Bloodstained Justice The Darlie Routier Story

Prologue

Darlie Routier is on death row in Texas. She has been there for 20 years. She was accused and convicted of murdering her five year old son Damon. She was charged, but never tried, in the death of her oldest son Devon.

Darlie’s supporters will say that there is a growing body of evidence suggesting there was a rush to judgment in this case – one that could result in the execution of an innocent woman.

While a larger group of non-supporters feel that Darlie did kill her sons back on June 6th,  1996.

The most important consideration in Darlie Routier’s case is the timeline. Her supporters claim that the prosecution’s case against Darlie was circumstantial, resting entirely on the notion that she staged the crime scene in a very short amount of time to mislead investigators.

As we go through this case we will look at the fingerprint evidence in this case as well as the strange occurrences before, during, and after. This book will focus on the timeline immediately surrounding the murders. The information provided in this timeline description comes from testimony given by the medical examiner, Janis Townsend-Parchman, the first two police officers on the scene, and paramedics who responded to the 911 call. The information can be verified through court transcripts.

Darlie’s testimony was also used to support this timeline. I used the conversation recorded on the 911 tape to verify Darlie’s words and actions, as well as testimony given by others who were present at the time each event occurred.

We will weave in and out of Darlie’s lies and half-truths to figure out what exactly happened on the night of June 6th, 1996.

In the early morning hours of June 6th, 1996, an operator in Rowlett Texas received a frantic 9-1-1 call for help. Darlie Routier, a 26-year-old wife and mother of three young boys, reported that a knife-wielding intruder had broken into her house, attacking her and her two of her young sons.

The 911 call is the basis for the timeline since it was recorded and provides a second-by-second description of what was happening that night in the Routier home for almost six minutes. Court testimony is used to fill in the gaps and provide information about what happened in the minutes after the 911 call ended.

All three were sleeping in the family room on the first floor of their home. A third son, eight-month-old Drake and Darlie's husband, Darin, were asleep in the master bedroom upstairs.

By the time the police arrived six-year-old Devon, was dead. Damon, age 5, died before reaching the hospital. The mother’s wounds, according to all medical reports, were superficial.

In one Darlie’s many statements about that night, Darlie would tell police officers that she had fought with an intruder. He was wearing a black shirt, dark pants and a ball cap. 

She chased the suspect across the kitchen, at which point he escaped through the garage. Based on Darlie's account of what happened police conducted a thorough search of the crime scene and neighborhood. It quickly became apparent that there was no evidence of a stranger entering or leaving the house that night. As time passed, the investigation focused on the adults who lived in the home instead of an unknown assailant.  

Eventually, the evidence overwhelmingly pointed in one direction: to the mother of Devon and Damon. Darlie Routier was arrested on June 18th for the murder of her two little boys.

On February 1st, 1997, after a month-long trial, a court found Darlie Lynn Routier guilty of probably the worst of human crimes: killing her two children in cold-blood.

Motive is still a mystery, but the prosecution painted her as a materialistic young woman who, sensing her lavish lifestyle crumbling, killed her two young sons Damon and Devon in a mad attempt to resuscitate her and her husband's lifestyle.

In this book, you will see both sides - the Prosecution and the Defenses versions of what actually happened in the early morning of June 6th, 1996.

Unless otherwise noted, all information gathered came from the court transcripts, actual police reports and witness statements.

You may ask yourself, Did the jury get it right? Is she factually guilty? That is not my goal to prove here. My only goal is to present the facts.

As in most high-profile cases, Darlie Routier has garnered her share of supporters and advisories over the years. Sadly, many of them have misled the public with half-truths, innuendo, and outright lies.

However, recent findings in her case have cast a doubt over her guilt or at least over the legalities that brought her to death row.

As we go through this book, we will look at each piece of evidence and see how it points either to or away from Darlie as the killer of her two young boys.

I hope that at the conclusion of this book you will have a better understanding of the facts and not the myths that is Darlie Routier’s story.

