Shouldn't everyone first take a deep breath and conclusively determine whether YSRI was in fact available and free of low cloud/fog?
There seems little point debating the merits of any decision without first establishing this.
There have been a number of posts with conflicting reports of the viz at YSRI and I am surprised noone has simply picked up the phone and asked someone in ATC at YSRI about the day in question. Its possible to fly an ILS at Richmond in VMC right down till about 500' then you're in the gloop.
All I have is a question. That's it. It's very simple: why would you leave a perfectly good, very long, superbly equipped runway to head off for another, some 20-odd miles away, with a major failure?
If you could see that the field is fogged in. Simple.
It is perfectly possible for an automated station to report low vis at the surface that would in no way preclude a safe landing.
That may or may not be so, however in absence of information to the contrary, if the station reports viz below 2KM for the hours 1800-2300Z it would reasonable to assume it was not an option. (The temps and dewpoints tend to indicate fog.)