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 at 5801 Eagle Drive on June 6, 1996. Darlie also sustained several wounds, which prosecutors claimed were self-inflicted, related to the incident.
Though a motive is unclear, prosecutors claimed that Darlie murdered her two sons over anger regarding the Routiers' financial difficulties. Darlie's husband, Darin, a small business owner, and the family enjoyed a relatively high annual income. However, most of the money that Darin 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. With little money left in the bank, and Darlie sensing her upper-class lifestyle diminishing, killing her children may have offered a way out of financial troubles, prosecutors argued. This claim has been disputed by Darlie's supporters and family.
Darlie claimed that an intruder (or intruders) killed her children, but police were suspicious of that claim due to numerous suspicious and inconsistent facts. For example, Routier's children were killed with deep, penetrating knife wounds to their torsos, however 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. The public was also horrified by a video widely shown 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. Darlie was tried and found guilty of murdering one of her two sons, and she was sentenced to death. Prosecutors did not try Mrs. 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 doubt over whether or not Darlie committed the crime, and some think that she should be let 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.