Darlie Routier : Part 1 : 489 | Forensic Files

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grab a chair, grab a beer. Let's talk some true crime. Special In September of 2014,
USA Today ran an article about parents who killed their children, or filicide. The article cites three decades of FBI
homicide data that shows on average 450 children are killed every year by their parents.
Northeastern University criminologists applied statistical models to the records. USA Today analyzed the database
for a detailed look at who kills, who is killed, and how. Several patterns are apparent.
The vast majority of child victims, three out of four, are under 5 years of age.
Nearly half of all victims died from physical beatings or other injuries at the parents' hands.
Fathers are more likely to kill. Quote, "Violence is a masculine pursuit." says Jack Levin, a
Northeastern University criminologist. When mothers kill, they are far more likely to kill victims under the age of
one than children of any other age. Psychiatrists and criminologists say parents who kill their children tend to
fit one of five categories. A parent suffering a psychotic break. A parent who thinks he is killing out of
altruism because he doesn't want a child to grow up without him. A parent acting out of
revenge against a spouse or partner. A parent who kills an unwanted child. A parent who kills from neglect or
recklessness. Quote, "They are all twisted perspectives of love, loyalty, and altruism." Levin says.
There are mixed motives in many of these cases. When a parent is accused of killing a child, it dominates headlines
and social media. "People are fascinated by this." says Sarah West, a forensic psychiatrist at
University Hospitals Case Medical Center in Cleveland. It's an unfathomable concept.
This week, we examine one of the most highly debated cases to come out of the great state of Texas.
A case that had everyone asking, "Did the mommy do it?" Darlie Routier was a young wife and
mother of three, but did she murder two of her sons? That will be for you to decide. This is
True Crime Garage, and this is a case of Darlie Routier. One of my favorite true crime writers is
the great, almost legendary status, Skip Hollandsworth, who writes for Texas Monthly magazine. And I'm using some
paragraphs from a piece he did for Texas Monthly's special crime issue back in July of 2002.
Here Skip briefly takes us through some events leading up to the attack as well as events after the murder of two small
boys. The people in this true crime story are parents, Daren and Darlie Routier, and their three sons, Damon,
Devon, and Drake. On June 5th, the boys played in the hot tub, and that evening Damon and Devon
huddled under blankets in front of a television Daren had just installed in the living room. Darlie and Daren would
later say that they stayed up talking past midnight. They kissed each other good night.
Daren went upstairs to the master bedroom, where Drake, then just 7 months old, was asleep, while Darlie curled up
on the couch downstairs next to the two older boys. She had been sleeping on the couch that
week, she said, because she wanted to watch over Damon and Devon, who had been spending the night downstairs since
school let out. And because she was a light sleeper and would sometimes be awakened by Drake
turning over in his crib. A few hours later, a 911 dispatcher in Rowlett received a frantic call.
"Someone came in here." Darlie screamed. "They just stabbed me and my children."
In the early morning hours of June 6th, 1996, Devon Routier, who was 6, and Damon, 5,
were murdered as they slept on the ground floor of the family's well-kept brick home in Rowlett, a suburb east of
Dallas. Devon was stabbed twice in the chest with such force that the knife almost
went all the way through his body. Damon was stabbed half a dozen or more times in the back.
Darlie, who was also sleeping downstairs, had two slice wounds to her right forearm and one in her left
shoulder, and her throat had been cut. Doctors said she survived only because the knife stopped 2 mm short of her
carotid artery. In a written statement given to the police a few days later, Darlie, then
26, told the following story. She was awakened by Damon's cries of "Mommy, Mommy."
In the dark, she didn't even notice she was hurt. She saw a man moving through the kitchen
and followed him as he went toward the garage. When she got to the utility room, she
saw a knife and picked it up. Only then, she said, did she return to find Devon and Damon
and realize that she had been stabbed, too. Darlie's husband, Darren, who was sleeping upstairs with their infant son,
Drake, came downstairs after hearing his wife's screams and began administering CPR to Devon.
By then, the assailant had disappeared. 12 days after Damon's and Devon's deaths, the police arrested Darlie for
their murders. They had no eyewitnesses, no confession, and no motive. What they did have was an intriguing
trail of circumstantial evidence that suggested there was no intruder that night.
Physical evidence suggested that Darlie had staged the crime. Doctor's statements suggested her wounds
were self-inflicted. And there was a peculiar scene caught on videotape a few days after the murders.
On what would have been Devon's 7th birthday, Darlie drove to the cemetery with friends and family,
wished her son a happy birthday, and then sprayed silly string all over his grave.
Quote, "Here's a mother who has supposedly been the victim of a violent crime." said Dallas County Assistant
District Attorney Greg Davis, the lead prosecutor in the case. "She has just lost two children, and yet
she's out there literally dancing on their graves." After the murders, Darlie gave conflicting accounts of what
exactly the intruder had done to her. One officer said she told him that she had struggled with her assailant on the
couch. Another officer said she told him the struggle was at the kitchen counter.
A friend who talked to Darlie while she was in the hospital said Darlie told her
that she remembered lying on the couch as the man was running the knife over her face. But in her formal written
statement to police, Darlie said her only view of the man came as he was walking away from the
couch. She said she just couldn't remember any distinct details about the attack or the
killer except that he was wearing dark clothes and a baseball cap. Was it really
possible that Darlie, who could be awakened by her baby moving in his crib, had slept through the stabbings of her
sons a few feet away? Now, Captain Rowlett PD were suspicious regarding Darlie early in their investigation,
saying that they were tipped off by a few different things. One being the 911 call,
Darli's behavior, and the crime scene evidence versus Darli's account of the events of that night. We're going to
play a little clip of her 911 call. It's really hard to make out what's happening, but just so you can hear her
energy on the call, and then how intense the call is. And that was just the brief start of a
call that came in to the Rowlett Police Department June 6th, 1996 at 2:31 a.m. And because the police are saying that
this is one of the things that pointed them toward Darlie as being their prime suspect in the murder of her two sons,
I think that we should go through the transcript of that call to see if we agree with their assessment. And reading
for the responders will have the captain and reading for Darlie Routier, you have
yours truly. Rowlett 911, what is your emergency? Somebody came here, they broke in. Ma'am. They just stabbed me
and my children. What? They stabbed me and my kids, my little boys. Who Who did? My little boy is dying. Hang on.
