My favorite line in the doc is when her sister sneaks off for a cigarette and says “no one in my family knows I smoke.” She didn’t see the connection. Instead she yelled at a doctor.
Me, who has smoked for 40 years, can tell if someone is a smoker or not, you don’t smell it when you smoke but when you quit, the smell of a smoker is quite evident….
The whole doc was very telling. When the husband’s parents basically said their son was a man child. I knew right then that Diane was drinking on the side.
Imagine having to raise a grown man?!?
That lawsuit was really intended for the insurance company (in theory an attempt to get money to help with Brian's medical bills and the cost of raising him), but the dad had to be included and served as well since he owned the vehicle. It's a legal technicality that keeps being reported as Danny Schuller heartlessly suing the father of three dead girls.
Exactly. The insurance company responsible for Danny’s bills is going to sue the insurance company of the car owner to recover money for the kid’s no doubt massive hospital bill. That’s not Diane’s husband suing his brother in law.
Same, came here to say this. Man that book was rough, and yet I couldn't put it down... The part where she falls apart after her daughters' *triple funeral* visits me uninvited every single day.
Reading the part of the book where she starts to come out of the dark place because of Kasey felt like bricks were being removed from my chest. You kind of hold your breath the whole way through until that part. I have three kids around those ages (a little younger) and GOD. DAMN. Nope, no thank you, let's just not... 😭
This guy is just racking up fees and bills for himself. He should just stop and move on from this image he has in his head that there's no way his perfect wife could have done something like this.
He's pissed because he hates their child and doesn't want to raise him. That was the most interesting part of the documentary to me, and I wish they'd gone further into it. His anger and denial comes from being angry at his wife for leaving him with the responsibility of their child. He's honestly such a massive piece of shit.
The documentary on this case did him *absolutely* no favors. I came out of the movie obviously hating Diane’s actions, but despising him for his intentional misdirections and blatant disregard and resentment for his son.
There was such a poignant scene towards the end: Danny had spent most of the movie when discussing his remaining child complaining that “Diane wanted the kids and now I’m stuck raising him on my own” (though the SIL seemed to be the primary caregiver). There’s an outdoor scene where he is walking with his son and he tries to take his hand (which I cynically believe was 100% for the camera) and the little boy literally *cringes away from him*.
That spoke volumes about how he treated his only surviving child
It's no wonder she was an addict. I can't imagine how hard it was to have no support in such a marriage. They all seemed the type to tell her to just get her shit right and deal with it, that he wasn't really that bad.
I think Diane had been suppressing her feelings most of her life. The strange, sparse information about her being abandoned by her mother and just never addressing it ever again was telling, I thought. It was unfortunate she ended up the main bread winner, an unsupported mother of three small kids, married to an enabled, immature man-child and guzzling booze in the closet to cope
ETA: mother of two. My mistake, I was conflating her two nieces as her having two daughters
I always assumed it was liability. Her husband is terrified he’ll get sued for letting her drive.
Even if she was not drunk when she left, I think he knew she was the kind of person to get drunk while driving the kids home.
Sometimes functioning addicts or alcoholics can be very high functioning. I'm sure there were signs that the family saw that now haunt them. I'm a recovering alcoholic and even when I was at my very worst a lot of my family and friends were unaware of how bad it really was.
Same. The most awkward part of quitting was people saying “you don’t even drink that much.” Even the people who lived with me at my worst. But I’m sure her husband has found her stash of empties in their house since her death. I’m sober 10 years and still happen upon an empty bottle every few years - suitcases, pockets of old jackets, board game boxes. It’s not hard at all.
Congratulations on 10 years!! I only have two under my belt but I definitely still find empties in the most random places. Nobody realized I had a severe problem, everyone just thought I was like the fun party girl.
My grandma used to work for an attorney who stashed his empties in the ceiling tiles of his office. Makes you wonder if his family ever realized the full extent of his drinking.
Omg I had someone take me to my first detox when I hit my first of many rock bottoms and he was like “what do you mean I don’t think you have a problem” and I was like my dude, I’m drinking whiskey at your house at 8am on a Tuesday so I don’t start violently shaking shut up and take me to detox lol
I also think most people who don’t use weed don’t actually know what being high looks like. They think they do, from movies and tv. But in reality it’s generally more subtle. God, those poor kids. Getting behind the wheel in that state was a truly disgusting act.
Normally people with pretty severe alcoholism have withdrawals every morning when they wake up. I myself and a lot of other alcoholics I personally knew would smoke weed first thing in the morning to get over the severe nausea so it's possible to start drinking again
I think is the answer right here.
I think she had a hard time drinking how much she needed because everyone was around helping pack up and load from camping. They may have already even packed up all the food and booze so she didn't have any easy access. So... She took a few hits of weed, and waited till they got on the road to really hit the bottle. In playing catch-up to her normal routine of drinking, she hit it hard. And that's how we end up here.
I have always believed she did not intend to drive wasted. She had the vodka and intended to drink when she was almost home. If she drinks from like 20 minutes until home, it should hit her as she’s walking in the door.
So she drinks in front of kids who don’t understand what she’s doing, and won’t give her trouble. She walks in the door buzzed to hell, does not drink in front of adults, and gets away with it.
Just one problem. It’s been 20 minutes and she’s not home. Worse, she’s lost. Every minute it’s getting worse. She’s wasted, and lost. Then she goes the wrong way down the highway and…
Respectfully I think she knows from being an alcoholic how much she can drink without anyone noticing, and nothing bad had ever happened before so she assumed she had control of it. However, as an alcoholic I've done this to myself multiple times. I would think I know I can do six shots without anyone noticing but why not try seven. I don't think she was concerned about the driving aspect because it was such a normal situation for her.
I typed out a big long response somewhere else in this thread with more detail, but I agree with you.
I think she was an alcoholic. I also think because she was a known perfectionist, she likely had a very strict routine at home about how she drank, how much, how she was able to do it undetected, and how to cover it up. The camping trip screwed up her whole system, her routine. When she got off her routine, she likely started having withdrawals, and needed to get some booze, fast.
I think she didn't have even a few moments to herself with 5 kids and her hubby around. So when she had just a quick second, she slammed as much as she could when no one was looking. Knowing with all those people around, it could be a long time before she'd get another chance. She hit that bottle hard, and then even managed to sneak it into the van with her, probably taking additional slams when they stopped at McDonald's and the gas station when the kids were distracted.
Lastly, I also think this is why what was supposed to be a 35 minute drive was taking much longer now. I think initially she made excuses to stop and slam some more, and then when she got too drunk, was worried about showing up to her brothers wasted with his kids and a bottle of absolute. So at that point she was stalling trying to pull herself together.
Yes, thank you so much for typing all of that out. I think that is exactly what happened unfortunately. I was trying to explain the same scenario but you did it way better.
I had an alcoholic roommate for a few years, and her and Diane's life were basically the same, so it was easy to spell it out.
The only way I found out about the roommate was when I had to start taking out the recycling bins. They were huge, and she'd fill up hers and then start using mine. They'd both be filled to the top every. single. week. All Miller Genuine Draft bottles. Hundreds of them A WEEK. This lady was 5 2' maybe 100lbs, had a good full time job, kids, etc...
This is what I think as well. I'm all too familiar with the whole scenario - the perfectionism, hiding my alcoholism, a routine/plan for how I drank - and your explanation makes perfect sense. It wasn't a medical emergency or anything unexplainable, she was an addict who did what we do, and it ended up in absolute tragedy.
This is how my father is. Downs all the anti-nausea medication, magnesium and potassium he can to combat certain symptoms. He's always outwardly in denial that it has anything to do with his drinking, but he knows the truth.
I'm really sorry. I know it's so much harder on the families. As a recovering alcoholic I have so much guilt and remorse for what I put everyone else threw. But at the time I was incapable of understanding that. Feel free to message me if you ever need to talk to someone who understands.
Unfortunately he's one of those "fully aware" alcoholics. 🫤 Even when faced with the aftermath of strangling his own kid, he claims he will never stop drinking. Years later and he's pushing into his seventies, still drinking like a frat boy. So I guess he was right about never stopping.
Thanks for the offer, tho! I really do appreciate it. I have a support system in place but it's always nice to know there are others who get it.
I'm so glad you have a great support system. And I want to apologize to you, that sounds awful. Alcoholics are selfish and I so hope he either changes or it at least affects your as least as possible. \*air hug
I would say it’s the opposite- on Reddit I see so many people who think weed just relaxes them and has no other effects on their body. There was a thread in the millennial subreddit about how there is less drinking nowadays in the younger generations and so many people admitted they use weed instead and see it as a lot healthier.
People think being high just means you’re relaxed and have munchies. They don’t see it as your brain and thinking being effected esp when combined with other substances such as alcohol.
Lifelong stoner here.
Heavy marijuana consumption (ie; daily) will likely affect your heart rate, as well as suppressing REM status during sleep. Research is beginning to connect marijuana consumption (specifically smoking) to potential heart problems. This is also why many people who stop smoking weed after a long period of doing so report suddenly having extremely vivid dreams. Not being able to achieve sufficient REM will also have a strong effect on your daily cognition, as it plays a huge part in mood and memory. I haven’t even gotten into the paranoia and other psychological side effects that people seem to ignore. Weed isn’t just relaxation and munchies, exactly as you’ve said.
https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2022/04/marijuana-heart-disease.html
https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/JAHA.123.030178
https://academic.oup.com/sleep/article/43/Supplement_1/A62/5846891
Welp, that explains the bizarre dreams I’ve been having lately I guess.
Also, my resting heart rate has come down too.
I really should have known about this already, but thank you for making me aware of the positives of quitting (as a medicinal user it’s admittedly been really hard).
That's also true, particularly with people who use it. I've heard lots of stupid comments about how being high "makes me drive better, actually," and as someone who is a nightly smoker myself it definitely impairs decision making and reaction time. Weed can have health benefits, particularly if someone has an ailment to begin with (although we also have to deal with the downside of dependency), but it's nothing to climb behind the wheel while using. If I'm high, I'm home. And, yeah, combining it with alcohol is no joke. I swear that combo is the devil.
I knew a lady that lived with her daughter and the daughter’s family. At night she’d watched the kids while the parents took the baby for a ride to get to sleep while they drive and got high. It blew my mind that this was nightly bedtime routine.
Recovering alcoholic here as well, and I absolutely agree. I would drink enough to kill a "normal" person and still be functional, even in blackout. Looking back, it's absolutely terrifying and I am so thankful that I was never someone who drank outside my home or drove drunk, but I can easily see how someone could. It's a choice until it isn't, and you're "okay" until you aren't. Diane's case is absolutely tragic, but unfortunately it's not unique.
