Unsolved Mysteries with Dennis Farina - Season 2, Episode 14 | Forensic Files

[Music] next on Unsolved Mysteries a young man is found shot to death in his bedroom investigators say
it was a suicide but his parents say it was murdered three extraordinary house pets
Become Three extraordinary Heroes a star witness is set to testify against the Hell's Angels but then
and a mother is on death row for killing her two young children her family claims
that there's no evidence that proves she's innocent our team is standing by maybe
you can help solve one of our cases I'm Dennis finina and this is Unsolved Mysteries join us
[Music] h Arlington Virginia I thought I left the lights on Beth George and her husband Tom burette
returned to their home near the campus of maramont University their son Tommy is a student
there but he is staying with them for the holidays Tommy when his parents walk into his bedroom they discover a
horrible scene no Tommy is upright on his sofa lifeless Tommy brette had been shot once through
the mouth a Revol rested in his hands the police said that it was suicide but Tommy's parents have always believed
that he was murdered their suspicions began the moment they discovered their son's
body I went over close to him and I knelt down beside him and I touched his hands were Stone Cold Tom look at that
gun something's not right Tom brette was surprised to find the gun's cylinder unlatched it could not have been fired
in that position paramedics arrived on the scene followed quickly by police the lead detective soon emerged
from Tommy's room with an old bank deposit slip I have something to show you on one side was a a note which said
simply I want to be cremated this is Tommy's handwriting Fire and Rescue Squad said
Tommy's been dead for hours no that's not true it just happened probably happened I was dumbfounded of that
comment because it didn't take a medical person to recognize that Tommy had been
dead for several hours he was cold he was stiff blooded dried any Layman would have said several hours the gun was proc
Tess uh an autopsy was conducted photographs were taken a thorough and acceptable crime scene was
conducted to the police the fact spoke for themselves Tommy's death was an open and shut case of
suicide but Beth and Tom were certain of their son had been murdered it wasn't just the unlatched gun and the
suspicious note Tommy's glasses wallet and driver's license were missing come in Oh Mr forette oh you have my
condolences when his parents went to Tommy's dorm room to collect his belongings the driver's license
mysteriously appeared how did you get this oh well I'm sorry according to Tom and Beth
School administrators would not provide any information about the student who had turned in Tommy's driver's license
Tommy's parents decided to talk to their neighbors to see if they had noticed anything unusual on the day Tommy died
several neighbors reported seeing Tommy's Car being chased by a larger darker car one neighbor saw the cars
coming and he thought this is serious it's life or death another neighbor reported that one of the cars involved
in the chase at one point drove through someone's lawn Tommy's car was apparently run off the road and he was
assaulted he got away from his attackers and made it back to our house Tommy's body was exhumed for a
second autopsy it revealed abrasions and bruising around his right ear and a broken
jaw Tom come here a few weeks after Tommy's death Beth noticed a spray of small reddish marks on the stairway it
looks like scattered faint blood stains they hired Paul Kish a blood stain expert based in New York he
confirmed the spots were blood there we go it's not consistent with being created from an individual committing
suicide in a room setting on a sofa some other violent altercation took place where blood was shed with a lot of
energy being exerted towards a blood like a gunshot this spent bullet was found in the wall of Tommy's room
but curiously forensic analysis found that there was no blood or tissue on it I'm calling about some information uh
concerning my son Tommy Beth made the decision to find out if Tommy had called 911 on the day he died do you have any
records of him making any 911 calls that day she said well on the computer screen
it shows his name and the time that he called and then he made two consecutive calls but the message has been deleted
do you have any records of any complaints he may have made against any persons she said yes he had filed a
complaint at the end of October and at the end of August what was the nature of the complaints she said I'll have to
check with my supervisor so she was gone several minutes and came back and said I
don't know why his name is on the computer but he didn't call 911 it's my understanding that the information uh
that the barquettes came up with about the 911 call was well after the 30 days and the tape that would have been on the
machine that particular night had already been routinely erased Beth and Tom remembered a strange
series of events that took place a few weeks before their son's death hello Mom they smashed my mailbox and took my
paycheck they took everything calm it began with a phone call from Tommy Tommy was normally very poised very calm and
he was just frantic what do you think was in there something I didn't want anyone to
