There's Something Wrong with Aunt Diane - any recent updates?

Nothing??

Not one person who has a cousin who is married to someone who used to work with diane schuler? Or someone who left the dreadfully tacky long island years ago but still knows the goings-on at home?

No one who works with, used to work with, knows, used to know, went to school with or otherwise could dish some gossip on daniel schuler?

It's on HBO again right now

Those accents. They could be the smartest people in the world but that accent makes them sound like dumbasses. Actually I do think Diane's husband was simple minded.

I'm watching it. I was thrown a little that they showed Diane's corpse at the accident scene.

Since this aired I have read comments saying that it could have been that Diane blacked out after taking Ambien.

It would be very interesting to know the content of the phone conversation Aunt Diane had with her brother before the accident.

R5, she didn't take Ambien, she drank a quart of vodka and smoked weed.

Five years after a violent wrong-way collision on the Taconic State Parkway killed eight people — including four young children — a flurry of civil lawsuits stemming from the crash have been dropped or quietly settled, with the terms sealed by a state judge.

But while the lawsuits are done, relatives of some of those killed said the unanswered questions are not.

"It's been a long five years," said Michael Bastardi Jr., whose father and brother were killed when Diane Schuler of Long Island drove her minivan head-on into their car. "I'm really honestly just disgusted the way this whole thing went. We are still being dodged by all the questions that we wanted answered."

"We just didn't get the answers we needed," said Bastardi, 55.

Bastardi and several attorneys associated with the court cases declined to discuss the cases Wednesday. But court records show that civil cases, including one filed by the Bastardi family in December 2009, had been settled by April.

The July 26, 2009, crash was one of Westchester County's most horrific. Investigators said Diane Schuler drove against traffic and struck Bastardi's car. The collision killed Schuler, her 2-year-old daughter and her three nieces — Emma Hance, 8; Alyson Hance, 7; and Katie Hance, 5. Schuler's son, Bryan, who was 5 at the time, was the only survivor.

Michael Bastardi, 81, and his 49-year-old son Guy Bastardi were killed, along with family friend Daniel Longo, 74. The three men, all from Yonkers, were on their way to a family cookout in Yorktown.

Schuler had a blood-alcohol level of 0.19, more than twice the legal limit. Traces of THC in her body suggested that she had smoked marijuana as recently as 15 minutes before the crash.

Schuler's family, including her husband, Daniel Schuler, blamed her bizarre behavior on an undefined medical condition. Daniel Schuler and his in-laws, Warren and Jackie Hance, later sued each other over the crash.

The Bastardi and Longo families pushed for prosecutors to convene a grand jury, but it never happened. Michael Bastardi Jr., who wrote a book about the experience, remains convinced that the Schuler and Hance families can provide some details to shed light on the events of that day. He hopes they will eventually be willing to sit down.

"I do hope, someday," Bastardi said, "maybe if they have a change of heart they'll reach out and we'll find out what really went on."

Found a reddit discussion on this a poster thinks that Ambien may have had something to do with it

Four lawsuits have been settled from a 2009 crash that killed eight after a drunk and high West Babylon woman drove the wrong way on the Taconic State Parkway, according to court documents and attorneys handling two of the cases.

The lawsuits against the estate of Diane Schuler, 36, claimed she was negligent when she drove a minivan south in the northbound lanes of the parkway on July 26, 2009. Schuler, one of her children and three of her young nieces in the minivan were killed, as were three people in the northbound car she hit.

Officials said Schuler's blood-alcohol level was 0.19, more than twice the legal limit of 0.08, and that she had consumed marijuana.

"The terms of the settlement are confidential and the court records are sealed," attorney Kevin Grennan, of Garden City, said Wednesday. Online records show the four cases, all in state Supreme Court in Westchester County, were marked with a disposition date of Sept. 11, 2013.

Grennan said there are still two cases pending in the state Court of Claims alleging that the design of the roadway was faulty. Grennan was the attorney in one of the Westchester County cases, representing Bryan Schuler, who was 5 at the time and the sole survivor, and the estate of Erin Schuler, 2, who was killed. He also is the attorney in one of the Court of Claims cases.

