Interesting thread. I finished reading The Taconic Tragedy: A Son’s Search for the Truth by Jeanne Bastardi (the wife of Michael. Bastardi whose father, brother and brother’s friend were killed in the crash) not long ago.

The Bastardi family heard many variations about what may have happened between Diane and her husband over the weekend including the possibility of a fight. The husband was supposed to arrive at the campground the night before to open up the trailer and get things set up. Instead he showed up the next morning with the dog. There are implications they may have had a fight about this among other things. Including the real reason he didn’t show on time.

Of course we all know that for the drive home the husband took the dog again and Diane drove the 5 kids…..

She never called her husband on the drive home when she wasn’t feeling well- just her brother..
There were multiple lawsuits filed and I’m sure we will never know the full truth because of nondisclosures related to the law suits.

Anonymous wrote:

I think you’re confused. There were not 3 men in the car with her. They were in the other car that she hit. They were all killed

I am the PP. Thank you so much!!! Yes, I was confused.

I think she was a functional alcoholic. Addiction is brutal and she must have been so deep in hers to risk her children and nieces lives.

Anonymous wrote:I never saw the documentary, only read about the accident. Other than all the weird things discussed above, I also found it weird that the three men who were in the car and eventually killed in the accident didn’t try to stop her from driving. Given that the alcohol level was extremely high in the autopsy results and the children cried out of fear, it’s beyond me that the three men didn’t try to take control of the wheel or intervene. I didnt find any other details regarding these men. Maybe they did try or they simply couldn’t, and I just missed those info.

I think you’re confused. There were not 3 men in the car with her. They were in the other car that she hit. They were all killed

She was drunk.

I never saw the documentary, only read about the accident. Other than all the weird things discussed above, I also found it weird that the three men who were in the car and eventually killed in the accident didn’t try to stop her from driving. Given that the alcohol level was extremely high in the autopsy results and the children cried out of fear, it’s beyond me that the three men didn’t try to take control of the wheel or intervene. I didnt find any other details regarding these men. Maybe they did try or they simply couldn’t, and I just missed those info.

All I remember about this documentary is they felt the need to show pics of her body from the accident scene with very little warning.

I remember her son, who survived, had a TBI. I hope he is doing better.

Anonymous wrote:Her husband also worked nights so she could have been drinking in the evenings after he left for work but sober during the few hours they were awake together in the afternoons. He may not have known at all if she was drinking regularly.

Even years later, her sister in law (Jackie) who lost her 3 daughters says it just still seems so out of character - they had been friends for 20 years and she never had any feelings of anything being off or a concern with Diane.

Jacke had another daughter a couple years later and the family runs a charity dedicate dto empowering girls in memory of their 3 kids.

This was the strangest part of the story to me. NOBODY seemed to have any clue that Diane had an addiction. My brother-in-law recently had an incident where he came to work drunk and had to be escorted out. None of us had a clue, apparently he has been struggling with addicition for over 10 years.

^ it is incredibly easy to confuse ramps on that road. I hate the taconic and won’t drive it at night

Anonymous wrote:So weird you mentioned this. I thought about it today because we were driving on the Taconic Parkway for the first time in a long time.

The documentary was interesting but didn't really provide many answers. My theory is that she was intending to kill herself by jumping off of the Tappan Zee bridge but lost her nerve, continued to drink and drive recklessly, and unfortunately took seven people out with her.

I think she was an functioning alcoholic who miscalculated that day and drank too much, and blacked out

I grew up Upstate and was living in NYC at the time and clearly remember this on the news. The first couple of days was everyone thinking it was a tragic medical emergency or something, but then it came out about her BAC. Her family is obviously delusional because how on earth did she drink so much, but I still can’t figure it out.

There was a Law & Order episode based on it too.

So weird you mentioned this. I thought about it today because we were driving on the Taconic Parkway for the first time in a long time.

The documentary was interesting but didn't really provide many answers. My theory is that she was intending to kill herself by jumping off of the Tappan Zee bridge but lost her nerve, continued to drink and drive recklessly, and unfortunately took seven people out with her.