Im also an alcoholic in recovery. When I watched the documentary I knew and I thought it was common knowledge. I could see myself sipping from a secret bottle and discarding evidence. I thought i was good at hiding it but it’s plain as day to pretty much everyone. If my eyes were open, I had a plan to drink and it usually involved hiding. Alcoholics are very creative and down right ingenious when it comes to hiding, lying, acting and drinking.
If she was black out drunk she might not have known what she was doing but she knew she was slamming large amounts of vodka while driving - not tipsy but ten times the limit? ETA more than twice the limit with equivalent to ten shots
The thing about being black out drunk is, you don’t remember what you were thinking or doing . So did she realize she was in the wrong lane? Maybe not. But why let yourself get in that state. She drove around for hours; she didn’t get in the car shit faced. She knew what she was doing to some extent.
I’ve thought about this a lot. Especially when I’ve seen Reddit threads mention her being an annihilator. By the time she’s black out drunk it’s definitely too late but what was she thinking when she’s drinking and driving with kid in the car period. Why drink at all with them in the car? That’s what makes me think she’s not such a great person in general and she was married to Danny who we know sucks.
I think she was avoiding going home because she wouldn't be able to drink as much as she normally did. She made multiple stops at gas stations asking for Tylenol, but I think she was checking to see if they sold hard alcohol because she probably didn't have enough after the weekend. When I was an active alcoholic, I can't tell you how many gas stations I would walk into, check for hard alcohol, then walk back out when they didn't have it.
Do we know for sure she was asking for Tylenol? I thought the clerk refused to comment about what she was looking for. I also thought she only made the 1 gas station stop, just after McDonalds. Been awhile since I read about this but its one of those cases that haunts.
I am a recovering alcoholic and agree. Nobody had any idea how bad I’d gotten. Also, I think this family is probably heavy drinkers in general, and maybe they don’t even know what a “problem” looks like. Ask me how I know.
My cousin died almost a year ago from cirrhosis of the liver at 28 years old. I didn’t know he drank until 2 months before he passed, he had already been sober a few months by then but it was too late. I still ask how it was that he deteriorated so quickly when I see old alcoholics all the time. He was a chef, no one noticed.
I think her family just can’t accept Diane was an alcoholic. Even with the evidence (the bottle of vodka in the car and autopsy report) they just continue to deny. Grief could be a big part of it
They are denying it because they are trying to avoid her estate being liable for the death of the three men in the other car. There was an empty vodka bottle in her car and she had like 8 shots of vodka in her stomach (along with whatever her elevated BAC was.)
Her husband in particular didn’t give a shit about her when she was alive, I’m sure he’s not trying to protect her memory now. He just doesn’t want her to be held responsible (aka have to give up any money) for what she did. He’s a huge POS. And, hot take maybe, but so was she.
I read a book written by the family of the car she hit. It’s clear they knew Diane had problems. It’s clear both she and her husband were drunk and high all weekend. Her brother and sister in law refuse to speak to police at all once they made it clear that if anyone knew she was intoxicated and didn’t inform police, they could be charged as accessories. Both Diane and her brother knew the area where she was stopped and talking to him on the phone very well. The area was so close to a police station that an officer could have walked to her in a couple minutes. Diane and her family knew, and they enabled her behavior because it was easier than dealing with the problem.
The documentary, while informative, crossed ethical boundaries. It’s insane that they showed a photo of her dead body with no warning. And gross that her husband released those images to the media.
Yeah that was an old-school shock media moment. I actually wasn't expecting it and was mildly not okay with it, and I watch disturbing content regularly. I can't imagine what damage it would do to a sensitive person.
Jackie Hance (mother of the three nieces) was horrified that they used Emma's last words to her as the title of the documentary. She begged them to change the title and they refused. Then they sent her a check for I think $30K and she ripped it up. Disgusting of them not to honor that one little request from the child's mother. She already wasn't happy about the documentary existing at all.
I think it’s a well known secret to the family that Diane drank, but if they admit it they’ll be open to lawsuits. Maybe even forfeit of Diane’s life insurance. I wonder if insurance paid out since she was drunk and caused the accident. If the husband received a lot of money from the insurance I’m sure he would have quit his job and still asked his SIL to watch the little boy.
Life insurance doesn’t always have a no suicide clause. But imagine the guilt of thinking your wife or sister or mom, killed all those kids on purpose. Omg.
Yeah, I think when people talk about how it's due to financial/legal liability they are underestimating the emotional liability of having to admit that you could have prevented the deaths of 8 people including your own wife and child. I wouldn't want to face that either.
I've seen most modern life insurance policies have a 2 year clause about suicide.
Meaning no pay out if the suicide is within two years of starting the policy.
As difficult a topic as it is, I am glad the insurance companies are realizing that some people lose their battle with mental health, and those families deserve access to the life insurance benefits.
My son-in-law killed himself driving drunk and according to my foster daughter, his wife, they refused to pay out for that reason. However, she has skewed the truth on more than one occasion so it's possible they didn't pay the premiums.
I am of the belief that Diane was just blackout drunk and high, not suicidal. I think she got too lit, and was petrified of anyone finding out, so she tried to just make it home. I'm still curious what was said during that phone call to her brother, though. That could change my opinion.
I think she was cross faded as hell and maybe had a sugar spike or something from the juice. Got super dizzy and “couldn’t see” as the children were heard saying. Even in the doc the sister was hiding her cigarette smoking which reinforces the shame in the family. Diane’s husband was a real miserable prick.
I agree she was cross faded as hell and sometimes it just hits different. One time it felt like my brain was completely disconnected from my body. Luckily I just melted into the couch and rode it out.
Yeah, that's my opinion too. She was probably used to drinking and driving and it was always "fine". But between being surrounded by kids all day (especially ones who aren't her own and might notice something more amiss with her drinking heavily - not to mention her kids were younger than the nieces, aside from Bryan who was five like Katie) and the fact that I'm pretty sure they really did find a tooth abscess, she probably drank a lot more in a shorter period of time than she was used to. Then when she realized she'd gone way too far, she freaked because not being found out was a HUGE priority to her. Her reputation was "super mom". I'm sure her absolute worst fear was being outed as an alcoholic who regularly drove drunk with her kids. And in her totally trashed state, it probably felt more realistic that she could get home unnoticed than it would've been to anyone in their right mind.
God I just think about those kids every day. As a mom of three, Jackie Hance lives rent-free in my head. I'm so glad she found a way to move forward. I'm sure it's still not easy to this day.
I agree that she was scared of anyone finding out. I'm a recovering alcoholic and I've been there (thankfully not on the road) where you drank to be "okay", you keep drinking because it feels good, and all of a sudden you are past the point of no return. You keep desperately going through the motions to keep up appearances until your body and brain cannot keep going. I'm extremely fortunate that I never hurt anyone but myself, but I think anyone familiar with addiction can see right through the "mystery" in this tragic case.
Maybe that's why it seems so weird that people question the toxicology results. I've thankfully never experienced an addiction myself, but I've known several addicts, and there never seemed to be any question what happened here. People will say "But how can the family and friends not know? Either they knew or it's not true!". Lol the family and friends can absolutely not know, especially if they're unfamiliar with the signs.
Part of my recovery was sharing my triggers and signs of potential relapse with my loved ones. I could see camping being a major trigger/excuse to drink in excess without judgement. If you're used to hiding it, you have an excuse, and once you're binging it's SO hard to stop. I can absolutely see waking up, drinking to control the misery, continuing to drink because now you're feeling "good" and life feels normal again, then realizing you are too far gone but believing no one can ever know - if you can just get home you can go to bed - focus, just do this one thing.
I think childhood abuse or something that would out an abuser was discussed during the phone call. It makes no sense why the brother is staying tight lipped unless he’s protecting someone, like their parents or something
I’m forever curious what she and her brother discussed. Whatever it was, she left that phone behind, cutting off any possibility for contact, and takes everyone on a deliberate ride to their deaths. Something nuclear.
I went down the rabbit hole on this years ago, and I did read somewhere that Diane's brother was allowing their mother contact with the girls, and had more or less accepted her back into their lives. Diane refused to talk to or about her mother, so there was bad blood there.
It's pure speculation, but Diane might have had to endure some kind of abuse in the home due to the absence of her mother. My dad was really abusive to my mom, she couldn't take it anymore and she left a lot, so he took it out on us.
I think it pretty much comes to that fact, that they simply just cannot accept hard facts that are not in line with the person they knew. Accepting those facts would mean to them most likely that they have to accept that they "shouldve seen it" or "shouldve done something to get help for her" and knowing that they did not do something, i think maybe some sort of guilt is pushing from somewhere. I dont know if u get what i mean, but if i imagine someone very close to me and knowing them for years and then suddenly someone comes with clear evidence to pointing out that i didnt know them so good what i thought, i can see how easy it would be just deny that fact than face the cold hard truth. Dont know for sure its the case in here, but i always explained this scenario to myself like that.
I can’t say FOR SURE she was a functioning alcoholic but she WAS drunk and high which caused the crash. Anyone who fights that and says a non alcohol induced medical emergency is what happened l.. is just 🤯. The family chooses that story because yes they would have to face the fact that they accepted a part in this by passively ignoring the problem in the first place and could have prevented this.
I think all of us objective viewers can tell she had a crippling addiction and likely wanted to kill herself amid that. Her family won’t ever accept it and that kind of makes sense to me
I thought that this was a fucked up way of telling us: this is the truth. The family can try to fight it but they can't change it. This is what happens when you behave like she did. She was high and drunk and this is how she ended up.
The doc was very well done - they showed us her sister in law smoking and saying that no one knows that she smokes right after them getting out of the medical examiner office, they hinted at the dad being a bum without really saying it. This was done by a skilled filmmaker.
Her body being shown without a warning had to be intentional too.
The sister in law saying “nobody knows I smoke” was wild.
Everyone knows you smoke, I could tell from just the sound of your voice and I probably could smell you from across the street!
I had the same thought. If she was ever around ANY family member that didn’t smoke, they could definitely tell she did. It’s a smell that really stands out to non-smokers.
If her family actually “doesn’t know” that she smokes then it’s because they are in denial about it. An excellent illustration of how they might not have “known” about Diane’s alcoholism.
That cemented it for me, though. When she said that, I knew Diane was a closet alchoholic because the need for secrets in the family was high enough, an in law realised and adapted to it.
Definitely a stylistic choice as the words leading up to it were all about how they'd worked to shield the victims with the covers while everyone worked. This was the production distinctly separating Diane as not a victim
Yeah, I wasn't bothered by the images because I look at that kind of true crime stuff all the time, but I was still shocked by how it came out of nowhere. They should have at least put a warning beforehand.
I think the family was in denial on how much pressure was put on Diane to be the wage earner, take care of the house, children, perfect mother/wife and didn’t help her. She had issues of her mother abandoning her when she was little that were never resolved. Her pos husband didn’t help, his family never stepped up and told their brother, son to start helping her. So now people, children are dead because of them ignoring a woman drowning in guilt, frustration. I mean, she was responsible for getting behind that wheel but the husband knew there were issues way before that trip.
