INFAMOUS: Darlie Routier Part 1

[00:00] This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. For some of us, summer means more juggling, which can lead to overwhelm and worry. BetterHelp makes it easy to get the support you need. Having served over 6 million people globally, BetterHelp is the world's largest online therapy platform. They'll match you with a quality licensed therapist, so you can focus on your therapy goals. You don't have to say yes to everything this summer. Find support in therapy. Sign up and get 10% off at betterhelp.com slash crimejunkie. That's betterhelp.com slash crimejunkie. [00:29] Hi, Crime Junkies. It's Britt, and I have big news. One of my favorite seasonal shows, CounterClock, is back with a brand new season, and it is wild. Host Delia D'Ambra is digging into the 2008 Lane Bryant murders. I mean, this isn't just a recap. It is a reinvestigation. She's talking to law enforcement, people from the community, even sources who have never spoken publicly until now. And you know I love a show that asks all the questions. Listen to CounterClock season eight now, wherever you get your podcasts. [00:59] Hi, Crime Junkies. I'm Ashley Flowers. And I'm Britt. Are you all ready for one of those cases that will make your head hurt? Because I didn't think that's what I was getting into when I started researching this case, but I literally spiraled in circles over transcripts and evidence photos and case documents for six days straight. And I eventually just had to like... Yeah, I was going to say, you even... [01:21] like cancel a recording session because you were going to research more. Yeah. And I literally had to like eventually just pull the plug and decide to tell you the story and let you decide for yourself what you think, because I'm not sure I can come up with a solid answer about what actually happened in the Routier home on June 6, 1996.

[01:40] Music [02:11] I want to start our story back just a couple of hours before everything unfolded. This is June 5th in Rowlett, Texas. It's a normal day in a small suburb town. Darren and Darlie Routier lived in a beautiful newly built home with their three sons, Devin, who's six, Damon, who's five, and a newborn Derek, who's less than a year old. Now school's out for the summer. So that night, the two older boys wanted to have a camp out in the living room, [02:41] seconds to try and remember being six living room campouts were the greatest oh my gosh I loved them I know I don't know why sleeping in your living room like over your bedroom is so much cooler but it's like pure freedom at that age oh yeah definitely so Darley decided that she was going to sleep with the boys downstairs she has been sleeping on the couch for the past week or so because she hasn't been sleeping well at all their youngest son Derek still slept in their bedroom and she said that he would wake her up a lot because of all the noises he made moving around in her crib [03:10] So that night, the family watched some TV till the boys eventually passed out. Darren and Darlie stayed up a little bit, just kind of like talking about adult things, life, bills, a trip that Darlie was planning on taking with her friends to Mexico. Then somewhere between 1230 and one o'clock in the morning, Darren went up to bed where he watched a little TV and then eventually fell asleep. But his peaceful sleep didn't last long.

[03:40] her son's name. When he put his glasses on and ran downstairs, what he saw changed his life forever. Since his wife was yelling, Devin, he ran over to where he last saw Devin laying on the floor before he went to bed. And when he reaches him, he sees blood. And he sees that his son has two holes in his chest. He tries, literally, he said the first thing he did was like slap Devin across [04:10] He leans over to start performing CPR on his son, but he blows into his mouth and air and blood just comes sputtering out of Devin's chest. Now, Darren at this point looks around the room trying to see where Damon and Darley are, and that's when he spots Darley covered in blood and on the phone with 911. 911. [04:31] Oh, 911, what is your emergency? [04:35] Ma'am? Did you stop me, my cousin? Yeah? Did you stop me, my cousin? Who's here? My cousin! Hang on, hang on, hang on. [04:49] Hang on, ma'am. [04:53] Ma'am? I'm not letting go of my emergency. Did you see anyone in the door? [04:58] Ma'am? Ma'am, I'm trying to get an ambulance to you. Hang on, ma'am. [05:01] What's going on ma'am? Oh my god! Oh my god! I don't even know what to do!