The settlement included claims by the estates of the three Yonkers men in the other car who died: Guy Bastardi, 49; his father, Michael Bastardi, 81; and their friend, Daniel Longo, 74.

Surprising story at the link

Diane Schuler Tragedy -- Lies Uncovered: [UPDATED 2014]

My r11 that was an interesting take. Money will out eventually. Some one will want a nice payday and will talk. Families always feed on the carcasses.

Bitch was wasted! End of story!

When you are on Ambien you could eat a whole meal and drink a bottle of booze and not even know it. Maybe it was Ambien? Diane seemed to have a lot of hidden anger/resentment also.

The autopsy showed no.traces of Ambien in her system. It did show a blood alcohol level of 0.19 and high levels of thc from smoking weed up to 15 minutes before she died.

The link at R11 was so poorly written it was unreadable. Hard to find anything "interesting" about that.

"When you are on Ambien you could eat a whole meal and drink a bottle of booze and not even know it. Maybe it was Ambien?"

There was no fucking Ambien! That's just another lame, totally unproven excuse for Shuler's behavior. Other excuses for her: she was having a stroke, she was having a seizure, she had diabetes, she had a tooth abscess, she had a cyst on her leg that may be induced a blood clot. The simple truth is that she guzzled vodka and smoked pot, got blotto and killed eight people, including herself.

We have had 2 wrong way drivers on the expressway here kill other people in the last week. WTF?

[quote]That's just another lame, totally unproven excuse for Shuler's behavior. Other excuses for her: she was having a stroke, she was having a seizure, she had diabetes, she had a tooth abscess, she had a cyst on her leg that may be induced a blood clot. The simple truth is that she guzzled vodka and smoked pot, got blotto and killed eight people, including herself.

Yeah it's rather amazing people kept wanting to believe ANYTHING happened other that the obvious.

If this was a tv movie Rosie O'Donnell could play Diane and Patton Oswalt could be Danny

Diane and her husband drank and smoked pot all weekend. Sunday morning when she got up she was still drunk from the night before. She didn't feel like dealing with 5 little kids and wasn't looking forward to the boring 2 hour ride home. She drank some vodka right out of the bottle and probably smoked some pot. Her first stop was McDonalds where she drank a little more and smoked a little more pot. She then got some orange juice so she mix more vodka into it and drink it without the kids seeing it. She's really tired from partying all weekend without sleep, thus the iced coffee. She continues along and her head is pounding. She stops at the Sunoco convenience store for some Aspirin and perhaps another nip and toke. She's drinking this vodka quickly and in large gulps because she can't let the kids see this. Now she's sick to her stomach and bombed out of her mind. She gets out of the car a few times to puke. It's August - hot and humid. The hot air makes her feel worse. She calls her brother. He knows she's drunk and gets pissed and tells her to stay put because he's on his way to get his kids. Words are exchanged and she's really angry because her brother is yelling at her saying he knows she's a drunk and a pothead and should never have trusted her with his kids. Now not only is she drunk and high but she's really really mad. The child calls her parents and is crying because Diane is screaming at the kids to shut the hell up. She drives up the Taconic the wrong way and doesn't even realize it. Her hands are on the wheel in the 2:00 and 10:00 position. She's not weaving. She's driving straight ahead probably with one eye closed because she's seeing double. She's concentrating on just driving straight and staying in one lane. She's going really fast because she just wants to get home and go to bed. Maybe she also doesn't know where her husband is and wants to get home to see if he's there. Her husband, brother and sister-in-law all know she's impaired but figure it's something she always does so she'll manage. They don't call 911 or the police because they don't want her to get arrested for a DUI. She was a murderer that took the lives of 5 innocent children and 3 innocent men and her husband, bother and sister-in-laws - Jackie and Jay all covered for her. No mystery!

[quote] any recent updates?

No, they're all still dead, as far as we know.

She's fine - she sends her love!

