SAVE Darlie Lynn Routier in Texas
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There is a song by Celine Dion titled
"I'm Everything I am because you Loved Me"
I have sang this song for my precious baby boys. Now I want each
of you to listen to the words of this song.
This is what your love and support has done for me"
(Letter to friends and supporters, 2007)
"I'm Everything I am because you Loved Me"
I have sang this song for my precious baby boys. Now I want each
of you to listen to the words of this song.
This is what your love and support has done for me"
(Letter to friends and supporters, 2007)
NEWS
May 2019:
2 Decades After Being Convicted of Killing Her Son, Darlie Routier Insists She's Innocent
A mother on Death Row for the unthinkable.
— 20/20 (@ABC2020) 6 May 2019
Now, as the court orders new testing on crucial crime scene evidence – what will happen next to Darlie Routier?
See the exclusive interviews and stunning details – on the 20/20 Documentary Event Special – Friday Night at 9|8c on ABC. pic.twitter.com/vIs0sOzTnF
Who is Darlie Lynn Routier?
Darlie Lynn Routier is a Texan Mum who was sentenced to death for murdering her 5 years-old child Damon. She was accused also of killing her other six-years-old child, Devon. Both children were stabbed to death on June 6th, 1996. Darlie Lynn Routier has no prior conviction and has always maintained her innocence. Her 3rd Child, Drake is fighting today against leukemia. Her family is completely convinced of her innocence, including her husband, her mother, her mother in law, as well as those who know her.
Darlie Lynn Routier is a Texan Mum who was sentenced to death for murdering her 5 years-old child Damon. She was accused also of killing her other six-years-old child, Devon. Both children were stabbed to death on June 6th, 1996. Darlie Lynn Routier has no prior conviction and has always maintained her innocence. Her 3rd Child, Drake is fighting today against leukemia. Her family is completely convinced of her innocence, including her husband, her mother, her mother in law, as well as those who know her.
Case summary
Darlie Lynn Routier was charged with stabbing her five-year-old son to death in the early morning hours of June 6, 1996, in the downstairs "Roman" room of her own home. She was further accused of stabbing to death her six-year-old son Devon in the same transaction while her husband Darin and infant son Drake were asleep upstairs.
Darlie Lynn Routier was seriously injured in the same brutal attack, suffering multiple knife wounds including a defensive stab wound on her right arm, intense bruising and swelling to the insides of both arms, and, her neck had been slashed. A necklace she was wearing at the time had became embedded in the wound, and, had to be surgically removed. Her slashed throat was but 2 millimeters away from causing her death in 2-3 minutes time.
Darlie Routier told police she awoke to find an intruder in her home and that he fled through the utility room out into the garage. The police investigation of the scene discovered in the garage an open window with a screen which had been cut; a variety of blood "trails" in the house; and microscopic fiber on the household's bread knife that was similar to the material from which the cut screen was made; and four spots of blood on Darlie Routier's night-shirt which each had combinations of her own blood and of one or the other dead boys. The police also found a sock down an alley some 75 yards from the house which contained the blood of both Devon and Damon, but not Darlie's.
As for the boys, the following summary was provided: Devon was stabbed once in his heart and once in his lung. This made all CPR attempts rendered by his father while awaiting paramedics, unsuccessful. Damon had been stabbed 6 times on in his back, with the first two not being life threatening injuries, being "unsuccessful" stabs. Damon was then, most likely, held down and stabbed the fatal four final times. One or more injuries also penetrated Damon's lungs. The prosecution's own blood map shows Damon moving around the family room, whereas Devon most likely died almost immediately. Tragically, Damon died en route to the hospital.
The police focused their investigation on Darlie Routier virtually from their arrival and weeks prior to any confirmed analysis of the blood evidence and in doing so all but ignored the reports from neighbors of a suspicious black car which had been seen in the area recently, including the night of the offense.
The State argued that Darlie Routier killed her children because she was "angry" over her family's purported economic difficulties and the negative effect this had on her "lifestyle." The State's theory was that her wounds were "superficial". She was sentenced to death in 1997.
