_pq-lBlPMJ_A/R97fVxxitcI/AAAAAAAAAEQ/XVKLi-96Pzo/s400/RoniStPatricksDay.jpg
here is one reason it is hilarious….
LMAO! Thank you Fuzzy, I needed that laugh!
http://danielschuler.com/
anyone want to start a fan-site? Domain is for sale.
Wonder if Dirtbag Danny ever goes to read the website of his sister-in-law? Brings me to tears every time.
http://blog.hancefamilyfoundation.com/
I was okay until past the mission statement. I don’t know how those poor people get up in the morning. I can’t stand that there is nothing in the world that can ever ease their pain. I’m so sorry for them and I have a renewed hate for Dianne Schuler.
“I have a renewed hate for Dianne Schuler.”
– Oh please, Gina! What did she ever do to you?
Can’t we just delete these moronic spam and bait messages?
Oh please, Jane, put on your brain helmet before you post here again. You seem to have been wearing your ‘Idiot” cap last time. You know, the one with the rainbow colors and the propeller that makes you go “WHEEEEEEE!” when the wind spins it? Yeah. Don’t wear that one and post here.
Just a friendly bit of advice. You’re welcome. :)
The question should be, Jane, what did Diane ever do to YOU, and was it good for her too. God knows it must have been fireworks and winning the Super Bowl for you if you’re taking up for her now.
What Diane did is offensive to every person who has a conscious and a soul. That gives us the right to say whatever we want to about her.
She sure has hell earned it.
Please, ladies & gentlemen, give the girl a break. Maybe she was just having a bad hair day. The trolls that have posted here have the right idea….lighten up.
Hopefully you’re being sarcastic. It’s hard to tell.
OK, I will give her a break, no problem. It really wasn’t her fault, she was just a typical long island surburban housewife trying to have a fun family weekend with her kids and nieces. She followed the plan, went to work on Thursday, then picked up her nieces and drove them all to their campground for a nice relaxing weekend. However, Mr. Danny Schuler did not follow the plan, he left her on Thursday and went who knows where, but certainly not to the campground like he told the police and the public at his self-serving cover-my-ass press conference. Who knows what that dirtbag was up to, strippers, whores, drugs, mistresss… whatever it was he didn’t want Diane to know about it, so he rushed to the campground right before she got there and made up stories about how relaxing his day fishing had been. Who can blame Diane for running amok when she figured out he was a scumbag, so she did the only thing logical, killed herself and his kids to punish him. Too bad her brother got involved and she had to punish him too. Just a completely rational and predictable reaction, i have no problem with revenge murder, happens all the time. So, ok, i’ll give Diane a pass, she deserves it. But Danny on the other hand is the soul-less feels no guilt about anything, troll of the earth who knows the truth and how he caused her to go off the deep end and plays dumb now. So Diane may be in hell now, or maybe not, maybe Danny is such an evil person that he actually deserved the punishment he has now. Maybe Diane is a heroine in heaven for doing Gods and the Devils work, meting out justice and making things right. Oh right, the innocent victims…hmmm, bet they were in the right place at the right time to get punishment for something they did to someone, or to stop them from doing something to someone down the road. Karma works in funny ways. Maybe those other kids and the men in the other car were going to somehow bring about the end of the world in future generations by some actions only Diane could see in her clarivoiance. Or maybe her bad hair day just proved too much. Yeah, she is OK by me. Sorry for all my misguided ‘justice’, my bad.
I see that there have been no posting here in 10 days. Maybe this has finally died down. Hopefully everyone here has moved on from this.
Hey Jacques Ass, the nyms you think are so cute, aren’t.
Well, we had until YOU brought it up again. Now you’ve got me thinking about fuzzywuzzy’s incredibly thorough and well researched series of posts about Diane’s possible motives. I’d like to think I had something to do with that – from the beginning I encouraged him to follow through on his theory, and even asked him to write up something I could publish, which is the article you see here. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not taking any credit for his work, but I am quite proud of the small part I played.
yo, eliphat-ass, shit-stirring aren’t ye? Yeah, its died down alright, everybody’s still dead. Well, you can move on all you want, you are probably a vodka guzzling accident waiting to happen yourself. When will we be reading your story of ignorance and apathy that results in the mass murder of innnocent children? Really.
I thank Max so very much for publishing my story, as it has helps keep alive the story of this wacko murdering piece of work and tweak idiots like you who actually think its ok to let people get away with murder just because you are tired of hearing about it. Go read TMZ and angst over Lindsey Lohan or some other hard hitting ‘news’ story you can get behind and leave us alone.
I really REALLY hope no one is paying you to do this.
In fact, if I could, I’d charge you for every dumbass post you make.
If you have something worthwhile to add to this discussion, please, lets hear it, maybe owning up to it with an identity. But then again, most cowards with something to hide usually hide behind stupid fake names. So what is it?
If you notice, we usually are moving in a straight line here, adding to the facts and trying to reconcile the chain of events. We don’t plan on stopping until there is closure, plain and simple.
Are you trying to provoke more interest in the case, which seems likely since you keep coming back for no apparent reason, or are you simply advocating turning a blind eye to a guilty murderess and her accomplices? Maybe you are a whistle blower, building up your nerve to get something off your chest? I mean coming in here with nothing to add is pretty suspicious in my book. I sense a guilty conscience, returning to the scene of the crime type behavior. We can stop the name calling if you want to join the discussion with something other than troll-drivel. The choice is yours.
Fuzzywuzzy, all of this attention really says a lot about the accuracy of your article. I know it’s mostly speculation, but it must have hit a serious nerve with someone involved in this case. If it didn’t even slightly resemble the honest truth, no one would have cared enough to have deleted it from the other sites you posted it on.
Unfortunately for them, they are reduced to this kind of petty BS because they can’t get the article removed from PYSIH. It’s as if this website is one of the last bastions of free speech on this horrible case. The more they complain, the more people will see it. :)
E………”Jack Cass” would have been more subtle.
Personally, I think there was some sort of cheating going on.. Just an eerie thought I have had ever since first hearing about it…
There is only one (or two) who can answer this question for sure.
The only person who could answer that question is the murderess herself.
This will never die down, until the relatives fess up. Something pissed her off to the point of obliviation and suicide. No sane individual would have that amount of un-digested vodka that was found in her stomach, and expect to be alive period. A witness that passed her, she barely missed, said she was focused, in full control.
I think she was committing suicide, dead on, no one stopping her. The family members involved must know, the conversations, something triggered this, she was pushed to the breaking point by someone, or something.
While I understand their terrible losses, the Hance family clearly has not provided all the information they have. The brother spoke to police briefly on two occasisons, as documented in the police reports, however; the mother of the three girls has never been interviewed by police. The local police turned away the State Police at the door, citing her condition. I wonder if she was compelled to testify as part of the ongoing civil case? Really, they are the one’s with the key information having spoke to her only moments before the accident. I am sure transcripts of those calls would be revealing. If, as Warren stated, she called him Danny by mistake, she was obvioulsy saying things Danny was supposed to hear, whatever it was enough to make him to go chase after her yet not call the police. Did she treaten suicide? I am surprised the sister in law was allowed not to be interviewed since she is the one that did actually make the inital police report, after Warren took off. I feel their pain, but the information should be disseminated somehow.
Hey you! Why do have to keep bringing this up? Don’t you understand that people aren’t going to forget that it ever haappened if you keep reminding them? Aren’t you ashamed of yourself for continuing to make things uncomfortable for Danny over three years later? After all his hard work at minimizzing Diane’s responsibility, and he still can’t sit in a chair without squirming That’s just not right.
Sorry Fuzzy, I just had to beat your “friends” to the punch just this one time”. I never get to be first at anything.
Yeah, sorry Max, i forgot today was ‘give your favoirte mass murderer a pass day”; my bad.
YES YES YES (screaming) why isn’t she or he (Jackie & Warren) TALKING TO THE POLICE???? They have critical info and there is NO INTERVIEW????????????????(as I bang my head against brick wall) GOD PLEASE put it into their Hearts to come forward.
@ Vbecky you rock along with all the others working their axx’s off trying to get to the Bones of this case , you stupid trollers , tell Danny to fess up I STILL find it disgusting what this family HAS been ALLOWED to get away with this murder’s……………….Still wondering , Diane did you say you were Sorry when you got to your next destination?
@petpet ROFL! Thanks, but the credit for this goes to Max, FuzzyWuzzy and anyone else who did the painful research and writing. I’m just here as a cheering section and occasional crap-spackler. ;)
By the way, your name cracks me up for some reason. I don’t know why. “Petpet”. “PetpetPETpetpet”. It sounds like an old-timey car with a hand crank. Or it could just be the tequila I got from a couple of posts down. ;)
According to Janet DiFiore, the Westchester Co., NY, DA:
“Prosecutors said Tuesday that no charges will be filed in connection with the wrong-way crash that killed eight people because the only person to blame is dead.
“Diane Schuler died in the crash and the charges died with her,” Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore said. ”
See the rest of that at http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2009/08/18/2009-08-18_taconic_driver_diane_schulers_husband_daniel_schuler_likely_wont_face_criminal_c.html
With that in mind, I feel that everybody here should stop beating a horse that has been dead for a long time. I’ll bet that all of the trolls who have posted here realize that.
You mean trolls like you MEL-VIN?
We have discussed this many times here, and until Daniel Schuler and the rest of the family changed their position that Diane wasn’t drunk and high the day she wiped out most of the next generation of her own family, along with the Bastardis and Mr. Longo, and admit that the claims Dominic Barber made about “medical” causes for the crash were fabricated, we don’t plan on letting up on the pressure. I realize were not the New York Times, and we’re not going to inspire the masses to protest in front of the Schuler home, but obviously in our own little way we’re bothering somebody.
Yo Melvar
Sure, we can we forget it. But there is an HBO movie in the works that will soon be throwing these lies back in our faces as truth once again. So if we stop seeking the truth, the public record will be tainted by Danny-Boy and his spin doctor dog-shit lawyer getting the last word in. The public has a short memory and we are blessed that this site comes up when the murderess’s name is googled, so unless there are these questions and answers posted here, where is the Truth?
‘Someone’ is probably scared a potential civil case jury pool may see this site and think for themselves.
which leads me to wonder how the lawsuit is going? Any input from Mr. Mike jr?
This account, while creative and possibly true is full of sweeping generalizations and assumptions that make it just as flimsy as the previous accounts.
Guys not being vodka drinkers? Come ON! I personally hate vodka, but there are TON of people out there who drink vodka religiously. Guys even. Yes, most guys prefer beer, but there is that 40-50 year old crowd looking to keep the weight down, so they suck down Vodka or GIn or Tequila instead.
I can also understand some frustration or question about the lack of specificity from family members. However, that is a MASSIVE assumption. You and I would both be trying to be as accurate as possible when creating a timeline of events. Not everyone is like that. There are a lot of people (way too many) that just don’t give a fuck. It’s sad but true. You also have to consider that people are under duress when being interviewed. We only know what they said to reporters, police etc. We don’t know what they said or thought laying awake late at night.
I think that the most probable answer is that Danny and Diane were getting a divorce.
Wow, now i know why i am such good shape! Its all that tequila i drink every day.
Do you have any extra tequila? I think all three of us, you, me and HWB could use a round. Myself, for various reasons, not the least of which is that this is NOT Friday!
Gimmie!
VCBecky
Extra tequila… hmm, what a concept. I think i have three bottles at home right now, problem is, they are all empty! I need to stop at the Diane Schuler Bottle Queen Outlet on the way home. Then I will share a drink with you and to Friday!
Cheers!
L’Chaim!
Well, there is always the chance Danny really was clueless. I mean he wasn’t at the camp when he was supposed to be, so he was up to something somewhere. Maybe Diane figured this out and in her control freak mentality did not say a thing to him about it. In the NY Magazine article it says how she kept everything inside and only told Danny when the gutters needded to be cleaned or the house needed to be painted, so they did not have any communication skills or history of discussing their relationship. Perhaps she just stewed there all weekend looking at him with contmept, knowing he was a liar, then lost it on the way home, got drunk, spewed it all out to her brother on the phone, then decided to just end it all and punish everyone else.
Just a thought that came to me right now.
How could he not have known about her problem? From my own experience and from everything I’ve read, the spouse always knows at some level. Even if it took her death for him to consciously realize it, he knew. It’s not how he handled the situation before it happened, that can be attributed to his own naivete and desire for a Stepford Wife. It’s how he handled the aftermath, when he should have been able to admit to himself and his wife’s other victims that his wife had a problem. He’s preventing this wound from even trying to grow a scab, not that it will ever heal, and that’s just wrong. He has to know it’s wrong on some level of his brain, yet he still does it.
Good thought, I just don’t think it’s plausible. Unlike the your article. ;)
VCBecky, Thats not what I meant. I’m sure he knew about her substance abuse problems, they probably shared them; what I am saying is that maybe he didn’t know she was so pissed at him that specific weekend. I meant clueless in the sense that she did not let on that she knew he was up to something, that she had busted him saying he was going to the campground but really going somewhere else. Maybe she was waiting to confront him at home about it instead of in front of all those kids at the campground.
As i have always said, something set her off that day more than usual, on a typical sunday she may not have normally downed 10 shots of vodka then gone driving around, maybe 3 or 4 were more her speed, the go to the mall. Maybe she was stewing over what had happened after driving off from the camp and justified to herself more and more alcohol as the anger built up.
I am opining now more on what set her off that day, specifically. The chronic substance abuse, codependency and lying are all given….
He is still in denial (at least publically) about her problem and whatever he did to set her off. He knows the whole story.
This may be trivial, but why does your article say she spent $300 on a purse for her sister-in-law on an impulse but Steve Fishman’s article in the New York Magazine says she spent $300 on a bat for her sister-in-law’s son and told him to hit a home run.
Remember the game you played as a kid, when everyone sat in a circle and the 1st person would whisper a short sentence in the ear to the person next to them and everyone was to repeat it as they heard it to the person next to them but when the last person in the circle repeated what they thought they heard, the sentence was so convoluted from what the first person said.
It’s unbelievable how some people believe everything they read!!
But not you Pat, right? You’re way too smart to fall for that.
You were right at he beginning of this comment – it is trivial. After that, it was down hill all the way.
Yeah, i did make that mistake, the article didn’t give the value of the purse, but the bat was $300. Trivial or not, I make the correction.
Good you read the background article, i am inpressed by that, but how about a more hard hitting comment? Love to hear your point of view on the substance of the article.
This has gotten very monotonous. Let’s change the subject, please.
I love how you keep coming back to bump this discussion up to the top of the front page. You’re really doing a great service for the families of Diane Schuler’s murder victims by keeping them in the forefront of our minds like this. I appreciate how you’re ensuring that no one will ever forget this tragedy.
I also appreciate how you’re raising awareness about drunk driving, especially right before Halloween like this. Anne Chovie, you are a saint among pizza toppings. Thank you so much for your caring and compassion. GOOD JOB!
Hey Anne Chovie, yeah you. Go fuck yourself asshole.
Ah, how many times have I wanted to say that, and that only, on this site. Thanks for the chuckle and big, Colgate smile.
The only thing monotonous is the fuckin shit spewing from your mouth idiot. So clever aren’t you.
I was not sarcastic. I was serious. I read your post and it made me laugh out loud and smile, because I have often wanted to post exactly what you said, but never do. I thanked you for making my morning.
Funny how I just told Maelstrom this morning I rarely post what first pops into my head because I am afraid it will be taken the wrong way. I hate it when I’m right.
Bohring, Imma go out on a limb here and say that I REALLY think Fuzzy meant to post that in response to Anne Chovie, not to you. You’re both really cool, I can’t imagine Fuzzy’s comment is anything but misplaced. <3!
I wanted to make sure, cause I was like, well shit, Fuzzy thought I was calling the “go fuck yourself”, which is my favorite phrase of all time, post monotonous. And since Fuzzy is so cool, now I shall be exiled and shunned by all of PYSIH! The “A” on my chest stands for “Asshole!”
Bohring,
If you’re ever “exiled and shunned”…something that I doubt will ever happen, I will go with you into the sunset.
That mail was so great !!!! Ohhhh…..Kiefer Sutherland….yes, yes, yes…despite the mullet he was smoking hot !!!! :)
I am having trouble with my reply buttons, sorry….I can’t see who i am replying to, even now i have no idea where this will show up. My posts are ending up all over the place. ALl nastyness is directed at Anne Chovie and ASS-ociated aliases…..
I just choose the most recent “reply” and hope for the best.
Max, I remember you told me last week you were going to post the IP address where all these messages are coming from? Or why don’t you just email me off-line with it. Thanks.
Yeah, i hit the wrong ‘reply’ button, sorry, this site is really slow today.
now this is directed at Anne Chovie… if it is monotonous it is likely because you are stuck on a page dedicated to a single topic. If you don’t like the topic simply go to a different page; if you are unclear on the concept of a discussion about a single topic, I really don’t have the time to explain it, but try the back button, or google stupidity for some enlightenment.
The other day I was reading through a best of Craigslist. It was amusing and I had a few slow hours to kill at work. Then I came across a post about the accident and it stopped me in my tracks. It’s a firsthand witness account of the crash. I’ve copied it here in it’s entirety. This is the link to the page: http://www.craigslist.org/about/best/nyc/1306619502.html
I saw that crash on the Taconic last Sunday…
Date: 2009-08-05, 1:46AM EDT
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
A new year, and nothing new on this case…. how about an update from Mike Jr?
Happy New Year people……
First, I would like to thank Fuzzy for keeping this alive.
As I promised you all, I will keep you up to date as best as
I can. Please, rest assured that I do have some info for you
and that soon I will release this to you. My Dad and Brother Guy
will have their justice that they so much deserve. This will be
done for them I promise……
Best Regards Mike Jr.
Happy New Year to you too, sir. Let’s hope it’s a good one!
hey, a profile picture of VCBecky… howd you do that?
Kinda terrifying, isn’t it. Stone told me how, but for the life of me I can’t remember. Ask Max! :D
It depends – Are you good looking? We have out standards here you know….LOL
Hehehe, just kidding. I’ve got a face only my cats can love. To get you picture up, just go to Gravatar.com (http://en.gravatar.com/) and follow the instructions. It’s easy.
on second thought, I probably don’t want the atttention.
I don’t appreciate the conjecture on the writers part, nobody knows when Diane Schuler ingested the alcohol, to suggest it was done at the gas station is yellow journalism at it’s very worst. Fact: This was a tragedy, and 4 families are broken because of it…that is about all this article says, but we all knew that already.
Journalism? Who said anything about journalism. This article is nothing more than one man’s very educated opinion. It never claims to be anything else.
Since we’re not a news source, I felt it was quite appropriate to allow fuzzywuzzy to express his opinion on our website, especially since many other sites were deleting his comments for reasons unknown.
You certainly have a right to disagree with the content, but calling the story “yellow journalism” is a bit extreme, don’t you think?
Mac. I guess you are the owner of that gas station and are looking to avoid liability? Funny how vitriolic folks get about certain points; makes me think i was getting close to some things.
Why is that something you take isdue with? And not the idea she was guzzling from a 1.75 liter bottle behind the wheel.
Whats next!
http://www.lohud.com/article/20110212/NEWS01/102120330/Lawyer-in-Taconic-wrong-way-crash-case-loses-law-license-in-billing-flap
Ha…. I just read this too…….
GARDEN CITY, N.Y. — Noted New York attorney Dominic Barbara has been suspended from practicing law for 18 months. Barbara was cited for billing errors and improper staff supervision. An appellate court found him guilty of professional misconduct. It noted he has received 20 sanctions between 1988 and 2009, including nine letters of caution.
Another month, and we have not forgotten…..even the trolls have lost interest…..
I still think the key to this case lies in the cell phone records of the weekend. Including the supposed ‘wrong number’ called during the car ride. That call has been bugging me all along. Along with the 9 minute call the night before from her phone. Was that the same number? Who was this mystery man (whose name is out there)and why did a call go there during the car ride? As i pondered above, the number was not similar to any of the family members (i researched this way early on before all the information was redacted). What are the chances of anyone randomly dialing a number that is 10 minutes from Diane Schuler’s house? That number was likely a contact, or a recent call. It would make sense that one of the kids accidently hit the last number dialed, which would have been that same number…. hmmm. What is the connection, has anyone really talked to this guy and gotten more than the one word answer of “weird’ about this?
http://www.taconictragedy.com
Thanks Fuzzy for keeping this alive.
Wow Mike Jr., I will buy a copy of that book!
The Nassau County district attorney is probing flamboyant lawyer Dominick Barbara for swiping $56,000 from the husband of the Taconic Parkway wrong-way driver, the Daily News has learned.
Although the high-profile attorney claimed he took the case pro bono, The News was told Barbara pocketed money due Daniel Schuler from his dead wife’s $100,000 life insurance policy – plus another $10,000 Schuler gave him.
Barbara, already suspended from his practice by the state for 18 months because of professional misconduct, told the family the money was placed in an escrow account, sources told The News.
But when Schuler recently asked for the $110,000, he was told it was unavailable, according to one source. Only $34,000 went for legitimate legal fees, and Barbara coughed up a mere $20,000 last week, the source said.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2011/03/16/2011-03-16_illegally_stiffed_husband_of_wrongway_driver_is_out_56g_held_by_wellknown_atty.html#ixzz1Gz6TQqC7
I havent read the comments.
so someone else may have come to the same conclusion.
I love puzzels.
This woman was Out of controll.
Something happened to her long ago.
She cut her mother out of her life for self preservation.
At times it can heal, sometimes can make things worse.
It’s clear her family knew. And they protect her.
They didnt realize how bad things had become.
Otherwise the children would not have been involved.
Everything adds up, the statements of the clerks, the family protecting her. They have been doing that for a while.
Even her husbands indifference.
Maybe trashed or insane.
“She had tunnel vision”, more like auto pilot.
She murdered herself, I doubt she even thought of the children.
The things that don’t make sense are a clue.
BTJMO
I heard about the crash but am new to this discussion.
Just wondering about the calls to 911, when Sgt Temple fields the enquiry. Do we know what time that first call to 911 was made? Were they dead already? I’m not suggesting that had the police acted sooner the accident could have been prevented. What I am saying is that I find that the responses were those of someone who avoid doing any work. He gave standard answers, and less than energetic responses: “I can try to contact the phone company” (not verbatim). It took a clear directive from his superior (the female) to make Sgt move. To be fair, maybe the police get these kinds of calls ALL the time. The caller repeatedly used the term “medical condition” and never came out and said there was a fear for the lives of five kids.
Please do not think I am trying to shift blame. Maybe another way to say this is it possible that 1) had the family fessed up that she was drink driving and 2) had the police acted immediately, could the tragedy have been avoided? (Who knows, maybe Diane would have rammed the patrol car…)
Thoughts?
I also want to make a comment on the vodka bottle. Regular or even weekend drinkers would buy the 1.75l size–its the cheapest and they lessen the risk of running out. So the bit about being frugal still applies.
My guess is that Diane bought the bottle earlier (although nearby bottle shops had no record), or took it from a stash at home–maybe she bought a case when on sale–and took it to the campground. Had some Friday and Saturday nights/days, and was not going to waste the rest of good hooch. She had a big minivan and didn’t have to save space by pouring it into a smaller container, although she might have done that if she were going to pop it into her purse before she got to her brothers to drop off the kids. Under the seat wasn’t good enough because she was going to turn the car over as well. Or maybe she had no need to conceal it because it was always that way with Diane. Either way the fact that she kept it within reach is spooky. Was it originally in the trunk and she moved it at McD’s while the kids were playing? No. I wonder if she packed up the car and put it under the front seat so the kids wouldn’t see it when they put their bags in the back, then planned to tell her brother she snatched it at the last minute as she was loading the car.
IF you subscribe to the theory that she was not a regular heavy drinker and just someone who snapped and went off the deep end, it still makes sense. She decided she was going to do whatever she did, took the bottle from the camper and brought it with her. She probably dumped a whole lot of it into her orange juice and started drinking it. Lack of experience with drinking that much could have made her ill along the ride. She probably smoked some pot to try to settle her stomach, or make her headache go away. Eventually she was probably in a waking blackout after an hour or so and was still driving. She may not have been a secret alcoholic, but whatever Danny-Boy did that weekend drove her to it. As the years(!) pass, i am more and more convinced that he did something behind her back that Thursday into Friday and was not where he said he was; he showed up at the camper just before she did instead of the night before, like he said he did. It may have just been a rash decision to start drinking that morning. The whole conclusion by that Ruskin guy was that she was not an alcholic and ‘something happened’; well Danny-Boy is that ‘something’, and something he did set her off.
Interested to hear any updates from Mike jr on the book and the civil lawsuit findings. Such as, was there any pot or paraphernalia found in the car?
Sorry, missed the camper part. Maybe there are two bottles of vodka. Danny is right one was left behind TV and Diane brought another one up?
Another thing about this story that gets to me is the media coverage. This woman was uniquely crazy, she didn’t fit a mould, she was not an overstressed executive/mother who secretly drowned her sorrows; she was a type A personality, probably bipolar or something with a lot of mother issues, control freak issues, temper and a successful business woman married to a numbskull she could control; she smoked pot regularly and snapped one day.