Hang on. Hang on. Hurry. Stand by for medical emergency. Ma'am? Hang on, ma'am. Ma'am? Unknown
medical emergency, 5801 Eagle Drive. Ma'am? Ma'am, I'm trying to get an ambulance to you. Hang on a minute. Oh
my god, my babies are dying. What's going on, ma'am? Oh my god. Thought he was dead. Oh my
god. I don't even know. Attention 901, unknown medical emergency 5801. I don't even know. Eagle Drive box 238,
cross street Linda Vista and Willow Brook. Attention 901 medical emergency. Who was breathing? Are they
still lying there? May be possibly stabbing. 5801 Eagle Drive box 238, cross street Linda Vista and Willow
Brook. Oh my god, what do we do? Time out 2:32. Oh my god. Oh my god. Needs units going
towards 5801 Eagle Drive, 5801 Eagle Drive. my baby's dead. Damon, hold on, honey. Hysterical female
on the phone says her child has been stabbed. I saw them, Daron. Oh my god, came in here. Ma'am, I need you to calm
down and talk to me. Okay. Didn't you get my address? 5801 Eagle. Yes, we need help. Daron, I don't
know who it was. We got to find who it was. Ma'am. Ma'am, listen. Listen to me. Yes, yes.
Oh my god. Oh my god. Ma'am. Yes. I need you to I need you to talk to me. What? What? What? My baby's are dead.
Do you want honey, hold on. Ma'am, I can't understand you. Yes. You're going to have to slow down, calm down, and
talk to me. I'm talking to my babies, they're dying. What is going on? Somebody came in while I was sleeping.
Me and my little boys were sleeping downstairs. Some man came in, stabbed my baby, stabbed me. I woke up. I was
fighting. He ran out through the garage, threw the knife down. My babies are dying, they're dead. Oh my god. Okay,
stay on the phone with me. god. What happened? Hold on, honey. Hold on. Who was on? It was the white phone? Hold
on. They're wondering when we need to dispatch, so I sent a double team. Oh my god. Oh my god.
Okay, thanks. Oh my god. Oh my god. Ma'am. Who's there with you? Karen. Ma'am. What? Is there anyone in the house
besides you and your children? No, my husband. He just ran downstairs. He's helping me, but they're dying. Oh my
god, they're dead. Okay. Okay, how many little boys? Is it two boys? There's two
of them. There's two. What's the cross street on the address on Eagle? Oh my god. Who would do this?
Listen to me. Calm down. I feel really bad. I think I'm dying. When are they going to be here? 5801 Eagle Drive. 5801
Eagle Drive. When are they going to be here? Going to be a stabbing. When are they
going to be here? Ma'am, they're on their way. I got to just sit here forever. Oh my god.
Who would do this? Who would do this? Ma'am, how old are your boys? What? How old are your boys?
Seven and five. Okay. Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh, he's dead. Calm down. Can you Oh god, Devin, no. Oh my god. Is your
name Darli? Yes. This is her. Is your husband's name Darren? Yes, please hurry. God, they're taking forever.
There's nobody in your house. There was was You don't know who did this? Then a police officer is on the scene and you
can hear him say, "Look for a rag." Darli replies, "They killed our babies." The police officer says, "Lie down.
Okay, just sit down." Darli Routier says, "No, he ran out uh They ran out in the garage. I was sleeping. My baby's
over here already cut. Can't I phone is right here. You all look out in the garage. Look out in the garage. They
left a knife lying on There's a knife. Don't touch anything. I already touched it and picked it up. Who's out there? Is
anybody out there? I don't know. I was sleeping. Okay, ma'am, listen. There's a police officer at your front door. Is
your front door unlocked? Yes, ma'am, but where's the ambulance? Okay. They're barely breathing.
If they don't get it here, they're going to be dead. My god. They're Hurry. Please hurry. Okay, they're there.
Police officer says, "What about you?" Is 82 out on Eagle? Huh? They took They ran.
We're at Eagle, 5801 Eagle. My god, hurry. 82, are you out? Police officer, nothing's gone, Mrs. Roitier.
Oh my god. Oh my god. Why would they do this? Police officer, the problem, Mrs. Roitier. What he say?
Why would they do this? I'm Okay, listen, ma'am. Need to Need to let the officers in the
front door, okay? What? Ma'am. What? What? Need to let the police officers in the
front door. His knife was lying over there. I already picked it up. Okay, it's all right. It's okay. God, I bet if
we could have gotten the prints, maybe maybe. Ma'am, hang on. Hang on a second. Somebody who did it intentionally walked
in here and did it, Daron. There's nothing touched. Okay, ma'am. There's nothing touched. Oh
my god. Ma'am, is the police officer there? Yes. Okay, go talk to him, okay? The
total length of the call is 5 minutes and 44 seconds long. All right, we're back
with our great acting skills. Cheers, mates. Cheers, Captain. Speaking of acting skills, ours are not
good enough to win a daytime Emmy, obviously, but what's your thoughts, Captain, on Darlie Routier? You have had
a chance to actually listen to the 911 call. She's hysterical through most of it.
It's very chaotic, but it's 5 minutes long, so it's long enough to really get a feel for what's going on and probably
have an opinion on what it is you're hearing and deduce maybe some of the emotions, the thoughts, or even
suspicions going on with her on the call. Yeah, it's hard to tell if she's acting or reacting because Mhm. it is a
mom supposedly coming out of her sleep and seeing her kids dying in front of her
and the amount of blood that's probably at the scene. But it seems like there's no coherent
thought that she's giving to the dispatcher except for a couple lines. And those seem to be the lines that are
suspicious. Where she's, you know, "His knife was laying there and I already picked it
up." "I bet if we could have gotten the fingerprints, maybe" that line almost seems to to me that
she's about to say, "Well, I bet if" "if I hadn't touched the knife, we could have got fingerprints." Mhm.