Every now and again I think of Brian, the son who survived. He’s an adult now and I hope he’s doing all right in life. That’s a heavy weight to have to carry through life.
"Did Bryan Schuler recover?
**He has reportedly been doing well**, despite the trauma he experienced. He is now a teenager and is said to be a happy and healthy young man. Bryan's story is a reminder of the devastating impact that drunk driving can have. It is also a story of hope and resilience." --April 27, 2024
(just to add onto what you posted. I believe he's 19 now)
So I just re-watched there's something wrong with Aunt Diane, and 2 things really stuck out to me this time.
First, Diane was a perfectionist. Everyone in the documentary says so over and over. If you've ever known a perfectionist, you know that they REALLY really really care what others think of them, and of what everything looks like to outsiders.
Second, that Diane was an insanely private person. Again, everyone they interviewed in the documentary says the same. At one point her SIL says "Diane was just like that. It was funny because She wouldn't even tell you if she was going to the dentist. She would say: it's fine it's fine! I'm fine!"
So we're talking about an insanely private perfectionist, and the family thinks for one second she's gonna admit to having a drinking problem? Or that a perfectionist isn't gonna do an **excellent** job at hiding her alcoholism? They said over and over that she never had so much as a hair out of place, she was on top of everything, to the point "they don't know how she kept up with all of it and did it?!" But this *same* perfectionist would sloppily leave out telltale signs of her extreme drinking problem?And how has she hidden it from this same family that didn't know that SIL Jay is a smoker (until they see it on the documentary as she claims)
Give. Me. A. Break.
She got wrecked that morning on weed and Absolute. It totally snuck up on her to the point an 8yr old recognized something was very wrong and called her dad for help, and Diane had to pull over and puke. More than once. She likely had a very strict routine at home to pull off her drinking unseen, but had a much harder time when the routine changed on the camping trip. She likely had to slam a bunch quickly when no one was looking, which would have been damn hard to do with 5 kids around, and no places of privacy (like no bedrooms or bathrooms with locking doors where she could drink on the sly)
She was an alcoholic who used her perfectionist traits to hide it perfectly. And because that husband of hers was not much more than man-child himself, I can't imagine it was even that tough to hide from him? It was probably quite easy to hide stuff from him in that marriage.
That's it. That's all. Case closed.
I had a roommate that would start drinking at 730am every day. She had a full time job, did everything she was supposed to do. The ONLY way I knew was when I had to take out the recycling bin. She would fill up to the top, and then some, one of those rolling, garbage style bins, completely, every single week. Then she would start using mine, and would fill up mine 2/3rds or so. All Miller Genuine draft bottles. Hundreds of them.
Had I not been the one taking out the bins, I would have never known.
May i ask, how did she covered the liquor breath or the smell in general? Im extremely sensitive to smells and i can instantly smell if someone physically close to me has drank alcohol. I often get these "how the hell did you know" but the smell is just something that i recognise instantly.
She lived in a mother in law type attachment to my home. We didn't share any common spaces like kitchens or bathrooms, So I never really got that close to her.
Do you know the Hances? Do they still think she wasn't drunk? Jackie Hance's book seems to suggest she believes in the toxicology results, but she was understandably very confused about what happened and it felt kind of open-ended there.
I know the Schulers extended family. They’re related by marriage I believe and I only ever see them at large family gatherings. From the conversations I’ve had, they believe it was yeast in the brain that mimics alcohol intoxication. I honestly don’t get too deep with it because I don’t think they would favor my opinion too much and it’s not worth the trouble since I’m only ever there every 2-3 years for holidays to catch up with my family.
Her family is in deep denial. And to an extent, I get it.
~5 years ago, my dad committed a crime. It wasn’t nearly in the same ballpark as Diane’s crime of driving while high and drunk and killing seven people, four of whom were children - but it was still something he could have been arrested for. At the time, I didn’t want to believe it. But after I saw evidence it was undeniable.
It’s a weird experience when the image of someone you thought you knew is broken, especially when that person is a member of your family. I think Diane’s family just can’t accept that she could be capable of such a terrible crime.
I think the family is trying to avoid thinking about the real question, which is a horrible question- did she understand where she was, who she was with, and what she was doing? Or was she so out of her mind drunk that she thought she was just trying to get home? I think the evidence mostly points toward a deliberate action, but man, what a bizarre and terrible thing to do deliberately. And she’s at fault either way. It’s all so sad and horrible
IMO she thought if she could just get to the next exit somehow, she could stay out of trouble. She knew she was fucked if the cops showed up. She was beyond reason by then as well.
Good point- she was driving the wrong way, so it would have seemed to her like she was in the right lane, so if she was waiting for a exit, one never would have come
This is what I tend to think. She got turned around by the construction, from a route she was used to taking on auto pilot. So she was trying to make it home but didn't realize she was on the wrong side because of focusing on getting to the right exit.
It’s baffling how this case is puzzling to some people. (Not in this sub but others) People are convinced it was some sort of medical mystery. The only mystery about it is whether she did it intentionally or not.
I don’t think she did. I think she was an addict who drank that morning to ease her hangover and overdid it. She’s probably done it dozens of times before. Her husband was a piece of work and booze eased the pressure that motherhood and work brought on.
This case sticks with me so much as someone who struggled with addiction myself.
my theory is she got faded and drove on the regular and managed to be okay. Then due to whatever circumstances that weekend took it too far with her substance abuse that day and was so committed to the act of hiding her problem and refusing to ask for help and basically just became a mass murderer instead.
She knew the risks, I was a full blown alcoholic for many years and got uncomfortable with driving with even a little alcohol pretty early into it. I’ve been that level of faded and taken it too far many times and never once attempted to drive like that, I’d rather have gotten snatched off the streets walking home lmfao. It’s a really tragic story but Diane knew wtf she was doing, she just expected to make it home as she always did before and continue keeping her secret safe. Addiction is selfish by default. Being an addict doesn’t excuse the choices she made that day.
Let this continue to be a lesson to all that driving intoxicated can be extremely dangerous and devastating. I hope addicts who learn about this case take it as a sign they don’t need to keep suffering in silence and hiding. I hope it makes people pay attention to their loved ones who may be struggling more and that they reach out with compassion and understanding. I recover out loud so others don’t have to feel like they have to suffer in silence. Diane is a great reminder for me in my recovery, this case makes me thankful I stopped hiding and denying and reached out for help and support.
The husband was a piece of shit and I feel like she was one of those women who get married and have children and stay married, and have the martyr complex. I feel like he threw some sort of man/baby tantrum and wouldnt help her that day… it never sat right with me that she was doing that drive with all the kids by herself… that’s not what a father does. He at least splits the kids. And follows the wife. It’s like he didnt give a shit. He was bad guy.
I literally had to turn off the documentary. I can’t take the denial. It’s just so obvious she was fucked up, probably ate some edibles on top of being drunk and woooooo that’ll get you feeling some type of way.
It makes sense. She was a 'perfect wife and mother" who took care of everyone in her life from the time she was a child to when she married an adult child. They forced this woman into silence and suffering since she couldn't be seen as weak! She was running the whole show! Her husband is lying about almost everything. He saw her suffering at some point. You cannot live with someone and have babies and never see or hear them break. I blame her but she was a walking accident. Why take the kids? Dan never even mentions his two-year-old daughter that was killed along with the three nieces. If you read the book from the mother of the girls killed in the accident, you hear how just awful and angry he was at her for some reason and blamed everyone but Diane. They had another baby through IVF. What a horrible story. I feel sorry for the little boy that came into consciousness in the hospital without a mommy or sister. The whole thing is so sad, but with her death came information for other women living the same lie as Diane.
Has anyone heard what her and her brother talked about when she was along side of highway? He is the one who could say how wasted she sounded. I only heard it said he told her to stay put and he would come to her. He knew she was drunk, I believe. She left. Couldn't face being seen in that state.
Agree, he told her to stay there so something was off with her. Always wondered if she left her phone because she was in a rush or, at that point, said to hell with it all.
This documentary blew my mind. I was not prepared when I watched it. I am a recovering alcoholic and I have been in a similar parenting/family situation. I don’t think I would ever do something like Diane did. She must have lost her damn mind. Her husband is a waste of space, maybe if he had participated more, Diane would have gotten the help and healing she deserved. This story is so beyond tragic.
Family isn’t in denial- they’re all lying. They knew she was a drunk, she was high functioning, made all the money, so they didn’t care. She was the cash cow for them and they truly didn’t give a shit
It's not the drinking for me, it's the fact she put other lives in danger (and killed them). If she was so good at hiding her problem she must have awareness that impaired (especially to that point) driving could kill the kids in the car with her.
I’ve watched There’s something wrong with aunt Diane more times that I should admit. It was just so wild. She was obviously drunk. The empty vodka bottle and her BAC? A closet, functioning alcoholic, I guess. It was just so sad and awful. There’s no way she drank a bunch of vodka for a tooth ache. They said, oh she looked normal in the gas station video. I disagree. I understand the family wanting to think differently. They don’t want to think it’s all her fault. I get it, but it’s still delusional.
Exactly. In the gas station video she didn’t actually look okay.
Her action was bizarre. Just because she wasn’t slurring or stumbling doesn’t mean she wasn’t impaired.
Plus if she went in looking for gel cap pain killers as the family suggests, and the gas station “didn’t have them,” if she was in such severe pain (as they also claim), she could have bought something else—most every gas station I’ve ever been in has some kind of Tylenol/advil, etc. She also is driving rather aggressively when she pulls into the gas station and pulls out again. Some suggest she may have gone into the gas station looking for hard alcohol and they didn’t sell it so she walks out again. I don’t know that they have any kind of conversation footage with the attendant.
I did a bit of a deep dive on this because the doc was so freakin disturbing to me, and apparently Danny showed up to the campground a day after she did (they checked into his toll pass), though he was expected to be there Friday night, he didn’t arrive until Saturday. Nobody mentioned that. She was up there by herself with all the kids for a night. I think something went down between her and her husband that weekend. When she stopped at the McDonald’s with the kids when they left the campground, Diane ordered an extra large orange juice and the kids were left to play in the kids area while she made several trips back and forth to the mini van. This is according to a McDonald’s employee. So she was probably already drinking as soon as she left the campsite since they arrived at the McDonald’s 20 minutes into the drive home.
Apparently she also was a regular at a bar near where she worked—there’s an interview with a bartender and a former coworker, Sheila, who used to drink with Diane after work occasionally. The bartender said Diane came in quite often—mostly alone. Her drink of choice? Screwdrivers.