The media jumped on the bandwagon of validation and everyone looked at themselves and identied with her, how many articles are out there about mothers hitting the bottle etc….it created a cottage industry where it was cool to be an overstressed mother who drank all day and picked up the kids from daycare bombed, but its ok, everyone is doing it… it is a travesty to start with the whole ‘oh i’m so stressed self-identification bandwagon. Same with that Julie Schenecker who shot her kids for being mouthy; how many articles and feel good psychobabble bloggers and mommy websites did i read where motherss were saying they too are so stressed that they can’t handle it etc… “Truth is I am just like that woman who shot her kids” (google that) ….. whining blathering bullshit… both these women were one in 250 million or more. Everyone is stressed, get it? But not everyone goes crazy and kills people. These women were truly highly disturbed and undiagnosed, its not like looking in a mirror folks, no matter how much validation you want for living the life we are all faced with it just isn’t the case. Some can handle life, some can’t. But it sure ain’t no ‘Teaching Moment’ whatever the hell that is supposed to be. Its a train wreck that was years in the making over things unique to these murderers and it makes me sick to see people practically justify it by saying how close they are to being strectched that far themselves… don’t flatter yourselves that much, you are not that crazy.
Sorry, but this has been bugging me for a while.
Yes, it was chic for a while afterwards to be a tippling soccer mom, with a husband who was absent/worthless, juggling kids, job, whatever else. The way it was cool to be manic depressive in the 60′s. Everyone has “stress”. People handle it in different ways, but normal people don’t do what Diane did.
I live in Asia, and we’ve just had a retrial of Nancy Kissel. Similar–stress drive her to drug her husband, then bludgeon him to death. The retrial found her guilty even though she pleaded manslaughter instead of “murder-not guilty”, and a lot of HK expats are baffled at the verdict.
I do wonder, though, that if Danny were cheating on Diane, perhaps , had she had time to think through it, might she not have seen that as a way to dump a loser and start anew? Or was he a cheap handyman? Perhaps it was an affront to her control? What made the rage pile up
after she may have known about it for 36 hours? Do we know when she found out?
Is there any information on neighboring campers, what they might have overheard? I know none of the witness reports mention having seen Diane over the weekend. Depending on when Danny was “outed”, there had to have been been some kind of scene?
You would think there would have been a scene, who knows, maybe her control freak personality made her hold it in and not say anything, maybe she didn’t want to do it in public or in front of all the kids. Maybe she was gearing up for a confrontation at home and getting drunk was part of that. Or maybe she figured it out and he didn’t know. Maybe in her mind she was punishing him for life by commiting that horrific act? Her state of mind is still the unknown factor in this story and little has come out to clarify it. I am sure her brother has some insight from that phone call.
I think she had confronted Danny by the time they left because he did not escort her back. Even if he is a much as a dullard as he appears to be, only a real cad would have left his wife to handle getting breakfast for five small kids while he drove past. They’d been going to that campground for a few years, and it was probably standard procedure to stop at that McD’s for Sunday morning breakfast. (Historical surveillance tapes would be of interest here.) So she must have ordered him off. And he was probably too afraid of her or of her making a scene that he did not meet up with her.
The brother probably does have some insight, as might his wife. But we do not know that it was his call that pushed her over the edge. His could have been the last to cumulative effect.
Sorry, I do not mean to imply that the calls drove her to it. I mean to say that the last call may be what caused her to purge the offending object from the vehicle. That was the moment of no turning back.
HBO is airing a documentary, THERE’S SOMETHING WRONG WITH AUNT DIANE, on July 25th. I will be curious to see if any of Diane’s family participates. The Hance’s, who lost all 3 of their daughter’s, must have something to say about the tragedy, right? Unless they have something to hide.
Wow, thanks for posting this! I’ll be watching for sure.
I believe Diane’s will probably attempt to sue HBO for slander after it airs. Who knows though and this defiantly has my interest now.
Wow. I really have to get this off my chest:
Fuzzy Wuzzy,
Max the Cat,
and VcBecky
You guys (and Gals) are totally awesome.
I stumbled upon this site by accident. And after reading this story, I just have to turn around and hug and kiss my baby girl (who is napping next to me). I don’t care if it is one day, one hundred days, or one hundred years…if my baby was hurt… I would never forget it and H3LL yea, I would seek justice. Justice is what is not given to the families of the victims and I don’t blame them for wanting to keep the story alive so that it will be fresh in our minds…until they get their justice. It’s not the dead who suffers because they can no longer feel the pain, it’s the survivors and the one who loves them who are still hurting. My prayers goes out to all the victim’s families and those who witness such a horrible tragedy. For all the inconsiderate commentors out there: you probably never had kids, shouldn’t have kids, and the world is better off without your defective genepool anyways. Too bad we can’t sterilize you.
Hi Guys,
Book release early June, My website http://www.taconictragedy.com will be updated soon. Thanks again for all your support, A special
thanks to fuzzy. Mike Jr.
For some dumb reason our spam filter marked your comment here as spam Mike, but I was lucky and spotted it just as I was clearing out my spam folder. I changed the time stamp so it went to the top of the new comments list – this way folks will see it on the front page for a longer period of time.
Looks like Mike Jr’s boiok comes out June 13. Look forward to reading it!
I think your theory is very interesting and quite plausible. The thing that always bothered me was the way she pulled out of that gas station…with a reckless purpose, driving like a complete idiot who didn’t give a crap about anything. The murder/suicide makes sense to me because of that video. The way she pulled out of there…I have never seen anyone pull out of a gas station, hell bent for leather, the way she did! That video is quite chilling…it tells a lot. It gives the biggest clue of all…her mindset at the time…that woman was Pissed Off about something! She was absolutely furious about something when she pulled out of that gas station. Thanks for the article. I think you did a great job and your theory makes sense.
http://www.news12.com/articleDetail.jsp?articleId=284174&position=1&news_type=news
Cover-up alleged in new book on Taconic Tragedy
did anyone investigate the employees at McDonalds, maybe they were MAD that she ordered the chicken & cause them difficulty and slipped something in her orange juice? but with her alcohol, marijuana, medical cond, etc. along with a tiny bit of something in her juice might have amplified any substances.
I seriously doubt it, since the toxicology tests done at autopsy showed only the alcohol and marijuana in her system. Those results are available online BTW.
Hey Max is Budgiegirl the editor now? Are u still in charge or what? I’m sorry i’m just curious because her name is highlighted. Also if she is how to we submit stories? Do we still send them to you? I’m sorry but i really want to know.
Nope, I’m still the man – I’m making a real effort to bounce back. In fact, I have another story almost ready to go up right now. I thought about giving up my position to either Budgie, Becky or Cleo, but I never was able to decide and, more importantly, I love this place and you people too much to just quit because my life has gotten a little difficult.
And it just keeps getting better (sarcasm light is “on”). Today the State of CT took away a big part of my prescription insurance – I take 8 different meds every day, for my heart, migraines and now for the narcolepsy, and some of them a VERY expensive. Where they expect me to find the extra money to pay for all this is the great mystery of the day.
Maybe I should become a male escort – Is there a big demand out there for fat, balding, out of shape 50-somethings with big mouths and small penises?
“Me love you long time…” LOL
O.o, Max, I love you, but NO BECKY EDITOR! NONONONONO! I’ve been in charge of too many things, AM in charge of too many things already, and PYSIH requires more dedication than I’m capable of giving. I post in spurts and then disappear for a while :). I’m very flattered that you considered it though. :) *MUAH*
Love the website, have read every word, await the HBO lie fest tonight, Max, I have narcolepsy too, sucks, doesn’t it?
Max, did u get that story i wrote? I’m glad you’re still around as editor and chief lol. I saw ur video and ur not so bad looking. You do realize we are our own worst critic right? You see urself as bad looking but others don’t see you as that, or at least i don’t.
Also I just updated the Kenneth Lopez/Danielle McCleary site. It’s in the comments part. The first post i sent i provided links so i have to get it approved(wouldn’t want anyone saying i plagarized anyone lol) so i submitted a 2nd post without links.
I read the Taconic Tradegy book and I must say, the pain and suffereing of the victims really screams for justice in this case. The possible coverup and refusals to talk by the family of the criminal are beyond the pale. It seems clear there was and still is a conspiracy to hide the truth. How can the victims be treated this way? In America no less? I was touched by the stories of how this travesty of justice has forever changed these families. They deserve the truth and I for one don’t think this story is over yet.
On another note, I think a copy of this book should be donated to the Floral Park NY Public Library as well as the West Babylon NY Public Library so others may know the pain caused by this coverup.
I know I have spun a colorful tale about this story. After my initial year of full on outrage I have come to the conclusion that maybe this woman really was so crazy and secretive that no one knew her problems. She buried everything inside and spat it out with horrific vengeance, be it cutting her mother out of her life, depriving her grandchildren of grandparents…etc… It is now my thoughts that no one knew her problems til they manifested that day. Including clueless Danny. It would not surprise me if she found out he was having an affair that weekend and never said a thing, that they did not fight, that she pretended everything was fine, like always. She was probably sweet as can be to him as she made this plan all weekend. He may have never known she knew the truth. She was probably so angry on that ride home that she took that bottle and just kept hitting it. Chances are she wasn’t a big drinker before that but this pushed her over the edge. Rage growing as she drove. In that call to her brother, she probably spit the whole thing out to Warren on the phone; who knows what he said in response. She was calling him Danny, so he probably go thte full brunt of it. She probably got so angry at everyone, including him that she then sought to end it all and take everyone’s kids with her. I think it was all directed as payback at Danny, and then her brother. We all know the ultimate cost paid by the innocent victims of her murderous rage.
I agree with some others here.
While I fully believe that DS drove drunk/stoned and killed herself and 7 others, your conjectures on the how and particularly the ‘why’ (that it was deliberate) are as fantastical as Barbara saying that the alcohol found in her system ‘appeared out of nowhere!’
Having been a member of AA for a number of years, I can attest that hundreds (1000′s) of people have ‘stories’ with unintended consequences. I see nothing to indicate DS was any different in her ‘nothing bad will happen to me’ mentality (and yeah, I’ve read just about everything ever written about this case).
In my experience with alcoholics (unfortunately, a lot), the rage comes from the confrontation; when you say “you’ve been drinking”. Maybe one of those phone calls before she ditched the phone threatened her image of herself as someone who was ‘getting away with it’?
This is the thing they can’t stand to hear, this is the thing that fuels most the “I’ll show you (I’m sober)”, which often leads to the thing that shows they weren’t, in fact sober.
I have no idea what happened in DS’ mind that morning (just as the author of this piece also has no idea). But in my (not inconsiderable) experience, drunks react out of fear and mere drunkeness (impaired perceptions) far more often that they do out of a deliberate desire to kill themselves or others.
She was drunk-driving with a carload of terrified children. Just to clarify, she was drinking WHILE she was driving, WITH a carload of terrified children, not all of them her own, but all of them at her mercy.
She killed herself deliberately, there’s no question about it. It might have been a death-wish, it might have been a subconscious decision, but she decided to do it. She decided to drink and drive that day with those kids in her car. She DECIDED to do it.
Denial? Unforgivable bullshit even if true. She took a carload of innocents with her. There’s no error in our outrage, no matter how you try to apply alcoholic logic to the situation. There are many reasons she might have committed suicide, and not all of them are obvious. She might have wanted to take a carload of kids with her so she could make some sort of impression on a world that apparently never really saw her – her own husband never really saw her. I’m not excusing her, I’m giving one of many possible reasons for what she did. No forgiveness, no matter the circumstances.
How could you even think of trying to defend any part of her dignity? Do you think your alcoholism is a badge of courage and understanding? We don’t really care why she did it, it’s the fact that she DID do it. Discovering WHY won’t bring those kids back, or repair those pulverized families. Screw her, and screw anyone who would enable such behavior by trying to explain it away in a fit of compassion for a multiple-murderess. Screw you, sroz.
That’s unforgivable, I don’t care what your disease does to you. There’s more to this story than just Diane Schuler’s terrible, selfish, disgusting choices, but as far as trying to get any of us to feel sorry for anything we’ve said about that.. you may as well quit while you’re behind. She deserves no compassion, no well-wishes, no understanding. Until her cowardly, selfish bastard of a husband shows some compassion for anyone but himself and his reputation, he deserves nothing but derision.
If you let your disease get so far that you kill a car load of children and permanently destroy multiple families, I’d say your reasons for doing so are completely irrelevant. There is no excuse for what this bitch did. Don’t even try it.
You’re assuming you’re the only one posting in this thread who is an alcoholic. I’m not, but I know plenty of others who are. I hope for you that they do not chose to speak up about what you said. I hope my post is enough for you.
THERE’S SOMETHING WRONG WITH AUNT DIANE
HBO just now finally released additional details about that July 25 documentary on Diane Schuler
The film follows Diane’s husband, Daniel, and sister-in-law, Jay Schuler, who have been trying to clear Diane’s name ever since her death. Although they say she would occasionally have a social drink, and sometimes smoked marijuana in the evenings to relax, they simply cannot reconcile the toxicology results with the loving mother and aunt who would never knowingly endanger the children.
As part of the investigation, the filmmakers were able to obtain Diane’s dental records, which Jay says they had been trying to get for over a year.
As they look over dates of Diane’s dental appointments, Daniel says Diane had been rubbing her cheek often, but never complained of pain – an observation that others echo.
This makes me physically ill. They are still making excuses, making money…. the gall of these people to still grasp at straws such as ‘she was rubbing her cheek alot’… how can they throw this in the face of the victims, and of their own family? There indeed was Something Wrong With Anunt Diane. Who knows if anyone really said this phrase since the calls from the van are subject to filtering throiuugh the culpible ones. Were her young nieces happily ignorant of the evils lurking within her and her blatant disregard for human life and total selfishness? Whether she planned to do it from the moment she left the campground or whether the conversation with her brother sent her over the edge for the last time we may never know. HBO should be ashamed of themselves, if i subscribed to this garbage tv station I would cancel it, but then again, I may want to see their take on There’s Something Wrong With Mr. Hitler….
Making excuses is as bad as the crime itself.
So this documentary is part of the Schuler’s continued coverup efforts? That sucks…..HBO usually does a great job with documentaries, and I was planning to watch it. Now I probably won’t bother, b/c my head just may fucking explode if I have to hear Daniel and whoever talk about a toothache or an abcess or whatever they blame it on.
If you bother to get informed, you will hear from a Dentist, her dental records, friends, family and co-workers who all mentioned this fact in depositions, police reports and the HBO documentary. Again it only explains why she began to drink and smoke, it does not justify it. You want to hate DS for what she did, that is clear, but don’t deny the facts or by into absurd theories that are based on nothing concrete.
I don’t hate Diane Schuler. She’s done. She’s ended. She can’t cause any more harm.
I despise DANIEL Schuler for not letting anyone else rest over this, for putting his desperate need to repair his already destroyed reputation before the need for justice, and for ignoring the pain that others have experienced over all of this in favor of his own selfishness and inability to accept the truth. Daniel Schuler and all of his sycophants should be ashamed of themselves. The worst part is.. they’re not.
James, you keep saying that Diane drank and smoked that day because of tooth pain. You state it as a fact. There is nothing at all to prove this theory, except the word of the Schuler’s, no actual evidence to support it.
And your argument that Diane was prescribed pain killers for tooth pain “in the past” is ridiculous. So what if she had a dental procedure a few years before the tragedy and took a pain killer. There is no proof that she had an abscess or tooth pain that day. Prior procedures don’t prove anything about her condition the day of.
What the hell is wrong with you?
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/local/long_island&id=8245798
Jackie Hance is pregnant.
She’ll never replace the kids she lost with a new one. Well, best wishes to her.
You are a moron! Of course she will never replace the kids she lost with a new one. Read the article before you go off and make such a stupid statement.
I have followed this couple’s tragedy since it happened. I can’t imagine living through such pain. If they are expecting another child, then good for them. Their children died, but that doesn’t mean they have to as well. They have their lives ahead of them. If their lives include having more children, then they will have them. How dare you judge them.
Hey JJ, has this ever crossed your mind as you, “followed this couple’s tragedy since it happened?” That perhaps the best thing the Hances could do for their three little girls would be to tell the truth the truth about the phone calls Jackie and Warren had with a plastered and distraught Diane Schuler shortly before she slammed her minivan into the Bastardi’s SUV.
Is anyone in that family capable of telling the truth?
Hi Max,
Been kinda of busy and didn’t have a chance to reply. But to your comment about:
“has this ever crossed your mind as you, “followed this couple’s tragedy since it happened?” That perhaps the best thing the Hances could do for their three little girls would be to tell the truth the truth about the phone calls Jackie and Warren had with a plastered and distraught Diane Schuler shortly before she slammed her minivan into the Bastardi’s SUV. Is anyone in that family capable of telling the truth?”.
Yes. I have thought, many hours about this. Have you thought that the Hance’s really didn’t know that Diane had a pot/drinking problem prior to this awful day. They may have thought there was a medical emergency. I don’t believe they would have trust their children with Diane if they even suspected she had an addiction problem. Have you thought that when you say the “family” means the Schuler’s? They are the ones hiding things. I think the Hance’s are remaining silent because of lawsuits. Who wouldn’t. What they say can be twisted against them. If I were in the Hance’s shoes I would be silent too. The Hance’s lost their family. Please, give them a break.
I’m sure the Hances are silent for legal reasons, and I don’t blame them JJ. I don’t believe that Diane was an everyday, drink til she was wasted alcoholic either. In fact, everything I know about addiction (and I have more first hand experience with it that I wish I did) tells me she was an inexperienced binge drinker. Just my guess, of course. Therefore, I doubt anyone save Danny was aware of it. But that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t have figured it out – again, I’m speculating. I just want to know what diane said during those calls – I think it would be very revealing.
When I say “the family”, I do mean the Schulers, since I believe the Hances have estranged themselves from the rest of the, well, family. Who can blame them?
So, I have read a lot about this whole story, and obviously something fishy is going on. I am just curious and throwing this out there…do you think MAYBE Daniel, the hubby, could have possibly drugged her without her even knowing? I mean it is a stretch considering all the facts that have been presented thus far, but just a thought. I mean the guy seems weird as hell, making money for doing shows, he is just an idiot. So, what if he was tired of following her orders all the time and wanted a new life? He obviously drove seperate from her, with the dog. Why wouldn’t he just take their kids with him to their house? I’m just sayin…for me, it is not completely crazy to consider him a suspect. You can’t make up the toxicology reports, so she was obviously drunk and on something, but was she an alcoholic with a secret life, or did she get set up? Just throwin it out there…..
Toni, that’s sickening and scary but not at all out of the realm of possibility. In light of the other things you mentioned about him, and they’re all true, I don’t think this idea is without some merit. It would explain some things, and it’s as valid a thought as any here.
On a side-note … thanks for the nightmares. ;)
I don’t buy that for a second. If this is what he wanted, he got it, but he doesn’t have a new life, he has a worse life now; he has been into rehab himself, is losing his house since she made all the money. If he got rid of her, he hasn’t lived the Bella Vida, to quote Casey Anthony… he is still pathetically trying to ‘clear her name’. If he somehow slipped her that much vodka and pot how did she get so far, she would ahve crashed hours earlier. They didn’t find pot brownines in her stomach, only fresh vodka she drank moments before the crash. There was nothing but pot and alchol in her system, so he didn’t drug her. I stand by my theory that she busted him cheating on Thursday night and never let on she knew, she just bottled it up (no pun intended) and lost her marble on the way home. He had no idea she knew he wasn’t where he was supposed to be on Thursday night, she found out somehow, probably found he cell phone while he was out fishing or something, then held it all inside all weekend, since we know that was her penchant, then drowned her sorrows on the way home and became suicidal at some point.
fuzzy, thank you.
There’s so much confusion about this story that unless you’re steeped in the details the way fuzzy is, there’s no way to make even the smallest bit of sense out of any of it. I’m not implying that there is no one else who knows as much as or more about this case than fuzzy. There are too many false bits of info, wishes passed off as facts, that are coming from the Schuler family. Trying to sort it all is like walking through a pile of gum.
Seems like Jackie still insist she called 911. The only 911 calls were made by the motorists on the Taconic that seen Diane driving the wrong way. She also states Warren had the exact location where Diane called from and then left to find her. The first call from the Hance home was at 1:40 which was made to the Tarrytown police barricks because they knew where Diane was and thats where Warren went. That call was 35 minutes after the last phone call with Diane. Now according to Police records Jackie was not the one speaking to the police it was a friend of hers who clearly tells the police that Jackie is flipping out So as he states to the police that there Might be a medical emergency then why is Jackie flipping out? She also states that her daughter told her there is something wrong with Aunt Diane heard kids crying and then the phone cut out. Well that phonecall lasted 2 minutes 33 seconds. So what else was said on that phonecall? Lets not forget that there were 5 phoncalls before the crash to the Hances. Now according to Police records Warren states that Jackie just got off the phone with Diane and said that Diane sounds OUT OF IT and heard kids crying in the background no where in Warrens statements does he say Jackie spoke to her daughter in that phonecall just Diane. So here we are and the story still changes. Two years later.
If Jackie called 911 the phone records would bear that out, end of story.
I think the family seen things-drinking, irrational behavior, anger, rage, and ignored all the red flags and thus they have to try to find some rational explanation for her behavior or else they can’t live with the guilt of knowing they knew she was dangerous and still letting her have their kids which led to their deaths and the other victims deaths……I have been thinking about this one for awhile. maybe something like this went through her mind, I am sick of working my ass off, sick of my job, sick of covering all the bills, sick of my husband being a loser, sick of camping, hate my family, hate my life, deep down anger, depression and rage all covered up by drinking, and getting angrier by the day, then that weekend something snapped and the drinking escalated and the anger and rage boiled over into an uncontrollable irrational drunken rage -maybe it was deep anger that pushed her over the edge? Not that it is an excuse but maybe she was just an angry bitter person who wanted to get one back at the world on her way out…or maybe I am just a frustrated wanna be writer being creative and she was just a drunk
The Bastardi’s response to Jackie Hance’s article is on
http://www.taconictragedy.com
Sorry guys response not on website yet but his a copy…….
Having a baby is always a blessing and we wish the family well.
In what should have been an uplifting story to celebrate a joyous occasion, Jackie Hance has taken the opportunity to call attention to the law suit. Every crime victim’s family has a right to know all of the circumstances of their loved ones deaths and no one loss is greater than another.
This excerpt is taken from actual police reports. Warren Hance’s second statement to investigators, in the presence of his attorney:
“At approximately 1:00 pm, Diane called Jackie. Jackie reported {to Warren} that Diane sounded
“out of it”and {she} heard kids crying in the background.”
The actual phone call at 12:58, lasted 2 minutes, 33 seconds. It was one of five calls between Diane Schuler and the Hance’s, over a two hour period on that fateful day.
The 911 tapes already acquired by subpoena do not support the claim that a 911 call was made, other than those made by motorists on the Taconic Parkway.
Two years of constant contradictions and fabrications have eluded the truth and added to the confusion of the conflicting stories. The Bastardi family will continue to seek answers.
Wasn’t there a boy who survived? Too young, or injuries, to have any input to this.
Also, the scene in the gas station has me “?” What did Big D go in there for? Was the tylenol a factoid, did she actually speak to anyone?
I may have missed a post, just wondering about this.
Danny & Diane Schuler’s 5 year old son was the sole survivor. On one of the videos I watched today, the paramedics stated that the boy appeared to be conscious through the entire thing (possibly screaming in pain and/or fear). He had a severe head injury as well as broken arm and leg (can’t remember if it was both arms and legs or what the exact specifics were as to his injuries). He has permanent brain damage and had to wear a patch over one eye for a while to help regain his balance. His vision may also have been affected. He remembers the firetrucks, and the commotion. That’s all that I have heard so far.
In previous articles that I have read, it has been repeatedly told that the 5 year old does not remember anything about the accident. It leaves me wondering, does he really remember anything about the accident and events that led up to it? Would his father be trying to convince him that what he remembers must have been a dream or something … telling the boy his version didn’t match the details? Again, that’s just a guess. Kids that age are so easily swayed to believe in a manner in which someone else wants them to believe. This little boy lost so much, maybe he fears losing his father next. Maybe he would do or say anything his father told him to out of fear of losing his only surviving parent?
Maybe that’s just my imagination running away w/ me. Everything above could be completely wrong and just plain crap; but, those thoughts have been running through my mind.
Can you imagine being in the middle of such a tragedy at the young age of 5?
I did read somewhere that the clerk did state that Diane asked him for Tylenol or Advil, possibly for a hang over? The clerk said he did not have either … which I find weird. Most gas stations like that in my area have a medication aisle. A lot of them will have single dose packets of meds like Tylenol, Advil, and heart burn meds for sale near the register as well. Just because she didn’t believe in medications doesn’t mean she wouldn’t use OTC meds like Tylenol or Advil. Some people afraid of drugs are mainly afraid of prescription drugs.
Correction, there was another car involved; but, those 2 people were treated and released at the hospital. I saw one interview w/ the man; and, he didn’t act like he wanted to be interviewed to begin w/. I think they are happy to be forgotten in all of this mess.
I originally posted this as a reply on an older article; but, I thought it might best be served here.
FuzzyWuzzy, I have recently started following this case and searching and reading every bit of information I can find. I can tell you that I have also read your theory on more than 1 site in the comment sections. Either they weren’t all deleted; or, I caught them before they were deleted.
I don’t want your theory to be right; BUT, my gut says it may be very, very close … possibly too close. The part that makes me feel this way the most is Diane leaving her phone on the wall so that the kids could no longer call and tattle on her. Her actions afterwards also lead me to believe it was intentional.
I think Daniel Schuler is lying his ass off, not to clear her name, but to take the questions off of him and his actions. He wants everyone to question every element of this case … every element other than himself. What did HE do that was so bad that he’d rather look like a complete moron trying to clear his wife’s name rather than just admitting that something went wrong that even he can not comprehend. What happened that he does NOT want to come out?
I have a hard time believing Danny is completely innocent in this. Something set her off; and, I tend to believe that something had to be Danny or something he did (or didn’t do). I see Danny’s pathetic campaign as frankly insulting to the intelligence of anyone and everyone w/in earshot of his delusional “theories”.