[05:15] They're dying! What is going on? Somebody keep it on! It's freezing me! My little boys are freezing! Downstairs! Oh, man! Hey, man! Stand here, baby! Stand here! Look up! I'm excited! We have to go through my stairs! My baby, they're dying! They're dead! Oh, my God! Oh, my God! Oh, my God! Hold on, honey! Hold on! Hold on! [05:45] Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. Ma'am, they're there with you. Ma'am. What? Is there anybody in the house besides you and your children? Oh my God. Okay. How many little boys? Is there a boy? Oh my God. I want to. Okay. Listen to me. Calm down. Come. [06:15] Police arrive within minutes, and it's not just the boys who've been injured. Even though Darlie was the one who called for help and had been screaming on the phone, they see that her throat has been slashed, and she has a deep cut on her arm. Paramedics try to tend to the boys, but Devin is pronounced dead upon their arrival, and although Damon was still breathing when they got there, life-saving measures were of no help, and he too would be pronounced dead at the scene eventually.

[06:45] nothing that the paramedics could do. They ushered Darley off in an ambulance and turned over the house to police and detectives as a crime scene. And the scene was bizarre. Blood-truck. [06:57] The murder weapon, which was a butcher knife that was left behind, seemed to have been taken right from the Routier's own knife block. And from the first appearances, it looked like maybe the point of entry for the intruder was the garage where a screen had been slashed. Okay, so is it just like a robbery gone bad? Well... [07:15] The theory at first was no, everything in the home seemed relatively untouched. I mean, aside from a broken wine glass and a knocked over vacuum cleaner, there wasn't really even much of a mess on the first floor of the house where all of this took place. And on top of that, Darley used to wear all these like super gaudy diamond rings on her hands. All of them were left out on the counter right in plain sight, and they didn't even look like they'd been touched. [07:41] So the only motive was just to come in and kill... [07:45] The two little boys and their mom? It was a mystery in those early days. So police tried to collect whatever they could from the scene, but they needed Darley to fill in the missing pieces. I mean, they couldn't decide what happened. Nothing was making sense. However, it would take them two days before they could get a statement from her because she had to undergo surgery for her neck wound. The statements from the doctors and nurses who attended to Darley at the time that she came in and for the two days after were pretty mixed. Like some people thought she was devastated.

[08:15] Some said she was in shock. Some said she wasn't acting like they expected her to. And I don't even know how much validity I can even give to these statements because I swear every place they're a little bit different. And even like the clinician's notes versus what they're saying later on don't match up. So just know like with everything, people were viewing her and the situation through their own personal lens in those first few days. [08:38] Darley's family was there in the hospital supporting her and everyone was completely devastated and confused. Why would this happen? Why the Routiers? Why the boys? Who did this and what did they want? Like I said, police were hoping to fill in the gaps and get answers to these questions when Darley was released from the hospital. But the problem was after Darley got out of surgery, they really had more questions than answers. She was released on June 8th. This is just two days after the incident. [09:08] was that on the night of the 5th, the boys wanted to go to sleep in the living room. They all watched TV, made some popcorn. The boys ended up falling asleep. Darren took the baby to bed upstairs. After the baby was down, he came back down. The two stayed up for a while longer. Talked about, again, like I said, money problems, adult stuff, their vacation she's taking. And... [09:27] They all talked a little bit about the postpartum depression that Darley was having as well. So she said that they laid together a while and then somewhere between 1230 and one, Darren kissed her before going up to bed. Just like we said at the beginning of the story, which was based off of Darren's statement. She said the next thing she remembers was feeling pressure on her and waking up to Damon pressing on her shoulder and he was crying. And when she fully came to, there was a man standing near the end of the couch where her feet were.

