Anyone remember Darlie Routier murder case? (Dallas, Rowlett: insurance, crime, attorney)

[RonnieinDallas]

It's almost been 20 years since Rowlett mom Darlie Routier was convicted of murdering her kids. I can remember seeing it on the local Dallas news all the time, and I always had mixed feelings on the conviction.

Anyway, it came up in conversation so I googled it and didn't find anything recent on her attempts to get a new trial.

I watched a court tv investigation on youtube, and I'm still on the fence. I believe in the death penalty, but I think every attempt needs to be made to prove guilt. The local media looks really one sided as I watch it back, and I have a few concerns.

(1) They found unidentified male DNA on the bloody sock in the alleyway
(2) The lead investigator pleaded the 5th and did not testify
(3) Darlie's husband had been shopping around for someone to burglarize their home, so that they could collect insurance money. It could possibly have gone way wrong.
(4) At least one jury member has come out, and said he was not given correct facts and regrets his decision


Darlie Routier Court TV Investigation 1 of 4.wmv - YouTube

Darlie Routier Court TV Investigation 2 of 4.wmv - YouTube

Darlie Routier Court TV Investigation 3 of 4.wmv - YouTube

Darlie Routier Court TV Investigation 4 of 4.wmv - YouTube

Opinions?

[biscuitmom]

Been following it for years, ever since that horrible night. Certainly there's room for doubt. There are flaws in the investigation and many more flaws in the trial. Not nearly enough evidence or logic, and too many flaws in the presented evidence, to put her to death.

[ChristieP]

I worked with Darlie's mother. She was not a close coworker, but someone I saw occasionally. I still think it was odd that immediately after the murders, she started asking everyone for money "for expenses."

[Cranfords]

My wife is convinced that Darlie should get a new trial and I'm inclined to agree. The last I heard, her supporters were trying to collect money for additional DNA testing. Its very expensive and the state won't pay for it.

I'm not surprised to hear that her mother was seeking help with expenses. The up-front retainer alone for a good defense attorney on a murder charge is $$$$$.

Considering that the Rowlett PD would have been small with limited resources when this happened, the possibility that they botched the investigation is very real. Couple that with the very aggressive DA's office we had at that time and yeah, an innocent person could get put away. A number of convictions from that era have been overturned lately.

[BigDGeek]

From what I've seen, I'm not convinced she did it. But obviously I wasn't on the jury and I didn't follow the trial very closely because I was in college at the time.

[fossil-hunter]

When I first started following Darlie's case in 1996, I found it very hard to believe any mother could brutally stab her children to death. I followed the trial, read every book that was written about Darlie Routier, watched the investigative shows, recorded and studied Darlie's interviews. I believe the woman murdered her sons and will never have the guts to admit it. The reason I believe she slaughtered her boys are the crime scene photos I found on a pro Darlie website The Darlie Routier Case. Whether you believe she is innocent or guilty, there is one absolute fact about the case that no one can deny and that is that the crime was bloody. And it is the blood evidence that convinces me of her guilt. If someone had broke into the house and stabbed 3 people there would have been a blood trail leading OUT of the house. Look at the picture gallery and you will not bloody footprints in the garage where she said the killer went after stabbing Darlie and her boys. There are no bloody footprints anywhere on the outside of the house. The gate leading out of the backyard has no blood on it. There are no bloody footprints in the alley where the sock was found. The website says Darlie could not have put the sock in the alley because there was no blood trail. Why would the killer take a sock out of the house and nothing else? The woman is where she belongs!!!

[brandonsimmons]

she was 100% guilty and should fry and go to H$LL

[Grainraiser]

I don't know if she did or not but there is enough doubt in mind to not put her to death. Moderator cut: orphaned quote

[charleecrat]

I think she did do it. Look at the scene can you say with all that stabbing and blood loss that there would be not one footprint from the bad guy? What about the fact the gate was wired shut so this bad guy would need to leap a 6 foot fence Hey think about this, where is the knife he used to cut the screen and why did he get her knife if he had a knife like the screen was cut with his knife right? Nope they found fragments of the coating from this screen on another knife in the box that held them all in her kitchen! So for a bad guy to be responsible he would have had to break in get her knife go back out cut the screen and return said knife and carry on, please its silly. Something that has been left out of most comments the fact Darlie was having issues thinking he was fooling around with her sister, Darin took her home and was gone too long this set her off and she got out the wedding dress and wedding photo album. What I think she was planning was to kill the kids and herself and when she cut her own throat somehow she snapped out of it and realized what she was doing but by then it was too late so she made up the intruder story to try to squeeze out of this horrible action. I really think she was in a deep depression and this has been known to happen.

[TX75007]

Originally Posted by fossil-hunter

When I first started following Darlie's case in 1996, I found it very hard to believe any mother could brutally stab her children to death.!!

Its a myth that women are peaceful creatures.

Domestic violence stats show that men and women commit violence at the same rate and at the same level of brutality.

More than 40% of domestic violence victims are male, report reveals | Society | The Observer



The posters who point out that the blood was confined to just a few locations in the house are correct that this is what convicted Routier.

As for the other man's DNA - that is easily explained by two scenarios - if you think about it.