All language subtitles for Theres.Something.Wrong.with.Aunt.Diane.2011.1080p.WEBRip.x264-RARBG

She was a perfect wife...

An outstanding mother, a hard
worker, a reliable person...

Trustworthy, I would marry her
again tomorrow if I could...

She's awesome, she's the best.

And then she drives away...

I've watched this,
like, numerous times.
Over and over again.

And she was fine. And
that's what's frustrating.

I'm very big into
mystery shows. I live
for watching those.

And even before this,
that's all I would watch.

And it's just ironic
to me that I feel like
I'm on one of them.

I feel like...

I'm walking around and there's
going to be like this story

that's going to come out.

I feel like someone's
gonna say, ten years later,
it proves what happened.

There's so much
more to this story.

It was a horrific
scene on a Taconic parkway
near route 117 this afternoon.

This burned-out shell was all
that remained of a minivan...

After the head-on crash
which left 8 people dead.

Diane Schuler,
her daughter, and 3 nieces...

Three Westchester men
in the SUV were killed.

Evidence leads
us to believe that a
vehicle was traveling...

The wrong way southbound
in the northbound
lanes of traffic.

Several
people were ejected,
most of them children.

And we prioritized, and
we were able to save
one young child's life.

More than one family
was destroyed tonight...

After a horrible crash
on the Taconic parkway.

The lone survivor a
5-year-old boy, clinging
to life here tonight...

At the Westchester
medical center.

When I first got the
phone call, I didn't
know what happened.

I just went upstate to
the hospital, and then
I found out there...

That there was a,
a car accident...

And uh, he gets
the phone call...

And he got all upset on
the phone and he handed
me the phone...

And at that point it was...
Bryan died, and everybody
else was alive.

And then I went to Poppa's
house, and I told them
that Bryan was dead.

And then I got the phone
call that it wasn't,
that Bryan survived.

And then, Jimmy said
"It's bad, it's bad J,
everyone's gone."

You know, I don't remember
much, of that day, you know.

Just taking care of Bryan
that's what I remember.

My sister was a phenomenal
mother, aunt, and friend.

And all of us are grateful
for the love and care...

That she showered upon
our entire family especially
all of our children.

What we ask all of
you going forward is...

That you keep my girls, my
sister, and my niece, and all
of us in your daily prayers.

There is a miracle
child in all of this.

Our dear nephew, Bryan,
who's getting better
and stronger by the day.

And who will be loved
by more people than he
will ever understand.

Love your children.
Cherish your children.

Kiss your children...

And don't ever forget...

An autopsy was performed...

By the Westchester
County medical, medical
examiner's office...

On the body of
Diane Schuler...

The operator of the
2003 Ford van who was
responsible for this crash.

The toxicology
from that autopsy...

Shows that Diane Schuler
had a blood-alcohol
content of .19 percent.

The legal limit for
intoxication in New York
state is .08 percent.

Toxicology also reveals
that Diane Schuler had
a high level of THC.

THC is the active ingredient
contained in marijuana.

Um, the weight is what's
very important in calculating
the number of drinks...

And with that level of alcohol
it's approximately ten drinks
are still in her at this time.

Hi. Um, we want
to speak to you...

About the events
that occurred...

And I'll tell you
quite candidly...

That I didn't see
any real benefit.

Except my client wants
to talk about his wife.

She was not an alcoholic,
she rarely had a drink.

She got in the van,
with the children...

And what should have
taken a 35-minute drive,
took almost four hours.

Listen to this, I go to
bed every night knowing
my heart is clear.

She did not drink, she
was not an alcoholic.

Listen to all that?
She is not an alcoholic.

And my heart is rested every
night when I go to bed...

Something medically
had to have happened.

My name, my...
Jay Schuler.

You're married to?

I'm married to Danny's
brother, Jimmy Schuler.

Diane was my sister-in-law.

Family was the most
important thing to her.

To have the cousins
all playing together...

There is no way she would
ever jeopardize the children.

Stop the barking.

Will you just
go down a second?

Look at the things
they wrote about her.

"Loser, skank, killer."
Isn't that nice?

"Oh, shut the F up and
admit that him and his wife
were alchy's and potheads."

"People you'll see in hell."
That's what Bryan's gonna see.

That his mother was a
murderer, and people want to
know why I keep on fighting.

You go from the horrific
tragedy to now people
hating you, hating you.

People what they're saying
on the computer, people what
they're saying on the news.

You know and I'm like,
"You don't know us,
that's not what happened."

And any sympathy
turned to hate.

I need Bryan to hold his
head up high, that his
mommy was a great mom.

She wasn't drunk, she would
never do that to them.

Never, never ever, she
would never hurt her kids,
or Warren and Jackie's.

Something happened.

We'll do every
test that that experts
recommend to us and...

You know we'll go to
every avenues here
that can be explored.

Right.

But what if it
doesn't turn up something
you want? What will...

I know, I think about
that sometimes, but
it's gonna work out.

And if it doesn't I, I don't
even go down that path...

'Cause I know she wouldn't
let me fight this for nothing.

The Barbara
Law Firm, good afternoon.

You know why they came to
me, originally? To go public.

That was from day one,
they didn't just pick
my name out of a hat.

They wanted to go public,
and I still think it was
the right thing to do.

It would have never gotten
to where it is today.

You wouldn't be involved,
if it wasn't something
public, right?

Right.

This has been
a very, um...

Painful, emotionally painful
experience this case...

Because I've taken
a lot of grief.

I've taken more grief
on this case than some
of the really...

Buttafuoco and Jessica Hahn
cases of the '70s and '80s.

And my friendship with
certain celebrities.

This took more heat.

People actually come over
to me, "How could you
represent that drunk?"

And that really bothers me,
because I truly believe...

In my heart of hearts,
that she's not an
alcoholic, nor a drunk.

Do I have an answer
for that day? No.

What is the thing that
you want to happen most?

I want to know what
happened to my wife, I
want an autopsy done.

A correct autopsy done
and I wanna know if she
had a stroke or not.

Cause what they're
saying is not true, or I
wouldn't be doing this.

I'm a quiet person and a
private person but, uh...

I just want to find
out what happened.

So, when my son gets
older he knows what
happened to his mom.

I'm gonna go until the
end, until I find out what
really happened, the truth.

Whether it's good or bad
that would be fine with me...

But I know something medically
happened to my wife.

Did Diane talk
to you about her mother?

Not much.

It wasn't a subject
that we talked about.

What did
she say about her?

That, uh, she left when
Diane was young. She
didn't like bringing it up.

Was it something
that she just kinda
didn't deal with?

It seemed like
it bothered her.

But she wouldn't talk about
it. And I never push, pushed.

So...

Cause she was the girl of
the house and everyone said
that Diane did everything.

Did you ever
meet her mother?
No.

Uh, someone said she was
at the funeral, at the wake
but, um, I never met her.

I have... Only things I
knew that she didn't
have contact with her.

Do why, do you
know why she left the father?
The...

I don't know why she left the
dad, no. I, I really don't.

Diane wasn't like that,
like she didn't go like,
"Pity me, feel sorry for me."