It is time to put the myths to rest and find the true killer in Darlie Routier’s house, even if it is Darlie herself.

Let us start with Darlie and Darin’s account of what happened in Rowlett in 1996.

This statement was written back in 1997 and used in this book to create her and Darin’s timeline of the events on June 6th, 1996.

*Any typos have been left in the text to keep the integrity of the information.

Darlie’s statement regarding June 6th, 1996

The boys were asleep on the floor with their pillows and blankets. Darin brought me a pillow and blanket from upstairs. Around 1:00 a.m. Darin and I decided to go to sleep. Darin turned off all the lights but the T.V. was on. Darin told me that he loved me and would see me in the morning and I told him I loved him too. I asked him to make sure the door was locked on his way upstairs — he said he already checked it and it was — five minutes later I fell asleep. Next thing I remember — Damon runs into my right shoulder and says mommy. I sat straight up and saw a blur of a man between my couch and kitchen bar.

I stood up and Damon walked behind me. I heard glass breaking. When I got to the entrance of the kitchen, I saw man going into my utility room.  I took a couple of steps and remembered lights were off went back and turned lights on, I started to walk through kitchen and noticed blood on my nightgown, about to my chest, halfway across the kitchen I saw knife laying on utility room floor, instinctively I went over and picked up knife, doesn’t seem like there was much blood on the knife, I went back through the kitchen and put knife on kitchen bar. Damon was still standing by living room wall. I walked into living room and saw Devon’s eyes open and wounds on his chest, Devon wasn’t moving and I started screaming, I went to Damon and began checking him and saw stab wounds through his shirt, I was hysterical but I was trying to think. I told Damon to lay on his belly and I told him to hang on and be strong — Damon said O-K mommy. I ran into hallway to our entrance, turned on the lights and kept screaming. Darin, my husband, came out of our bedroom — he only had his pants and glasses on. Darin ran down the stairs and we ran together into the hallway. Darin went to the left, into family room and over to Devon, the table by Devon was completely knocked over. I went to the right to kitchen and grabbed phone to call 911.

I went to second drawer and got towels. I could see Darin starting to perform CPR on Devon. I went to sink and about that time 911 lady came on. I was screaming and got towels wet (when I turned around I could see my neck slit in mirror behind wine rack and said this to the 911 lady) I was screaming. I ran over to Damon pulled up his shirt and layed (sic) a towel on his back, I ran over to Darin and could see blood coming out of Devon’s wound when Darin blew into Devon’s mouth, I didn’t know what to do so I held a towel on Devon’s wound. I was still on the phone while I did all this. I was soaked with blood by this time and very dizzy — I ran to front door to scream for my neighbor, Karen (she is a nurse), and I remember the bolt on the door not being turned and locked. I ran back and got another towel to put on my neck. I was screaming and running back and fourth (sic) and still on the phone. I stopped by the kitchen bar in living room where there was my vacuum, I felt so dizzy and I held myself up on the vacuum. An officer came in and stood by my son Damon, I hung up the phone and dropped to the floor. I screamed for my husband to check on Drake (our baby) Darin did & came back and said he was O-K, Darin then went out front door to get neighbors. a second officer arrives and I tell both officers a man went out the utility room, the officers proceeded to go into kitchen into utility room. Darin came back in and said both our babies were dead, I fell down again and kept screaming who would do this, I was so dizzy and hysterical. Two paramedics came — one went to Devon, the other to Damon. I grabbed Damon’s shirt and the paramedic wouldn’t tell me he was dead, then he took Damon out of the house. Two paramedics came to me and I stood up and then I passed out.

Next thing I remember I’m on the front porch and Karen is by my side, I thought I was dying and I made her promise to find the man that killed my babies and she did. Karen then went into house. So many people were running in and out of the house and I felt so dizzy. I remember one paramedic telling me my necklace was stuck in my throat and he couldn’t remove it. then my husband asked me where my panties were and I realized they were gone. Next thing I’m in the ambulance and I couldn’t breathe and they put oxygen on me. Then I remember being in the ER and someone taking off my necklace and that’s when I began to feel the pain, it hurt so bad, I begged them to make the pain stop and finally they said they had to operate and they put me under.