We all know, from what has been revealed regarding Diane’s past, that she preferred to keep her emotions bottled up inside of her. Maybe she never said a word to him about whatever happened. It makes me wonder, did Danny find a note from Diane once he returned home? That would remove the need for Diane to call Danny during this time.
Danny must have an incredibly guilty conscience, despite what he says, to continue w/ this very bad attempt to distort the truth through smoke and mirrors. Why not say that he is just as shocked as everyone else; and, admit that he is at just as much of a loss as to what happened as everyone else. Offer condolences, then remove himself, his son, and family from the public and attempt to heal and move on?
Why put Diane on a pedestal that no one could possibly live up to? When did he start doing this … putting Diane on a pedestal start? A pedestal to which no human could ever fully live up to. Was this an ongoing thing? Could it have pushed her over the edge?
I believe Danny’s conscience is definitely very heavily burdened, despite the words he says. The man doth protest too much.
~ Just my opinion … for what it’s worth.
I was sickened watching the trailer for this HBO debacle. The best evidence they can come up with is that she rubbed her face but didn’t complain of pain. I do not believe the autopsy found any evidence of an absessed tooth or any other health problem, but I guess that was just wrong too, like the toxicology report. She was good at hiding everything, you can’t go back and rewrite history like this, it is a slap in the face to everyone from the innocent victims, her own family, the medical examiners, the police..etc… thank god I don’t have HBO or my TV would not survive the night, I would take that vodka bottle I hide bahind it just like Diane did and throw it right through the screen. (who hides vodka behind the tv anyway?)
http://www.newsday.com/long-island/suffolk/diane-schuler-s-sister-in-law-speaks-out-1.3049529
Schuler went on to say: “There’s so much unanswered . . . I’m not saying anyone made any mistakes . . . But could anyone have done anything to alter results like that?”
WTF??? BAck when this happened I read some forum where a nurse who was present when they brought her in after the accident said it was painfully obvious that she reeked of alchol. What vast conspiracy would be in place that Sunday afternoon to fabricate a tragic scenario like this?
it goes on “Where did she drink, when did she drink? How did she drink that much alcohol in that period of time?”
Answer 1, in the car, from 10 am to 1:30. Answer 2, try it, I can drink 8 shots in an hour, she had at least 3.5 hours. Thats one shot every 21 minutes. Dump 8 ounces in a big cup of orange juice and there ya go. She must have stopped drinking long enough to smoke some reefer though.
Since I don’t get HBO, I think I will find a bar to watch “There’s Something Wrong with Aunt Diane in and make it a drinking game….
I bet if I do a shot every time they say she was perfect or had a toothache I can easily ingest 10 shots in 2 hours!
Please call a cab if you’re playing this drinking game. Better yet, please call an ambulance… there’s no way you could survive.
The only definitive truth revealed from this garbage site is that new yorkers are worthless pieces of ****. (See posts above for evidence) Without factual data all you have here is purely conjecture. It’s clear you’re quick to defend your nonsense by declaring your libelous drivel to be personal opinion. All the public has to rely on is a toxicology report which may or may not be accurate. Assuming the report is accurate there is nothing to show why and more importantly how alcohol and THC got into Mrs. Schuler’s body. The lack of facts presented here make this site little more than a digital dumpster.
Funny thing about a BAC test and a THC test for that matter. You don’t have to prove how it got there. Had Diane lived, faced a jury of her peers or even a judge as most cases like this should be handled, she’d have been convicted and sentenced to a length jail term.
There is no truth in you. There is no true understanding of libel. There is no understanding of even basic humanity. Diane is dead, we cannot punish her spirit. Daniel lives, and he tries to defend her rotting corpse and her actions. He hides what she was for what possible reason in the face of 30,000 deaths a year? You are not truth, you are the shallow edge of the pool of discarded vinegar from the failure to drown out this sorrow. Stone you touch cannot be scoured clean.
Death. Death more significant than near Amoeba eating the brains of teenagers. Death more significant than handgun violence. Death that kills with a higher percentage than Leukemia or many cancers. Pour a bottle of alcohol into a human being, put that human being into a car and they are a weapon of destruction.
And you sit there, and can’t find anything to counter that truth, except to claim that our motives are empty? Sober up, and look at the pictures of babies killed by drunk drivers. If you’re not haunted for years to come, you need to find your humanity before you gargle the bullets you’ve put into your own gun. Not caring anymore is suicide.
http://www.hbo.com/#/documentaries/theres-something-wrong-with-aunt-diane/synopsis.html
The HBO documentary airs tonight. I just find it interesting that, while I’ve heard it’s sympathetic toward Diane and the Schuler family who continues to insist she never or rarely drank, they chose to include a photo in the synopsis section of Diane holding a beer. At first I thought it was Daniel’s drink and maybe she was just holding it for him, but he’s clearly holding his own glass of wine.
Just interesting to me….
Look, it is obvious she was not a perfect mom. Sorry to say Pot is ILLEGAL and she was smokin at night at home with kids in the house as a regular thing and the family says she cannot sleep. Please. I saw the documentary and the husband seems like a dim wit having his wife and now sister running the show. The family has to accept the fact that she did it and her tooth problem did not make her drink 10 shots or smoke weed. Does anyone think she might have been dumped by a boyfriend? Or she found out her hubby was having an affair?
First of all there is a medical condition that can make someone drive erratically, its called diabetes. A type 1 diabetic who is experiencing high blood sugar smells llike alcohol their breath is fruity smelling they can become incoherent without regard AS to what they are doing.
Second of all, a blood alcohol test measures the percentage of alcohol in your system, not the amount of sugar in your blood.
Third of all, it is extremely irresponsible to operate a vehicle when you haven’t taken the appropriate steps to check your blood sugar, or if you have and you know it is too high, you should be charged with criminal negligence.
Puh-lease, patty, you can not possibly think that DIABETES was the cause of Diane’s stupidity. Proof or GTFO.
No, they don’t smell like they’re drunk. They smell fruity, or sometimes like acetone – not like they just did a bunch of shots.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diabetic_ketoacidosis#Signs_and_symptoms
The ER nurse who said Schuler had obviously been drinking would easily be able to tell the difference based on smell alone. Stop trying to blow smoke up our asses.
So I had “it”(Something is wrong with Aunt Diane) on in the background, on demand, while I worked away at the laptop, and wonder of wonders, there was the sister-in-law pointing out this website. She talked about it for about 19 seconds.
How clever is denial?
I wonder at the tarring of Ruskin…
I saw that too. You have no idea how satisfying it was for me to know the Schulers had read my story. I put my heart and soul into that article.
I agree about Ruskin – He was Johnny On The Spot with the retest results when Jay Schuler called him. I question his billing methods, but I think Barbera is the real villain here.
All in all, I felt HBO did a very good job. I found the documentary very fair and even handed. It took no sides, and presented the evidence as it is. I’d heard some bad things about them being sympathetic to Danny and Jay, but I didn’t see it. I think they came across as people in major denial.
The last placard was a call out to Bryan’s welfare, so I do think they gave an honest nod to the living, but I believe the Bastardis were a side underrepresented in the film. The first 2/3rds of the film focused on Jay, the sister-in-law, and she grated on my nerves, because she sounds like every denialist we’ve ever seen on this site.
“I know she wouldn’t let me keep fighting…”
“I know something else was wrong with her–medically”
“I don’t want Bryan to see this,” when her real concern was herself.
A poster below is right on another piece of information. The drug list that Diane had seemed excessive. I took serious pain killers for my injured spine and skull from my car accident for months and didn’t rack up that much oxy or use in comparable amounts to her tooth problem. I can almost let them blame this on Ambien, if iot weren’t for the .025 in her stomach. You can’t drink like that on accident. The body has so many defenses against that level of inebriation. You have to tear those walls down over successive attempts or through some sort of hazing ritual at a college kegger.
I don’t know about the documentary. I watched it, but I don’t know if I gained any more closure from it. Drunk driving is triggery for me and I kept focusing on the denialist and couldn’t keep the majority of my mind focused on the work I was doing.
I’m more cynical than you are Jason. I think what Jay Schuler said about little Bryan right after they showed this website was pure manipulation.
What bothered me the most about this show wasn’t anything that was said – although Jay’s insistence that Diane “couldn’t see” was a baldfaced lie – It was what was not said. Again. No explanations of the conversations Warren had with Diane before the crash. Didn’t the producers think people would be able to gain some insight into what was going on in Diane’s head from what she said? I would at least like to have seen the producers ask about it. That was a major oversight.
You’re spot on about the Medication. It directly contradicts statements both Jay and Daniel made during the show and elsewhere about Diane not like to take pills/meds. Our poster Nick made a good call on that. It sounded more to me like Diane was afraid of pain.
I know you’re very sensitive to drunk driving cases, and for good reason. For me, it was the kids – that photograph of Bryan, Erin, Emma, Alyson and Kate together at the lake, mere hours before the crash was heartbreaking. If Danny and Jay had chosen to stay silent, there would have been no need to write the series of article we published here. They chose to go public with their ridiculous denials.
Jay and Danny have caused extended suffering for the families of Diane’s victims. The Bastardi and Longo families should be well on their way to healing from their loss, but they are constantly bombarded by the crap we saw last night. It appears the Hances have estranged themselves from the rest of the family (Who can blame them). But the Schuler twins are on a mission, and nothing is going to stand in their way.
Hey Jason, I found a more complete quote of Tom Ruskin’s reaction to Daniel Schuler suing Warren Hance. I think it’s very telling re the harsh treatment of Rushkin in the Documentary by the Schulers and that shyster Barbera.
I have to admit, I went into this with little respect for Tom Ruskin, but I’ve realize now that I may have misjudged this man, convicted felon or not. I’m not sold yet, but I’m not convinced he’s a scumbag either.
the schuler clan is in obvious DENIAL!!!!. At one point the husband states his wife, diane schuler didn’t drink or smoke pot……then later in the documentary asked again in different way admits that she smoked pot once in a while, and drank occasionally, after in beginning vehemently said she doesn’t drink or smoke pot. He also said back in news conference right after accident that his wife is not an alcoholic, nor smokes pot. You don’t have to be an alcoholic to drive drunk and kill someone. He is one ignorant, in denial a*s*s hole. What about the victims in the vehicle she blasted to another dimension, never mind all those kids killed in her own vehicle. How many times do results of the tests need to be done. The HBO documentary shows, beyond doubt, that the original test results off the autopsy were Correct!!!! Another thing, I am sober 17 years, and I can tell you, that when you mix hard liquor with pot, results are pretty debilitating, and blackouts etc. – its like you’ve been drinking a longer time frame when mixing in the “doobie’s”. Not a favorable combo when driving.
Fuzzy Wuzzy, Just watched the HBO special, it was good. One fact came out if you paid attention, that I thought was very interesting. Remember how Dianes sister inlaw Jay said Diane did not like medicine? Well turns out Jay got copies of her medical records, and there is page after page of medication including Oxycodone, and Ambien. Now I have had a few root canals, but I have never been prescribed anything stronger than Tylenol. This family is covering up.
And when cofronted with the facts, from a world renowned Pathologist, they still deny the facts.
I’ve posted on here before and stand firm in what I believe. Her husband ticked her off that morning and something was said that put her over the edge. But after watching the documentary tonight, does anyone find his relationship with his sister-in-law Jay questionable? Why is his own brother (Jay’s husband) so out of the picture and this woman finds it her place to come to Diane’s defense? Does anyone else think MAYBE something may be going on with Jay and Diane’s shitbag husband? IDK just strange to me. It also sounded like a lovers quarrel when she started bitching about “How he is” and getting all pissy about how he has it made and she does everything for him…..
There is a reason why the family immediately went to the police reporting this “medical emergency” with such horror and that Jackie was so inconsolable even before this accident even happened. They knew she wasn’t quite right but NEVER thought she could do something like this. But when the daughter called and reported distress everything just clicked and they KNEW she was on a suicide mission. TRUST ME! That being said, I feel bad for the Hance’s because hindsight is 20/20 and we all know someone a little off. They never would have let their kids go with her if they thought it was this bad though. I hope they find joy in their new baby. As far as the husband goes, he deserves to be sued and will probably feel much better if he comes clean and says, “A, B and C happened before we left the campground. Im sorry. I just didnt know what else to do.” I feel horrible for the Bastardi and Longo families as well. Jay should just shut her bleached blond head.
I dont think she was drunk not her the way she was not only with her kids and all the children in her family. Something else something has been over looked…
God, another Troll – But on the off chance you might just be slow on the pickup…
Even the the Schuler twins conceded she was drunk at the time; they want to blame it on some personality change due to a stroke caused by an abscessed tooth, or some silliness like that.
Just watched the program and it was one of the saddest things I have ever watched….Something else is going on here, something only diane knew…I do believe she was intoxicated to the point of no return…All I can say is God Bless the families and may the dead Rest in Peace…
Didn’t see it, watched Breaking Bad instead. So they mentioned this story? Interesting, what did they say about it? I seem to have hit most of the main points with respect to the mother issues, i bet i am closer to the mark than they like to admit.
The program wasn’t horrible. It was painful at times, mainly because Jay was center stage and it was her transformation from fantatical denier to weepy denier that was the underpinning of the “story.”
They had a forensic psychiatrist on, who stressed a lack of malice in this case. I didn’t really catch his angle because he sounded like Henry Kissenger, who has since been aped by the Venture Brothers as Dr. Henry Killenger (and his magic murder bag), and it hurt his “credibility” in my mind as I tried to find something to laugh at instead of just weep. They showed pictures of Diane, dead at the scene, which were disgusting and over the edge, they listed her medical records with a laundry list of pills that looked like they could have been Heath Ledger’s at the time of his death. They didn’t spend any time on the substance of your article, it was instead the reaction from Jay, who as Max said, made a false call for sympathy for Bryan in tarring the site. I did notice the site crashed late last night (around 11), my hope was that it was actually from traffic from the program.
The editing was fairly impeccable, the structure was clean, and the story was balanced except that the Schulers and the Bastardis were not in force. When they flashed the pictures of the victims, I was stressed by the numbers in it all and comparisons to the shadows I see. The protection of the dead here, from this brother and sister-in-law just hurts their souls and the souls of others.
Well, I still think there was a thrid party involved in all of this, or even a fourth. Danny had something going on that Thursday night with someone somewhere, and i bet Diane figured it out and her abandonment issues kicked in, since she was such a control freak i wouldn’t put it past her not to even mention it to Danny-boy but bury it too and let it come out as it did. The other person is probably related to Diane, someone she called that night for 9 minutes, then the kids accidently hit redial and the call went to that person in Oyster Bay. Probably her confidant, or smoking buddy or whatever. As in the Bastardi’s book, they claim the phone records they got were redacted and incomplete, someone is being protected or hidden from sight. I find the most suspicious piece of this puzzle to be the fact that they claim the kids randomly dialed a number of some guy 10 mintes from Dianes house. Back when there was more raw info out there I saw the phone numbers of the various parties and this ‘wrong number’ was not even close to any number the kids would be calling to get their parents. So, i really think they each had something going on the side and worlds collided.
Did they ask Danny where he was that Thursday and why he told the cops 2 different stories when confronted with the ezpass data? He is in denial on many levels and a big liar. Did they ask him why he went to rehab as stated int he Bastardi’s book?
Diane hated real doctors maybe, but she liked the ones that prescribe excessive opiates and hallucingenic sleep aids that no one really needs. More recreational highs.
I watched the documentary, and I have to say, it put me firmly in the camp of murder/suicide. For me, it’s the only explanantion that makes sense (if something that horrific can ever make any kind of sense.) I agree that we’re all missing some big piece of the puzzle, a piece that could probably be found in all those phone calls. I just keep thinking of all those witnesses who said the same thing: she got in the fast lane, going the wrong way, and never wavered, despite cares swerving, honking, flashing lights and, you have to imagine, terrified kids screaming at her that she was going the wrong way. I definitely think she drank and used pot recreationally, but that day, she was using them to make herself do an unspeakable act.
I also think Danny knows exactly what set her off, hence his delusions and denial. If he could tell himself that yeah, maybe she was drunk and high, but there was ANOTHER reason, too, then hey! He ISN’T culpable in some way.
Also, did anyone catch that HORRIBLE thing Jay said about Danny saying he didn’t want to have kids, and “now look where he is. Diane was supposed to take care of everything.” Maybe she was trying to say he didn’t want to have kids, and now that he’d had them, he was suffering because one of them was gone, but I’m pretty sure it was more of a, “Damn it, now I have to do all this parenting stuff alone and it’s HARD.” *shudder*
Wow… thats heavy… adds to the likelyhood she was trying to kill herself and punish him by leaving him the kids… she overdid it though it looks like; she took many of them with her.
Yeah, I caught that too. Jay said Danny never wanted kids and Diane was supposed to do everything for them, but now Danny has to do it. It was fucking horrible, and just solidifies, in my mind at least, what a piece of shit Danny is. And what a fucking moron Jay is. Even if it were true, I would NEVER say it while being taped. Now little Bryan will one day see it and realize that, not only did his mother almost kill him, his father didn’t want him.
It was simply inconceivable that, even after all the evidence, all the meetings with experts, those two fucking idiots still insist that Diane would never purposely drive drunk. There is denial and then there is just plain fucking arrogance and obstinance. These two just need to SHUT THE FUCK UP.
I thought the documentary showed the Schulers as the demented morons they are. I didn’t think it was kind to them at all.
Your comments show us all how demented you are ‘Maribitch’
Maribeth is a long-time poster here, you disgusting, enabling liar. Nothing you could possibly say could diminish her in our eyes. In fact, it’s only shoring up the fact that she’s a decent human and you, to put it lightly, are not.
Thanks becky! I didn’t realize James here was so childish. I have to admit, the name Maribitch brings back some memories. I haven’t been called that since the 7th grade.
James, you are a jackass. Why don’t you run along now and stop making such a fool of yourself?
Toothache. Hilarious.
Oh God, really?! Daniel Schuler sues NY State and Warren Hance:
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/taconic-crashes-diane-schuler-super-mom-perfectionist-hbo/story?id=14152213
Jesus Christ – Do these people have any shame at all? To sue Warren Hance is the lowest thing I’ve ever hear of. And Jay expects Bryan to “…hold his head up head up high”?
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/taconic-crashes-diane-schuler-super-mom-perfectionist-hbo/story?id=14152213
I didn’t think my opinion of Daniel Schuler could get any lower. It just did.
And to have the story break on the anniversary of Mr Hance losing all of his children….Disgusting. You stay classy, Danny Boy….
Exactly, SS – There’s ice water running through Danny’s veins.
No compassion whatsoever. I’ve never wanted to grab someone by the shirt and just throttle him back into reality.
But I think it’s too late for Danny – I hope not, but I see a man who’s lost his soul – his guiding spirit, so to speak. This the kind of thing I do when I act on my own will and forget to listen to my conscience.
Jackie has now filed a lawsuit against the estate of Diane Schuler. It’s about time!!!
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/girls_terror_on_taconic_ZJvmLEbSqdviz6liKRyFuJ
I don’t have HBO. Does anyone know where I can watch the documentary online?
Good god, Danny-boy is truly a piece of shit. What the fuck is wrong with him?
It’s becoming more and more clear why Diane might want to kill herself to get the fuck away from him. It’s just too bad that she was such a selfish cunt that she had to take 7 innocent people with her.
Some of the author’s conclusions are pure conjecture? How about 80% of them? This is drivel that is even ill-suited for sensational news magazines. You can’t have it both ways, mainly in regards to her alleged .19 intoxication level yet also alleged ability to premeditate and cunningly plan her murder-suicide adventure. I’ve been a DUI attorney for 15 years, do you know what someone who has a .19 BAC looks/acts like? I’m applaud only your ability to post crap like this because of the protection allowed by our Constitution.
Thanks for your support and validation Winston! Did you get a grammar degree too with that DUI mail order rag?
Don’t mind Churchill here…it’s obvious he’s been drinking too.
Oi matey, how’s about sobering up before you attempt another literary abomination.
Well that’s a dumb question, Mr. 15 years as a DUI Attorney…Thanks to Mrs. Schuler, everyone knows what a .19 BAC looks/acts like. In her case, it looked/acted like a somewhat overweight brunette who drove a minivan full of children the wrong way on the Taconic Highway at high speed, slammed said minivan into an SUV occupied by three men on their way to Sunday dinner, and killed EVERYBODY.
Moron
I agree 100% @Churchill. All Fuzzy did was make things more fuzzy with his ridiculous work of fiction. If anyone could believe this women would intentionally kill her kids, her nieces, herself and strangers via intentional head-on collision why can’t they believe the truth found in the facts as we know them. This women was out of her mind with an ever-increasing amount of dental pain. The pain probably was progressive and she was feeling worse than normal on the ride home. So she begins to drink and smoke to ‘get control’ of the pain (She was famous for being a control freak). Combine the pain, the pot, the alcohol and it is easy to assume she was out of her mind and had no idea what she was doing when she entered the highway. Her actions and her driving would amount to vehicular manslaughter and I have no doubt if she survived this crash she would have been convicted.
James C. Hartford, you’ve got to be kidding with this post. “Out of her mind with pain” from a DENTAL problem? So she smoked pot and drank alcohol knowing she was going to be driving children, and this is supposedly her excuse for mass-murder?
You and everyone on the Schuler end of this tragedy are a bunch of liars, enablers and self-righteous fools. Do you honestly believe we’re going to fall for that nonsense? Did YOU really fall for it? Really? All we have to do is read the legal/medical background on this case, and compare it to what fuzzy wrote here. Any sane, decent human being without an ulterior motive will come to the same conclusions.
Dental pain. You disgust me. You’re low, James C. Hartford. You’re very, very low and no ‘documentary’ is going to change that.
vcbecky get off your pulpit you self-righteous moron. Her dental records and witness stmts from her co-workers and friends clearly establish she had an untreated abscess for at least six months before the incident. The pain could have been mind-numbing by then. She even left the dental office during the procedure she was supposed to have to fix it (she was a control freak). Apparently you are to stupid to realize I am not saying the dental issue is a justification for what she did. It only explains WHY she began to drink and smoke at such a bad time. People high on drugs and alcohol do deadly things on the road; there is no mystery here. But instead you would believe she wanted to kill all the kids and herself in this manner? You and Fuzzy truly are idiots.
James ‘Mr. Duh’ Hartford, let me try and put this in plain English for you:
NO ONE WHO WANTS TO LIVE will combine drugs and alcohol while they are driving. “While” = AS she was driving! Most drunk drivers get drunk before getting into the car, but our Mrs. Schuler is an over-achiever so she decided to do both simultaneously. Are you saying that she was so stupid as to believe that the substances she deliberately put into her body would not cause her problems while driving a carload of kids?
I’m glad that your naive stupidity isn’t contagious, or I’d be suing you for causing me ‘mind-numbing pain’.
Jimmy! So it’s name calling you want is it. How about this one – over educated pseudo-intellectual bullshit artist. It’s the one I use most often to describe people like yourself.
The facts are these; from the autopsy, we know she didn’t have an abscessed tooth, so the stroke theory goes straight out the window. The Medical examiner that spoke to Jay and Danny tried to tell them this, but they refused to believe him. Since dental pain can be a difficult thing to diagnose, he was forced to concede that it’s “possible” that she drank to ease some sort of tooth pain.
Why is it so hard to accept that she got drunk, exaggerated her buzz with some marijuana, and for whatever reason – since the Schulers are not forthcoming with any information, fuzzy’s scenario, which he admitted from the beginning was pure speculation, is as valid as any – decided to kill herself. We’ll never know if she intended to take the children with her, but again, fuzzy’s scenario is as valid as any other until proven otherwise.
I’d say that judging from you reaction to Fuzzy’s “speculations” that you are a close friend or a relative of Danny or Jay, and find Fuzzy’s story uncomfortably close to the truth. You can deny it, but your anger and desperation are obvious in every one of your comments.
Madamayhem, your theory is so ridiculous. You must have been on the Casey Anthony trial. First, there is no evidence that this woman was Bipolar and all of a sudden went completely crazy and suicidal! I personally take offense to your assumptions because I have Bipolar and never have I wanted to jeopardize the lives of others during a manic or depressive state.
The drug and alcohol in her system is easy to explain. She took a liquid pain reliever for her tooth that contained DMX (which will make you positive for THC) and maybe Ibuprophen which will also give a false positive for THC. Alcohol in liquid pain reliever explains the alcohol content in her system. A test which breaks down the components to find out what gave the false positive are very expensive and counties don’t want to pay for tests. I think they assumed she was on a camping trip and there was a vodka bottle in the car and she tested positve for both alcohol and THC so there you go, she is a killer and knowingly drove high and drunk. There is no evidence that says she was suicidal or Bipolar. You really need to think about what you say and get some knowledge about mental illness before you get on your computer and type stupid uneducated theories of which you obviously are not educated in.
God, where do I start – Let’s see, it takes 8oz of pure alcohol, or 10oz of vodka, to raise the blood alcohol level to .19. Are you suggesting Diane chugged a case of Tylenol liquid (Which, BTW, is alcohol free – do your research)? Oh yes, and Diane had 6 grams of unabsorbed alcohol (not Tylenol, alcohol) in her stomach. Her level of THC was so high that the chance of a false positive was practically nil. Did you even read her toxicology report? It’s available online – on this website as a matter of fact, in the original story.
I think it’s you who’s showing bipolarism in a bad light – certainly, acting like an uninformed, raving idiot make you look pretty foolish.
IF Diane had ingested cold meds it would have shown up on the tox screen. Most cold meds have multiple ingredients, not just alcohol. They would have shown up on the toxicology had there been actual use of cold meds or any other meds. Didn’t happen.
I can’t believe that so many are willing to buy into the phone toothache crap! Her dental records were 4 years old for crying out loud!! Autopsy showed not infection, no stroke, no embolism (blood clot), etc., etc. It showed, CLEARLY, Alcholol and THC (pot). The samples were retested against her DNA. They came from her … and the alcohol and THC results were the same.
