Darlie Routier Biography
Darlie Lynn Peck Routier is an American woman from Rowlett, Texas, who was convicted of murdering her five-year-old son Damon in 1996. Routier was never charged with the murder of her other son, six-year-old Devon. Both boys were stabbed to death with a large kitchen knife. She was sentenced to death.
Darlie Routier Age
Darlie Lynn Peck was born on January 4, 1970 in Altoona, Pennsylvania, U.S. She is 49 years old as of 2019.
Darlie Routier Murder
On June 6, 1996, at 2:31 am, 9-1-1 dispatchers in Rowlett, Texas, received a call from the Routier residence at 5801 Eagle Drive. Routier told the operator that her home had been broken into and that an intruder had stabbed her children, 6-year-old Devon and 5-year-old Damon and cut her throat. Within three minutes of the 9-1-1 call, Police arrived. They discovered a window screen in the garage had been cut, which indicated a possible entry point for an intruder. A search of the house and grounds was conducted and did not locate an intruder. Having thus secured the site, police permitted paramedics to attend to the victims.
Routier told police that the assailant escaped through the garage. Investigators said that the garage contained no blood drops and added that indications were that no one had run through there at all. Routier’s sons sustained fatal injuries. Her wounds, described as superficial, came within two millimetres of her carotid artery. She was treated at a hospital and released two days later. Routier’s youngest son, 7-month-old Drake, was asleep upstairs with her husband Darin at the time of the murders; both escaped harm.
Newscasts showed Routier and other family members holding a birthday party at the boys’ grave to posthumously celebrate Devon’s 7th birthday eight days after the murders. Routier was shown smiling and laughing as she sprayed Silly String on the graves in celebration, singing “Happy Birthday”. Family members point out that the newscasts did not show an earlier video that depicted a solemn ceremony honoring the children. Four days later, she was arrested and charged with capital murder.
Routier later commented on the video, stating, “He wanted to be seven. I did the only thing I knew to do to honor him and give him all his wishes because he wasn’t here anymore. But how do you know what you’re going to do when you lose two children? How do you know how you’re going to act?
Darlie Routier Trial
The prosecution suggested that Darlie Routier murdered her sons because of the family’s financial difficulties. Prosecutors described her as a “pampered, materialistic woman with substantial debt, plummeting credit ratings and little money in the bank, who feared that her lavish lifestyle was about to end”. Jurors also saw the Silly String video. Crime scene consultant James Cron testified that evidence suggested the scene inside the Routier residence had been staged.
Routier was represented by lawyer Douglas Mulder at trial. Defense attorneys said that there was no reason why Routier would have killed her children and that the case did not have a motive, a confession or any witnesses. They asserted that it was unrealistic to accuse Routier of staging a crime scene. Routier’s attorneys advised her not to appear on the witness stand, but she testified anyway and “withered under cross-examination by prosecutor Toby Shook.”
San Antonio chief medical examiner Vincent DiMaio testified that the wound to Routier’s neck came within two millimeters of her carotid artery and that it was not consistent with the self-inflicted wounds he had seen in the past. That differed from the assertions of her treating physicians, who had told police officials that the wounds might have been self-inflicted. Tom Bevel testified that cast-off blood found on the back of her nightshirt indicated that she had raised the knife over her head as she withdrew it from each boy to stab again. Routier was convicted of murdering Damon. She was sentenced to death on February 4, 1997, by lethal injection.
Darlie Routier Appeal
Defense attorneys allege numerous errors were made during Routier’s trial and in the official transcript of it, and also the investigation of the murders, especially at the crime scene. An appeals court dismissed these claims, as did a court ruling on her habeas corpus petition.
Routier was granted the right to new DNA tests in June 2008. Her appeals were remanded to the state level for improved DNA testing. Chief Judge of the Western District Fred Biery granted a request from prosecution on January 29, 2014 and defense for her case for further DNA tests vital to the defense to be performed on a bloody fingerprint found in the house, a bloody sock and her nightshirt.
Darlie Routier Divorce
Darin Routier filed for divorce from his wife in June 2011, saying that the decision was mutual and “very difficult,” and that he still believes his wife is innocent. Darin said that they decided to divorce to end the “limbo” that they had been in since her arrest and conviction.
Darlie Routier Books
The 1999 book Precious Angels: A True Story of Two Slain Children and a Mother convicted of Murder by Barbara Davis that accounted for Routier’s guilt. The author has since changed her mind and now supports Routier by donating all the income from the book to her family.
In the 2015 book Dateline Purgatory: Examining the Case that Sentenced Darlie Routier to Death journalist Kathy Cruz engages legal experts for their assessments on Routier’s trial transgressions and highlighting the controversies of the death penalty conviction. Throughout the book Cruz collaborates with a former FBI special agent on her examination of the case.
The July 2016 book While She Was Sleeping by Brenda Irish Heintzelman, explores child sexual abuse and the emotional impacts this type of abuse causes. Routier and her mother are called out to be honest and open about Darlie’s early years.
The February 2017 book Bloodstained Justice: The Darlie Routier Story by Wanda G. Davis, documents Darlie Routier’s family members arguments that crucial evidence was overlooked by authorities during her trial. The August 2018 book Darlie Routier: Deaths of Damon and Devon by Pamela Lillian Valemont, in this writing forensic profiles of the individuals involved in the Darlie Routier case are detailed.
Darlie Routier Documentary | Movies
The TLC documentary series Forensic Files, October 1999 episode titled: “Invisible Intruder” (S4; E1), reports on how detectives discovered who the killer was by analyzing the crime scene’s blood spatter, Darlie’s 911 call and the offender profiling of her behavior.
Unsolved Mysteries with Robert Stack covered the case in Season 12 Episode 6. The case is again revisited on Unsolved Mysteries with Dennis Farina. Both episodes share evidence from both sides of the case, including those who claim Darlie to be innocent and those pointing towards her guilt.
The CBS News series 48 hours episode sub-titled Precious Angels is derived from the true-crime book, of the same title, authored by Barbara Davis, which first aired: August 10, 2001. CBS correspondent Bill Lagattuta interviewed Darin Routier, incarcerated Darlie Routier and Davis about the slayings; associated public officials and defense attorneys were also interviewed.
The Investigation Discovery network aired the Werner Herzog’s series On Death Row episode sub-titled: “Darlie Routier” that covered the case in Season 2, Episode 2, first aired: September 10, 2013. An American Broadcasting Company (ABC) seven-episode documentary series, The Last Defense examines the death row cases of Darlie Routier and Julius Jones. The series premiered, on June 12, 2018, profiling Routier’s case in a four-part episode: