8 Die in Crash on Taconic State Parkway #2

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Fast question----did anyone else wonder how many times Diane had taken her nieces upstate camping??? I wondered if her brother was finally trusting her again (she did borrow their car). Odd to my thinking that b/c the girls had to home relatively early for something important and maybe the trip could have been taken the following week.----just thinking out loud.
 
The investigator's frugality explanation makes no sense to me either. It's not any cheaper to carry a bottle back and forth than to keep one bottle at home and another at the camper. If you drink approximately the same amount of vodka either way, in the long run you end up buying approximately the same number of bottles.

I agree!! lol---he makes it sound like she is too frugal to drink alcohol when she goes out to dinner (cheaper to drink at home) and that the bulk size of vodka will last a reeeaaallllllyyyyyyyy long time. Come on now--we know that if she was only going to have a few shots--she would put the vodka in a water bottle or smaller bottle which is alot less bulky to carry----was at a party where a guest did just that-she got wind of the fact that only beer and wine were being served and so, she filled a poland spring bottle with vodka and served herself for the night.
 
Fast question----did anyone else wonder how many times Diane had taken her nieces upstate camping??? I wondered if her brother was finally trusting her again (she did borrow their car). Odd to my thinking that b/c the girls had to home relatively early for something important and maybe the trip could have been taken the following week.----just thinking out loud.


What do you mean by "her brother was finally trusting her again"?

I am re-reading Jackie's book and she makes no mention of there being any past problems with trusting Diane. In fact, she speaks at length that Diane was always wonderful and the last person she would have ever expected to do anything unsafe around children. Jackie mentioned that the three girls had gone camping with Diane and Daniel the previous summer and had had such a great time that they were looking forward to this trip so badly. There was no reason why Diane couldn't have made it back home in time for the play practice. The play was running the following week and weekend, so they couldn't have gone the next weekend.
 
:twocents: I believe Diane was a typical alcoholic. Someone you can't reason with and has to control their surroundings. Her brother tried to reason with her on the phone that day. Alcoholics will drink at any time of the day and night. The alcoholic likes to control everything in their life. If something goes wrong, it's someone else's fault, not their own fault!


I used to blame Daniel too, but since so much time has passed I realized first and foremost he must protect his son.

I believe that Diane was out of control and pissed. Did she want revenge? Although there was a disagreement on Sunday morning, I wonder if her issues had been building up for months or years that prompted her to crash that fateful morning? She had many chances to remove the children and she failed to do so. : (

According to the autopsy, she was intoxicated and high on pot. Diane was wasted! There was no health issues that caused her to crash.

[FONT=&quot]Disclaimer: This post is not meant to offend anyone. I understand that being an alcoholic is a disease. [/FONT]
 
Just wanted to share that Jackie and Warren are doing wonderful things in the memory of their 3 precious girls via the Hance Family Foundation. www.hancefamilyfoundation.org. You can 'like' the foundation on Facebook to donate or to offer support. Besides the good work they are doing in the community, it is heartwarming to see the posts about the girls and their little one at home. I'm glad they were able to mobilize and move forward in a productive way.
 
What do you mean by "her brother was finally trusting her again"?

I am re-reading Jackie's book and she makes no mention of there being any past problems with trusting Diane. In fact, she speaks at length that Diane was always wonderful and the last person she would have ever expected to do anything unsafe around children. Jackie mentioned that the three girls had gone camping with Diane and Daniel the previous summer and had had such a great time that they were looking forward to this trip so badly. There was no reason why Diane couldn't have made it back home in time for the play practice. The play was running the following week and weekend, so they couldn't have gone the next weekend.