But also she is basically establishing a reason why she touched the knife and why her fingerprints would be on the
murder weapon. And that's what law enforcement will point out as well as the prosecutors later that this is the
problem with her 911 call. That she's referencing the knife, does not need to mention the knife, does not need to
mention that she picked it up. It's almost like she's planting that information for everybody to be aware
of. Hey, "You'll probably find my fingerprints on this knife because I'm telling you now I
picked it up." Mhm. And you might not find an intruder's fingerprints on the knife because I picked it up after
he threw it down. The thing is though, it's a little difficult when you review the transcript
of the 911 call and after you've heard the actual audio for the call itself because the first time that she mentions
really finding the knife or that somebody threw down a knife, she's responding to she's answering the
operator's question. The operator's question was, "What is going on?" To which she says, "Someone came in
while I was sleeping. Me and my little boys were sleeping downstairs." The other issue with the transcript, too, is
you have multiple dispatchers or operators communicating there at times in the 911 call
communicating with each other and not Darlie. You know, they're responding to, "Oh, we
need emergency services to this address." And then you have the other dispatcher or operator saying
something to the effect of, "Emergency services have been dispatched." Or have been dispatched at this time.
And one of the things we weren't able to do because it was just us two reading the transcript, and I don't think the
transcript is that clear, but if you listen to the 911 tape at some point when her husband comes
downstairs and she's going, "Oh my god. Oh my god." He starts going, "Oh my god.
Oh my god." reacting the same level of intensity she is. So for somebody to say that she's
acting, I would say, "Well, then I guess the husband's acting as well." Which is
difficult again because as you know, you hear him come into the scene the way that he's behaving
suggests to me that he might be seeing this all for the very first time. Right. He's walking into some [ __ ] and he's
like, "Oh my god. What what the hell is going on?" Yeah. I have no clue and I've just walked into
pure chaos. Blood all over my family. Yeah. So, the first time she mentions that knife,
it's her reacting to the operator's question of what is going on. And at that point, when she says
that the man, he ran out through the garage, threw the knife down, my babies are dying, they're dead, oh my god. Mhm.
She makes no mention of her picking up the knife on that first go-round of that question.
Which is interesting to me because if it was information that she really thought
that she plant and get out there and provide to everyone in the heat of the moment, well, she certainly passed on it
on the first opportunity. Well, and then the other one, she says, "You all look out in the garage, look
out in the garage. They left a knife laying on. There's a knife. Don't touch it." And
that's when she says, "Well, I already touched it. I picked it up." But But I think it's weird, though, and
I don't know what she's actually intending to mean when she says, "Somebody who did it
intentionally walked in here and did it." That's odd, then intentionally. There's
nothing touched. And I don't know if she she meant that the intruder came in and didn't touch
anything. But that's a odd line to me. But again, she I mean, she's stabbed over four
times. How much of her body is in shock? How much is she in shock from seeing her, not just her kids dead, but they're
dying? They're dying in front of her. Yeah, if she's not guilty, she's 100% in shock,
regardless of injuries or or what have you. She would be absolutely in shock just at the sight of her children being
bloodied like that. And you can hear, let's pretend for a moment that she is in fact innocent.
You can hear that she is fully aware, the visuals that she is waking up to and seeing
that she is aware that they are dying. And that is that's the got to be the complete shock. But to address the first
thing that you had mentioned uh back to the knife, when it's brought up the second time,
as you pointed out, that the information is prompted by the operator. Don't touch
anything. Well, I already touched it. You know, she doesn't mention touching it until it's brought up by someone
else. And then as you pointed out, I think the difficult thing here is at some point there's a lot going on and and
very quickly in the call there's a lot going on because what you can hear what I hear anyway, and I'm sure everybody
will have a slightly different opinion on what they are hearing and what they believe after reviewing the transcript,
what I am hearing or believe that I am hearing is that Darley is trying to give the proper information to the operator.
But she's also kind of running and scrambling around the house. I mean, envision this. If if she is innocent,
she's waking up to the children dying and she's got injuries herself. Probably doesn't fully understand what
had happened. If she did in fact see or chase someone as they were leaving out of the home, there's probably a lot of
running around to make sure they're not coming back. But also she doesn't know what happened to her husband
or what happened to her her newborn. And she's also trying to tend to the children from time to time. I mean, you
can hear her kind of checking in on the children even though we will have officers and people first responders
later saying that she didn't seem to want to tend to the children, but they weren't there for the early parts of
this call. This is very similar of a 911 call to me as as the Michael Peterson where he's talking to the dispatcher and
then going back and checking on his wife and then going back and talking to the dispatcher.
It seems very similar. But it's it's tough because I think your gut tells you if if they're over
dramatic that they're putting on a show, but if they're under dramatic about it,
then they're cold-hearted. So it's it's almost like you can't win either way as far as what your gut reaction is
going to be to a 911 call like this. Still on some of the things that you had brought up here, Captain, the portion of
saying someone intentionally came in here, nothing was touched, nothing was touched. I don't know we can if we can
understand what she means by that, first of all. And second of all, I don't think we know who she's even
speaking to when she's saying those words. Right, cuz we also don't know if the police officer that's there, that's
where it's confusing, too, is the transcript states that the police officers are there way before the
dispatcher is able to get Darli to confirm that the police officers are there. So, did the police officers say
something? Did her husband say something to her to prompt that? Like maybe the police officer says to her, "Don't touch
anything." And she says, "Nothing's been touched." Like other than the knife, nothing's
been touched. I haven't touched anything. Right. And again, she we don't know who
she's speaking to because we have Daron that arrives downstairs at some point. She is interacting with him at portions
of the call. She's interacting with the operator. And then you can hear operator
and additional dispatchers on. So there's some confusion there as well. And again, I hear parts where she's
clearly at least looking over or tending to the children in some form or fashion.
So we don't know who those words were intended for. So it gets difficult to say that she's planting information for
people later to use that as part of their investigation. And then there's one part that became a
point of contention in this case and that was where she says some man came in, stabbed my baby,
stabbed me, I woke up, I was fighting. He ran out through the garage, threw the knife down, my babies are dying, they're
dead, oh my god. Okay, so the reason why this is a a point of contention is because
the law enforcement and the prosecution will point out that oh, you told the dispatcher you were
fighting with the intruder. So how do you not have a description of this guy? If you if you remember, if you were
actively fighting with him, you should have some kind of description to provide to us.
And we know that she had such a very vague description. She said later that would you agree that the quality of the
call the audio for the call is not the best? It's awful. It's it's it's not good. So if she says that she said I
woke up and I was frightened or it was frightening. I don't know exactly what she says. I've listened to it a bunch
and I could be swayed either way. I could be swayed either way. The audio quality is so poor.
