Murder With My Husband - 112. Diane Schuler - Taconic State Parkway Crash

Episode Date: May 16, 2022

Trigger Warning: This Case Includes Children LIVE ONLINE SHOW TICKETS HERE! https://www.moment.co/murderwithmyhusband Case Sources: HBO - There’s something wrong with Aunt Diane https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_Taconic_State_Parkway_crash https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Pleasant,_New_York https://allthatsinteresting.com/diane-schuler https://www.nytimes.com/topic/person/diane-schuler https://medium.com/murder-by-design/the-2009-taconic-state-parkway-crash-aunt-diane-was-drunk-and-high-649d38c732a http://www.emtbravo.net/topic/1462-70-years-ago-to-the-day-in-ossining-ny/ Links: https://linktr.ee/murderwithmyhusband  Ads: Just Thrive: www.justthrivehealth.com use code HUSBAND Simpli Safe: https://simplisafe.com/mwmh Modern Fertility: www.modernfertility.com/husband - $20 off Upside: download the free upside app and use promo code husband Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey everybody welcome back to our podcast. This is murder with my husband. I'm Peyton Morlens and I'm Garrett Morlens and he's the husband and I'm the husband Okay, if you're on YouTube you can obviously tell that we're in a different set and you will find out why in Garrett's 10 seconds today You will so if you follow us on social media He will know that we were just in Nashville. First of all it was our first time to Nashville and It's a pretty awesome city. Yeah. I don't know. We didn't really have any expectations because I don't know much about Nashville, but it was super fun. Yeah. Neither of us had ever been there. And honestly, I don't know if we just live under a rock. I didn't even know that that was like a thing. I didn't know

that city was that city. You know what I mean? I've heard about it. I knew super like music focused and so on and so forth. I didn't even know that. I didn't even know. It was super fun. We had a good time. I went to Nashville. I surprised Payton took her to a concert of someone that she really likes and made a really good time. Yeah, I went to the Olivia Rodrigo concert and it was just last night. So if my voice is kind of today, that's why it's because I was singing Olivia Rodriguez all night. Also, we had some good food. We did. I don't read some really good food there. Everywhere we ate while we were there was good. Where do we? Oh, how do these sounds horrible, but I thought how do these was gonna be overrated, but it was so good. Well, because you hear so many people talking about it, you're like, there's no way it could be that good. It was some

of the best chicken I've ever had. Oh, it was. It was good. We ended up going to the hockey game. Oh, yeah, we went to the Preds game. That was super fun. It scored some good tickets. They lost, but that's okay. Playoff hockey is super fun.

If you're not, if you never like bend to a hockey game live, even if you don't like hockey, you need to go to a hockey. Yeah, it's definitely an experience. We love going to hockey games. I did good golfing. I did good. Payton thought I was gonna do a bad bad. I did good golfing. I did good. Paying thought I was gonna do a bad bad day. Good. No, I didn't do that good. But yeah, I actually

did okay for not going for a while. So other than that, we're kind of recording a little earlier. So we haven't had a full week for my 10 seconds. Oh, we didn't even say why we're in a different studio. Oh, yeah. Because after Nashville, we flew to California to see family for a couple days. And we ended up needing to record here because I was surprised about Nashville. So we didn't get recorded before. So yeah, that's why we're in a different studio. But we will be back in our studio in no time. Other than that, the last thing I want to say is Peyton and I went and saw the the New Yorker Strange. Oh, yeah, it was good. It was really good. We

haven't seen it. I mean, I thought it was good. I did too. Paying I like really like Marvel movies though. So if you haven't seen it go and see that. Yeah, it was good. Other than that, I know it was kind of a combined 10 seconds today, but that's okay. Okay. All we do is spend time together. It's true. So I just want to remind everyone about our Patreon before we jump in really quick because Patreon is ad free. So if you're ever wanting episodes without ads, you can go check that out at patreon.com slash murder with my husband. We have another full length true crime bonus episode coming out this month too. So if you want to check it out, go do it. All right, so our case sources for this week's episode are Wikipedia, all that's interesting.com, New York Times.com, medium.com, EMT Bravo.net, and HBO, there's something wrong with Aunt Diane.

I assume this is about Aunt Diane. He would be assuming right. Just starting there. Okay, so back in 1934, there was a bus on its way from Brooklyn to Sing Sing Prison in Austin, New York. The bus was occupied by the young men's Democratic League of Brooklyn, which was basically they were going to visit the prison. Apparently, this wasn't that rare back in the day, although now it sounds a little strange. There was actually a lot of sporting and civic groups who would take the visit to the prison to actually play against the prison's football and baseball

squads. But this specific day, remember we're in the 30s. This specific day, there was roughly a caravan of seven buses, but the bus in the rear, like towards the back had been having problems all day long on the drive. It had stopped multiple times for repairs. And during the rear, like towards the back, had been having problems all day long on the drive. It had stopped multiple times for repairs. And during the drive, the bus turned down Main Street, which is kind of a downhill street, and the bus carrying roughly 44 people hit speeds of 50 miles per hour, going down the hill when its brakes went out.

The bus drove up the local train station ramp, so it was like driving where the trains are, and eventually ramped through a still pipe fence and flew off the ramp, landing 30 feet away in a lumber yard. But from the time that the bus broke through the fence and landed in the lumber yard, it had caught on fire. Like literally engulfed in flames. And then they landed in the lumber yard, so the fire spread instantaneously, because it's wood. Passengers could be seen attempting

to flee the bus in any way possible through the exit, through the windows, but most of them were sadly on fire as they were trying to escape the bus. It was definitely a grizzly scene, one that most people hoped to never have to witness. Luckily, there was a river next door, and so passengers were able to run from the bus

and run directly to the river. That's so sad. Yeah, and some were able to actually get the flames out. 200 firefighters reported to the scene. This was back in the 30s. And locals came out to help. And if you think about it, the tools that we have now can help with fires a bit.

