Original subtitles

(PEOPLE TALKING ON PHONE)

(PHONE RINGING)

(WOMAN YELLING IN DISTRESS)

(CAMERAS SNAPPING)

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.

REPORTER: 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.

REPORTER 2: Diane Schuler, her daughter, and 3 nieces...

Three Westchester men in the SUV were killed.

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

The wrong way southbound in the northbound lanes of traffic.

LA GRIPPO: Several people were ejected, most of them children.

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

REPORTER: 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.

(CAMERAS CLICKING)

(WOMAN SINGING)

(CHURCH BELLS RINGING)

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... (BAGPIPES PLAY)

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.

(CRYING) Kiss your children...

And don't ever forget...

(SOBBING)

(CHURCH BELLS CHIMING)

(CAMERAS SNAPPING)

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.

(REPORTER ASKING QUESTIONS)

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.

(CAMERAS SNAPPING) (MURMURING)

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.

REPORTER: 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.

(DOG BARKING)

JAY: Stop the barking.

JAY: 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.

JAY: Something happened.

GARBUS: 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.

GARBUS: 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.

(PHONE RINGING)

RECEPTIONIST: 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?

GARBUS: 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.

GARBUS: 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.

GARBUS: Did Diane talk to you about her mother?

Not much.

It wasn't a subject that we talked about.

GARBUS: What did she say about her?

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

GARBUS: 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...

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

GARBUS: Did you ever meet her mother? JAY: 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.

GARBUS: 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."

JAY: 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.

DOMINIC: 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.

DOMINIC: 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.

BOYLE: 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.

JAY: 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.

BRYAN: Pretty pictures!

What's in that one, Bry?

A face. Right there. JAY AND DANIEL: Oh yeah.

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

Go down more.

DANIEL: A human face? JAY: A human face is in there.

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

BOTH: Can you find a deer...

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

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

JAY: 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.

JAY: 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.

JOSEPH: 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.

DANIEL: 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.

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

GARBUS: 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.

GARBUS: 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.

GARBUS: 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."

JAY: 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."

SALERNO: 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.

BAGLEY: 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.

(HORN BLOWING)

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.

(HORN HONKING)

BAGLEY: 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.

GARBUS: What made you think that?

She was kind of bent over a little.

BAGLEY: 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.

GARBUS: 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.

(LAUGHING)

(INCOHERENT CHATTERING)

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...

BOTH: Class clown... NICOLE: 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.

MICHELLE: 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.

KRISTENE: 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.

REPORTER: 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.

DOMINIC: One bottle. LARRY: Why? Why?

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

Right. For the camp fire. Cooking marshmallows.

LARRY: 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.

DANIEL: Doctor.

Doctor, uh, May 25th.

BURSZTAJN: 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.

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

Hey, I got it.

JAY: You wanna show her? Photo album.

BRYAN: My sister.

DANIEL: This, Bryan's first fish he caught.

BRYAN: That...

JAY: And they went pumpkin picking.

Is that Halloween?

You're a good big brother.

JAY: Nice and easy. Scratch.

ALL: (LAUGHING)

JAY: 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.

(BRYAN WHISPERING) JAY: What?

JAY: You wanna show the picture of you and Mommy upstate?

BRYAN: Mommy.

JAY: 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...

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

BOTH: 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.

(LAUGHS) Yeah.

IRENE: 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. GARBUS: Yep.

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

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

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

Very good at, uh, her job.

SUE: 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.

BOTH: (LAUGHING) 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...

GARBUS: 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?

GARBUS: Have you spoken to Tom Ruskin at all? No.

GARBUS: What happened there?

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

GARBUS: 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...

(STUTTERING) 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?

GARBUS: We have been trying to set that up.

(GARBUS AND RUSKIN ON TELEPHONE)

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.

JAY: Do you remember having her trouble sleeping? DANIEL: 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.

FISHMAN: 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.