Do some real research and then come back to make an educated reply.
Not to mention that it would have taken a crap load of cold meds to produce the levels Diane had. It’s just not plausible.
Wow. There are actually people that believe she WASN’T drunk and stoned when she drove the wrong way on the Taconic, killing 7 innocent people?
How is that even possible? Even the Schuler idiots admit she was drunk, although in their bizarro world, she drank the alcohol by accident, mistaking it for water.
I don’t suppose you did the same thing this morning, drank some vodka thinking it was water? Being shit-faced might explain the drivel you are spouting.
Just watched this yesterday evening. Tragic and amazingly complicated story. In the beginning, I thought there was no way she was guilty, but now….wow. Prayers for all those who lost their loved ones.
Liquid pain reliever and ibuprofen? Seriously? That’s something that Dan Schuler himself would come up with.
“She took a liquid pain reliever for her tooth that contained DMX (which will make you positive for THC) and maybe Ibuprophen which will also give a false positive for THC. Alcohol in liquid pain reliever explains the alcohol content in her system.”
Know what’s much more likely to have caused alcohol and THC to show up in her system? Wait for it….
Vodka and marijuana.
Well, more information seems to be coming out, and admittedly, she probably wasn’t bipolar or anything, however, I’m so glad you can assume that I have no knowledge about mental illness. I have seen many people in a manic state. Not your average, manic state like you are probably assuming, but a dangerously manic state. Yes, those people do exist, and they can not be reasoned with, so stop taking my comments personally and let’s focus on the actual fucking issue here. You may be in control of your disease, and I applaud you, but not everyone is in proper treatment, and people do suffer from different degrees of mania and depression. They aren’t cookie-cutter versions of your-asshole-self.
Interesting how her appearance changed over time. Maybe she started to look like her mother and couldn’t stand to see herself in the mirror.
Another thing that irritated me about the documentary was the Schuler clan matriarch. She went on and on about how Diane was such an extraordinary person, would work all day, come home, cook the kids dinner, bathe them, read to them, put them in bed, maybe even throw a load of laundry on, all before sitting down for the first time all day.
Wow, what an amazing woman. She did all that, every day?? How did she possibly find the time and energy?
Maybe we can ask the other 200 million women around the world that do the same thing every. single. day.
Dumb fucking cunt.
THANK YOU Maribeth….. I do that every day, I do not have a husband to help and yet driving drunk and stoned with my kids in the car…. as I continue to drink vodka and smoke weed would never ever ever even occur to me. Those poor scared babies :(
You are welcome Dee, although there is no need to thank me. That attitude of hers just pissed me off, the dumb bitch. Most moms work their asses off for their children and would never put them in harms way. And thank god for that!
How anyone can call Diane Schuler a good mother is beyond me. Good mothers don’t drink and smoke pot while driving, regardless who is in the car. She was the exact opposite of a good mother.
The hypocrisy and judgment promoted on this website blows my mind. Also, that this many readers feed into it is even more astonishing. While you can’t argue facts, the amount of assumption as to who Diane Schuler was, her state of mind at that time, as well as the thoughts of the family members and the details of this event provides no more answers than anyone else’s best guess. Your ability to research a story and let your imagination lead you to conclusions that are quite impossible to prove is similar to that of a fictional mystery novel. “He and his wife had to know what was up, they both talked to a trashed Diane Schuler and had to know she was wasted.” The accusations you make in this article are based on your own emotions and personal opinions. “Vodka is a chick drink.” Under what article did you find this ‘fact’?
Again, to be clear, I am not denying the facts. This was a prime example of poor judgment that cost innocent people their lives. However, several of the allegations within this article are irrational beliefs and conspiracy theories based off of no concrete evidence. To condemn an individual for an act/feeling that has no tangible truth except your own contention only makes you look ignorant and uncouth to those involved in this terrible story. As for this horrendous excuse of a website, aren’t you people supposed to leave the decision of admittance to heaven and hell up to your God?
Leave the decision up to our God? Naw, we like to condemn them to hell ourselves. How superior we all feel after a good burning at the stake!
Just for the record, facts, you did a pretty bang up job of judging us for having the nerve to judge others. And yet you talk about hypocrisy?
Funny.
Come on, when the facts are deliberately hidden and the victims lied to and the public decieved, the mind runs rampant with possibilities. This is natural human nature and is 100% the result of the wall of decient denieal and deception by the guitly. IF they told the truth the story would not have to be dredged from the deep dark depths of the human mind and the worst imagined.
How many men do you know who drink vodka any way? I don’t know any. Try being a real man and make your martini with gin, no vermouth.
Awww…not only does Fuzzy Wuzzy fail at cohesive argumentative banter, he fails at spelling 3 words correctly in 1 sentence. He’s so cute, cuddly, and dumb.
Says the “lawyer” who spells appalled, exactly like applaud. I would have made a comment, but the missed word there came off that you were giving her praise(effusive praise actually) earlier, despite other actions that were merely subtractive. You are not a logical thinker, nor are you adding anything to this discussion. Please try to find something other than a strawman to prop your arguments against.
You’re a troll, looking for a call out. You get this one, please find a better pasture.
The incorrect syntax used here Dear Jason was the “I’m” instead of “I” ..not the correct spelling of “applaud.” Context should have hinted at that for you, with much less energy than is apparently used in this forum of inferences. Under the relevant state law, she could have been charged with Vehicular Manslaughter in the 1st Degree and nothing more serious.
Churchill,
You pseudo intellectual retard. Do you honestly think you’re going to be able to bullshit your way out of your stupidity ?
How about them apples?
He’s a lawyer, Maelstrom. He’s made his 15 year career on bullshitting.
True KHR, but if he’s a lawyer with an actual degree, well…then I’m a virgin with two kids.
I’m setting my temple up right now, and can’t wait for the day I see your image on a piece of toast or in the waterstains on an underpass, Maelstrom
Ok I rarely swear at people but seriously you FUCKTARD how the hell is driving around DRINKING vodka and SMOKING weed with FOUR (thats right FOUR) Children in the car POOR JUDGEMENT? ARE YOU SERIOUS????????????????????????? I have children and forgetting to bring an umbrella on a day the Weather Man calls for Rain is poor judgement. This woman was reckless and to be quite honest I do NOT give a flying fuck what was going on in her fucking head that day because do you know what being a parent is?????????????????????????? Do you even understand the concept that once you become a parent your issues and your problems take a back burner… She could have waited until she got home to drink and smoke weed. No instead she decided to scare 4 children for HOURS and then kill them…. Go FUCK YOURSELF factsVconspiracy!
Sorry FIVE Children not Four….
“blows my mind.” Considering the rest of your post, this isn’t a loss to the rest of us. Fuzzy should be proud he was able to blow up such a tiny target all the way across the internet. If that isn’t a super power, I don’t know what is.
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/taconic-crashes-diane-schuler-super-mom-perfectionist-hbo/story?id=14152213
Just after the film aired Monday night, Schuler’s husband Daniel said he is suing the state and his brother-in-law Warren Hance, whose three daughters were victims.
Daniel Schuler claims the highway was badly designed and inadequately sign-posted, which enabled Diane Schuler to drive the wrong way into traffic, according to the New York Post. He also claims that the Chevy Trailblazer the family had borrowed from Hance, was faulty.
I guess the van was faulty somehow? Maybe the cup holder was not big enough for a 1.75 liter bottle of vodka. And roads should be made safer so drunk stoned people can better navigate them?
It bothers me that so many people call Diane’s refusal to reconcile with her mother “selfish” and a sign of self-centeredness. Her mother left her at age 9, which for many people would/should be an unforgivable act. Faults aside, I don’t think Diane should be classified as horrible simply because of this lack of interest in creating a relationship with the woman who abandoned her. (She should be classified as horrible for other reasons.)
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with not wanting any contact with toxic or harmful people, that much is true.
Wow, what a disgusting article. For you to infer this was a murder/suicide is the height of idiocy. The last thing any of these families need is some amateur slueth coming to a conclusion such as you have. Yes, there was alcohol & THC in her blood, but this alone does not equal murder. And if she was trying to control pain, or had some other reason to drink and smoke pot, the combination of the two can really mess a person up very quickly, and you’d simply have no control. Regardless, there is no evidence that this woman meant to kill herself and the children. There are many unanswered questions in this, a lot of never knowing for those left behind, a lot of pain…so why don’t you leave it alone already and leave these people alone? I cannot imagine how it would feel to go through something as tragic as this and then have people like you offering up judgements and incredibly stupid theories. I don’t believe in hell but if it existed I’m sure there’d be a nice warm spot waiting for you.
BTW, I know a severely alcohol addicted man, and vodka happens to be his poison of choice..that’s further evidence of how completely ignorant you are with your judgements.
Yes, there was alcohol & THC in her blood, but this alone does not equal murder.
Actually, had Diane lived, her inebriation and the deaths would have been classified as either Aggravated Vehicular Manslaughter or Second Degree murder under the law. You see to be new here, so let’s discuss the salient points here. Diane did wrong. The purpose of this site tends to be 1st to give the victims a place to vent and second to allow people to speak their mind instead of lighting torches in reality and moving forward, toward a lynch mob. Imagine a pressure cooker of outrage where instead people discuss the stories and burn them in effigy, as they have done by firesides for thousands of years. This is merely a logical progression.
drinking+driving=murder
If those poor children had the presence of mind to call people and say there’s something wrong and they’re scared, they probably had the presence of mind to beg Aunt Diane/Mommy to please stop before they crash. I can’t imagine the crying and pleading that went on for those 1.7 miles, or the screams of complete terror. But Diane chose to ignore any pleas/crying/screams and keep driving the wrong way. I don’t consider ignoring 5 crying children murder, but I do believe that anyone who ignores all that and the fact that cars are coming at them full-speed, honking, flashing lights, and swerving out of the way is committing murder. The fact that she was drinking, smoking pot, and attempting to use over-the-counter pain killers makes me think she didn’t give a damn about her own survival, either. Perhaps she was hoping she could just drift away or something.
If she didn’t intend to murder them/kill herself, why did she dump her phone? That’s the part that really sticks out to me.
I just don’t understand her mindset that day! Maybe she was in pain, (I really don’t know.) But if she was in that much agony, WHY wouldn’t she have stopped the van and waited for someone to come and get her and the kids. What type of idiot decides to drive around for over 3 hrs in pain with 5 children in the car. And then decide to drink and smoke pot to eleveate the pain. The poor children called for help because they were scared. And then she decides to leave the phone at a guard rail so her family wouldn’t be able to find her. I think she wanted to end it all but she didn’t need to take 7 innocent lives with her. My heart aches for those poor precious children. They had to witness the horror but were unable to stop it. Was she so out of it that she forgot that they were in the car? I doubt it because children can be quite noisy especially when they are scared. And for the 3 passangers in the other car, what an tragic accident to happen. Why did she have to drive that day???
I watched the documentary last night. I hadn’t really followed this case and vaguely remembered it so I really had no preconceived ideas. After watching the HBO documentay I came Away truly horrified. I wasn’t watching a very sad drunk driving story, I was watching a documentary on a murder case. I couldn’t shake the horrible image of the dead body and thinking of the kids last several hours of their lives and had a very hard time falling asleep.
I completely agree with the author of this article. It was very obvious it was a murder/suicide. And really if u think about not that uncommon and unimaginable.
The filmmakers knew exactly what they were doing and couldn’t have painted a more unflattering picture of Dianes husband and Jay.
And on a side note catching Jay on camera saying her family doesn’t know she smokes was priceless. The dolt is a middle-aged women that probably reeks of cigarettes and totally contradicts her saying she would know if Diane had a substance abuse problem.
Bravo to HBO and the author of this article (first time on this site).
OK, to all you people out there who are trolling here now, there would not be one word printed on this page if on July 26th 2009 Danny Schuler said “I am sorry for the actions of my wife and that innocent people died because of her demons’. Not one word, this page would not exisit. He showed no one compassion and all he had to say was all i have left is my son. Nothing about his nieces or his daugher even, not even acknowledging any of the innocent victims. Do you all not see that this vile story was dredged out of the depths of the ID by Danny himself. You can criticize my spelling or my leaps of stupidity all you want, but its like the sea monster rising fromt he depths, conjured by the denial and insensitivity. The people who troll here who do not get this are in denial themselves.
I was really struck by the comment Jay made that Danny said he never wanted kids. Also, Danny only seemed to relate to Diane on a level of day-to-day tasks.
When asked what was the hardest part of not having Diane anymore, he said something to the effect of, “Doing laundry, spending time with my son, taking care of the house, never having a moment to myself.”
My guess is that most fathers would worry more about the following things:
- Having to explain why he doesn’t have a sister anymore
- Worrying that the physical and emotional trauma of this accident will affect Bryan’s entire life
- Not being able to make life as fun as it should be for a child
I thought his preoccupation with day-to-day TASKS of living seemed extremely unusual, either because he’s a box of rocks or had an hands-off arrangement with Diane. (We know from testimony of her childhood friends that Danny was Diane’s “first love” and they believed “she knew he would be her only love,” which sounds kind of sad, right? Maybe she was desperate.) In addition, it seems really weird to me that a family vacation begins and ends with Dad traveling by himself, not even joining the family at McDonald’s for breakfast… not very family.
If Danny truly didn’t want children, maybe there was an agreement early in their marriage in which DIane promised to do everything child-related. I have known families where such concessions are made when one parent doesn’t really want kids but the other does.
Anyway, if that were the case, it is easy to imagine a woman convincing herself that eventually he would change his mind and grow to love the kids and become an ideal husband/father. If that didn’t happen, and especially if there was infidelity or other issues between them, it’s not a huge leap to imagine a woman of frail mental health (and possibly postpartum depression) developing rage, desperation, closeted drinking, and ultimately, murder-suicide fantasies…
Fuzzy, Debra, and Jukie said everything I meant to type. This story is just disgusting. The father I recently read today is suing the State of NY and his brother in law. The Hances never received that apology from the Schulers with that said Hances it is now to take their in denial behinds to court.
This “story” is even more ridiculous than the actual facts of what happen. (She had a death wish and “oh by the way” she also wanted to kill all her nieces and her own two children as well as some unknown drivers on the highway?!) Ya that story makes a lot of sense. Why is it so hard to believe the truth as indicated by the evidence. This women was out of her mind with tooth pain that began to get much worse than she had ever experienced on that day. She was a control freak that would not go back to the Dentist to have it fixed, but she was not the type to do nothing. So she drinks the vodka in a very short period of time in an ill-fated attempt to deal with the pain. Combine the vodka, the pot, and the intense pain and it is easy to see how she could have not been in her right mind and that she had no idea what she was actually doing. Many witnesses have said they observed her to be in almost a trance-like state when she was going the wrong way on the Taconic. She never even moved her eyes as one witness narrowly avoided a head-on crash with her. The phone calls from her and her niece portray a women having some kind of physical crisis. This is a well documented tragedy, there is no mystery about what happened. The only unanswered questions is why would she endanger these innocent people. The answer seems to be she was out of her mind with pain, and that lead her to drink and smoke, and that caused her to drive in a manner that killed all involved.
Out of her mind with pain, so she decides to drink and smoke pot while driving? Doubtful. If any of us were driving and had a horrible migraine or toothache, we likely would do one or more of the following:
- Stop at another shop (gas station, pharmacy) for pain reliever… they weren’t in the middle of nowhere
- Call the husband to come help
- Stop somewhere for a rest
Who of us has been so out of our mind with pain that we decide the solution is to keep driving despite delusion and intoxicate ourselves? It’s just too hard to believe–especially if she is such a control freak! We’re supposed to think the woman who always had to control would deliberately put herself in an out-of-control state (drunkenness/high) just to relieve pain while driving? Does not compute.
Oh give me a break, you take us all for idiots. How freaking stupid do you have to be to think you should guzzle booze and smoke pot for a toothache? Out of her mind with pain… she was out of her mind alright, but where is your evidence of a toothatch? Complete garbage. There is no proof she even had a toothache. Ill-fated.. I’ll say. You are drinking the vodka kool aid dude.
YES Fuzzy you are clearly an idiot. Did you actually write that she argued with the McD employee’s to get lunch food at breakfast time so she could provide her children and nieces with a last meal before she killed them? Do you see how insane that premise is? I cannot believe I am trying to reason with a dimwit that would even write this BS.
Now you’re flailing, a sure sign of someone who has run out of lies. If Fuzzy is a dimwit, why are you so terrified of this article?
Terrified? More like astonished anyone could be so dumb. @vcbecky, ignorance, in all its forms, is motivation enough to call a spade a spade. This story Fuzzy is trying to sell is just not plausible, at all. Again, I cannot believe I am taking the time today to respond to silly people.
You are taking the time in spite of your silly, illogical words, Mr. Duh. Which means that this article actually matters to you. You don’t want it here, just like the Schulers don’t want it here. If it’s incorrect, why should you care? If you’re not worried that others will read this and think to themselves, “I was right all along, she’s a murderess and her husband is an accessory after the fact.” then why do you continue to bother? Do our silly opinions really matter to you? You obviously have the whole thing figured out, so why would you care what others think?
A person who is being honest rarely has to worry about what others think, because they have the truth on their side and the truth always wins by itself, without assistance. You’re shoring up a sand castle that’s built on a bed of lies and selfishness. Arguing that she ‘had a tooth ache, used alcohol and pot to kill the pain while she was driving a carload of kids, and she just MADE A MISTAKE.” is silly at best, and a deliberate, transparent, feeble misdirection at worst.
Your team has a whole false documentary on their side. It’s more of a black comedy, actually, and won’t go far to convince anyone who cares, that Diane Schuler simply made ‘a mistake’. There’s too much evidence to the contrary. You really should find a better angle, or you’ll be the laughing-stock of more than just PYSIH.
As I’ve already said, a person with an ulterior motive isn’t someone to be trusted to tell the truth. Obviously, you have an ulterior motive.
Pain doesn’t render someone insane. Diane would have to have been insane to use alcohol and pot to kill her pain WHILE driving those kids around. What kind of mother drinks and smokes pot in front of her kids, in pain or not? Wouldn’t there be at least a tiny concern of a contact high for those kids if she cared about them at that point at all? She didn’t give a damn about them, any more than she cared about anyone else on that road, no matter the direction she was driving. She gave less of a damn for those kids than her husband gives to the truth, and that’s saying quite a lot.
These are facts, Mr. Duh. No amount of arm flailing is going to change anything. We sure are having fun wasting your valuable time, however!
I had a friend who managed to drive herself 20 miles to a hospital while in labor with contractions 3-5 minutes apart. And obey all speed limits, traffic signs and signals on the way there. She made it to the ER with enough time to say ‘I’m in labor’, get on a gurney, and pop out the baby. Her husband was working nights, and she thought she’d have enough time to wait til the end of his shift and get a ride.
I’m saying this because a lot of people have driven while in extreme pain. Not a lot of them have self-medicated to the point where they take a 1.7 mile wrong way drive.
And the fact that she was stone-faced makes me more convinced that she was dead-set on what she was doing. She wasn’t drooping or swerving or anything, just going down the road until she found someone who couldn’t get out of the way in time.
After watching the documentary, I couldn’t help but think that Danny and Jay were having an affair and maybe that’s what drove the events. Jay looks like she leads Danny around (wasn’t that Diane’s job?) and why is Jay so focused on trying to clear Diane’s name? If the two of them were having an affair and Diane finding out about that resulted in this tragedy, wouldn’t that explain a lot? Hmmmm. Makes more sense to me than what they are trying to pass off as the truth.
She was drunk and high. Two tests proved that. This is typical conspiracy thinking in this “article”.
She was drunk and high. Two tests proved it, yes. She was drunk and high, and driving a car load of children, not all of hers. She drove that carload of terrified, helpless children into oncoming traffic and pulverized them at the same time she shattered the lives of other innocent victims and their families. Diane Schuler is a mass murderess.
Read the rest of the back story before you throw the article off as a fiction. It was presented as a ‘theory’ in the first place, fool. Or are you the type to believe every ‘documentary’ that you see on T.V., even if it’s obviously biased and lacking in logic?
Duh? That DS was drunk and high has been clearly established by the twice verified toxicology report. The question is why did she put herself in such a mental state while driving five kids home from a week end camping trip? If she was an addict such that DWI was par for the course, maybe this would explain why she would choose to get intoxicate at THAT time. However, all evidence says she was not a regular drinker. So why would the ‘party’ start AFTER the weekend was almost over on the way home from a camping trip? Murder-Suicide? Then why stop and ask to by pain meds? Why does the Hance girl report something wrong with “Aunt Diane’s” vision in her call to Dad? Clearly, she made the ill-fated decision to self medicate her infected tooth and the combination of the booze, the pot and the pain put her into a delirium where she did not know what she was doing.
Your comprehension skills are obviously lacking, Mr. Duh. My response was posted to the person I responded to, hence the statement about drugs and alcohol. Obvious to all but you, apparently.
Your lack of comprehension, coupled with your lack of logic and the obvious ease with which the Schulers have duped you with that ridiculous ‘Dental Pain’ theory, as well as your inability to convincingly communicate your ‘story’ leads me to label you as a toady. That makes you a waste of time. You have an agenda, Mr. Duh, and someone with an agenda is never trustworty.
P.S. Mr. Schuler doth protest too much, methinks… I mean that in the true Shakesperian sense, not the common misinterpretation.
While I agree that Diane Schuler was on a suicide mission, somehow triggered by her husband, I disagree with the assessment of the level of what she planned and scoped out and did on purpose. Having poisoned myself with alcohol 30+ years ago, I can relate to phases of what she probably physically experienced towards the end, and I believe it was more of who gives a shit as opposed to, okay, there’s a good spot to die. I also don’t believe the brother knew about her having a problem with booze. I don’t care how much you love your sister, there is no way he or his wife would have put his kids in her sole care if they believed she had a problem. Danny is a complete waste of life, I can’t even comprehend where he gets the audacity to sue for this. After seeing the special, you can see that finally, a little bit of reality is beginning to creep into the head of the sister in law. For the family of this murderer, it has to be very hard to come to grips with the fact that someone they loved and cared about did such a horrific thing. But practically everything they said about her supported the theory that she was overwhelmed with responsibility and was unable to deal with life’s problems in a mentally healthy way. Danny Schuler knows what triggered this, and if there were and bit of humanity in him, he would come forward and let people know, so Diane’s victims can move on and her supporters can finally face reality.
DDB, I’m with you on the point that I don’t think she planned it ahead of time. I think the opportunity presented itself, and she wanted to hurt more people than just herself. She would have killed herself anyway, but this way she could leave a mark at the end of her otherwise unremarkable life.
It wasn’t pre-meditated like the Oklahoma Bombings, but suicide and revenge was something that must have been in the back of her mind, at least in the subconscious. I think she hated her husband, because she felt trapped by her ‘perfect life’. I think he was cheating on her, which is what he’s trying to cover up. I think she was desperate for a way out, and desperate to hurt her her husband. These things combined with alcohol and pot while driving = murder. She had enough time to rethink. So it was pre-meditated, but not by more than an hour or so at my best guess.
If Daniel Schuler had even a shred of decency, he’d leave the other families to mourn their innocent dead and he’d allow his guilty dead wife to fade away into obscurity. The last thing he should be concerned about is saving face in his insulated community. He’s disgusting.
Apparently Fuzzy et all are to stupid to realize I am not saying the dental issue is a justification for what she did. It only explains WHY she began to drink and smoke at such a bad time. People high on drugs and alcohol do deadly things on the road; there is no mystery here. But instead you want to convince everyone this was a elaborate plot hatched by DS to kill all the kids and herself, and complete strangers via intentional head-on collision?! Only complete idiots would believe this.
How many frazzled mothers have killed their children? Here are some women who have committed infanticide, just to remind us all that it happens… do a little digging, and I’m sure you’ll find many examples that include driving.
Debra Jean Milke was 25 when she killed her 4-year-old son in Arizona in 1989.
Dora Luz Durenrostro killed her two daughters, age 4 and 9, and her son, age 8, when she was 34 years old in San Jacinto, California in 1994.
Caro Socorro was 42 years old when she killed her three sons, ages 5, 8 and 11, in Santa Rosa Valley, California in 1999.
Susan Eubanks murdered her four sons, ages 4, 6, 7 and 14, in San Marcos, California, in 1996 when she was 33.
Caroline Young was 49 in Haywood, California when she killed her 4-year-old granddaughter and 6-year-old grandson.
Robin Lee Row was 35 years old when she killed her husband, her 10-year-old son and her 8-year-old daughter in Boise, Idaho in 1992.
Michelle Sue Tharp was 29 years old in Burgettstown, Pennsylvania when she killed her 7-year-old daughter.
Frances Elaine Newton was 21 when she murdered her husband, 7-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter in Houston, Texas. Update: Frances Elaine Newton was executed on September 14, 2005.
Darlie Lynn Routier was 26 in Rowlett, Texas when she was convicted of killing her 5-year-old son.
Teresa Michelle Lewis killer her 51-year-old husband and 26-year-old step son in Keeling, Virgina when she was 33 years old.
