All language subtitles for Theres.Something.Wrong.With.Aunt.Diane.2011.1080p.WEBRip.x264.AAC-[YTS.MX]

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 really 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, 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 of person 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.

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.

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.