Aunt Diane

I know I'm late to the game and this documentary aired in 2011 about the taconic crash, but I just watched it.

I'm deeply disturbed and my head is spinning. Anybody else remember watching it? It's on demand on HBO now.

I think the husband knows way more than he is letting on. The autopsy and toxicology reports don't lie. And how can he possibly defend the bottle of vodka found in the car wreck?

What really stuck out and troubled me to my core...
-he said that he's mad at Diane bc he didn't want kids and now this is his life stuck with one. (His miracle son that survived the crash). Diane wanted kids and she agreed to raise them.
- he never once mentioned his daughter Erin who died in the crash and was only 2
-at the end when he goes to grab his sons hand and his son pulls his hand away.
- and showing Diane's corpse. Omg. If Gd forbid a loved one passed I would never ever want a photo like that out there of them to be aired.

Re: Aunt Diane

I recall that movie vividly. I agree with all of what you said, especially about showing her dead body. That was horrible, how can you allow that to be shown to the world>?

Aunt Diane

So freaking haunting.

Werent some of the family members a little off?
I remember thinking that the sister-in-law seemed a little bit off

Aunt Diane

Yes! The relationship with the father and the SIL seemed really really weird. Like they had an affair or something. Seemed really off.

Aunt Diane

The ending really freaked me out- seeing the body was very frightening and i remember having a hard time sleeping that night because of it. The only thing I took from that documentary was that the husband was trying to clear his family's name of any responsibility for the crash, and it was a waste of time. He was kind of a ******** IMO

Message edited 5/4/2016 7:11:15 PM.

Aunt Diane

I saw the movie years ago and it still haunts me. I was just thinking about it the other day.

Re: Aunt Diane

The whole thing was strange - alcohol and marijuana found in her system but husband insisting she didn't drink or smoke. It was the morning - where and when and how much was she drinking/smoking and how could nobody ever know she had such a problem? Ugh, makes me want to never, ever, ever let my kids in a car with anyone, even family.

Aunt Diane

I watched it for the first time about three months ago and also started a thread about it because I was so disturbed! The whole thing is so bizarre.

Aunt Diane

I saw it a few years ago. I don't remember specifics but the family was certainly off to put it nicely. Truly horrific story. Those poor children. I can not fathom what went down that day. Did the family just not know she had a problem ( had to be a problem to drink / smoke with children in your car). What scares me is your think you'd know if someone was capable of that and if you knew you wouldn't allow your children to be with them.

I remember the husband saying he thinks she had a dental issue which may have caused the crash....???? I'm not sure I get that.

Re: Aunt Diane

Re: Aunt Diane

Re: Aunt Diane

I saw it a few times. I also thought the relationship was odd between the sister in law and the husband.

Maybe showing her body might stop one person from getting behind the wheel of the car.

Re: Aunt Diane

Haunting. This story has always haunted me.
And sorry, but she was a POS.
So many lives she destroyed....including the family of the people in the car she hit

10 drinks they said were still in her- according to her blood alcohol level. That and the pot.
And she gets in a car with all those kids and drives
Her own fuking kids.
What kind of piece of shitt does that?
I am sorry.
I have no sympathy for that piece of trash

Message edited 5/5/2016 12:35:35 PM.

Re: Aunt Diane

It's not the same but Law and Order did a "ripped from the headlines" episode of this and it freaked me out. The girl calling her mom from the car still gets to me. An accident is one thing but she clearly drove straight into traffic. Head on. With her own kids in the car!!!! How can you do something like that?!?

Aunt Diane

I'm still so disturbed by the HBO special. It's really haunting me. So many things don't make sense. Don't add up.

Her mother left the family when she was only 9 years old. Just abandoned them. They made a point to bring that up. Maybe she had borderline pd. Maybe something happened with her husband before she got in the car. Got into a fight and grabbed the bottle of vodka. The friends they interviewed said she was a perfectionist. They hadn't seen her in over 10 years. Maybe the facade was coming down and if she had borderline it sent her over the edge.

The pictures of her corpse. Why. I can't shake this one. And right after the responders said how people were trying to take pictures of the victims at the scene they put up a white sheet to protect their dignity. And seconds later they had three images of Diane's corpse and not quickly either. It was on screen for awhile. Maybe her husband is so mad at her that he wanted to shame her.