But I would imagine
that had a big impact on her.

That she was going to be
totally there for her kids,
and never leave them...

And that's why we
find it so ironic.

Yeah, come to
the middle. Right from
the moment you woke up.

I woke up about 6:00 a.m.,
went down to my boat to clean
it out and do what I gotta do.

Came back about
quarter-to-seven, 7:00
a.m., I woke her up...

Saying we had to start
cleaning the camper...

So we could start getting
home before traffic.

She woke up, started packing
the bags slowly, started
waking the kids up slowly...

Started getting the kids
dressed, we unloaded the
camper, all the bags...

Outside the camper and
I walk 'em to the car
and we load 'em up.

We had a cup of coffee,
two cups of coffee,
and then we left.

Yeah, I kissed everyone
goodbye and my wife.

Thank you.

It was a great weekend.
Swimming, hiking, campfire,
cooking marshmallows.

The game room with the
kids, the playground, it
was an excellent weekend.

Catch any fish?
Catch you later.

Uh, there's large mouth bass,
there's small mouth, there's
pickerels, sunnies, crappies.

Hi there, how are you?

They say when they come
up here, they forget
that the world exists.

It does give you
the opportunity
to take a breath.

It's crazy today, just the
pressures of everyday life.

You know, mom's working, dad's
working, the kids are busy
doing activities at school.

I don't think families
have enough time to
spend with each other...

And I think this is probably
one of the places that they
can come and just enjoy it.

There's the perfect
relaxation right out there.

That morning, we got up, we
had breakfast, we made coffee.

We cleaned up the camper, said
goodbye to all the kids...

She hopped in her car,
I hopped in mine, and
we went on our way.

He received a phone call
at 9:00 a.m., from Emma
Hance, his oldest daughter...

Who said everything was good,
they had a great time. They
were looking forward to, uh...

Coming home...

Danny was parked up in
front, and he had the dog,
and he had the truck.

And she was right
behind him in the van.

And the kids were just
yelling, they were all
strapped in their seats...

And yelling what a good
time they had cause they
were up visiting...

With Aunt Diane, ya
know, and so forth.

So I kinda leaned in,
and I said, "Oh, I
hear you yelling."

I said, "You have a good
time?" And they go,
"Yeah, we're coming back."

Well, you know, they
were so excited about
coming back and, uh...

That was about the last thing
they said. I said to Diane,
"Have a safe trip home."

She certainly seemed
sober to me.

When we left the
campground, we
left together...

I followed her out and
then we got on the parkway.

And I went home with
my dog and the laundry.

And she stopped off at
the stores, to get gas,
to get the kids' breakfast.

And I just went home.

The morning they
left that Sunday...

He stated that they left
approximately the same time.

Diane left with all the
kids and the minivan, and
he left with the dog.

And he stated that Diane was
stopping at a McDonald's not
far from the campground.

The Hance family agreed
that it was preplanned...

That he would take the
pickup truck with the dog...

Um, obviously you can't
put the kids in the back
of a pickup truck.

And they borrowed the
minivan from the Hance's...

For the very purpose
of transporting all
of the children.

Investigators from the Liberty
station were able to...

Obtain a video from
the McDonald's which
was time-stamped.

It showed Diane Schuler
enter the McDonald's,
with the children.

We additionally
interviewed the McDonald's
employee who served her.

He said that he did
remember her and did
not remember her...

Being intoxicated
or smelling of alcohol.

The children were playing in
the playground, they seemed
to be having a good time.

Through this video we saw no
obvious signs of intoxication.

There's the Sunoco video
where you see her at the pump
getting out of the car...

And then she goes
in, at the gas station.

Um, then she goes in
and apparently asks for
some sort of pain meds,

which they don't have.

She walked in,
spoke to the clerk...

We don't know what was
said, there's no audio, and
walked out with nothing.

Again, there was no
obvious signs of
intoxication at this time.

Oh no we're doing
I, I can... What is it
again, "I can learn?"

You know E-Y-E, you
know how to spell it.

Pretty pictures!

What's in that one, Bry?

A face.
Right there.
Oh yeah.

One, two,
three, four, five, six,
seven, eight, nine.

Go down more.

- A human face?
- A human face is in there.

Here's a
nose, eye, mouth.
I see it.

Can you find a deer...

A buffalo, opossum,
a fox, horse, dog.

What does this
do for your eyes, Bry?
Makes 'em strong, right?

This is the picture
that they took at the
campsite on Saturday.

It's really hard to
look it, but...

You can see how much fun
they're having because Bryan,
being like as shy as he is...

Erin with her ball,
and Emma, Allie, and Kate.

And that would be typical
of Diane like, "All right,
everyone on a rock...pose."

Diane, like when she asked me
to be a godmother to Erin...

I like, I'm like, "Oh my god,
she really does like me." You
know I was like so thrilled.

That was on Erin's
birthday and Diane
would always be like...

All right, godmother,
come sit, open presents...

She got sunglasses,
and it was too cute.

It was fun and it's
just not the same.

I mean, Warren and
Jackie, I think their
grief is just so bad.

Jackie, the kids were her
job, that's what she did.

Listening to her schedule
of soccer, dance, this,
that, times three...

Running all around to
wake up to nothing.

I can't imagine anyone in her
family thinks Diane was drunk.

As a parent, like you have
the tiny bit of doubt...

You're human, I would have a
tiny bit of doubt, human.

But when Jackie reflects
back or, I don't want to
speak for them, but...

Her and Diane were
like best friends.

But are they choosing to
speak out about it? No.

This is the day and he's
coming up to my house and
this is 7:15 in the morning.

He goes, "Well, going to
Yorktown Heights today,
my sister's house..."

"What surprise will it be
for dinner? Laugh out loud."

That's the day he died.

That morning I remember,
I remember my brother'ss
voice on that phone.

Saying to me, "Hey guys,
okay we're gonna just have
spaghetti and meatballs."

I had the table set...

And I remember him saying,

"Okay, it's all right,
you know I'll be there."

It's sort of, there's no
closure at that point...

Because you don't get to
say goodbye, you know.

I mean, like I know that
he knows we all loved him.

You know we loved my
brother, we loved them,
and they know that.

But we didn't
get to tell them.

You know like we didn't
get to have that closure

with them, and that...
That bothers me.

And then it also like I said it
bothered me because...

They never made it home.
They should have made it home
that day and they didn't.

It is, it was a shock, it was
really a shock. I mean just...

When the phone call came
in and from that day forward.

He was healthy,
he was just...

He retired and he was
really just starting
to enjoy himself.

I feel his life was
cut short. He was
really uh, eh...

I think he had a lot
more life to live.

Bryan's my, my
main priority right now.

Done?

Being a single
parent it's hard...

Trying to do the
right thing for him.

Give him a normal life
as we possibly can.

Definitely changed.
I do security work.

I work nights,
so, I'm up at 6:00.
I'm in bed by 1:00.

What's the hardest
part of being a single parent?

Food shopping, cooking,
laundry, taking care
of the house...

Make sure Bryan's schoolwork
and then going to work.

So, you're going all day
and all night, there's very
little time for yourself.

