Taconic Mom Drank, But Was No Drunk: Hubby Changes Story

Diane Schuler's remains to be retested, investigator says

By JENNIFER MILLMAN

Updated 9:11 AM EST, Sat, Nov 7, 2009

Print Email Share TWITTER FACEBOOK

Husband Daniel Schuler continues to insist that his wife wasn't drunk the day she drove into oncoming traffic, killing herself and 7 others.

On the same day a new report came out saying Diane Schuler smoked pot on a daily basis and drank two nights before the deadly crash, the private investigator in charge of evaluating the case says her family has finally raised enough money to retest her remains, according to published reports.

Initial toxicology reports indicated Diane Schuler, a Long Island mother of two, had a blood alcohol level of more than twice the legal limit and had smoked marijuana as early as 15 minutes before she plowed head-on into an SUV after driving nearly two miles in the wrong direction on the Taconic in July. Eight people, including Diane, her daughter, three nieces and three men in the SUV she hit were killed. Only Schuler's 5-year-old son, Bryan, who is recovering from severe head trauma, survived.

Amid massive public outcry over the toxicology reports, Diane Schuler's family repeatedly denied she was an alcoholic or a regular user of marijuana. Daniel, her husband, and Thomas Ruskin, the private investigator the family hired to absolve Diane, appeared on national television shows to discredit the coroner's findings. They've told the press for months that there had to be some other explanation for the crash.

Daniel Schuler even went so far as to say he had never seen his wife drink. Today, however, it appears he changed his story.

Daniel Schuler confessed to investigators that he and Diane drank together at the campsite where the family had been two nights before the crash, but he denied accusations he or she had anything the drink the night before or on that fateful day, according to The New York Post. Still, he maintains his wife was no alcoholic.

The family of two of the men killed in the SUV she hurt were outraged at the sudden change in story.

"Daniel Schuler admitted drinking with Diane Schuler that weekend," a furious Michael Bastardi, Jr., whose father and brother were killed, told the Post. "It's totally the opposite of what [Danny] Schuler said at a press conference in August."

On top of the confession Diane had been drinking two days before the crash, her sister-in-law told police in a statement that she smoked pot daily, reports the Post.

Meanwhile, Ruskin, who has said the family intended to retest Schuler's tissue samples in an attempt to disprove the autopsy findings, said they finally raised the money to do it.

“I’m in the process of filling out the paperwork to request transfer of the medical examiner’s samples to our crime lab,” Ruskin told New York Magazine.

Results should be available in a few weeks.