I think R21 nailed it. No fucking mystery, she was completely impaired, sick from too my alcohol and angry.

One rumor was that she suspected her husband was having an affair with her sister-in-law. She purposely killed the kids and herself because she was an angry control freak.

[quote] Her husband, brother and sister-in-law all know she's impaired but figure it's something she always does so she'll manage. They don't call 911 or the police because they don't want her to get arrested for a DUI.

So instead alerting the cops they gambled on the lives of the children--just to keep the drunken sow from getting a DUI. If this is true, Dumb Danny From Long Guyland is a real asshole for suing the families of the little girls! At least his sleazy lawyer's been disbarred and pretty much lost everything.

Yes, why hasn't her brother ever revealed the details of the phone call to Diane? That would be illuminating.

Because it would reveal far too much, R27.

The book by the mother who lost the three girls was very softball. You'd think she had no anger at all. I can understand her being consumed with grief but it feels like she's holding back and it makes it more tragic. The woman took her girls away. We do know that Diane got into an argument with the counterboy at McDonalds because her son wanted Chicken McNuggets and they were only serving breakfast but that's who Diane was, wanted to make sure the children all got what they want.

In other words, she was a bitch.

bump

This always seemed to me like murder-suicide; why she just didn't let the nieces out, hand them her phone and say "call your dad to come get you", who knows, but given how long she meandered around before getting on the Taconic and eyewitness testimony that she drove bullet-straight once she started driving the wrong way while people were blowing the horn at her always seemed like to me that at some point on that drive home she decided to kill herself and the kids. It's obviously sad for the kids and the guys she killed, but that incredibly tightly-wound, perfectionist women seemed like a time bomb.

I think R21 has it. Thanks, R21. Not sarcastic: what's your IQ? Have you had it tested?

[quote] One rumor was that she suspected her husband was having an affair with her sister-in-law. She purposely killed the kids and herself because she was an angry control freak.

Thank you, Janice Min. Columbia School of Journalism.

R21 does make sense. This case fascinates me in a gruesome way. I can't imagine anything more awful than being a kid in that van. Her husband: deny deny deny.

If there was Ambien involved (maybe they're just keeping it out of the press) the families may have gotten a huge settlement from the company and a gag order.

Ambien or not, you just don't do that

What I do not understand is how was she smoking pot without the kids noticing? or was she doing it right in front of them?

I don't really get the ambien thing either. I take it to sleep and I haven't done anything crazy. I do have to go to sleep right away cuz it makes me ravingly hungry. I don't know how much you'd have to take to sleep drive or sleep eat.

I haven't heard anything about this case in a long time. I guess it's over. Jackie Hance had another baby to replace the three girls she lost. I'm glad the Bastardis sued and got some compensation for the loss of their loved ones. Danny Schuler is every bit as much of a douchebag as he appears to be; he brought up some absurd lawsuits against his brother-in-law (because it was his vehicle that the blotto Diane was driving) and the county (he thought ineffectual road signs contributed to the drunk/stoned Diana's predicament) , but I don't think he prevailed in them, at least I hope he didn't. Jackie Hance recounts a phone conversation with him where he called her "crazy" and basically behaved like a complete ass. Diane had been overweight; when she lost the weight she married the first bum that came along, namely Danny Schuler. I wonder if he's still a security guard? I wonder if he's found another woman stupid enough to marry him? And that poor little boy Bryan, the only survivor of the crash; I wonder how he's doing, and if he's fully recovered from his injuries. The poor kid, his mother and sister dead, and stuck with a lamebrain asshole of a father.

I didn't much care for the documentary. It seemed to want to find a medical reason to account for Diana Schuler's abominable behavior. But it really was simple. Diane Schuler, from what is known about her, was a very angry, controlling, impulsive person. She had a demanding job, a no good husband and two children she was totally responsible for. No doubt she needed to take the edge off frequently and did it by drinking and smoking pot. If she did it to excess or was actually an alcoholic it would have been easy to hide it from that clueless family. That last weekend she was stuck with a long drive and five kids while her cluck of a husband took off with just the dog. No doubt she was pissed and irritated. She decided she'd have a few belts and a few smokes; no doubt she'd done something like this before and thought she could handle it., that is, driving while intoxicated. She overdid it and....the rest is history. And it was entirely her own fault. The decisions she made ended eight lives, four of them children.

