For those of you who read her sister-in-law's book; did she give a more detailed account of the phone conversation?
Another question about the phone call: Did Diane call and her niece took the phone from her? Or, did her niece call and Diane take the phone from her? That's the way I remembered it from the documentary, but correct me if I'm wrong. I thought the girl called in distress and her mother asked to speak to Diane, who tried to reassure her, through slurred speech, that the kids were just joking and having fun.
I have read Jackie Hance's book and Jackie stated that her daughter Emma called her mother crying saying that there was something wrong with Aunt Diane . Jackie then said that Diane took the phone from her niece and got on the phone, and when Jackie asked Diane what was wrong, Diane had the capacity to understand at that moment that she needed to lie about the situation and said in a slurred, almost incoherent speech to her sister-in-law, "The kids are just being silly, everything's fine, they're having fun, they're playing." Ridiculous toothache theory by her horrible husband put to rest.
I don't know why more people don't talk about the cell phone conversation between Jackie Hance and Diane because I think that phone call pretty much sums up what happened that day. Her drinking started to spiral completely out of control that day with the kids in the car and when she was faced with the fact that she was blind drunk and high on a Sunday morning and endangering the lives of 5 children in her car, she lied to her sister-in-law on the phone while she was drunk to try to make it look like everything was okay and then tried to drive the kids home while she was one point away from being in a coma from her drinking and this tragedy happened.
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Wifey_3
8 years ago
Thank you for the information from the book. Yes, I agree that the phone conversation was very telling. It does seem to rule out the medical explanation. The way I see it, there are three plausible explanations:
1. Diane decided to drink and drive (Either because she was an alcoholic or because she had a hangover and used a little "hair of the dog" to cure it, but overdid it to the point of blacking out.)
2. Diane planned the whole thing and used alcohol and weed to steel herself for what she decided to do.
3. Diane was drinking and driving and freaked out when her niece called home to report her reckless driving. When she heard that her brother was coming, she was in fight or flight mode. She made a split-second decision to drive into oncoming traffic to avoid being discovered. She wouldn't have been thinking rationally or having empathy for the kids or her family, because of her level of intoxication.
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mayobrown-1
8 years ago
Those three explanations you listed seem to be what most people think as well.
Accident, pre-meditated murder or a psychotic break with reality because of her intoxication.
Personally, I have never thought it to be suicide. Would a woman hell bent on suicide and child murder stop at a gas station and casually ask for pain meds, a bathroom, etc.? Stop at McDonald's and make sure all the kids are fed and have had breakfast? Lie to her sister-in-law on the phone to make sure no one knows she has been drinking and driving with five kids in the car?
I don't really believe Diane Schuler was an evil person out to murder children that day. She was an alcoholic and was too proud to admit to anyone that she had f_ucked up beyond comprehension and she needed help.
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LetThemEatCake01
8 years ago
but would she still have driven the wrong way on a highway?? She drove for a loooooong time, I mean surely she would have gone to the side even if drunk?? When I saw the documentary I thought this was a vindictive suicide, she was trying to destroy as much as possible.
What else can you share about the book that sheds light on this?
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