I can't tell if she's saying it was frightening, I was frightened or I was fighting. Tell me if I'm wrong in this
statement, but investigating this, a couple things jump out as far as her story, whether
her story changed or not. We have police officers saying that she told them different stories, we have friends
saying that she twisted her stories here and there, like little tiny details altered.
Her husband is saying whatever statement that she gave to the police, the final statement, that's the statement she
stuck with all these years. And they even have you know, defense attorneys and and
lawyers saying, "Hey, whatever story she initially told, that's the story she stuck with. Mhm.
She never changed it. So, one, could she have just messed up uh some of the details because she was in
shock and because of all this stuff that was going on? We know that eyewitnesses can be wrong.
So, are these people just reporting the information wrong that she told them? Well, and we have to
keep in mind what's going on at the scene when she calls, when she first places the call. Again, the call is 5
minutes 44 seconds long. Before she hangs up the phone, before the end of the call, police are on the
scene. And she's unaware that they are there. The officer's probably calling into
dispatch saying, "Hey, I'm here, but the front door is locked." Yeah. They're saying, "Ma'am, are the
police there?" And she says, "Yes." And she says, "Well, is the front door unlocked?" And she says, "Yes." And she
Then the dispatcher comes back and says, "You're going to have to unlock the front door." So, one thing in I think in
her favor here for her to be innocent is the fact that the the call is this length of time
and she's on the phone with the dispatcher still when police arrive on the scene. So, we we have we we can't
see what she's doing, right? We don't know exactly what she's doing physically during the course of this call. However,
we do know that she is at least busy with the call itself for this amount of time. So, during this
time, it would be it makes it a little extra difficult for her to be further staging the scene while on the phone and
police are arriving before the end of the call. Plus, as you pointed out at some point, Darren comes downstairs
after he hears the commotion. She does not It doesn't sound like she woke him you know, intentionally
went upstairs and woke him that that he heard the commotion and came down on his
own to walk into this horrific scene. Well, I just want to let everybody know to understand
the way in which this intruder entered the house. They They cut a screen in a window
in the garage. Got through that window in that garage, got inside the garage, and then went
through the house that way. So, I think the fact that the police show up and the front door is locked
at least leads more towards her story making sense. And when they show up on scene
we have Devon who is already dead. We have Damon who is still alive when first responders get to the scene.
We have Darley who's bloody, she's running around, and we have Darren who is downstairs performing CPR on Damon,
and baby Drake is still upstairs at this point. Yeah, so hold on for 1 second cuz
Okay, postpartum depression what's the motive here? Can anybody give me a motive of why she'd want to do this?
You want to get rid of two of your kids, but not all of the kids. You You didn't try to kill your kids and
then blame it on your husband to get rid of him. You don't You didn't try to attack him.
Nobody else was attacked other than who was in that front room. And if if she's guilty
and she wanted to kill her kids why would she wake her husband up before the kids were dead?
Well, You see what I'm saying? Because But again, she doesn't actively It doesn't show any intention of her
purposely waking Darren. What I Where Where my questions go to is if she were to kill her sons
and staged the scene, Right. why would she call 911 when one of them is still alive? Right.
Because now you're running a huge risk of you know, these kids are old They're still little kids, but they're old
enough that they could tell Yeah, my mom stabbed me. Yeah, if they're still alive, they could
tell the first responders what what what actually went down. So, you can hear her on the phone. She is
aware that one of them is still alive. So, why would she call Why wouldn't she just wait a few more minutes? Right. And
then call and act all hysterical. And And I guarantee you she was being hysterical
way before the 911 call. And again, that points towards why would you want to wake
I mean, look. You don't know if they She's not a medical expert. So, if she Again, if the purpose is just to kill
these kids and to get rid of them, then her husband comes down, but at the time he comes down, aren't
both of the boys alive? So, that would give I two chances for the victims to say,
"Mom did this." That I don't know. I All I can say is that when Well, in fact, actually, we do have some
evidence toward that that thought there, Captain. And we will get into that. A quick little timeline here before we get
to what I believe are two very key parts of this whole story, which would be the statements of Darley and the
statements of Daron. Okay, that's going to add us a little more insight into what is actually going on. And you
already referenced some items at the crime scene itself, and we'll get into those as well, but real quick here,
Captain, on June 6th, 1996, that is when Devon and Damon, ages six and five, were
murdered. Again, Damon is still alive at the point when the first responders get to the scene.
Darley is taken immediately to the hospital because she has suffered some injuries during the course of this
attack. Then we have a situation where on June 8th, Darley gives a written statement to police. Okay, so this
statement that she provides to police, the information I have says that it took her approximately 30 minutes to write
this statement for the police, and this she gave to them, a written statement, once she was released from the hospital.
So, she's released from the hospital and she is immediately, directly taken to the police station at the police request
to provide this statement. And in her statement, she says, "Daron and Dana, her husband and my sister, came home
from working at the shop. The boys were playing with the neighborhood kids outside. I was
finishing up dinner. Damon came home and Devon called, and I told him to be home
soon because we were going to eat. Daron played with the baby, this is the infant, Drake,
with Dana, her sister, while I pulled everything together to eat. Devon came home and we all ate dinner together."
There's too many people with D names. "After we ate, we cleaned all the plates. I change I was changing Drake
while Darren put everything in some containers for leftovers. We all talked a little bit about how
happy we were that the shop had been so busy for the past 3 weeks as if we had hoped it would continue since work had
been slow for a couple of months. Devon and Damon asked if they could play with one of their friends a little longer, so
we said, "Okay." Darren, Dana, and I sat around and watched a little TV. Later, I'm not sure of exact time, I
asked Darren to drive Dana home because I wasn't feeling too well. While Darren was gone, the boys brought
down their blankets and pillows and asked if they could watch TV. I said, "Yes."
They came downstairs and played on the floor in front of the TV with Drake while I made some popcorn.
About 20 to 25 minutes later, Darren came Darren came in and sat down with us while we watched TV.
Drake started to get fussy, so I made him a bottle. Soon after, the boys fell asleep. Darren
took the baby upstairs and put him in his crib and came back downstairs. We talked about a few problems we were
having with the car and the boat and had a few words between us. Since I had the baby, I have been having
some depression. I told Darren I was depressed because I hadn't been able to take the boys
anywhere because we only had one car. He told me he loved me and asked me if I wanted him to sleep downstairs with me
because I wanted to stay up and watch a little TV. I told him no because I didn't think he
would be able to sleep on the couch and get any sleep. I had been sleeping on the couch the past week or so off and on
because the baby slept in our room in the crib, and when he moved, he woke me up.
