In 2009, on a sunny Sunday just outside New York, Diane Schuler was travelling down the Taconic State Parkway with her son, her daughter and her three nieces.
She was driving at around 85 miles per hour, along the wrong side of the Parkway, for 1.7 miles. Diane hit another car head on, forcing it into another vehicle on the road.
Eight people died that day.
Why did this accident happen? What possessed Diane to enter a one way exit ramp clearly marked ‘Do Not Enter’? Why, when she was travelling with five children in the car, was she reported to be driving aggressively?
The background
Diane was a 36-year-old account executive, bringing home around $100,000 at the time of the crash. People who knew her reported her to be a devoted mother and wife, and a credit to her job. Her and her husband Daniel had two children, five-year-old Bryan and two-year-old Erin.
On the day of the incident, the Schuler family had been driving back from a weekend away at their Long Island property.
The trip
On 26th July, 2009, Diane left the camping ground at 9:30am with the five children, driving a red Ford Windstar. A witness at the camping ground who had met Diane several times before stated that she saw her leave, and that she looked to be sober and acting completely normal.
During the journey, Diane stopped off at a gas station and attempted to purchase over the counter pain relief, but the store didn’t sell it. At 11am, Diane and her party were back on the road, driving along Interstate 87.
After the incident, witnesses reported seeing a red minivan driving aggressively shortly after 11am, tailgating cars, flashing its lights and straddling the lanes.
At 11:37, Diane called her brother, Warren Hance, the father of Diane’s three nieces travelling with her, telling him they were stuck in traffic. Minutes later, Diane was spotted on the side of the road, bent over with her hands on her knees, as if she was throwing up. She was reported to be in the same position a short time later at a separate rest stop.
Around 1pm, another call was placed from Diane’s phone to Hance. He reported that he spoke to one of his daughters, who said that her aunt was having trouble seeing and speaking clearly. Diane then spoke to her brother telling him she felt disoriented and couldn’t see clearly. Police have now reported that Diane was pulled in at a rest stop when she made this call. Her brother told her to stay where she was and that he would come to meet her, however follow-up calls he made weren’t answered.
There was a lot of mystery surrounding Diane’s phone, as it was never found with the wreckage, however it was later located on the side of the road, giving the impression that Diane threw the phone out of the window after speaking to her brother.
The crash
At 1:33pm, two separate drivers called 911 to report that a red minivan was heading towards the exit ramp of the Taconic State Parkway. The end of the exit ramp was clearly marked as one way, and no exit, however Diane continued driving.
Within the next minute, four motorists called 911 stating that a car was driving the wrong way down the parkway.
After just under two miles, Diane’s Ford Windstar collided head on with a Chevrolet TrailBlazer at 85 mph. The Chevrolet ricocheted on impact and struck another vehicle.
Diane, her daughter and her three nieces all died in the crash. The three passengers of the TrailBlazer also died, bringing the total to eight. The passengers of the third vehicle survived with minor injuries. Diane’s son, Bryan, survived the crash with a severe head trauma and broken bones, and was left recuperating in the hospital for three months.
Just days after the crash, toxicology reports conducted on Diane’s body shocked everyone who knew her. It was found that Diane had a blood alcohol level of 0.19, with the legal limit being 0.08. The toxicologists also found strong levels of THC in Diane’s bloodstream.
Her family, particularly her husband, immediately disputed these results, explaining that Diane rarely drank to excess, and that she would never have put her children in danger. Her family admitted that Diane regularly smoked marijuana, as it helped her fight her insomnia, but denied that she had been smoking or drinking on the day of the accident. Several witnesses who saw Diane that day also stated that she seemed completely sober.
Diane’s toxicology reported was repeated in 2010, and the same results were returned. This meant that during the hours of 11am, when she left the rest stop, and 1:30pm, Diane consumed the equivalent of 10 drinks and smoked marijuana.
