Peck, Darlie Lynn Routier, an American on death row, was found guilty of killing her son, who was five years old. Despite the fact that both boys were killed with the same knife, she was not charged with the murder of her second son. Routier, who was born in Pennsylvania, spent her adolescent years in Lubbock, Texas, where she first met Darin Routier when she was 15 years old. Four years later, they got married, and their oldest son Devon was born in 1989. Drake and Damon would be their next two additions. On the evening of June 6, 1996, a horrifying episode occurred; when the police came on the site, they discovered one child dead, another dying, and Routier herself suffering from serious but superficial wounds. After she recovered, she was given a murder charge. Before the judge gave her punishment, the ensuing trial lasted less than a year. 2014 saw the approval of more DNA tests for both the prosecution and her defense team.
Early life, childhood, and marriage
Peck, Darlie Lynn In Altoona, Pennsylvania, on January 4, 1970, Larry Peck and Darlie Kee welcomed Routier into the world. Danelle Fugate is the name of her sister. Routier moved to Lubbock with her mother and stepfather Robbie Kee when she was a teenager.
Darin, who worked as a cook at Western Sizzlin, helped her mother find employment there. When they first met, Routier was 15 and he was 17. They tied the knot in August 1988.
She completed her high school education in 1988 at Lubbock’s Monterey High School. Darin’s little business, which examined electronic components, initially had success.
They spent thousands of dollars refurbishing a new home they bought in Rowlett, a wealthy neighborhood of Dallas, Texas. She got breast augmentation surgery in 1992 and purchased a significant amount of showy jewelry, while he invested in a 1982 Jaguar and a thirty-foot cabin cruiser.
On June 14, 1989, less than a year after they wed, Devon Rush Routier was born. On February 19, 1991, she gave birth to Damon Christian Routier. Born on October 18, 1995, Drake is their youngest child and the only Routier son to survive the catastrophe.
The Routiers were allegedly living beyond their means, according to all accounts. But at the time, many who knew them were unaware of that. The Routiers were a picture-perfect family and model neighbors. For the neighborhood kids who would eventually testify in her favor in court, Darlie cooked cookies. They even helped pay the mortgage for a cancer patient.
Everything changed when their company began to experience losses. Prior to the murders, they had submitted an application for a loan but had been turned down due to their precarious financial circumstances. They owed $12,000 on credit cards, and $10,000 in back taxes, and they were in arrears on their own home.
In the months before the tragedy, there were also marital issues. Routier once thought about committing suicide and left a note for her kids in her diary. She begged them to forget her and stop taking ownership of her passing.
Arrests & Murders
The 911 dispatchers in Rowlett received a call from Routier at their residence at 5801 Eagle Drive at 2:31 in the morning on June 6, 1996. She claimed that a burglar had broken in, stabbed her two children, and assaulted her. It was later discovered that Darin was downstairs with Devon and Damon at the time, while Routier was upstairs with Drake.
David Waddell, the first officer on the scene, observed Darin leaving through the front door. Waddell halted him and enquired as to his identity. Darin introduced himself and said he was going to collect Karen Neal, a nurse, from the house across the street.
When Waddell entered the home, Routier was still speaking with the dispatchers; one of the boys had already passed away and the other was on the verge of passing away. Waddell instructed Darin to preserve the still-alive youngster when he came back.
Darin tried CPR, but it wasn’t successful. Darlie inquired as to if any of her jewelry had been taken after suffering severe injuries herself, including a throat cut with a knife. When his backup arrived, he searched the house for an invader but was unsuccessful.
She allegedly admitted to touching the knife that was used to murder her children and leaving her fingerprints on it, according to Waddell. At the Baylor University Medical Center in downtown Dallas, she received medical attention for her wounds.
Routier was featured on national newscasts eight days after the tragedy, and posthumously celebrated Devon’s birthday at the graves of her deceased sons, who would have turned seven that year, at their respective graves. She was seen grinning, laughing, and singing “Happy Birthday” with her family as she sprayed silly string over the graves.
The impact of the newscasts was catastrophic. Four days later, she was formally charged with capital murder. The footage would be crucial to her conviction as well.
Her family, who have supported her through the years, had brought up the fact that a solemn ceremony honoring the kids had taken place earlier but hadn’t been shown on the newscasts.
Conviction after trial
The prosecution developed its case on the basis that Routier killed her children as a result of the family’s financial issues, painting Routier as a spoiled, materialistic lady who couldn’t handle increasing debt and losing her luxurious lifestyle. Because Damon was under six when he was killed and because it made the case a capital murder, she was solely charged with murdering him.
Toby Shook and Greg Davis led the prosecution’s assertion that the crime scene had been fabricated. James Cron, a consultant on crime scenes, was brought in to back up the assertion. The Silly String video was played for the jury.
According to Routier’s attorney, Douglas Mulder, she had no plausible reason to kill her kids. He emphasized that there was no motive, no confession, and no witnesses for the prosecution. She took the witness stand despite the advice of her attorney, and “withered under cross-examination by prosecutor Toby Shook.”
Chief medical examiner Vincent DiMaio of San Antonio testified that Routier’s neck wound was just two millimeters from severing her carotid artery. She did not have the same injuries as the self-inflicted wounds he had previously observed, he said.
The doctors who treated her at Baylor University Medical Center, however, had earlier told the police that it was possible that she had self-inflicted the wounds. In any case, the jury was not given access to any images of her wounds.
The cast-off blood on the back of her nightshirt revealed that she had pulled her hand back each time before repeatedly stabbing the kids, Tom Bevel told the court.
Routier was given a death by lethal injection sentence on February 4, 1997, after the jury declared her guilty. She has spent the last 20 years being detained at Mountain View Unit in Texas. Her punishment will be carried out in the execution room of the Huntsville Unit.
Post-Trial Activities
Darin’s support for Routier cost him Drake’s custody. His parents were given custody of his lone child while he was only allowed visitation privileges. In September 2011, Darin and Routier officially filed for divorce, stating a shared desire to end the uncertainty they had been experiencing since Routier’s arrest and conviction. He afterward wed again.
J. Stephen Cooper was engaged by Routier’s family as her post-conviction lawyer. He and other members of the defense team asserted that numerous mistakes were made during the trial as well as in the official recording of it.
Additionally, they claimed that the investigation itself had been done with various mistakes. They were denied when they made the same claims to an appeals court. The same thing took place during her habeas corpus petition hearing.
She was given the rights to brand-new DNA tests in 2008. The prosecution and defense teams were given permission to conduct additional DNA testing on her nightshirt, a bloody sock discovered outside, and a smudged fingerprint discovered inside the home on January 19, 2014.
Estimated Net Worth
Darlie Routier is one of the wealthiest and most well-known criminals. Darlie Routier’s net worth is roughly $1.5 million, according to our analysis of data from sources including Wikipedia, Forbes, and Business Insider.