I was wondering if Diane regularly took the girls along on camping trips---But formost in my mind was Diane's drug and alcohol issue that did not seem to be such a secret in her family--I wondered if her brother was a little distrustful of Diane and Danny perhaps-maybe Danny was a big trigger to Diane
 
I was wondering if Diane regularly took the girls along on camping trips---But formost in my mind was Diane's drug and alcohol issue that did not seem to be such a secret in her family--I wondered if her brother was a little distrustful of Diane and Danny perhaps-maybe Danny was a big trigger to Diane

Jackie stated that she had never known Diane to drink. When she spoke to Diane after her D said something was wrong with Aunt Diane, she noticed slurring of words and that she made no sense. Warren walked in after she hung up on her and Jackie told him "I just talked to your sister. She sounds drunk." Warren responded "Impossible." That doesn't sound like the response of someone who was aware of a substance abuse issue or who had past issues with trust. JMHO.
 
Jackie stated that she had never known Diane to drink. When she spoke to Diane after her D said something was wrong with Aunt Diane, she noticed slurring of words and that she made no sense. Warren walked in after she hung up on her and Jackie told him "I just talked to your sister. She sounds drunk." Warren responded "Impossible." That doesn't sound like the response of someone who was aware of a substance abuse issue or who had past issues with trust. JMHO.

I haven't read the book, but that account almost makes me believe there WAS something unusual that weekend that caused DS to drink more than she realized.

(No, let's don't all get excited: I don't know if this is true and I'm not trying to absolve her of responsibility.)
 
The bottom line is that unless she was incapacitated to the point of non functioning, there is no reason at all for her to have drank in the car and smoked pot with the kids in the car.

I don't see the point to these sorts of ponderings. Surely she was coherent enough prior to leaving that the others trusted her driving with the kids in the car.

Even if it was a horrible tooth ache, or some misery of distress, every adult knows that you do not reach for a bottle of alcohol and drive, even if there were not kids in the car you just don't do that.

But as a parent driving with other people's children in the car it is irresponsible beyond belief.

There is no way to analyze this and make sense of her decision to do that.
 
Did anyone else think it strange that in the world of social media and 15 minutes of fame, that no one from the conveniece store or the (infamous) Mc Donalds, never came forward to speak publically about thier interaction with Diane that day??

nrdsb4-----I havent read Jackies book, and I cannot put myself in her shoes.
Its been my opinion that her family was aware of Dianes drug and alcohol use.

Nova---I agree-----something caused Diane to "drop the hammer" as it were. Danny isnt talking. And wont b/c he is avoiding a lawsuit-MOO.
 
nrdsb4-----I havent read Jackies book, and I cannot put myself in her shoes.
Its been my opinion that her family was aware of Dianes drug and alcohol use.

.

From everything I've read it was Danny's relatives, not Diane's, who had an inkling of substance use. So we have no evidence that Warren or Jackie had any knowledge of any of that.
 
Yes--- I remember sil Jay saying something about the pot smoking ---
I hope this doc comes on again----and would love to see a follow-up--on new info, interviews
 
The bottom line is that unless she was incapacitated to the point of non functioning, there is no reason at all for her to have drank in the car and smoked pot with the kids in the car.

I don't see the point to these sorts of ponderings....

Why do human beings ponder anything? Why do I watch hours of documentaries on distant stars and planets I will never visit?

Because as a species we are naturally curious. Yes, we all know DS was drunk and stoned, and we all agree she should never have driven in her condition.

And, yes, we all agree she should have known better.

Which leaves the question, WHY did she get behind that wheel? WHY did she continue to drink and smoke as she wandered toward her home?

This isn't a jury and the "defendant" is no longer with us. Nobody need worry that we are going to let her off easy.
 
Why do human beings ponder anything? Why do I watch hours of documentaries on distant stars and planets I will never visit?

Because as a species we are naturally curious. Yes, we all know DS was drunk and stoned, and we all agree she should never have driven in her condition.

And, yes, we all agree she should have known better.

Which leaves the question, WHY did she get behind that wheel? WHY did she continue to drink and smoke as she wandered toward her home?

This isn't a jury and the "defendant" is no longer with us. Nobody need worry that we are going to let her off easy.

It may be that there was no ONE reason. We want to know THE REASON, but often, when people crack, it's merely because there was a last straw among a hundred other straws. And because we look for a reason to explain the unexplainable, we are frustrated, because there is no way to take away anything that can be played forward for anyone else's benefit.
 
