Darlie Routier /// Part 1 /// 489 | Forensic Files

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[Music] foreign [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] USA Today ran an article about parents
who killed their children or philicide 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 five 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 killed 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 in social media
people are fascinated by this says Sarah West a forensic psychiatrist at University Hospital's 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 Darley rotier 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 the case
of darlie rotier foreign [Music] 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 Darren and Darley rotier and
their three sons Damon Devin and Drake on June 5th the boys played in the hot tub and that evening Damon and Devin
huddled under blankets in front of a television Darren had just installed in the living room Darley and Darren would
later say that they stayed up talking past midnight they kissed each other good night
Darren went upstairs to the master bedroom where Drake then just seven months old was asleep while Darley
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 Devin 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 9-1-1 dispatcher in roulette received a frantic call someone came in here Darley screamed
they just stabbed me in my children in the early morning hours of June 6 1996. Devin rotier who was six and Damon
five were murdered as they slept on the ground floor of the family's well-kept brick home and roulette a suburb east of
Dallas Devin 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
Darley 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 two millimeters short
of her carotid artery in a written statement given to the police a few days later Darley 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 Devin and Damon and realized that she had been stabbed too darley's husband Darren who was sleeping
upstairs with their infant son Drake came downstairs after hearing his wife screams and began administering CPR to
Devin by then the assailant had disappeared twelve days after Damon's and Devin's
deaths the police arrested Darley 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 Darley 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 Devin's seventh birthday Darley 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 Darley
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 Darley while she was in the hospital said Darley 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 Darley 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 Darley 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 roulette PD were suspicious
regarding darlie early in their investigation saying that they were tipped off by a few different things one
being the 9-1-1 call darley's Behavior and the crime scene evidence versus darley's account of the
events of that night we're gonna 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 [Music]
ready thank you ma'am [Music] I was trying to get an ambulances [Music] [Applause]
[Music] [Laughter] [Music] calm down and talk to me [Music] Eagles man listen listen to me
and that was just the brief start of a call that came into the Rowlett Police Department June 6 1996 at 2 31 A.M
and because the police are saying that this is one of the things that pointed them toward Darley 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 Darley rotir you have yours truly roulette 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 Willowbrook attention 901 medical emergency who was breathing
are they still lying there maybe possibly stabbing 5801 Eagle Drive box 238 cross street
Linda Vista and Willowbrook oh my God what do we do timeout 2 32. oh my God oh my God needs units going towards 5801
Eagle Drive 5801 Eagle Drive oh my God my baby's dead Damon hold on honey hysterical female on the phone says her
child has been stabbed I saw them Darren 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 Darren I
don't know who it was we gotta 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 babies are dead do you want honey hold on ma'am I can't
understand you 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 oh my God what happened hold on honey hold on who
was on it was the white phone hold on they are 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
are 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 a 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 gotta 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 her name Darley 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 Darley replies they killed our babies the police officer says lie down okay just sit down darlie rotier says no
he ran out uh they ran out in the garage I was sleeping my baby's over here already cut can 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 there there police officer says what about you is 82 out on Eagle
huh they took they ran Eagle 5801 Eagle my God 82 are you out police officer nothing's
gone Mrs rotier oh my God oh my God why would they do this police officer the problem Mrs
rotier would 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 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 prince maybe
maybe ma'am hang on hang on a second somebody who did it intentionally walked in here and did it Darren 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
[Music] [Music] 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 Darley rotier you've had a chance to actually listen to the 9-1-1 call she's hysterical through most of it
it's very chaotic but it's five 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 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 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 me that she's
about to say well I bet if if I hadn't touched the knife we could have got fingerprints
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 and you might not
find in 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 9-1-1 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 Darley 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 that threw the knife down my babies are dying they're dead oh my God she makes no mention of her picking up
the knife on that first go around of that question which is interesting to me because if it
was information that she really thought that she needed to plant and get out there and provide to everyone in the
Heat of the Moment well she's certainly passed on it on the first opportunity well and then the other one she says uh
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 why I already touched 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 an odd line to me but again
she I mean she 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 gotta be the complete shock but to address the first
thing that you had mentioned 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 in in 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 9-1-1 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 almost
like you can't win either way as far as what your gut reaction is going to be to a 9-1-1 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 because 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 Darley to
confirm that the police officers are there so did the police officer 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 Darren 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 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 and 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's 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 she's 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 five 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's locked yeah they're saying ma'am or the police
there and she says yes and she says well there's a 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 he heard the commotion and came down on his own to walk into this horrific scene one
just to let everybody know to understand the way in which this Intruder entered the house they they cut a screen and 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 in the front door is
locked at least leads more towards her story making sense and when they show up on scene
we have Devin who is already dead we have Damon who is still alive when First Responders get to
the scene we have Darley who's bloodied 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 one second
because 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 to 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 Stage the scene right why would she call 9-1-1 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 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 9-1-1 call and again that points towards why would you