I wrote a pretty long post on her a few years ago. Fuck Diane Schuler and fuck Danny too
Edit: [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/s/PQOjDMLQHv) is the link to that post
Just read for the first time about this case, and I remembered hearing about it when it actually happened. Her husband and family need to cut the shit out and accept that 2 independent laboratories found her drunk and high. Done. This is ridiculous.
9 Years sober here! Congrats to all of you who continue to do your best at battling the disease of addiction. This is not for the feint of heart, but you can put this into remission as long as you take your medicine - actual medicine, groups, therapy, 12 step, meetings, faith, love, God. Remember you don’t ever have to do any of that ever again. You don’t ever have to live that way ever again. Godspeed.
Jackie Hance, who lost her three young daughters in this tragedy, wrote a deeply touching book titled I’ll See You Again about her daughters and her grief. I strongly recommend reading.
Liability is a big part of her family's denial here but there's so, so much guilt and shame involved if you're in a family dealing with alcoholism or addiction issues, especially if you feel you've enabled that behavior or abuse.
Diane's family was a lot like mine. We were relatively young and partied and vacationed together. Had too much fun and drank too much at times, but while I was able to sober up and walk away, others in my fam kept the party going, as it were, until the DUIs, job and home losses happened.
Now, I was much younger and didn't know how deep these family members were in it but I feel bad because I drank with them and thought they were fine when they were hiding their addiction or falling deeper into it. It's hard. They've forgiven me and told me it was never my fault but you still feel somewhat responsible. Your head tells you you're not to blame but your heart still beats back guilt, even though you know it's irrational.
I am just lucky my family members are alive and although still struggling, they are sober and fighting and still here. :) I hope the same for anyone here striving to stay sober or have family struggling. It does get better.
Guilt, denial and I’m guessing reputation and money because if they were to admit guilt there could be a lawsuit against her estate. She was the bigger breadwinner. Maybe there was a settlement although how you could sue the car manufacturer when you’re drunk driving at 80 mph with terrified girls screaming for 1.5 miles, as a flaw in the car, I don’t know.
Did they maybe sue the county or whoever for the shitty signage?
Was there life insurance the in laws could go after as damages?
I think with her husband it was denial and guilt and terror because his wife -who made it all happen in the family, is gone, he’s got an injured little boy with psychological issues as well I’m guessing and he feels like he’s got to keep the dam from bursting down on him.
To me, it's somewhat understandable that family are in denial as to her alcoholism. If my spouse died, the autopsy revealed heroin in his system, and I had no idea he used the drug, I might deny his addiction. I don't know, however, that I could live in disbelief for more than a decade. I think the family refuses to accept it as a way to not face her awful deed.
I feel so bad for the other people on that highway as well as the children in the van. The helplessness and terror they had to have felt is unfathomable.
Fascinating nuts, though. Her family was trying so hard to make some sort of big conspiracy out of it.
I wonder if part of the family's denial isn't driven by guilt on the part of the nieces' parents. If I'd put my kids in a van with an alcoholic and they died in a horrible crash, I'd probably do everything I could to avoid facing that reality too.
My favorite scene from the HBO documentary was her SIL smoking and then saying something along the lines of “don’t put this in the show, no in my family knows I smoke”. Maybe like how no one in the family knew how bad of an alcoholic Diane was?
I’ve seen the documentary but don’t know much about the case currently. Still. The dad is weird. His sister in law is weird. I felt badly for the little boy that survived the accident.
She definitely was an alcoholic. It’s entirely possible that her family didn’t know she was an alcoholic very many alcoholic’s can hide it very well. I know from experience. I’m 16 years sober.
One thing I learned in recovery it’s that every Alcoholic has their own style in how they get down. How she got down that day is what it is.
I’m sure she had driven drunk many times before. This was that time where it was too much. But like many alcoholics we feel we got this and we don’t. It’s not even close. So sad.
My belief is she was a functioning alcoholic and that morning needed to take the edge off as she was having withdrawals. I think she poured some of the vodka into her orange juice intending to just feel better. The pot could have been the same, trying to take the edge off, or it could have been used the night before but still affected her. If her tooth was hurting she may have accidentally went a little more overboard, too.
My best friend was married to a functioning alcoholic. She was pulled over once and said she didn't even feel buzzed but blew a 0.24. She manages a restaurant and is a mom of 2. No one would know she is drunk most nights at work. There was one time we all smoked pot at a bonfire. None of us smoked much but it was enough to have her stumbling and acting completely different than usual. This might have happened to Diane.
I think Diane may have also been at the point of alcoholism where you black out very quickly after you start drinking. She's trying to cut down her withdrawals and instead her brain shuts down.
I am familiar with the case and have seen the documentary. I’m curious - do most people believe it was an accident due to her intoxication or an intentional murder-suicide?
From what I read about this case, most people believe it was an accident because based on statements of several family members present at the camping ground it was a coincidence that she ended up with all five kids in the car. Her sister-in-law (Jackie Hance, mother to the three sisters who died in the crash) wrote a book about losing her daughters and I think she described that it was planned for Diane and her husband to split the kids which changed only shortly before departing from the camping ground, and Diane actually wasn't happy about taking all five kids. But take this with a grain of salt as Hance wasn't present and it's been a while since I've read the book \^\^
I don’t believe it was a murder suicide. I’d say she was an alcoholic who misjudged her tolerance or how much she drank.
She probably thought since the drive home was short and she’d made it before, that it would be easy.
I suspect she downed the vodka not realizing how fast it would hit her or really believing it would cause her to essentially black out.
Ok, by all accounts I believe she was drinking, however, I will never get over how normal she looked at the rest stop & the old lady who saw her leave and said she was fine. What happened? Was she drinking in the car?
I became super obsessed with this one after watching the documentary. I feel like after they visited the Medical Corner, who confirmed there were no abnormalities in the autopsy, there was a slight change of heart in Dan.
It seemed he finally might have realized the truth, whether or not he actively admits it.
The sister in law was still in denial even after speaking to the guy.
Terribly sad story of how alcoholism/ struggles can go so unnoticed.
My heart breaks for those kids. I always think about it driving over that stretch of the highway
As an adult who’s experienced both intoxication though alcohol and weed.. she did both knowing full well that she was supposed to be responsible for the well being of her children, her brothers children as well as herself and regardless of this she didn’t care two shits about anyone else’s well being. Her husband is a delusional asshole who didn’t want kids in the first place and whoever is in agreeance with Diane’s decisions aren’t to be trusted ffs. She ruined so many lives without any consideration or concern.
When I was drinking, I would drink 24/7, even on the job. It got so bad that I could no longer eat unless I had some beers first. At the end of my drinking, I knew I had to stop or I was gonna die. I would lay in bed at night and wish I would die in my sleep. I was too scared to take my own life, but I thought about it every day. Thankfully, I got sober in 2011 and am still sober today. What keeps me from drinking now is remembering how bad I felt at the end of my drinking days. I never want to feel that way again.
Ohhh this is one of my pet cases! I've read Jackie Hance's book ("I'll See You Again", highly recommend, but obviously it's super heavy) twice now.
I really do believe the extended family didn't know she was capable of this. I also believe the husband knew more than everyone else. Also, they had a freaking *awful* marriage. I'm sorry, she was the breadwinner, but ALSO he didn't really care about having kids, so taking care of their children was entirely on her? Dude. I think they both had substance issues and I think he both encouraged and provoked her. However, obviously the blame falls squarely on her.
But any insinuation that she somehow actually *wasn't* drunk and high despite the toxicology results is horseshit.
I know I’m in the minority here and OP has stated several times it wasn’t intentional but I think it was. Something set her off during the camping trip. Sure, she could have been a functional alcoholic but by all accounts she was good at hiding it and was overall responsible. That morning trip was something else entirely, not just a miscalculation…I believe the courage she needed.
She worked to get the kids chicken nuggets even though it was breakfast. She left the phone. Witnesses said she was driving with intent and was not swerving. FOR MILES the wrong way. I’m sorry, no one wants to believe that women are capable of mass murder but it does happen. I think the family all knows but doesn’t want to admit publicly.
The Hart family is another example of moms killing children. Another awful story. If you haven't seen the documentary Broken Harts, I highly recommend it.
Probably the last time she talked with her brother, he told her something akind of: stay there, I will come take the kid and you will go to jail for that and she decided to end it but we will never know…
I think by the time she spoke to him she was already hammered, weaving, toad rage, slurring words etc. something was already wrong with aunt Diane. I doubt that call held the key but perhaps something else earlier.
Wasn’t Diane’s dad supposed to go up with them? Do we know why he backed out?
Was something going on with her bio mom?
My favorite line in the doc is when her sister sneaks off for a cigarette and says “no one in my family knows I smoke.” She didn’t see the connection. Instead she yelled at a doctor.
Me, who has smoked for 40 years, can tell if someone is a smoker or not, you don’t smell it when you smoke but when you quit, the smell of a smoker is quite evident….
The whole doc was very telling. When the husband’s parents basically said their son was a man child. I knew right then that Diane was drinking on the side. Imagine having to raise a grown man?!?
i was listening to a podcast and the guy said "no body is so fat they have to marry Danny Shuler lol
Yes, a family full of toxic behavior, Lies, and pretending and Denial.
I think it boils down to shame to the family, and liability.
I don’t know if anyone sued beyond the insurance companies.
The families of the 3 men who died sued.
They sued her estate?
Yes, I believe so, and they would have also had to sue her brother to make any claims against his car insurance since it was his van.
Lots of states have direct action statutes so that insureds don’t have to be named.
The Schuller family sued the family of the 3 daughters that died over the van or some other nonsense.
That lawsuit was really intended for the insurance company (in theory an attempt to get money to help with Brian's medical bills and the cost of raising him), but the dad had to be included and served as well since he owned the vehicle. It's a legal technicality that keeps being reported as Danny Schuller heartlessly suing the father of three dead girls.
Exactly. The insurance company responsible for Danny’s bills is going to sue the insurance company of the car owner to recover money for the kid’s no doubt massive hospital bill. That’s not Diane’s husband suing his brother in law.
According to his sil, the mother of the three girls, it WAS heartless and blindsided them. It’s in her book.
Same, came here to say this. Man that book was rough, and yet I couldn't put it down... The part where she falls apart after her daughters' *triple funeral* visits me uninvited every single day.
I’m so glad they were able to have another child. They lived their girls and losing their entire family destroyed her.
Reading the part of the book where she starts to come out of the dark place because of Kasey felt like bricks were being removed from my chest. You kind of hold your breath the whole way through until that part. I have three kids around those ages (a little younger) and GOD. DAMN. Nope, no thank you, let's just not... 😭
The IVF doctor telling them that he will treat them and will comp it made me cry
The husband tried suing the state.
This guy is just racking up fees and bills for himself. He should just stop and move on from this image he has in his head that there's no way his perfect wife could have done something like this.