But back then, it was super dangerous. And it's not like everyone could just throw on a fire suit and get to work. Even the firefighters in the 30s basically wore just rain coats. Although everyone did what they could, 21 people ended up dying in the 30s, basically wore just raincoats, although everyone did what they could. 21 people ended up dying in the bus crash. How many people were in the bus?

So over half. It was awful, horrible, and went down in history as Westchester County's worst automobile accident were in New York. It basically stayed that way for 75 years. The panic it had caused the lives it took. It was the most tragic car accident. Okay. That was until 2009. When the case we are discussing today began to rival the infamous 1934 bus crash in more ways than one. This is the story of the Tachonic State Parkway Crash of 2009. I'm trying to think if I've heard about this before.

I have a doubt. I've heard about a bus crash. I remember when I was in high school, but I don't know if it was this or not. This is not a bus crash. Okay, then it was not this. And keep in mind, this is a true crime podcast. Yes, that's true. So it's going to tie in somewhere to your crime. So our episode begins on a

Sunday in the town of Mount Pleasant, New York. In the 2020 census, Mount Pleasant had a population of 44,436 people. The town itself is actually made up of a bunch of hamlets and villages like Pleasantville, Sleepy Hollow, and a small portion of Briarcliffe Manor. So Nebus to say it's a laid-back Sunday on July 26th, 2009 in Mount Pleasant, New York, but then around 130 p.m. that all changes. Toconic State Parkway is also referred to as the Toconic or the TSP. And it's about 104 miles long. It's a parkway through New York, basically. Now, if you are like me, you have no idea what a parkway is or how it differs from a highway. And I wouldn't be telling you if it wasn't important to the case. So I'm going to clarify. As a highway or freeway or motorway would normally have two

or more lanes, like normally more than that. Sometimes they have a toll. A parkway is also an important or major public road, but is usually narrow, sometimes only having two lanes and can even have traffic lights. In some places, it would be considered a city road and other places a small highway. So it kind of just depends. Parkways are also sometimes heavily decorated in landscape

and trucks or heavy vehicles are usually excluded from driving on them. So it's just for cars. Okay. We talk about this whole time actually. Yeah. There should be a road for just cars. Yeah. Apparently they have a maybe more. Apparently it exists. So back to the parkway that we are on in our story, Tukonic State Parkway, Google images tell us that it is a two to three lane divided highway. Basically, that's what it looks like. It's long stretches of road with beautiful greens scenery around it. Like there's grass all around the roads. It's really pretty.

The speed limit on this one is 55 miles per hour. beautiful green scenery around it, like there's grass all around the roads. It's really pretty. The speed limit on this one is 55 miles per hour. So now that we've kind of set the stage, it's 133 p.m. on the TSP, when two different drivers call 911 and report a minivan slowly inching its way up on the TSP's northbound exit ramp. To be clear, a minivan is driving up an exit ramp. Now this is already extremely dangerous on its own and enough so that two different people have called police to report it. Onlookers note that the exit ramp which the minivan is entering, the one at the intersection of Pleasantville Road, is clearly marked with two big signs on either side that we do not enter and two more signs that win one way.

So how did this minivan get so mixed up? And why is it still driving the wrong way on to basically a highway. Within the next minute, four more 911 calls are placed by different motorists on the TSP. The minivan, who had previously been driving up the exit ramp, had now made it successfully onto the parkway and was driving down it the wrong freaking way. Were they driving fast? Are they driving slow? They were driving fast. The callers reported that not only was the minivan dangerously driving down the parkway the wrong way, it was traveling approximately 75 to 85 miles per hour.

And you said this be limo is 55 right? Everyone else that's driving the other way on the same road is going 55. That's insane. So because of this, this means that everyone is erratically dodging the minivan. There's like traffic causing major spinouts. People are jutting out and driving off the road to try to avoid the minivan. This was a complete disaster and it was begging for more. I mean, at what point does this turn bad?

Yeah. Every single move made by everyone on this road at this time is dangerous. Whether you're slamming on your brakes, you're swarving or you're trying to speed away from the minivan, you are causing danger to someone else on the road. And although police are aware of the catastrophic situation happening on the TSP, how do you even stop it if you show up? Like what do you do?

They respond to the calls, and meanwhile, the minivan continues driving erratically the wrong way and ends up traveling south for over 1.5 miles in the northbound lane. It's around this point during all of this that the minivan gets into the passing lane, now moving a solid 85 miles per hour. It has only been three minutes since the first 911 call came in.

But you can imagine it has been a long and hectic three minutes on this road. The whole driving the wrong way on a freeway doesn't make sense unless you're like on drugs or you're under the influence of some sort. Right. Because other than that, it just makes absolutely no sense. If you're running from the cops, it doesn't make sense. Yeah. Like there's no one chasing this person No one's chasing this person. Why would they be driving on the wrong side? Right unless something is wrong

Then at 1.35 p.m. the inevitable Happens the minivan collides head on with a 2004 Chevrolet trailblazer at 85 miles per hour the trailblazer then struck a 2002 Chevrolet tracker that couldn't get out of the way fast enough. Two men who fully witnessed this whole entire crash decide to jump out and attempt to help the situation. All they can see is smoke rising out of the minivan that is now off the road and like completely into the side ditch.

Were they, did anyone say they were like trying to hit people or were they just driving? Driving stick straight. Okay. Just driving. Not like swarving. Not swarving. People are having to get out of the way for the minivan. Got it.

