Part 1: Darlie Routier on Death Row--Guilty or Innocent?
So what happened on that June 6 night in the suburb of Dallas? No one seems to know for sure. Darlie said she was asleep downstairs with the two boys while her husband and newborn baby slept upstairs. She said she woke to Damon bumping her shoulder and saying "mommy." She said she saw a man leaving the house and she got up to follow him. She saw a knife on the floor and picked it up. It was then she realized she was also injured with several knife wounds including a slashed throat.

Darlie Routier in hospital
The following is her account written back in 1997. I've written to both her and her mother for more information. There is a lot out there and a lot of contradicting reports. I, for one, am not convinced either way, which is the best way to go into a story. If you have any information, feel free to comment here or email me at Holliston@zerogossip.com. If she's truly innocent, something has to be done.
June 6th, 1996
The boys were asleep on the floor with their pillows and blankets. Darin brought me a pillow and blanket from upstairs. Around 1:00 a.m. Darin and I decided to go to sleep. Darin turned off all the lights but the T.V. was on. Darin told me that he loved me and would see me in the morning and I told him I loved him too. I asked him to make sure the door was locked on his way upstairs -- he said he already checked it and it was -- five minutes later I fell asleep. Next thing I remember -- Damon runs into my right shoulder and says "mommy." I sat straight up and saw a "blur" of a man between my couch and kitchen bar.
I stood up and Damon walked behind me. I heard glass breaking. When I got to the entrance of the kitchen, I saw man going into my utility room. I took a couple of steps and remembered lights were off went back and turned lights on, I started to walk through kitchen and noticed blood on my nightgown, about to my chest, halfway across the kitchen I saw knife laying on utility room floor, instinctively I went over and picked up knife, doesn't seem like there was much blood on the knife, I went back through the kitchen and put knife on kitchen bar. Damon was still standing by living room wall. I walked into living room and saw Devon's eyes open and wounds on his chest, Devon wasn't moving and I started screaming, I went to Damon and began checking him and saw stab wounds through his shirt, I was hysterical but I was trying to think. I told Damon to lay on his belly and I told him to hang on and be strong -- Damon said "O-K mommy." I ran into hallway to our entrance, turned on the lights and kept screaming. Darin, my husband, came out of our bedroom -- he only had his pants and glasses on. Darin ran down the stairs and we ran together into the hallway. Darin went to the left, into family room and over to Devon, the table by Devon was completely knocked over. I went to the right to kitchen and grabbed phone to call 911.
I went to second drawer and got towels. I could see Darin starting to perform CPR on Devon. I went to sink and about that time 911 lady came on. I was screaming and got towels wet (when I turned around I could see my neck slit in mirror behind wine rack and said this to the 911 lady) I was screaming. I ran over to Damon pulled up his shirt and layed (sic) a towel on his back, I ran over to Darin and could see blood coming out of Devon's wound when Darin blew into Devon's mouth, I didn't know what to do so I held a towel on Devon's wound. I was still on the phone while I did all this. I was soaked with blood by this time and very dizzy -- I ran to front door to scream for my neighbor, Karen (she is a nurse), and I remember the bolt on the door not being turned and locked. I ran back and got another towel to put on my neck. I was screaming and running back and fourth (sic) and still on the phone. I stopped by the kitchen bar in living room where there was my vacuum, I felt so dizzy and I held myself up on the vacuum. An officer came in and stood by my son Damon, I hung up the phone and dropped to the floor. I screamed for my husband to check on Drake (our baby) Darin did & came back and said he was O-K, Darin then went out front door to get neighbors. a second officer arrives and I tell both officers a man went out the utility room, the officers proceeded to go into kitchen into utility room. Darin came back in and said both our babies were dead, I fell down again and kept screaming who would do this, I was so dizzy and hysterical. Two paramedics came -- one went to Devon, the other to Damon. I grabbed Damon's shirt and the paramedic wouldn't tell me he was dead, then he took Damon out of the house. Two paramedics came to me and I stood up and then I passed out.
Next thing I remember I'm on the front porch and Karen is by my side, I thought I was dying and I made her promise to find the man that killed my babies and she did. Karen then went into house. So many people were running in and out of the house and I felt so dizzy. I remember one paramedic telling me my necklace was stuck in my throat and he couldn't remove it. then my husband asked me where my panties were and I realized they were gone. Next thing I'm in the ambulance and I couldn't breathe and they put oxygen on me. Then I remember being in the ER and someone taking off my necklace and that's when I began to feel the pain, it hurt so bad, I begged them to make the pain stop and finally they said they had to operate and they put me under.