[09:57] away. So she said she instinctually just like got up right away, went after him. And that's when the wine glass broke before she keeps going after him in the dark. Then she decides to turn around, turn a light on, then go back for him again. And she says she's like following this path that the man took. She makes her way like through the kitchen into the laundry slash utility room. And she says she sees the knife on the floor. So instinctually, she just like grabs the knife [10:27] Darren. Wait, I thought you said that he woke up because... [10:31] he heard her yell Devin's name. So I did. Their statements are actually different here. Some people point to this to say that maybe the stories are made up or whatever, but I don't think, to me, this isn't a detail that like means anything really. Like one, Darren was in a deep sleep and coming out of it when he's hearing these screams. So he's not even fully like alert. His mind might've been processing things incorrectly. And two, Darlie could have been in total shock and maybe he wanted to say Darren, thought she said Darren, but it came out her son's name. [11:01] And honestly, the names almost even sound kind of similar. So yeah, if someone's screaming and crying and yelling. Yeah, totally. It could absolutely just be a misunderstanding. So she calls for her husband as she's heading back to the living room. And that's when she sees the boys as Darren is like running down the stairs. I already told you that he tried to perform CPR. She calls 911 and the rest is on tape. And this is quite literally every parent's worst nightmare. Both Darley and Darren just kept asking who would do this?

[11:31] kill their two little boys and for what? [11:34] But almost right away, police weren't asking those same questions because they thought they knew exactly who. And they had her right in their station giving them a statement. [11:48] Starting a new business can be intimidating. I mean, the amount of tasks you have to juggle can get overwhelming quickly. And it's like you have to be an expert in everything all at once. I mean, you think when I started Crime Junkie, I thought I would be running a merch store one day? I know. But when that day came, before I could even hire help, I had to expertly run a merch store. [12:08] And I did it with Shopify. [12:10] And you know what? It doesn't matter how big we've grown, how many team members we have who are actual experts now. We still use Shopify. Shopify drives e-commerce whether you're a household name like AudioCheck now or if you're a creator just getting started like I was eight years ago. The platform acts as your built-in business partner and simplifies all your tasks. [12:40] seconds. You can even create email and social campaigns with ease. So start your business today with the industry's best partner, Shopify, and start hearing. Sign up for your $1 per month trial today at shopify.com slash crimejunkie. Go to shopify.com slash crimejunkie. That's shopify.com slash crimejunkie.

[13:02] Police believed almost from the start that there was no mystery intruder. They believed that Darlie was the one who stabbed her sons and then inflicted her own wounds to throw off suspicion. And they felt like they had a ton to prove it. The first thing we should point out is the knife. Now, we didn't play the entire 911 call for you, but on the call, she told the operator that she moved the knife. [13:31] the man. So, okay, sure, maybe. But what stuck out to investigators was why was there no evidence of the knife being on the floor? Well, what do you mean? Well, according to police and later the state prosecutor, there was like this mark and blood transfer from the knife somewhere on the carpet and where Darley had ended up setting it down after she picked it up. But there was no mark [14:01] floor where she grabbed it. It wasn't making sense. Police believed that the whole story about her grabbing it was made up, but why make it up? Well, they had a theory about that too. The theory was that she was trying to cover her tracks and maybe to have a valid reason on why her fingerprints would be on it and no one else's were. And this might be a good point to talk about the whole like 911 call because that's something important that police pointed to when thinking that she was [14:31] I knew that there was this really like kind of infamous 911 call. So, of course, I went over to my favorite statement analysis blog and did some digging. And they did analyze this call. And there were some really interesting points about the knife. Yeah. I mean, one of the things, again, when I was doing my research that everyone talks about probably most on that call is this part where she's talking about picking up the knife and the fingerprint. So do you want to touch on that a little bit? Yeah. So she always kind of defends her like...