Dear Mr. Hartford. Yes, it is my position that she intended to kill at least herself and her kids. My theory came about in the month following this accident and everything that has come forward since then has only reinforced it. I read every thing pertaining to this case, including reports that were subsequently redacted or dissapeared altogether. In the first few weeks there was much more information, eye witness accounts, phone records, phone calls with names, phone numbers etc.,… that have since been redacted. In fact, my theory is only confirmed further by the HBO show where Jay Schuler states Danny never wanted children and that Diane did everything. WHatever issue between them caused this, and no way was it a physical pain in her tooth. The autopsy ruled out absess as well as other gross dental problems along with the other possible medical causes. So he didn’t want the kids, they probably all got in his way of having fun that weekend, why do you think he peeled out with the dog and didn’t even follow her, he wanted no part of those kids. Of course if she was crazy and suicidal she would take them with her, she knew he didnt want them. No one would think to start drinking to make a toothache go away with a car full of kids unless you had bad intent. No one, and don’t try to rationalize that as why she started because that is a fabrication and denial. You take the fact that the husband retroactively remembered ‘oh yeah, she rubbed her face’ as evidence? You are beyond vodka Kool Aid and into electric kool aid.
And of course I am an idiot, why else would i be wasting my time along with you here.
Self medicating to deal with pain from an infected tooth (check the dental records before you deny it again) is easier to believe than a murder-suicide plot or even that she decided out of the blue to have a highway party with five kids in the car while driving home from a camping trip just for ‘fun’. Was it a rational decision to self-medicate while on the highway? No way. But she was not acting rationally, again from the intense pain. Do people who just want to party or who are hell-bent on murder-suicide stop and ask for pain meds at a gas station? Also, many family, friends and co-workers testified under oath in depositions that DS appeared to have some pain in her jaw. I am not surprised that you cherry pick facts you think advance your theory and deny the facts that counter it. I think Fuzzy is suffering from ‘Daniel Schuler disease’. DENIAL.
Jimmy, those records were anywhere from 1 to 4 years old (according to Jay – they could have been older). Check your facts before you rely of worthless evidence.
and let me tell you something about intense pain. I’ve had three heart attacks. Now that’s intense pain. During the first one, I didn’t know what was going on and drove myself to the hospital. At no time do I drive my car head-on into another vehicle, no did I ever had the desire to.
Your pain theory in complete horseshit, and even you know it. Turn off your lawyer button for a second and try to be human again.
Max, those heart attacks must have cut off the flow of blood to your brain: I never said she caused a head-on collision because she was in pain, she did that because she was out of her mind drunk, high and in pain. The pain explains why a non-addict would be DWI on a Sunday morning drive home from a weekend camping trip. The fact she was DWI explains the reckless driving and vehicular manslaughter, but not why she was in that state in the first place. Maybe you should try some vitamin B12 my friend….
Jesus Jimmy, I know that – I must have said it a hundred times that self-medicating due to pain is a bullshit theory. I was fucking with you here, because I don’t respect you. There’s absolutely no proof that Diane was even suffering from any pain on the day of the accident, except for some very old dental records.
If the ‘self medicating because she was in pain’ theory held any water the roadways would be littered with drunk and high drivers. How many millions of people in the United States alone have horrible, excruciating pain every day? How many of those decide to drink or smoke pot to allieviate some of that pain? How many of THOSE decide to drive? How many of THOSE would drive knowing they have five innocent lives in their car, including their own two children?
Diane must have been one in a billion. I’m not so ignorant to think that no one has driven under the influence with their kids in the car. But I’ve never seen anyone say ‘It’s because I had this damn toothache, I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t have this pain’.
Most people with such bad pain they feel the need to medicate, knowing they’ve got a drive in front of them, would either live with the pain or consult a medical professional. And call someone to help them deal with the children, possibly drive them home because the pain is too much for them to deal with. Diane must have been the most oblivious, selfish woman in the world to think ‘It’s okay for me to down a bit of this vodka and drive with the kids in the car, because the alcohol will take care of this toothache with no consequences whatsoever’.
I watched the documentary last night and I mentioned to my wife that based on the way she was driving, it did seem like this was the action of someone intent on suicide and not just driving in a stupor. I think Fuzzy has captured it as close as is possible. If intentional it was an intentional murder/suicide not simply a suicide with unintentional collateral damage, i.e. the children. So if she intended to take everyone in the van with her, as this theory would suggest, it is reasonable to suggest that she wanted to get back at her husband and brother-in-law for some reason. That Danny appears to have always been a dirt bag–
[ ...never wanted children and if they had them Diane had to assume 100% responsibility for them....jeez ... I hope they keep poor Bryan in therapy... as soon as he reads his Dad never wanted him, he'll sure need it ]
–seems as good a reason as any for wanting to run a van into something. Just a shame it couldn’t have been a bridge abutment and an single-passenger van. And its a shame the single passenger wasn’t Danny.
I started reading the replies but there are so many here, so forgive me if someone else has already made this point, but the author (Fuzzy?) is incorrect in his assumptions about drinking and driving. Someone can be in a complete alcholic blackout and functioning “fine” for a while…opening car doors, putting key in the ingnition, and maybe even making it home. Pretty scary stuff. I’m not taking anyone’s side in this, and not even arguing against your suicide theory, but if she drank all that vodka, it’s truly possible that she could have been somewhere far away in her own head and managing to stay on the road and avoid cars — until, of course, she made that fateful wrong-way turn.
James, there is nothing you can possibly say to make me believe that a previously “model mother” would think it was a acceptable idea to swig vodka from the bottle whilst puffing on a joint with five children in the car because her tooth hurts or she is in pain.
If you can give me one good reason why she would not have called her husband from the restaurant to say the others need to meet her there and help drive her and the kids home, I might consider your theory.
Diane had choices, she had lots of them and there were so many opportunities along that drive to call for help and she deliberately chose not to make them and put herself and the children in danger.
Right know I am in shock that there are still people out there who continue to defend her actions.
@ Cape Town Girl, I think that was the point of the documentary, she did not have the kind of personality that would ask for help. She was a control freak and had issues like that since the childhood. These issues caused her to: walk out of a Dental Office mid-procedure and decide to treat her own dental pain; caused her to control every detail of her life and those around her; caused her to take it upon herself to deal with the pain, herself; caused her to self-medicate instead of seeking professional help. People here discount the dental pain as a causal factor in her state; I disagree. Ask any dentist what it would be like to deal with an untreated tooth abscess for six-months; it is no small matter. You combine the pain, the booze and the pot and you have all the information you need to know what happened and why.
She was such a control freak she need to “own” her abscess and not let a dentist treat it?
I suppose I am struggling to reconcile what appeared to be a successful professional woman and good mother with so many of her decisions and because I cant, I still feel her actions were deliberate.
Jesus Chris, James. Do you really believe the shit you are spouting? There isn’t even any proof that Diane had a fucking toothache besides the Schuler family saying so. Oh, and of course Diane was rubbing her face in the days prior to the accident. Yup that solves it then, she must have smoked and drank herself into oblivion because her tooth hurt.
God, you are stupid.
No Maribeth, he doesn’t believe it. I suspect he’s a mouthpiece for the Schulers, meant to deal with website such as PYSIH. He’ll mission is to spread misinformation – did you notice how much his theory apes Danny’s and Jay’s?
No Max, just a poster with actual common sense. If I am on a mission it is to call out absurd nonsense when I see it. Murder-suicide and/or “intoxication for fun” are explanations that are absurd and nonsensical in this case. For you and others to advance these theories just shows you want to hate DS for what she did (understandable), not really work out the truth of what occurred.
Is that so Jimmy? Well I’m on a mission too. It’s to do my god damnedest to make sure the victims of any crime we write about get their due. That means NO EXCUSES for the perps.
You’re a fucking blowhard. No one, including Fuzzy himself, believes he figured out what happened that day. No one, with the possible exception of Diane’s family, knows what happened. We’re left to judge what make sense.
Answer this question, big mouth. If Diane had this horrible, painful dental problem, why didn’t it show up in her autopsy? Because it didn’t exist, that’s why.
We know Danny never wanted kids. We know Diane had to do all the child rearing/plus work a high profile, high pressure job. Maybe Diane was pissed off about having the five kids dumped on her while Danny drove the dog home and decided to have a drink to relax. Then she smoked a joint, and started feeling really good, so she had another drink. And another. And another…
Somewhere along the line, alcoholic delirium set in (Anyone who’s suffered a blackout can tell you, there’s no warning that you’re going out), and the wheels of fate were set in motion.
Pompous, over-educated, pseudo-intellectual bullshit artist – that’s all you are. Like your theory, it sounds impressive, but also like your theory it says you’re full of shit. Don’t make yourself out to be anything more.
Good point, Max. The Schuler’s have made clear that they will do and say anything to excuse Diane’s actions.
I guess James doesn’t realize that every comment he makes pushes PYSIH to the top of the list when Diane’s name is searched. You’d think they would want us to just fade away instead. But then that would be crediting them with common sense, and neither James or Danny have any.
Max the Cat makes an excellent point: The autopsy report as very detailed, even describing the condition of internal and external reproductive organs. If there had been an abscess, the medical examiner undoubtedly would have included it in his report. It read as if there were missing teeth found within the mouth, but even a minor abscess would not have been obscured. (Check out Google images of abscesses for an idea of what they look like…)
@ James Hartford, what makes you think she was drinking and smoking pot because she was in pain? NO ONE knows what was going on in her mind or why she did what she did. There was no scientific proof she was in any pain from a toothache or anything else. Why are you so convinced that she was self medicating pain rather than intentionally getting drunk and stoned? Unless you are part of the disgusting Schuler camp trying to further the cover up w/ ridiculous assumptions?
‘Perfect mommies’ put their children before themselves. Perfect mommies realize when they’re in over their heads and, for the sake of their children, call for help. Perfect mommies, even those who have to be in control the rest of the time, know that the most important thing in their life is their offspring, not their children.
Diane was no perfect mommy. Control issues do not forgive drinking, smoking pot, attempting to take pills, and driving.
What you wrote is interesting. I just wanted to mention one thing that struck me as odd in the documentary: in one of the tapes of the phone calls to 911 or the police, the brother is trying to determine what name the cell phone is in and he is heard asking Danny, but not getting an answer. Then he says something like “Danny, are you with me?”
The reason this struck me as weird is that it indicates (to me) that Danny wasn’t focusing on what the brother was saying, which I believe to be because he was so distraught and distracted. But if she was just sick, why the panic? Why was everyone freaking out THAT much? I mean, yes – you’d be concerned, but I got the feeling they all knew it was more than her just acting strange or being sick. They knew it was super urgent. Did she make a death threat, or did they realize she was drunk? It just seems to me that they all, at that point, were exceptionally panicked, and I agree something could have been said in those conversations that indicated that, or at the very least it was obvious she was drunk but no-one wants to admit it (because of liability.)
Then again, you’d think they would tell 911 if they thought she was suicidal. I thought they might have set out to find her themselves first in the hope of not having the police find her driving drunk. But if that was the case, it wouldn’t matter by the time they called the police (since the police would find out) so why at that point wouldn’t they just tell them?
Still, it seems to me that Danny at least knew it was much more serious and urgent than he let on afterwards.
I also found it interesting and ironic when the sister-in-law was smoking and said “nobody knows I smoke!” I thought – You just demonstrated how a person can have and hide a secret addiction. Closet drinkers are experts are hiding it. I used to drink heavily – I wasn’t a closet drinker, but I can tell you that I could be 3 sheets to the wind and people didn’t know, or at least didn’t know how drunk I actually was. I was actually MORE articulate drunk – until I reached that tipping point when I suddenly and immediately became absolutely incoherent! Not that I think she was a closet drinker, but who knows.
One person wrote that functioning alcoholics don’t binge drink. That’s not true. I was a functioning alcoholic, and all I did was binge drink! Binge drinkers, other than young idiots who outgrow it, are by definition alcoholics – you binge because you can’t stop. And “functioning” refers to your actual life e.g. still holding a job, having relationships, etc. ..seemingly still keeping your life together. It doesn’t refer to how you function while you are drinking.
I also found it very interesting and telling that a) the grandparents said Danny was like another child for her (yuck! poor woman!) and b) that he would actually say he had never wanted kids (and that the sister-in-law would divulge that!) Diane may have been controlling and perfectionistic, but that doesn’t mean she couldn’t have used a husband who actually contributed and lended a bit of a hand. I always found it strange and possibly telling that SHE got saddled with chauffeuring all those kids home while he just took off with the dog! I don’t think it’s far-fetched to think something happened that was the straw that broke the camel’s back and made her want to punish him.
In any case, it’s horrible and terribly sad.
I have to also add that I think it’s disgusting that they showed pictures of Diane after the accident. No matter what you think of her, that’s just not right, and I can’t believe they did that or that the family allowed it.
I doubt the Hance’s would have entrusted the lives of their three daughter’s to DS if she had a reputation for drinking, drugging or reckless conduct. I think Jay and Daniel seemed panicked at that point because they know that the oldest Hance girl called her Dad to report something wrong with “Aunt Diane’s “vision. That is all a reasonable person would need to panic a little knowing she was on the road with five kids. The point is, I think their panic was justified and not an indication of prior knowledge on their part of problems with DS.
I am actually perfectly alright with the fact that they showed her body in the documentary. I love it that they put sheets up to cover the others (the INNOCENT ones) and preserve their dignity, but they obviously didn’t do that with Diane. She did not deserve any kind of dignity, not one ounce.
I will say that I missed the first few minutes of the doc, and therefore did not see the little warning about the fact that there would be accident pictures shown. So I was a bit surprised, yes. But the pictures were really not gory at all (she wasn’t totally mangled or anything), they were just her, looking really puffy and staring off into space.
There is no defending or justifying what DS did. She committed crimes: vehicular manslaughter, DWI by her driving and her intoxication. The question is WHY she did it, not how. The tooth infection and the progressive pain that she was experiencing goes a long way to explain why an otherwise good mother would engage in such reckless conduct. She probably decided to drink a little Vodka when she could not find pain meds at the store. Then the effects of the Vodka impaired her judgment as to whether or not she should continue to drink. She did not just decide to have a little highway party on the way home, clearly there was something wrong with her that caused her to drink and smoke that day. Either way, that is not a justification, just an explanation.
Actually, it total, complete bullshit, but since I’m a firm supporter of the First Amendment to our Constitution, I’m forced to allow you to have your say. The upside to that is that everyone gets to see the depths of your denial.
I am so surprised how strongly you cling to the idea of Diane self-medicating an abscess with vodka…
I adamantly avoid the use of any drugs (including aspirin and Tylenol) but have the sense to know that they are occasional medical necessities! I will suffer through a medium-grade headache, cramps, and other pains to avoid the use of pain relievers, but never in a million years would I decide downing a bunch of liquor would solve it — especially while driving! Are we supposed to believe that the pain of an abscess actually removes all common sense? No.
jukie, all your postulations are based on the mistaken assumption that DS (or anyone in that situation) would act rationally in response to their pain. It IS astonishing to think an otherwise reasonable person would choose Vodka and Pot to counter pain from an infected tooth, I hear you; it does not make rational sense. But it is the most plausible explanation for what is undisputed: DS was DWI and she drove the wrong way on the Taconic, causing a fatal head-on collision. Murder-suicide or “girls just want to have fun” do not fit the facts at all.
We’re all making postulations based on assumptions… including the preposterous self-prescribed alcohol hypothesis. We’re probably all wrong. LOL
‘plausability’ is a matter of opinion. I think we can leave it to the lurkers on this website to decide what is plausable and what is not. I’m not worried…
plausibility… oh no… misplaced vowel…
Wait I am wrong, DS did not make the irrational decision to self-medicate her dental pain….yes she must have wanted to kill all the kids and herself and the unknown occupants of VEH.#2 in a twisted Murder-Suicide plot, that make much more sense then simply a women in pain making the ill-fated choice to drink and drive. Murder-Suicide is much more plausible (lol). Or wait, instead of that, maybe a women who was not known to be an addict or alcoholic suddenly decided it would be fun to begin to party on a Sunday drive home from a week end trip (no partying on the weekend trip, just on the drive home). Ya that makes much more sense……Why is it so hard to believe that she began to self-medicate dental pain? That does not mean it was rational, its just a plausible way to interpret the facts we know. People who could believe this is a murder-suicide are just people that want to hate DS for what she did. The simply explanation is usually the truth.
Or maybe Diane was just a self-centered bitch w/ a lot of personal demons and emotional pain that simply didn’t give a damn about anyone else … only ending her own pain in a permanent manner.
Or maybe Diane was just a self-centered bitch w/ a lot of personal demons and emotional pain that simply didn’t give a damn about anyone else … only ending her own pain in a permanent manner. To hell w/ anyone and everyone that became a casualty in the process … including her own 2 children and 3 nieces that adored her.
Fuzzy wants us all to believe that the reason DS argued with the McD’s employee’s to serve them chicken nuggets during the breakfast period was because she knew she was going to kill them all and she wanted them to have a favorite food as a last meal. That passage alone should tell you just how ‘fuzzy’ Fuzzy’s brain is.
We are agreed here… I don’t buy that she wanted to get their favorite food as a last meal.
That Chicken Selects thing could’ve simply been kids wanting what they want — asking for chicken nuggets/strips instead of McDonald’s breakfast stuff sounds like normal kid stuff; it doesn’t need to be a conspiracy!
I was wondering if any of the (several) recovered alcoholics who have previously contributed to this discussion can add any insight about numbing (physical) pain v. considering the well-being of kids they were caring for?
well, i’m not recovered (i’m drinking right now), but i am an alcoholic. and my opinion is that anyone who claims to be drinking to relieve physical pain is rationalizing. it’s what we do; we’re dedicated to convincing ourselves and others that there’s a valid reason for drinking, when really we just fucking want a drink.
i have no idea whether this was a murder-suicide, but i do know that there comes a point in heavy drinking where you really don’t care about anything anymore. nothing seems to have consequences, as long as you can stay drunk.
however, there are things you can do to make sure you don’t kill people. for instance, i don’t drive. ever. at all. because i don’t trust myself to make correct decisions while wasted. i wish she’d had a similar policy.
Mels – Thank you for your candor and helping me to understand more. I applaud you for acknowledging your issue — and taking steps to protect others!
“Why is it so hard to believe that she began to self-medicate dental pain? ”
Because, Jimbo, hardly anyone does that, except in the movies maybe. Don’t you get it? I don’t know anyone who’s ever gotten drunk to ease pain.
Max, your kidding right? Alcohol has been used as a pain killer since it was invented. Before opiates and pain pills existed alcohol was THE pain medication.
Marijuana is an inflammatory, making it effective only for certain types of pain. Toothache isn’t one of them. In fact, due to its inflammatory properties, marijuana is likely to make dental pain even worse.
As to alcohol – are you saying that this woman, diagnosed with ‘dental pain’ doesn’t have access to prescribed pain killers, so she had to resort to something as ghetto as alcohol? Alcohol hasn’t been a prescribed pain medication since the days of the Old West.
You’re really terrible at this. Surely the Schulers have a smarter mouth to throw at us?
Yeah, the oft-described “control freak” decides, “You know what would really solve this tooth pain? 10 shots of vodka!” Doesn’t sound like someone who is credited with being a conscientious, perfectionistic mother and aunt.
So, murder-suicide or drinking for fun with a car full of kids is consistent with a mother so credited?
Mr. Duh could try to argue that pain killers, usually Vicodin and ibuprofen for pain and anti-inflam, are prescribed for tooth ache. Vicodin in particular, because some doctors get paid more to prescribe certain meds over others. It’s a very effective pain killer, but you’re not supposed to drive while taking it.
If she didn’t take her pain killer because it would impede her driving, what kind of moron was she to think that alcohol and pot would be better? WHILE driving? She didn’t even pull over to get high and soused, she did it all in the car, in front of children!
If she didn’t have her pain killer to take, any mother would take the pain (out of her mind with pain? or out of her mind with worry about protecting her children no matter what? Mom, you say?) and make sure the kids were safe before she attended to herself at their expense. That’s just what a mother does, especially if she loves her kids. THEY come first. THEIR SAFETY comes before the comfort of their parents. Pain wouldn’t drive anyone so out of their mind that they can remain conscious, and any pain above that doesn’t completely erase your ability to think rationally. Especially if you’re a mother in charge of children.
If she didn’t go to a doctor for her dental pain, she didn’t have any.
Your angle is illogical and flimsy, much like your credibility.
No, it’s not. Good point.
Her medical records showed she was prescribed codene by her dentist in the past. Obviously she did not have any pills with her or why stop at the gas station and ask to be over the counter meds. Just because you want to Hate DS for what she did does not mean you should shut off your brain. We know she was DWI and that caused the collision in the end. WHY? Murder-suicide?! Come on, get real!
I don’t hate DS at all… I am just fascinated by an unsolved mystery. Keep YOUR brain on for a sec (I am genuinely asking for your opinion on these questions below):
- Why wouldn’t she stop at another place if she needed over-the-counter meds?
- Would she have thought Sunoco was the only place in the area or along the highway that would have carried OTC meds?
- If alcohol was her preferred pain med of choice, why did she stop at all for OTC meds?
Repost, since it seems you need it:
Mr. Duh could try to argue that pain killers, usually Vicodin and ibuprofen for pain and anti-inflam, are prescribed for tooth ache. Vicodin in particular, because some doctors get paid more to prescribe certain meds over others. It’s a very effective pain killer, but you’re not supposed to drive while taking it.
If she didn’t take her pain killer because it would impede her driving, what kind of moron was she to think that alcohol and pot would be better? WHILE driving? She didn’t even pull over to get high and soused, she did it all in the car, in front of children!
If she didn’t have her pain killer to take, any mother would take the pain (out of her mind with pain? or out of her mind with worry about protecting her children no matter what? Mom, you say?) and make sure the kids were safe before she attended to herself at their expense. That’s just what a mother does, especially if she loves her kids. THEY come first. THEIR SAFETY comes before the comfort of their parents. Pain wouldn’t drive anyone so out of their mind that they can remain conscious, and any pain above that doesn’t completely erase your ability to think rationally. Especially if you’re a mother in charge of children.
If she didn’t go to a doctor for her dental pain, she didn’t have any.
Your angle is illogical and flimsy, much like your credibility.
Jukie, we don’t know for sure if she did or did not try to by pain meds from another store along her route. It seems likely any store clerk who had encountered her that day would come forward after the news of what occurred came out. She gassed up at the Sonoco also, so it may have just been convenient for her. I doubt drugs and alcohol were her preferred method of pain killing, just what was available when you refuse to let the Dentist take care of you. If she was known to be a regular drinker or a ‘pothead’ do you think the Hance’s would have entrusted their kids to her? Papa Hance was her blood brother remember; think he would know if she was a drunk? I do. So I conclude a DWI was not normal conduct for DS. So why did she ingest these substances at THAT time? Pain. If she is hell bent on murder suicide she would not need the drugs or alcohol; if she was just being irresponsible by choosing to party for fun while driving then why stop for over-the-counter- pains meds, why does the Hance girl say something is wrong with her vision? Pain.
What pain? Answer my question about her autopsy Jimbo – why didn’t it show any signs of an abscess, or any other dental problems?
All you have are a bunch of friends/family member telling us how she held the side of her face at times – hardly a smoking gun. You talked about depositions in another post. Well I haven’t seen any of them, so I’m betting you haven’t either. Very few people know this case as well as I do, and I haven’t seen one word from a Dentist concerning Diane’s problems. Are you relying on those old dental records? They were a minimum of a year old, and the only mention of an abscess that I heard was 4 years old.
Comon now Jimbo, you must have realized I was talking about the present day. Do I have to spell everything out for you?
P.S. Murder of one’s children is not a new phenomenon. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filicide
I drive the Taconic all the time and get on and off for convenience stores, gas, my kids day camp, etc. and I know from experience that the entrances and exits are confusing and minimally marked. I can see a drunk/high person getting off, turning around somewhere, then coming back and being faced with two ramps opposite each other, with a small ‘north’ on the right hand one. A drunk driver might easily think that the left-hand one, actually the off ramp for traffic heading north, is Taconic ‘south’ lanes where she wanted to go. She’s angry, rushed, sick, very drunk so she turns left (south in her mind) and floors it. I really do believe she thought … if she could even think … she was going south. Otherwise, it’s a very insightful investigative piece.
Good Point CarolB, but that only explains how she may have gotten on the Taconic going the wrong way. It does not speak to the fact that she continued on past oncoming traffic for almost two miles. Also, if she wanted to kill herself and her passengers liking other posters’ absurdly claim here (?) why not steer into oncoming traffic instead of proceeding as if nothing is wrong for 1.7 miles?
Mr. Duh, have you ever bungee-jumped, jumped out of a car or done anything else like that? I have.
When I first bungee-jumped (never again – terrifying!) I stood on the edge of the platform for a full 3 minutes, breathing and building up my nerve before I was able to jump. It’s easy to imagine that Diane had to work up the nerve for her final act, once she was in place. If you say it’s not possible, that’s only because you’ve never been in the position to know otherwise.
So she needed the pain meds she was trying to buy at the Sunoco for what? So she could intentionally kill herself and her passengers pain free? I can sort of understand when a mother’s insanity drive her to kill her own kids which she is responsible for (or perhaps burdened by) but to intentionally kill other children and unknown occupants of VEH#2 when you are not a psychopath? Sorry, your version does not pass the smell test. You and the other hear want to believe the most heinous version of events because you hate DS fro what she did and it is clouding your though process (if you have one). She killed seven people while she was DWI, isn’t that bad enough for you? Why does it have to be murder-suicide? Why? Because you want to make her the Devil so you can somehow make sense out of the nonsensical.
I would like to point out, if you’re going to have a hissy fit about the thought processes of the other posters, you’d be better served not to make constant errors in spelling and syntax.
It makes you look like you’re posting drunk. I hope you’re staying in this evening.
You just don’t get it Jimmy, do you? It doesn’t matter if she intended to kill anyone. It doesn’t matter why she began drinking. It doesn’t matter if she was a saint right up until the day she killed those children and those three innocent men.The moment she made the decision to drink and drive, all bets were off. The crash was the consequence of Diane’s actions and no one else’s, and because she was drunk and high, it was murder. That’s why we’re angry with Diane, and that’s why no one here is going to let you get away with minimizing her responsibility.