R39, I just saw the documentary. I agree with most of your points except that I don't think the goal of the documentary filmmakers was to find a medical reason for what she did. I think it really revealed the depths of the family's state of denial, and what lengths her husband and sister-in-law were willing go to "prove" that it was a medical issue, despite mounting evidence to the contrary. I think it started to sink in to Jay Schuler toward the end, when the investigator hired by Dominic Barbara (sic?) told her on the phone that his independent lab tests returned the same results as the original autopsy regarding Diane's blood alcohol levels.

Plus, as the documentary unfolds, we're given more and more insights into the personal problems that may have led her to Diane's final destructive act. For example, when her husband's mother freely admits that Diane's husband acted more like her "oldest child" than a husband; when Jay lets it slip that the Diane's husband didn't really want to have kids and that he resents having to be a single parent now; when Diane's friends talk about her perfectionism; and when her own mother in law admits she doesn't understand how Diane found the time to work full time and take care of the children and household chores (because your son--Diane's husband--was useless, duh). There was one interesting scene where, when asked if the family was going to pay to exhume the body and do more testing, sister in law Jay said something to the effect of, "well we can't do that because we don't have Diane's salary coming in anymore." Clearly, Diane had a lot of responsibility on her shoulders in that family.

And of course, there was the fact that Diane's mother had abandoned Diane and her brothers when Diane was only nine, leaving Diane to become the "woman of the house" to her siblings. I know from my mother's experience as the oldest daughter among five siblings that, even with two parents present, she was expected to help with the younger kids in a way that her older brother was not. Therefore, it doesn't surprise me that Diane never forgave her mother for making her a surrogate mother. Meanwhile, her brothers did make peace with the mom.

The whole documentary just fascinates me.

Very good post R40; the story fascinated me too - because it starts out as coverage of this terrible accident in which the circumstance seem so inconsistent with the person everyone thought they knew, but as the story unfolds, you get insight into what happened with this woman and how the people that think they knew her (like her sister in law) really had no clue. From all the various testimonials about her (like her friends that she cut off because apparently they didn't like Danny), you just see that that woman was a loving mom, but also full of so much rage.

I remember seeing the husband on Larry King shortly after the accident, and he had so much rage you could have added him to the nuclear stockpile.

R40, I didn't know about Diane's mother abandoning her at 9 years old. Her alcoholism makes more sense. After all, Princess Diana's mother abandoned her at 6 years old, and look what a nut she turned out to be.

If made me sick how the clod husband and the idiot sister in law tried to make it seem like she drank and smokde pot because she was out of her head due to a stroke, or a heart attack, or a seizure, or diabetes, or a cyst on her leg, or a tooth abscess, a a headache. They made a big deal out of her asking for pain meds at the convenience store: "something must have been bothering her." Oh, I'm sure she was bothered; bothered by being left holding the bag while her dipshit husband went on his merry way. She probably wanted med for a tension headache, but ended up resorting to vodka and pot. Anyway, the way they were trying to absolve her of responsibility for killing eight people was sickening. At one point the retarded hubby said "could she have been hallucinating and drinking vodka thinking it was water?" Jesus Christ! She bought orange juice to use as a mixer! She was pissed and angry, and wanted to ease her tension by drinking and smoking pot. That was it. End of story.

I'm watching this now (for the 4th or 5th time) -- where do you see that she was "full of rage?"

I agree that she was drunk and high, btw. I drink and smoke at home -- NO ONE would expect it of me! I'm a parent, and can understand how a person could drive in that condition. (Dude... I do.)

[R21] sounds like he/she was right in the car! I mean, ALL of that made sense! [R40] is on the nose, too. I don't think they were trying to find a way to medically excuse, but I do think they were sympathetic to Diane.

