Darlie Routier 20 years on: Death Row and beyond

[Steve_uk]

It was a shocking case which rocked even hardened Americans. In the early hours of June 6, 1996 in Rowlett, Dallas, Darlie Routier recounts she awoke to find a man of medium sized build with a mask on his face standing over her and her two young sons, Devon, 6 and Damon, 5, a knife in his hand using tube socks as gloves. She witnessed him stabbing the boys before she too was stabbed in the neck, the incision just millimetres away from her carotid artery. She managed to scream to her husband Darin, upstairs in bed with their third son and to telephone the emergency services before passing out. One of the bloodied tube socks was later found six blocks away from the house in a back alley, containing the boys' blood and possibly Darlie's skin cells. Devon died on the spot and Damon died on the way to hospital.

Over the coming days Police grew suspicious as her story failed to tally with crime scene evidence. There was no evidence of a break in, the only ingress being a window in the garage covered by a canvas screen, which Police say, had been cut by a knife from the Routier's kitchen. Blood was found on kitchen cabinets underneath the sink, suggesting that Darlie's wounds had been self-inflicted in this area(the medics called them "hesitation wounds" made slowly and deliberately), whereas the two boys had been violently attacked with a knife, which Prosecution was later to say had been lifted over the mother's head before plunging into her sons' bodies, leaving droplets of their blood on the back of her nightie. The murder weapon, a kitchen knife, was left on the premises, which Darlie claims she had picked up, another ground for suspicion.

Darlie was arrested twelve days after the tragedy for the murder of her 5-year-old son Damon. This would give the Prosecution leeway to try her for the murder of her eldest son at a future time should she be acquitted. During the trial in February 1997 Darlie Routier was portrayed as a woman living beyond her means, unaffected by the deaths of her sons, which seemed reinforced when the jury was shown a video of her only days after the murders holding a party at the graveside scattering Silly-String whilst chewing gum in apparent insouciance at the loss of her sons. She was found guilty and remains on Death Row to this day.  https://youtu.be/DdtZ8_t4E28

[David1819]

She's guilty

[Steve_uk]

She's guilty

Yes I don't think there's any doubt. The mystery is why she did it, though there may be one possible explanation here that the marriage was breaking down, possibly because of the husband's idea for insurance fraud, which didn't come out until 2002.  http://www.fordarlieroutier.org/Evidence/WritAffidavits/darin.html

[Steve_uk]

To the disbelief of society 1,400 to 2,000 children are killed in the United States each year. Four or five children die at their parents' hands each day, nearly all before they enter first grade. Half of them are killed by their mothers. Prominent in the statistics was a specific category of mothers: young, often in their twenties, married, the biological mother of a child or children they bore early-and with no history of previous arrest. The children of these mothers were often killed in their homes.

In many ways, Darlie Routier fit the profile.

Most of these women killed to protect a sense of themselves, their own sanity. They often manufactured a story to cover their acts. The story usually came after they initially killed-a way of dealing with their own sense of guilt, shame, or their own shock at what they had done. They relied on society's deep resistance to believing they could be responsible. To deal with the overwhelming guilt, they went into denial. Denial supported by an outpouring of sympathy and support.

From Flesh and Blood by Patricia Springer.  https://youtu.be/dtusq27OD0M

[Steve_uk]

A new video on the case.: https://youtu.be/B50g-7tDkWs

[David1819]

The evidence of her guilt is so overwhelming it baffles me how some can think otherwise.

She once took polygrah and has never disclosed the results. Il let you guess if she passed on not.

[Steve_uk]

The evidence of her guilt is so overwhelming it baffles me how some can think otherwise.

She once took polygrah and has never disclosed the results. Il let you guess if she passed on not.

I suppose because it was so unexpected. The couple appeared to have everything going for them and were very much in love. I can't imagine just how strong the post-partum psychosis must have affected her.


The authorities are now trapped in a terrible dilemma: they either lose face with the general public by commuting the death sentence to life imprisonment or execute a woman who still has the support of family members and surviving son Drake.