So the men who see this jump out of their cars, they approach the minivan and they open the door and they discover the driver of the minivan is a young woman probably in her 30s. But it was only after they noticed the large, now shattered liquor bottle next to the driver that they caught something in the back of the car. Children. Oh my gosh. Five of them. Four girls and one boy all appeared to be unconscious in the back. What ages? They're all under eight years old. Okay. Super young. Yes. So the two men see these children, and they're like holy crap. And then there were three men who were spotted as the victims in the trell blazer, the

car that hit head on with the minivan, and then two other occupants in the Chevrolet tracker, which was the third car to get hit in the crash. In total, 11 people had just been part of this deadly crash reported by multiple people on the Teconic State Parkway on July 26, 2009. But as everyone would soon realize, these spur of calls around 1.30pm about this minivan had not been the first calls made about the minivan that Sunday. So what had happened? What the freak was going on and what is the story here? No worries, I'm going to tell you. Diane Schuller grew up in floral park, New York. She was actually

born in 1973 and was the fourth child of Warren Hans senior Andy Lane. She was actually their only girl. When Diane was nine years old, her mother actually left the family. And Diane didn't talk much about her mother and it was something that the family never really discussed either, but the mother did leave. Rumor actually has it that her mother might have left with a neighbor or a family friend, but again, that could just be rumour and this is just for context into Diane's childhood and not for judgment reasons. Pretty soon Diane stepped into the role of mother in the house with her mom gone and her being the only girl I mean she kind of just began taking care of the family she began cooking she began cleaning she was doing everything that her mother had previously been doing and As a young girl Diane was in girl scouts growing up and had a really pretty good solid group of friends

Diane was considered class clown as she got older. She really formed this big personality and according to her friends, she was the most responsible friend out of like everyone, including everyone at the school. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. Have you ever found yourself at a crossroads unsure of which direction to take in life? We all face those moments of uncertainty where the right path seems elusive. But guess what, there's a solution that can help you find clarity and confidence. And that's therapy. As you guys know, I talk about therapy all the time, I go to therapy weekly, I definitely am a big supporter of it, it's helped me manage my stress

and anxiety, and really helped me work through difficult times. Therapy is not just for major traumas, it's for anyone who wants to learn positive coping skills, set healthy boundaries, and become the best version of themselves. It's about staying connected to what truly matters, as you navigate life's challenges. Here's how it works, simply fill out a brief questionnaire and better help will match you with a licensed therapist who meets your specific needs. And if you ever feel they need to switch therapist, you can do so at no additional charge. But therapy be your map to a better life. Visit BetterHop.com slash husband today and get 10% off your first month.

That's BetterHelpHELP.com slash husband. Jumping into an ad and it is native. I use their body wash, I use their shampoo, we use their sunscreen, everything. They're deodorant. We are big native fans over here. And the funny thing is is I caught myself wanting to buy native products at stores,

and then I was like, why am I doing that? Murder with my husband literally has a code. You can use promo code husband and get money off your native purchases. So go do it. Native sunscreen offers a quickly absorbing ultra sheer and lightweight formula that hydrates your skin while providing broad spectrum SPF 30 protection from harmful UVA and UVB rays. And Native sunscreen offers three delightful scents coconut and pineapple, rosé, and sweet peach in nectar.

They're also for your face and body. I use them every day. But if you prefer unscented, they've got you covered too. Give your skin the protection it deserves with natives and mineral sunscreens. Go to nativedo.com slash husband or use promo code husband at checkout to get 20% off your first order.

That's native deo.com slash husband or use promo code husband at checkout. nativedo.com slash husband or use promo code husband at checkout native.deo.com slash husband and use promo code husband Diane met Daniel or Danny Schuller at one of her best friends weddings and they immediately fell in love Diane had never really had a boyfriend and so after meeting Danny as she was grown up and graduated, Danny kind of became her first and only love. Danny's parents remember meeting Diane for the first time and falling in love with her. She was so motherly, she was so kind and she really took care of Danny. I mean, everything she had been doing for all of her brothers in her house, she kind of just moved on when she got a husband.

They remember feeling like Diane was in charge and responsible, but didn't mind taking care of Danny. In fact, they were like, she kind of treated him like her own kid. She just kind of mothered him as well. And they were madly in love. Diane Schuller worked her way up as she got married and became an adult to director of credit, billing and collections at cable vision. And she was extremely successful there. She actually earned a salary of $100,000 a year which back in

2009, even now that's great. She was described at work as a hard worker and organized. And she really just seemed like the woman who had it all together. So according to everyone who was friends with Diane around this time, she was like the PTA mom who worked full-time and had her life together. Every single family members clothing was ironed. All of her kids clothes were ironed. She made a scrapbook for every child and every mother in her extended family. It was a common occurrence in Diane's life for everyone to wonder how she got the time. Yes, to do what she did as a mother,

as a wife, and as an individual with a successful career. PTA, homeowner's association, Oh, everything. Speaking of homeowner's association, I'll save that for another time. But they do hate us. They do hate us. Anyways, so Diane really was just, you know, kind of made it all look easy too. Yeah. So everyone was like she is super woman. She was idolized. And a lot of people in her life kind of felt like Diane stepped so heavily into this role and expected so much of herself because she kind of became the super mom that she never had because her mom left at nine years old.

And she stepped into that and now was kind of being everything that she had wanted a mom to be. I'm curious to see where this goes because right now I think my idea is that she crashed and burned, that she maybe went a little crazy just trying to do everything. That's kind of where I'm at right now, but we'll see where it takes us. So in the same sense that Diane's friends also remember that she, you know, was amazing. They also say that she kind of struggled with control. I mean, it even got to the point that if they put in an address into the GPS, Diane would say, no, no, no, that's wrong. This is the best way to go.

