8 Die in Crash on Taconic State Parkway

[Native New Yorker]

I think that this was an intentional act, and I think that the cell phone calls were from Diane telling someone that she had had it, game over, etc. I think that is why she left or threw the cell phone, did not want anyone to change her mind. The drinking was to give her courage, and I do not think she had driven drunk with kids before....though I do think she was an alcoholic,and I am not sure about her husband, either....

WHY was she given all those kids to drive back? In the best of circumstances, it is not a good idea to travel with that many! Did all of the younger ones have car seats?

My opinion only

 

[justathought]

I have read that the Husband's salary was in the $40Ks, but nowhere have I seen anything about her salary.

SouthCityMom,
I appreciate your comments and your sharing. You know of which you post.

However, on the finances. We don't have a clue what their finances were.
One of the could have had a trust fund, an inheritance, a family member could have helped them purchase their house. Certainly a public records search would yield up some of that info...but it's intrusive, up to others to go there.

For the life of me, I can't imagine why they don't go for the second, even third autopsy, just for piece of mind. Morbid, but my first question is: are they positive the woman autopsied (and buried, don't know if open or closed casket) was Diane. Mix ups can happen in morgues. I think a DNA test to be positive on that point is first prerequesite.

If it's her, she hid it and hid it well apparently. For those of us who have been there and found out after years even that a loved one had a serious problem, the question to yourself over and over is, why didn't I know? But the answer is you didn't know.......so, I don't feel the family should be held accountable for her actions...because the truth is, after you do know, you can't force another adult to do anything...no matter how much you try...you hit legal obstacles every step of the way....so finally the only solution is divorce (including for liability fears) which is more than challenging in some states when the other party doesn't even cooperate in that.

I agree...she reacted differently than before on the same amount of consumption, tried to deal with that new reality, and subsequently became fearful of being found out.

 

[Openmind]

He didn't rush home - he went off to fish, which I do not find unusual. She called her brother because her husband fishing was out of cell range.

OK -- that makes sense. I had read she took the kids because she was a more careful driver and wanted to take them McDonalds.

Now, I will admit that I thought the bottle of vodka was something the adults had brought for the trip, but then one story said they didn't know where it had come from. I figured they all did a little drinking/smoking and that the vodka and weed were something they had all brought and she was carrying it home with most of the other stuff.

Again, I don't see this as the family not cooperating - just them trying to catch up with all of this

I'd hate to admit, even it everyone in the family already knew it and probably did it as well, that while I was camping I was drinking and doing drugs. Not when you are taking care of five kids and very young children at that.


This is one of those issues that makes people uncomfortable. People drink and do "recreational" drugs and assume they are cool and in control so no harm done. Problem is, if people didn't drink and do drugs, how many situations we read about in TC would never happen--either from the perpetrator committing the crime or the victim being more vulnerable due to diminished focus. I've never done drugs, but when I drink I am not as lucid or in control of myself as when I am not drinking. I've never been drunk -- I go to sleep long before that happens. But even then, if I did drink myself to sleep, I would not be able to know if a child was in need or be focused enough to think as quickly if in danger.

 

[southcitymom]

I think that this was an intentional act, and I think that the cell phone calls were from Diane telling someone that she had had it, game over, etc. I think that is why she left or threw the cell phone, did not want anyone to change her mind. The drinking was to give her courage, and I do not think she had driven drunk with kids before....though I do think she was an alcoholic,and I am not sure about her husband, either....

WHY was she given all those kids to drive back? In the best of circumstances, it is not a good idea to travel with that many! Did all of the younger ones have car seats?

My opinion only

If those phone calls were her telling people in her family "game over" don't you think they would have called 911 immediately? Or do you think she was telling someone outside the family that?

The hiding a big drug problem seems to fit with what I have gleaned of her personality. The "I'm killing myself, all of our family's kids and some strangers" doesn't. JMHO.

I have had 5 kids in my car solo more times than I can count for long and short trips - I have two, my sister has three, then there are friends, carpool, activities, etc.....I don't know what's strange about that - by all accounts she was a first-rate mother in her family's eyes- I doubt that was the first time she had traveled with a gaggles of children and I doubt anyone suspected it would be her last time.

 

[PrayersForMaura]

How on earth did they afford a nanny on that salary? There is no way. No way. Nanny's upstate get $500 + per week. I can only imagine what a LI nanny would charge. She had to be making more than 40K.