It may be that there was no ONE reason. We want to know THE REASON, but often, when people crack, it's merely because there was a last straw among a hundred other straws. And because we look for a reason to explain the unexplainable, we are frustrated, because there is no way to take away anything that can be played forward for anyone else's benefit.

I used the singular only for the sake of simplicity. I am well aware there was probably a chain of circumstances that ended in tragedy that day.
 
Spent most of the day in the airport yesterday. Read through the entire Part #1 thread and found it very interesting, particularly the speculation before anything was known, to the period of time where some facts were known but a lot of information was being incorrectly given or interpreted, etc. With hindsight of many of the facts, it was a fascinating read and made the day somewhat bearable. Beat reading about Justin Bieber's latest antics.

Particularly interesting to me was the refusal of many to believe that anyone is capable of hiding a drinking problem. With many addicts/former addicts weighing in to give testimony to the fact that it has and can be done, it was nevertheless as though their posts were invisible to some who refused to consider the possibility. Also frustrating were the posts lambasting Warren and Jackie for not calling 911 and trying to handle Diane themselves, which as we now know, was completely and patently false. Jackie said in her book that she had terrible insomnia and would read stuff on the internet accusing her of deliberately being obtuse, and thereby causing the deaths of her daughters. She said she began to believe they were right, that she was indeed to blame for her daughters' deaths, and that's when the sincere thoughts of suicide began to consume her.

I wonder if Jackie ever read the thread here on websleuths.
 
Wow, we are still fascinated by this case. Maybe someday in the distant future, after all litigation is settled, someone will talk, namely Danny. He must have some idea, if not actual knowledge. IMO, Diane did this on a regular basis and thought she could handle it. Weekends with the kids may have driven her crazy, and she had a routine whereby she took them to McDonald's, let them run off some steam on the playground, and then settled everyone down in the car. She had her oj to go and poured some vodka in it to sip on the long ride home. This time there was at least one added stressor: Warren's kids. It must have been very noisy in that car. My two grandchildren, 5 and 6, can create a lot of chaos, so I can imagine what 5 can do. Being a perfect mom, she is supposed to be able to handle this with ease, but can't. Another problem, which she alluded to in the call to Warren, was heavy traffic. The delay may have caused her to drink more than usual. She certainly couldn't admit to Jackie and Warren that she was drunk. I believe she eventually blacked out. Those poor children.
 
Good synopsis, nrdsb4 and SusanB. We know DS was impatient with traffic congestion.

I pray that Jacke and Warren have gotten the type of counseling they prefer and know they were not to blame that terrible morning. (I don't mean to condescend: "counseling" might mean therapy, talking with their pastor, whatever they find helpful. Maybe writing the book was "therapy" enough!)
 
^^^^Nova, one of the things that impressed me about the Hances was that they began counseling early on. They did have to look hard for help-apparently many professionals felt the Hances' loss was so horrific that they didn't feel they could rise to the challenge involved. It sounds like that weekly counseling might have saved their lives. Even with counseling and IMMENSE community support, these two almost didn't make it in more ways than one.

I've read reviews of Jackie's book, and many found her to be self-centered, while they remained very sympathetic to Warren. I think Warren's coping skills were simply different than Jackie's. He had a career where he could go to distract himself from his pain. He's naturally positive, a problem solver, practical, and able to see that he and Jackie had been good parents and did nothing wrong. Jackie's career was being a SAHM, so she had nothing but an empty house, memories, and self recrimination to keep her company. She admitted that her behavior often seemed crazy, that she was incredibly hard on Warren and her friends, and that she was depressed, guilt-ridden, volatile, etc. for years. She wrote that she wasn't able to really bond with her new baby until she forgave Diane. She stated that it's impossible to feel love at the same time you are filled with anger and hatred, which she was for the better part of several years.

In spite of the fact that they have a new daughter, both of them still live with a lot of pain. I worry for the child that her parents will be pathologically over protective (and who could blame them?) or that she will live with a huge burden of trying to measure up to the memory of her sisters, or some other similar issues. I don't think the Hances have their happy ending and will always need support in order to address these challenges. That book is heart wrenching.
 
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