Darren and I laid together for a little bit, while then decided to go to sleep because he had to work the
next day. This was around 12:30 or 1:00. I'm not sure. He kissed me and said he loved me, and I
told him I loved him and would see him in the morning. After a while, I started to get sleepy.
The next thing, I wake up and I feel pressure on me. I felt Damon press on my right shoulder and heard him
cry. This made me really come awake, and I realized there was a man standing down
at my feet walking away from me. I walked after him and heard glass breaking. I got halfway through the kitchen and
turned back around to run and turn on the light. I ran back towards the utility room and
realized there was a big white-handled knife lying on the floor. It was then that I realized I had blood all over me.
And I grabbed the knife thinking he was in the garage, so I thought he might still be there, and I yelled for Darren.
I ran back through the kitchen and realized the entire living area had blood all over everything.
I put the knife on the counter and ran into the entrance, turned on the light and started screaming for Darren.
I think I screamed twice, and he ran out of the bedroom with his jeans on and no
glasses and was yelling, "What is it? What is it?" I remember saying, "He cut them. He
tried to kill me. My neck." He ran down the stairs and into the room where the boys were.
I grabbed the phone and called 911. Darren started giving Devon CPR, while I put a towel on my neck and a towel over
Damon's back. I remember telling Damon to hang on, Mommy was there. I looked over at Darren and saw the
glass table had been knocked halfway off in the flower arrangement had been knocked over.
I then stood up, turned around, and saw glass all over the kitchen floor. I tried to glance over to see if
anything was out of place or if anything was missing. I took a few steps and opened the door and screamed for Karen.
Okay, so this is Karen Neil. It's their neighbor and friend. She's also a nurse.
I was still on the phone with 911 and I don't recall what all was said because everything was happening so fast.
I went back to Damon and by then he had stopped moving and the police walked through the door. The paramedics came
and tried to work on the children. Darin was screaming, "Who did this? Who did this?" And I started asking if my
babies were dead. Darin was crying and said, "Yes." After I just remembered screaming and
showing Darin my neck. Darin took me out to the front of the house and by then Darin ran upstairs to
make sure the baby was okay and then handed him to Karen, our neighbor. I remember them holding a towel on my
neck and wrapping my arm and then they put me in an ambulance. Darin got in, but they told him he
needed to leave so they could take care of me. I remember we got to the hospital and
them telling me they were taking me to surgery. They took off my necklace and put me to
sleep. I woke up and minutes later the detectives were there making me all kinds of questions.
At this same time here, Captain, keep in mind Darli's been rushed from the hospital directly to the police station
to give that statement. We have her husband, Darin. He's now providing a written statement as well at the same
time. And his statement reads as follows. We were watching TV in the Roman room watching movie on HBO.
Baby Drake had fallen asleep about 10:00 10:30. I took him up to bed in parents'
room. Put blanket on him and turned out lights. I went downstairs to talk to Darley. We
talked about the boys not being able to start baseball yet because we were so busy with the baby right now.
We talked about the business, bills, and how Darley was having a hard time with taking care of the babies today. Darley
said she wanted to sleep on the couch because she would sleep better because the baby would keep her awake. The boys
were asleep with pillows and blankets on the floor. Devon was asleep face up in front of the
TV and Damon was asleep between the couch and coffee table by the couch mom was on.
So, I went upstairs to get her a blanket and pillow and came back downstairs to cover her up. We talked a little more
about her going to Cancun with some friends across the street and gave her a kiss good night. Told her to dream about
me and went upstairs around 1:00 a.m. I went and turned on TV in our room and watched for 10 to 15 minutes. I took my
glasses off and turned TV off. I could not go to sleep for a while, but finally I fell asleep. Unconsciously, I
heard a noise and then Darley screaming loud. She was yelling, "Devon! Devon! Oh
my god, Devon!" I woke up quickly and grabbed my glasses on the nightstand and ran downstairs as fast as I could. Going
into the living room. I ran over to Devon lying on the floor where he was when I
saw him last and kneeled down over him to see if he was hurt and then looked at the coffee table to see it tipped
over on him. When I looked again at his chest, there were two holes in his chest with blood
and muscles piercing out. I slapped his face to get him to say or look at me. No response.
I started CPR and when I blew into his mouth, air came out of his chest. I blew five or six times and held my
hand over the holes on his chest. Then, when that didn't work, I blew into one of the holes in his chest.
I looked over at Darley and she was on the phone calling 911. I ran over to Damon lying on the floor
in the hallway between wall and side of couch. He had no pulse, but I could not see any injuries.
Police came in and I told them that my babies were stabbed and she told them that he went out of the garage.
I ran upstairs to put my pants on. I looked over at Drake, was crying and I felt he was okay.
I noticed my wallet left on the floor and all I could think to do was to go to Karen's house for help. I needed someone
to help and the paramedics when they arrived. I went downstairs, ran out the house,
ran across the street to Karen and Terry's door. I banged five, six times as hard as I
could until Terry comes to the door first and when I told them that Devon and Damon were stabbed, they were in shock
and ran over with me to the house and that was when they were putting Damon on a stretcher. I knew that Devon
was dead before I ran across the street and Damon had no pulse, but the paramedic carried him out in a blanket
out the front door. I ran out yelling that we have to find who did this and Karen told me that
Darley was cut, too. I never knew that she was hurt, yet she had blood all over her from the neck
down to the bottom of her nightshirt. She was standing in the doorway with the paramedics, said she needed to go to the
hospital. So, we helped her into the stretcher and she said, "Daren, you have to promise me
we will find this man. He killed our babies." I walked back into the house, pushed my
way through the police, and saw the knife on the bar in the kitchen with blood all over it.
Went to garage to look at the window that the police had said he had entered and I went out of the house and walked
across the street and the neighbors were there to confront me and asked about what happened.
I sat for a minute on the curb and walked over to the ambulance where Damon was and asked paramedic was he alive?
And they said no. I was in shock. Karen told me to go with Darley in the ambulance.
So, I got in and they threw me out, said they needed to work. So, then they asked me questions.
