Darlie routier update 2012

He thought it was odd that an intruder that presumably came in to rob the house would walk right past the purse and jewelry without taking it all. Nabors also noticed that with all the blood on the counter and kitchen floor that the sink was perfectly clean and the cabinet doors under the sink were clean as well with the exception of blood smudges around the edges. It gave the appearance that someone had tried to wipe the counter and cabinet doors clean of blood. Nabor's sprayed Luminol, a chemical compound that picks up the copper found in blood which often remains behind after attempts are made of cleaning it up.

The Luminol indicated there had been a significant amount of blood there which had been obviously wiped up. James Cron found it odd that other than a blood smudge on the door leading to the utility room and two blood smudges on the side of the washing machine, there was nothing else past that point to indicate that an intruder had exited through the garage as Darlie had claimed; not one drop of blood anywhere.

The cut screen on the garage window was just that, cut. It wasn't bent in or out or stretched in any way to indicate someone had gone through it in either direction. The dust on the window sill was undisturbed, there was no blood or fingerprints found on the window or the screen, and the ground outside the window had no bloody footprints or footprints of any kind. There was absolutely nothing to indicate anyone had gone into the garage and through the window; coming in or going out.

The investigators discovered a motion sensor light on the redwood spa the Routier's had installed in the backyard. Tests revealed that it would stay on for 18 minutes after it was activated. If Darlie's "timeline of events" was accurate according to her call and what she first told police, that light would have still been on when officers Waddle and Walling arrived on the scene in 3 minutes and 4 minutes after the call.

Both officers testified that it was not on when they initially checked the garage and backyard. Darlie repeatedly stated that the intruder exited the house through the garage and went out the window. A significant amount of blood was found on the kitchen floor in front of the sink. The only footprints found were Darlie's bare footprints and a partial boot-print found to be consistent with Sergeant Walling's boots from where he first checked the garage.

There was broken glass on the kitchen floor from a wine glass, but the glass was on top of the blood, there were no blood drops discovered on top of the shards of glass suggesting that it had been broken after the events that had supposedly taken place. Examination of Darlie's feet she was barefooted revealed no cuts from the glass. A vacuum cleaner was found turned over but with blood underneath it as if deliberately placed there after the fact.

An intact expensive flower vase was found lying on the floor with long stem flowers. The stems were unbroken giving the investigators the impression that they had just been laid there, not knocked over during a struggle. One investigator later commented "Strange Cron quietly approached Lt Jack outside in front of the house and told him that from what he was seeing so far, it was starting to look like these murders had been committed by someone living in the house.

Jack told Cron that he had the same gut feeling after he heard Darlie's account of what happened and compared it to the scene. As the investigation proceeded it was beginning to appear as if the scene of the crime had been staged to give the impression that a struggle had taken place between Darlie and an intruder.

None of the forensic evidence was matching Darlie's initial story. Cron told Lt. Jack that if a struggle had taken place, it was minimal and if an intruder had been there, he couldn't find any evidence of his presence in the house.

He said there was no visible evidence to suggest that someone had exited through the garage as Darlie had stated. Author Note - Out of due respect for the victims and family, no photos of the boy's body's will be displayed here. It was off when officers arrived 3 and 4 minutes after the call.

It came on when officers walked out and checked the back yard and stayed on for 18 minutes. Darlie's jewelry in plain sight on the kitchen counter. The vacuum cleaner in the kitchen with blood underneath it. Obviously placed there after the fact.

Rug in front of the sink. Blood drops on top of drops found here indicate that Darlie stood here bleeding for some time. It's believed this is where she stood and cut her throat and arm.

The blood here was identified as hers. Some of Darlie's bloody footprints on the kitchen floor near the sink. Luminol application indicated at least two of her footprints had been wiped up. Why would she do that?

States Exhibit , the blood map. Note - the author added the placement of Darlie, Devon and Damon to this map along with references for orientation of the 1st floor. Darlie Routier was again interviewed the day after the murders in the hospital, this time by detectives. Her story was now more detailed and changed a bit from her original story. I opened my eyes and felt a man get off me. I got up to chase after him. As I flipped the light in the kitchen on, I saw him open his hand and let the knife drop to the floor.