Diane’s family continue to reject the toxicology reports, and fight to clear her name. In the media, Diane has been presented as a super mum on the outside, but a closet alcoholic and drug addict underneath. Sadly, it seems as though we’ll never really know why Diane drove the wrong way down the interstate, without realising it, for almost two miles.
Eight people lost their lives that day, including Diane herself. The only good things to come out of this terrible accident was a heightened awareness of the dangers of a hidden addiction, and a foundation set up by the Hence’s, which supports young girls to realise their full potential.
When did you first hear about this case? Do you think that Diane was secretly intoxicated? Or could it have been a medical condition which caused her to crash?
October 5, 2017 at 6:50 pm
Hi. So glad I found your site! I feel like I’m your long lost American grandmother. I too have a passion for “crime” with a special interest in missing persons, especially under strange circumstances. Anyway, regarding this case, it was one that was very close to home. I traveled the Taconic Pkwy frequently and my first thought was that you would have to be paying NO attention when getting on it as the ONE WAY is very clear. You would know right away if you got on it wrong. So, she was oblivious to her surroundings in my opinion. I also don’t think it’s suicide as there is no case in history that I’m aware of, in which a woman takes children and strangers with her. If suicidal, I think she would do it alone. I also heard at the time that she tried to buy alcohol at the convenience store but couldn’t. Given the description of those who saw her at the campsite versus her phone calls and later sightings, I think it may have been medical as others have stated. The autopsy results are also a bit confusing and the THC level could just be historical. If she was a frequent smoker, her blood level would be cumulative and not indicative of smoking in the past hour or two. The alcohol level leads me to believe that she drank more than her family thought she did. Otherwise that alcohol level would make her pass out. Why did she drive/ continue to drive when she was having so much trouble? Because she thought she could make it home.
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September 3, 2017 at 10:16 pm
Family trying to “clear her name”. Not to discourage them, but she did kill 8 people. No clearing that, regardless of why she did it.
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June 29, 2017 at 2:36 pm
I get the feeling that many people are pointing fingers at the husband because it is the easiest thing to believe (its more of a herd-mentality thinking). I first watched the documentary in 2014 and until now I have watched it 3 times. My initial suspicion is the same as now – that there was something medical involved. Due to a neurological condition that I have, I have suffered trigeminal neuralgia (TN) twice in my life and it will not show up on a toxicology report or investigation. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trigeminal_neuralgia).
I have felt that this is what Diane may have suffered. She tried to buy meds and when that failed she tried alcohol to numb the pain, which worked intermittently and therefore she had a swig every time the pain came up (which could be every few minutes or so). When the alcohol lost its effect she turned to weed to numb the pain. Unfortunately by that time the alcohol she had consumed was too much and the mixing with marijuana is what caused her judgement to be completely impaired. For anyone to say, why didnt she go to another place to buy meds, I would say that they have limited knowledge of the effect TN can have on you and your senses.
I do not believe she was a closet alcoholic as she would probably have had a bottle somewhere at work (which hasnt been mentioned anywhere) [Incidentally not much seems to have been said about her colleagues at work, and how well they knew her].. She was said to be driving eratically and extremely close to other cars – my take on this is that she had promised Jackie Hance that she would have the girls back home in time. But her judgement was impaired by this time so all she could do was honk, swerve, overtake, to get home in time. About the driving “dead pin straight” – she knew she had drunk too much and she couldnt afford to make a mistake so this is the best thing she thought to do to get home as quick as possible (I think), except that she entered the Taconic through the wrong side. For other drivers to state that “her eyes didnt even move” – I humbly do not think it is possible to notice that without yourself nearly having an accident. There are inconsistencies though – we are told that Bryan was found in the car under the other bodies (God bless their souls) however Jay Schuler quotes Bryan as saying he “flew out of the car like superman”. But I also want to know that through a court order, is it not possible to get a transcript of a phone call? The one where Diane spoke to her brother, and the other unknown calls made.