know about I think they found out what I'm doing since he was not positive they had
found something out he was not going to Deva exactly what he was worried about what's wrong with you Beth claimed
that several sources told her that Tommy was assaulted a few days later by a student and then he went to confront his
attacker we were later told by a student at the University that the young man who had
Tommy's driver's license after he was dead was the same student who had beaten Tommy
up Tom and Beth gathered more information some from Curious sources they concluded that Tommy was
working as a DEA informant and that a group of students dealing drugs on campus conspired to kill him
a number of sources mostly Anonymous have come to us and um helped us piece together a story and in most instances
uh their accounts corroborate each other and what we've learned about our son was
that he was a paid DEA informant that there were a group of students on the campus who were dealing
drugs they felt Tommy Knew Too Much and that they conspired with others to to kill
him Beth and Tom are convinced that their neighbors saw Tommy being chased by The Killers and that he got home in
time to call 911 before they burst in an informant told Beth and Tom that their son was beaten to death with a
baseball bat and that phone books were used to minimize bruising and absorve blood
spat the story fit in with everything we had noticed and could not account for um
during the previous months for example we had noticed our phone books were missing the week after Tommy
died also there had been a ball bat in Tommy's bedroom and the gripping tape had been stripped off the
bat Tom and Beth have names of the students they suspect were involved in Tommy's death um there's not enough
evidence to say their names publicly at this point but I believe with some of the evidence they've collected over the
past two years that uh they may have the right people there's a sense of Rage that nobody's doing anything no matter
how much information is dumped on the laps of law enforcement people they don't do anything it is a suicide until
substantial credible information is brought to us at that point we will examine all the information just as we
have for the past years the US drug enforcement agency has denied any connection with Tommy brette
and the local police still consider his death a suicide if you have any information about the death of Tommy
brette please log on to our website at unsolved.com next dramatic rescues by extraordinary
four-legged [Music] Heroes you're about to meet Buu Oscar and Ringo each is a household pet and
each is responsible for saving a life just how they did it and why they did it is an unsolved
[Music] mystery the Yuba River in California lilan mcder was roming with her New Finland Buu Buu is a big dog but
still only a puppy it was the summer and the Yuba was very inviting and so I thought it was a great opportunity for a
Newland to play in the water chasing sticks and having fun Upstream an amateur prospector named
link Hill had just finished dredging the river for [Music] gold when link came into view boo
suddenly lost interest in chasing sticks I leaned down to see what it was he was
looking at and I saw what I thought was a log rolling in the white water I looked again and here an arm
came up out of the White Water holding a small gas can Lian was at a loss but the puppy
knew exactly what had to be done go po Buu swam straight into a strong current to reach the drowning
stranger he grabbed Link's arm and hauled him back to shore [Music] it turned out that link hill was a de
mute unable to speak or to hear and if not for Buu he most likely would have drowned some experts believe that Buu's
response may have been triggered by psychic abilities what that animal felt was that man's fear and he realized that
was not a log you know cuz he could feel the emotion coming from that man and the
emotion of that man calling out in his mind for help that's all that dog needed he's a Newland read for a number
of tasks one of which is to perform water rescues it's something that's innate or some people use the term
instinctive that animals do because of their genetic Heritage Oscar a Chesapeake Bay
Retriever has been a constant companion and best friend to his owner Chris ashenberg he learned early on that
people were good and he just loves to be around people and in fact that that's one of the things that's most surprising
about what actually happened on a hot July evening Chris returned home and the house was
quiet this was odd because Oscar usually gave him a noisy welcome take it easy take it easy what do you
want just take okay okay okay okay okay just take it easy please please at that point I then started to think about
Oscar I was worried that I was going to open the door Oscar was going to try to greet this guy like he greets all of my
friends that walk into the house and this guy was just going to react by shooting
him but Oscar was nowhere to be seen he had plans of his [Music] own help finally this guy was able to get his arm
free and in that action of freeing the arm he hit me I was a little disoriented for a moment uh and by the time I
regained my composure he was gone I could hear him getting out of the gate you all right come here pal Oscar