Then he ran out through the garage. I went over and picked up the knife. I shouldn't have picked it up. I probably covered up the fingerprints. I looked over and saw my two babies with blood all over them. I didn't realize my own throat had been cut until I saw myself in a mirror. I screamed out to my husband. Luminol binds to the copper in blood. It will show up under a black light even if attempts are made to clean the blood up.

The Luminol application to the kitchen area showed that a significant amount of blood had been rinsed down the drain most likely with the sprayer. It showed wiped up blood from the counter, the cabinet doors, and on the sides of the sink. There also appeared to be wiped up blood smears on the water faucet and the sprayer as well.

Blood found on the sink back splash turned out to be a combination of both Damon and Devon's blood. Darlie denied cleaning or even being anywhere near the kitchen sink, despite her blood being everywhere around it and in front of it. Until she testified in court, yep, her story changed again That would insinuate that the supposed intruder stopped to wash his hands, clean up the sink, the counter, the outside of the cabinet doors, the sprayer, the back splash, and wipe up two of Darlie's foot prints from the floor all while being chased by Darlie.

And if so, how did he accomplish that without leaving a single bloody footprint on the floor in front of the sink that had Darlie's blood everywhere?

That idea is so preposterous it's not worth considering. More on the sink will be addressed later in this article. Investigators discovered blood drops on top of blood drops on the small carpet immediately in front of the sink indicating that someone that was bleeding had stood there for some time.

Identified as belonging to Darlie And as mentioned, Luminol applied to the kitchen floor showed that someone had attempted to clean up Darlie's bloody footprints facing the sink.

As Darlie's accounts of what happened continued to change in the days following the murders, she now said that she fought the intruder on the couch who was a male, about 6 feet tall, wearing a black t-shirt ball cap and blue jeans that was holding a large knife while still on top of her.

With the various cuts that Darlie presented upon arrival of the police, only a small amount of blood was found on the couch or the pillows where Darlie's second version of what happened claims the knife fight took place. There were no stab marks, punctures, slashes or cast off blood of any kind discovered on the couch where Darlie claimed the knife attack took place. This "revised" version came just minutes after her first story changed from fighting the intruder just inside the kitchen area just before the intruder ran into the garage.

A bloody hand print of Damon's was found on the carpet where he was first stabbed and a second hand print was found on the couch which had initially been wiped off-discovered with Luminol testing showing that he had moved.

A trail of his blood discovered on the carpet indicated that he moved a second time toward the entry way where he was found when emergency services arrived. Blood spatter found on the wall suggested that he had been stabbed a second time by someone who was bleeding. A small pool of blood indicated that someone bleeding, most likely from the hand or arm had been there.

Blood found pooling at the tip of the knife indicated that blood had run down the knife from the handle. This blood turned out be a combination of Damon's and Darlie's blood. Darlie had a laceration on the top of her right arm and she is right handed. Darlie told police she saw the intruder drop the knife in the utility room, she picked it up and placed it on the kitchen island. She never said she carried into the living room where it had obviously been laid down next to Damon's body.

Damon and moved some distance from where he was initially stabbed. His body was found near the wall almost directly in front of the bathroom. It appeared that he was trying his best to make it out of the family room and move toward the stairs. Maybe to get away from Darlie? Interestingly, of the cuts Darlie had on her, the two areas she was most proud of, her face and her breasts, were uninjured.

Darlie has said more than once in post-conviction interviews from prison "How could I have done those things to myself? My neck was cut from ear to ear. Hardly, the 3 and a half inch laceration 9 cm on her neck was defined by two physician's one a surgeon as superficial.

Yes, one end of the cut was close to a carotid artery, but the carotid arteries are also very close to the surface. Her laceration did not penetrate muscle and was less than a half of an inch deep.

Darlie has stated that she had to go to surgery to have her necklace removed that was embedded in her neck from the knife blade. The surgeon, erring on the side of caution decided to do a small exploratory procedure to evaluate the laceration.

Here is a perfect example of inaccurate, or most likely intentionally made-up information about the necklace and surgery direct from the Darlie support site "fordarlieroutier. The truth is, when nurse Jodi Fitts removed the bandage applied by EMS in the ambulance, the necklace fell right off of her neck, prior to any surgery. The website says " doctors " as if a whole team of surgeons were meticulously working on her in a race against the clock to save her life. There was one physician, Dr.

