Cops hope autopsy will provide answers in fatal crash

Somewhere in the Lower Hudson Valley, inexplicably lost on a route she had driven many times, Diane Schuler sought help from her 9-year-old niece sitting beside her, and her brother on a cell phone call to Long Island.

Schuler told her brother, Warren Hance, that she was ill and needed help driving his three daughters and her own boy and girl home to Long Island from an upstate camping trip, said State Police Investigator James Boyle.

The West Babylon mother then passed the phone to Hance's daughter, Emma, who told her father that she could see a sign for the Tappan Zee Bridge but didn't know where she was, Boyle said.

Photos: Latest from the fatal Taconic Crash and reaction

Hance told Schuler to pull over and wait for him to arrive, Boyle said. The worried Floral Park father then got into his own vehicle and drove toward the Tappan Zee Bridge, Boyle said.

But he arrived too late. Schuler apparently had not pulled over, for reasons that remained a mystery Monday to investigators probing what happened next.

1.7 miles the wrong way

At 1:35 p.m., she drove her red 2003 Ford Windstar minivan the wrong way south on the Taconic State Parkway, police said, entering the highway via the northbound exit ramp at Pleasantville Road in Briarcliff Manor.

Motorists flashed their headlights, honked and waved their hands, police said. At least six called 911. But for 1.7 miles, Schuler barreled into northbound traffic, hugging the lane closest to a center guardrail.

She did not appear to have any idea she was traveling in the wrong direction. "She wasn't swerving, she was almost focused," Boyle said, citing witnesses. "As if there was nothing wrong with driving in the wrong lane."

"It is possible there was some sort of a medical condition," Capt. Michael Realmuto said at a news conference at the State Police barracks in Hawthorne in Westchester County.

At the next exit, leading to Route 117, the minivan Schuler was driving crashed head-first into an oncoming sport utility vehicle, causing the minivan to roll into an embankment and catch fire. Ten minutes later, a frantic Hance arrived at the Tarrytown State Police barracks, asking if they had information about his family, Boyle said.

Eight lose their lives

They did not know then that Emma and Hance's other daughters, Alison, 7, and Kate, 5, all of Floral Park, were killed in the fiery crash. Schuler, 36, was also killed, as was her daughter, Erin, 2. The minivan was registered to Hance.

Also killed were three Yonkers men in the 2004 Chevy Trailblazer struck head-on by Schuler's red minivan - Guy Bastardi, 49, his father, Michael Bastardi, 81, and their friend Daniel Longo, 74. They were headed to a family party.

Two others, Dean and Angela Tallarico of upstate Freehold, were in a Chevy Tracker struck by the Trailblazer and suffered minor injuries.

Only Schuler's son, Brian Schuler, 5, survived the fiery crash. He was listed in stable condition in intensive care at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla.

All five children in the minivan had been properly buckled in seat belts or safety seats, said investigator Shannon Morrison.

The deaths sent two Long Island neighborhoods into shock Monday, as Schuler's husband, Daniel, and his family kept vigil over the lone survivor.

Results from an autopsy performed Monday may hold clues to what was ailing Schuler, a seemingly healthy woman who had no known medical history and was not taking medication, police said. Schuler did not tell her brother much about her sickness Sunday.

There was no indication that Schuler was drinking or under the influence of drugs, said Realmuto.

Police are examining Schuler's mobile phone and may subpoena records from her cell phone company to see her calls on Sunday, Boyle said.

Not an unfamiliar trip

Schuler was driving her children and nieces back to Long Island from Hunter Lake Campground in Parksville, about two and a half hours north. They had rented a space for their trailer all summer, said owner Ann Scott.

Scott said Schuler did not seem sick before leaving Sunday. "She looked fine to me," Scott said.

State police said they did not know Schuler's route from the campground to the crash site.

Police said there are no apparent problems with the signage around the exit ramp Schuler took onto the Taconic. On either side of the exit ramp, there are red signs with a white bar across it. On the signs are large white letters that spell out "DO NOT ENTER."

But AAA Auto Club of New York spokesman Robert Sinclair said the road - 83 years old at some points - has inherent flaws, including confusing entrance and exit ramp layouts.

"It's a very easy road to get into trouble on," Sinclair said.

Lisa Acosta, 42, a neighbor in West Babylon, said Schuler drove to the campground almost every weekend.

"This is a road she could have done blindfolded," Acosta said. "Something's wrong."