Next thing I remember waking up a crying and screaming my babies were dead, there were two officers asking me questions about my husband and the man I saw. I told them all I could remember. I don't remember any of the days I was in the hospital except the last day (Saturday) The nurse came in and gave me a shower and kept telling me how bad my arms looked and did I remember anything, and I told her I couldn't remember but thought I struggled or fought the man. then I got to hold my baby and they quit giving me shots of pain medicine and gave me pills instead. Two officers were there and said they were going to take Darin and I into the P.D. before the boy"s viewing so they could get statements from us. My husband and I didn't think anything of it. The officers got us to the P.D. around 5:00 p.m., separated us and made us talk about what happened. We were supposed to be at the viewing at 6:00 p.m. and it was about 6:30 when Detective Patterson asked me to give a written statement. I was very upset and crying and told him we were late to be with our little boys and couldn't we do this another day. Patterson told me it was very important to do it then. Finally about 8:00 p.m. they drove my husband and I to the funeral home. I was very heavily medicated and really don't remember much, I walked into the room with my husband and saw my babies holding hands in the casket and fell a little and laid on the casket, I kept screaming and crying, I couldn't stop. My boys looked so beautiful and innocent but they were cold when I kissed them. I fixed their hair and I just wanted to die. People started coming into the room and after about thirty minutes I almost passed out so someone sat me on the couch and helped me. I didn't want to leave but my husband said we had to. I don't remember where we slept that night. The next day we had the funeral. I don't remember much except everyone kept telling me my babies were in heaven and I got angry because they were too little to be in heaven. There were so many people but I just wanted to be left alone. We sent balloons in the air with Devon and Damon's name and had a plane fly over the funeral for them. I don't remember much else except we wanted to put flowers at our home around the fountain from the funeral and (Detective) Patterson said 'no.' but everyone took flowers and we all drove over there and did it anyway. We handed them to the officers and the officers put them around the fountain. Someone took us home. I remember laying there, I was too scared to sit by a window or use the restroom or take a shower by myself -- someone had to be with me and everyone kept giving me pills, I just didn't want to be without my boys. I held my son Drake, in my arms and kept a picture of Devon and Damon every step I took. Sometime that week the detectives wanted Darin and I to come in a give hair samples and fingerprints. We got there at 2:00 p.m. and they ended up keeping us until 9:30 p.m. I was crying and didn't have my pills, I kept throwing up and Patterson would help me go to the restroom because I kept getting sick but I was scared to be left alone. Patterson asked me about my tatoo and wanted to see it. I showed him. Patterson told me they found this man's fingerprints and it was only a matter of time. Friday, June 14th, was my son Devon's birthday. We went to the grave around 12:30 or 1:00 p.m. and had a prayer service. Around 5 or 5:30 p.m. we met the detectives in a grocery store parking lot in Rowlett to sign a release for blood from the night of the incident. Patterson told us they had over 100 leads and they put cameras on our house and they found flesh under my fingernails from the samples they took at the hospital. Later we found this was all a lie. We proceeded from the store to the boy's grave where we had a birthday party for Devon with all his friends. My little sister bought silly string because my little boys loved it and always played with it. Inside I felt like I was dying but it was my son's birthday and I was only thinking of him. I wasn't celebrating his death, I was honoring his life, yet I have been persecuted for this. It's absurd.
On the 18-19 they (the detectives) called us and told us they had a retired policeman who was going to help us. So around 7:00 p.m. we went to the Rowlett P.D. They put me in a room with a man named Bill Parker and for two hours they tried to brainwash me that I blacked out in my sleep and did this crime and only imagined the man. I told him he was crazy and he told me I was under arrest -- after he told me this I became hysterical and he tried to calm me down and after another hour of him trying to get me to confess to something I know I didn't do, I told him I wanted to do hypnosis, but they wouldn't allow me to have anyone I knew there while I did it so I said forget it and then I want my lawyer. They arrested me while they smoked their cigars and gave their news reports -- they were so proud of themselves -- they make me sick."




Waiting for part II, Holliston. This case has always baffled me! Looking forward to seeing how you put it all together in such a way that only you do!
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I have much to say.....but will wait till I read more.
Im glad you are doing this Holliston!
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hi hopeful
if you want to read he latest word on this case go to about.com subject:darlie routier : unusual crimes and cases and my member name is jovite
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hi delilah
if you want to read the latest word on this case go to about.com subject:darlie routier : unusual crimes and cases and my member name is jovite
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I think this woman is innocent!