Next thing I remember waking up a crying and screaming my babies were dead, there were two officers asking me questions about my husband and the man I saw. I told them all I could remember. I don’t remember any of the days I was in the hospital except the last day (Saturday) The nurse came in and gave me a shower and kept telling me how bad my arms looked and did I remember anything, and I told her I couldn’t remember but thought I struggled or fought the man. then I got to hold my baby and they quit giving me shots of pain medicine and gave me pills instead. Two officers were there and said they were going to take Darin and I into the P.D. before the boy"s viewing so they could get statements from us. My husband and I didn’t think anything of it. The officers got us to the P.D. around 5:00 p.m., separated us and made us talk about what happened. We were supposed to be at the viewing at 6:00 p.m. and it was about 6:30 when Detective Patterson asked me to give a written statement. I was very upset and crying and told him we were late to be with our little boys and couldn’t we do this another day. Patterson told me it was very important to do it then. Finally about 8:00 p.m. they drove my husband and I to the funeral home. I was very heavily medicated and really don’t remember much, I walked into the room with my husband and saw my babies holding hands in the casket and fell a little and laid on the casket, I kept screaming and crying, I couldn’t stop. My boys looked so beautiful and innocent but they were cold when I kissed them. I fixed their hair and I just wanted to die. People started coming into the room and after about thirty minutes I almost passed out so someone sat me on the couch and helped me. I didn’t want to leave but my husband said we had to. I don’t remember where we slept that night. The next day we had the funeral. I don’t remember much except everyone kept telling me my babies were in heaven and I got angry because they were too little to be in heaven. There were so many people but I just wanted to be left alone. We sent balloons in the air with Devon and Damon’s name and had a plane fly over the funeral for them. I don’t remember much else except we wanted to put flowers at our home around the fountain from the funeral and (Detective) Patterson said ‘no.’ but everyone took flowers and we all drove over there and did it anyway. We handed them to the officers and the officers put them around the fountain. Someone took us home. I remember laying there, I was too scared to sit by a window or use the restroom or take a shower by myself — someone had to be with me and everyone kept giving me pills, I just didn’t want to be without my boys. I held my son Drake, in my arms and kept a picture of Devon and Damon every step I took. Sometime that week the detectives wanted Darin and I to come in a give hair samples and fingerprints. We got there at 2:00 p.m. and they ended up keeping us until 9:30 p.m. I was crying and didn’t have my pills, I kept throwing up and Patterson would help me go to the restroom because I kept getting sick but I was scared to be left alone. Patterson asked me about my tatoo and wanted to see it. I showed him. Patterson told me they found this man’s fingerprints and it was only a matter of time. Friday, June 14th, was my son Devon’s birthday. We went to the grave around 12:30 or 1:00 p.m. and had a prayer service. Around 5 or 5:30 p.m. we met the detectives in a grocery store parking lot in Rowlett to sign a release for blood from the night of the incident. Patterson told us they had over 100 leads and they put cameras on our house and they found flesh under my fingernails from the samples they took at the hospital. Later we found this was all a lie. We proceeded from the store to the boy’s grave where we had a birthday party for Devon with all his friends. My little sister bought silly string because my little boys loved it and always played with it. Inside I felt like I was dying but it was my son’s birthday and I was only thinking of him. I wasn’t celebrating his death, I was honoring his life, yet I have been persecuted for this. It’s absurd.

On the 18-19 they (the detectives) called us and told us they had a retired policeman who was going to help us. So around 7:00 p.m. we went to the Rowlett P.D. They put me in a room with a man named Bill Parker and for two hours they tried to brainwash me that I blacked out in my sleep and did this crime and only imagined the man. I told him he was crazy and he told me I was under arrest — after he told me this I became hysterical and he tried to calm me down and after another hour of him trying to get me to confess to something I know I didn’t do, I told him I wanted to do hypnosis, but they wouldn’t allow me to have anyone I knew there while I did it so I said forget it and then I want my lawyer. They arrested me while they smoked their cigars and gave their news reports — they were so proud of themselves — they make me sick."

