I was thinking a lot about this case yesterday. Who would even think to put vodka in a McDonald's orange juice to bring along in an open car at breakfast (!) with 5 kids present? That's just demented. The average responsible concerned parent wouldn't want to get caught with that drink in the car much less get caught on a DUI. I've wanted to bring an open bottle of something expensive like Grand Marnier in the back of our SUV to a Christmas dinner, and my husband thought it was too risky.
I was getting a lot of heat a few pages back that there's no evidence of alcoholism, and that's just not the case. That drink is evidence of alcoholism.
I think she had a headache from alcohol withdrawal that was extremely exacerbated by the noise in the car (not blaming the victims, just stating a fact...backed up by the camp owner in the doco). She was in a full blown rage by the time she got to the Sunoco and peeled out of there like a maniac (go to taconictragedy.com to see the real-time peel out of that station, not the slowed down mellow version in the doco). I think she drank to soothe her rage and because she *needed* it in her system. She had probably done this before but not taken as much and gotten everyone safely home (with no one the wiser). It's only shocking to her loved ones because she kept her problem a secret.