On Diane Schuler
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“Listened to you for first time. You seem like very likable people, but I didn't find your discussion of the Diane Schuler tragedy very illuminating. Many alcoholics hide their alcoholism; it wouldn't be hard to hide it from a clueless, self-absorbed husband who works opposite hours than his alcoholic wife. You said you felt sorry for Diane's husband. Really? That absolute jerk! He's probably one of the reasons Diane got to the point she did; plus what kind of person is in such denial that they deny the evidence in front of their eyes, suing the father of the 3 girls his wife murdered? Did he ever consider what the 3 male adult victims' families felt like with his continued denial of his wife Diane's responsibility for the crash?
I've read quite a bit on this and I think either one of two things happened: Diane got herself in some kind of desperate state and did, in the end, deliberately drive her car into another. Horrible, yes, but the one supported the most by the facts. The other: Diane got herself so drunk & high that it resulted in some type of detached-from-reality state that combined with her determination to keep her intoxicated & possibly closet-alcoholism a secret that she refused to ask for help (as usual for the in-control person she was) and just focused on getting home on her own steam.
Diane was a very nice, very competent, very achieving, control freak who kept her emotions tightly bottled up for years.
She had a husband who was a complete jerk - like another child for her, which maybe was one reason they suited each other, because she wanted to be in control and in charge, and he wanted someone to take care of him. But not very satisfying, ultimately, for Diane. She regularly used marijuana at night to help her relax and in the last part of her life, maybe used alcohol, too, to help her cope with all of the emotions she just stuffed for years.
As far as the last day, I think she may have been bothered by tooth pain or a hangover and she may have used the alcohol and marijuana to help ease it. We can only assume she had some pain that caused her to seek out a pain-killer at the gas station. But according to the medical examiner, she didn't have an abscess. And even if she did, it is not a normal response to almost drink yourself to death with a car full of young children.
I think on that last day, the years of her perfectionism, denial and emotional pain caught up with her. Maybe there was something that happened between Diane and her husband, or maybe not. But somehow, something seemed to snap or become exacerbated by the drinking. She just kept drinking and along with the marijuana, got herself into some type of mental breakdown that ended with her getting off the highway and then getting on the exit ramp, and driving at high speed in the wrong direction, straight ahead for almost 2 MILES, ignoring the honks, the swerving cars, etc.
One person who knows those area highways well said that she appears to have crossed multiple lanes of traffic after the last phone call (where she left the phone outside the car) without incident which shows some mastery in her driving. That person contends that the fact she told her brother she was in a completely different place than where she was showed deception on her part -- just because of the area and how completely different they were, and because 30 seconds earlier she had gone through a toll. He contended she drove one way scoping out the highway for her suicide and re-entered using the same exit ramp. He said that where Diane was driving the wrong way, there where 2 places for a car-turn-around and many grassy areas where Diane could have pulled over after cars were honking at her and swerving out of her way. (Seeing via youtube the 1.7 miles she drove, you do see that.) Witnesses said she drove straight, fast (between 70 and 85 mph) and had an intense, determined look on her face. (Although who knows at those speeds & under those circumstances -- but a number of those who were witnesses said she drove very straight and very fast and it seemed as though she was playing chicken - except without the plan of swerving out of the way.)
Perhaps this was the one last action Diane would take to control her life. Not a pre-meditated action, but a decision that came out of her drunken, high state that she just couldn't do it anymore. And perhaps the high intake of alcohol was to help her get through her rash decision to end it all, too. Or scenario #2, she was in some type of alternate reality coupled with her take-charge and won't-ask-for-help personal
He also guessed that she left her phone after the last call because she didn't want to let the oldest niece make more calls or to be called again. Who knows?
No one will ever really know why Diane Schuler did what she did. It could be that her brother who talked to her in her final tormented half-hour got some clue. I guess what we are left with is a terrible sense of loss for the seven victims of Diane's actions. The heart wrenching loss of 3 young daughters seems impossible to bear. It was encouraging to hear that those parents were able to have another child and to remember their precious girls in a book.
If there is a moral to the story -- and I'm not sure there is, it would be to call 911 if you see a driver who seems to be driving erratically or wildly, ESPECIALLY if there are young children in the car. I think I would have thought more highgly of this hour podcast if Melissa and Mandy had encouraged that. Who knows if it would have made a difference if one or two or three of those people who witnessed Diane's crazy driving (was it 1/2 an hour before fatal crash or less?) would have called 911? I suppose it just would have depended on circumstance - how close was an available state trooper or police car on duty? And what would Diane's reaction have been to their trying to stop her or pull her over?”Read full review »
city-reader via Apple Podcasts ·
United States of America ·
09/22/17
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