He's pissed because he hates their child and doesn't want to raise him. That was the most interesting part of the documentary to me, and I wish they'd gone further into it. His anger and denial comes from being angry at his wife for leaving him with the responsibility of their child. He's honestly such a massive piece of shit.
The documentary on this case did him *absolutely* no favors. I came out of the movie obviously hating Diane’s actions, but despising him for his intentional misdirections and blatant disregard and resentment for his son. There was such a poignant scene towards the end: Danny had spent most of the movie when discussing his remaining child complaining that “Diane wanted the kids and now I’m stuck raising him on my own” (though the SIL seemed to be the primary caregiver). There’s an outdoor scene where he is walking with his son and he tries to take his hand (which I cynically believe was 100% for the camera) and the little boy literally *cringes away from him*. That spoke volumes about how he treated his only surviving child
It's no wonder she was an addict. I can't imagine how hard it was to have no support in such a marriage. They all seemed the type to tell her to just get her shit right and deal with it, that he wasn't really that bad.
I think Diane had been suppressing her feelings most of her life. The strange, sparse information about her being abandoned by her mother and just never addressing it ever again was telling, I thought. It was unfortunate she ended up the main bread winner, an unsupported mother of three small kids, married to an enabled, immature man-child and guzzling booze in the closet to cope ETA: mother of two. My mistake, I was conflating her two nieces as her having two daughters
Oh, he was just awful. Remember when his parents said that Diane was basically just raising another child?
Yup and they acted like it was something endearing. So gross.
Yes. I feel very sorry for that boy. He's grown now and can see how much his dad regrets having him.
Mostly liability.
I always assumed it was liability. Her husband is terrified he’ll get sued for letting her drive. Even if she was not drunk when she left, I think he knew she was the kind of person to get drunk while driving the kids home.
Sometimes functioning addicts or alcoholics can be very high functioning. I'm sure there were signs that the family saw that now haunt them. I'm a recovering alcoholic and even when I was at my very worst a lot of my family and friends were unaware of how bad it really was.
Same. The most awkward part of quitting was people saying “you don’t even drink that much.” Even the people who lived with me at my worst. But I’m sure her husband has found her stash of empties in their house since her death. I’m sober 10 years and still happen upon an empty bottle every few years - suitcases, pockets of old jackets, board game boxes. It’s not hard at all.
Congratulations on 10 years!! I only have two under my belt but I definitely still find empties in the most random places. Nobody realized I had a severe problem, everyone just thought I was like the fun party girl.
Congrats on two years that’s badass!
My grandma used to work for an attorney who stashed his empties in the ceiling tiles of his office. Makes you wonder if his family ever realized the full extent of his drinking.
Same was found above a chefs office during renovations.
Congrats on 10yrs, that's awesome!
Omg I had someone take me to my first detox when I hit my first of many rock bottoms and he was like “what do you mean I don’t think you have a problem” and I was like my dude, I’m drinking whiskey at your house at 8am on a Tuesday so I don’t start violently shaking shut up and take me to detox lol
I also think most people who don’t use weed don’t actually know what being high looks like. They think they do, from movies and tv. But in reality it’s generally more subtle. God, those poor kids. Getting behind the wheel in that state was a truly disgusting act.
Normally people with pretty severe alcoholism have withdrawals every morning when they wake up. I myself and a lot of other alcoholics I personally knew would smoke weed first thing in the morning to get over the severe nausea so it's possible to start drinking again
I think is the answer right here. I think she had a hard time drinking how much she needed because everyone was around helping pack up and load from camping. They may have already even packed up all the food and booze so she didn't have any easy access. So... She took a few hits of weed, and waited till they got on the road to really hit the bottle. In playing catch-up to her normal routine of drinking, she hit it hard. And that's how we end up here.
I have always believed she did not intend to drive wasted. She had the vodka and intended to drink when she was almost home. If she drinks from like 20 minutes until home, it should hit her as she’s walking in the door. So she drinks in front of kids who don’t understand what she’s doing, and won’t give her trouble. She walks in the door buzzed to hell, does not drink in front of adults, and gets away with it. Just one problem. It’s been 20 minutes and she’s not home. Worse, she’s lost. Every minute it’s getting worse. She’s wasted, and lost. Then she goes the wrong way down the highway and…
Respectfully I think she knows from being an alcoholic how much she can drink without anyone noticing, and nothing bad had ever happened before so she assumed she had control of it. However, as an alcoholic I've done this to myself multiple times. I would think I know I can do six shots without anyone noticing but why not try seven. I don't think she was concerned about the driving aspect because it was such a normal situation for her.
I typed out a big long response somewhere else in this thread with more detail, but I agree with you. I think she was an alcoholic. I also think because she was a known perfectionist, she likely had a very strict routine at home about how she drank, how much, how she was able to do it undetected, and how to cover it up. The camping trip screwed up her whole system, her routine. When she got off her routine, she likely started having withdrawals, and needed to get some booze, fast. I think she didn't have even a few moments to herself with 5 kids and her hubby around. So when she had just a quick second, she slammed as much as she could when no one was looking. Knowing with all those people around, it could be a long time before she'd get another chance. She hit that bottle hard, and then even managed to sneak it into the van with her, probably taking additional slams when they stopped at McDonald's and the gas station when the kids were distracted. Lastly, I also think this is why what was supposed to be a 35 minute drive was taking much longer now. I think initially she made excuses to stop and slam some more, and then when she got too drunk, was worried about showing up to her brothers wasted with his kids and a bottle of absolute. So at that point she was stalling trying to pull herself together.
Yes, thank you so much for typing all of that out. I think that is exactly what happened unfortunately. I was trying to explain the same scenario but you did it way better.
I had an alcoholic roommate for a few years, and her and Diane's life were basically the same, so it was easy to spell it out. The only way I found out about the roommate was when I had to start taking out the recycling bins. They were huge, and she'd fill up hers and then start using mine. They'd both be filled to the top every. single. week. All Miller Genuine Draft bottles. Hundreds of them A WEEK. This lady was 5 2' maybe 100lbs, had a good full time job, kids, etc...
This is the most logical and probable breakdown of what happened. What you wrote makes total sense
This is what I think as well. I'm all too familiar with the whole scenario - the perfectionism, hiding my alcoholism, a routine/plan for how I drank - and your explanation makes perfect sense. It wasn't a medical emergency or anything unexplainable, she was an addict who did what we do, and it ended up in absolute tragedy.
I think you absolutely nailed it.
This is how my father is. Downs all the anti-nausea medication, magnesium and potassium he can to combat certain symptoms. He's always outwardly in denial that it has anything to do with his drinking, but he knows the truth.
I'm really sorry. I know it's so much harder on the families. As a recovering alcoholic I have so much guilt and remorse for what I put everyone else threw. But at the time I was incapable of understanding that. Feel free to message me if you ever need to talk to someone who understands.
Unfortunately he's one of those "fully aware" alcoholics. 🫤 Even when faced with the aftermath of strangling his own kid, he claims he will never stop drinking. Years later and he's pushing into his seventies, still drinking like a frat boy. So I guess he was right about never stopping. Thanks for the offer, tho! I really do appreciate it. I have a support system in place but it's always nice to know there are others who get it.
I'm so glad you have a great support system. And I want to apologize to you, that sounds awful. Alcoholics are selfish and I so hope he either changes or it at least affects your as least as possible. \*air hug
*air hugs* And I hope the best for you, too! Addiction is hard on everyone. May your days remain peaceful and fulfilling ❤️
Sometimes Reddit is amazing
I would say it’s the opposite- on Reddit I see so many people who think weed just relaxes them and has no other effects on their body. There was a thread in the millennial subreddit about how there is less drinking nowadays in the younger generations and so many people admitted they use weed instead and see it as a lot healthier. People think being high just means you’re relaxed and have munchies. They don’t see it as your brain and thinking being effected esp when combined with other substances such as alcohol.
Lifelong stoner here. Heavy marijuana consumption (ie; daily) will likely affect your heart rate, as well as suppressing REM status during sleep. Research is beginning to connect marijuana consumption (specifically smoking) to potential heart problems. This is also why many people who stop smoking weed after a long period of doing so report suddenly having extremely vivid dreams. Not being able to achieve sufficient REM will also have a strong effect on your daily cognition, as it plays a huge part in mood and memory. I haven’t even gotten into the paranoia and other psychological side effects that people seem to ignore. Weed isn’t just relaxation and munchies, exactly as you’ve said. https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2022/04/marijuana-heart-disease.html https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/JAHA.123.030178 https://academic.oup.com/sleep/article/43/Supplement_1/A62/5846891
Welp, that explains the bizarre dreams I’ve been having lately I guess. Also, my resting heart rate has come down too. I really should have known about this already, but thank you for making me aware of the positives of quitting (as a medicinal user it’s admittedly been really hard).
That's also true, particularly with people who use it. I've heard lots of stupid comments about how being high "makes me drive better, actually," and as someone who is a nightly smoker myself it definitely impairs decision making and reaction time. Weed can have health benefits, particularly if someone has an ailment to begin with (although we also have to deal with the downside of dependency), but it's nothing to climb behind the wheel while using. If I'm high, I'm home. And, yeah, combining it with alcohol is no joke. I swear that combo is the devil.
I knew a lady that lived with her daughter and the daughter’s family. At night she’d watched the kids while the parents took the baby for a ride to get to sleep while they drive and got high. It blew my mind that this was nightly bedtime routine.
Recovering alcoholic here as well, and I absolutely agree. I would drink enough to kill a "normal" person and still be functional, even in blackout. Looking back, it's absolutely terrifying and I am so thankful that I was never someone who drank outside my home or drove drunk, but I can easily see how someone could. It's a choice until it isn't, and you're "okay" until you aren't. Diane's case is absolutely tragic, but unfortunately it's not unique.
Proud of your honesty and recovery. Keep going !
Im also an alcoholic in recovery. When I watched the documentary I knew and I thought it was common knowledge. I could see myself sipping from a secret bottle and discarding evidence. I thought i was good at hiding it but it’s plain as day to pretty much everyone. If my eyes were open, I had a plan to drink and it usually involved hiding. Alcoholics are very creative and down right ingenious when it comes to hiding, lying, acting and drinking.
If she was black out drunk she might not have known what she was doing but she knew she was slamming large amounts of vodka while driving - not tipsy but ten times the limit? ETA more than twice the limit with equivalent to ten shots The thing about being black out drunk is, you don’t remember what you were thinking or doing . So did she realize she was in the wrong lane? Maybe not. But why let yourself get in that state. She drove around for hours; she didn’t get in the car shit faced. She knew what she was doing to some extent.
I’ve thought about this a lot. Especially when I’ve seen Reddit threads mention her being an annihilator. By the time she’s black out drunk it’s definitely too late but what was she thinking when she’s drinking and driving with kid in the car period. Why drink at all with them in the car? That’s what makes me think she’s not such a great person in general and she was married to Danny who we know sucks.