I know the best way to go and this is going to be it. It's kind of like a, she was so organized and so scheduled and and so consistent that it also meant that she knew everything. Got it. Okay. Her friends remembered her kind of being like the person where if she liked you, she loved you. And if she didn't like you, she hated you. Like she was just very intense. And according to everyone who was close to Diana at this time, her marriage was going well. But Diane was also one of the most private people that anyone had ever met. She did not talk about personal matters, even to the point where Danny, her husband, didn't even know why Diane's mother even left. Like they

didn't talk about it. They didn't talk about her. So now we're caught up to Sunday, July 26, the day of the crash in 2009. And Diane and Danny Schuller were just wrapping up a camping trip that they had taken for the weekend with their children and their nieces at the Hunter Lake campground in Parksville, New York. So there's three nieces with them and then two of their own children. And this wasn't rare for the shoelors to take their three nieces or you know any kind of cousins from the family. They had just done this exact trip the summer before. The nieces had a really good time so they were just repeating it this time. And they had gone hiking, fishing, they played a ton of games, had fun together as a family.

And according to Danny, overall, it was a really great weekend. Around 6am, that morning, Danny woke up and made his way to his boat to finish wrapping things up, kind of cleaning up ready to head home. And 45 minutes later, he went back up to the camper to wake up Diane. She woke up, she began packing the bags, getting everything in order, eventually woke up the children and kind of trying to get them ready to go. And as hard as it is to get ready to leave after camping or boating or whatever fun activity you've just finished, I imagine it's 10 times harder to do all of that with little kids.

Oh, 100%. I mean, we don't have kids, but siblings. Yeah, wait a sec. I have younger siblings and still just kids are not easy. No, that's all I'm going to say. Kids are not easy. Cleaning the boat after a day on the lake is already hard and annoying in your tire. And the old four kids running around and it's like 10 times harder. Yes.

Crazy. It's hard. So Danny was going to actually drive the camper home on his truck and Diane was going to take the minivan home with all of the children inside. Together, Diane and Danny had some coffee and thenne kissed all of them good by and went to the camper to go like their separate cars home. Around 9 a.m. Diane's brother Warren Hans received a phone call. It was from his daughter who was with Uncle Danny and Diane for the weekend. And she told her dad and her mother, whose name Jackie, how fun the weekend was, she had had so much fun with Aunt Uncle and the cousins and they were just getting ready to leave the campground.

After that call, Danny took off with the camper and the family dog and Diane in the minivan with the kids right behind him. It was approximately 9.30 a.m. when this happened. And everyone who conversed with them at the campground and saw Diane and Danny at the campground that morning remembers everything being seemingly normal. Nothing was wrong. They were both acting in good spirits. And just kind of right into this drive, Danny and Diane actually split up as Danny had straight home with

the camper and Diane was planning to stop off, get some gas and also find breakfast for the kids. So he's going to go home, wrap things up. He actually has work that night and she's going to take her time, stop and get the kids breakfast and then meet him at home. Oh, I'm confused because right now it, I mean, doesn't seem like she's under the influence. And now I'm so confused how this even happened. Right.

Yeah. You and me too. All of this was pre-planned, like the splitting up was pre-planned. Diane driving the minivan with the kids and stopping to find the breakfast while he drove straight home. The minivan that Diane was driving that day was not actually hers or Danny's. It was her brothers, the Hances. So the nieces dads, they loaned them the minivan so that they could like soldies so they

could take the trip to this campground and they would need all the room to drive the kids around him. They couldn't put them in the camper, obviously, that was on the back of Danny's truck, so they needed the minivan. At 9.56 a.m. Diane can be seen on video going into the Liberty New York McDonald's to get breakfast for the children. Ooh, good place for breakfast. So I'm gonna say. So her and all the kids go in, she gets all of them breakfast, she gets a juice for herself, and the McDonald's employee who served her in the children once again does not remember Diane acting unusual acting intoxicated.

Oh my god. He doesn't smell alcohol. He thinks that everything is going fine. She seems seemingly normal. The children actually began playing in the play place and Diane is seen on camera acting normally watching and laughing along with the kids. And how far away is she at this point from like where she went on the exit ramp? Time wise or length wise?

Either like, she 10 minutes away. Right. So it's 9.56 a.m. around this time. So about 10 o'clock. Okay. And the calls from 9.1.1 didn't happen until 1.30. Okay. So we have quite a bit of time.

Yes. So after McDonald's at 10.46 a.m., Diane is then seen on camera at the Sonaco gas station again in Liberty, New York. She pulls up to the pump in the minivan. She gets out of the car and walks inside the gas station. And according to employees, she comes in asking for some pain meds Tylenol to be exact.

And they told Diane that they did not carry those, like they were out right now. She turns around and walks back out of the gas station with nothing. The shoelors lawyer actually claims that up until this point, there's no obvious signs of intoxication in this video. And according to the worker, they actually said, quote, for sure that she was not intoxicated. Like they know 100% that she was not intoxicated. And I will say, I watch the video and Diane is not stumbling or anything. She's walking in a straight line straight up to the gas station, but she does seem rushed. She went into the store to

find one thing and one thing only. It's pretty obvious and I'm not saying this is weird because she had just spent almost an hour at McDonald's with four kids and she's probably ready to get home after a long weekend. But she is looking for Tylenol so she walks in. She seems rush. She can't get it. She walks out around 1137 AM Diane calls Jackie Hans. her sister-in-law, the mother of the three nieces. Diane tells her that they are running a little late, that they hit some traffic, and she also doesn't say anything about being intoxicated, which I don't find that weird, but also she doesn't say anything about not feeling very good. She seems normal. I'm so confused. Almost 20 minutes later, around 12 p.m. on interstate 87, a witness reports a radic driving coming from a red minivan.