Lets say even if take home was 80K, that is $6600 per month. $2000 for mortgage & property taxes, (although, a mortgage on a $340K house can vary, if they bought real estate in the 90;s when it was cheaper, they may have had a lower mortgage). Gas, food, clothes, utilities, for a family of 4 is not cheap. Add a nanny at $2500 per month (give or take $500). How could they afford to go camping, drive decent cars, etc?

Actually, after taxes and insurance, $80K a year only brings home a net amount of $4,200 a month.

 

[PrayersForMaura]

Maybe the house was given to them or they had an inheritance.

One has to wonder where a person gets pot. I think you must know people who sell it or grow it. I wouldn't have the slightest idea where to get it but I hear it isn't cheap.

 

[Trino]

I've now had experience with a couple of closet drinkers, and without exception they will drink vodka during the day because they believe it's neutral and nobody can smell it. Well, we can smell it, it smells like vodka! But I have been amazed - truly amazed - at the ingenuity alcoholics can employ to hide their drinking. The get so they can act almost normal, even though they will blow a 0.40 if you can get a meter near them.

I had a stepmother who sounds just like Diane - everything seemed fine until she rolled her car on the PCH in Malibu and nearly killed her daughter. After talking with a counselor at the hospital my father went back to the house and found all the hidden bottles - in the laundry room behind the bleach, in the bathrooms in the toilet tanks, in the cars, you name it. All vodka, all partially drunk.

Maybe I've missed this discussion, but were any hidden bottles or was pot found in the house? I'd also like to know how much alcohol was in the home that the couple used.

 

[SleuthyMama]

Trino, I am unaware of the police searching the house for anything at this point. The only reported alcohol was the broken bottle of vodka found in the wreckage. Considering the lack of cooperation on the part of Dan Schuler I don't know if police will find anything further without a search warrant and I would assume they would need much more at this point to get one.

 

[ElizaAvalon]

One has to wonder where a person gets pot. I think you must know people who sell it or grow it. I wouldn't have the slightest idea where to get it but I hear it isn't cheap.

You just need to know someone who can get it for you. Not hard to get on LI, I'm sure.

 

[southcitymom]

BBM

SCM, I really value your weighing in on this subject considering your history. You have offered a perspective that has caused me to think about some things in a different way. But with all due respect, I don't agree with you on the family not cooperating. I think Daniel Schuler's refusal to meet w/ State Police qualifies as not cooperating. At least for me it does.

I do hear you and others with that, SM, and you may be right. But I try to slip into his shoes - his wife, daughter, nieces and three others are dead, his young son is in the hospital, an illegal substance that he probably uses is involved, he is reeling from shock at the BAC of his wife whom he did not know to be an addict and many people have publicly called him criminal and blamed him......his world must be spinning in a way I can't even pretend to comprehend......given all that, I might want to talk to a lawyer before I talk to the police also....or might want the lawyer with me. I can't begrudge him that right now.

Unless his lawyer tells him otherwise, I believe he will talk to the police - they have finally met with his wife's brother's family - and I think that he should.

 

[Native New Yorker]

People use that term very loosely, as it sounds very upscale....
she did not live in a high end community......like some other places in Long Island, for example....
chances are "the nanny" was a high school girl, who came in to babysit as needed.....

also, on many of the local NY comment boards, people are stating that the father was also a drinker....and even unkindly have stated that he looks like one......puffy features, not just from crying, etc.

As for suicide threats, how many times do people not believe others when they make threats? Maybe she just said "I 've had it....." maybe no one believed her, maybe she had said it all before????

 

[ElizaAvalon]

She had five kids in her car and we know of a stop with them all at McDonald's - with 5 kids (and perhaps a need to smoke a joint), I can only imagine that there may well have been a few other stops. I don't think the timing is out of whack while traveling with children.

BBM.

I do. I've done her exact drive (the correct route, though) with young children in the car, many times.

It's a one bathroom stop drive, if that.

It does not take as long as it took her. No way, no how.

 

[southcitymom]

BIM.

I do. I've done her exact drive (the correct route, though) with young children in the car, many times.

It's a one bathroom stop drive, if that.

It does not take as long as it took her. No way, no how.

What is BIM? :blowkiss:

You may be right - I am only going on our own experiences with travel not in that area. I can EASILY add 1 and 1/2 to 2 hours to any 5-7 hour road trip I make if I have kids with me. If I added stopping to make phone calls or smoke a joint or going slower because I feel awful, it might be longer.