I still can't get over what the SIL said how he's mad at Diane bc he never wanted kids and now he's stuck with one. And with special needs. It's very telling he went to grab his sons hand at the end and his son pulls his hand away.

So many secrets in this family.

What happened in that 8 minute call to Diane's brother? Something must have really set her off. Maybe she knew she was outed.

And I read the husband said he was going to the campsite Thursday night to set up, but his ezpass recorded him going up at 630am Friday morning. So where was he that night?

Reminds me of the Anthony family. Everyone lying and keeping secrets. And in the end innocent beautiful lives lost

Message edited 5/5/2016 1:49:57 PM.

Re: Aunt Diane

It's so disturbing.
Even watching the witnesses who tried to help and found the bodies and how he was breaking down- God that will haunt him forever.

The Hance family who lost all 3 of their daughters that day. All 3.. Gone.
I don't think I'd be able to go on.
How do you go on living after that?
What's the point?

I feel like watching that just brought it all back


One other thing- why is the husband so hell bent on proving the autopsy was wrong and clearing her name? He seems to be very angry at her as his SIL said, because he's now stuck with this kid who he didn't want. He's a real piece of work

Re: Aunt Diane

Does anyone know what happened with the lawsuits?

I know the family of the men kills in the cash sued and unfortunately had to include the brother and sister in law in the case bc it was his car she was driving

Also does Diane's husband speak with any of the family?

How is the son who survived

Aunt Diane

There are no legal results on the Wikipedia page, but I can't believe that the husband sued his BIL b/c he owned the mini van!


In July 2011, Jackie Hance, who lost her three daughters in the accident, filed suit against her brother-in-law, Daniel Schuler. The suit claims that the three Hance girls suffered terror, fear of impending death, extreme horror, fright, and mental anguish.

On July 26, 2011, the day after the premiere of HBO's documentary on the subject, There's Something Wrong with Aunt Diane, and on the second anniversary of the crash, Daniel Schuler announced that he is suing the State of New York for not keeping the road safe and his brother-in-law Warren Hance for being the owner of the minivan.

Aunt Diane

I just finished watching it. I'm not sure I understand why this was something that warrants a documentary. It seems pretty straight forward to me - she was drunk and high on pot. The why's don't really seem any more out of the ordinary for any other tragic story when someone is killed - maybe she found out bad news, maybe she was in a lot of pain, or maybe she had a stroke (which is unlikely since nothing else showed in the autopsy.

It was certainly a horrible tragedy to lose so many (especially the kids), but it's not like there's a documentary about every driving tragedy - like the limo driver that mis-judged traffic and killed those 6 young women last year.

Message edited 5/5/2016 3:42:14 PM.

Re: Aunt Diane

Warren and Jackie Hance had another daughter in October 2011. They did ivf since her tubes were tied after the birth of their third daughter.

Kasey Rose Hance will always carry her sisters with her.
The Floral Park girl was born in October 2011, more than two years after a wrong-way car crash in Westchester claimed the lives of Emma, 8, Alyson, 7, and Katie, 5.
In naming Kasey, Jackie and Warren Hance used the first initial of each of their lost daughters.

"I made up a song," Jackie said Saturday at an annual fundraiser for the Hance Family Foundation in Floral Park. " 'K' is for Katie, 'A' is Alyson, 'S' is for sisters, 'E' is for Emma and 'Y' is for you."

Re: Aunt Diane

Re: Aunt Diane

The mom who lost all 3 girls started the "beautiful me" program. My dd did this last year. It's all about believing in yourself and having self confidence. It's a great program and I had no idea it was those 3 girls who died.

Re: Aunt Diane

I was just looking at the Hance Family Foundation web page and I was reading some of the letters written to the girls by their Mother on their birthdays. Truly hearbreaking. I'll never understand why anyone could do something like this.

Re: Aunt Diane

Posted by Katareen

Posted by ANewDayHasCome
"I made up a song," Jackie said Saturday at an annual fundraiser for the Hance Family Foundation in Floral Park. " 'K' is for Katie, 'A' is Alyson, 'S' is for sisters, 'E' is for Emma and 'Y' is for you."

God bless this family

Re: Aunt Diane