OK, so 20 minutes after the normal phone call with, with an jack. So a radic driving, but not driving down just driving crazy. I'm so maybe swarving that a cars or stopping fast. I don't know what well, they actually explained it. They said that the car had been sharply cutting people off and switching lanes enough so that cars had had to swerve out of the way to avoid being hit by the minivan. The concerning thing according to the witness was when they saw the children in the minivan. The concerning thing, according to the witness, was when they saw the

children in the backseat. And every time the car jerk, they would see all five little heads like Bob. Oh my god. And they also observed the woman in the front gripping the steering wheel really hard and leaning forward. It appeared that she was concentrating extremely hard on the road. And this is what worried them. And this turn out to be Diane Schuhler around 12 13. Another witness reports a red minivan following very closely behind them on the road. It's honking loudly. It's getting extremely close. It's jerking the will. At one point, the minivan attempted to pass them on the shoulder, but was unsuccessful. How far away is she from home at this point?

She is still, so she's still on course to being home, but this is taken way too long. Her husband's already home, but keep in mind she did stop at McDonald's, she did stop at the gas station. So this witness actually ends up pulling off the freeway to a rest area and according to them the minivan followed them off the freeway on to the rest area.

The car went into the car lane but they thought it was weird because this minivan that was just driving erratically and trying to pass them drove into the truck lane which is odd. The witness is still watching the minivan out of concern. Notice the driver stopped the car, get out, and lean over appearing to be sick, like vomiting, keeping the witness kept driving, was like, okay, well, maybe they were just sick and that's why they were trying to get off the road so fast. kept driving, went to the stop, to the rest stop, went inside, and when they came back out, the red minivan was gone. This red minivan, again, ended up being Diane Schuller. At 1255, Diane Schuller's cell phone dialed a wrong number.

No one who was in the address book, no one knows the number. Has she called her husband at all during any of this? Never called her husband. Okay. The only calls have been made to the her brother and aunt and uncle, the parents of the nieces. Did her husband call it all the chignor any calls, miss any calls. Her husband has not called Danny has not called because he went home and went to try to go to sleep because he has work that night. So he's going to try to get some rest before working a night shift. All right. So around 1 p.m. which is five minutes after this wrong phone number was dialed. Jackie Hance gets another call from Diane's phone, but it's not Diane. It's

her oldest daughter who's in the car with Diane. She tells her parents that and I quote, something is wrong with Aunt Diane. So she just called her parents and said something's wrong. Yes, she's eight years old. She's, she just took it from her aunt. Yes, she explains to her parents that Aunt Diane can't see and she's very sick. Okay, so you have to imagine it. Why isn't, like why isn't she pull over?

I don't understand what's happening right now. So up until this point, it's crazy. Her brother and the niece's parents, so aunt and uncle, haven't heard anything about something being wrong in the car, but Diane has been according to witnesses driving erratically for a while now.

But this is the first they're hearing about it. And it's coming from their eight-year-old daughter. So you have to keep in mind, trying to converse with an eight-year-old about, wait, what do you mean? And her not really being able to express, like, well, she's sick. And they're like, OK, well, how is she sick? Well, she can't see. And they're like, what do you mean she can't see?

Like, it's hard to translate it over the phone coming from an eight year old. The only thing I can think about this point is something's wrong with her, but she's such a very like organized and like, I need to get this done type of person that she's like, I'm fine. I'm just going to get home. Right. Like that's the only thing I'm kind of thinking in my head that's going on at this moment. Okay, you guys, we are getting into an ad. I know you guys have both heard the story about how Garrett and I were both paying separately for peacock, and then we used rocket money

and realized how dumb we are, and our so happy rocket money helped us stop doing that. Rocket money is a personal finance app that finds and cancels your unwanted subscriptions, monitors your spending, and helps you lower your bills all in one place. And like Payton said, I'm always on it, checking things out, seeing what's going on, seeing how many Amazon packages Payton are buying. Is that how you find out about my Amazon packages?

No, I just get emails. Oh my email, I'm dear account. Over 3 million people have already used Rocket Money, saving the average person of the $720 a year. Imagine what you could do with that extra cash and your pocket. Stop throwing your money away, cancel unwanted subscriptions and manage your expenses the easy way. By going to rocketmoney.com slash husband.

That's rocketmoney.com slash husband. Rocket money.com slash husband. This summer, EXU Energy is back. This ultimate summer path, starting 50% off energy charges all summer. Everybody's on, for automatic energy savings. Plus free energy on the hottest day. Don't you see it? Free days are now the coolest days.

And this summer's hottest fluxester guaranteed to keep you cool. The savings are coming from inside the house. Ultimate summer path, energy savings Davis has been developed so cool. Yes, you energy, energy for everything. Captain Banner now to learn more. So obviously, the Hances ask their daughter to put Diane on the phone. They're like, OK, we need to speak to Aunt Diane.

And after two and a half minutes of talking to Diane, the phone call abruptly ends. Now, Warren Hance, Jackie's husband and Diane's brother, has not really said what they exactly talked about on this two and a half minute call. All he said is that publicly, he hasn't talked about it. All he said is that she was not making sense. That Diane was kind of talking in circles

and they were saying, please pull over and she she wasn't making much sense, but she had pulled over at this point when the one like she pulled over while talking to her. I feel like there has to be some sort of like internal brain bleeding or something. Right. Well, so she even refers to her brother Warren as Danny on this phone call, which is her husband's name. So, obviously, something is wrong. Something is wrong. She's not, something is not making sense. Now Warren at this point could hear the kids crying in the background in the car.