[15:01] decision to pick up the knife. And the operator even says, like, don't touch anything. Just leave everything as that is. And she's like, oh, well, I already touched it. And... [15:09] He was like, oh, OK, like, that's fine. And she was like, there's this one line where she goes like, oh, no, like if I hadn't touched it, maybe we could have caught the guy. Yeah, like maybe we could have gotten prints. Like she's thinking about evidence in this moment of trauma, which a lot of people think was super bizarre. Yeah. And I feel like that's not even like the only weird thing. And I know we bring this up a lot. Like no one ever knows how they're going to respond, you know, in this traumatic life altering moment. [15:39] beginning, through the entire call. She, like, [15:44] never says her children's names, which I think I've said it even before. Like, I can't imagine not just being like screaming my children's names and not being helpful at all. You know, like really just kind of calling them like her boys and her children. And there's this really interesting point that the blog made that I'm [16:03] When she says that they're dying, they're always children or boys. Like, oh no, my children have been stabbed. My boys are dying. But when it comes to when she uses the word babies... [16:16] she always says that they're dead. Like, it's already done. We're not talking about it. This is over and done with. What does that mean? I guess I don't understand the difference between babies and boys. I mean, the statement analysis was basically saying stuff like, you know, the children and the boys are active, and she is maybe putting out hope for them, but she's personalizing the death with babies. And even then, like, it's just so bizarre the way that she...

[16:43] that doesn't like ask for ways to help them. Like, how do I stop the blood? He's not breathing. Can I do CPR? Can you walk me through that? Which is like a really basic thing that you would be expected to kind of want to do for your children. I mean, to like jump in though and take the other side of this, like she just watched her husband try CPR on her son, right? Like he was trying blood and air were coming out. The knife wound was like through and through. I mean, at some point, at least I think I'd just be like, get me professionals. Like, I don't know what I'm doing. I can't even function right now. [17:13] you know [17:14] So, I mean, I get what the statement analysis is saying, but I also like totally see the other side of it. [17:18] I mean, yes, but it just... [17:20] I guess as a like and not to ever diminish anyone who isn't a parent, but like I can't imagine. I don't know. I just can't imagine not wanting to help in that situation. Like, honestly, not even as a parent, but as a friend, like if I walked in a room and you were stabbed, like I'd call 911 and be like, OK, what can I do other than just sit here and watch her die? You know, like that's essentially what she's doing to her own children. She also kind of like lays out what happened that night. [17:48] in that like someone came in while they were sleeping, they stabbed the boys, then they stabbed me, which like, [17:55] Okay, that's kind of what we're all assuming happened at that point. Well, it's a little bit interesting because I don't know— [18:03] how you would know the order necessarily because she doesn't wake up because she feels any kind of wound. She says she wakes up because she feels this pressure on her arm where her son's touching her. And, [18:12] Even in this whole thing, this is what's a little bizarre to me is and something that people bring up a lot online is she said she's sleeping downstairs because she's such a light sleeper that her infant son wakes her up moving around his crib. And everyone's like, how would you have slept through yourself getting cut? Your children being stabbed. Yeah, both of your children being stabbed. Like something isn't feeling right about that. Right. And like the kids are little. Like obviously as soon as they get hurt, they're going to wake up and be loud. Like...

[18:41] I remember when we fostered a two-year-old, when she wet the bed or coughed too hard and woke herself up, she would start crying, you know? Is it possible, though, that their injuries were inflicted, like, so severely, so quickly that... [18:52] that they couldn't? I mean, if they're going through like their lungs, I mean, air spurting out, that they couldn't scream. I mean, that is possible, right? I mean, I'm not a medical personnel at all, but I mean, there's a really good chance, but [19:05] Even at that, like, I think of, like, the tents that we would make in our living room growing up. And, like, we were all over each other. Like, in my mind, visualizing it, it'd almost be difficult to wound one of them. [19:17] without, you know, rustling or waking up or startling the other one. Because, I mean... [19:23] I'm not, at least I didn't think until now that they were in like a double knife fist situation. [19:29] I mean, I just it just seems like one of them would have woken up. And if a newborn in a crib rustling around in the night wakes Darley up, how could she have slept through this? [19:38] And [19:38] Towards the end of the call, I think she says what I find most interesting. She says that she feels really bad and she thinks that she's dying. And... [19:50] Obviously, we know she's not dying, but she thinks she's dying, but has basically said over and over and over that her boy's [19:59] are dying or are dead. The fact that she feels so confident... [20:05] in the path of the boys, but... [20:08] then throws out that, oh, maybe I'm also this hurt, is kind of her starting to shift the blame and portray this innocence by...