Does Bryan ask
a lot about his mom, or?

We talk a lot
about his mom.

Mommy took me here,
mommy bought me that.

I used to play here
with mommy all the time.

Does Bryan get
any kind of special
support or counseling?

No, eh... The school
is excellent.

He's doing really
good in school.

And, uh, everything is
somewhat back to normal.

If he wants to talk about
it he will, you know.

I have tried to poke and
prod and things, I'm curious.

And he said, "Mommy's head
hurt, she couldn't see."

I said, "Oh Bryan,
I said your mom..."

"Aunt Jay I told you,
her head hurt, she couldn't
see." And he said...

I said, "Oh, and
that's when the crash
happened." And he said...

"And I flew out of the
car like Superman."

Since he came home from rehab
and I started spending...

My days with him, the
story has never changed.

Never, ever changed, "Mommy's
head hurt, she couldn't see."

Diane called and said
we're running a little late...

Because the girls
had play practice.

And "We had a great
time, everything's great."

All laughing, kidding around
and Diane said, "All right,
they talked about the play."

The play..."Get
me two tickets."

I think Erin will sit on my
lap, and then they said,
"Okay, we'll see you soon."

We were
traveling back on the
freeway heading south.

We were driving
in the center lane.

And the vehicle came up rather
quickly in the right lane...

And, um, moved into
the center lane...

Moved back into the
right lane and...

Continued to make a series
of movements, changing
lanes rather aggressively.

And we both looked, and
we saw a woman grasping
onto the steering wheel...

Appearing to concentrate
as she was driving.

And the last
movement it made...

It made from the right lane,
and it kind of cut off a car
in the middle lane and the...

The car or the truck
actually swerved out of
the way to avoid it.

Um, but each time it made
the movement, it did it...

The vehicle was kind of...
It was very precise like...

It would move into the
lane, it would move
out of the lane, uh...

And it was done with
some degree of precision.

And there came a point
in time where we actually
could see, um...

Children's heads kind of
swaying back and forth
as the vehicle moved.

Coming down
the freeway going to
the rest area...

I thought we passed her.
She pulled out and
got right behind us.

And she was, I mean,
so close to me, I couldn't
see her headlights.

And then the next thing
you know you started
hearing the horn beeping.

It made me nervous,
in fact I braced myself...

For an accident,
because I thought she
was so close behind us.

Well, the way she was
driving I thought she was...

You know just some sort of nut
coming behind me and then...

When she tried to pass me
again on the shoulder, that's
when I really thought it.

And then she just pulled
right back in behind me.

The honking
happened as we
were getting...

Off the exit for
the thruway into
the rest area.

We stayed straight which
went into the car lane...

And she veered off
into the truck area.

And I did see her
open the door, get
out of the car, and...

Possibly she was going
to get sick to her stomach.

What made
you think that?

She was kind of
bent over a little.

My husband
and I then...

Walked into the rest area,

and she wasn't there when
we came out again.

It was 12:30 PM.

If you had a
do-over, what would you do?

I would have confronted her.

You know, and then we
probably would have seen
those kids in the car.

And we probably would have
seen that there was...

You know, she, there was
something wrong, you know.

I can't really remember
a point where Diane
wasn't a part of my life.

I remember girl scouts with
her, soccer teams together...

Kindergarten, first grade,
like I don't remember
her just not being there.

You hang out with
her at school...

And you had the best
time ever cause she
was the class clown.

And then you wanted
her, her to come to
your house, because...

She was always fun, she
always made you laugh.

I moved to Fort Park
in fourth grade.

That's when I got involved
with the whole group of girls.

We were definitely, I
wouldn't say crazy...

We were, but we were
loud, we were fun, you know
we liked the attention.

I was most spirited, Diane
got loudest in our class...

I mean senior superlatives,
she got like seven of them.

You know she was loudest,
most fun to be around...

- Class clown...
- You know, actually

someone that didn't like
to be in the spotlight...

She was in the spotlight
just because that, she had
just such a big personality.

Diane always had a good
head on her shoulders, and...

You know was very
responsible from
an early age.

She lived with her father
and her brothers, and...

You know, she was like
the woman of the house.

She had to clean the
kitchen, you know, she
had to do wash, and...

You know, somebody's
gotta take on that
motherly role...

So to speak, and
you know... And she
definitely did it well.

In high school,
Diane was heavy sometimes.

She struggled
to lose weight.

I guess it was right before
my wedding, is when she had
lost the most weight ever...

And looked amazing.

And she had come to my
wedding and that's actually
where she had met Danny.

She really never
dated while we were younger...

And, I think, because...

She never really had that
companionship growing up...

Or you know, never had
that boyfriend or anything.

So when she met Danny like
you know she was gonna...

Experience everything
that, you know, we all had
the chance to experience.

That was her
first love, and...

I think she knew that you know
it was gonna be her only love.

Mr. Schuler, can you
explain the bottle of vodka?

No, I don't.

Daniel, how do you
explain the vodka?

We usually would keep it
in our camper throughout
the whole season.

- One bottle.
- Why? Why?

You know you have pina
coladas, you, you...
Sitting by a campfire...

Right. For the camp fire.
Cooking marshmallows.

What was the vodka
bottle doing in the car?

My wife packed all the bags
that day in the camper...

And leaves 'em by the
door, I carry 'em from
the camper to the trucks.

I'm very surprised that
the vodka bottle was in
there, I had no idea.

I don't know why
she brought it home.

Well, does it give you pause to
think that maybe, just maybe...

She was a drinker and
you didn't know it?

I've been with her for 13
years, absolutely not.

Daniel, why appear here,
why keep on doing this?

The truth, the truth
will come out.

But Larry, you have to
understand,

Danny doesn't
want the other families...

To think that a drunk driver
killed their families.

That's why we are out
to prove that she. ..

Try to prove that
she wasn't drunk.

I've gotten to a point,
I forgive Diane Schuler.

I pray for her, like I
pray for my father and my
brother and those children.

Right.

The family that's still
alive, I'm still working on.

Oh, come on, even the
lies about the bottle.
Yeah.

"Oh, it's not our bottle, I
don't know where she got it."

"Oh yeah, we kept a
bottle up at the camp,

we brought it back and forth."

The stories just kept
changing, they just kept
changing, and like I said...

If, if you just come
forward and say I'm sorry
she made a mistake...

You could accept that.

Right.
But to have to keep lying
and try to cover up, why?

What are you trying to
cover up? What happened?

I would say to him, "What,
what transpired between
you and your wife?" Right.

That pushed her.
Right, that pushed her.

And then I'd say to him, "You
know, what's with the denial?"

"You denying this is
enabling other people
to do the same thing."

I mean, the right thing
to do is to admit, you
know, my wife was drunk.

Don't let this happen
to your family.

Right.

Here you go.

Doctor.

Doctor, uh, May 25th.

Someone is gone.

There is a deep, deep wish to
find a way to remember them.

Which, um, in a way is the
silver lining to the loss
that people experience.

In forensic psychiatric
autopsy, what we do
attempt to piece together...

The state of mind, and who
the person was at the time
of the events in question.

People are seeking
to preserve her memory.