And the whole situation was just making him nervous. Diane wasn't making sense. And so Warren asks his oldest daughter to please read off a sign nearby so that he could try to figure out where they are And she tells him that she can see a sign that says Terry town So Warren leaves Long Island to go to Terry town to try and find his sister Diane and his children and two of her children at 110 pm someone dials three wrong numbers from Diane's phone. And then at 1 15 p.m. 5 minutes later Warren tries to call Diane again, but this time the call

goes to voicemail. No one is answering. Nobody knew this then. But after those three wrong phone number attempts were dialed into Diane's phone Diane or somebody Set her phone on the guide rail where she pulled off near Terrytown like on the side of the freeway and then She got back in the car and drove away So she stopped God out and then got back in again and put her phone on the side of the freeway and left it there Okay, and she had already pulled over right like she had pulled over when she was talking to her brother, but then she left her phone there, got back in the car and drove off even though her

brother had said, stay put, do not drive anymore. I'm coming to get you. She drove off leaving her phone there up until this point. Like I said, Diane was taking the route that she should have been to head home. But after this, after that she pulls off and leaves her phone and then gets back on, it's unclear where she drove from here. She gets off her normal route. According to sources, it was at this point in the timeline that the Hances decided to enlist help from a friend to get a

hold of police while they continued to drive and try and find Diane and their kids. Police through it started the temple. My name is Brad just seeing it. I'm actually trying to help a friend right now. There's children are on their way home from a camping trip with their aunt. We just called my friend out, described saying that the aunt is driving a rat-a-flute. You're at a rep center. The best they can understand is that they were in Tari Town or Sleevee Hall. Those were the signs

that they saw. Okay. The aunt has been picking up the cell phone right now. No, kind of car, Durant. Yeah, they're in a mini band to read. And it has a ski rack on it. Jackie couldn't and if you slip it out, you a license plate number. So this time, they call a friend authorities, explain every police that one of his friend their children and is supposed but she's acting strange and now they can't find her.

He also tells police that her family is extremely worried now about the situation and could police please try and help locate her? Can you track her phone? He explains that it's a red minivan, but that Jackie couldn't remember her license plate number. So they don't have the license plate. They only know it's a red minivan.

Police ask if there was a history of medical problems or drug abuse and they're like, no, no, none of that. She doesn't abuse drugs. There's no medical problems, but they did inform her that the children had said that Diane wasn't feeling very well. And so police are like, okay, maybe this is just a medical emergency. We need to find this minivan fast. That's what it sounds like. Yes. And as you study the map and the route that Diane was on and where she ended up at the crash site, it doesn't make sense that she made it to the Teconic State Parkway. Like from where they last know she was at at the Terry Townsign, to this parkway is like a you turn in circle. Like it doesn't really make sense how she got there,

which is why police don't know how she got there. Police are just as confused as to where she went. But during this time period of back and forth with police, back and forth with Danny, as he's now been woken up and informed of the situation, Diane is somehow making her way to the crash site. And as we know, things are about to go really bad. I'm so confused. I don't, I just want to know what's wrong. Right. What happened?

Her family is heading towards Terry Town and police are on the search for her car and tracking her phone when the first calls come in about Diane heading up the exit ramp. But no one has put two and two together in these short minutes. No one realizes that this is the same minivan that the other police are out looking for. Diane drives the 1.7 miles at 85 miles per hour and half a dozen people call 911.

Oh, I hope the kids are alive. Enough that operators begin telling callers when they call it. Oh, we know about the minivan we're on our way now. They're getting so many calls that they're just shutting down calls at this point. Witnesses on the road remember swarving off into the grass into the passing lane anywhere they can. But at this point, like I said, Diane was driving

stick straight down that road and forcing the other cars to swerve out of her way. She was basically playing chicken with the cars. And pass her by, notice that again, she's just sitting cars to swerve out of her way. She was basically playing chicken with the cars. And passerby's notice that again, she's just sitting up front gripping the steering wheels, staring straight ahead in like pure concentration. And all of this led witnesses like on the 911 calls to believe that the person was almost purposely trying to hurt themselves. They were like, someone is in this minivan and they are trying to hurt someone or themselves.

That's what everyone thinks. Which, that's why I asked earlier, if they were swarving or trying to hit cars because they're going just straight, I feel like they're not trying to hurt them. Well, but it was the chicken game. It was like a car's coming head on to and that I am's not moving.

She's forcing other people to swerve out of the way. Yeah, I don't know what I think So Diane then as we know crashes the minivan head on into a car Now that car was 49 year old guy best already 81 year old Michael Bestory and their friend 74 year old Daniel Longo. They all passed away, huh? All three of them were killed in the head on collision. That's horrible. After Diane hit them head on, their car slid into the third car with two more people inside. And somehow both of those people lived. Even though this was an 85 mile per hour collision. After hitting that first car, Diane and the kids in the minivan,

slid off into the grass and kept sliding, rotating until it stopped down the hill off the parkway. So they're completely off the freeway now. Figure warning here, we are going to be talking about children. So if that can be a little too much, you can go ahead and fast forward through this part. From there, it caught on fire and burst into smoke and flames with everyone still inside, which this is like eerie similarity to the bus crash from the 30s that everyone compares this to. Now, onlookers and witnesses rushed to all three cars, but majority made their way to

Diane's car because it was the one on fire. Now the pictures of the crashed minivan are so awful. It doesn't even look like a minivan. And by the time the fire is put out, it's just a shell of a smashed car. The whole front end of it is smashed and missing. Like it really is awful. People, like I said, ran over and were eventually able to pull Diane's door open first. And that was when her body fell out and she was already dead. Go. So she's dead. She died on impact. She was

dead by the time people got to the car. I mean, I guess it makes sense. I mean, she went 80 miles an hour head on into another car. Into another car. Witnesses looked in, and that's when they notice the backseat full of kids in this car that's now on fire. It's horrific. One by one, they began pulling them out of the burning car. And one by one, they had to lay their dead bodies

on the ground. So every single one of them had died. Not every single one. One of the victims was alive, but died later at the hospital. But then the rescue crew got there and realized that Brian was still alive. Now Brian is Diane's son.