I do not believe in the suicide theory unless in the following situation: Daniel was having an affair, Diane just found out about it, which brought the painful memories of her mother leaving, and which threw her over the edge. But I do not believe this for the following reason: she would have snapped at the campsite and not done the whole McDonalds and filling petrol. Or maybe she wanted to give the kids a last meal and make sure the car would burn if there was an accident. But then an affair would have had to involve one of the Hance’s if she decided to teach them a lesson and take their kids away for good. But then again the Hance’s were family so I do not subscribe to the affair theory leading to this incident.
Did she leave her phone on the Jersey divider on purpose? I dont believe so. I am more inclined to believe that she put the phone down, she was well on her way to being intoxicated, and just didnt pick up the phone (forgot; didnt realize she left it there…could be anything).
Its sad that with the results of the toxicology, many assumed or even concluded that she was an alcoholic or a closet alcoholic.
But a point to ponder – lets say you were the husband, you knew your wife drinks a little here and there, she smokes weed every now and then, BUT this happens and you really had no answers for this incident – so apart from defending the dignity of your wife, what else is there to say? What else *can* you say?
Yes she had all that alcohol and THC in her system. But I do not think it is enough, or even fair, to brand her a (closet) alcoholic. In short, I think it was bad judgement leading to a totally uncontrollable situation that took control of her.
Sorry for the long post.
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June 18, 2017 at 3:05 am
I just watched the documentary, but remember the case pretty clearly from when the accident happened back in 2009. It remains a mystery even after the autopsy and after the tox results were verified in 2010, I think, because Diane Schuler’s behavior that day, at least according to the official findings, makes no apparent sense. Why would a control freak drink that recklessly — not to mention copiously! — from an open bottle on the front seat of her car within such a brief time span (an hour and a half, tops)? This is not typical behavior of even a normally sloppy drunk. Plus, she was smoking marijuana no more than an hour before her death. Alcoholism is not an explanation. Adults drink on campouts. Carrying a bottle of vodka back and forth from a camping trip is not unusual. But carrying it open on the front seat of the car, especially with 5 kids onboard, IS. No, for Diane Schuler or anyone , alcoholic or teetotaler, this was not typical. There’s something we don’t know, something that explains the inexplicable, and it’s not alcoholism per se, much less Ambien or even a stroke, since these would have been found on autopsy, and they weren’t. Why did she drink that much? And in such a hurry? And under these conditions? Migraine or hangover might explain why she started to drink, but not the loss of control. Glucose malfunction? That might — might — explain the tox report, but not the open bottle in the front seat. Suicide might explain the inexplicable. But the public has no information to conclude that. So we go on laying blame hither and non. Until some further evidence comes out, I think the only fair conclusion is that we can’t say what happened. It was out of character for the woman, and nobody really knows why she did what she did. May she and all the innocent victims of this tragedy rest in peace.
I do have one small mystery within the bigger one: The autopsy clearly states the dead woman had long, light brown hair while all her pictures, including the video that day at the gas station, show Diane Schuler with short, darkish brown hair? Did she wear a wig, or what?
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February 19, 2017 at 3:14 am
I do truly believe that she had to have been an alcoholic to even be conscious at with a BAC of 0.19, BUT I wonder why her organs didn’t show it. I do wonder also if maybe she didn’t have delirium as a result of a combination of the marijuana, alcohol, and her abscessed tooth.
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January 10, 2017 at 11:51 pm
I just watched the documentary on this case and it disturbed me greatly. One thing I wonder is why during those hours that she was driving around, her husband never called to see why she hadn’t made it home yet. This makes me wonder if they had a fight before they left the campground.
Seems as though she just couldn’t bear to go home. The angressive driving that was “precise” is so confusing. Taken at face value, she was an aggressive alcoholic pot user that wanted to die and wanted her kids and brother’s kids to die with her. She wasn’t swerving so it seems she was in some sense aware of her actions. I think accepting that is so hard we keep looking for another understanding of it.