BTW, how do you explain Daniel Schuler suing Warren Hance for his portion of responsibility in the crash that killed Warren’s three daughters, in spite of the fact that it was Daniel’s wife Diane who was driving Warren’s minivan, and doing it on the 2 year anniversary of the crime – that’s right, crime. If Diane had lived, she surely would have been charged with DUI manslaughter, 7 counts.
I guess you never going to answer any of our questions, because we’re right and you’re wrong, and you’re a coward, so I’m shutting you down. Go plead your case somewhere else, you pussy, you’ve become boring and predictable.
I think when something bad happens as humans we need to give it a name to make sure the tragedy dosent happen to us as a mom i cant imagine anything in my life can be that bad to do what she did i pray for all parties involved for peace and am a firm believer in answering for our sins she will get what is coming to her as for bryan i hope he continues to get the help he needs and for someone positive to come into his life
Huh. I can’t believe I missed this one obvious point. My bad. I know Mr. Duh can’t respond, but this belongs here anyway:
If she was in blinding, insane pain like you believe she was… why in holy hell would she want aspirin or some OTC pain killer? “She didn’t have her own meds for pain, that’s why.” If she’d been truly diagnosed with a current abscess, a woman with her kind of money would have had good medical care and she would have had a prescription. Hell, I can get a hold of lots of prescription pain killers just through my friends and family – many people have Vicodin or codeine socked away in their medicine cabinet, surely one of her friends would have given her some if she hated doctors so much. Women especially, talk casually with each other about pain even if they don’t go to a doctor. In fact, many women carry an entire pharmacy in their purse at all times just for an emergency. Aspirin or another OTC pain killer? It would do NOTHING to help.
I don’t buy the tripe that she disliked doctors enough to put up with the level of pain that you and the Schulers are trying to tell us that she had. Once pain gets to a certain point, others notice it and if those people cared about you, they’d incessantly nag you to see a doctor. Mine would, anyway. At the very least, her friends would have known about her pain. Most people bitch about pain if they have it, especially if it’s a tooth problem because everyone hates to go to the dentist. One of her friends would have asked why she was only chewing on one side, or rubbing her face, and one of them would have spoken up earlier “Hey, she was probably in physical pain” and they did not.
I”m no dentist, but according to the American Heritage Dictionary, an Abscess is “A localized collection of pus in part of the body, formed by tissue disintegration and surrounded by an inflamed area” and no one noticed that her face was swollen? No one said she was talking funny, did they?
If her husband cared, or even noticed if she had an abscess and that she was ‘insane with pain’, wouldn’t he have said so at the beginning instead of trying to deny concrete evidence that she was on any substance at all? Would he have had his wife, so blinded by pain, drive a carload of kids home in that condition? Wouldn’t he have made arrangements with one of the other parents, or canceled whatever his plans were to drive them himself?
The Daniel Schuler story has changed too much, and too often. Stories change when they’re fundamentally false. Honest people have no need to change their story. Ever.
I didn’t ban Jimbo yet Beckala – I always give people one last shot to respond to their banning, if they choose to, So far, he hasn’t.
Maybe the Schulers only paid him for one day….nyuk, nyuk.
Perhaps she was hoping that the combination of the alcohol and the pills would cause her to pass out, since the alcohol wasn’t doing the job by itself. Perhaps she knew she was at the point of no return, and it was a last, desperate attempt to go without having to take the kids with her. It’s all speculative, but I’m pretty sure she didn’t want to see Danny Boy anymore, and would have to do that if she made it home safely with the children.
I just watched some more of the hbo special and the more i listen to him speak i dont think he knew his wife at all i think they lived very different lives just in the same house…..sad
Beyond convicted murderers, rapists, etc., I didn’t think anyone could get lower than Casey Anthony…but congratulations to both Diane Schuler and her equally despicable husband, Danny. They get the “Casey Anthony Award of Shame”. Disgusting, disgusting people whether Diane Schuler committed murder/suicide (most likely) or drank/smoked pot to relieve pain (I would put that at a very low probability). May the victims’ families have some sort of peace (maybe after the civil suits are completed) so they can move forward with their lives.
I agree SS, no matter why she did it, the result for the victims was the same. When I think how terrified those kids must have been in their final moments it hits you in the gut. Despite the clear causation from DS’s conduct in driving under the influence, I still wonder why the kids had to go through that kind of death.
James – Why is it so hard for you to believe she was a selfish person who, like many before her – killed herself and had no problems taking others with her?
There have been many instances of murder-suicide in the past, yet you seem to be in denial about the possibility of this.
Side note – something that hasn’t been talked about from what I’ve read…If she threw up twice did she keep drinking afterward since she had so much undigested alcohol in her system?
Heck of a lot of drinking to stop a toothache
@Zach, If she wanted to kill herself and her passengers liking other posters’ absurdly claim here (?) why not steer into oncoming traffic instead of proceeding as if nothing is wrong for 1.7 miles? Or why not do the deed earlier on the road. Why stop for pain meds and breakfast? Why the phone calls if she is intent on Murder? Why does the Hance girl tell her Dad something is wrong with her vision?
Come On?! You think it is more plausible to believe she wanted all those kids dead than to believe she downed too much Vodka because her tooth was hurting?
It’s more plausable to believe that our government is being infiltrated by lizard men, than it is to believe that a person would use vodka as a pain killer, this day and age, while driving.
Are you saying that she was a naive moron, James? You’re saying that she innocently got herself completely soused and stoned while driving a carload of kids and she had no idea of the danger. Really?
What? You also can’t read as well? What I have been saying is she made the irrational decision to self medicate her pain while she was in an irrational state caused by the pain. After that, the effects of the pot and vodka took over and turned her vehicle into nothing more than a dumb missile.
It wasn’t a dumb missile – it was a guided missile.
Pain didn’t drive her out of her mind, there’s no proof that she was in pain or that she even had a tooth ache at the time. That much pain = unconsciousness. Are you saying that her tooth ache was more painful than pregnancy? It’s been proved that women have a higher threshold of pain than men do, on average. If she can take childbirth without passing out or killing anyone, surely the pain of a tooth ache would be nothing to her in comparison.
Your points have already been acknowledged, flipped inside out and revealed as empty gasbags before the entire website. You hate it when I repeat myself, so I’ll do you a favor and refrain from it this time. Who am I kidding- I’m not doing you a favor, I’m just damned tired of repeating myself to someone who knows they’re wrong.
Well let’s see here… I have had horrible toothaches before. Impacted wisdom teeth that had to be yanked, and an infected molar that broke off at the gum line that also had to be yanked. The pain from the infected molar was pretty damn bad. It was a sharp radiating pain that came and went every hour on the hour for about 3 days before I got the fucker ripped out. – I do remember though being totally capable of driving without pain meds back and forth to work, and taking 3 Advils to take the edge off periodically until I was able to visit my trusty dentist. Keep in mind that all this happened in my 20′s. – Was the pain bad ? Yes. Did it cloud my vision and make me irrational and insane ? Certainly not.
Now let’s skip ahead a few years and explore the delivery of my first child. Induced labor….36 hours of pushing, no epidural until I was at 7 centimeters….also, anyone with any knowledge of induction knows that the contractions brought about by Petocin are on average twice as strong and twice as painful as natural contractions. After 4 hours of futile pushing, I had an eventual c-section.
Skip ahead about 16 months later….second child, natural labor, contractions brought about by nature. 16 hour labor, and another 4 hours of pushing. An episiotomy – this is when they cut your vagina to make room for a large baby, and I was pumped full of more Petocin to kick start a sluggish pattern of contractions. Then…then…my sons head began to crown at the opening of my vagina. And imagine if you will, your vagina being set on fire while someone simultaneously rips you apart and you might be close. The pain was so excruciating that I started to hyperventilate and needed oxygen. I damn near passed out. THAT was thee worst pain of my life…..a tiny humans head emerging out of my vagina. Not, and let me repeat this for the slow people N O T a mother fucking tooth ache.
So, take your toothache bullshit and shove it up your ass. That’s absolute rubbish, and simply isn’t going to fly when people know better.
Why did witnesses say she was staying in the lines on the highway?
If her vision was bad how was she able to stay in the lanes? Why didn’t she pull over and get her bearings or even turn the van around?
You mean the phone calls that sent the family into a panic? I don’t think it was a phone call that was to the effect of, “I have a really bad toothache…” Obviously she said something to upset them to the point of the mother not being able to be consoled and the husband to shut off altogether…
Let’s pretend it wasn’t a murder/suicide…there’s a much better explanation than a toothache and you have to know that on some level.
All excellent points, Zach. Even if you don’t believe the murder suicide theory, there was some underlying reason for her rage.
And it had nothing to do with a toothache.
@vcbecky, continually re-posting your nonsense does not make what you are saying anymore convincing. Today, cool is no longer cool, but a fool is still definitely a fool; and you are not ‘fooling’ anyone.
Look James, back the fuck off my ladies and show some respect or I’ll ban your ass. If you want to throw insults around, I’m your boy.
And how about answering my damn question about the autopsy results?
What Max? Are you another internet tough guy? A John Wayne of your keyboard? What a compelling figure you make defending “your girls” from behind your computer monitor. Better calm down before you have your fourth…..might be the “big one”.
Hey, I’m not the one who won’t answer the tough questions, and I don’t remember threatening you sweetheart. I’m the editor of this site, and it’s my job to control douchebags like you when they misbehave. Don’t blame me if I feel some affection for the regulars here – Ohh sorry, that doesn’t fit the tough guy profile.
So I reiterate – Show some respect to the women on this site, or I’ll ban you.
You think that’s a tough guy act? Bwahaha. So far I’ve seen you do little but post nonsense, lie, insult people, and be a jerk. If you’re a DS supporter, then you’re making it clear DS’ supporters are stupid assholes.
You tell ‘em, Max! James, why don’t you go spout your nonsense to someone who gives a shit? And has -0- common sense and a low enough IQ to actually believe it?
If you were able to refute any of my logic, you would have done so already. I made many points that you can’t answer for, all of them simple exercises in logic – not a leap among them – and you’ve all but shouted “I can’t refute, so I’ll misdirect!” with this latest post.
Instead of answering to my points, you come up with a senseless phrase like “cool is no longer cool but a fool is still definitely a fool”. What in the world does that even mean? You wrote it, surely you can explain it.
Are you saying that I’m trying to be ‘cool’? Anyone who has been reading the comments section on this website for even a short time, knows that I’m not trying to be ‘cool’. What you’ve got here is pure, unadulterated VCBecky, the same as always. Why should I wear a mask? I’ve never been one to cry over a lack of popularity, and in fact I have been known to go against the grain in my own life if I believe I’m on the side of right. If I needed to make an effort to be ‘cool’ on this site, I’d post some links to some of my other hobbies that are much cooler than my responses to you, and then I would have succeeded at achieving ‘ultimate coolness’ in the eyes of most people who read this website. You have no clue, Mr. Duh.
Responding to you is the equivalent of using a magnifying glass to burn a hill of ants. Responding to pisant sycophants like yourself is simply one of my hobbies, not an attempt for publicity points. I have no vested interest in this case, other than that of an outraged human the same as anyone else who is on the outside and trying to make sense of this disgusting mess. You’re correct, I’m not fooling anyone because I’m not trying to.
YOU, on the other hand, are trying to fool all of us. You’re failing and you will continue to fail. I say again, if you were able to refute any of my logic, you would have. All you’ve offered is something that sounds like a Hallmark Insult Card. You have proved one thing – you’re a terrible poet. “cool is no longer cool’. WHAT?
And this is why anyone who has been on this site longer than to rant about a single story loves VCBecky, and why Max defends her.
Then why do you continually post your nonsense???
This is so so sad. I cant imagine what was going through the children’s mind’s as all of this went into place. I dont want to believe that this is true, but when you think about it all… It makes a lot of sence… all of it my heart goes out to all the people that lost their lives this day.. & feel very sad for Diane… What was said that had made all this take place! geez… smh
It’s weird that James C Hartford doesn’t answer direct questions… I thought we could actually have a discussion, but he keeps saying the same things: that it’s all about a toothache and he aims to disprove the “girls just want to have fun” hypothesis–which no one, as far as I can tell, has said. He keeps repeating that theme, which makes me wonder if it’s just noise to make everything outside toothache seem ridiculous. Murder-suicide happens everyday all over the country… why is it hard to believe? Meanwhile, pain so severe it makes someone decide to irrationally down vodka and smoke pot in a vehicle full of kids would be extremely unusual… if the pain was that bad, wouldn’t she have passed out?
There’s only 3 people I’m aware of who actually accept the toothache as a legitimate cause of this tragedy…Daniel, Jay, and this guy. This website was featured on the documentary, right? James, is it possible you might be Daniel or Jay?
Also, it seems very strategic that James C Hartford keeps referring to how we all “hate” Diane and it’s causing us not to rationalize… I literally do not hate her. I just want the mystery solved.
James C Hartford has big testicles for using his real, true-life, non-pseudonym full name though, doesn’t he? LOL
Oh sure, he’s a man’s man alright jukie…LOL
This is such a sad story! She was drunk. This should be the end of the story. I feel for the other families who want closure. I hope god gives them all peace.
I watched the HBO documentary last night and I can’t put into words how much my heart goes out to the little boy that survived.
I just watched the HBO doc and have been unable to get this case out of my mind. One thing I noticed in the film that immediately stood out to me was the scene where Daniel Schuler is having his son look through the photo album that he made for him. One of the photos is a close up shot of the toddler sister holding a beer bottle. WTF? We’re supposed to believe that this saintly woman who was never drunk and was a “supermom” thought it was okey dokey to photograph a 2 yr old (hopefully) pretending to drink. There is so much more to this family and it’s dynamics than we have seen or may ever see.
Also, I am no prude. I drink occasionally and have even been known to smoke pot very rarely. I have also had severe toothaches from an impacted wisdom tooth that hurt like hell. HOWEVER, it never crossed my mind to get tore up and smoke some weed to ease the pain. I sure as hell would have never done that with 5 children under my care or while driving. At the very least, this woman was an idiot. More likely, a suicidal and murderous woman with an undiagnosed mental illness and a dolt for a husband. I think Daniel Schuler and Rusty Yates (husband of Andrea Yates) should become fishing buddies, they have a lot in common.
Oh my God, I agree with you about Andrea Yates husband! That was so pathetic – that poor woman. Seriously – she truly was mentally ill and that guy did NOTHING to help her. My mother had manic depression & I know a thing or two about mental illness…people who haven’t encountered it can’t understand how that could happen, but I KNOW her case was absolutely nothing like the Susan Smith cases out there, and I was angry about how her useless husband did nothing to help her. (I just had to say!)
I noticed the beer bottle in Erin’s hand in that photo too! What the Hell?
And I like how in various statements she went from “rarely drinking” to “twice a year, tops” to “a couple times a month” to several photos of her and him with drinks, and her 2 year old daughter in a photo holding a beer bottle that they liked so much it was in an album.
I am not sure I understand why it is so important to James Hartford and Daniel Schuler to prove that it was physical pain or a physical condition that drove Diane to drink and smoke up. Mental pain can be a million times more agonizing, and that’s what she must have been in. Because there is no evidence whatsoever that she was trying to quell physcial pain, and you don’t just start boozing it up with a carload of children unless there is something severely broken upstairs.
It just goes to show two things. First, there is still no general acceptance of mental illness as a legitimate condition worthy of consideration, hence the push to find a physical cause for this behavior. Second, the Schulers are either feeling guilty for helping to cause her pain or were so good at “hiding” things that mental anguish was not allowed to be discussed. Neither is very palatable.
A couple things I just wanted to throw out there – if they’ve already been said, I apologize (I can’t read all the posts! There’s so many I’m going cross-eyed…)
I was never much into pot myself, but a couple of my friends were, and they seemed to think that pot “sobered them up” when they were intoxicated. Now, I don’t think that’s true, but I think it’s a popular misconception in certain circles! I keep reading the theory that she smoked first and that led to drinking, but perhaps she drank a little more than she’d intended and then smoked, thinking it would sober her up a bit. (Although one would have to wonder when and where she did that. There was certainly time – she took a long time to get where she was going – but would she do it around the kids? Maybe she went somewhere at the rest stop to do it?)
I don’t know that I agree she premeditated the accident, but I DO think it’s obvious that her drinking was premeditated! I guess it’s not out of the normal to get o.j. in the morning, but personally I think she got that with the intention of mixing a little vodka in with it. She may well have had a headache (whether from the tooth, or being hung over, or stressed out or whatever) and made a very brief attempt to get medication, but when she didn’t find it in the 10 seconds and one place she looked for it, decided to give in to Plan B – which was to have a drink instead.
Also – don’t get me wrong here, because I think the tooth stuff is mostly a very desperate attempt to find some other explanation – something, anything – but nonetheless I just want to mention that if you let an abscessed tooth go, it can kill you. There was a terribly sad story in New York about a young boy from the projects who went to the hospital to get a root canal and was turned away because he was supposed to bring a parent with him. The infection went to his brain and he subsequently DIED from it. I’m not kidding. So that tooth could have hurt like hell. I don’t think that would cause you to uncontrollably drink out of the blue and out of character. But it might impel someone who already had a problem or even a bit of a problem to imbibe and overdo it.
I had my teeth zoomed last year and they hurt so badly all night (no-one told me about that!) that I couldn’t do anything or concentrate at all! Now, I’m a bit of a wimp with pain I admit, but if I can be driven to distraction by my zoomed teeth, I can only imagine how I’d feel with an abscessed tooth! (My pain threshold is apparently pretty low..I know, i know, what a wimp!) HOWEVER – that would not cause me to drink and drive if I’d never done it before (which I haven’t. And I quit drinking 5 years ago.) I’m guessing she had it before, but not to that extent (obviously).
Just some more food for thought….
(had DONE it before, I meant to say.)
I just had an epiphany. You said it’s not abnormal to order orange juice for breakfast… but it IS abnormal if you’ve requested the restaurant to make LUNCH during breakfast hours. Who drinks OJ with lunch food?
The McDonald’s Stop troubles me too. DS said they all got up and had breakfast. They pull in at 9:56 and order lunch? For the girls? The next we know she is down the road at the Sunoco at 10:46 am – they ate their lunch at the McDonald’s and played for 50 minutes when you are trying to get home before the traffic?
I think the speculation about the Hance call as a trigger to murder/suicide is over elaborate. If DS was a problem drinker who had succesfully covered up her condition from her family and most of her friends, just being told that Hance was driving to meet her could have set off a panic. She was about to be exposed and probably thought that she was about to lose everything.
I think it’s most likely she just fled in a panic, threw away the cellphone so she couldn’t be tracked and had a vague plan to hold up somewhere until the booze and pot wore off. It’s also possible that getting caught was a trigger to suicide,especially if she was already depressed.
I just HAD to read all of, uh, whatshisname, James Hartford’s comments before typing this. I must admit, I am intrigued as to why he clings to one single thing: the “why” (which has already been answered time and again.)
James (if you haven’t been banned yet)
Dental pain!? Give me a break. I know pain, I know severe pain, I know severe distracting pain. I get debilitating migraines that make an abcessed tooth look like a tickle from the tooth fairy. I get horrifying bouts of intestinal pain brought on by Crohn’s Disease.
Pain, true pain, the kind of pain you assumed Diane was suffering from, typically does not allow the sufferer to leave the house, unless they are assisted by another. Real pain does not allow an individual to operate a motor vehicle. The kind of pain you imagine she had would have been blinding, she wouldn’t have had the wherewithal to leave the damn driveway, let alone start the car. Alcohol does not alleviate that sort of pain.
Go ahead, accept your own set of “facts”, just think a little bit about how ridiculous they sound when you post them in a public forum.
Yours,
NC
I’ve had a dental abscess at a point I also didn’t have insurance. I was in so much pain I just curled up weeping and trying NOT to weep on the couch. I’ve been through some painful things including back labor and meningitis, broken bones, I have a freakin’ dent in my skull (and I am prone to migraines, and have an often painful cardiac arrhythmia).
That abscess was definitely in the top five most painful things I’ve ever experienced. There is no way in hell I would have been offering to drive any kids anywhere. And being without insurance, you can damn well bet I tried the last of the alcohol I had to numb enough to function, and I can also vouch for its utter ineffectiveness. All it did was make it so I couldn’t help crying from the pain.
Laying on the couch, half-drunk and in agony, there is no way I could have shopped at a gas station for anything, let alone operated a vehicle.
This man, her defender, is full of shit.
And let’s remember, as has been pointed out by Max again and again, there was no proof of an abscess! No mention of it in the autopsy, no current dental records stating she had one.
It’s just smoke and mirrors from the Schuler camp. Bunch of fucking idiots.
Exactly.
Though reading farther down on this page, I see I should have swished the alcohol for local numbing instead of swallowing it – that’s what I get for being a n00b.
I heard about this event for the first time on Monday evening. I came home from work and missed the first 15 minutes of the HBO documentary. I am unsure of whether or not they discussed anything regarding whether or not the son Bryan was able to recall anything from the event. I am sure that if this does involve some sort of cover up or denial that Bryan has been “coached” on what to think. I hope that the therapy he is receiving will allow him to find even a tinge of peace in his life. As an ICU nurse I see and hear ridiculous accounts of events that take place. While I wanted to believe in the beginning of the documentary that Diane was not responsible, the lack of concrete facts and evidence prove that some facet of foul play was present. Thank you for this article Fuzzy. Unfortunately, two years too late I have become far too enthralled with this case.
After watching the HBO show, I am more inclined to believe murder/suicide than a toothache. She was acting completely coherent at the mc Donald’s and spoke to her sister in law about being late. Supposedly they even discussed a dance recital that night. If she was in so much pain how did she concentrate to have a conversation. The fact that she left the phone on a divider makes me think she didn’t want to be found. I believe she was drinking but if she was truly drunk and high to the point of delusion, how did she manage to stay in the lane and not hit something earlier on. I do not know the road personally but from the pics, it looked as if there were curves, how could she have driven with such precision if she was out of her mind. As much as her family wants to make excuses for her action, there is no reason for Daniel to sue his brother in law. He should have more respect for a family that lost all three of their children and can not imagine what would be gained by such a lawsuit besides looking like an insensitive jerk.
First I want to say from personal experience that straight Vodka is very effective in reducing the tooth pain I have experienced. Just swirl it around the target area.
I don’t see any persuasive evidence to support a traumatic event, whereupon Diane Shuler “snapped” and planned/executed a murder/suicide. Rather the opposite, this was, for her, just another day of doing exactly what she did every day.
Think about a person with a 0.19 blood alcohol at 1:30pm on a Sunday, who has been driving 5 young children for more than 3 hours. How can that happen? The only scenario I see is that she drank all the time, drank and drove all the time, and drank and drove with the kids in the car all the time. I don’t find any other explanation of that 0.19 to be creditable.
She had always gotten away with it. Always been able to hide it, always been able to show herself as the perfect mom. Maybe people had seen signs or had knowledge and lacked the moral courage to admit it afterwards, maybe she fooled them all.
From the accounts we have, this was a person who was always in control, and therefore, 100% confident in her ability to monitor her drug/alcohol intake. Why it was her control failed at this unfortunate point in time seems less defined. I would guess a personality like hers had a “regimen” of substance intake that she followed. Perhaps she miscounted, or substituted, or started very early on an empty stomach.
I think she had, over the course of several years at least, become a hard-core user, and believed she could “handle” it. Her behavior that day was more or less consistent with her lifestyle, in the same way other long term users OD one day. Of course, Diane Shuler is worse, the heroin junkie who OD kills only himself.
i think you hit the nail on the head.
Vodka, like all alcohol, has antiseptic qualities. Doctors used to pour it into wounds to clean them. Swishing helps because of that. Swallowing, though? She wasn’t killing pain – she was deliberately drunk. There are about 100 better pain killers readily available, especially for someone with a currently diagnosed abscess in their mouth. Alcohol as a pain killer in this case is a very flimsy angle to run with.
There’s no way Diane was always in control. If she was, this never would have happened. If she regularly drove drunk or while drinking, surely one of her kids would have said something to a friend or relative, and that person would know. Her husband is lying about many, many things just to protect his reputation and his ego.
I agree, it is a possible scenario and I don’t mean to discount it out of hand. Based on everything else that has happened since then, I doubt it’s the right scenario. No one can be a ‘closet drunk’ and get drunk in front of their kids so regularly that she thought she could down that much alcohol and smoke that much pot and still be alright to drive. The kids would have said something to someone at some point, because that kind of tolerance takes time to build up. She knew exactly what she was doing.
“Alcohol as a pain killer in this case is a very flimsy angle to run with.”
I agree, that’s why I didn’t run with it.
“There’s no way Diane was always in control. If she was, this never would have happened. If she regularly drove drunk or while drinking, surely one of her kids would have said something to a friend or relative, and that person would know.”
I think it more likely that Diane drunk/stoned/whatever was her normal state of being, and exactly what these (very young) children would have perceived as “normal.” Seeing Diane 100% sober, on the other hand, might have been something they would have noticed as unusual.
As an example, I never realized how much my Aunt drank until I got old enough for her to send me out for liquor. As a child, even as a teenager, I never had any real conception that she was a hardcore alcoholic. That certainly effects my view in regards to those kids all under 10.
But the main fact that influences me here is the 0.19 at 1pm on Sunday afternoon while driving the kids. You have to be hardcore to get that done.