At the same time, they want
to find out what actually
happened, because it's...

It's such a tragedy
and, and such a mystery...

And they, and right now,
they are constricted.

The choices they have
is to either accept her
as someone who was bad...

Which she cannot, because
she wasn't bad in their
relationships with them.

Or to be able...

Or they're focusing
on some medical event...

For which there was no
evidence in the autopsy.

The problem is when
someone is being
demonized...

The tendency by the, those who
remember that person is to try
to make them into a saint.

Do you wanna
show the nice photo
album, Daddy made you?

Hey, I got it.

You wanna show her?
Photo album.

My sister.

This, Bryan's
first fish he caught.

That...

And they went
pumpkin picking.

Is that Halloween?

You're a good big brother.

Nice and easy.
Scratch.

That was funny with
the glasses, good job.

Try to see it, try to see it.
I'll hold it. Go ahead, look.

You see? Good job,
look at that.

Oh my god, you
look like an alien.

What?

You wanna show
the picture of you
and Mommy upstate?

Mommy.

And then the one
of Mommy and Daddy.

He was madly in
love with her.

He, and I said he met
the right girl, finally.

She was lovely. She
was so motherly...

You know, I mean,
I spoil my son Danny,
then she spoiled him.

She calmed him down.

She was the boss. Yeah.
She was the boss, yes.

She made all the
decisions and Danny was
like her oldest child.

You know, and he,
uh, he loved Diane...

Diane, like I said, made
all the decisions and he
was like her oldest boy.

Yeah.

Diane, she was
a, an amazing woman.

She worked her way up, she
was extremely smart woman.

Had her own office and
she was like a boss.

- She had her own secretary.
- Yep.

They loved her there,
she's got a lot of friends
in, uh, Cablevision.

- Lot of friends. Uh-huh.
- She was very capable.

She seemed to be very good
at whatever she attempted,
I mean, she was...

Very good at, uh, her job.

She was a take charge
person too, you know...

Something came on and,
"Oh, this person's
gonna have a baby."

"Oh, all right, okay, you
go out and get this, and
we'll go and do that, and..."

"You get this, and we'll
get together and..." That's
just the way she was.

Everything was ironed,
and down to like
the littlest thing.

Like, her pants were ironed,
her shirt was ironed,
this was ironed, like...

It was like, the kid's
clothes were ironed. I'm
like, "When do you do this?"

She made me a book.

With all little pictures
of the children.

When she had to put
the kids to bed, she'd
work on it every night.

And then she was starting
another one for me.

The end!

I said, "Diane, where
do you get the time?"

Because by the time she would
leave my house and get home.

It was 7:00 in the
evening, or about that...

Then she'd feed them dinner,
then she would bathe them.

Then she would take Bryan
and read his book to him,
and then put him into bed.

Then she would cuddle
with, pick up little Erin,
and read her a book...

And then carry
her into bed.

And then she found time to
work on these little books.

And then Danny would
come home and she'd have
a snack with Danny.

But then she's back up
again in the morning.

I really uh, and she'd
throw a load of laundry
in the meantime.

A mother, up all night,
or what? You know...

For someone to be so
organized, you know.

She made it look easy.

And they worked opposite
schedules, her and Danny...

You know, which, you know,
could be stressful. But she
didn't make it seem that way.

Bryan and Erin, my Erin,
started preschool together.

And we would see each
other on a daily basis.

I was the second parent
there every day, and
she was the first.

And she came from Babylon,
and I live right around the
block from the preschool.

She was not only on time, the
kids were dressed impeccably.

There was never like a stain
on their shirt or toothpaste
on the corner of their mouth.

A hair out of place.
Very on top of things.

She chaperoned
for school trips.

She put herself on a list
to donate things for school
parties and everything...

She did it all! You know, and
she worked full time, so...

So, do you think
she was like, the super
mom, that she never had?

I think so, I think
that drove her to be...

You know, it definitely
laid the groundwork for
what type of a mother...

You know, she was
going to be.

How do you...

As an investigator, explain
the toxicology report

with high levels
of marijuana...

In Diane's system?
How do you explain that?

I can't explain it. But
what I will tell you, is
what we are doing...

Is I want to determine if
those results are correct.

The Schuler family has
been trying to raise the
money among the family...

To pay for the additional
tests that need to be done to
try and clear Diane's name.

Daniel Schuler and the Schuler
family felt so convinced...

In, in Diane's reputation
and her background...

Which is substantiated so
far by our investigation...

That they went out and they
paid out of their good money.

For a private investigation
firm to come in...

And look at this, and
take it where it leads it.

All I know is that when
I got, when this first
happened, and we got...

Dominic, and Dominic
just gave us Tom.

I'm like, all right, this guy
is going to save the day.

He's going to save the
day, he's going to find
out what happened to her...

He just totally was
like, "You're right,
she wasn't drunk."

He's like, "It just
doesn't make sense,
everyone who I spoke to."

And then everything
was about...

"All right, well, we gotta
get this done,

"I'm going, I'm getting
the samples. I'm getting this,

I'm getting that, and we're
going to need more money."

Ten thousand dollars,
then $30,000. We don't
have this money!

You know, we're taking it
from here borrowing from
Peter to pay Paul, and...

Diane was the breadwinner.
But I convinced everyone...

Follow Tom. Tom's gonna
do it. And nothing was done.

Nothing was done.

How do you do
that to people?

Have you spoken
to Tom Ruskin at all?
No.

What happened there?

Don't know. As soon as we
paid him, he disappeared.

What was Ruskin's job,
what was he hired to do?

Ruskin was hired
to go up there...

And start finding out things
and collect information.

I used him on two prior cases,
and he'd done a very good job.

Um, I don't know
what happened here.

I picked up the
newspapers everyday...

And I was,
you know, with great
chagrin, where's he going?

I don't understand,
we put our, we put
our point out there.

Now, let's wait and
see what happens.

There was, everyday,
something new in the paper.

I, I just wanted Ruskin
to come under control!

Have you interviewed him yet?

We have been
trying to set that up.

It's just ironic that
you can get these so
quickly of helping us...

And we've asked
for these for a year.

Oh that's when she was
on the prenatal vitamins...

For when she,
um, was pregnant.

Do you remember having
her trouble sleeping?
No.

And she got, um, Hydrocodone,
and, uh, that's the dentist.

She would always do this.
I noticed, always...

Rubbing the side?
Yep.

I saw that, and her
friends saw that too.

She had a tooth that
was bothering her.

Okay, so, '04 she had
the cleaning and x-rays...

Yeah, she had it, she
had the root canal.

Then they went to go in
and do more, she really
would not get that finished.

It was too, she just
hated it right?

Yeah, too much pain.

Then an oral exam, no
cleaning, so obviously
she was still having pain.

Wait, was that
the last one?

Wait, 7.31.08, that's
a year before.

Maybe it's the same
tooth that was bothering
her all since '05.

That she never got worked
on, and this is the one
that they said she went...

And then she left. They said
that she left the dental
office in the middle of it.

All we wanted was a starting
point of what happened to her.

Because if she stopped
for Advil, or Tylenol,
or something...