was drenched in blood but it wasn't his blood it was the robbers you're fine pal this is merely
reaffirmed in me that I have a very dynamic alive interesting intelligent creature uh that I'm sharing my life
with and who in this uh respect probably uh saved my life first off it's almost sure that Oscar was aware of the
Intruder before Chris got home he heard him he smelled him and whether it was territorial Behavior or protective
Behavior or combination of both it's impossible to say but he definitely took the initiative took the offense because
of all these cues that were telling him this is not normal something isn't right however dogs aren't the only
animals capable of protecting their owners Ray and Carol Steiner owe their lives to a three-year-old cat named
Ringo it was a summer day and the Steiners were both at home Ray was recovering from surgery and Carol had a
foot ailment both had been suffering from memory loss high blood pressure and chronic fatigue what what I was noticing
the most was terrible headaches dizziness I was sleeping all the time Carol noticed that Ringo was acting
strangely she thought that he wanted to go out okay go on Ringo I open the door he
won't go out so I said okay kitty and close the door no sooner did Carol get settled
down than Ringo wanted to go out again so Carol opened the door again come out go he turns up at me and gives a really
high meow and it was obvious I was to come out so I walked out with him Ringo LED Carol around the side of
the house all of a sudden he started digging in our Landscaping what is it Kitty and then he
opened up his mouth and curled his lips up as if something was had a terrible smell oh oh my God that smell was Lethal
methane gas Carol immediately called the gas company and within minutes a service
technician arrived let me take a read here he put a tool in the ground and a Sirin went
off well this is way above normal this is very very unusual he told us for explosive levels I've got to turn your
gas off right now or you're going to blow the Steiners had a large split in the gas pipe at the very spot where
Ringo had been digging deadly amounts of gas had been seeping into the house we looked at each other then we
looked at the cat and I said my gosh Ray Ringo saved Our Lives was it instinct or are some animals
Guided by unexplained psychic abilities we may never know but to their owners it
hardly matters they are alive to tell the tale a good boy it's a good boy next a fugitive who murdered a
policeman escapes from prison but thanks to you is recaptured and later an outlaw biker
gang takes Revenge on a [Music] witness cuso Oklahoma a Small Town police chief JB
Hami responds to an emergency call from a local business fre get out of here 20 shots are fired in a matter of
seconds one Robber is killed and the other is hit twice but escapes less than 5 minutes later Chief
Hami dies from gunshot wounds he was a 24-year veteran of law enforcement the surviving gunman David
Gordon Smith was later captured and was sentenced to life in prison for the murder open for
because of good behavior Smith became a prison trustee then 7 years after the murder Smith
escaped update Spearfish South Dakota following the Airing of the David Gordon Smith case on Unsolved Mysteries
an anonymous tip was received giving us his location he was working as a service
manager in an automobile dealership authorities in South Dakota went to his place of employment he was arrested
without incident and he readily admitted his identity upon questioning him there's a tremendous amount of
relief it was equivalent to a long-term gigantic debt being paid off David Gordon Smith was returned to
Oklahoma and is now serving his sentence at the State Penitentiary he received an
additional 4 4 years for the [Music] Escape Champlain New York Lee Carter Jr was the kind of guy
who always tried to do the right thing but then one [Applause] morning doing the right thing got him
killed a bomb was placed under the seat of his Porsche that ended his life there's been no closure of any kind I
wake up in the morning he's the first thing I think about I go to bed at night I'd say most of the time it's the first
thing I'm thinking about the last thing I'm thinking about the bomb was planted by this man
Richard Valley in a battle for control of drugs and prostitution police say that Valley's job was to kill people who
double cross the Hell's Angels biker gang Lee Carter Jr lived near the Canadian border he was approached by Associates
of Valley who wanted to use his home as a safe house the gang planned to smuggle
a major shipment of cocaine from the United States into Canada keys at the price we discussed that's right Carter
went to the police and agreed to act as an informant the drug deal was quickly shut down and Valley was charged with
conspiracy to import cocaine my Sunday didn't get into detail on it to me at all he did tell me he was
working with the state police he told me he was helping him and I started to ask
him what it was about and he said it was best that I didn't get involved in it but before the case could go to trial
Lee Carter Jr the main witness was eliminated Richard Valley was known to be a demolitions expert police believed
Richard Valley planted the bomb that killed Lee Carter Jr K obviously made the decision that if he