And he had actually been buried underneath all of the other kids, which is why he survived. and he was awake and crying Like he hadn't he had no idea what happened, but he is the soul survivor of this many was it the fire that had killed them or was it the crash? It was a crash that had killed them. Okay, so I have to remind you that the people that are pulling these children out of this car to remind you that the people that are pulling these children out of this car are citizens. This is not police. Police are not there. These are citizens that we are talking about. And as this is all going on with Diane and the Minivan, other onlookers were assessing

the other two cars in the crash. And that was when they immediately realized that the driver and the passenger from the third car hit were going to be okay. Like they were lucid. They, I mean, they had injuries, but they were not gone. But guy, Michael and Daniel were a different story. Like I said, the pictures of this crash,

of their car are so gruesome, the car is literally split in half. Oh my gosh. The front half of the car is separated from the back half. They had died immediately from the force of the head on collision at 85 miles per hour. Police were struggling to get there, though, because traffic had now completely stopped and piled up because these cars had taken over the entire parkway. I mean, this was a bad crash. Not only is everyone already pulled off because she was going

the wrong way, this crash involved three cars that spanned the whole entire parkway. So it's pure chaos. When Diane's autopsy was performed in hopes of finding the purpose behind this terrible crash and the strange events, it only led to more questions. Do not tell me that they found nothing. Okay, well I can't tell you that. They did find something. Diane's blood alcohol level at the time of the crash was 0.19%. Now the legal level in New York City at the time was 0.08. So it's more than double the legal limit. She also had high, high levels of THC in her blood, which is marijuana. Did they find any traces in the car?

There was no marijuana, but there was a liquor bottle. Remember a shattered liquor bottle in the car. But at what point did she ingest this to where no one else noticed? Yeah, it's kind of weird. It's found that Diane had to have had at least 10 drinks in 10 shots in her stomach at the time of the accident. So now I'm even more confused because no one else noticed this. And also a mother driving five children,

a mother who in all other accounts seemingly has it together seems like superwoman, takes 10 shots while driving her children home. It just seems so strange. But other than that, the initial autopsy of Diane Schuller found no medical anomalies or explanations which everyone was thinking this had to be

like a medical emergency, but it turned out there was just alcohol and marijuana in her system. And because of this, the case was ruled a homicide. Diane Schueller's negligent driving killed seven other people and herself that day. Now despite this, Westchester County decided no charges would be filed because the charges died with Diane. They're like, who are we gonna prosecute? Yeah. In the immediate days following the crash,

Danny Schuhler was adamant that the autopsy results had to be wrong. That Diane had not been under the influence at the time of the crash, and this all had to just be a medical emergency. This is not making sense. And reporters asked him, okay, well, then how do you explain the bottle of vodka in the front seat? He answered first that he didn't know. He was like, I don't know how that got there. She didn't buy it at the gas

station. He later then changed his story and suggested that maybe she had taken it from the camper and put it in the car, but he doesn't remember her doing that. Now, the whole reason for Danny's denial is because he really wanted the public to know that Diane would never intentionally drink and drive what we were just talking about. And not only her, I mean, the three nieces, the Hans' family, they came to her defense. They were like, she would have never, ever done this. Her whole family came to it Everyone who knew her was like there is absolutely no way that she drank and then drove those kids They are like that this just would never happen and they're like she would never have put those kids lives in harm's way There has to be a different explanation

But time goes on the family hires a private investigator to prove Diane's innocence, but nothing really comes of it other than one possible theory. And that was that for years, Diane had been having teeth problems. According to her Dennis records, she has struggled with tooth pain and issues for a while now. I feel like I've heard of this now. Now that you say this, you keep going, but I feel like it's jogging some memory of this happening. This happening or that I've heard of a story where your teeth can like make you sick, like your wisdom teeth or like bad root canals or something like that. Okay. So in the weeks leading up to the crash, there was one specific tooth that had been severely bothering Diane. And according to her records, she had a possible tooth abscess in her mouth.

In fact, friends and family remember her constantly holding and rubbing her jaw the week before the crash. Diane's family would need professional opinion, basically, to even see if this is a possibility, like what we're talking about. While debating that theory, police actually released statements that conclude if Diane was not a heavy drinker, which from all accounts, she was not.

She rarely drink from all accounts. Like she was not even a drinker in the first place. They said that maybe there was a chance that if she drank this much, 10 shots, before she then smoked marijuana that day, the alcohol could have acted as an absorption for the marijuana and basically created a hallucination. Studies report that she could have smoked

anywhere between 15 minutes to an hour before the incident that day, and they're like, there is a possibility that this could have thrown her into a delirium, basically. And Danny does say that Diane smoked on occasion and usually just to relax before going to sleep. But then later, friends say, oh, she smoked every day. So we don't know if Smoky marijuana was on occasion, like her husband says, or if it

wasn't every day a occurrence for her anxiety. But again, Danny does not believe that she smoked that weekend or that day. But I know for sure she didn't smoke that day before she left me. And I was actually a little bothered with some sources who when it got to this part, they asked the question, well, why did she even need to smoke to relax? What was so bad in her life? There's got to this part they asked the question, well, why did she even need to smoke to relax? What was so bad in her life? There's more to this story. Now, I'm not saying there's not more to this story, but I don't think that that is even good circumstantial evidence or reasoning for the possibility of the crash because

people smoke all the time. Mental health is real and people don't need a reason to try and take care of their head or their health. I get anxiety at night and by all accounts, I have a really good life. So it doesn't work that way. Mental health doesn't work that way just because she was smoking to to calm herself. Doesn't mean that she was, you know, in a bad state of mind all the time. At this point, Diane's family retested Diane's blood alcohol levels because remember, they didn't believe that it was true and It turned out that all of them were correct. They matched up from the police reports In fact, they hired a separate doctor to look at the autopsy results and he concurred that the first autopsy was well done and proper Like every thing she was under the influence. She was under the influence.