Something was
bothering her.
It was bad.

Yeah, I feel like now
I can look over these
things all the time...

But I'm just going to come
to conclusions in my head.

At approximately 1:00 p.m.,

Diane called Jackie Hance...

And this is the phone
call where she sounded
disheveled and disoriented.

He basically stated that
she didn't sound like herself.

And at one point she
called him Danny, which
is her husband's name.

And he knew something
was wrong, the kids were
crying in the background.

And he told his sister
to sit put, that he'd
be right up there.

When there is
an incoherent phone
call with her brother...

Her oldest niece is
apparently on the phone...

Uh, to her parents saying,
uh, "There's something
wrong with Aunt Diane."

They're saying, "Aunt
Diane can't see."

"Aunt Diane can't...
Something's wrong
with Aunt Diane."

They were pulled
over, at that point...

And Emma told her
dad where they were.

Read me a sign, and
she said "Tarrytown."

Warren races up from where
he is in Long Island...

To the Tappan Zee Bridge,
to try and find Diane.

She leaves her phone on the
Jersey barrier, the divider,
at the Tappan Zee Bridge.

The phone was located
right after the Tappan
Zee Bridge tolls...

On a pull off,
off to the right.

Someone had found
her cell phone sitting
on a guide rail.

Her entire route, up
until the Tappan Zee Bridge...

Is consistent of what she
would have normally done.

Then it becomes unclear
as to why she got off the
highway and where she went.

Are you all right?

No! Quite frankly.

Well, thanks
for doing this.
Mmm-hmm.

Was she
your closest friend?

I would say, yeah. She was.

And we were kinda not very
similar in a lot of ways...

Like, I'm a very
easy-going person and let
a lot of things pass, and...

She was...she had to be in
charge of everything, and...

There was nothing left to
chance, you know, everything
had to be planned and precise.

She was a powerful
woman, she's very much
in charge of everything.

At work, at home, um, in
the car, in the friendship.

If you were with Diane,
you pretty much...

She,
it was her way.

You know, it was pretty much,
if you said, you know, even...

I would program
the GPS in the car...

And I just blindly
follow the GPS, if I
put an address in there.

And she'd be like,
"No, that's wrong, you
know turn, you know..."

You know, yeah, every step of
the way you know she would...

We, it would be rerouting
itself because she
wouldn't, you know...

Allow me to
follow the GPS.

She's certainly not a
perfect person. You know?

If she loved you, she
loved you, if she didn't like
you, she could be difficult.

You know, uh, you know
she didn't let anything go...

You know, she, you
know, if somebody...

Was rude, or, you know,
she'd call them out right
there, you know, um...

She was okay as long
as she was in control
of everything.

Did you guys ever have
conversations about any kind
of pain she was having?

Um, you know, I know,
I know she did have
issues with um, like...

Especially that last week,
every time I would see her,

she would be
holding her jaw.

Or moving her mouth
around, you know,

like moving
her lower jaw.

Knowing her, and knowing what
kind of a person she was...

Every day of her life, and how
she conducted herself, um...

As crazy as it sounds,
people grasping for,
um, you know, reasons.

Um, it seems more plausible,
to anybody who knows her...

That something medical
could have happened to her.

Did she seem
at all upset that week?

No. Not at all.

And Diane was not the type
to ever hide her feelings.

If she was upset with you, you
knew she was upset with you.

You know, she wasn't
the type of person
that would smile, if...

You know, and just pretend, if
something was wrong, she would
have said something was wrong.

Did she talk
about her marriage with you?

Not really about her
marriage, you know...

I know, to me she just
appeared very content.

You know, very, um, happy,
with the way her life was...

You know, never heard
her, she wouldn't discuss
her marriage, no.

When was the last
time you had spoken with her?

About ten years.
Ten years. Mmm-hmm.

So, what happened
with you guys, that you didn't
speak for all that time?

How did that work,
how did that work out?

You know, Danny
just likes to be...

Danny, and they like
to do their own thing,
I mean we never...

Never got into a fight,
there was never any argument.

There was never a
reason why we stopped
talking, it just stopped.

That's it. There's no,
there's no rhyme or
reason why it ended.

I was actually the only
one that was invited
to the wedding.

And I did not go.
By choice, because
that's, Diane and I...

Didn't have as close
of a bond as we had,
and it was upsetting.

And I had, I had my
first child already.

And, you know like,
Diane wasn't there for
that, which was weird.

So...

Excuse me.

Uh, so I think
for me, like...

I couldn't take part of this
part of her life, without
the connection we had.

Yes, so...

I've seen her wear this.

So, we can match
the DNA, to my wife.

And if that DNA
does match the sample,
what, what will come next?

The medical part. Right.

That's what I'm waiting for,
the medical part of it.

Yeah, so this was '05,
four years before.

Grinding teeth, sensitivity
to cold, loose teeth
and broken fillings...

And tooth pain and
jaw difficulty, pain.

Does that say abscess?

I wonder if that was
the same tooth that was
bothering her afterwards.

You know what's so funny?
She'd never even tell people
she was going to the dentist.

No, never. Or that, yeah,
she was fine, "I'm fine,
I'm fine, I'm fine."

Diane was a very
private person.

People who knew her
said to me over and over again

that Diane didn't
talk about personal matters.

She never articulated
feelings about, uh, anybody.

Hi, this
is Liz Garbus calling again.

Her mom was like a non-issue.

I don't really think she
wanted to interact with her.

She talked about her
dad, she adored her dad.

Do we know why her
mom left her, her house,
the house or left the dad?

I did.

So, you don't,
you don't want to talk
about her mom?

No. I'm sorry.

I don't even know 100%,
the background of the
divorce, I just know...

Everybody, all, they
were all very angry.

The mother left with
the next-door neighbor.

I think it was
like a family friend.

But you know, she
never complained
about it, she never...

Talked about it, like it
was as if like, almost
like she wasn't even there.

One time, I talked
with Diane's mother.

And uh, she said, "I'm
not the bad person."

And... Whatever that meant.
I don't know, so...

I told, I told that to Diane
when they came home and she
didn't want no part of it.

Diane's mother reached
out, a time and again.

Trying to reconcile,
trying to develop a
relationship with Diane.

And Diane has brothers!

And Diane's mother had
a relationship with her
sons, Diane's brothers.

So it was really
uniquely Diane...

Who held some kind of
unarticulated grudge
against her mother.

Parents get
divorced, but it's very rare
that a nine-year-old-daughter,

would not go for her mother
in a divorce, at that
particular point in time.

So, Diane herself need to use
some denial to go ahead and
survive the trauma of being...

Abandoned by her mother
at the age of nine.

Of course, it's very painful
for a nine-year-old.

And I think she had that
vulnerability about her.

Okay.

Just based on what Ms.
Jackie Hance told me, that
this was out of character...

For her sister-in-law not
to answer the phone, um...

And also the fact that one of
the children had mentioned...

That her aunt
wasn't feeling well.

I asked, uh, Mrs. Hance if
Diane Schuler had any
history of medical problems.

Um, I think I even asked
her, you know, if she had
any history of drug abuse.

And again, these are questions
that I would ask anybody.