Darin’s statement regarding June 6th, 1996

Taken by Officer Chris Frosch at the Rowlett PD – 4.45 pm, June 8, 1996

Page 1

We were watching TV in the Roman Room (Living Room SW Corner of House) watching

[illegible] movie on HBO (Satellite). 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 down stairs to

talk to Darlie. We talked about the boys not being able to start base-ball yet because we were

so busy with the baby right now. We talked about the business, bills, and how Darlie was

having a hard time with taking care of the baby’s (all) today. Darlie 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. Devon was asleep face up in front of

TV and Damon was asleep between couch and coffee table by the couch mom was. So I went

upstairs to get her a blanket and pillow and came back downstairs to cover her up. We talked

a little more

Page 2

about her going to Cancun with some friends across the street and I gave her a kiss

goodnight. Told her to dream about me and went upstairs around 1:00am.I went and turned

on TV in our room and watched for 10 to 15 min. and took my glasses off and turned TV off.

I could not go to sleep for a while but finally I fell asleep. Uncontisly (sic) I heard a noise and

then Darlie screaming loud. She was yelling Devon! Devon!! Oh my God Devon! I woke up

quickly and grabbed my glasses on the night stand and ran downstairs as fast as I could.

Going into the Living Room (Roman) I ran over to Devon laying on the floor where he was

when I saw him last and nealed (sic) down over him

Page 3

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 muscle piecing

(sic) 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 5 or 6 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 Darlie and she was on the phone calling 911. I ran over to Damon

laying on floor in 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 babys were stabbed and she told

them that he went out of the garage. I ran upstairs to put my pants on. I looked over and

Drake was crying and I felt [illegible] he was ok.

Page 4

I noticed my wallet left on the floor and all I could think to do was to go [redacted] holler

for help. I needed someone to help [illegible] and [illegible] the paramedics when they

arrived. I went downstairs ran out the house and ran across the street to [redacted] and

[redacted] door. I banged 5-6 times as hard as I could until [redacted] comes to the doors 1st

and when I told them that Devon 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

Devon was dead before I ran across 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

Page 5

who did this and [redacted] told me that Darlie 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 nightshirt. She was

standing in the door way with the paramedics said she needed to go to the hospital. So we

helped her onto the stretcher and she said "Darin you have to promise me we will find this

man! He killed our babys." I walked back into house pushed my way through the police and

saw the knife on the bar in kitchen w/blood all over it. [illegible] went to garage and door

[illegible] to look at the window that the police had said he entered and I went out of the

house and walked across the street and neighbors were there to

Page 6

comfort me and ask me about what happened. I sat for a minute on a curb and walked over to

the ambulance where Damon was and asked paramedic was he alive and they said no. I was

in shock. [redacted] told me to with Darlie in the ambulance. So I got in and they threw me

outand said they needed to work. So then they asked me questions (fire dept) (SS# + address

+ name) and I asked what hospital and no one knew. So found out where Darlie went (Baylor

Dallas) and drove over to the hospital. At hospital I was questioned by Det. Frosch for hours.

Chapter One

Darlie and Darin

Darlie-First Grade

Darlie was born in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on January 4th, 1970, the first-born child of Darlie and Larry Peck. When Darlie was seven years old, her parents divorced and the domestic security she knew ended. And just one year later, her mother remarried a man named Dennis Stahl.

Darlie and her siblings two natural and two stepsisters got along well and helped each other through the difficult transition of hometowns and schools.

Unfortunately, the toughest part of their young lives had to endure their parents' constant squabbling and sometimes violent fighting. Eventually, the Stahl's marriage faded and Darlie's mother was once again in search of a new spouse and her girls were once again without a father figure in their lives. As Darlie entered her teens, the family moved to Lubbock, Texas.