Again, he says other than the drug use, there is nothing else from the autopsy that explains the crash, except her being under the influence. They asked about the toothache. Could this be possible? Could she have had this tooth abscess and it have caused a stroke or something? And the doctor explains in theory, yes,

that could definitely happen. But again, there was nothing in the autopsy that suggested that. And it wouldn't have explained, that I called the, I mean, the being, yeah. It begs the question, well, did they look for it? Did they look for a stroke in the autopsy?

Yeah. It was just more just like a, oh, she was under the influences, this is an open and shut case. But one theory that the doctor does hear her family out on is that the pain from the tooth abscess, if it was bad enough and she wasn't thinking clearly because she wasn't so much pain, she could have just took whatever she could. She tried to look for the Tylenol, couldn't find it. That's true. She did try to get Tylenol. Why did she try to get Tylenol for the pain?

That's what I mean. It could have been for the tooth. And then could have just said, well, I'll take a drink to try to get through this drive and numb the pain, but then she had already smoked or she then smoked to try to numb it and then she didn't realize how much she was taking, she overdosed. Like, you know what I mean? Like, she just overmedicated.

Yeah. That definitely could have happened. And again, going back to what the police said, if she drank that much and then smoked, it could have caused a delirium without her even realizing what she was putting herself into. But again, this is all theory and speculation about what happened that day. There's not a clear answer at this point. In the years following the crash, nothing on the case changes because either way, it's still a homicide. That is not

really the question here. The question is whether or not Diane's behavior can be explained from a medical emergency or if she was just purely negligent self- medicating. The Best Hardee family actually ended up filing a lawsuit against the district attorney for not filing charges in the case. So that is the family from the three victims in the head on collision. They then later file charges against Diane and her brother Warren, the niece's father seeking unspecified damages and more. And they had to include Warren because it was his van that was used in the crash.

In July of 2011, Jackie Hance, who lost her three daughters in the crash, filed a lawsuit against her brother-in-law, Danny. So it tore the family apart. At first, they were supportive, but then when they found out that the toxicology reports came back and she was that under the influence, they couldn't remain standing together at that point. Danny then filed a lawsuit against the state for not keeping the roads safe, and then again against Warren, his brother-in-law for being the owner of the minivan. But by July 2014, all of these lawsuits and like all the parties were settled or dropped.

Now, Brian Schuller, who was the boy who lives, sustained a serious head injury in the crash and as a result suffered from ocular motor nerve palsy, which effects movement in his right eye and he had to do daily eye exercises for it. In the years after the incident, Brian talked a lot about his mother and they were very open with him and all he can say about that day is that his mom's head hurt really bad and she couldn't see. And then he flew out of the car like Superman. Oh my gosh.

In August 2009, the New York governor proposed the Child Passendure Protection Act, which would make it a felony to drive while intoxicated if a passenger under the age of 16 is in a vehicle. And it passed. Jackie and Warren Hantz formed a foundation called the Hantz Family Foundation, which honors the lives of their three daughters by ensuring healthy, happy, and safe children through innovative self-esteem educational programming.

Now all I want is peace for all of the families involved in this case. At the end of the day, this is a tragic story with so many unanswered questions. Watching all of the families talk about this, it hurt my heart because all of them suffered from this, all of the survivors suffered, all of them want answers, but no one has them. Why would a mom drive her brother's minivan full of her kids and nieces up an exit ramp onto a freeway and straight shot until she hits someone head on. Makes it zero sense. Did she do it on purpose or just irresponsibly drinking drive? Did one drink from the pain turn into a slippery slope? Did she have a full blown infection, fever, alcohol,

and marijuana? Did it trigger a delirium or a psychotic break? We will never know. All we can know is that the blood DNA they tested that day was Diane's and it was positive for alcohol and marijuana. And by all accounts, she was a good mom and a good human being. This case is strictly a tragedy

that affected so many lives. Guy Bastardi, Michael Bastardi, Daniel Longot, Diane Schuller, Aaron Schuller, Kate Hance, Alice and Hance, Emma Hance. These are all the people that we will remember that died that day and all of the victims in this case. And that is the story of the Teconic State Parkway crash of 2009. The only thing, first of all, horrible that I'm going to be part of that. Right. That's so tragic.

And the only thing that I can think of is that kind of the obvious she was under the influence. I'm sure there's maybe a little bit more to it, but that she was under the influence. And yeah, I think that's what happened. I think the biggest question for people is just it just seems so out of out of character. But we kind of talked about how I think it was last week how you never really know someone. I'm not saying that she was a bad person. She's a great person, but you never know if someone has a drinking problem or likes a drink or like this, I mean, you just, you just never know what someone does. By all accounts, she was a very private person. Yep. So there could have been more to the story. There could be not more to the story.

It could have been a medical emergency. We don't know. But I just want to take this time today to think about the children's lives and the innocent victims in this story who were just caught in this tragic accident and really remember them and think of their families. All right you guys so just reminder about our Patreon, add free early release and also bonus episodes every single month and I think that's it for today. We will see you guys next week with another episode. I love it. I hate it. Goodbye.