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I too, almost have like a deep gut feeling that she has been railroaded. After reading the above account I find myself somewhat mixed up. How could someone with those injuries not remember being attacked or having their panties removed. That is questionable to me. Did she block this out? Her son woke her and she did not know she had these wounds? I am not sure how I missed this before. I was certain that she was innocent sitting on death row and I have not changed my mind, I just wonder why she has no memory. Was she drugged? Did they do any blood work on her at the hospital? Was there any evidence of any substance in her system? Did Darin drug her, so the intruder could come in and do his job on them? I am really upset by this case, I feel that the prosecution really had it in for her. The opening statement and the reasoning they represented against her is so trivial. So what, I am over weight too, have been for several years, our financial situation is nothing like it used to be but hey - I'm sane.
Another problem I have is that when you review other women who murder their children, you never find that they have not had some kind of behavior that lead up to the killings, some signs somewhere, mental illness or something or either they always admit guilt. With Darlie, neither. Striking, is it, I don't think so, I think she has been wrongly convicted even though I don't understand all of her statements in her account of the incident.
Also, something I have wondered, if it was for money as the prosecution claims, then why kill her sons? Why didn't she kill her husband? I don't know how much money that would have gained her, did they ever think of that?
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This women though does deserve a new trial based on evidence NOT previously seen in the original trial. I personally feel she is innocent and that the Rowlett Police and States Prosecutors rushed to justice because they could not find the un-sub in a timely manner and the pressure was on them to resolve the case. This happens much too often in our Judicial system and as a result many innocent people pay for someone else's crime. Give Damon and Devon the justice they deserve. If the State of Texas can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Darlie committed these murders then so be it and Darlie should die, but in my opinion they have not proved that. A birthday party with Silly-String does not strengthen their case against her and what about the hospital photos of her bruised and beaten body. Doesn't that deserve reconsideration?
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I have always felt this conviction stinks. Too many reasons to list them all, but just a few: Why did the investigating officers invoke their Fifth Amendment privilege on the stand? James Cron, supposed "Expert" had it all figured out, in just 20 minutes that, in his opinion, Darlie did it. The Rowlette Police Department had never before attempted an investigation of this magnitude-and no, I am not dissing them, but they apparently had no idea where to start. Another poster here, Mr. Mclean has it right, in my opinion that, "Prosecutors rushed to justice because they could not find the un-sub in a timely manner and pressure was on them to resolve the case." Exactly! They didn't have a clue, and the public pressure was ON for them to find the perpetrator. They had to do something-and that something was to arrest this mother on weak circumstantial (if you can even call it that) bullsh!t! This kind of crap does happen far too often in our judicial system-Innocent people DO end up behind bars or worse, on death row. Even more compelling, I find the "coaching" of the nurses in this case to be underhanded and sneaky at least, prosecutorial misconduct at most: these nurses had clear comments in their logs about Darlie sobbing, having bouts of uncontrollable crying, very tearful." then, once the prosecution meets with these nurses, they completely change and in their testimony said things like, "she was cold, emotionless. it was like she didn't care." Total lies. Also, what of the infamous "Silly String" tape? Darlie was doing the best she could in honoring her dead son's life. In a situation like that, who knows what they would do? I don't know what I would do, and I can't say that I wouldn't do what she did-heaven forbid we would have to make that decision! I read an article once about this case, and Darlie said that, you know, telling all of her son's little friends that Devon and Damon were in heaven, she had to be reminded to pull herself together, from sobbing with grief. Like she said, "We tell his little friends he is in Heaven and it's all wonderful. How are they going to believe that if the parent's are sobbing with grief? Adults barely understand it, how can little children understand it?" I think she deserves a new trial. She was convicted on a birthday celebration video, the fact that she had, according to the prosecution, "freshly dyed hair and breast implants." If we are going to send a young mother to death row for a lethal injection on that basis, then our justice system needs a total overhaul! Each and every one of us needs to remember that it could happen to any one of us, at any time- And that should scare the hell out of us all! The prosecution needs to prove that she murdered her two little sons beyond a reasonable doubt. The State of Texas has not been able to do that.
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First of all this is all crap......she is not at the hilltop unit and has never been. She is at mountain view.....hilltop is a minimum security unit and has never held death row. The bitch is guilty....i feel terrible that the last thing they seen was there mother stabbing them...the lady is sick i know her and she shows no remorse she started here new life in prison with her lesbian girlfriend another death row offender named Coleman as if her life and crime never happend...i hope she burns in hell
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how do you know Darlie...thanks
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I just feel the Boys could have slashed her playfully, in anger she stabbed them n she must be drunk from wine. Then staged all this in fear.how the hell father did not hear kids screaming inpain n she did not know the guy who she fought with. N the boy woke her up after being slashed. Poor boys may their souls rest in peace
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myob,just wondering how you know her(Darlie)...thanks
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I don't know whether this lady innocent or not, but the evident is not enough to convict her with the crime. She should be given a new trial. (from Malaysia)
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