As unbelievable as this sounds, I have had 2 teeth in abscess for coming along 3 years. hard to believe? Probably. My reason for leaving it so long is an inability to afford the incredible cost of these teeth being removed. Both teeth are molars, and are just stumps left rotting in my gums. Sorry to ick anyone out, but it is what it is. The pain, however, is varying. I can go for MONTHS without any pain, swelling or infection ‘fever’ as I call it. I will freely admit I am a very controlled person, and have a high pain tolerance. Very high in fact. But there was once, the second last time they flared up, OH MY hell it was awful. Rivals 19 hours of natural back labor and a 9.5# baby. The pain, does a slow yet sudden creep. You feel a swelling in your gums and it usually travels up your face to your jawbone, into your eyes. Both mine are upper abscesses, so I cannot speak for how a lower abscess would radiate the pain. The time it was the worst, I was reeling in pain for around 20 hours. I took the maximum safe amount of Aleve, and it didnt do anything, and Aleve is a very effective analgesic for me. I had never used Orajel before, and this time I tried it. Literally, the pain actually DRAINED away. It was like turning a gas burner slowly down until it’s a flicker.
Now, I do smoke pot to chill, and often to sleep, as many controlled women have insomnia. it’s because we cannot stop thinking when we should be asleep. Pot does nothing for the pain of abscess. Nothing. And here in BC, Canada, we have the GOOD stuff. Mega-coated in crystals. If, if she did toke to try and medicate, it is safe to assume it also did not help. I have to assume my abscesses are worse than the one she was purported to have. The pot was the beginning, and folks, I believe in my hear that she and her husband BOTH (together) toked it up before anyone hit the road initially. I think he seems to fit the chronic type. He sure is mad now that he has to take responsibility. Chronics generally loathe any responsibility. It’s not unreasonable that both husband and wife were closet stoners. Keeping it secret. hell, my teenagers don’t know I toke! Controlled women are masters of duplicity. I certainly can imagine snapping at a McD’s cashier if I was suffering in the throes of an abscess.
But, even at that WORST pain .. it was so so so so BAD
I could still drive and not kill anyone.
I could get my family home.
But not if I had swallowed Absolut, and we can assume she drank it straight, maybe a tiny dilute in a pop can? Absolut is smooth. It is tricky. Especially if she was taking it from the bottle directly.
I watched it last night. I barely slept. I am very affected by this event. I feel a bit sheepish that I barely knew about it before browsing on my PVR, I claim being a Canadian out west. But now I feel like I know the children. And the mom of those 3 girls. Did you know she is expecting a baby in the fall? She had her tubes tied and has been successful by IVF. a Doctor did this for them for free.
I hope I have helped with some insight into having an extreme abscess. The pain could have been horrific. But I would have had the sense to pull over, stop, call. She was insane due to the alcohol/pot combo. I think there is a 4th factor here, past the pain/pot/vodka thread. Its a stupid, misplaced feeling of invincibility. She knew she was totaly fucked up. She knew fully. But she chose to go on because, up to that point, she felt she really was invincible. Think on her perfectly portrayed life. My life is a wreck, yet I still feel invincible. Like I could live forever. I think I shall. Very little phases me. Maybe that is how she thought, that shje could do this anyways, drive though pain and intoxication.
One final thought:
Regarding the HORRIBLE 2 still shots of DS’s dead body?
I would wage bets that the producers PAID Daniel Schuler a large amount of money to allow this. It sure fits in with his character. That has to be the ONLY reason he could allow this .. I mean .. his son .. will one day see his mommy .. like that .. why would anyone disrespect her CHILD’S memory of her? All that little boy remembers is mommy was PERFECT.
Jesus wept.
The part about the pictures of her body really stuck out to me too. If Daniel and Jay were so intent on preserving her memory, why would they allow those pictures to be shown. Very out of character for those two if they were attempting to never “tarnish her memory”
Fantastic post. Thank you, justjenna.
I agree that they at least got Daniel’s permission to post those pictures of his wife. He doesn’t strike me as the type to consider his surviving sons feelings in the matter one bit. He stated outright that he didn’t want kids, and he doesn’t want to have to take care of this one.
Daniel, if you’re so worried about what people say about you, why oh WHY would you say what you did in that documentary about your son and your kids? Do you really think that the rest of the world is so stupid?
You know, just about everything Daniel Schuler has done and said since the tragedy led me to believe strongly that he isn’t playing with a full deck. After watching the documentary, I was stunned that he would admit to a camera crew that, not only did he not want kids, but he is pretty fucking put out by having to take care of the surviving kid himself.
Then I was shocked again that he would allow those pictures of Diane’s corpse to be shown. He very clearly doesn’t give a shit that poor Bryan will one day see this documentary.
So it was pretty clear to me, and to anyone with a functioning brain, that Daniel is operating in some kind of alternate reality.
But then I read that he has the full out fucking GALL to sue Warren Hance, as the owner of the vehicle Diane was driving, and now there is simply no question. The man is clearly out of his mind. He has been spewing such nonsense in an attempt to canonize Diane, but then literally trashes his own ‘reputation’ completely.
I think he has had a complete break with reality. Maybe he’s taken up where Diane left off, polishing off bottles of vodka and getting high. I don’t know. But there is something simply not right there. This goes way beyond denial or devotion to his dead wife. There is something seriously wrong with Daniel Schuler. Poor Bryan. That kid is fucked.
The decision to show the photos were probably a combination of factors.
1. Money
2. No Respect for his wife (I don’t believe he ever really loved her or anyone for that matter)
3. To try to gain sympathy … look what my wife looked like after …
I get the feeling that Danny is pissed that little Bryan survived; and, he now has to be bothered w/ the rearing of the child … especially since he now has special needs. That poor child!
CPS was initially involved in this case right after the accident. I hope they become involved again after viewing this documentary. Little Bryan has been through hell. He deserves to be placed w/ someone that will love and cherish him instead of making him feel guilty that he survived. Danny will never give him up willingly, regardless of the fact that he never wanted him and now see’s him as a burden. How would that look? It’s all about perception and how the Schuler’s wanted to be viewed as perfect. Sorry Danny, your actions since the accident have shot that all to hell.
The pictures in the “sympathetic documentary” seem to be there to refute reports that the driver attempted to save herself and leave the kids to die. Guess they wanted to try to redeem her in some way by letting us all see what a great job she did of killing her sorry self. The type of injuries to her spine found during autopsy are injuries typical of head-on collisions and generally cause immediate death.
The pictures in the “sympathetic documentary” seem to be there to refute reports that the driver attempted to save herself and leave the kids to die. Guess they wanted to try to redeem her in some way by letting us all see what a great job she did of killing her sorry self. The type of injuries to her spine found during autopsy are injuries typical of head-on collisions and generally cause immediate death.
See: Atlanto-Occipital injury or internal decapitation.
Very interesting posts here since i left. All I can say is that Danny Schuler is the most insensitive person on earth. I cannot believe he allowed them to show pictures of her after the accident, and sueing both the state and his brother-in-law over this now? The DA has already said she would have been charged with mutilple homicides if she lived and he thinks he has the right to sue over the signs? What does he want, bigger signs so drunk stoned people can drive our highways without getting lost?
Yeah Fuzzy, thanks for pissing Jimmy Hartford off….My God, what a pain in the ass. The guy is a perfect example of what an enabler looks and sounds like. He hangs on the smallest, most unlikely of of hopes, attacks anyone who disagrees with him, and when confronted with difficult questions or damning evidence, suddenly becomes deaf, dumb and blind. You know what I mean bro?…..”James no comprende Senor”?
I anagramed that guys name to see if he was undercover…
the best i came up with was prophet at best….
Ma Crash Ford Jet
Who is Danny’s lawyer suing the family and the state? Can’t be the Barbarian, he was disbarred after stealing all Danny’s insurance money. Who is paying for this, aside from the taxpayers of NY State?
Fuzzy, you are an idiot with a delusional mind!
btw, if he has the money for this frivolous lawsuit why doesn’t he have the money to exhume the body and do his own tests to prove she had this tooth abcess?
I’m left with the niggling feeling that something happened at that campsite that Diane did not want her brother to find out about. But that could just be my own experience as a little girl with a “funny uncle”.
I have a hard enough time trying to comprehend what those poor children were thinking in their last few terrifying minutes.
To think something like that might have happened… I guess I’m not sleeping tonight.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2019379/Jackie-Hance-lost-daughters-horror-crash-sues-estate-dead-sister-law-Diane-Schuler.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
Here we go… Jackie Hance is now suing Daniel Schuler.
Someone absolutely has to get Danny Boy under oath in a deposition and get some anwers out of him. He must have an IQ of a carrot. Sooo Danny, did you buy pot for your wife in that park you worked at at night?
Oh my god forlorn dont say that thats just to disturbing to think about
I too watched the documentary, knowing very little about the case, with no preconceived notions. I feel like there’s not enough evidence to call it a murder/suicide. However, the husband came off looking like a total loser. My jaw almost hit the floor at the end of the documentary where it was stated that the husband didn’t really want to take care of his only surviving child. I can’t believe he would say that being a single parent is especially difficult for him because he never even wanted kids, and Diane was supposed to handle all the child-rearing. It’s just my opinion, but you’d have to be a MAJOR DOUCHE BAG to say something like that given the circumstances of the case! I can’t help but feel that if he was a more active parent in the first place, this horrible situation might have been prevented!!!
There’s plenty of evidence for murder, because that’s what it’s called when someone gets drunk and drives and kills off entire families.
Yeah, I definitely agree with you on that. It’s murder even if it was an ‘accidental’ crash. What’s less clear is whether or not she was suicidal, or just a dumb ass.
I think she was suicidal. I think she knew that her ‘husband’ wasn’t a real man who would care for all of the kids if she killed herself. I think that’s one of the reasons she took them with her’ better death than a foster home. I’ve heard that before about our foster system, that parents killed their kids after committing crimes that could send them to jail “I didn’t want him/her to go into The System”.
Daniel said he didn’t want kids at all. He can’t even care for the one he has left (that boy is going to be so much more scarred by his fathers rejection than by what his mother did.) so the murder/suicide theory still holds up.
Sure the kids were terrified. Why should she care at that point? Death cancels terror – she was going to kill them anyway, so who cares what happens to their minds before they die?
Her kids would never have gone into foster care, and she knew that. Being a douchebag like D. Schuler is not a sufficient reason for a child to be removed from the home (unfortunately, in this case, because Bryan needs a really solid family right now). And the Schuler/Hance extended family, for whatever their flaws, would never have allowed the kids to go into the system.
I agree that Dannyboy Schuler is utterly worthless, but if Diane really killed those kids on purpose it was to hurt her brother and Jackie in addition to or even rather than her husband. I don’t think her husband would give a shit about this at all if he wasn’t “stuck” raising his surviving son. He only cares because his life is just sooooo hard now. Poor Bryan. I would adopt that sweetheart in a nanosecond and get him the treatment he deserves.
So some people trolling here think this is not a possibility, eh?
Police: Children Say Mother Tried to Kill Them in Car Wreck
http://abcnews.go.com/US/police-children-mother-kill-car-wreck/story?id=14129702
Jul 22, 2011 Two young sisters have told police that their mom intended to hurt them in a deliberate car wreck because she was “mad at daddy,” according to investigators. The girls, ages 7 and 8, were treated for cuts and bruises after mom Teresa Caffrey of North Carolina drove their car into a ditch earlier this week. “The children conveyed information to my officers saying she had been arguing with their father and that she was ‘mad at daddy’ and that’s why she wrecked the car,” said the local police commander. Caffrey has been charged with assault with a deadly weapon, and faces additional charges of child abuse and possession of a controlled substance.
Teresa Caffrey reminds me of Diane Downs. She tried to stage a carjacking by shooting her children, killing one of them, and then shooting herself.
http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/famous/downs/index_1.html
*GASP* THAT’S UNPOSSIBLE! Are you sure she didn’t just have dental problems which caused her intolerable pain?
Teehee!
Hey, this could be the start of a whole new defense for child killing cunts. It will become known as the ‘abscess’ defense and a law limiting their responsibility will be called ‘Diane’s Law’.
So Sad!!!
From the beginning, I felt that Diane probably smoked the pot during 1 (or more) of the stops she made. Perhaps at the rest areas. Now I’m beginning to wonder if she smoked pot in the van hoping that the kids would also feel the effects to help numb them?
Although, if that were true, would emergency personnel not have smelled the odor left behind by smoking pot once they got to the scene? Could that smell have been masked by the odor and smoke from the van bursting into flames? Does anyone know if toxicology tests were also done on the kids to see if she had drugged them in any way or if they had any level of THC in their system from 2nd hand exposure?
I want to see this documentary so bad; but, I don’t have HBO. Does anyone know if it is available online somewhere?
This is also a perfect example of why you NEVER allow ANYONE to borrow your vehicle. The Hance family was nice and allowed Diane to borrow their van for the trip. Boy are they paying for that mistake now!
Not only did they lose all 3 of their precious children, their vehicle was a total loss, and they are now being sued by the Bastardi family because they technically owned the vehicle Diane chose to use as a murder weapon AND now that POS Daniel Schuler is suing them claiming their van was faulty! Really? WTH???!!
So what really caused this crash? The toothache? The ambesol? A stroke? A blood clot? Bad highway design w/ lack of proper signs? Faulty equipment on the van? Well, I guess the answer depends on which lawsuit Danny boy is discussing at the moment. Talk about adding major insult to injury time after time after time. Keep digging that hole Danny boy!
I am so glad Jackie Hance has now filed a lawsuit against the estate of Diane Schuler. Danny also needs to be sued for continued harassment and inflicting severe emotional distress on the families of his wife’s victims!!
Danny needs to be a man, step up and admit he was wrong, and allow everyone to move on! The Schuler family refuses to accept the SCIENTIFICALLY PROVEN cause that was also tested and matched TO DIANE’S DNA. I want to slap Daniel Schuler for still complaining that no one is allowing him to exhume Diane’s body for another autopsy. IT ISN’T NEEDED!! Stop twisting the knife Diane thrust into the hearts of the families of her victims and let them heal!!
My problem with the HBO doc is that it really wasn’t trying to help the audience understand what happened – only that there were some family and friends that had trouble understanding what happened.
It does not really show you where the Minivan was, how far the distances were, how long it took to get to that spot. So the audience could see for themselves how the trip unfolded.
It doesn’t challenge the veracity, factual or otherwise of anything anyone says. And everyone who is talking is potentially in CYA mode. The Hances’ are being sued by the SUV victum’s family and now by DS – so they can’t say anything. There no way to know what came down really.
It doesn’t ask DS simple questions like there was a gallon jug of vodka in the car, you say you kept it in the camper for possible summer parties – but Diane secretly packed it up in the bags that day. One a gallon jug is bought when there is a lot of partying. The summer isn’t half over. Why is she suddenly taking it home without you knowing about it?
or you say she was going to stop at the McDonalds for breakfast – but she ordered lunch. Why? You say she was also “going to the stores.” What stores? If this is something she did dozens of times over the last three years – what was her routine. Did Ruskin check it out?
And finally again if this is a trip she has made before, when she got to the Tappan Zee what route would she take to L.I. – Palasades across the GW, down the saw mill. over to the Sprain. What route did you take? Because that’s where the drama of this unfolded. What likely happened – the doc doesn’t haven’t a clue but DS should.
Further the doc did not ask an expert – is it possible for a none drinking to consume 10 drinks and smoke marijuana and still control a car? How likely is it to be in a “dellrium” and still not drive off the road? Isn’t it much more likely that she was a drinker?
The only way any of these questions will ever be addressed is in a law suit that requires people to be cross examined under oath. If DS isn’t careful that is exactly what is going to happen.
Thats the thing here, it may backfire in Danny’s face when this goes to court, all of a sudden there will be alot of information coming to light and being out in public. For example, their whole case centers around her tooth pain. Well, the Sunoco guy refused ot be interviewed by the police, the only one who talked to him was that Ruskin guy who said she asked for tylenol. This could be complete fiction, you see the 12 seconds she is in the store and the 1/2 second she interacts with the guy, who in vidoes I saw previously that had all the cameras in one screen, showed the one aimed at him and he never even looked up when she spoke to him. So how would he remember it was her that asked for tylenol? How do we even know it was for her? Maybe one of the kids had a headache or scraped knee or something. There no creedence to this part of the story, no police interview, no mention of her having a toothache that weekend to anyone, it is all fantasy in Dannys head. I will love reading the depositions in these civil cases. hope they come out around Christmas!
How is it possible to refuse to answer the police’s questioning? Why would he, that’s odd to me. Say you don’t remember her. But then to answer Ruskin? That’s questionable too. If Jay really cared to know the truth, she could have gone to the Sunoco and seen whether they sold any painkllers. But Ruskin was giving them a plausible line to get the money for more tests and such. And Ruskin – did he go to the Sunoco to see if what the guy was saying was true? All of this would come out in a suit.
Hi Fuzzy,
I have watched that video a number of times. At first, I thought, who goes into a store looking for something and turns around and walks right out. I know, for me, when I am looking for something, I wander around for awhile and look for it, and for the most part, not always, ask the clerk where it is.
Who knows, if I was a pessimist, I could say the video was edited to make it look like she walked in and walked out right away. However, there is no explanation for how she drove out of the gas station driveway. I wish she could have had a collision there, because chances there would have been injuries, but probably no fatalities.
I suspect that it is no possible for a non-drinker to have 10 drinks and smoke marijuana and retain control of a car.
That said – what the HBO doc didn’t ask was – is it possible for someone to be in a state of intoxication such that they can control a car – because they have done so before many times while drinking and still not be able to completely comprehend their surroundings.
In other words, the auto reflexes of the brain needed to control a vehicle are in tact but the brain processes that tell you where you are, read signs, appreciate honking horns and other indicia that tell you you are going the wrong way – are not fully functioning.
That’s the question – but the doc did not pursue it – so it leaves the audience bewildered – where there may be a simple answer. But it remains clouded by poor reporting and by a family who doesn’t want to face the simple truth. She was a closet drinker.
Finally someone else got it. I’ve had basically the same idea for years. I don’t understand how people can look at the evidence and still consider this event anything other than a planned suicide/murder.
I’ll say one final word -Liberty to Harriman is 56 miles. She left Liberty at approx. 10:50 AM (left the Sunoco), she went through the Harriman toll at 12:13 PM. That’s 1 hour and 23 minutes to travel 56 miles on the highway. ( 30 more minutes than it should have taken her. She had to have stopped somewhere else. Where? Why? Did anyone look into that? Just askin’.
Surpised we all haven’t been sued by Daniel Schuler yet… darn, just gave him the idea!
I don’t know fuzz, but I have my eye out for that guy Byrun the process server from “All Worked Up”. Maybe I’ll throw my cats at him like the Crazy Cat Lady. I have enough of the little fur faces to do it.
I don’t think she killed herself and the kids deliberately but I have always thought … and I passed that accident site at around 6:00 on the day it happened; traffic had just opened up there … that she was full of unacknowledged rage at her husband under the surface for the self-centeredness that you see in the documentary, and that she contributed to by habitually taking care of everything for him. I think she regularly and quietly hit the bottle quite a bit, and the pot. That’s what they’re covering up. I have always thought that she was furious that he had a long, solitary weekend while she had all the responsibility, though it was probably her idea to take all the kids. I think this was the way they lived all the time and she didn’t know how to stop it. She didn’t have that kind of insight. Anyway, when you’re drunk, the underlying rage comes out. Maybe not with a happy three drinks, but with six or more the mask comes off. So if she seemed suicidal, I see it as rage coming out plus the frustration of being late, wrong turns along the way from the drink and pot, upset kids in the car … her with all the responsibility … yada yada … At that point, she didn’t see or care about anything. The equivalent of 10 drinks plus a high level of pot and she wouldn’t care about much but hitting the accelerator and just let the other guys get out of her way. In fact, she had been driving that way all along, it was reported. Only this time she’d gone down the wrong ramp and didn’t know or care.
I have to say ive been interested in this case recently, and you seem to be the most reliable source of information! It was a very confusing and heartbreaking sort of situation that clouded heads with alot of he said she said information, and this is logical, well thought out, informative, and the best theory ive heard/read so far. Undoubtedly though, no one will know what was truely going through dianes mind while all of this was happening, and we’ll never know. but this was a great perspective and written very well!!
Next time you all see There’s Something Wrong With Aunt Diane, pay attention to the husbands’ interviews. First he says he woke up that day and immediately started with the chores of getting home, and only had coffee for breakfast. In the next interview he said him and Diane woke up and cooked breakfast, and in the next one he talks about Diane taking the kids to McDonalds for breakfast. He knows exactly what happened that morning.
Katie,
Although I don’t recall anything I have read or watched about him saying “cooked” breakfast, I agree with you. He said “we had breakfast”. So, should we conclude that he and Diane had breakfast and she took the children to McDonald’s for theirs?
Okay, I am going out on a limb. What the heck happened while he and Diane were having their coffee, and as he said two cups of coffee before they all left. Did they have their coffee before or after they woke up the kids? Who knows what the heck was discussed between them while they had their coffee. The kids could have been sleeping while they had their coffee and argued about who knows what. Or the kids could have been waking/packing up while Danny and Diane were having coffee, again arguing about who knows what.
I read through the police and autopsy documents, and I have a couple of questions:
(1) The police report indicates in a couple of witness statements that all 5 children were wearing their seat belts. I could not find any witness statement indicating whether or not Diane had her seat belt on before she was pulled out of the vehicle. I think the answer to that could be telling. If she didn’t have it on, then it would be more likely that she was planning to kill herself. Just wondered if there were any reports on whether or not she was wearing it at the time of the crash.
(2) I’m thinking more and more after reading the autopsy report that she was not a closet alcoholic. I’m not a medical expert by any means, but it appears she had no liver damage or anything else to suggest chronic, long term alcohol abuse.
Clearly she was drunk and high at the time of the crash, but if she were a heavy, chronic drinker, it seems that her liver would have revealed more evidence of that during the autopsy.
Thoughts?
1. huh? She was blasted and crashed while driving the wrong way down the road. That’s it.
2. It is clear that she was a chronic drinker due to her mother’s leaving her, her husband having an affair with the sister-in-law, her postpartum depression, the moon being in Leo, her dog running away, the Mets sucking, and on and on.
I don’t think she was wearing her seat belt, since her body fell out of the van when the first witnesses managed to get the side door open. I don’t believe it tells us anything about her state of mind – she may have just been too drunk to remember to put it on the last time she got in the van.
Liver damage takes time, and it’s different for everyone. I have the liver from hell – I used to take so many Percocets or Vicodin in a day, for days on end, and I never showed any signs on reduced live function. By rights, the amount of Acetaminophen (Tylenol) I was ingesting should have killed me or at the least, destroyed my liver.
Thanks for the feedback, Max.
I also had questions. In the report it had witness statements that the kids were all wearing seat belts and witnesses pulled them from the car and began CPR. In a video at the accident scene, a firefighter states that several kids were thrown from the van. So, which was it? I imagine it’s possible that the firefighter got to the scene, saw the bodies on the ground away from the van and assumed they were thrown. For some reason, that has always made me wonder.
To answer your question about no liver damage from drinking, that really doesn’t mean much to me. I know someone that is an alcoholic and does not know how to limit their alcohol intake. They were even hospitalized for drinking too much multiple times. This person does not have liver damage. I think it’s quite possible that she has been drinking for a while and was simply lucky she hadn’t done damage to her liver yet.
Someone mentioned that her medical records showed a lot of prescriptions for strong narcotics. If she took these on a regular basis, smoked pot on a regular basis, and drank on a regular basis then her tolerance level would have been much higher. Meaning, .19 BAC would probably have me passed out (I don’t drink) where as, she may have built up a tolerance and it continuously took more and more to achieve the desired effects of alcohol, narcotics, and pot. Maybe a high tolerance could explain why she was able to drive w/in the lanes and not swerving.
I remember the narrator saying the kids were on top of each other. How could they be thrown out of the van and still be on top of each other? No seat belts? Or just the results from the wreckage?
This is so awful!!!! I cannot imagine the pain the Hance’s are going through. For their children and their niece. As far as Daniel Schuler goes, don’t even ask. SPOS!!!!
They were inside the van, piled on top of each other – people pulled them out one by one and laid them out all over the grass median of the Taconic in order to perform CPR. It did sound confusing, but the witnesses say the were buckled in.
That part just made me sob, Max. When the civilian rescuers were talking about what they’d seen, and how obviously shattered they were by pulling these tiny bodies from the van, it just broke my heart.
All this time later, and they’re showing so much more heartbreak and emotion than the baby girl’s father is.
Oh absolutely ForlornW, I was fighting a losing battle with my tears during that segment too. And like you said, these children weren’t mine, or yours, or the rescuers, or the first responders, yet we seem feel more for them than Daniel does.
Others have mentioned this already, but really, did this guy know he had a daughter? It’s funny when Homer Simpson forgets about Maggie, but Daniel isn’t Homer, and this is real life.
I’m with you guys. I cried listening to those people describe the scene too. Diane didn’t just kill 7 innocent people and destroy their families. She did quite a number on the civilians and medical responders at the scene too. Those people will never be the same, and I hope to sweet jesus that they are getting counseling.
The one man describing how he kept asking one of the girls to wake up, but she wouldn’t wake up, was just heartbreaking. I tear up still now just thinking about it.
Yeah, Diane was some great mother, huh?
That’s right Fuzzy, I forgot about what Bryan supposedly said – I say supposedly because the source was Auntie Jay.
What. The. Fuck?
I’d love to just hear his stream of consciousness, JUST to hear his “logic” and “reasoning” before he does things like this.
If he does sue himself, fuzzy, he’d be half on the side of right which is a huge improvement over where he is now and hey, at least he knows he’ll win!
Interesting article. There are already lots of comments & I haven’t read thru them all, so forgive any redundancy here, please.
For one thing, vodka is not only a ‘chick drink’. It’s a common last alcohol of choice for many late-term alcoholics, both men & women. It’s a ‘clear’, easier to disguise than other forms of alcohol, & frequently cheaper than other hard, better liquors (although there is expensive vodka, too, if you can afford it when you tend to drink large amounts at a time).