And she said, "No."
Um, so at that point
I kind of treated it...

As an overdue motorist slash
possible medical emergency.

Um, but at that point, we
were just checking to see
if we could locate the van.

There's a number of
ways that she can get to the
entrance of the Taconic.

She could have gone up 9A and
gone across, she could have
gone up the Taconic, and...

Simply made a U-Turn.
So, how she got to...

That exit ramp,
we don't know.

I got a phone call
from my brother-in-law,
Diane's brother.

Then I uh got my keys, and my
brother, and we went upstate.

He asked me if I would take a
ride uh with him back upstate.

Because they couldn't
find, find Diane.

I was at work.
And when I heard...

Jimmy call and say, "Danny's
coming over, he needs me,
we're going to find Diane."

At that point we just thought
she wasn't feeling well.

You don't
want to touch that.

This is an area where we set
up our, our alcohol levels...

For whatever sample
we're testing, so it's
blood, urine, brain.

Is this where
Diane Schuler's blood
alcohol was tested?

Yes.

When we talk about the
effect, first, of alcohol...

The frontal lobe of your
brain starts to be affected
around 0.01 to 0.10 percent.

Diane Schuler had
just over 10 drinks in her,
at the time that she died.

Her blood alcohol
was 0.19 percent...

And the Vitreous humor
was 0.23 percent...

And the gastric contents were
0.25 percent alcohol levels.

I'm a psychiatrist, uh...

Trained in general psychiatry,
and then did additional
training in drugs and alcohol.

Once you start getting over
0.2, then you start getting
into alcohol toxicity.

Um, that's the level where
people are showing up,
needing to show up in the ER.

Uh, becoming unconscious,
having blackouts, um, and
even going into coma.

And with the
marijuana on board...

One and one don't
equal two anymore.

Um, they potentiate each
other, so then she's got
the effect of the marijuana.

As well as the effect
of the alcohol.

Alcohol may increase the
absorption of the marijuana.

So, that people who
drink first may experience,
uh, stronger effects.

So, if she wasn't
accustomed to drinking and
uh, smoking at the same time.

The marijuana affected
her so much more than
she had anticipated.

And marijuana being
a hallucinogen, your
cognitive function...

Can get, can
deteriorate
pretty rapidly.

The THC, which
is the active ingredient
in marijuana...

Her level was 113 ng/mL.
It was very high.

So, we were able to tell
based on research that...

She could've smoked anywhere
from 15 minutes to an hour...

Before she, uh
had this accident.

Marijuana is our number
one drug of choice after
alcohol, or with alcohol.

Um, it's in fact, it's
outpacing alcohol, as being
found in drunk drivers...

Throughout the
nation, not just here.

One thing that
they mention in these
things, about the pot.

I mean, what do you
make about that?
Yeah, that's not true at all.

Not true at all.

On a rare occasion
she would,

but definitely not
that weekend. Absolutely not.

Was it something
she used to relax...

Was it something she used
for stress, was it something
she used for fun, or?

On an occasion, on
an occasion to relax.

That's all not true,
everything you hear
there is not true.

When did she use
marijuana? Did she use it when
she was at work? Did she...

No, no, it was I think
mostly to be able to get
a good night's sleep.

I think it was after
everything was done...

Clothes were ironed,
laundry's done, kids are
in bed, books are read.

Everything was done, and
maybe she'd have some
before she went to sleep.

It wasn't like you would
ever think she, you know...

You'd never look at her
and think she smoked pot.
But some people do.

Did she ever discuss
it with you, like why she
took it, or what was the...

No, I just knew
that she smoked.

The question is why did
she need to use marijuana
to help her relax...

To help her go to sleep.
What was so painful for her?

There was
something in her life
which was uncontrollable.

Basically from
the age of nine on.

If they cannot control
what happened at the
time it happened...

They themselves become hyper
responsible, tightly wound...

And she was okay as long
as she was in control.

Having the history of
an early loss or trauma
definitely predisposes one...

Toward, you know, both
mood disorders and
addictive disorders.

So, statistically,
she's at risk.

The witnesses I
interviewed, um...

Had encountered Diane
Schuler's vehicle just
prior to the accident.

They were getting off the
Pleasantville Road exit...

And they observed her coming
at them the wrong way...

Coming down the exit
ramp, at Taconic.

It was literally as if
we weren't even on the road.
Yeah.

She's coming towards
us, you know, I mean,
I'm blinking my lights...

And beeping the horn
and she's flailing...

And we drove up on the
grass because otherwise
we would have been hit!

She never put on
a brake, she never...
No.

Even, her eyes
didn't even move!

It was just, I'm going
where I wanna go, I'm
doing what I need to do...

I'm, I'm where
I wanna be.
Right.

And then she went around the
bend, onto the highway itself.

We know that Diane
Schuler enters the...

Taconic State Parkway going
south in the northbound lane.

Approximately 1.7 miles
north of the point of impact.

She drives this 1.7 miles at
a high rate of speed, and you
have a dozen callers to 911.

It was very surreal,
seeing it coming at you,
so what you had to do is...

You know, thank god there
was nobody on the side...

I was able to go over
a couple of lanes.

As the van came
by me, and...

I said at the time, 70
miles an hour, because it
was speeding right by.

Dead pin straight,
like pin straight.

It wasn't doing this, it
was dead pin straight.

Right after it happened,
that's when I called 911.

You know, I, I just
remember saying...

"Oh my God, oh my
God!" I was just, you
know, trying to...

You know, draw attention
to get validation from...

Rich, that maybe
something peculiar
was there on the road.

My heart was going about,
200 you know beats a minute.

And uh you know just to react
quickly get out of the way,
and then the car went past us.

It's like playing
chicken, I mean, she was
going straight on the road.

We saw something coming at
us, we reacted, we moved.

She had no
reaction at all!

She didn't stop, she didn't
slow down, she didn't move.

I thought it was someone
who was dead set on
killing themselves.

Good afternoon.
Hi, Dr Spitz.

I don't know if I can get up
here, because I'm all wired.
Yeah.

It's very nice to meet you.
How are you?

Thank you for
making the trip.
Nice to meet you.

We appreciate it.

Eh, okay.

The, uh, autopsy
report includes, uh...

Chemical analysis, toxicology,
and I viewed some, uh...

Witness statements and
police statements...

And, uh, I gained the
impression that the
autopsy was done properly.

And was done...well.

Um...

So, is there anything that
would, based on the autopsy,
account for this crash?

Alcohol and
marijuana, if
you will.

We obviously don't know
much about this, but
she would not do this.

There's something
wrong with this picture.

And, I don't want her
being a poster child...

For drunk moms, because
she would never do that.

You tell me my sister does
it, my sister who passed away.

I tell you, "Yes, she
probably was drinking, 100%."

But, this just wasn't
Diane. This wasn't his wife.

She'd be the very one
that would like, yell
at us, or kick our butt.

What are
we going to do?

I just feel, which...

You know, which is me being
my strong opinion, as soon
as they saw alcohol...

It was all stopped.

Okay, she was drunk, she
was high, that's it.

Categorize that, drunk
mom driving with five
kids in the car.