Darlie at prom 1987

Darlie, despite her new surroundings, emerged from a shy cocoon into a blossoming, sometimes (according to classmates) over-showy teenager. Boys were attracted to her, including one named Darin Routier.

She had met Darin in a Western Sizzlin' where her mother, Mama Darlie worked and so did Darin as a cook and a kitchen helper. The mother found him to be a bright, talkative good-looking young man with ambitious plans for his future; he would be, she figured, a good catch for her oldest daughter.

Playing matchmaker, she introduced the two kids and by all reports, it was love at first sight for both of them.

The dark-haired tall boy with wavy hair flipped for the bubbly fifteen-year-old girl with the frosted hair. 

She was different than anybody I had ever met, Darin recalled, a trendsetter on her own path.

Darin Routier and Darlie Peck

They dated in high school and continued to correspond after Darin, two years older than she, went away to a technical college in Dallas.

There was a story of an incident that happened at Darin's going-away party.

There, according to a friend, Darlie showed a possessive and cunning nature that lay hidden under her surface. Darlie was annoyed that she was not getting enough attention, so she left the party. Then she came back frantic, claiming that someone had tried to rape her. Some say that ruse gave her the attention that she craved.

I personally have not found any proof that this attempted rape ever happened. I do not know if this is just an anti-Darlie comment to paint her as a woman who craved attention or not.

Darin and Darlie

After graduating high school, Darlie joined her Darin in Dallas where he worked as a technician at a computer chip company. Landing a job with the same firm, the couple lived together while saving their money.

Four years later in August of 1988, in the garden room of his parents’ house, the couple was married. They honeymooned first-class in Jamaica.

After moving to the Dallas area, the couple at first moved into an apartment in Garland, close to where Darin worked, learning the computer chip industry, a booming field at the time.

Within the year, they relocated to a small home in Rowlett. Darin began his own small company called Testnec that tested electronic components and operated it out of their home.

Their first child was born on June 14th, 1989. He was a healthy boy that they named Devon Rush to be followed by another son on February 19th, 1991 Damon Christian. With two children and a home company that grew so fast that the owners found it necessary to buy space in an upscale office building, the Routier’s' life seemed to be following the quality dream of the new American family.

By mid-1992, their company had earned them a small fortune. The up-and-coming couple yearned to practice the prestige due them and had a house built in Dalrock Heights Addition, an affluent suburb of Rowlett, adjacent to Lake Ray Hubbard. This community of upper-class executives and women bragged crime-free streets and happy families.

When he became a success in the early nineties, they bought a $130,000 two-story home at 5801 Eagle Drive in Rowlett, Texas. It was of Georgian design resembling a miniature mansion with a classic porch, colonial shutters.

But that was not enough, they Added marble in the bathroom, white carpet in the dining room, and $12,000 worth of drapes in the living room. They bought a $600 fountain for the front yard and a $9,000 redwood spa for the back.

Darin purchased a thirty-foot cabin cruiser and a space at the dock to board it at the exclusive Lake Ray Hubbard Marina. Darin also bought a 1982 Jaguar to drive to and from work and Darlie bought new flashy jewelry.

When Darlie’s cat died, they spent $800 for a tombstone to put over its grave at a pet cemetery.

Darlie was very happy with her life and her lifestyle. In addition, she was a very good mother, doting on her two children, living to celebrate the good times with them. At Christmas, their house was the most illumined; at Halloween, their windows displayed more goblins than any other house on the street, at Thanksgiving Darlie made sure that their turkey was the largest and most flavorful.

Unfortunately, those who knew her said that there was another side of Darlie.  They claim that Darlie loved to show off to cover a low self-esteem. She reveled in materialism and impression, often to the point of the bizarre. When she decided to get breast implants, she opted for size EE like the kind women had in Playboy and Penthouse. When she bought clothes, they were revealing outfits she wore out for a night's dancing just to grab the attention of onlookers.