From the fire department, he says, they wanted to know his social security number, address, and name and such. And
I asked what hospital and no one knew. So, found out where Darley went. This would have been Baylor Dallas Hospital.
And drove over to the hospital. At hospital, I was questioned by Detective Frosh for hours. Is there any eyewitness
statements, neighborhood statements that heard her scream or saw anything suspicious that night?
So, in reviewing the trial and the testimony of witnesses and such, no. There doesn't seem to be anybody that
was aware that something was going on that night until they were alerted by either Daren or police or, you know, saw
the the flashing lights and heard the sirens, right? There were plenty of people to have an
opinion about Darley's behavior, what kind of mother she was, and plenty of opinions about the Roatiers in general.
So, to me, Captain, the thing that jumps off both pages here from their statements is they don't seem to line up
100% with each other's statements. And second of all, they don't seem to line up 100% with what it sounded to me
like what was going on during the course of the 911 call. Right. Because it sounds like Darley has the recollection
that she may have woke Darren up as she's getting ready to call 911. But to back that up a little,
but his statement does say that he comes in, sees what's going on, reacts to it,
and then the first he really sees Darley after that, she's in the process of calling 911 or already on the phone with
them. Now, my general thoughts are this though in regards to Darley's statement and
Darren's statement, I don't know that I would fully expect them to 100% line up. I mean, this is a
If they're innocent, It's too much trauma for their stories to line up. This is a
whole lot of chaos within a 5 to 6 minute window of time. Yeah, chaos is probably a better word than trauma. And
for them to have a full understanding and a point-by-point, blow-by-blow recollection of what went down and how
it went down and and every second and every minute of what was happening, you know what, to be honest with you, I
would be more suspicious of them together if their statements did 100% line up. Yeah, bingo. Because there were 2 days
between the time that the murders took place and these statements were given or a day and a half. I don't know exactly
what time of day these statements were were given at the police department, but the murders were on the 6th, the
statements written by these two individuals individually on the 8th. But the other thing I do want to point out,
too, you know, because one thing that law enforcement will use against Darley is that her statement does not line up
with what they were seeing at the crime scene. And the problem I have with that is look, I agree first off. I agree that
her statements do not line up perfectly with with some of the physical evidence at the crime scene itself.
But her words, they took me to the hospital, they get me there, they take off, you know, my jewelry, my clothing,
they knock me out, put me to sleep. So they could put me into surgery. Right. Next thing I know, I wake up She
says minutes later. Anybody that's ever been knocked out for a surgery will tell
you and I've had this happen twice in my lifetime. I've been put under two maybe
three times. Put under and then had a surgery. And you swear to God that you're waking
up and you're like, I was I can't believe you guys work so fast. I was only out like 30 seconds. And then
somebody tells you like, no, you were out for a couple hours. Or you were out for a day. That's one
thing that I feel like rings true in her statement there where she says, They took off my clothes, they took off
my jewelry, they put me out and then I went into surgery and then I woke up a couple minutes later
or I woke up minutes later and the police are asking me questions and then they took me off to the police station.
And then we have later where we have uh people testifying that she was drugged up afterwards as one would expect
because she's been pretty severely injured in my opinion, but again, that goes to
the opinions vary depending on who you talk to regarding her injuries. Well, and and painkillers affect
everybody completely different. And so, if I was in the hospital all for a couple days
and the day I got out, I was still on pain medication, I wouldn't be I wouldn't be able to put together my
correct thoughts. I mean, I already sound like a stoner and I'm not stoned. I mean, can you
imagine if I'm all hopped up on pain pills? And double down on the fact that you were just I mean, just minutes or
maybe hours before writing out the statement, you were in a hospital bed. Right. So, here's what the the doctor
testified to at the trial. Dr. Santos testified that Darlie was given Xanax to treat anxiety, and she was also given
Demerol for the pain. This is after the surgery. So, she's on Xanax and Demerol,
and just been whisked away from a hospital bed to the police station to give a written statement to police that
Oh, by the way, whatever you write here today, we're going to hold this over your head for the rest of your life.
So, it's an important document. We're going to use this to either clear you or build a case
against you. I want to think that Darlie or her husband was thinking that they're
going to take these statements and and go over them with a fine-tooth comb to press charges against her.
I I I bet that was even a thought at this moment. Right. She doesn't know that they're
building a case against her, that they already suspect her at this point. So, you say this is 2 days after
the murder. To me, that's not enough time to collect all the evidence at the scene, get it tested, for us to know
whether or not there was an intruder or not. So, it seems like to me like similar
same year case, too. JonBenét Ramsey. You're you're coming up with theories, and then you're going to try to prove
your theory before the evidence can tell you what happened. Well, and you can't really
make Darlie give you a written statement any earlier than this because she's at the hospital, she's under doctor's care,
she's knocked out, she's in surgery. But, what's a little weird to me is wouldn't you want to get a written
statement from Darren as quick as possible? Why does he get away this same amount of time? He's not in
surgery. He's not been injured at all in the course of this attack or whatever went down. Well, unless they're afraid
if they say, "Hey, we need a statement from you." and he gives a statement and then he tells his wife, "Well, yeah.
I I gave the police a statement." and she goes, "Well, what did you tell them?" So, maybe that's why they waited. I can
agree with that. That would be That would be an idea there. But But also, if you don't believe her statements, are
you asking for a polygraph test? Well, and again back to the drugs and and her state of mind or what it could have been
at the time of writing the statement, who knows? But again, they they are going to hold the statement against her
in court. And the testimony by Dr. Santos is testified that Darley was given Xanax to treat anxiety and Demerol
for pain. When asked under questioning, says, "What all can Demerol make you groggy?"
Yes. "Could general anesthetic in your experience lead to confusion?" Yes. "Can it lead to disorientation?" Yes. "Can it
lead to short-term memory loss?" Yes. "Would you agree, doctor, that to be questioned sometime before 8:00 in the
morning, let's say 6:05 hypothetically, to be questioned about very serious events at
6:05, 1 hour and 5 minutes after anesthesia being cut off, would you be somewhat suspect as to the response you
may receive from a patient?" Answer, "You may get an unreliable response. Yes." Yeah.
Again, but coming up with the theory before you get all the evidence back is irresponsible.