 

[SleuthyMama]

I absolutely give you that, SCM. I do. He is in a place that I would hope no one ever has to be in ever again. The pain, anger, fear, sorrow and regret is unfathomable. I'm sure he is going through other emotions I've not even thought of. And I'm trying to put myself in his shoes and I think, for me, and I can only speak for myself, I think I would try and cooperate with the police first and foremost BEFORE I have my lawyer out there and we're doing a press conference. By all means, get representation. But take that representation and sit down with the state police and answer their questions before you take to the airways. JMHO.

 

[southcitymom]

I absolutely give you that, SCM. I do. He is in a place that I would hope no one ever has to be in ever again. The pain, anger, fear, sorrow and regret is unfathomable. I'm sure he is going through other emotions I've not even thought of. And I'm trying to put myself in his shoes and I think, for me, and I can only speak for myself, I think I would try and cooperate with the police first and foremost BEFORE I have my lawyer out there and we're doing a press conference. By all means, get representation. But take that representation and sit down with the state police and answer their questions before you take to the airways. JMHO.

Sure...unless your attorney says, hold up, let's get more facts, find out what they know, you are paying me to take my hard-earned advice, so I would suggest you listen. Any time an attorney gets involved, it usually slows the police interview process down considerably - which is, of course, why police would rather people not "lawyer up." This attorney has a job to do and I don't have a problem with that.

 

[ElizaAvalon]

Can someone please point me to where it says she had a nanny?

First of all, the word nanny? Unless you are Casey Anthony, the term "nanny" is usually used to describe a live-in child caretaker. The Schulers having a payrolled nanny is highly unlikely.

I have read, however, that Diane herself was a nanny before she got her job at Cablevision.

Also, as a Cablevision executive Diane most likely made more than her husband. (I know admin assistants who make more than her husband.)

 

[Native New Yorker]

Before the fatal crash, she was described as driving this way


"Schuler wove in and out of traffic, straddled two lanes, tailgated other vehicles, flashed her lights, and honked her horn on the roads leading up to the Taconic, the witnesses reported. She even used the shoulder to pass other cars for miles before turning the wrong way onto the highway, state police said.”

Then, once on the Taconic, she seemed to drive more calmly....thoughts, anyone??

 

[ElizaAvalon]

What is BIM? :blowkiss:

You may be right - I am only going on our own experiences with travel not in that area. I can EASILY add 1 and 1/2 to 2 hours to any 5-7 hour road trip I make if I have kids with me. If I added stopping to make phone calls or smoke a joint or going slower because I feel awful, it might be longer.

BIM is a typo for BBM, LOL!

Truthfully, there are not many places to stop from the beginning of her ride to the end of the Tappan Zee. It's all highway. If you want to use the bathroom, you stop at Ramapo, like she did, but rest stops are few and far between.

We do have people saying she was driving aggressively, honking and flashing her lights to get people to move out of her way. But so far, no one saying she was going slower than the rest of the traffic.

But, I'm thinking it was phone calls...

 

[southcitymom]

BIM is a typo for BBM, LOL!

Truthfully, there are not many places to stop from the beginning of her ride to the end of the Tappan Zee. It's all highway. If you want to use the bathroom, you stop at Ramapo, like she did, but rest stops are few and far between.

We do have people saying she was driving aggressively, honking and flashing her lights to get people to move out of her way. But so far, no one saying she was going slower than the rest of the traffic.

But, I'm thinking it was phone calls...

I'm STILL an idiot...what is BBM?

 

[Anubis]

After going over this in my mind, I have to say I believe this was an intentional act. I believe she snagged the vodka before she left, slammed it while driving (that would explain the very high BAC and 6 oz of undigested vodka in her belly) and probably smoked the pop while driving too. She stopped and called her brother, who knows what was said, but if he was alarmed enough to call the cops when he arrived and found her gone, something was said more than "she said she was disoriented". She dropped her cell phone there. Camping and driving with five kids under the age of 7. Sounds like my mom! (she had six kids in 8 years). Potential marital problems, who knows, it's all speculation. Suicidal people do strange things and often do take others with them, not thinking about the others, just themselves (suicide is a very selfish act). I think the attempt to place criminal blame on the family is pointless. I understand the anger and dispair but I am certain they feel it as well. Brother lost his three daughters, husband lost wife and daughter. Three strangers gone. Place the blame where it lies, directly on the shoulders of Diane Schuler. Honestly, will everyone feel better when they vilify the husband and family and sue them or put them in prison? To what end? Aren't they ruined already? And a 5 year old who just lost his mom, sister and three cousins gets to be put into foster care while daddy goes to jail (for complicity?) This is a terribly sad story but trying to blame the family is absurd.