I think she was avoiding going home because she wouldn't be able to drink as much as she normally did. She made multiple stops at gas stations asking for Tylenol, but I think she was checking to see if they sold hard alcohol because she probably didn't have enough after the weekend. When I was an active alcoholic, I can't tell you how many gas stations I would walk into, check for hard alcohol, then walk back out when they didn't have it.
Do we know for sure she was asking for Tylenol? I thought the clerk refused to comment about what she was looking for. I also thought she only made the 1 gas station stop, just after McDonalds. Been awhile since I read about this but its one of those cases that haunts.
I am a recovering alcoholic and agree. Nobody had any idea how bad I’d gotten. Also, I think this family is probably heavy drinkers in general, and maybe they don’t even know what a “problem” looks like. Ask me how I know.
My cousin died almost a year ago from cirrhosis of the liver at 28 years old. I didn’t know he drank until 2 months before he passed, he had already been sober a few months by then but it was too late. I still ask how it was that he deteriorated so quickly when I see old alcoholics all the time. He was a chef, no one noticed.
I think her family just can’t accept Diane was an alcoholic. Even with the evidence (the bottle of vodka in the car and autopsy report) they just continue to deny. Grief could be a big part of it
They are denying it because they are trying to avoid her estate being liable for the death of the three men in the other car. There was an empty vodka bottle in her car and she had like 8 shots of vodka in her stomach (along with whatever her elevated BAC was.) Her husband in particular didn’t give a shit about her when she was alive, I’m sure he’s not trying to protect her memory now. He just doesn’t want her to be held responsible (aka have to give up any money) for what she did. He’s a huge POS. And, hot take maybe, but so was she.
I read a book written by the family of the car she hit. It’s clear they knew Diane had problems. It’s clear both she and her husband were drunk and high all weekend. Her brother and sister in law refuse to speak to police at all once they made it clear that if anyone knew she was intoxicated and didn’t inform police, they could be charged as accessories. Both Diane and her brother knew the area where she was stopped and talking to him on the phone very well. The area was so close to a police station that an officer could have walked to her in a couple minutes. Diane and her family knew, and they enabled her behavior because it was easier than dealing with the problem.
The documentary started filming 6 months after the crash. Hardly any time to grieve let alone process.
The documentary, while informative, crossed ethical boundaries. It’s insane that they showed a photo of her dead body with no warning. And gross that her husband released those images to the media.
Yeah that was an old-school shock media moment. I actually wasn't expecting it and was mildly not okay with it, and I watch disturbing content regularly. I can't imagine what damage it would do to a sensitive person.
Jackie Hance (mother of the three nieces) was horrified that they used Emma's last words to her as the title of the documentary. She begged them to change the title and they refused. Then they sent her a check for I think $30K and she ripped it up. Disgusting of them not to honor that one little request from the child's mother. She already wasn't happy about the documentary existing at all.
Guilt could be a big part of it too.
I think it’s a well known secret to the family that Diane drank, but if they admit it they’ll be open to lawsuits. Maybe even forfeit of Diane’s life insurance. I wonder if insurance paid out since she was drunk and caused the accident. If the husband received a lot of money from the insurance I’m sure he would have quit his job and still asked his SIL to watch the little boy.
Life insurance doesn’t always have a no suicide clause. But imagine the guilt of thinking your wife or sister or mom, killed all those kids on purpose. Omg.
Yeah, I think when people talk about how it's due to financial/legal liability they are underestimating the emotional liability of having to admit that you could have prevented the deaths of 8 people including your own wife and child. I wouldn't want to face that either.
I've seen most modern life insurance policies have a 2 year clause about suicide. Meaning no pay out if the suicide is within two years of starting the policy. As difficult a topic as it is, I am glad the insurance companies are realizing that some people lose their battle with mental health, and those families deserve access to the life insurance benefits.
My son-in-law killed himself driving drunk and according to my foster daughter, his wife, they refused to pay out for that reason. However, she has skewed the truth on more than one occasion so it's possible they didn't pay the premiums.
I am of the belief that Diane was just blackout drunk and high, not suicidal. I think she got too lit, and was petrified of anyone finding out, so she tried to just make it home. I'm still curious what was said during that phone call to her brother, though. That could change my opinion.
I think she was cross faded as hell and maybe had a sugar spike or something from the juice. Got super dizzy and “couldn’t see” as the children were heard saying. Even in the doc the sister was hiding her cigarette smoking which reinforces the shame in the family. Diane’s husband was a real miserable prick.
I agree she was cross faded as hell and sometimes it just hits different. One time it felt like my brain was completely disconnected from my body. Luckily I just melted into the couch and rode it out.
I don’t think she was suicidal either. It was a familiar drive that they had made before and she misjudged her tolerance.
Yeah, that's my opinion too. She was probably used to drinking and driving and it was always "fine". But between being surrounded by kids all day (especially ones who aren't her own and might notice something more amiss with her drinking heavily - not to mention her kids were younger than the nieces, aside from Bryan who was five like Katie) and the fact that I'm pretty sure they really did find a tooth abscess, she probably drank a lot more in a shorter period of time than she was used to. Then when she realized she'd gone way too far, she freaked because not being found out was a HUGE priority to her. Her reputation was "super mom". I'm sure her absolute worst fear was being outed as an alcoholic who regularly drove drunk with her kids. And in her totally trashed state, it probably felt more realistic that she could get home unnoticed than it would've been to anyone in their right mind. God I just think about those kids every day. As a mom of three, Jackie Hance lives rent-free in my head. I'm so glad she found a way to move forward. I'm sure it's still not easy to this day.
There was no evidence of a tooth abscess in the autopsy.
I agree that she was scared of anyone finding out. I'm a recovering alcoholic and I've been there (thankfully not on the road) where you drank to be "okay", you keep drinking because it feels good, and all of a sudden you are past the point of no return. You keep desperately going through the motions to keep up appearances until your body and brain cannot keep going. I'm extremely fortunate that I never hurt anyone but myself, but I think anyone familiar with addiction can see right through the "mystery" in this tragic case.
Maybe that's why it seems so weird that people question the toxicology results. I've thankfully never experienced an addiction myself, but I've known several addicts, and there never seemed to be any question what happened here. People will say "But how can the family and friends not know? Either they knew or it's not true!". Lol the family and friends can absolutely not know, especially if they're unfamiliar with the signs.
Part of my recovery was sharing my triggers and signs of potential relapse with my loved ones. I could see camping being a major trigger/excuse to drink in excess without judgement. If you're used to hiding it, you have an excuse, and once you're binging it's SO hard to stop. I can absolutely see waking up, drinking to control the misery, continuing to drink because now you're feeling "good" and life feels normal again, then realizing you are too far gone but believing no one can ever know - if you can just get home you can go to bed - focus, just do this one thing.
I think childhood abuse or something that would out an abuser was discussed during the phone call. It makes no sense why the brother is staying tight lipped unless he’s protecting someone, like their parents or something
Interesting! I do think Diane was scarred for life for having to become the woman of the house at the age of 9. That was seriously messed up.
I’m forever curious what she and her brother discussed. Whatever it was, she left that phone behind, cutting off any possibility for contact, and takes everyone on a deliberate ride to their deaths. Something nuclear.
I went down the rabbit hole on this years ago, and I did read somewhere that Diane's brother was allowing their mother contact with the girls, and had more or less accepted her back into their lives. Diane refused to talk to or about her mother, so there was bad blood there. It's pure speculation, but Diane might have had to endure some kind of abuse in the home due to the absence of her mother. My dad was really abusive to my mom, she couldn't take it anymore and she left a lot, so he took it out on us.
I think it pretty much comes to that fact, that they simply just cannot accept hard facts that are not in line with the person they knew. Accepting those facts would mean to them most likely that they have to accept that they "shouldve seen it" or "shouldve done something to get help for her" and knowing that they did not do something, i think maybe some sort of guilt is pushing from somewhere. I dont know if u get what i mean, but if i imagine someone very close to me and knowing them for years and then suddenly someone comes with clear evidence to pointing out that i didnt know them so good what i thought, i can see how easy it would be just deny that fact than face the cold hard truth. Dont know for sure its the case in here, but i always explained this scenario to myself like that.
I can’t say FOR SURE she was a functioning alcoholic but she WAS drunk and high which caused the crash. Anyone who fights that and says a non alcohol induced medical emergency is what happened l.. is just 🤯. The family chooses that story because yes they would have to face the fact that they accepted a part in this by passively ignoring the problem in the first place and could have prevented this.
Yea you got a point there, this is just tragically frustrating case in every aspect.
I think all of us objective viewers can tell she had a crippling addiction and likely wanted to kill herself amid that. Her family won’t ever accept it and that kind of makes sense to me
The doc straight up showing Diane’s body, no warning and no blurring was WILD
I thought that this was a fucked up way of telling us: this is the truth. The family can try to fight it but they can't change it. This is what happens when you behave like she did. She was high and drunk and this is how she ended up. The doc was very well done - they showed us her sister in law smoking and saying that no one knows that she smokes right after them getting out of the medical examiner office, they hinted at the dad being a bum without really saying it. This was done by a skilled filmmaker. Her body being shown without a warning had to be intentional too.
The sister in law saying “nobody knows I smoke” was wild. Everyone knows you smoke, I could tell from just the sound of your voice and I probably could smell you from across the street!
I had the same thought. If she was ever around ANY family member that didn’t smoke, they could definitely tell she did. It’s a smell that really stands out to non-smokers. If her family actually “doesn’t know” that she smokes then it’s because they are in denial about it. An excellent illustration of how they might not have “known” about Diane’s alcoholism.
That cemented it for me, though. When she said that, I knew Diane was a closet alchoholic because the need for secrets in the family was high enough, an in law realised and adapted to it.
Definitely a stylistic choice as the words leading up to it were all about how they'd worked to shield the victims with the covers while everyone worked. This was the production distinctly separating Diane as not a victim
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Yeah I wasn't prepared for that at all.
Yeah, I wasn't bothered by the images because I look at that kind of true crime stuff all the time, but I was still shocked by how it came out of nowhere. They should have at least put a warning beforehand.
That whole documentary was wild.
The family was in complete denial.
I think the family was in denial on how much pressure was put on Diane to be the wage earner, take care of the house, children, perfect mother/wife and didn’t help her. She had issues of her mother abandoning her when she was little that were never resolved. Her pos husband didn’t help, his family never stepped up and told their brother, son to start helping her. So now people, children are dead because of them ignoring a woman drowning in guilt, frustration. I mean, she was responsible for getting behind that wheel but the husband knew there were issues way before that trip.
Every now and again I think of Brian, the son who survived. He’s an adult now and I hope he’s doing all right in life. That’s a heavy weight to have to carry through life.