Then, on top of that, let's get statements from somebody that we know See, again,
here's my problem with it. It's irresponsible to come up with a theory. You know it's irresponsible to question
her when she just got out of the hospital. But, I think I think that was part of
their play. Hey, she she might not say things correctly, and that's going to work in our favor
because now we already created a theory. Now, we're just trying to put the puzzles
puzzle pieces however we want to to fit that narrative. Well, I I don't necessarily agree with
the idea that they are waiting to get her statement and then building the case around her afterwards. I know that it
took some time to get that statement. Again, she's in surgery. You can't do anything about that. But, they're
working the crime scene during this whole time before they're able to get her statement. So,
they are aware of certain pieces of the physical evidence before getting the statement from her.
So, Right, but what I'm saying is not all the evidence is collected. Not all the
evidence is tested. Evidence is supposed to lead you to a theory. Not to have a theory first. So, yes, I I
agree with you. There's been some work at the crime scene that would give you some information,
but you you didn't wait to get all the information, to get all the evidence, to get everything tested back before you
created your narrative, before you created your story of what happened. Which, of course, is certainly possible,
but I don't know that we want to say that that's exactly what, in fact, went down. Because we don't know when police
came up with the narrative that that Darlie killed her her children or had a a 100% case built around her.
What you would know immediately going into the crime scene, and what some of the evidence you would know before even
having to test it is you're going to see that the murder weapon you have evidence to believe
before any testing goes down the murder weapon came from inside the home. So now that makes you a little more
suspicious of people inside the home rather than people outside of the home. There was also some indication that with
the way that the screen was cut and the way that the screen appeared once police
were on the scene that it only looked like somebody went in the screen but never came back out
through the screen. So they were a little testy about the whole idea of well this intruder came in
this way and then fled back out the same way he came in based off of what they were seeing at
the crime scene. They also didn't find anything missing. They didn't find again you brought up a
good point. One really freaking troubling part of this whole case is motive, right?
What what would be the motive for Darley to kill her sons, not kill her other son, not kill her husband, and turn the
knife on herself? What would be the motive for Darley to do it but also what would be the motive for an intruder to
come in and kill these kids and attack her? Well she had a infant so you know I don't have a lot of understanding of you
know part post partum depression. But some kind of mental illness could be the reason.
That's the only thing that I can see here. I can't see any other motive. But then also like you said I mean
we can't say that we can't say that this intruder came in there just to murder. Right? Mhm.
The intruder could have came in for a multitude of reasons. Agreed. You know, two Oh, well, here's this young mother
that lives there and and I find her attractive. So, you know, it's a sexual motivation there
or that they're going to break into the house and and now that I'm in here, I don't want Maybe they these people
would recognize me. So, I have to kill anybody that that possibly could identify me. Cuz for all
we know, the kids woke up and saw this individual. Yeah. So, it's very tough. I mean, it it the motive on either end
just doesn't make a lot of sense. What do you think, Captain, about the whole thought of she's saying, "The purpose of
me sleeping downstairs is so the baby doesn't wake me up." But then, you know, the prosecution and detectives
want to know, "Well, then why didn't you wake up earlier during the attack if you're such
a light sleeper?" Yeah, I would I'd question when she was stabbed. And is any of the wounds that she has,
would that cause her to black out at any point? Because this neck wound, which a lot of people have tried to
state that her neck wound is a flesh wound. I think it was like 2 mm away from the
carotid artery. 2 mm away from killing her. Correct. And that doesn't mean that she did not self-inflict the
wound. Is it possible that she fought with this intruder and because of whether it's being hit on the head,
whether it's being stabbed, that she actually blacked out and then came back to? There are experts
that have said and did say during the course of her trial based off of her injuries
that there there's likelihood that she may not recall everything that actually went down. One based off of the trauma
of her injuries, but also the idea that she's waking up into the middle of a situation.
So you kind of it's a double whammy effect there, too. And now I am a light sleeper. I'm not going to consider
myself to be any kind of sleep expert, but I will say this. My light sleeping is can be an issue for
me. There are nights that I I miss out on a lot of sleep because of that. I'm not a light sleeper every night
of my life. Right. Every day of my life. If I if I'm sleeping anywhere other than
my home, I'm an extremely light sleeper. I'm I just I'm heightened awareness, whatever. I don't know what it is. I
it's hard for me to sleep in hotel rooms or be a guest at somebody's home without, you know, I basically just
sleep for a couple hours at best. If I'm at home and everything is perfect, everything is right,
sometimes I sleep like a rock. And there's not a whole lot of rhyme or reason to while I sleep better some
nights and why I sleep not great other nights. A lot of it base is based off of how tired I am. One
thing we know is she's busy taking care of three kids. One of them's an infant. She could have just been flat out
exhausted at this point. Right. And one thing that's interesting to me, too, and
and you would reference narrative a couple times, there is certainly something going on
because we talked about motive. Well, the law enforcement and the the prosecution,
they are easy and quick to point out motive for Darley to have committed these murders. And then their argument
is, well, there's no motive for an intruder. And I don't think that's correct. I
don't think that's right. I can see just as many ex- until you until you catch the guy,
again pretending that she's innocent, until you catch the guy or identify who it could be,
you may not know the motive of that individual for their actions. And I think there's
equal amounts, like you were saying, equal amounts for both possibilities, if Darley did it or if in fact there was an
intruder, an equal amount of motives. Well, again, I think it always drives me nuts when we're
having conversations about a possible intruder and they go, "Well, nothing was taken."
It's like, well, maybe they didn't get a chance to. And that's why there was a murder.
And maybe the person is technically not a murderer. They're a They're a thief. But because somebody could identify
them, they became a murderer. One troubling thing to me though, Captain, is it would have taken a bladed weapon,
let's say. It would have taken a blade to cut through that screen. And police will quickly tell you that in this
scenario, it makes zero sense to them because most of the time burglars, which I actually don't think that there was a
burglar. All right, if If we're going to pretend there was an intruder, I don't think
I don't think looking for valuables was the the motive here for going into the home. Uh-huh. So, police will be quick
to point out that most of the time a burglar will not bother to cut a screen. They will just simply remove the screen
as it's normally fairly easy to do. In this case, it would have been easy to do. And then they just hop in the window
and hop back out or leave through a door on their way out. But if it would have been a burglar, that
See, that's a whole different kind of criminal. A burglar comes into a home, sees people
in there that they They want to burglarize the home when no one is there. They pick a home that they think they
they could either get in and get out real quick, smash and grab, or smash and grab and nobody's there. They don't have
to bother with anybody. Mhm. A burglar would have came into the home, seen her and or the children, and then just
turned around and left. That's what a burglar would have done. If in fact it was an intruder that
attacked this family, there was a different motive for going into that house altogether.