[20:18] making herself look or sound as severely injured as the boys, which... [20:23] Kind of goes against... [20:24] again, like any sort of maternal or loving instinct. Like, oh, like they're really hurt. I'm really hurt too. Like, I'm just like them. You should be worried about me too. As opposed to, you know, like... [20:35] Don't worry about me. I'm fine. Please save my babies. True. She's trying to pull some attention onto her, which just feels... [20:43] Like, [20:44] icky, you know? So I did read somewhere, though, and again, I don't know how valid this is, that she didn't even realize she was hurt until someone like points it out to her while she's on the 911 call, that she was like so distracted that she didn't realize her throat was even cut or that she was bleeding so severely. So it could just be like the shock kind of like settling into her and her realizing that the blood that she's covered in is partially her own. Yeah. So one of the things that I haven't seen pointed out anywhere, and you didn't bring up in the statement [21:14] Nobody seems to really care about but really stuck with me is throughout the call. She keeps referring to this attacker as they they they they like two people or more than one person and every statement she's ever given has been that there's this one man one attacker. [21:32] But I don't know why she kept saying they on the call again. I don't know if it's in this moment of trauma. She's very confused. I have no idea what's going through her mind. But I thought it was super weird that it was consistently they on the 911 call, but since has been consistently one person in all of her statements. Right, right. So just like you, just like the guy who does the statement analysis blog, police don't like the call. The physical evidence doesn't match her story about picking up the knife. It also doesn't match her story about the glass breaking.

[22:02] of this commotion is like happening as she's running after this guy. And here's the problem, though, and why the physical evidence doesn't match that. If you look at the crime scene photos, there are bloody footprints under the broken glass and there isn't any blood on top of the glass. So to police, this tells them that the glass was broken after she had walked around. You mean like to stage the scene? Yeah, that's what they're thinking. Because remember, the only things that were messed up [22:32] Riley's statement is that she used the vacuum as like a crutch, but also police are like, why? There's nothing wrong with your legs. I mean, yeah, but the woman is bleeding from her like neck. [22:42] I... [22:42] could see her being, you know, weak or feeling faint and not really being able to like, yeah, keep herself up, especially like you said, she's not even aware that she's injured. No, I totally get that. I'm not saying that this like knocked over vacuum cleaner or the glass on its own is like the nail in the coffin. But police don't love it in combination with everything else because there is more. [23:05] Thank you. [23:07] So in addition to the 911 call and the lack of blood where she said the knife was and the glass on top of the blood, there are a couple more really important issues that I want to touch on. So first is the blood evidence. Police say that there was a surprisingly small amount of blood on the couch where Darlie said that she was sleeping. And her assertion this whole time is that she was cut while she was laying on the couch. Now, [23:32] You would expect, if you have this deep neck wound...

[23:34] that that's where a lot of the blood would be. But it seems that there was a large amount of blood, like the most amount of blood from Darlie was over the kitchen sink, which... [23:44] doesn't fit a ton into her story at all. So the police's theory is that after she perpetrated this attack herself, she stood over the kitchen sink and made her own injuries. I just feel like that would be so hard to do to yourself. Well, later, police and prosecutors described her injuries as superficial. And they point out, like, the boys had been stabbed almost through and through with the knife plunging into them. [24:15] Like hers were just a slice to the throw and one stab in the forearm. And why wait to kill her last and risk her waking up? You'd normally take out the adult first. If you're, again, your only goal is to kill these people, you would want to take out the adult and then go after the kids. So, yeah. [24:31] In addition to the blood evidence not adding up, they also didn't buy the story about this mystery intruder cutting through the screen to gain entry into the house. The investigators said that perps don't usually cut screens. Like, I guess they know, it's like well-known in perp community, that you can, I guess, just pop off screens and the whole thing gets removed. Okay, well, one, I'm terrified, but that doesn't mean that... [24:55] Like slicing through the screen never happens, right? I agree, but that's not the only problem. Investigators also say that there was a layer of dust that was undisturbed on the windowsill. And police said that there was mulch right under the window. And under that, there were no footprints. There was nothing that was disturbed, nothing that would indicate to them that anyone ever crawled in or out of that window. And if they never left that way, it means they never came in that way either.