Santos conducting the procedure accompanied by a resident doctor in training who was observing. The website goes on to say that she was in surgery for "2 hours.

Darlie supporters love to say a "nick" or flattened area in the chain "proves" that it saved her life because it kept the knife blade from lacerating her carotid artery; pure speculation. Darlie bought that necklace at a pawn shop; it was used jewelry. Who's to say that nick wasn't in the chain when she purchased it? It's proof of nothing. All the surgeon Dr, Santos did was take a peek at the cut, cleanse it, and close it right back up.

He didn't even use sutures or staples, he used steri-strips. See pic above He had her placed in the ICU only to keep the press from hounding her. Dr Santos testified that under any other circumstances he probably would have discharged her later that morning. The press in-turn, at the family's approval and invitation jumped at the opportunity of getting photos of Darlie in bed in the ICU. It's standard procedure for any patient in a critical care unit to have an IV, be placed on oxygen, capnography 1 , a heart monitor, and pulse oximetry 2 , So now we have these dramatic photos of Darlie in bed with all these wires and tubes and her intentionally displaying a look on her face as if she were on death's doorway.

All with a simple procedure that would have under any other circumstance had her discharged from the ER in a couple of hours. The Darlie supporters proudly display these photos on their blogs and websites and say "OMG, look at her, she almost died, she couldn't have possibly done this to herself.

Darlie and her defense counsel claimed that her bruises, all predominately on the underside of her right arm were defensive bruises where she had fought off the intruder. If that's true, what caused the bruises?

According to one version of Darlie's 5 different intruder stories, he supposedly had a knife, not a baseball bat. Why were there no slashes or stabs underneath her right arm where she was using it for defense?

Why only bruises? Bruises like that don't just come from someone grabbing your arm, they came from striking something. If she were striking out or defending herself with her arms how did she not get cut by the knife? No cuts were found under either one of her arms. Why weren't the palms of her hands or her fingers cut while fighting a man with knife? Suggested theories as to the causes for the bruises have included the boys kicking with their legs to ward off the stabs.

Especially the right arm holding the knife Juror Rina Way said on the "Liza Show" that the fact that Devon had a knife wound on his buttocks suggested that he had both legs up in the air kicking Darlie's right arm to ward off the stabs to his chest. The other theory is that Darlie or with Darin's assistance created the bruises herself to support her story of fighting the intruder.. A trauma surgeon, an emergency room nurse and four ICU nurses testified during the trial that the bruises under her right arm were definitely not there while Darlie was in their care and up to when she was discharged.

As to be expected, the Darlie supporters claim that their testimony was manipulated by the prosecution. This infers that a doctor and four nurses from Baylor University Medical Center were talked into risking their careers and risked receiving jail time by committing perjury on the witness stand.

After the trial, juror Charlie Samford publicly stated that if he had seen the photo of her under arm bruise, he would have voted not guilty. The trial transcripts clearly describe Asst. DA Toby Shook instructing the courtroom bailiff to be sure to show the photo of her large underarm Right arm bruise to every single juror.

Was juror Charlie Samford asleep when this picture was shown to them? During the trial, Dr. Alejandro Santos, the trauma surgeon that closed Darlie's wounds was called to testify. DA Toby Shook showed Dr. Santos the infamous bruise photo of Darlie's right arm Shown below that her supporters say prove that she fought off an intruder.

Prosecutor: Okay. Now, you never saw any evidence of this injury to the right arm on her stay [in the hospital] on the 6th, 7th or 8th of June; is that right? Santos: Other than the other wounds that we talked about earlier, no, I did not see any other type of injury. Prosecutor: How long would it take for bruising like this to occur to the arm after receiving this blunt force trauma?

Prosecutor : Would the nurses make notes of that if they saw this type of injury? Santos: Yes. That's part of their duties, is to find injuries that we may have missed. And certainly something like this would be something I would expect the nurses to point out to me or to the other doctors before we sent her home.

Even Darlie's friend and neighbor Karen Neal, a trained Registered Nurse, testified that she didn't see the underarm bruise on her right arm while visiting Darlie every day in the hospital. She said the only bruise she observed was around the cut on the top of Darlie's arm. It's interesting how no one saw these mysterious bruise's before June 10th, except of course Darlie's family members.

