Looking the PartDiane Schuler, cheeky, happy-looking woman, didn’t look the part of a reckless killer.

In recent media reports, we learned that the King of Pop didn’t respect the side effects of a powerful anesthetic. He apparently used it to go to sleep about as regularly as some people pop Tylenol PMs.

But Michael Jackson was a bit eccentric. Many of us weren’t all that surprised. He looked like the type that would do something crazy like that.

And the news that cocaine use likely contributed to the heart attack that killed Billy Mays didn’t seem to surprise too many people. I’ve heard one person blandly comment, “No wonder he was so hyper.”

But then there’s Diane Schuler. Devoted mother. The perfect wife. Caring aunt. Responsible manager for a cable company. All these descriptions were made by those who knew Diane and those who apparently thought they knew her.

Even with evidence showing that she was under the influence of marijuana and alcohol — and a whole lot of it, family members refused to believe that she could have consumed the stuff, causing the deaths of eight people when she drove the wrong way on a New York parkway.

They said the erratic behavior that led to the crash must have been caused by a stroke, a heart attack or diabetes. Or maybe a tooth abscess. There also was a lump in her leg that could have caused some type of medical issue. These all were offered as alternative explanation for the crash than the most obvious ones. Like the autopsy report that showed Diane’s blood-alcohol level of 0.19 percent was more than twice the legal limit and that she had high levels of THC (the active ingredient in marijuana) in her system. Or the broken vodka bottle in the demolished vehicle Diane had been driving.

I have to admit that when I saw the family photos of Diane Schuler staring happily into the camera on her wedding day and smiling contently with her children, I would have never pegged her as capable of getting stoned before driving in broad daylight with five kids in the vehicle.

As those around her already have indicated, the cheeky, happy-looking woman in the photos didn’t look the part of a reckless killer.

But, as news stories will continue to remind us, you never know. You really never know.

The latest stories in the Diane Schuler case reveal that the survivors of the three men tragically killed in the head-on crash want to sue her family for their role in the tragedy. They argue that her relatives should have known she was an alcoholic.

Should they be held responsible or not? Even if they were in denial?

How likely was it that they knew she would interrupt her trip home to drink 10 shots of vodka (believed to be what she consumed) and light up a marijuana joint — setting the stage for her own death and those of her daughter, three nieces and three strangers?

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by Shari Scales Finnell