[25:25] this. There was a bread knife in the knife block that the family had. This is the same knife block that the butcher knife was used that was the actual murder weapon. When that bread knife was examined, there were fibers on it that were made of fiberglass rods and a rubbery compound. Well, in this ABC documentary called Last Defense that I watched about this case, according to the state, that's the same compound you would see in screens. And it would have been impossible for an intruder [25:55] to cut the screen to gain entry [25:56] to the home with a knife that was already inside the house. Like that doesn't add up. If we're seeing compounds from the knife... [26:03] inside they're not in they're not cutting to get out right how would that have happened now all of this added up to just one thing to them darley was guilty of murder [26:13] Okay, I'm not saying that [26:16] all the stuff like [26:17] isn't completely fishy. And obviously, we've talked about family annihilators before. I know it happens. But what was her motive? So there are theories and I'll say off the like, right off the topic, I don't think she was a family annihilator from that study I found last time. I think it was when we did the Chris Watts episode. It said that most family annihilators do kill themselves as well. So if she inflicted her injuries on herself, that tracks with that whole [26:47] to save herself and she didn't go after her husband and her infant son. So I think, at least in my mind, we can completely rule out that theory. And police never even try and make that theory. They say that it was about financial freedom and upholding a certain type of lifestyle for Darlie. And the boys got in the way of that. I mentioned at the top of the episode that Darlie and Darren recently built a brand new home.

[27:17] and went on all these kinds of vacations. They were able to do all of that for a long time because Darren made really good money from the company that he owned and operated. But in the time before the murders, things were really slow for them. The money wasn't flowing in like they were used to, and they were starting to rack up debt through credit cards and unpaid back taxes. So like how much debt? [27:37] It got up to about $22,000 at the time of the murders in 1996. But here's the thing. Darley wasn't slowing down her spending. She still shopped. She, like I said earlier, was planning a trip to Mexico with her friends. So, again, you can look at this two ways. Darley says, yeah, I wasn't slowing down because I wasn't worried. I knew the business would pick back up. Everything was fine. The police, on the other hand, say that she wasn't slowing down, even though she should have been. And things were just getting worse and worse. [28:07] she sees the boys as a financial burden. Did they have any life insurance policies on the kids? So they did, but nothing significant. I think it was something like $5,000 per child, which in the end mostly went to covering expenses for their funeral. So I don't, the claim has never been that she was looking to get rich off her kids or like that, that their death was going to solve all their financial problems. It was just more that she wanted them out of the way so they could

[28:37] infant too. They don't really give an explanation for that other than maybe it was because the youngest son was in the same room as Darren and maybe it would have been too difficult. I honestly don't know. But here's what I do know. Those who believed Darley to be guilty found a note in her diary that they said was as good as a confession. And the note in Darley's diary that the part that everyone points out is a point where she says, I hope that you'll forgive me for what I'm about [29:07] do. And this was written just one month before. So police say that she knew she was going to kill her kids and she'd been planning it. And they said that note proved it. Now we have a lot of stuff building up against Darley in just the first couple of weeks of the investigation. Evidence had started being collected on that very first day on the 6th. They kept the house sealed off. Then Darley's released from the hospital on the 8th. She gives her statement. On the 9th, [29:35] They have a graveside service for the boys. [29:38] Then, [29:39] Then comes the thing that would seal Darley's fate and go on to define this case for decades. [29:49] For decades, some cold cases have been reduced to files in a cabinet, but not anymore. I'm Ashley Flowers, and me and my team on the deck have been traveling across the country to report on these forgotten cases. And in some instances, it's resulted in these cases being solved after decades. So,