want to wake I mean look you don't know if the 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 I2 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 Darren 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 6 1996 that is when Devin 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 Darren 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 Devin called and I told him to be home soon because we were going to eat Darren
played with the baby this is the infant Drake with Dana her sister while I pulled
everything together to eat Devin came home and we all ate dinner together it's too many people with d names after we
ate we cleaned all the plates I changed 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 three weeks as that we had hoped it would continue since work had been slow for a couple of months
Devin 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. 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 have 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 9-1-1 Darren started giving Devin 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 and the flower arrangement had been
knocked over I then stood up and 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 Neal it's their neighbor and friend she's also a nurse
I was still on the phone with 9-1-1 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 Darren was
screaming who did this who did this and I started asking if my babies were dead Darren was crying and said yes
after I just remembered screaming and showing Darren my neck Darren took me out to the front of the
house and by then Darren 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 Darren 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 the same time here Captain keep in
mind darley's been rushed from the hospital directly to the police station to give that statement we have her
husband Darren 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 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
Devin 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 goodnight told her to dream about me and went upstairs around 1am 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 Devin Devin oh my
God Devin 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 Devin 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 9-1-1 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 door I banged five six times as hard as I
could until Terry comes to the door first and when I told them that Devin 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 Devin
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 night shirt 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 Darren 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 ask about what happened
I sat for a minute on the curb and walked over to the ambulance where Damon was an ass 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 ask 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 neighbor Hood statements that
heard her scream or saw anything suspicious that night so in reviewing the trial in 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 Darren 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 darlie's Behavior what kind of mother
she was and plenty of opinions about the rotiers 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 9-1-1 call right because it sounds like darlie has the recollection that she may have
woke Darren up as she's getting ready to call 9-1-1 but to back that up a little
bit 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 9-1-1 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 five to six minute window of time yeah chaos is
probably a better word than trauma and for them to have a full understanding in 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 two 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 sixth the statements written by these two individuals individually on the
eighth 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 worked 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 one 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 Darley 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 Darley 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 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 two 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 a similar
same year case two JonBenet 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 Darley 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 the statement and then
he tells his wife well yeah I I give 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 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 eight in the morning let's say 605 hypothetically to be
questioned about very serious events at 605 one hour and five 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 you again here's my problem with it it's
irresponsible to come up with the 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 the 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 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 Darley 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 yeah
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 an infant so you know I don't
have a lot of understanding of you know part postpartum 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 the the Intruder could have came in for a multitude of reasons agreed you know
to oh well here's this uh 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 uh I'm in here
I don't maybe they these people would recognize me so I have to kill anybody that that possibly could identify me
because for all we know the kids woke up and saw this individual yeah so it's very tough I mean it the
motive on either end um 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 two millimeters away from the Carotid artery two millimeters
away from killing her correct that 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 a 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 of 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 much 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 there are 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 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 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 that
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 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 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 it would have been taken from a butcher block that was inside the home and to
take it a step further because I have like random knives and so that's why I wondered is it is it possible that it's
not from a set and they were they thought it was from like just a random knife from 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 your block and it was to take it a step further though too
I could find nowhere that Darren or Darley were disputing that the knife came from inside the home right 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
sophisticated criminal would enter that home and again this would be for motives
that are are well beyond this 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 tea into the screen outside go in
through the garage through the utility room into the kitchen 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 use 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 horizontal cut and then in the center of that roughly in
the center of that made a vertical cut down there's so many reasons that this case is so frustrating
but one if if she is guilty what the heck is the motive because at least I can come up with a couple plausible
motives that make sense if there's an intruder [Music] so much more to get to if you have thoughts and opinions on
this case go to True Crime garage.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
foreign [Music]

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 is accused of murdering her sons; the episode examines evidence, 9-1-1 call, and conflicting statements from the family.

Key points

Philicide: A Shocking Reality. USA Today reveals that on average, 450 children are killed by their parents each year.
The Case of Darlie Routier. Darlie Routier, a mother of three, faces accusations of murdering her two sons.
The 911 Call Analysis. A deep dive into the chaotic 911 call made by Darlie Routier during the tragic event.
A Mother's Shock. The mother is in complete shock as she witnesses her children dying.
Confusion in the Call. The chaotic nature of the 9-1-1 call raises questions about the mother's actions.
The Shock of Injury. Darren discovers Darley is also injured, covered in blood.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

It's an unfathomable concept.

5:29WatchNov 7, 2022

Tension

70/ 100High tension

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