I'm as fascinated by this case, just like I am with all the big ones: OJ, Jim Jones, Connecticut doctor murder, Trayvon Martin... So sad.

[quote] I'm a parent, and can understand how a person could drive in that condition. (Dude... I do.)

You drive when you are drunk and high?

You are a PARENT and you drive when you are drunk and high?

Do I need to lecture you on how fucking stupid you are being? Take a damn uber.

[quote] any recent updates?

She's still dead!

Yeah, Diane's brother not calling the police right away is the tip off for me that they all knew she was drunk. I would have IMMEDIATELY called the cops.

I drive by the spot where they were killed every day. Little crosses and flowers are in the medians where the two cars ended up. Days after the accident you could still see a few items (like a tennis ball) on the side of the road.

Horrifying story.

There's something wrong with Ginny in billing.

Only slightly off topic, there was a great Law & Order episode based on this during its final season. This was very close to the actual incident timewise, so much of what we know now hadn't come out yet. In the L&O episode the Diane character was threatening to whistle blow on the uselessness of an expensive cancer drug her company was promoting, so a co-worker silenced her by covertly getting her drunk and high. When he found out she was driving a van with children he desperately tried calling both her and 911 but it was too late. Whatever, It's a really good episode.

The new aunt Diane?

She was supposedly texting and the police ruled out the kids as being a distraction.

"I'm watching this now (for the 4th or 5th time) -- where do you see that she was "full of rage?"

She had a lot of pent up rage. She was angry at her mother for leaving her family. She was angry at her husband for being such a useless loser. She was the breadwinner in the family and had to take full responsibility for the kids. She was quick tempered and impulsive. And she tried to hide all this anger by smoking pot and drinking in secret. Or maybe not in secret; it wouldn't have been hard to hide her alcoholism from that clueless family. Diane Schuler was a time bomb waiting to happen. And when she finally exploded she took seven people with her, four of them children.

I do not get why she stayed with that asshole husband of hers. She made twice his salary. He was not worth putting up with.

Maintaining cookie cutters lives is not worth the price.

Maybe Lawn Guyland Danny can check in here and tell us the answers to all these questions...

Any updates on Aunt Diane?

She's still dead r55. She still drove while fucked up and killed lots of people.

Why was she so drunk on a Sunday afternoon?

It had to be murder-suicide. She drank to work up the courage to do it.

Why that weekend though, R58? Did she plan to kill all the kids before the camping trip or did she decide it suddenly when she was was driving home?

Something happened on the trip that made her snap. I have no idea. Maybe her husband told her he wanted a divorce or that he never wanted kids. She also said something to her brother during that last phone call that was probably very telling about her motives.

Why does it seem the brother is covering up for Diane? Why can't he give the Bastardis answers to their questions? They are as much victims as he and his wife are. I don't get the lingering loyalty to his POS sister.

After her mom left, I think Diane was molested by one of her brothers or fathers. It messed her up. She said something about it during the call to her brother. That’s my theory as to why the brother wont talk about their conversation.

I just find it hard to believe this woman was an alcoholic and no one thought that she should not drive the kids around. There are signs, EVERYONE IGNORED THESE SIGNS? I don't get it.

R25’s theory would explain why the family was acting so cagey about the phone call and also why Diane’s sister-in-law was so subdued in the book she wrote about the crash.

When did her lowlife husband remarry?

R65 that's no way to describe Datalounge Danny!

After reading in the NY Daily News that “Aunt Diane” *left her cell phone on the side of the road* after that last mysterious phone call with the brother (purposely leaving it behind—the only item she did that with) and suddenly driving “pin straight” 80-85mph down the wrong side of the freeway (after she had weaved and tailgated and driven erratically before for 60 miles and the the brother said he was on his way and for her to stay put after the last phone call) I definitely think she did it on purpose.

Leaving the phone behind on the side of the road and then getting in the minivan with the kids for the final time looks pretty bad.