[30:08] Join me every Wednesday as we revive these stories one card at a time. Listen to the deck now. [30:15] wherever you get your podcasts. [30:19] What this case is most known for and truthfully how I knew this case, like I'll tell you, I decided to do this case because I was at a cookout at my dad's house and our neighbor found out that I did this crime podcast and was like, you know, you should do the Darley Routier case. My wife's sister was one of the nurses who took care of her in the hospital. And I was totally confused. I was like, I don't know if I've ever heard of that one. It doesn't sound super familiar. And he says, no, no, no, it was really popular. [30:49] immediately. [30:49] I knew it because the silly string defined this case. It defined it in 1996 and it still defines it in 2019. And this is what all the silly string stuff is about. So on June 14th, this would have been Devin's seventh birthday. This is barely one week after the murders, mind you. Darley and her family decide to hold a graveside celebration. [31:19] it like all the friends and family are there. [31:22] And it's not settling to watch. They sing happy birthday. They're spraying silly string over the graves. Kids are running around laughing. And Darley gives a smiling interview saying that the boys wouldn't have wanted them to be sad. And basically they know they're up at heaven celebrating right now. Oh, that's not a great look. It was not a good look. No. And even now watching it, even knowing the whole case still makes me cringe.

[31:52] so petty and I'm going to let my human show. But not only is she smiling and acting all jovial, but the thing that drives me insane, and I heard like jurors and other people talk about as well, is like the way she's just like chomping on her gum the whole time. Like this is the most casual thing in the whole world. That's also your biggest pet peeve. No, I know. It's like my thing. But there is something just so nonchalant and almost flippant about the whole thing that it wasn't just me who felt it. Like I said, police felt it. The jurors felt it. The DA felt [32:22] felt it. Just a couple of days after this silly string celebration, now this is on the 17th, police finally released the house because they have everything they need and they arrest Darlie the very next day. She said she was shocked when they arrested her. She never saw it coming. She couldn't believe they thought she was guilty of this, but they did. Darlie was taken to court [32:52] So the prosecution wanted a backup plan. If they tried both of them together and they lost, it was double jeopardy. They had no chance again. But they were basically, I can't believe they can do this. Like to me, if it happens at the same time and there's like only one theory of what could have happened, I would think you'd have to do it together. But no, they went just for Damon. So that way, if for some reason they lost, they could try her again for, again, the exact same crime, just the other child. Perpetrated on another child. Wow.

[33:22] They told the jury, the only person who had motive was Darley, and they showed the tape of the graveside birthday party. The jury watched that tape at trial and asked to see it again during deliberations. They replayed it over again. [33:45] and over and over, eventually watching it 11 times in total. And it was that that made them decide Darley was no grieving mother. She was a killer. They found her guilty of murder and sentenced her to death. [34:02] But. [34:03] There are two sides to every story. Back when Darlie was convicted, what we told you today was the only side anyone ever heard. But there's so much more you don't know. And over the last 22 years, Darlie's defense team has worked diligently to present a very different picture of the case. It will make you question everything we told you today. And it will make you wonder if an innocent woman is currently sitting on death row. And if so, [34:29] Where? [34:30] And who is the real killer of the Routier boys? [34:35] We're going to tell you that side of the story and everything that points to Darlie's innocence. [34:40] next week. [34:42] you can find all of our sources for this two-part story on our website cryingjunkiepodcast.com there's also a direct link to the sources and pictures in this episode's show notes as well yep and good news for everyone who is part of our fan club you do not have to wait till next week

[35:12] Second part is available for you right now through the fan club feed. Yep. If you're not a part of the fan club, but dying to hear what happens, you can join by going to our website and clicking the fan club tab. For everyone else, we will be back next week. [35:35] you [35:36] you [35:38] you [35:41] you [35:43] Crime Junkie is an audio Chuck production. So what do you think, Chuck? Do you approve? [35:51] Okay, Crime Junkies, you know, I absolutely love a twist and a turn, especially when it comes to people who turn out to be someone they're not. That's why I have been obsessed with the podcast Chameleon. Every Thursday, host Josh Dean deep dives into a scam so bizarre, it will leave you wondering, how did they get away with that? [36:09] It is truly one of my favorite podcasts right now and I've been listening for years. [36:13] I think you'll love it too. [36:15] Listen to Chameleon wherever you get your podcasts.