took out the witness had the witness killed then there was nobody to testify him against Court the drug charge would
have to be dismissed which in effect is what happened with the star witness dead the
drug charges against Valley were dropped it took 2 years for New York and Canadian authorities to gather enough
evidence to charge Valley with Lee's murder he was finally arrested in Canada and while in custody another inmate
broke his jaw in a jailhouse fight over the next few weeks he was treated at a local hospital and two
guards were always with him during the course of his visit he had uh consistently set up where he would take
a shower around 8:00 he had been on the phone and indicated to one of the guards
that he would like the guard to wait there because he was waiting for an important phone call from his attorney
he then went to take a shower with the other guard as the both of them entered the shower room uh the one guard was a
Conant what took you with the help of an accomplice Valley escaped when I think of Richard Valley I
think of an individual that thinks nothing of Taken life thinks nothing of anyone else whatsoever he is it and
that's all he has no values it would help considerably to know that at least the individual wasn't
out there living high in the hog while he has taken someone else's life update while in Montreal Canada Richard
Valley was pulled over for drunk Dragon he was released on bail later when the police checked his fingerprints they
realized that he was a wanted fugitive and quickly tracked him Richard Valley was tried and convicted
in Albany New York for the murder of Lee Carter [Music] Jr coming up a mother is convicted of
murdering her two young boys her family says that she's a victim not a killer [Music]
at Texas Darlene Lynn Routier a housewife and mother of three makes a frantic call
to [Applause] 911 within 5 minutes the first police officer arrived dar's eldest son Devon is dead
from four knife wounds his brother Damon has been savagely attacked and takes his
last breath in the care of a paramedic darly has a deep gash in her neck and wounds on her arms but she
survives in a dramatic turn of events darly ly rouer would be charged with the murder of her own
children we the jury find the defendant darly Lynn rer guilty of the offense of eight months later Dary Lynn rouer is
convicted of killing her two little boys she is sentenced to die by lethal injection I never thought that darly did
this Devon and Damon's killer is running free and that's what this is about the truth and finding Justice for Devon and
Damon that's the most important thing is you know we've got to save her life before they execute this innocent
girl I've been wrongfully convicted I'm innocent uh I've been done wrong there has been a lot of terrible wrong things
that have been done to me me and my family darly Lynn Routier has always proclaimed her innocence her family
believes that crucial evidence was overlooked during her trial a juror who voted to convict her is now convinced
that he made a mistake but authorities argue that their case against darly Lynn is atite say hi Diamond
hi the rouers were living the American dream three beautiful children a happy marriage and a majestic house in a
wealthy suburb of Dallas but in one night the rouers would lose it all Wow way to go
de darly claims that she too was viciously attacked when Devon and Damon were murdered
this rer can you tell me anything at all about what happened raight police detectives interviewed darly shortly
after surgery she was still sedated I was asleep on the couch and I darly told investigators
that on the night of the attack she Devon and Damon had fallen asleep in the downstairs family room while watching TV
her husband Darren slept upstairs with 8-month-old Drake darly says that she was suddenly
awakened and saw a man hovering over her with a knife and then she saw the back of the
guy leaving the house so she followed him and when she went out the door she saw the knife in the utility room she
picked it up to defend herself if he came back in darly told police that it was only then that she realized that she
was injured and that her boys had been attacked d oh God I hear this scream I run down the
stairs oh my God darly at that point is yelling Deon Deon Deon Deon Deon Deon I mean she's just freaking I get to Devon
and he's got these two huge gashes in the top of his chest he's laying face up I mean just blanking his
eyes you know I'm thinking CPR I pop his head back I start blowing into his mouth
and as soon as I blow into his mouth air comes out of his chest blood splatters All Over Me Not only you just been woken
up to the worst nightmare in your whole life your child is dying in front of you
and you just darling get some towels you don't know what to do investigators did not question
Darren's story but they were troubled by dar's statement they didn't understand how she
could have slept through the attack and why she couldn't give a clear description of her asent
can you tell me what this person looked like no sir when it came time to describe the so-called suspect she was
unable to describe the person even though the person was uh supposedly kneeling or sitting standing on top of
[Music] her investigators discovered that the screen on an open window had been slashed but there was an undisturbed
