What’s Wrong With Aunt Diane

Aunt Diane, legally known as Diane Schuler, who was a mother and aunt. In 2009 she drove the wrong way on Taconic Parkway in New York and collided with a SUV. This collision killed everyone in her car, besides her own son. After an autopsy report, it was relieved that she had a high blood alcohol level and traces of marijuana in her system. However, her living relatives will contest that she would never touch any types of substance and she would never put her family in harm’s way. This leaves the question, what happened to Aunt Diane

• There’s Something Wrong With Aunt Diane

Diane Schuler Growing Up

Schuler experienced a major trauma even at the age of nine. Her mother was rumored to have run off with a neighbor, abandoning her family of four. Being the only daughter in a family filled with men, Diane was given some, if not all, of the domestic chores, especially because she was raised in the 80s. Growing up she had no female figure to hold or nature her when things got hard or confusing. Early on, Shuler learned to grow an extra hard exterior as a way of survival, in her eyes, vulnerability was never an option.

Her high school friends would describe Shuler as funny, a class-clown, and a very likable person. They also attested that she would never talk about her mother.

Later in life, Diane’s mother would come back and apologize to her and take accountability for the pain caused. However, she refused to forgive and this led to her becoming the perfect mother as a compensation for her motherless childhood.

Diane Shuler- The Perfect Wife and Mother

Diane met her husband at the wedding of one of her high school friends. Daniel was Diane’s first and only boyfriend. It was said that it seemed that she married the first guy who showed her the slightest bit of attention. Daniel, Diane’s husband, was a night security guard. He actually claimed that he did not want children and deferred to Diane when it came to the care of their children. From the outside it looked as if Diane was carrying the entire weight of the family and she was always looking out for other people and was known to put her needs last.

Diane’s two children were always neat and clean. Their clothes ironed and their hair perfectly in place. Diane would put her children to sleep with a story time and then stay up late making custom photo albums, not just for her family, but for her friends as well. She was the first to drop off her children and the first to pick them up. She was always on time and never strayed away from her schedule, even though she worked in a neighboring town. She also joined the PTA, constantly being a part of her children’s life and this did not go unnoticed in the community.

The Accident

July 26, 2009, Diane and her family had just packed up after a mini getaway. Diane’s brother had left the campsite first, leaving Diane with five children in her car, two of her own children. It was said that Diane was acting weird, but it was nothing to worry about. However, after a pit stop where Diane was throwing up uncontrollably, things started to take a turn. This was until Diane’s eight-year old niece, Emma Hance, called her mother and said the iconic words. “There was something wrong with Aunt Diane.” Jackie, Emma’s mother, would then ask for Diane, and this is where she realized that something was wrong because Diane was not making any sense. Diane entered the wrong side of Taconic State Parkway and drove around 1.7 miles around 85 mph before crashing into another car head on. Almost everyone in Diane’s car was killed that day. Her son, Daniel, survived and was taken into intensive care, where he lived but suffers from an ocular nerve impairment. Those in the other car suffered from minor injuries. In Diane’s car there was a bottle of straight vodka found, leading to an autopsy report. In her tox screen, it was found that her blood alcohol level was double the legal minor and she had traces of weed in her system. However, her family claims that she never drink and drive and she was not the type to use weed. Leaving us the question: what happened to Aunt Diane.

Theories

• Secret alcoholic: someone who loses control over their drinking and has an excessive desire to drink, known as dependent drinking
  • This is the most widely believed theory. 
  • Why this could work
    • Her blood alcohol level was .19 after forensic testing. It also relieved that she had consumed weed prior to the crash. Both of these facts along with the bottle of vodka found in the car would support this idea. 

• Stoke/blood clot: occurs when blood flow to the brain is interrupted, causing brain cells to die
  • The most common theory that Diane’s family has because of their history and life with Diane
  • Causes
    • Ischemic Stroke: occurs when a blood blot blocks an artery in the brain 
    • Hemorrhagic stroke: occurs when a blood vessel in the brain bursts and bleeds
  • Risk factors:
    • High blood pressure 
    • Age
    • High cholesterol 
    • Smoking 
  • Why this could work
    • Sudden confusion, loss of coordination, and difficulty speaking are common with strokes, which would align with the line of something being wrong with Diane. 
    • Her family also attest that she would never intentionally put her family or self in danger, however this could also go with the secret alcoholic theory because maybe they did not know.  

• Subarachnoid hemorrhage: a type of stroke that occurs when blood leaks into the subarachnoid space, the area between the brain and the thin membranes that cover it
  • This theory was supported by several Reddit users who believe that there something more that we don’t know 
  • Causes
    • Ruptured brain aneurysm 
    • Trauma
    • High blood pressure 
    • Arteriovenous malformation 
  • Why this could work
    • Those who experience this experience headaches, vomiting, confusion, and delirium. The vomiting matches the story of Diane’s pit stop. There was also blood clotting found in an area of her brain which indicated a brain aneurysm.

• #true crime
• aunt diane
• based on a true story