Darlie Routier
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Darlie Routier (b. January 4, 1970) is a woman sitting on Texas death row for the murder of her two children, Damon and Devon.
Her two sons were stabbed to death in the family's Rowlett, Texas home on June 6, 1996. Routier also sustained several wounds, which prosecutors claimed were self-inflicted, related to the incident.
Though a motive is unclear, prosecutors claimed that Routier murdered her two sons because she was angered by her family's financial difficulties. Her husband, Darin, a small business owner, and the family enjoyed a relatively high annual income. However, most of the money that he earned was quickly spent - later termed as "living large" by the prosecution team. The family lived in a lavish Georgian home in an affluent neighborhood, drove a Jaguar, and owned a $20,000 boat. Prosecutors argue that Routier feared that, with little money left in the bank, her affluent lifestyle was threatened, and killed her children to rid herself of a financial burden. This claim has been disputed by her supporters and family.
Routier claimed that an intruder (or intruders) killed her children, but police became suspicious when numerous inconsistencies in stated and stipulated facts came to light. For example, Routier's children were killed with deep, penetrating knife wounds to their torsos, while Routier's wounds were slashes to her neck and arm; The police wondered why an intruder would attack the victims in such different ways. Also, Routier claimed that at one point, she ran barefooted through her kitchen to call for help. The floor of the kitchen was covered with broken glass, but Routier had no injuries to her feet. She also claimed to chase the intruder to the utility room, but there were no bloody footprints leading to that area. In addition, traces of the screen that the intruder supposedly cut were found on one of the knives in Routier's kitchen. The sink in the kitchen also contained traces of blood, so police suspected that she inflicted the wounds upon herself over the sink, then washed the blood down. Areas of blood around the sink had been wiped away, as revealed by a luminol test.
Routier made such a point of telling the 911 operator that she had picked up the murder weapon (thus removing any prints) that many were immediately suspicious.
The surgeon who attended her referred to her supposed attack wounds as 'superficial'.
Spots of blood found on her clothing demonstrated she had stabbed her son.
No identifiable evidence of any intruder was ever found. In a scene absolutely covered with blood there was not a single sign of a bloody footprint.
Routier told her ex-maid that she wasn't bothered about the cost of the funeral as she could claim $10,000 funeral insurance.
Routier attempted suicide two months before killing her sons.
The public was also horrified by a video that had Routier and other family members holding a "birthday party" at the graves of the murdered children. Routier was shown acting very happy and even spraying silly string on her son's graves. She was then charged with the murder of her children. She was tried and convicted of murdering one of her two sons, and sentenced to death. Prosecutors did not try Routier for the death of the second son, holding his murder in reserve in case of Routier's acquittal on the first murder trial.
There is still some dispute over whether Routier actually committed the crime, and some feel that she should be set free. She is often the focus of anti-capital punishment groups, who use her case to argue that the system is rigged and unfair, especially when trials are conducted based upon circumstantial evidence alone.