The bruise photos were taken on June 10, - 48 hours after Darlie's discharge from the hospital. That falls right in line with Dr. Santos' expert opinion of bruising occurring within hours. June 10th was 48 hours after her discharge. Which is highly suggestive of assisted or self infliction when she got back home from the hospital prior to the police photos.

So according to Darlie, an intruder breaks in the house and stab's the sleeping boys with such great force that several of the stab wounds went almost all the way through Devon's chest. All of this vicious action takes place just a few feet from her and she doesn't hear a sound; she continues sleeping. Then with the element of surprise on his side, the intruder attacks her but for some unknown reason he completely changes his attack style by performing slashes, not high force stabs as he did on the children.

Why would he just slash at an adult who could fight back better than a child? Why would he not ram that knife down into her chest several times as was done to the two boys and be done with it? It makes no sense that he would only slash her where she could wake up, fight back, scream for help, or even survive and become a witness that could testify against him.

And she claimed she slept through her attack too! The Darlie Supporters say that it was just so traumatic to her that she erased it from her memory and doesn't remember it. The supposed defensive bruise under Darlie's right arm that was not seen by one doctor or nurse in the hospital. Darlie in the hospital with her wounds.

This photo was taken in the ICU. Darlie must have put her earrings back in for the photo. Operating room staff remove ALL jewelry before any type of surgery and the nasal cannula tubing would rub on the earring.

The laceration on the top of Darlie's right arm. The only blood discovered in the utility room, Which led to the garage was found on the edge of the utility room door and in two separate places on the left side of the washing machine; it was identified as belonging to Darlie.

No other blood was discovered past that point. The utility room floor, the garage floor, the window sill, the screen, the patio, and the back yard gate showed no blood drops; no fingerprints, and no bloody footprints. The gate in the back yard had hinge problems. Darin had attempted to temporarily repair the hinges with wire. It was quite difficult to open or close because it dragged the ground. It was found closed and in place when police investigators inspected it. Kathy Cruz, author of the book, Dateline Purgatory: Examining the Case that Sentenced Darlie Routier to Death, A book that contends Darlie is innocent stated: "That sock is the most important piece of evidence in this entire case," It is important, but not the most important.

Actually, it was probably more valuable evidence to the prosecution than it was to the defense. A white sock, presumed to have belonged to Darin was found 75 yards away down an alley next to a garbage can. It was on the ground and laid out flat in a conspicuous manner, almost as if the person that placed it there wanted it to be found.

It had blood belonging to Damon and Devon on it, and the inside of the sock at the toe end, it had skin cells belonging to Darlie. The prosecution contended that it was most likely used as a glove to conceal Darlie's fingerprints on the knife as she stabbed the boys. The Darlie supporters maintain that the sock proves Darlie didn't do it because she wouldn't have had time to run it down there and get back to make the call in this so called "time frame.

The distance to where the sock was located from the Routier house is 75 yards, that's feet round trip and can be completed walking a fast pace Not running in 5 minutes or less. It was 3 houses away. I, the author, did it myself and I walked the distance and timed it. It took me 4 minutes and 51 seconds; and I'm by no means a world class athlete. This "time frame" as it's called, didn't begin until the moment Darlie dialed She had all the time in the world prior to dialing to stage the scene at the house, stab the boys, and walk the sock down the alley in an attempt to confuse police and draw attention away from herself.

This would explain why none of her blood was on the sock and none of her blood was found anywhere along the route to where the sock was found. She could have returned from dropping the sock, stood at the sink and cut herself at which time she realizes that Damon is still alive. He had scooted himself from the couch to the wall She stabs Damon a second time depositing her own blood next to him as was discovered, places the knife on the kitchen island, then screams for Darin and calls The investigators and prosecution considered at one point the possibility that Darin may have ran the sock down to where it was found to make it look like it had been discarded by the intruder as he was running away.

Hence none of Darlie's blood found This author has not ruled out the strong possibility that after Darin woke up to Darlie's screams and saw what Darlie had done, he decided to help stage the scene including running the sock down the alley to keep Darlie from being arrested and charged.

The faulty gate in the back yard. It was in place and secured when police officers checked the backyard. Location of the sock found down the alley from the Routier home, 3 house away.

When observing the photo, it's not really that far from the murder scene. The blood tainted sock. Obviously deliberately placed where it would be quickly found. Close up of sock showing Damon and Devin's blood on it.