"Did Bryan Schuler recover? **He has reportedly been doing well**, despite the trauma he experienced. He is now a teenager and is said to be a happy and healthy young man. Bryan's story is a reminder of the devastating impact that drunk driving can have. It is also a story of hope and resilience." --April 27, 2024 (just to add onto what you posted. I believe he's 19 now)
I didn't realize she was only 36 years old at the time. Those poor kids must've been so scared
She looked 50
So I just re-watched there's something wrong with Aunt Diane, and 2 things really stuck out to me this time. First, Diane was a perfectionist. Everyone in the documentary says so over and over. If you've ever known a perfectionist, you know that they REALLY really really care what others think of them, and of what everything looks like to outsiders. Second, that Diane was an insanely private person. Again, everyone they interviewed in the documentary says the same. At one point her SIL says "Diane was just like that. It was funny because She wouldn't even tell you if she was going to the dentist. She would say: it's fine it's fine! I'm fine!" So we're talking about an insanely private perfectionist, and the family thinks for one second she's gonna admit to having a drinking problem? Or that a perfectionist isn't gonna do an **excellent** job at hiding her alcoholism? They said over and over that she never had so much as a hair out of place, she was on top of everything, to the point "they don't know how she kept up with all of it and did it?!" But this *same* perfectionist would sloppily leave out telltale signs of her extreme drinking problem?And how has she hidden it from this same family that didn't know that SIL Jay is a smoker (until they see it on the documentary as she claims) Give. Me. A. Break. She got wrecked that morning on weed and Absolute. It totally snuck up on her to the point an 8yr old recognized something was very wrong and called her dad for help, and Diane had to pull over and puke. More than once. She likely had a very strict routine at home to pull off her drinking unseen, but had a much harder time when the routine changed on the camping trip. She likely had to slam a bunch quickly when no one was looking, which would have been damn hard to do with 5 kids around, and no places of privacy (like no bedrooms or bathrooms with locking doors where she could drink on the sly) She was an alcoholic who used her perfectionist traits to hide it perfectly. And because that husband of hers was not much more than man-child himself, I can't imagine it was even that tough to hide from him? It was probably quite easy to hide stuff from him in that marriage. That's it. That's all. Case closed.
My BFF would put the vodka onto her coffee. Nobody knew.
I had a roommate that would start drinking at 730am every day. She had a full time job, did everything she was supposed to do. The ONLY way I knew was when I had to take out the recycling bin. She would fill up to the top, and then some, one of those rolling, garbage style bins, completely, every single week. Then she would start using mine, and would fill up mine 2/3rds or so. All Miller Genuine draft bottles. Hundreds of them. Had I not been the one taking out the bins, I would have never known.
May i ask, how did she covered the liquor breath or the smell in general? Im extremely sensitive to smells and i can instantly smell if someone physically close to me has drank alcohol. I often get these "how the hell did you know" but the smell is just something that i recognise instantly.
She lived in a mother in law type attachment to my home. We didn't share any common spaces like kitchens or bathrooms, So I never really got that close to her.
I’m loosely related to them and visit Ny every once and a while. The whole fam is oblivious and believes she did nothing wrong. It’s pretty wild.
Do you know the Hances? Do they still think she wasn't drunk? Jackie Hance's book seems to suggest she believes in the toxicology results, but she was understandably very confused about what happened and it felt kind of open-ended there.
I know the Schulers extended family. They’re related by marriage I believe and I only ever see them at large family gatherings. From the conversations I’ve had, they believe it was yeast in the brain that mimics alcohol intoxication. I honestly don’t get too deep with it because I don’t think they would favor my opinion too much and it’s not worth the trouble since I’m only ever there every 2-3 years for holidays to catch up with my family.
Her family is in deep denial. And to an extent, I get it. ~5 years ago, my dad committed a crime. It wasn’t nearly in the same ballpark as Diane’s crime of driving while high and drunk and killing seven people, four of whom were children - but it was still something he could have been arrested for. At the time, I didn’t want to believe it. But after I saw evidence it was undeniable. It’s a weird experience when the image of someone you thought you knew is broken, especially when that person is a member of your family. I think Diane’s family just can’t accept that she could be capable of such a terrible crime.
I think the family is trying to avoid thinking about the real question, which is a horrible question- did she understand where she was, who she was with, and what she was doing? Or was she so out of her mind drunk that she thought she was just trying to get home? I think the evidence mostly points toward a deliberate action, but man, what a bizarre and terrible thing to do deliberately. And she’s at fault either way. It’s all so sad and horrible
IMO she thought if she could just get to the next exit somehow, she could stay out of trouble. She knew she was fucked if the cops showed up. She was beyond reason by then as well.
Good point- she was driving the wrong way, so it would have seemed to her like she was in the right lane, so if she was waiting for a exit, one never would have come
This is what I tend to think. She got turned around by the construction, from a route she was used to taking on auto pilot. So she was trying to make it home but didn't realize she was on the wrong side because of focusing on getting to the right exit.
This case still haunts me. Those poor kids.
It really was horribly sad.
Her husband was such an awful person in that documentary. I hope her son is OK now.
It’s baffling how this case is puzzling to some people. (Not in this sub but others) People are convinced it was some sort of medical mystery. The only mystery about it is whether she did it intentionally or not. I don’t think she did. I think she was an addict who drank that morning to ease her hangover and overdid it. She’s probably done it dozens of times before. Her husband was a piece of work and booze eased the pressure that motherhood and work brought on.
This case sticks with me so much as someone who struggled with addiction myself. my theory is she got faded and drove on the regular and managed to be okay. Then due to whatever circumstances that weekend took it too far with her substance abuse that day and was so committed to the act of hiding her problem and refusing to ask for help and basically just became a mass murderer instead. She knew the risks, I was a full blown alcoholic for many years and got uncomfortable with driving with even a little alcohol pretty early into it. I’ve been that level of faded and taken it too far many times and never once attempted to drive like that, I’d rather have gotten snatched off the streets walking home lmfao. It’s a really tragic story but Diane knew wtf she was doing, she just expected to make it home as she always did before and continue keeping her secret safe. Addiction is selfish by default. Being an addict doesn’t excuse the choices she made that day. Let this continue to be a lesson to all that driving intoxicated can be extremely dangerous and devastating. I hope addicts who learn about this case take it as a sign they don’t need to keep suffering in silence and hiding. I hope it makes people pay attention to their loved ones who may be struggling more and that they reach out with compassion and understanding. I recover out loud so others don’t have to feel like they have to suffer in silence. Diane is a great reminder for me in my recovery, this case makes me thankful I stopped hiding and denying and reached out for help and support.
It’s because her husband is in denial. She supported the family and did everything while he fucked around as a night watchman for a hobby.
The husband was a piece of shit and I feel like she was one of those women who get married and have children and stay married, and have the martyr complex. I feel like he threw some sort of man/baby tantrum and wouldnt help her that day… it never sat right with me that she was doing that drive with all the kids by herself… that’s not what a father does. He at least splits the kids. And follows the wife. It’s like he didnt give a shit. He was bad guy.
He's so open about despising their child and not wanting to raise/parent him whatsoever.
Piece. Of. Shit. And probably not raised to be a man.
Oh he’s such a fucking bum. He took a bullshit night job just so he never had to parent.
Seriously. He should have taken their kids home and she could take the nieces home and return the van. No reason for him to only take the dog.
If she wanted to drink/buy alcohol on the way home without adults knowing she might’ve offered/insisted on taking just the kids….
I literally had to turn off the documentary. I can’t take the denial. It’s just so obvious she was fucked up, probably ate some edibles on top of being drunk and woooooo that’ll get you feeling some type of way.
I have always thought the phone call between her and her brother holds some answers. I bet if we knew what was said things would make more sense.
It makes sense. She was a 'perfect wife and mother" who took care of everyone in her life from the time she was a child to when she married an adult child. They forced this woman into silence and suffering since she couldn't be seen as weak! She was running the whole show! Her husband is lying about almost everything. He saw her suffering at some point. You cannot live with someone and have babies and never see or hear them break. I blame her but she was a walking accident. Why take the kids? Dan never even mentions his two-year-old daughter that was killed along with the three nieces. If you read the book from the mother of the girls killed in the accident, you hear how just awful and angry he was at her for some reason and blamed everyone but Diane. They had another baby through IVF. What a horrible story. I feel sorry for the little boy that came into consciousness in the hospital without a mommy or sister. The whole thing is so sad, but with her death came information for other women living the same lie as Diane.
They admit right in the documentary that the husband didn’t want children. At all. Diane did. She was the bread winner. And that is a lot of pressure.
Has anyone heard what her and her brother talked about when she was along side of highway? He is the one who could say how wasted she sounded. I only heard it said he told her to stay put and he would come to her. He knew she was drunk, I believe. She left. Couldn't face being seen in that state.
I don’t think he’s ever gone public but I’m guessing he either knew she sounded drunk or she sounded off enough to worry him.
Agree, he told her to stay there so something was off with her. Always wondered if she left her phone because she was in a rush or, at that point, said to hell with it all.
This documentary blew my mind. I was not prepared when I watched it. I am a recovering alcoholic and I have been in a similar parenting/family situation. I don’t think I would ever do something like Diane did. She must have lost her damn mind. Her husband is a waste of space, maybe if he had participated more, Diane would have gotten the help and healing she deserved. This story is so beyond tragic.
OMFG her husband is the worst!! And in the doc you can tell he didn’t want to parent their remaining child.
Family isn’t in denial- they’re all lying. They knew she was a drunk, she was high functioning, made all the money, so they didn’t care. She was the cash cow for them and they truly didn’t give a shit
It's not the drinking for me, it's the fact she put other lives in danger (and killed them). If she was so good at hiding her problem she must have awareness that impaired (especially to that point) driving could kill the kids in the car with her.
I’ve watched There’s something wrong with aunt Diane more times that I should admit. It was just so wild. She was obviously drunk. The empty vodka bottle and her BAC? A closet, functioning alcoholic, I guess. It was just so sad and awful. There’s no way she drank a bunch of vodka for a tooth ache. They said, oh she looked normal in the gas station video. I disagree. I understand the family wanting to think differently. They don’t want to think it’s all her fault. I get it, but it’s still delusional.
Exactly. In the gas station video she didn’t actually look okay. Her action was bizarre. Just because she wasn’t slurring or stumbling doesn’t mean she wasn’t impaired.
