10 Perplexing Details Surrounding Diane Schuler, The “Perfect Mom” Who Drove Her Van Full Of Kids Into A Head-On Collision

6 /10 Police Papers

The initial reports were made with some vague language due to the outlying nature of the accident. It’s not every year, even, that someone drives up the wrong side of a road, let alone a highway.

There were immediate suspicions of Diane’s state of intoxication due to the chaotic nature of her driving and her decision to go down the wrong side of the road.

5 /10 Calls For Help

While driving, one of the Hace children took over her aunt’s phone to tell her father that they were still driving but that Diane was having some problems. The road ahead was blurry, and she was feeling disoriented.

Her brother tried to convince her to pull over and wait for someone to come and get her, as the whole family was supposed to be going in the same direction.

The phone those calls were made on was disposed of at a toll booth before the highway, showing that Diane had lost control not just of her faculties but of her patience for others.

4 /10 High Functioning, Not High Living

Diane was diagnosed, posthumously, as a high-functioning alcoholic. This meant that despite showing no outwards signs of alcohol abuse and dependency, she did suffer from it and kept it hidden.

This accident was the one time she couldn’t hide her problem as it came up to impact those around her. Her marijuana use also contributed to that addiction of substance abuse.

3 /10 Just Another Statistic

Unfortunately, as uncommon as Diane’s incident was, it was still another drunk driving accident. She didn’t mean to do what she did, but she couldn’t control herself.

Drunken motorists are responsible for more than 10,000 deaths a year due to drunken traffic accidents. These account for nearly one-third of the 38,000 traffic-related deaths that happen every year.

2 /10 Desperate Denial

Diane’s husband, Daniel, stood up for his wife at every opportunity after her death. He attributed her strange behavior to the possibility of a stroke until the autopsy reports denied it.

He tried to sue her brother Warren Hace because the car she died in was his, but he was sued back in turn for the murder of the Hace children and the surviving family members killed in the collision.

The charges were eventually settled quietly, as those who had to incur those costs of the law were already dead.

1 /10 The Cost Of A Drink

Diane’s shocking story and death led to several media pieces, most notably “There’s Something Wrong with Aunt Diane,” a documentary attributed to a quote pulled from the phone calls the young Hace daughter made to her father before she died.

Her accident and the conversation of its prevention went on to create a 2009 New York law making it a crime to drive under the influence with a minor in the car, further penalizing the irresponsible in the hopes they will think of others before acting.