One of the eyewitnesses to the crash said that there was no more bobbing and weaving and that the car was “straight as a pin”, Diane’s “eyes didn’t blink” and she was staring straight ahead and the witness thought the driver looked like “someone determined to kill themselves” right before the crash occurred. That’s pretty damning.

I just don’t get how she goes from “camping every weekend” and being a PTA mom who “doesn’t let the kids out of her sight...a great mom” (per a neighbor) to purposely terrifying and murdering all the kids, herself, and a handful of drivers. It’s really bizarre and I admit I don’t understand this case in that way.

She had a bad toothache.

Here is a link to a pretty decent article written on the 10th anniversary of the crash that has a really detailed/comprehensive timeline of the whole day and even shows the exact place that Diane left the phone on the side of the road after a wrong number had been “dialed three times”

From the movie, "There's Something Wrong with Aunt Diane," it did seem like Diane's husband & the sister-in-law were having an affair. The 2 kept insisting that if Diane had had alcohol problems, they would have know about it. Yet, the sis-in-law goes outside, alone (except for camera man), to smoke a cigarette and claims that nobody knows that she smokes cigarettes.

IMO, Diane was plain drunk on alcohol.

[quote] I just find it hard to believe this woman was an alcoholic and no one thought that she should not drive the kids around. There are signs, EVERYONE IGNORED THESE SIGNS? I don't get it.

Maybe all the adults were heavy drinkers and MJ smokers. If someone had said, "Diane, you're too drunk to drive," someone else would have had to drive a vanload of children.

I don't think this was the 1st time Diane had driven drunk with children in the car.

I think the theory that she had been molested by the brother makes sense, that she killed his kids in revenge. Or maybe one of them said something to her which set her off, because she saw that the pattern was repeating.

Aunt Diane on her wedding day; I was surprised that she doesn’t look like an evil lush (I haven’t seen the documentary yet).

I was surprised to learn that Diane has taken all of her nieces camping with just her, her husband, and her kids—the parents of the girls did not go with them.

The articles and interview with investigators at a press conference said that Diane had the equivalent of “10 drinks” in her system and that a giant empty bottle of Absolut Vodka was found on the floor of the driver’s side as witnesses pulled Diane’s body out of the burning vehicle.

That’s insane. How was she even conscious after drinking that much?

The McDonald’s employees and the camp ground owner also swear that Diane wasn’t drunk when they saw and interacted with them that morning.

The gas station/store attendant said she was sober as well when she care in to try to buy some Tylenol.

So what’s the theory of when exactly she can cracked open the giant bottle of vodka and was smoking all the pot (seems like it might have happened quite fast?)

It was in her blood and there was still 6 (was it ounces or quarts?) of undigested alcohol still in her stomach (even after pulling over to vomit twice)—so we know she did it. I’m just wondering at what point exactly she started what seems to have been a binge?

Also: early on, she called her sister-in-law to say that there was a lot of traffic and that was delaying her getting back with her nieces. She then asked the SIL for tickets for her and her husband and one of their kids to see one of the nieces in a play at church that she was starring in.

It makes me wonder at what point is that day she decided she was going to just kill all of them?

Also: none of the kids were in car seats or had seat belts on and all of them were just crammed next to each other on the seats in the backseat. So no basic car safety was used for any of the 5 kids—even the 2 year old? I was surprised she wouldn’t have a car seat at least.

Couldn’t Diane’s husband have been charged with negligence for that part at least? (Not making sure his 2 year old daughter had a car seat?)

[quote]The McDonald’s employees and the camp ground owner also swear that Diane wasn’t drunk when they saw and interacted with them that morning.

Well she got an OJ at McDonalds, presumably as a mixer for the vodka, and that is when she started drinking.

Ah, thanks, R73. I read in one article that the kids were playing at the McDonald’s playpen thing for an hour. If that’s true, I’m guessing Aunt Diane stepped out to drink and smoke during at least some of that time?

Why didn't she just leave the car and kill herself by jumping off a bridge or something? Any history of mental illness? Psychotic break?