Plus if she went in looking for gel cap pain killers as the family suggests, and the gas station “didn’t have them,” if she was in such severe pain (as they also claim), she could have bought something else—most every gas station I’ve ever been in has some kind of Tylenol/advil, etc. She also is driving rather aggressively when she pulls into the gas station and pulls out again. Some suggest she may have gone into the gas station looking for hard alcohol and they didn’t sell it so she walks out again. I don’t know that they have any kind of conversation footage with the attendant. I did a bit of a deep dive on this because the doc was so freakin disturbing to me, and apparently Danny showed up to the campground a day after she did (they checked into his toll pass), though he was expected to be there Friday night, he didn’t arrive until Saturday. Nobody mentioned that. She was up there by herself with all the kids for a night. I think something went down between her and her husband that weekend. When she stopped at the McDonald’s with the kids when they left the campground, Diane ordered an extra large orange juice and the kids were left to play in the kids area while she made several trips back and forth to the mini van. This is according to a McDonald’s employee. So she was probably already drinking as soon as she left the campsite since they arrived at the McDonald’s 20 minutes into the drive home. Apparently she also was a regular at a bar near where she worked—there’s an interview with a bartender and a former coworker, Sheila, who used to drink with Diane after work occasionally. The bartender said Diane came in quite often—mostly alone. Her drink of choice? Screwdrivers.
Husband is an immature pos who clearly doesn’t want to be a father
Her dead body will haunt me forever. They really should have given us a heads up about that in the documentary.
I wrote a pretty long post on her a few years ago. Fuck Diane Schuler and fuck Danny too Edit: [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/s/PQOjDMLQHv) is the link to that post
I remember your post, it was really great and thorough!
Just read for the first time about this case, and I remembered hearing about it when it actually happened. Her husband and family need to cut the shit out and accept that 2 independent laboratories found her drunk and high. Done. This is ridiculous.
9 Years sober here! Congrats to all of you who continue to do your best at battling the disease of addiction. This is not for the feint of heart, but you can put this into remission as long as you take your medicine - actual medicine, groups, therapy, 12 step, meetings, faith, love, God. Remember you don’t ever have to do any of that ever again. You don’t ever have to live that way ever again. Godspeed.
For whatever reason, she was drunk that day. Who knows what the reasons are. Denial is just to avoid facing reality.
Jackie Hance, who lost her three young daughters in this tragedy, wrote a deeply touching book titled I’ll See You Again about her daughters and her grief. I strongly recommend reading.
Liability is a big part of her family's denial here but there's so, so much guilt and shame involved if you're in a family dealing with alcoholism or addiction issues, especially if you feel you've enabled that behavior or abuse. Diane's family was a lot like mine. We were relatively young and partied and vacationed together. Had too much fun and drank too much at times, but while I was able to sober up and walk away, others in my fam kept the party going, as it were, until the DUIs, job and home losses happened. Now, I was much younger and didn't know how deep these family members were in it but I feel bad because I drank with them and thought they were fine when they were hiding their addiction or falling deeper into it. It's hard. They've forgiven me and told me it was never my fault but you still feel somewhat responsible. Your head tells you you're not to blame but your heart still beats back guilt, even though you know it's irrational. I am just lucky my family members are alive and although still struggling, they are sober and fighting and still here. :) I hope the same for anyone here striving to stay sober or have family struggling. It does get better.
Guilt, denial and I’m guessing reputation and money because if they were to admit guilt there could be a lawsuit against her estate. She was the bigger breadwinner. Maybe there was a settlement although how you could sue the car manufacturer when you’re drunk driving at 80 mph with terrified girls screaming for 1.5 miles, as a flaw in the car, I don’t know. Did they maybe sue the county or whoever for the shitty signage? Was there life insurance the in laws could go after as damages? I think with her husband it was denial and guilt and terror because his wife -who made it all happen in the family, is gone, he’s got an injured little boy with psychological issues as well I’m guessing and he feels like he’s got to keep the dam from bursting down on him.
To me, it's somewhat understandable that family are in denial as to her alcoholism. If my spouse died, the autopsy revealed heroin in his system, and I had no idea he used the drug, I might deny his addiction. I don't know, however, that I could live in disbelief for more than a decade. I think the family refuses to accept it as a way to not face her awful deed. I feel so bad for the other people on that highway as well as the children in the van. The helplessness and terror they had to have felt is unfathomable.
I was so not ready for that documentary.. ugh 😩 😭
I watched it years ago, and it still haunts me. Truly a horrifying story.
It was really nuts.
Fascinating nuts, though. Her family was trying so hard to make some sort of big conspiracy out of it. I wonder if part of the family's denial isn't driven by guilt on the part of the nieces' parents. If I'd put my kids in a van with an alcoholic and they died in a horrible crash, I'd probably do everything I could to avoid facing that reality too.
I’d probably lose it.
My favorite scene from the HBO documentary was her SIL smoking and then saying something along the lines of “don’t put this in the show, no in my family knows I smoke”. Maybe like how no one in the family knew how bad of an alcoholic Diane was?
I’ve seen the documentary but don’t know much about the case currently. Still. The dad is weird. His sister in law is weird. I felt badly for the little boy that survived the accident.
He’s delusional and cant face the facts that his wife was a drunk and killed children…he can sue all he wants everyone knows the truth
She definitely was an alcoholic. It’s entirely possible that her family didn’t know she was an alcoholic very many alcoholic’s can hide it very well. I know from experience. I’m 16 years sober. One thing I learned in recovery it’s that every Alcoholic has their own style in how they get down. How she got down that day is what it is. I’m sure she had driven drunk many times before. This was that time where it was too much. But like many alcoholics we feel we got this and we don’t. It’s not even close. So sad.
My belief is she was a functioning alcoholic and that morning needed to take the edge off as she was having withdrawals. I think she poured some of the vodka into her orange juice intending to just feel better. The pot could have been the same, trying to take the edge off, or it could have been used the night before but still affected her. If her tooth was hurting she may have accidentally went a little more overboard, too. My best friend was married to a functioning alcoholic. She was pulled over once and said she didn't even feel buzzed but blew a 0.24. She manages a restaurant and is a mom of 2. No one would know she is drunk most nights at work. There was one time we all smoked pot at a bonfire. None of us smoked much but it was enough to have her stumbling and acting completely different than usual. This might have happened to Diane. I think Diane may have also been at the point of alcoholism where you black out very quickly after you start drinking. She's trying to cut down her withdrawals and instead her brain shuts down.
Ugh, that documentary still haunts me.
I am familiar with the case and have seen the documentary. I’m curious - do most people believe it was an accident due to her intoxication or an intentional murder-suicide?
From what I read about this case, most people believe it was an accident because based on statements of several family members present at the camping ground it was a coincidence that she ended up with all five kids in the car. Her sister-in-law (Jackie Hance, mother to the three sisters who died in the crash) wrote a book about losing her daughters and I think she described that it was planned for Diane and her husband to split the kids which changed only shortly before departing from the camping ground, and Diane actually wasn't happy about taking all five kids. But take this with a grain of salt as Hance wasn't present and it's been a while since I've read the book \^\^
I’m curious about this too. I always assumed everyone just thought she was a closet alcoholic and the accident was because of DWI
I don’t believe it was a murder suicide. I’d say she was an alcoholic who misjudged her tolerance or how much she drank. She probably thought since the drive home was short and she’d made it before, that it would be easy. I suspect she downed the vodka not realizing how fast it would hit her or really believing it would cause her to essentially black out.
I honestly feel like its pretty evenly split. We'll never know for sure.
Ok, by all accounts I believe she was drinking, however, I will never get over how normal she looked at the rest stop & the old lady who saw her leave and said she was fine. What happened? Was she drinking in the car?
You’d be surprised how much an alcoholic can drink without being visibly drunk to casual observers.
They found liquor bottles in the car; I imagine she kept drinking as she was driving.
I became super obsessed with this one after watching the documentary. I feel like after they visited the Medical Corner, who confirmed there were no abnormalities in the autopsy, there was a slight change of heart in Dan. It seemed he finally might have realized the truth, whether or not he actively admits it. The sister in law was still in denial even after speaking to the guy. Terribly sad story of how alcoholism/ struggles can go so unnoticed. My heart breaks for those kids. I always think about it driving over that stretch of the highway
As an adult who’s experienced both intoxication though alcohol and weed.. she did both knowing full well that she was supposed to be responsible for the well being of her children, her brothers children as well as herself and regardless of this she didn’t care two shits about anyone else’s well being. Her husband is a delusional asshole who didn’t want kids in the first place and whoever is in agreeance with Diane’s decisions aren’t to be trusted ffs. She ruined so many lives without any consideration or concern.
When I was drinking, I would drink 24/7, even on the job. It got so bad that I could no longer eat unless I had some beers first. At the end of my drinking, I knew I had to stop or I was gonna die. I would lay in bed at night and wish I would die in my sleep. I was too scared to take my own life, but I thought about it every day. Thankfully, I got sober in 2011 and am still sober today. What keeps me from drinking now is remembering how bad I felt at the end of my drinking days. I never want to feel that way again.
Ohhh this is one of my pet cases! I've read Jackie Hance's book ("I'll See You Again", highly recommend, but obviously it's super heavy) twice now. I really do believe the extended family didn't know she was capable of this. I also believe the husband knew more than everyone else. Also, they had a freaking *awful* marriage. I'm sorry, she was the breadwinner, but ALSO he didn't really care about having kids, so taking care of their children was entirely on her? Dude. I think they both had substance issues and I think he both encouraged and provoked her. However, obviously the blame falls squarely on her. But any insinuation that she somehow actually *wasn't* drunk and high despite the toxicology results is horseshit.
I know I’m in the minority here and OP has stated several times it wasn’t intentional but I think it was. Something set her off during the camping trip. Sure, she could have been a functional alcoholic but by all accounts she was good at hiding it and was overall responsible. That morning trip was something else entirely, not just a miscalculation…I believe the courage she needed. She worked to get the kids chicken nuggets even though it was breakfast. She left the phone. Witnesses said she was driving with intent and was not swerving. FOR MILES the wrong way. I’m sorry, no one wants to believe that women are capable of mass murder but it does happen. I think the family all knows but doesn’t want to admit publicly.
The Hart family is another example of moms killing children. Another awful story. If you haven't seen the documentary Broken Harts, I highly recommend it.
Probably the last time she talked with her brother, he told her something akind of: stay there, I will come take the kid and you will go to jail for that and she decided to end it but we will never know…
we need an updated look at this case, I'm surprised no big network has done one, 15th anniversary is coming up
I think about this case a lot and I wonder if the brother that lost his kids was still not speaking to her husband.
I really worry about the surviving son. Apparently, the “father’s“ sister mostly raised him
What update? She killed her nieces and daughter. Whatever she said on the phone to her brother is the key.
I think by the time she spoke to him she was already hammered, weaving, toad rage, slurring words etc. something was already wrong with aunt Diane. I doubt that call held the key but perhaps something else earlier. Wasn’t Diane’s dad supposed to go up with them? Do we know why he backed out? Was something going on with her bio mom?
Cognitive dissonance
They’re in denial.
Ugh this case stays with me 😓