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January 10, 2017 at 11:50 pm
I just watched the documentary on this case and it disturbed me greatly. One thing I wonder is why during those hours that she was driving around, her husband never called to see why she hadn’t made it home yet. This makes me wonder if they had a fight before they left the campground.
Seems as though she just couldn’t bear to go home. The angressive driving that was “precise” is so confusing. Taken at face value, she was an aggressive alcoholic pot user that wanted to die and wanted her kids and brother’s kids to die with her. She wasn’t swerving so it seems she was in some sense aware of her actions. I think accepting that is so hard we keep looking for another understanding of it.
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November 23, 2016 at 9:40 pm
I remember when this happened years ago and was shocked so much that I thought there had to be a medical condition that caused her to crash. I came across your blog yesterday and it brought everything back and I watched the documentary, Something is wrong with Aunt Diane. The bottom line for me is that this woman chose to drive drunk and killed 8 people, including herself. Her family has tried to defend her but the truth is if she only had one or two drinks a month or hardly ever there is NO WAY she would have been functioning with a BAC of .19. She was an alcoholic, and I know this because I have been a high functioning alcoholic for years. The person who has a drink once in a while would have been passed out long before they had a level that high. The whole thing is very tragic. I just wish her family could come to terms with the truth.
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November 23, 2016 at 9:53 pm
I’m so glad that my post led to you digging deeper into this case! I definitely think there’s something to your thoughts. Thank you so much for sharing them 🙂
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November 20, 2016 at 3:41 pm
Great topic and great article. This case has always saddened and baffled me. It still occasionally keeps me up at night pondering the details. At the end of the day, I do think that this was a classic case of some one with an addiction and her husband was a the classic enabler. The were able to cover it up and keep it hidden at home. For one, responsible Ans occasional social users for pot and booze, don’t take weed on a camping trip when transporting five children. Secondly, social drinkers don’t brink a bootle of booze that size camping when it’s five kids and two adults present. That’s a lot of booze for two people. After the accident, they really needed to cover but, because her husband could have found himself in legal trouble. He knew the weed and booze was there. They probably got hit together before they left the camp ground. Just a few of my thoughts!
Shannon Lorraine
Umbrellaofsuspicion.com
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November 20, 2016 at 3:50 pm
Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts on this case! I agree with the amount of drunk you’ve stated, I didn’t think about the possibility that her husband allowed her to drive drunk!
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November 14, 2016 at 4:08 pm
This story has always bothered me! I lived in New York City when this happened and I remember that day so well, and first hearing it reported on the news, it was horrible to learn about. What a nightmare.
I do think that she was a functional alcoholic who worked very hard to make her problem unnoticeable, it probably didn’t even seem like much of a problem to her. I think that her family was so invested in preserving an image of her to last after her death that they chose to completely ignore factual evidence.
Did you watch the documentary “There’s Something Wrong With Aunt Diane”? I think it’s on youtube. Such a sad situation all around, regardless of what the truth is. I remember thinking when I watched it that her family seems very much in denial, unwilling to even bend slightly on any issues. It’s just a hard line of how perfect she was, the ideal wife and mother, this very American domestic bliss image.
I can’t remember if I heard it in the film or elsewhere, but there was a rumor that she asked at the convenience store where she’s last caught on tape if they sold alcohol and not painkillers, and that’s why she left empty-handed. Makes more sense to me than the painkiller claim, because I’ve never seen an American convenience store where you can’t buy a small two-pill pack of the most common over the counter pain relievers. What was your opinion on what happened?
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November 14, 2016 at 4:26 pm
I was so confused at how she had managed to ingest so much alcohol AND drugs, I wasn’t even sure she had time during the drive! Alongside that, I was confused as to why she would throw her phone away and why she would continue driving when she realised she was on the wrong side of the road. Sadly, I think this is a case where we’ll never get the truth.
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