Blood on the utility room door and washing machine identified as belonging to Darlie. No other blood was found past this point. There were two knives used in this crime, one used to cut the screen, the other used as a murder weapon. Both of these knives belonged to the Routier's and were kept in a knife block located in the kitchen on a counter top.

The defense maintained that the mystery intruder cut the screen in the garage window, and came into the house; even though the screen frame itself was loose and could have easily just been removed. The only problem is that a serrated edged bread knife found in the knife holder on the counter in the Routier kitchen was discovered under analysis to have fiberglass rod fibers and adhesive dust on the blade matching the fibers that comprise the screen. This would mean the intruder mysteriously entered the house, got a knife to cut the screen, went back outside, cut the screen and came in through the window?

He was also courteous enough to put the knife back in the block when he came in. The Darlie Routier defense team and Kathy Cruz, author of Dateline Purgatory: Examining the Case that Sentenced Darlie Routier to Death, have stated that the fibers on the knife could have come from the evidence technician's fingerprint brush. This was proven not be true though microscopic and chemical analysis.

The screen fibers were larger than the fingerprint brush fibers and the screen fibers on the knife contained black rubber and asbestos. The fingerprint brush fibers did not contain any asbestos. Darlie Kee, Darlie's mother has stated in later years that the serrated knife couldn't have possibly cut the screen due to its rounded tip.

However, that knife successfully cutting a screen was replicated in the crime lab. The knife used to stab the boys was also a knife from the Routier kitchen knife holder. Darlie mentioned twice to police dispatcher Doris Trammell, twice to officer Waddell and Detective Patterson, and four times to the hospital staff that she wished she hadn't picked the knife up off the floor that she claimed the intruder dropped as she chased him out of the house.

It was as if she were trying to establish an alibi as to why her prints and blood would be found on it. Police dispatcher Trammell stated that she thought it was odd that someone who's children had just been murdered would make an obvious point of mentioning how their finger prints got on the murder weapon during the initial call for help.

In one of Darlie's versions of the intruder leaving the house, she claimed that as she was chasing the intruder out of the house, she saw him drop the knife on the floor of the utility room. Forensic testing was conducted on this knife to replicate what Darlie had claimed.

The knife was dipped in animal blood and dropped on the utility room floor in the house from waist level while walking, and then again while running exactly as Darlie described the intruder had done. Each time it was reconstructed, a certain amount of blood spatter shot off to the sides of the blade when dropped. No spatter marks or knife imprints were found anywhere on the floor of the utility room.

As mentioned previously, a knife imprint was discovered near Devon's body but from the blood marks around it and lack of spatter marks, it appeared to have been laid there rather than dropped there. When police arrived, Darlie showed them where she had placed it on the counter top.

Doug Mulder, Darlie's lead defense attorney was well aware that he was going to have trouble explaining away the knife evidence. After Darlie was sentenced Mulder later stated in an interview, "I always worried about the knife, my biggest problem was that knife. The Routier kitchen serrated knife used to cut the garage window screen. Microscopic analysis matched the fibers from the serrated knife to the garage window screen. The Routier kitchen knife identified as the murder weapon.

The knife block on the counter in the Routier kitchen. After cutting the screen in the garage window, Darlie put the knife back in the block. Smudged fingerprints were found on this knife. The knife used as the murder weapon. Darlie claimed the intruder dropped it on the floor and she picked it up. She said that's why her fingerprints were on it.

She mentioned that twice to the operator and four times to the hospital staff. This is the one piece of physical evidence that convicted her if nothing else did. Along with Darlie's own blood on her nightshirt, analysis revealed what's referred to as "cast off" blood droplets. Meaning the droplets of blood were cast off an object in motion such a knife in a stabbing motion.

This action was also successfully duplicated in the lab with a blood spatter expert wearing a white t-shirt using the actual evidence knife and mimicking a stabbing motion with blood on the blade. Darlie Supporters just love to say that the blood droplets on the nightshirt aren't proof of anything because the shirt was stuffed in a paper bag which it wasn't with other items of clothing.

These self proclaimed bloodstain "experts" go on to say that being wet any blood on the nightshirt could simply be transfer stain or blood that soaked from part of the shirt to another. Her shirt was cut off by paramedics enroute to the hospital and laid flat. Two separate stains, labeled by forensics examiners as TB2 and TB3 were found on the upper right front shoulder of the nightshirt and suggestive of cast off.