What about the abscess tooth?

The which?
Abscess tooth.

An abscess tooth.

Could that
cause a stroke?

It doesn't necess...
Could that cause a stroke?

- Yeah.
- In theory, yes.

But based on the autopsy,
there is none that I saw
on microscopy.

A stroke is something
like this. And it doesn't
cause alcohol problems.

But, could that
reading be a
mistake...

Due to other medical
conditions that people
don't know that she had?

It could, but the
question of the alcohol
will always prevail.

So, say we exhume the
body, and there's a
really bad abscess tooth.

We have X-rays,
from years ago.

But the
question will still
prevail...

How could it have caused
alcohol in the picture?
Maybe...

Maybe she had a stroke and
by mistake she thought that
was water, and drank it?

We don't, if
someone tells us...

We wanna know what
physically happened
to her, that...

If she did have alcohol
in her, did she stop, and...

Be incoherent, and do
something medically
happened to her, that...

We're even
willing to bet...

To say that, but
there's no way...

If she was in a right state
of mind, that she would
go and take that bottle.

So, now if you tell me
she was having a stroke...

Or she was hallucinating,

or she was this, or she was
that, due to an abscess...

We're going to have
to live with that.

If she did have an
abscess, she could
have had such pain...

She takes whatever's
available, to
alleviate the pain.

Thinking, no, I
don't think so.

I think...
She wouldn't do
it to ease pain.

She'd either have to be not
thinking it's water, or...

Well, she's not
thinking clearly because
she has a tooth abscess.

Right. That's what
I'm thinking.
Right.

Okay. So, if she had a
tooth abscess, what you could
do is say to yourself...

She had severe pain,
and she had to alleviate
that pain, now.

Not in an hour, now.

So, she drank 1.9?

- In 45 minutes?
- Well, you know...

That's for someone who
drank once a month maybe?

Look, it really doesn't
make sense my trying
to convince you.

You have to have
your satisfaction.

Your satisfaction is
only if you're gon...

Is only going to be
achieved if you send it
to another laboratory.

To redo it.

So, that would
be the next step.

That's the only
way I know what to tell you.

And then also with,
and then with exhuming.

That's the
way to go, right?
Yep.

It's very frustrating.
People have promised
us the world.

That they were going to find
out, get to the bottom of it.

Retest everything, do this
and do that, and nobody
has done anything...

It's a year and
three months.

You mean, when
you say people, you mean...

Our investigator was supposed
to get the samples...

And send them to another
lab to check DNA.

And he
didn't do it?
Not...

We don't know.

That's what we've
been asking for.

Right?
Yup.

And we do appreciate
you looking at everything,
and doing this.

Thank you so much.

Yeah,
you're welcome.

I, uh, I sincerely hope that
you find peace with this.

Five o'clock. I need,
like, 100 cigarettes.

So...

Why are you looking
at me like that?

You don't feel encouraged?

Did you?

I feel encouraged enough that
he's willing to protest it.

Yeah, I was a little surprised
of how, they're very, um...

A little surprised
that he doesn't think
there was an error.

Hopefully, we'll be
pleasantly surprised.

No one, like, in my
family knows I smoke,
so this is gonna...

This is gonna be funny.

Maria speaking.

- I need Therese, please.
- Sure.

Thank you.

Therese, come in, please.

I had a conversation
with the lab, and they
indicated to me...

That, um, Tom Ruskin had
sent them the samples...

And that they had given
Tom Ruskin results...

But they couldn't give me
any further information...

Because that all
belonged to Tom
Ruskin...

And we would have to go
through Tom Ruskin to
get that information.

And did we
call to get the results?

They won't give it, to
who? To Tom Ruskin?
Yeah.

We did, that's when
we started to place
all those phone calls.

He didn't respond to us.

Did he ever send me any
samples, letters, anything?

No. We never heard from
him about any of that.

The biggest problem I have
in this case is what happened
with the investigator.

And that's something
I have to live with.

So, Danny couldn't
call the lab, even
though he retained Tom?

That seems crazy,
but it seems to be the case.

Hi, I can't pick up
your call right now...

So, please at the tone, leave
a message and I'll call you
back as quickly as I can.

Hi Tom, it's Jay Schuler,
um, long time no talk.

I really, really, really
need to talk to you.

And I really need
you to call me back.
Thanks, bye.

There's just so much
pushing I can do.

Between taking care of my
son, and working, there's
just so much I can do.

It's...you know, it's
getting old fast.
Right.

What's getting old?

Everything. Next
interview's gonna be
in Alaska somewhere...

So, we can hop on a plane.
I'm kidding, but...

It just you know,
there's so much I can do.

He has different views, and,
it's black and white with him.

Very black and white, and
he has completely different
views about things, and...

You know, he's,
I don't get it...

I know it sounds stupid
but he's off all day.

You know, you're off all day,
you don't even, no offense,
you don't even see Bryan.

You bring him to school,
you see him for five
minutes and you go.

I'm working 14 hours, and then
I'm going over there and I'm
doing things. Like, I don't...

Understand what you're
doing to me. Like, why
are you getting crazy?

You're off all day.
It's driving me insane.

So, I told him, if this
is how it starts, you're
going to go back...

You're gonna start
working during the day...

And, you're gonna find
out what a real working
parent feels like.

I said, because you
have it made right now...

And he's driving, and
everyone is like, waiting to
put their foot down about him.

Like, he doesn't realize
how he comes off sometimes.

Like, he'll be like,
Bryan will be looking at
something, he's like...

"Pick, clean it up,
come on, let's go."

And Bryan, he's looking at
a picture of Mommy and Erin.

And he's, and he's
like, "Yeah, yeah,
yeah, yep, yep...

"Yeah, you're right, I miss
them too, blah, blah, blah."

And, I said, "You don't
notice how you sound."

You don't sound like, "Oh,
that's all right Bry...

"I know you miss them,
blah, blah, blah."

He's like, "What do you
mean? That's not going
to bring them back."

"He has to know, this is life,
this is the way life is now."

I'm like, okay,
but he can cry...

You can cry, we can all cry.
"What is that gonna do?"

Well, let him be sad.

But the only positive thing is
that we got Bryan in therapy.

Because, uh, Bryan was
having a very bad
meltdown the last month.

Extremely bad,
about Mommy.

And he doesn't want
to hear it, Danny.

But, I spoke to the
pediatrician, and the
pediatrician told him.

"You have to get
him enrolled."

So, we have an appointment
tomorrow at 10:30 a.m.

And I told him he has to work
on forgiveness about Diane...

Because, he does not
forgive her at all right
now, for what's happened.

And the reason why he doesn't
forgive her is, he said...

"I never wanted to have kids."

And this is where
I'm left right now.

And she was supposed
to do all this.

I said, okay, well, it's
all right to be pissed at her.

You know everyone's pissed
at her, I said, that's okay.

I said, but you're going
to have to work through it.

And he's like, "What's
there to work through? This
is my life. This is it."

There will never be a
concrete answer with
absolute certainty...

Which can be given,
as to what happened.

But there
are several, you know,
plausible hypotheses.

Is it possible that
the day in question...