layer of dust on the window sill suggesting that no one actually came through it in the cut screen detectives
also found a long bleach blonde hair it was the color of dar's hair at the time nothing was missing so police ruled
out robbery they also felt that the blood evidence did not support the story of an
intruder the lack of a blood trail leading from the crime scene continuing out the path that the Intruder
supposedly took was problematic to say the least and this individual miraculously manages to keep any sense
of blood or any evidence off of him doesn't leave any Footprints all the Bloods contained in one
area that was one of the things that again U did not jive with her story another puzzling clue was
discovered in an alley three houses down from darley's home it was a tube sock with small amounts of blood from the two
murdered boys one of the characteristics of cases where mothers are involved in the
killing of the children are that after the fact there's a very amateurism would do something like this
to their children but at some point when you're presented with this type of overwhelming physical evidence you have
to start accepting some of it I never suspected that they were looking at darly I thought at the hospital they
were looking at Darren but never darly and then on the news there was breaking news and it showed Darlin in
handcuffs and I started screaming and crying and you know just unbelievable dar's attorneys and
investigators say that the evidence used against her was terribly flawed when the officers examined the
window which had been cut they found there was no dust Disturbed on the window sill and also found a blonde hair
stuck into the screen area they assumed that blonde hair was darl's later that hair through DNA
examination was determined to belong to a rette police officer the window cell is 10 in off the floor if you went
through the window and crouched down and put one leg through the window it's more
probable you wouldn't disturb the dust than you would disturb the dust you're innocent and you keep
waiting for them to come back and tell you that oh we've made a terrible mistake and we're so sorry and you know
we found who did this I just cannot believe you know what was [Music] happening next dar's attorneys claimed
that overlooked fingerprints found that the crime scene prove her innocence and a juror who voted to
convict darly speaks out in her defense I believe with all my heart that Dar ler
is innocent there's not a doubt in my mind darly ly rouer a young Texas housewife
stood accused of viciously killing two of her own children ladies and gentlemen I want you to listen very care according
to the DA Dar Lin rouer was a greedy selfish and vain woman he said that motherhood was
getting in the way of her extravagant Lifestyle the prosecution also suggests that if her two boys were dead darly
could collect on their life insurance and resume her wild ways the da argued that darly was
suffering from postpartum depression and that she slid her own throat and then triy to make it appear
that an intruder did it and I know it sounds diabolical but the evidence they were crucifying her
character to make this very conservative jury hate darly and it was all a bunch of Lies it's my opinion that the crime
scene was staged a medical examiner testified that dar's wounds were superficial and
self-inflicted dramatically different than the wound sustained by the young victims but the defense introduced
medical records showing that the knife slash to darl's neck came within a 16th of an inch of severing her cored artery
which would have killed her photographs taken at the hospital show extreme bruising on dar's arms but
the notes that you took uh that you were telling us about dary's attorneys also would back the theory that she committed
the murders to collect on her boys's life insurance they're trying to say she did just for the money there's $5,000
life insurance on those boys that's ridiculous it cost 13,000 to bury them the prosecution countered with a
blood spatter expert virtually all of the blood on dar's shirt was her own but there was one tiny
blood stain on the back that contained both Devon and Damon's blood was a shirt that darly was wearing it had cast off
blood on the back over the shoulder area and uh this would have come as the knife
was being pulled out of the children's body and being brought over her shoulder and then dripping and the analysis of
the DNA indicated it belonged to the children and that was a very important piece of of EV evidence how did that
blood get there if not that manner all the blood evidence was handled by police officers that were not
experienced with collecting evidence and instead of drying that evidence that Bloody evidence out and putting it the
proper way for uh storing for the trial they threw it into bags and multiple pieces of blood on top of each other so
that the blood stains could transfer from different areas we very careful and methodical in
our gathering of evidence our officers have been trained in it just like officers Across the
Nation we haven't just fallen off the hay wagon recently do you recall any statements
that the prosecution also played this videotape for the jury 8 days after the murders the rouer
family decided to celebrate Devon's 7th birthday posum usly darly was on painkillers antibiotics and