From R69s link:

"July 25, 2011: HBO releases "There's Something Wrong with Aunt Diane," with the cooperation of Daniel Schuler and his sister-in-law Jay. It chronicles the Schuler family's absolute denial that Diane was drunk and high at the time of the crash."

This is interesting to me. It speaks to a family of people for whom rigid, absolute denial of an obvious fact is the go-to in terms of dealing with something extremely traumatic. I'm not going to speculate on any specific molestation etc. (although obvs. it could have happened) but this is quite near to the psychological make-up of someone who might be prone to snapping like this. Someone who deals by not dealing, if you know what I mean?

People I know have lived their whole lives like this, lives of silent, absolute denial that anything is wrong (as the sole strategy to deal with some being very wrong). I don't think it's uncommon. Are these the people who snap?

I'm going to go Google this case now because I want more info on the phone call with the brother. Did he just refuse to say what was said, or was he cagey or obviously lying or what?

The drinking and pot, to me, seem like probable 'working herself up to actually doing it after deciding to do it' aids. Like she decided she and those kids were going to die that day AND THEN started boozing heavily and smoking. Does anyone else see it that way? I don't live in the US so don't recall much media coverage of this case. How many people went with the 'she was drunk and it was an accident' narrative vs 'she knew what she was doing, the drink was help, not cause/murder-suicide' narrative?

Horrifically fascinating.

R76, I agree with you. I think she was drinking/smoking for liquid courage and was resolved to murder-suicide that day. She was a selfish pig either way. But I lean towards intentional act.

R76 I also agree she had likely made the decision and was determined to go out wasted. All the eyewitness statements tend to support it being an intentional act.

Okay, guys, if we believe this 2009 NY POST article, Diane was a secret alcoholic who drank basically every day at a bar for at least two years and in the last few months of her life was miserable in her marriage and felt “trapped” in it.

It’s interesting to note that Diane called the brother and SIL multiple times but never called the husband once after they left the campgrounds. That does make the “marriage was was in major trouble” thing make sense.

Also: the alleged drinking buddy in the article says that Diane’s favorite drink was a “screwdriver” and that she had a super high tolerance for...you guessed it....vodka!

That's always seemed obvious to me r79, she was clearly an undercover alchie. Her family trying to claim she didn't drink were probably clueless to what was really going on with her. Family members often are.

From the article at R79:

“The Long Island mother who drove bombed out of her mind with a minivan full of kids — triggering a head-on collision that killed 8 — routinely bellied up to the bar and griped about her failing marriage and stressful job, a drinking buddy told The Post.

Diane Schuler, 30 — who died in the wrong-way crash on the Taconic Parkway — recently “seemed under pressure, like work and family were getting to her,” said the pal, Sheila, who asked that her last name be withheld.

“Her marriage seemed a bit rocky, and I think she felt trapped by it,” the friend said of Schuler’s relationship with her husband, Daniel, a Nassau County public-safety officer. “For the last couple of months, she didn’t appear to be a happy woman.”

Schuler, a manager in Cablevision’s accounting department, would suck down screwdrivers at a Long Island saloon, where she was a regular the past few years and usually came by herself, her pal said, adding:

“I wouldn’t say she was an alcoholic, but she liked her drinks.

“She liked her vodka.”

A 1.75-liter bottle of Absolut was found in Schuler’s wrecked Ford Windstar after the fiery July 26 smash-up, which killed her, her 2-year-old daughter, her three young nieces and three Yonkers men in the SUV she hit.

The collision occurred after the troubled West Babylon resident drove south for 1.7 miles in the northbound lanes of the Taconic Parkway. She was high on marijuana and had the equivalent of 10 shots of booze in her stomach.”

I think she’s tremendous!

Would it have killed you to have at least posted a picture or link OP? I mean would that have been so hard? Would it? Why don’t you try to think more of others next time before you post?

....

Bump!

Did Diane catch on fire?

judging from the death photos, R86, no. no she did not.

A Karen.

She can be in my school carpool anytime.

Update: still dead