She was in so much pain
she wanted an analgesics,
gel capsules.

When that wasn't
available...

Could she have just
anesthetized her
physical pain, by...

Maybe just taking one drink
so she could relax enough...

To drive, and then she
lost control, and she...

Lost perspective as to how
much she was drinking?

That kind of slippery
slope does occur...

In people who have a
deep pain sensitivity...

Who cannot stand feeling
helpless and who feel
they need to be perfect.

And she has had reasons
in her life for all three.

Did she consume an
initial small amount in her
right mind, not impaired?

Did she think, because the
kids were there, did she...

Think that she had to
get in a lot quickly?

And misjudged, um...

And, in fact, shot her blood
alcohol concentration up...

Much higher than she
thought it would?

And then, something
happened...

That she then consumed
in a way that was...

Very dangerous and
very unlike her.

You know, there
was something beyond
intoxication.

Did she have a florid
infection going on?

Did she have a fever?

That, combined with the,
um, marijuana and alcohol...

Could certainly, uh,
precipitate a delirium.

A brain event got
triggered, where she was,
beyond poor judgment.

That she was not
in her right mind.

That we don't know
what she was thinking,
hearing, or feeling.

Hi, Tom, I do appreciate
you calling me back.

I'll
always call you back.

Yeah, no, I was, um, I'm
just, you know what Tom...
I'm just so, like...

I'm just so upset, because I
don't know what happened.

With what?

All I know, is that when
I spoke to Therese,
that she said that...

We needed you to
get an approval...

To say that they can
release some things.

Let's, let's put it
this way, all right?

As I promised Danny,
we were tested at the
beginning of last year.

And I devoted my time...

Because there was
no additional moneys...

But I sent the
results to them.

To Dominic?

I never even heard back.

And I called Danny, you...

Well, I was told not to pick
up, because at this point...

They didn't feel that,
they didn't believe that
you were doing anything.

So, whenever that was,
I was trying to give you
the results of the test.

Ugh.

I don't know what
to do anymore.

Well, we retested the samples,
and it came back the same.

The toxicology in the
autopsy was correct.

But, can't you see like
how confused I am now?

We'll never know if
Diane purposely did this.

We'll never know.

Tom, you know, I'm just like
spinning around in circles.

And I can understand.

I got one person
saying one thing...

I got another person
saying another thing.

And then I do believe that
Diane wasn't drinking...

And all I wanna do is prove
that if she, if there was
alcohol, what happened to her?

All I can tell you is all
tests are consistent...

If Diane had drank and
been high that day.

It's just like overwhelming...
So, you just, you tell me...

You tell me. Listen...

I've always been
straight with you.

If, you believe me
or not, I can't help that.

Tom, that's the whole thing,
I've always believed you.

Well, I will tell
you one thing further,
the DNA was hers.

So, what
am I supposed
to do now, Tom?

You tell me. I mean, I'm
I'm returning your call.

I don't know.

Diane Schuler
drives against traffic for
1.7 miles in the fast lane.

Never veers, um...

Seems to have a serene, almost
oblivious look on her face...

And kills eight people.

The worst accident
in recent memory.

Diane Schuler
hits the Bastardi vehicle.

The Bastardi vehicle then
crashes into vehicle number 3.

And the Schuler vehicle
goes off the road, down
the hill, rotating...

And eventually
begins to burn.

A lady was screaming
in Spanish, there
was kids in the car.

So, I went down the hill
with this other fellow...

And we were trying
to get the door open...

The door wouldn't
open we couldn't get
the sliding door.

We were looking for the
driver, we couldn't find her.

The car was fully
engulfed in the front.

We were the
first ones there.

And we just kind of circled
the car, checking the doors.

He checked the other
side, I checked...

The driver's side, it
was locked. I went around.

And then, um, ended up
breaking the passenger side
window to unlock the door.

We finally got the
door open, that...

Guy that I was with he
could open the door...

And her body fell
on top of our legs.

When she fell out, she,
like, rolled into the two of
us that were standing there.

We literally had to step over
her to reach in for the kids.

And then we were just
concentrating on getting the
kids out of the burning car.

They were piled on
top of each other.

One of the fellows
handed me the girl.

I laid her down on the grass,
put my head on her chest to
hear her, I talked to her...

I prayed to
Jesus to help her wake up.

Please
make her wake up.

She wouldn't wake up.

At 1:30 p.m., I
got a phone call from the
traffic management center.

The traffic was
completely stopped.

I had to drive on
the shoulder of the
road to get there.

Damn, son...

When I got to the
scene I saw, uh...

A minivan which was burned
in the median down a hill.

I also saw two SUVs,
northbound, on the, uh,
Taconic State Parkway.

Uh, these vehicles had
extensive damage to them.

Some of the people in
the cars got involved and
actively tried to help.

Some were on the phone
with 9-11, and um...

Some were just screaming.
The scene was very chaotic.

I uh, proceeded...

To look for any other
signs of life, from the
other victims, and...

I immediately noticed
uh, a little boy.

Bryan was hurt, he
was hurt pretty badly.

Um, he was combative, he was
crying, which is a good sign.

And um, that's why I um,
immediately put him in
the first ambulance.

I didn't even know
he was there, but he was
underneath everybody.

Thank God he was underneath.

Then I went to the top
of the hill and I lost
it, started crying.

And I tried to go help
the other fellows that
were in the car crash.

And they were dead,
I felt all their pulses,
they were dead.

They were hanging...
One fellow was hanging
out of the car...

There were some people who
did attempt to take pictures
of the victims, which um...

We wouldn't allow.
We put sheets up to
preserve their dignity.

It was the only thing we could
have done at that point.

There was no
one more to help.

Jackie sent this card to Evan.

It says, "Hi Evan.

"I miss seeing
you, Bryan, and your mom,
and whole family.

"Warren and I are broken,
but you need to go and
have a happy life.

"By doing this, you will show
Bryan that he can do the same.

"My life ended July 26th,
2009, for whatever reason my
purpose for living was taken.

"When you have children one
day, you will understand..."

"You live and breathe
for your kids.

"Warren is having a hard
time, all the women in his
life have left him.

"And he won't let
me out of his sight.

"I pray our pain ends soon,
and I can see my girls.

"Give Bryan a hug and kiss.

"And know that you are a
great person with a lot
to give. Love, Jackie."

Whatever happened
in this tragedy...

There was no evidence
that Diane Schuler
was a bad person.

What evidence we have is that
she was a very good mom...

And a very good
person generally.

Maybe a bit too good, a
bit of a perfectionist.

I don't see any evidence that
was she did was intentional.

Given the fact that she was
generally someone with very
high standards for herself.

For someone very
socially connected...

She had good
protective factors.

Uh, so even if she found
out some horrible news...

Uh, I don't see it likely
that she would kill herself.
Especially not in the manner,

that this tragedy occurred.

It's hard to imagine,
isn't it? That...

Simple coincidences can
be a major tipping point.

Uh, and can result in
a major catastrophe.

It's not something that we
are built as human beings
to be able to live with.

Don't worry, Diane.

Goodbye Diane, I promised
you, I'd take care of Bryan.