But one thing I keep coming back to that's troublesome for me and goes against Darley's case that she's
innocent is it would have taken a blade to cut through that screen. That's everything that they've told us
from the test that they conducted on that screen. Mhm. So why if I already have a blade on me
to cut the screen to get into the house, am I picking up a blade from inside the
house to murder these people? No, I I agree. And I would like to know how they know for sure that this knife
came from inside the house. Was it a part of a set? Yeah, it's part of a set. It's one of It would have been taken
from a butcher block that was inside the home. And to take it a step further, cuz
I have like random knives. And so that's why I wondered is it Is it possible that
it it's not from a set and they were they thought it was from like just a a random knife from a a drawer or
something? Yes, exactly. A lot of people just have a drawer full of knives that they've,
you know, collected somehow throughout the years, you know, gift or something they purchased themselves. And it's a
it's a hodgepodge of what you have. Maybe the colors don't match up. Maybe you have a lot of the same kind of blade
and you're missing other specifics, but um this was taken from a butcher block and it was to take it a step further
though, too, I could find nowhere that Darlie or Darley were disputing that the knife
came from inside the home. They're not saying no, it wasn't our knife. In fact, it seems to be agreed upon by all
parties that the knife did in fact come from inside the home. But if I'm breaking into a house, hypothetically,
and I use a pocket knife, or I use a box cutter, and then I go into the house, and I put
that back into my pocket, and then I'm startled by maybe a kid waking up or seeing
people laying there, you reach for the closest item. Right. So, and and based off that, it
makes sense because from the garage, you have to go through the kitchen, and then that kitchen area, you would
see then you'd see the people that were in the family room. Also, I'd like to paint a picture of a
sophisticated criminal for you. A sophisticated criminal would enter that home, and again, this would be for
motives that are are well beyond the the scope of burglarizing the home. I do not know the exact, you know, the
windows and stuff for this house. Uh I've seen the outside of the house and portions of the inside, but one
question I keep coming back to is if there were someone outside of the home looking to
break into a home, and then rape a female victim inside, Right. think about the way that they described
everybody going to bed. If if you're a rapist and you're outside looking in through the windows, peeking in to see
if you could, you know, if there's a potential victim inside, maybe you don't know the house. Maybe
you do not know the people inside, or who the home belongs to. But if you're looking inside, the way
that everybody describes the sleeping arrangements to me, it's very likely that a rapist looking
in the window would see Darley, 26 years old, lying on the couch. And from that vantage point, I have to
wonder, would he be able to see two small children lying on the floor? Right. They're not laying all together next to
each other. The boys are on the floor, she's in the couch. Husband upstairs. You don't see him at
all if you're peeking in the window. And if you're a sophisticated criminal, you're entering the home already with
gloves on thy hands. And you know what you don't want to leave at the scene is a weapon that you
brought with yourself. So, use your box cutter or your pocket knife to cut the T into the screen outside, go in through
the garage, through the utility room, into the kitchen. Well, and also Knife block right there. I'm going to use one
of their knives to threaten my female victim. Whether my intention is to kill her or
not, I'm using one of their knives because if I leave it here, it doesn't lead back to me. They can't
trace this knife back to me. I have gloves on my hand. Yeah. And have you ever tried to cut
a screen? The screen part of a window? Dozens of times, yes. But there's also there's also a possibility that there's
not it wasn't there wasn't a cut at all. You the way those things are made, once
you start like a rip in that screen, it's going to stay in a straight line. And then if I rip it to the other side
or pull it back to the other side, you could you could um depend you know, as long as there's some kind of hole or
some kind of damage to that screen, you could easily rip a T into that that screen without using a knife. Exactly.
Exactly. And then you have to wonder would the crime scene analysis would they be able to determine by looking at
it if it were in fact cut or torn. Yeah, torn or or you used your your keys to to make those um the initial
incision so you could rip the screen. Their stance has always been in regards to the screen that it was cut in a in
the shape of a T. So, somebody would have made a uh horizontal cut and then in the center
of that, roughly in the center of that, made a vertical cut down. There's reasons that this case is so
frustrating. But one, if if she is guilty, what the heck is the motive? Cuz at least I can come up with a couple
plausible motives that make sense if there's an intruder. So much more to get to.
If you have thoughts and opinions on this case, go to truecrimegarage.com and click on the blog and let us know
what your thoughts are. And today is National Missing Child Day, so we want to thank everyone who
contributed to this week's beer fund for a portion of this week's beer fund will
go to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. To thank you once again, join us back here in the
garage tomorrow. Until then, be good, be kind, and don't you litter. Mhm.

Darlie Routier /// Part 1 /// 489 Part 1 of 2

www.TrueCrimeGarage.com On June 6, 1996 at 2:31 am a call came in for 911 emergency services in a suburb of Dallas, Texas. The caller was 26 year old mother Darlie Routier. Darlie was frantic and could be heard screaming and crying on the call. She tells dispatchers that someone broke into her home and attacked her family. When police arrive just minutes later they discover Darlie bloodied from knife wounds and her two boys both stabbed to death. Within days Detectives will say that there was no intruder and that Darlie viciously killed her sons. Join us in the Garage and pack a couple of extra cold ones as we do our best to go through the details of one of Texas’ most debated cases.

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Brief Summary

Darlie Routier's case raises questions of guilt and motive after her sons were murdered in 1996.

Key points

Fascination with Filicide. Exploring the disturbing trend of parents killing their children.
The Case of Darlie Routier. A mother is accused of murdering her two sons in a shocking case.
Darlie's 911 Call. Darlie Routier's frantic call reveals chaos and confusion after the attack.
Confusion in the Call. Darley's 911 call raises questions about her actions and awareness during the crisis.
A Mother's Despair. Darley wakes to find her children injured and fights to save them.
A Night of Horror. Darren discovers his sons have been stabbed and rushes to help them.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

They just stabbed me and my children!

Darlie's frantic 911 call

7:53WatchMay 29, 2021

Tension

65/ 100Some tension

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