The striking feature of these two particular stains is that they weren't simple drops. The extended length of the blood stains indicated motion of the blood from downward to upward. Two additional stains were discovered on the left shoulder of the nightshirt shirt labeled LS1 and LS3. These stains too were suggestive of cast-off. LS1 had a downward trajectory. LS3 had an upward trajectory. On the back right shoulder of the night shirt was a sole drop labeled TB8.

This blood was identified as belonging to Devon. TB8's stain has a long axis and shows an up and down trajectory. Of all the stains on Darlie's night shirt, TB8 was crucial evidence that played a major role in incriminating her. Similar to TB8, the shape of the TB2 stain shows it landed from the top of the shirt moving downward consistent with cast off from the knife at the shoulder level.

The boy's blood spatter highlighted suggestive of cast off blood from the knife at the right arm area of the nightshirt. Highlighted "cast off" blood belonging to the boys on Darlie's nightshirt found predominately at the right shoulder area front and back. Darlie is right handed. On June 18, , Rowlett Police detectives asked Darlie to come once again to the police station for addition questions.

Later that night she was arrested and charged with two counts of capital murder. She was immediately placed in custody at the Lew Starrett Justice Center to await indictment. That evening Sgt. On the morning of Thursday, June 6th, , an investigation began into the murders of Damon and Devon Routier. A significant event has now occurred in this very intensive investigation, At approximately p.

Routier has been charged with two counts of Capital Murder stemming from the stabbing deaths of her sons Damon age 5 and Devon age 6 This arrest is the result of the most intensive and exhaustive investigation ever conducted by the Rowlett Police Department. Judge Lokken ordered Mrs. Routier held without bond. Routier was then transferred to the Lew Sterrett Justice Center.

I cannot comment on the details of this investigation other than to say we believe that the white male suspect described by Darlie Routier as the man that attacked her and murdered her children never existed. We also believe that the wounds present on Darlie Routier were self-inflicted. As for the father, Darin Routier, at this point we do not believe that he was involved in, or participated in the murders.

On June 28, Darlie Routier was officially indicted by a Dallas County grand jury on two counts of capital murder. Judge Mark Tolle, who presided at her trial issued a gag order barring the defense, the prosecution, potential witnesses, and Darlie's immediate family from discussing the case with the media.

Which Darlie, Darin, and her mother Darlie Kee, all violated. She was ordered held on a 1 million dollar bail. About 3 weeks later after forensic test results on the evidence came back, the District Attorney's Office announced they would be seeking the death penalty and Judge Tolle rescinded Darlie's bail considering her a flight risk.

These photos were taken just hours before she was formally arrested and charged with a double homicide. Darlie Routier arrest photo left More recent prison photo right. The Defense.

Doug Mulder recently deceased and Richard Mosty. The two month long jury selection began on October 16, in Kerrville, Texas after a change of venue request was granted by Judge Tolle. On November 14, the court announced jury selection was complete and it would consist of seven women and five men. Berrybell Nov 30, Replies: Views: 17, Replies: 13 Views: 11, Zzzz Aug 30, Replies: Views: 49, Replies: 1, Views: , MeadowMuffin Jul 25, What one thing made you sure of her guilt or innocence?

Replies: 72 Views: 22, Back Yard Motion light dizzychick , Aug 31, Replies: 16 Views: 3, Blue-eyed Devil Mar 11, Darlie's injuries CW , Oct 23, Replies: 1 Views: 2, Showing threads 1 to 20 of Sort threads by: Last message time Thread creation time Title alphabetical Number of replies Number of views First message likes.

Order threads in: Descending order Ascending order. You must log in or sign up to post here. Show Ignored Content. Your name or email address: Do you already have an account? No, create an account now. Routier said an intruder entered the home and stabbed her and the children. Routier suffered a near-fatal stab wound to her neck, which just missed the carotid artery. Despite her claim of innocence, she was tried for the death of the 5-year-old, sentenced to death and is currently on death row.

The case has received worldwide attention and has been featured on several TV shows as Routier works to prove her innocence — through post-conviction petitions in Dallas County and in the U. District Court in West Texas.