I have in my time seen many an alcoholic end up drinking mainly vodka who didn’t start drinking vodka in their early drinking years. I also have seen hardcore alcoholics be able to drink continually & stay awake for up to 3 days at a time — they get ‘wired’ off of alcohol in ways other people don’t when drinking (I myself don’t drink; not being moralistic here — I’m just not physically built to tolerate much alcohol in my system). I have seen them totally walking around, talking, & engaging in routine tasks (tho usually not very well) while being stoned out of their minds, & later not remembering a single thing they had done over the last 24-72 hours after they have finally ‘come to’. These people, once they start, don’t stop until they literally go unconscious & they can be very scary & dangerous before they knock out. They can appear totally insane the longer they are into their ‘lost weekends’, yet it is unbelievable that they can still walk & talk — tho at times not always making sense & some of these folks, who while sober are nice & meek, can become the opposite when under the influence, quite violent both verbally & physically, when they are this blotto & can take risks they would no way take when sober. It would be very possible for one of these folks to turn onto a wrong way & not correct for it — to not even know where they are. You have to hide car keys from them because many times they will attempt to drive although their cognitive functions are barely there & they are pretty much functioning only on automatic.
However, what I am talking here are long-term, hardcore drinkers. And, the ones in my experience who become ‘wired’ off of alcohol like it is some form of speed, are the worst. I also have known some who are quite functioning during the workweek, holding down very important jobs, but who then spend their entire weekends, binge drinking. They have been doing this for years; hence, their tolerance is greater than that of the occasional drinker. If (and I mean ‘if’ as I cannot make any claims about someone I did not know) she were any of these things, then that would point to a longtime drinker, maybe even one who could hide it from people like workmates (hence what is sometimes termed a ‘functioning’ alcoholic), & the people I have known that are these types of blotto alcoholics, whether throughout the week or bingers, usually have a genetic predisposition to becoming alcoholics & traumatic childhoods.
Certainly, I did not know this woman and so cannot say that she was ANY of these things. I am just commenting on some suppositions in this article. Thank You.
Joelle, the Hances did talk to the police, in detail, more than once, and the police had no quibble with their report.
What blows my mind is that these emotionally retarded people actually exist. They’re real, this is not a joke, and they’re making lots of money off of horror and misery. Disgusting, the whole thing. I wish there was an ‘evilness’ barometer inherent to every human body that would cause the body to spontaneously combust when it reaches a certain point of intolerable evil. It probably would have saved those peoples’ lives, and long before any of them ever got into their cars.
I totally agree!!!
Hi Rayne – You may notice that a few of your comments have been deleted. I was forced to do this because your comments, along with those of a few other posters, were causing a strange sort of interaction with the WordPress software. The result of this was that many people, including myself, could no longer view this story – we’d just get a blank white screen. It took me about a day to figure it out, until it hit me that it must have been one of the comments made after the last time I viewed this page. It turned out to be about 15 comments made by 5 different posters.
I wanted to let you know about this, so you don’t think your posts were deleted because of their content – on the contrary, I’m very pleased to have someone as articulate and compassionate as yourself making regular comments here.
Thanks for your understanding – Max The Cat
Thanks for explaining. Are my posts still causing problems? Am I doing something wrong?
No, you’re fine – I haven’t figured it out yet, but whatever it is, it isn’t just you. It could be something weird that happened due to the heavy traffic we’ve been seeing.I doubt I’ll ever know for sure, but everything is good now…
Wow. I’ve become obsessed with this case since seeing the HBO documentary. My immediate hunch was that she snapped and decided to kill herself. How else can her behavior be exclaimed? Witnesses say that her expression was fixed ahead as she drove down the wrong side of the road and that her car wasn’t swerving. There is no other logical explanation. And the fact that Daniel Schuler is now suing his brother in law reveals what a clueless scumbag he us.
This page is acting very weird, it freezes up my computer. I hope there is a backup somewhere of all these comments, it would be a bummer it it crashed because there are too many posts.
There are tooo many comments Fuzzy, and there are problems with the text of the story that are making it VERY difficult to resubmit the story. There are over 700 comments to your article, by far the most we’ve ever seen. Top that off with no easy way to delete the original, old comments, and you see where I’m at right now.
I’m working on it bro, but it’s time consuming beyond belief…Update 4 has taken up the slack, but it’s approaching 600 comments (in 10 days, mind you).
I wonder – are you using a MAC, or did you used one for this article?
Not sure how your site works. Can you create a new page for comments and put a link at the bottom of this page?
I’m trying to recreate the story on another page, but I’m having all kinds of problems.
Didn’t even know there was an update 4, i better head over there!
Because we live in the 21st century, no one in this country can claim that they have never heard of the consequences of drinking, getting high, and then getting behind the wheel of a car.
When a person drinks and drives, the typical reaction of family and friends? “Are you crazy? Are you trying to get us all killed?”
Unless she was borderline retarded, Diane Schuler knew that drinking and driving had the potential to kill her and all the kids. That makes it murder-suicide right there, whether it was exacerbated by other issues or not. It doesn’t matterr WHY she drank (although it would be nice to know) it only matters that she did it.
My theory meshes with many of the ones mentioned here — she was drinking, smoking, running late, and one or more of the kids caught her. The older girls would have known about drugs and alcohol, probably from a D.A.R.E. Program at school or something, freaked out, and called their parents. The parents told Diane to stay put, she told them it was being blown way out of proportion, and in her wasted state she rushed up the Taconic, oblivious to everything around her, trying to figure out how she was going to control the outcome of getting caught driving drunk and high with kids in the car. We know the rest of the sad, sad, sad story …
It was very inlighting your therry, and facts, more so then others iv read. Murdering herself and all the kids very possiable. I heard Diane’s husband Danny say on the Cable Docum. Movie that he was mad because Diane had died and left him with Bryan and he wasnt the one who wanted the kids it was her. I couldnt believe he said that about his own wife and kids. Maybe your right ,maybe the marriage was on the rocks and this was her why out with the kids. He sure made it clear he didnt want them, im sure he probably told her it to. Maybe even told her to kill herself too. Hell guess we will find out when are time come,hopefully thats not for along time. Well again the facts and what you think what happen was very interging and the best piece i read about Diane so far…But yet my it is a very sad story and my heart goes out to the 3 mens familys and even Dianes , but not her husband…….
You mention she Diane was 9 when her mother left her..about the age of one of the nieces…with 4 kids, right? Do you think this was the same time of year as when her mother left her? Do you have any of those facts? Seems like Dianes mother was cooperative in interviewing…wondering if she got triggered by the experience of being left while being overwhelmed with the care of, and sounds like sole care of 5 kids under the age of 8 camping no less…. and might have connected to that past memory…wonder if they camped when they were little……hard to fathom all of this, great job presenting some of these hidden details…
We are not privy to the exact circumstances, but it seems her mother left her father but did not abandon the family. All the other Hance members are still in contact with her and she stated she tried to have a relationship with Diane, but it was her choice to keep her out of her life for those 27 years. Now there is a significant number, 27…. the Saturn return, a time when all things come back and are re-evalutated in ones life. Perhaps the nieces were talking about going to see Grandma or something. It would seemt that her own kids were denied their grandmother, if Diane was not in contact with her, then i am sure her kids were not allowed to see their grandmother. Perhaps they did not even know she existed, but they were starting to get old enough to ask questions. Maybe the nieces were talking about the grandmother and Diane’s own kids may have started asking questions and wanted to see her. That could have triggered some pretty powerful feelings there…
I watched the documentary last night and it was so powerful. I am a former NY resident and lived in the area that this accident occurred. I cannot get this story out of my head. I feel so compelled to talk about it. One, because I feel a connection because of the location, but I have a friend who was also charged with a DWI after picking her children up from school. My best friends ex-husband just passed away in January of this year from an alcohol related incident. He was a closet drinker and drank vodka as well. He was a functioning alchoholic for years until things in life started to unravel. Also, his wife knew he drank, but not to the extent that he did until she started trully opening her eyes. He had bottles stashed everywhere. In February of 2009 he had is daugther in the car and he ran a red light and had an accident and fled the scene and ditched the car. He was later charged with drunk driving and child endangerment and spent 5 months in jail. Two years later he was playing football on Christmas Eve night – his 34th birthday, and went over the neighbors wall filled with ivy to retreave the ball and slipped and fell 15-20 feet. He hit his head and was declared brain dead. He was taken off life suport 3 days later and died. It was the most devasting thing I recall experiencing. I want to say, that although this didn’t seem like Diane’s character to drink and smoke while driving, she clearly had control issues, as her friends told stories about her, and she had family pain. Her best friend said that she would never talk about her husband or marriage. And Danny’s sister said that he never even wanted children, Diane did and said she’d take care of them and everything. She was a Director making over $100K a year, and had two kids, a home, and a life. I know the challenges of having kids and working and trying to have it all. I have the same. I also have family trauma from my parents divorce at 5 years old. If you don’t come to terms with things and heal from them, they will come out in other areas of your life. And so for Diane, it did! I think she used alchohol and marajuana to mask her pain. That day, who knows what happened. Maybe she had a fight with her husband. Maybe she had pain in her tooth. Maybe she had something medical going on, and maybe she did drive up the wrong entrance of the parkway in an attempt to kill herself. All I keep thinking about was the fear in those children while this was going on. It’s just horrible and a lesson to be learned. If you’re ill, get help! If you have emotional pain in your life that is causing problems in areas of your life, get help! No one needs to be a victim of your suffering. No one!
What happened to Update 4? It does not load, i just get a blank page.
Well I watched the documentary today for the 1st time, and I am convinced that doc was one of the WORST put together turn of events I have ever seen. The only thing(s) that seem to be consistent/accurate are the witnesses who observed her driving and the accident. Why was the husband NEVER questioned on in the doc as to why he was not concerned as to why his wife and children were taking so long to come back? He wanted to be alone fishing for a few days? BULLSHIT! He never wanted children? Too many unanswered questions on this one. Lead me to believe the producers were bias to the concerns of the Schulers’ and only released what was favorable to The Schulers. After reading this article and observing ALL that is missing from the doc, I have concluded something happened/came out, and Diane made the decision to kill herself and everyone in the car.
I don’t believe that this was a suicide…Ever try to take the keys away from a hardheaded drunk??? Their fine…they can make it home, they did it before…bla bla bla. I don’t think she was a closet alcoholic but would drink often and was able to hide it…and normally functioned well while drunk.
I think she had a hangover from the night before and decided to have a few drinks to clear her head. I also thing something was bothering her and her erratic driving at the beginning was from anger, so she drank more. I think this problem came out during one of the phone calls after she drank to much and why the brother set out to find her. But I also think she was so fu*ked up by that time that she decided she could still make it home, but got lost. Than realized she made a wrong turn and became neglectful (because she was hammered) when trying to correct her error, and turned on to the exit ramp when trying to reverse her direction as she was heading back south toward home. The determined driving stance she exhibited as reported by witnesses before the crash tells me she was prob at blackout and trying to focus on staying in one lane, ignoring her surroundings.
The poor kids were prob scared to death for those two miles and may have tried to tell her…but the hardheaded drunk doesn’t want to heat it, especially from children…they are always right.
I know drunks like this and they will fu*en kill you rather than admit they are doing something wrong…because by admitting they are doing something wrong would be admitting they are drunk and out of control.
Ask a bartender how hard it is to cut off a drunk…they will want to fight you for another drink, totally unreasonable people…And this mother was at that stage, unreasonable!
I think the husband knew she could get like this sometimes and she may have been that way the night before, as to why he just split with the dog the next day. I don’t think he thought she would drink on the way home and endanger the children…but what ever was bothering her the night before was festering, plus the hangover. The reason he lies about her drinking is because of the lawsuits…he is in survival mood.
very smart. totally throws out what I hadn’t believed in the beginning anyway–a suicide. Not because I had any confidence in a person I didn’t know or thought it too unthinkably selfish and act by a mother herself but it just didn’t fit. The idea of unflinching straight line in the wrong direction does indicate a black-out as in blocking out entirely all but those sensory perceptions that would enable her to keep the car inside the lane–but my God. Couldn’t she have remembered 5 lives in back of her and had something inside that would have grabbed her by the throat even for a second, just long enough to get that van over and safely on the ground. What primal instinct of protection and survival was missing in that woman? It’s so hard not to hate her bitterly.
Agreed. I also believe that she killed herself and those kids. I truly believe that something went down between her and her husband. Why else would he not have called her after FOUR hours of her driving home? I mean…it shouldn’t have taken that long. But I digress. I knew nothing about the Oyster Bay phone call. Will have to look more into that. Thank you.
I saw the documentary about this on hbo, and a line struck me, the husband said to the sister he was mad at diane (after her death)because “he never wanted to be a father and now she was gone ” (leaving him a single father) what an awful thing to say! is there a chance he spiked her breakfast to eliminate a controlling wife and 2 unwanted children…..
I know exactly what you mean. That remark struck a cord with me too. I no longer felt sorry for him. He struck me as a big baby who needed did not feet he should do anything but go to work and come home. Maybe he drove her to the final straw. I think she was tired of taking care of men and maybe wanted someone to help take care of her.
interesting but i think possibly the husband may have been smoking a joint in the morning … and she joined in … is it possible he put vodka in her coffee and s omething else? Could they have had a fight and he thought this was a good way to get rid of her and the family … he doesnt like being a single dad says he never wanted kids. There are no witness’s to what happned is that part of his plan? I dont trust the man … Tho fuzzy could be right …. what was so bad she would kill those children? And why didnt get stop for help if something was wrong? Still lots of unanswered questions we will never know the answer too …. but seems the husband is trying to benfit
After watching this documentary MANY times and reading many articles about this, I found your article. I have gone over and over this accident (if you can call it that) in my mind. For some unknown reason this story has captivated my thoughts. I believe what you have concluded is exactly right. The whole story just does not add up according to the family. I also thought the comment by the husband regarding being a father and being left with a child was really strange. He sounded like a big baby who could not do anything for himself. His sister in law said he had plenty of time to do things before going to work. I wanted to tell him that women do it alone every day. I also thought Dianes friends acted like they were holding back and not telling something. I believe they were leaving out the fact that she was a big drinker and partier. They did make it known she was the life of the party and the planner. Once again I think your conclusion is the only one to be concluded.
Not taking up for Danny, but I really do think Jay forgot he does have to sleep part of that time. People sometimes do that with folks who work weird shifts. Everything Jay said. During that rant rubbed me the wrong way. I know she is frustrated with Danny, but she ought to have taken what he said about Bryan to her grave.
That being said, I agree with you about Danny. He was no help to Diane. And since she was so, so, so bossy no one else wanted to help her either.
I just can’t figure out why he didn’t try to help her that last day. I know it might be a thankless job, but it hardly takes a genius to figure out that she might need help. She was driving five kids instead of only two and she was in a car that she wasn’t used to driving. He should have followed her. Both ways. And I don’t believe him when he said it was planned that he would leave her on her own. I think all that was planned was that she would take the van.
The responsibility for Diane’s behavior falls on her shoulders. But, Danny needs to learn a big lesson. Right now, he appears to be pushing too much off on Jay. Fortunately, I think she will handle it better than Diane although her way might just to get cusotody of Bryan and let Danny fend for himself. Much better than Diane’s way, but he won’t like it either.
I’m from MN and ashamed to say that the first I heard of this story was when I happened upon the HBO doc “There’s Something Wrong with Aunt Diane”. Like others, I had no preconceived notions since this was all brand new to me. I watched the doc once…then again…and again…and again. Like everyone on this site, this story has haunated me and now I can’t let it go.
It’s taken me days to go through all the posts on this site and now that I have I’ll leave my two cents.
1) There’s no way in hell she was “suffering” from a toothache. The autopsy results just don’t support that theory, plus the dental records were several years old.
2) Daniel is a hideous human being. Unbelievable that he would admit to anyone that he never wanted kids, especially to his sister-in-law, but what’s even more unbelievable is that the sister-in-law actually said this in the documentary. I had the same reaction as many of the posters. Well, that’s just great. Can’t wait until Bryan gets to see this when he’s older. I feel so bad for that boy being left with a jerk wad who never wanted him, and I think it was totally obvious at the end of the film as they’re walking the dog. The kid reaches his hand out for his dad and the dad ignores it. The kid is totally f*cked.
3) I thought it odd, too, that it’s JAY who is supporting Daniel in finding out the “truth”. Where’s his brother in all this? Looks like he (along with the Hances) have at least enough brain cells to realize they don’t want to be linked to this idiot as he carries on his crusade to “clear” his wife’s good name.
4) Obviously, Diane was a total control freak, probably from having to be in charge at such an early age taking care of the men folk after her mother left. Makes perfect sense that someone who seems to pride herself in being totally in control would not seek help when she so desperately needed it that day. Also makes perfect sense that she married someone so malleable as Daniel — someone she could control. But that might have become a double-edged sword in the long run as she probably got sick and tired of always being the one who had to take care of everything…bills, kids, laundry, dinner, etc.
5) If she was such a wonderful mom, her first thought should have been for the welfare of those kids, even above her control issues. As a parent, your natural instincts dictate that you protect kids in your care, regardless of the consequences to yourself. I would lay down my life in a heartbeat for my two grown kids and my grandkids. Her total disregard for those kids just flies in the face of the myth that she was such a great mom. It’s been determined that she stopped at least twice (once along the side of the road and the other at a rest stop). Why in the hell didn’t she just stay there if she wasn’t feeling well and call for help? Again, the control freak thing just wouldn’t allow it.
6) Leaving the cellphone at the side of the road was very telling for me. She obviously didn’t want to be bothered anymore by those pesky phone calls from her brother and sister-in-law, and she definitely didn’t want any of her nieces making any more calls.
7) I really don’t think the HBO doc did Daniel and Jay any favors. They looked pathetically in denial. Bottom line: Diane was drunk and high, and intentionally or not, killed a lot of people because of decisions she (and no one else) made that day. On one hand the “why” doesn’t matter, but on the other hand it sure would be nice to know what led up to it all.
8) I, too, thought it was weird that Daniel didn’t at least call Diane on the cell after four hours to find out where she was or if something was wrong. There have been a few occasions when my husband and I traveled separately, but we were in constant contact with each other. I just don’t get that he left her with all those kids and didn’t have the decency to at least follow her. Imagine if he had just done that one little thing. Total imbecile, and as far as I’m concerned, completely worthless as a husband and so-called father.
9) Anyone else think it’s weird that her cellphone was under her maiden name and not her married name even though she was known to everyone as Diane Schuler, not Diane Hance?
10) Her extremely brief visit to the gas station, supposedly in search of some pain killer, also struck me as strange. Like someone else said, if I don’t find something right away I look around for awhile and then I ask the clerk. Someone else suggested she might’ve been looking for some booze. That makes more sense to me. All she had to do was look toward the coolers to see if they stock the stuff. It’s not like she was going up and down the aisles looking for whatever she was looking for. She was in and out of there in a flash, so I’m not sure what that was about. Since the clerk refused to talk to the police, and since the only indication that she was looking for some pain killer came from the investigator hired by Daniel to clear his wife’s name, makes this information extremely suspect, IMO.
So many questions and so few answers. And, yes, Daniel might very well end up wishing he had never filed any lawsuits because he’ll be forced to answer some hard questions, which to date, he hasn’t had to do. I really do think something happened that weekend to send her over the edge…and it damn well wasn’t a stupid toothache!
I came to this story and website late, but I’m with the rest of you. I just want to know the truth about what led up to this horrible tragedy. In the meantime I’ll be checking back to see if anyone comes up with new info on this.
Not sure who wins the “most evil” award here…Diane or Casey Anthony. It’s a toss-up.
God bless us…every one.
“haunted” not “haunated”. Sorry.
FuzzyWuzzy – what an excellent piece. Just outstanding.
grannyvi4 – I agree with every word. Well put.
Max the Cat – thank you for publishing this. I do not understand why other websites would have a problem with this. It makes perfect sense, is all.
AWESOME article!!!!! I have wondered about suicide as a reason for the accident.
Did not know about the man from Oyster Bay—maybe she was having an affair– could be.
One thing I have heard is that Danny didn’t get to the camp-site until Frdiay. There are EZ pass records. Could he have been somewhere else from Thursday to Friday and then left that place and went to the camp-grounds??
I just read The Taconic Tragedy A Son’s Seach for the Truth by Jeanne Bastardi. It was a very telling book. There were things in there about the lack of 911 calls by the Schuler and Hance families and more that I did not realize. After reading it, I truely believe that the scenero that has been laid out here on this website is as accuate depiction of the crime that we are going to get. My Heart breaks for Mike Jr. and his family. To have to deal with what you have it almost too much. I pray that you find the answers that you seek and that you and your family can find peace. DS methodically by her drinking and getting high murdered 7 innocent people. The fact that her useless husband has not even apologized or even shown any sympathy for any of the victims and even his wife tells loads about the person he is. The fact that her brothers children all died and they have a memorial site set up for them and they didn’t even include the other girl (Erin) is a travesty in itself. It was like she was a piece of trash thrown aside never to be remembered. I cannot believe that this so called husband is not even crying for them is unbelievable to me. All the people on this site even the ones on the DS side have expressed more sympathy for the victims that he has. I do not know how he can live with himself. How can a man father two children and not want them. This is beyond belief. I think he might have been stoned or drunk too and that is why no one called him because they knew that he was useless. I know a lot of what I have written here has already been expressed, but I wanted to say it, as my heart is crying for the children and the innocent loss of life for all those involved. One day the truth will come out.
Thank You for your support.
WOW, just read this WHOLE thing.
Am I the first one to notice the disappearance of James C. Hartford after he was called out as being someone involved, like Daniel or Jay?
Then nothing….seems like James got a little freaked out by that accusation, which must have been to close to home, Huh Jay or Daniel?
Also, brief personal history before I comment further.
I am a 45 year old male, professional, and have been losing a battle with depression for a few years now. I drink I smoke, I am in general, a self medicated substance abuser trying to forget that everyone hates me. I have a young son who I love very much
I also can not stand pain and whatnot, complete wuss.
Not that James C seems to be coming back any more, but I will say that anyone who suggests she ingested that much alcohol, and weed, in that little of time, while driving with 5 kids in the car because of a toothache is actively trying to cover up the truth and distract as much as possible from the truth. That is so far outside of the realm of possibility that for anyone to even suggest is complete joke.
I am like the biggest loser ever, and I am a wuss, but never in my life have I thought “gee, my neck really hurts and I am gonna be in the car for a few hours with my kid, DRIVING, I think I’ll try chugging Vodka nonstop till I’m puking by the side of the road, while blazing a doob….”
Never happened and will never happen.
Alcohol really does not make pain go away, if it did I would be dead right now as I would be drinking even more than I do now, because I am in constant pain from car accident and stuff that no one cares about, point being I am an admitted (to you folks) self medication substance abuser, and STILL the “toothache” defense is a complete joke.
Now let me share some other darker information about myself….
and see if there are any correlaries that can be seen between my tales and DS’s behavior that morning.
At least twice in the last year I have had what may be classified as breakdowns. Not sure cause I don’t see enough doctors, but anyway.
These two instances were both precipitated by emotional events, with MY SPOUSE. In both instances, I was at a loss for how to cope with what had become of my life and the feeling that everything was so screwed up that living was useless.
BOTH times I was simply desperate to turn my brain off so I could stop suffering. BOTH TIMES I turned to alcohol (and weed, but the alcohol was my primary weapon of choice)
Both times I was drinking with a purpose. Not enjoying a few beers with friends……I am talking slamming as fast as I can, the strongest beer I can find and like, until i go totally off the deep end and I wake up the next day. Mission accomplished, brain turned off.
I often wonder if I am in fact trying to get drunk enough so I can actually hurt myself, because I know otherwise I am too much of a wuss to do that.
So lets see.
I have experienced personal events that have put me into a mental state of complete psychotic breakdown, where I have turned to alcohol in an unusual fashion even for me.
I drink as fast as possible to pass out. I don’t want help, nobody can talk to me.
Ahhhh this is taking to long, FUZZY and friends are completely correct.
Something set her off, to the point where she turned to alcohol and weed in an attempt to self medicate.
Based on the toxicology reports that we can all read, she was drinking with a purpose.
Was the purpose to forget, or to prepare, we will likely never know.
BUT she was drinking with a purpose.
TRUST me when I say that when in the midst of your world falling apart, suffering from depression, self medicating, etc etc etc, that is when you do things like this.
I am not thinking rationally, in fact the complete opposite.
As I get drunker in my effort to shut down, the depression deepens and sanity goes out the door.
THAT is where she was that morning.
Something pushed her……….something that to at least her, at that time was totally devastating and unsurvivable.
And that is when logic starts not applying, all bets are off.
Too many pieces of an affair are obvious.
Lying about whereabouts, racing to get to camp before they do when you were supposed to be there the day before, lying till the truth (EZpass records) can no longer be denied.
Separate cars, I’ll take the dog you take the 5 kids, and don’t think I’m stopping at Mcdonalds with you either.
No reports of a new girlfriend as far as I can see, so that leaves what???
Danny and Jay walking around hand in hand………
Like there is something else there besides support.
hmm, that sounds a lot like some information that might devastate a person. To the point of doing things outside even her norm.
Your husband is cheating on you with your sister inlaw.
Everyone’s family is ruined in that case.
I think this would precede my third psychotic breakdown binge episode if I learned something like that.
And I would think that would be a good reason EVERYONE linked on that side is not telling all the truth.
it is ALL just too embarrassing.
If you would lie to cover up an affair, or have one to start, seems logical that you would lie to cover up any “bad results” of your affair.
Like your wife flipping out and killing your whole family and another to boot because she caught you cheating with sister in-law.
It just really all adds up to well……