anti-depressants a new crew captured what happened [Music] next love you de and D this does not
appear to be the behavior of a grieving mother and all right fine let's discount
it she Grieves differently than everybody else in the world but what about all this other preponderance of
evidence that's still out there we can't ignore all the rest of it that was a celebration of Devon's birthday we we
had invitations sent out we had presents already bought and he was murdered 3 days before
we got to have his party we used silly stream because Deon and Damon always played with Silly String it was one of
their favorite things it's done out of a memory of them they Twisted that and made that into something
ugly during the liberations the jury watched the so-called Silly String video eight
times it took the jury only 10 hours to reach a guilty verdict darly rouer was immediately
taken to death row at Gatesville State Prison killed the boys I'm innocent dary's family and attorneys
claimed that during the investigation and trial crucial details were overlooked they say that the photos of
her wounds were not properly presented to the jury after the trial one of the jurors who
convicted Darley Charles sford had a chance to take a close look at the pictures after I saw the pictures that
made me feel that she's not guilty she did not cut herself and that she put up a heck of a fight to protect her own
self I believe with all my heart that do L ler is innocent there's not a doubt in
my [Music] mind dar's Defenders also point to the mysterious tube sock that was found 75
yd from the crime scene uh the sock contains both boys blood and probably epithelial or skin DNA of darly there
are no blood stains that belong to darly on the sock so it obviously had to be touched by someone
after both boys have been stabbed who also had contact with darling darly supporters say that
examining the timeline that night makes the prose F's account of the murders impossible medical testimony established
that Damon could not have lived for more than 9 minutes after receiving his fatal
wound and that he did not die until the paramedics arrived so before they arrived the following events must have
happened darly talked to a 911 operator for 5 minutes and 40 seconds of those 9 Minutes the police secured the crime
for an additional two of those 9 minutes before paramedics were let in that leaves Darley rouer approximately a
minute and a half to place the sock 75 yd down the street stage a crime scene and then cut her own
Thro I believe that the Intruder had the sock on his hand probably used as a glove or something and I believe that he
was covering her mouth I don't believe she did sleep through it I believe that she was
affixiated she was completely unconscious and during the time of her becoming conscious is when she says I
woke up dar's family believes unidentified fingerprints at the crime scene belong to the
Intruder a fingerprint on the door leading to the garage and a second print on the credenza behind the couch have
never positively been identified by investigators they're not dares they're not Darren and they're not either of the
two boys I think it shows the overall problems with the case that uh the state did not
investigate the case fully that they focused on darly from not day one but minute
one an intruder did come into my house that man does exist and he's walking free while my wife is on death row for
something she didn't do dar's family believes the attacker may have been a sexual predator a series
of violent rapes occurred in the Dallas area at the same time as the rouer murders these crimes were quite similar
to the attack on darly and her children the as salant enters the unlocked homes of victims attacks them with knives
found in the kitchen and wears tube socks over his hands to avoid leaving fingerprints could this person have been
the real killer dar's lawyers continue to appeal her sentence if and when those appeals
are exhausted she'll be executed if you have any information about this case please log on to our
website at unsolomovimientomusic [Music] now [Music]

This, Episode includes: Tommy and His Parents, Pet Heroes, Cop Killer Escape, Hell's Angels Fugitive and Death Row Mom (Pts. 1 & 2)

Brief Summary

Tommy Brette's suspicious death, heroic pets, and Darlie Routier's controversial murder conviction are featured in this episode.

Key points

The Mysterious Death of Tommy Brette. Tommy Brette was found dead in his dorm room, ruled a suicide, but his parents suspect murder.
Ringo the Hero Cat. Ringo alerts his owners to a dangerous gas leak, potentially saving their lives.
The Conviction of Darlene Lynn Routier. Darlene Lynn Routier is convicted of murdering her two sons, but her family insists she's innocent.
Darly's Innocence Proclaimed. Darly Lynn Routier maintains her innocence amidst accusations of murdering her children.
The Night of the Attack. Darly recounts the horrifying night her children were murdered and her own injuries.
Juror's Change of Heart. A juror who convicted Darly now believes she is innocent after seeing evidence.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Something's not right.

Tom Brette's realization about his son's death scene.

2:33WatchMar 9, 2017

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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