Darlie's detractors say that her need to be the flashiest, gaudiest eventually overcame everything else in her life including her children. Neighbors complained that Damon and Devon were left alone and unsupervised on more than one occasion. In addition, when she did attend to them, she often seemed bothered at having to take the time to do so.

It was not too long before domestic problems surfaced. Guests at a Christmas party silently watched as Darlie and Darin argued violently when Darlie danced too many times with another man. There were rumors of extramarital dating by both partners. However, the couple continued to play their surface charade.

Friends who were aware of their problems were happy when Darlie became pregnant early in 1995; they counted on the new baby as the common denominator to re-new the couple's love for each other. However, after Drake was born on October 18th, 1995, the mother suffered postpartum depression. Mood swings drew sudden tempers and dark rages.

In 1995 Darin’s company brought in about half a million dollars in gross revenues, and he paid himself an annual salary of $125,000.

Their neighbors thought they were Rowlett’s version of the Clampetts from The Beverly Hillbillies. Darin wore shirts with the sleeves rolled up to show his muscles, grew his hair long in the back, and sported a diamond watch and gold-nugget-and-diamond rings. Darlie had the breast implants that she showed off in tight-fitting tops, made regular visits to the tanning salon, and wore diamond rings on every finger. She bought a toy Pomeranian with white hair matching her own.

They may have been the butt of many jokes in the neighborhood but everyone liked them; one neighbor called them the Ozzie and Harriet of the nineties. Darlie, known as a cookie-baking homemaker who always let the neighborhood kids hang out at her house, which they called the Nintendo House because of the elaborate game room that Darin had designed. (Even after her arrest, several of those kids put signs in her front yard proclaiming her innocence.)

Devon and Damon Routier

She cooked for neighbors going through hard times and even made a mortgage payment for a neighbor with cancer. Whose idea was that, I do not know, but Darlie was baking the cookies. In addition, this is one reason why people who knew the couple have a problem believing that she is guilty.

In early 1996 their lives took a financial turn and Darin’s business began to suffer, and he got behind on the bills. He was at least a month late on the mortgage and owed $10,000 in back taxes to the IRS and $12,000 on credit cards.

However, if the financial problems were causing stress in their marriage, no one in the neighborhood saw it. Darin decided to start a second business, called Champagne Wishes, in which he would take people around the lake on his boat at sunset while they sipped champagne and, if they wished, used the boat’s bedroom. Darin’s difficulties did not seem to concern Darlie either: Her shopping never slowed, and she made plans to take a trip that summer to Cancun with some friends.

Darlie was unable to shed the weight gain she had acquired since her last pregnancy and grew increasingly impatient with her battle to lose the extra weight. She purchased diet pills that did not work. A fact that, when the couple battled, Darin would remind her of, knowing he'd hit her tender spot

Darlie sporadically kept a diary. There were times she would attend to it daily, followed by long absences.

However, on May 3rd, 1996, about a month before the murders, Darlie made an unusual entry in her normally upbeat diary;

Devon, Damon and Drake, I hope you will forgive me for what I am about to do. My life has been such a hard fight for a long time, and I just can't find the strength to keep fighting anymore. I love you three more than anything else in this world and I want all three of you to be healthy and happy and I don't want you to see a miserable person every time you look at me...

On that day, she considered taking some sleeping pills to kill herself. Nevertheless, she never took them and never finished her diary entry. After talking with her on the phone, Darin became worried and came home to comfort her.

Darin would later say, At that point, she told me, she was ashamed of what she had done and never thought about taking her life again.

Darlie said her blah feeling, as she put it, was because she had not gotten her period in more than a year. When it arrived a few days after her suicidal thoughts, she said, her spirits soared.

People who saw her in the weeks that followed say she did not seem particularly despondent. Her old friend Barbara Jovell did tell Darlie that she should get some counseling or perhaps enter a treatment center, as she herself had done when she once felt suicidal, but Jovell did not sense that Darlie was desperate or self-destructive.

In addition, she certainly did not act differently. In late May, Darlie and Darin took the boys to