BOYLE: 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.

INTERVIEWER: Are you all right?

(LAUGHING) No! Quite frankly.

GARBUS: Well, thanks for doing this. Mmm-hmm.

GARBUS: 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...

(LAUGHING) 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.

GARBUS: 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.

GARBUS: 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.

GARBUS: 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.

GARBUS: When was the last time you had spoken with her?

NICOLE: About ten years. Ten years. Mmm-hmm.

GARBUS: 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. (SIGHS)

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

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

(SIGHS) Yes, so...

I've seen her wear this.

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

GARBUS: 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.

(GARBUS ASKING)

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.

(PHONE BEEPS)

GARBUS: (ON PHONE) Hi, this is Liz Garbus calling again.

(PHONE RINGING)

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.

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

I did.

GARBUS: 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.

BURSZTAJN: 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.

(MEN TALKING ON TELEPHONE)

SGT. TEMPLE: (ON PHONE) 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.

ARCHER: 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.

(PEOPLE TALKING ON PHONE)

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.

(LAUGHING) 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.

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

SPRATT: 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.

SPRATT: 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.

WEISS: 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.

SPRATT: 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.

GARBUS: 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.

GARBUS: 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.

GARBUS: 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.

GARBUS: 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?

BURSZTAJN: 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.

(HORN HONKING)

PETER: It was literally as if we weren't even on the road. ELAINE: 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.

(HORNS HONKING) (PHONE RINGING)

(PEOPLE TALKING ON PHONE)

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.

(PEOPLE TALKING ON PHONE)

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.

LOMA: 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.

(ELEVATOR DINGS)

DR. SPITZ: 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.

DR. SPITZ: 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.

DR. SPITZ: 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?

DR. SPITZ: The which? Abscess tooth.

DR. SPITZ: An abscess tooth.

DANIEL: Could that cause a stroke?

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

Yeah. DR. SPITZ: 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.

DR. SPITZ: 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...

DR. SPITZ: 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? DR. SPITZ: 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.

DR. SPITZ: To redo it.

So, that would be the next step.

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

And then also with, and then with exhuming.

JAY: That's the way to go, right? DANIEL: 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.

DR. SPITZ: 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.

DR. SPITZ: And he didn't do it? Not...

BOTH: 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.

DR. SPITZ: Yeah, you're welcome.

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

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

(ELEVATOR DINGS)

(SIGHS)

So...

Why are you looking at me like that?

You don't feel encouraged?

DANIEL: Did you?

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

(ELEVATOR DINGS)

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.

(PHONE BEEPS)

(PHONE RINGING)

MARIA: (ON PHONE) Maria speaking.

I need Therese, please. MARIA: Sure.

Thank you.

(KNOCK ON DOOR)

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.

DOMINIC: And did we call to get the results?

They won't give it, to who? To Tom Ruskin? DOMINIC: 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?

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

(PHONE BEEPING)

(PHONE RINGING)

TOM: (ON VOICEMAIL MESSAGE) 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.

(PHONE BEEPS)

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.

(PHONE BEEPS OFF)

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. GARBUS: Right.

GARBUS: 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.

BURSZTAJN: 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.

WEISS: 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.

(PHONE RINGING)

(PHONE BEEPS ON)

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

TOM: (ON PHONE) 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.

TOM: 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.

TOM: 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?

TOM: 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.

TOM: 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.

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

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

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

(SNIFFLES) I don't know.

(PHONE RINGING)

(PEOPLE TALKING ON PHONE)

(WOMAN SCREAMING)

FISHMAN: 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.

ARCHER: 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.

MARTZ: 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.

BLAIKIE: 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...

(CRYING) I prayed to Jesus to help her wake up.

(SNIFFLES) Please make her wake up.

She wouldn't wake up.

BOYLE: 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.

WITNESS: 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.

LAGRIPPO: 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.

BLAIKIE: 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.

(READING) "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.