Recently, the Court allowed new DNA testing which could help prove her innocence. The testing is currently underway, more arguments have to be held in court.
May 2019: The New York Innocence Project, now convinced that an innocent woman is languishing on Texas Death Row, has joined forces with Routier’s appellate team: Steve Cooper and Richard Smith of Dallas and Richard Burr of Houston.
Darlie Lynn Routier was seriously injured in the same brutal attack, suffering multiple knife wounds including a defensive stab wound on her right arm, intense bruising and swelling to the insides of both arms, and, her neck had been slashed. A necklace she was wearing at the time had became embedded in the wound, and, had to be surgically removed. Her slashed throat was but 2 millimeters away from causing her death in 2-3 minutes time.
Darlie Routier told police she awoke to find an intruder in her home and that he fled through the utility room out into the garage. The police investigation of the scene discovered in the garage an open window with a screen which had been cut; a variety of blood "trails" in the house; and microscopic fiber on the household's bread knife that was similar to the material from which the cut screen was made; and four spots of blood on Darlie Routier's night-shirt which each had combinations of her own blood and of one or the other dead boys. The police also found a sock down an alley some 75 yards from the house which contained the blood of both Devon and Damon, but not Darlie's.
As for the boys, the following summary was provided: Devon was stabbed once in his heart and once in his lung. This made all CPR attempts rendered by his father while awaiting paramedics, unsuccessful. Damon had been stabbed 6 times on in his back, with the first two not being life threatening injuries, being "unsuccessful" stabs. Damon was then, most likely, held down and stabbed the fatal four final times. One or more injuries also penetrated Damon's lungs. The prosecution's own blood map shows Damon moving around the family room, whereas Devon most likely died almost immediately. Tragically, Damon died en route to the hospital.
The police focused their investigation on Darlie Routier virtually from their arrival and weeks prior to any confirmed analysis of the blood evidence and in doing so all but ignored the reports from neighbors of a suspicious black car which had been seen in the area recently, including the night of the offense.
The State argued that Darlie Routier killed her children because she was "angry" over her family's purported economic difficulties and the negative effect this had on her "lifestyle." The State's theory was that her wounds were "superficial". She was sentenced to death in 1997.
Recently, the Court allowed new DNA testing which could help prove her innocence. The testing is currently underway, more arguments have to be held in court.
May 2019: The New York Innocence Project, now convinced that an innocent woman is languishing on Texas Death Row, has joined forces with Routier’s appellate team: Steve Cooper and Richard Smith of Dallas and Richard Burr of Houston.
What her husband says
"I was shocked - I argued with them and told them they [the Prosecution] were wrong"
WATCH below separate media interview from Darlie Routier's husband talking about Darlie as a mother.
What her mother and her mother in law say - WATCH 1.25mns video (From first prison interview from ABC)
Darlie's mother: You are telling me that a person who is normal, not violent, with no mental illness, could cold-bloodedly kill her own children for no reason whatsoever at all? That does not make sense to me.
Darlie's mother in law:
- Journalist: Have you ever doubted your daughter in law?
- Mother in law: Absolutely not a moment - Not a moment.
- Journalist: Why do you think the family has stayed so close together?
- Mother in law: Because we are so the same way - Number 1, we love her; Number 2: What they are saying is so crazy, so different from the Darlie we know in our hearts, and Number 3 is the fact that they are making statements that we know better than them.
What the investigating organisation says
Investigating Innocence (currently investigating the case):
Darlie’s case is very similar to another mother who was wrongfully convicted of stabbing her 10 year-old son. On Oct. 13, 1987, in Lawrenceville, IL, Julie Rea was awaked at 4 a.m. to the sound of her son’s scream. When she rushed to his room across the hall, in the dark of the night, she collided with a child serial killer, Tommy Lynn Sells. He dropped the knife on the floor, and began beating her with his fists. Despite physical injuries, including a gash on her arm, a black eye, bruises and abrasions, Julie became the prime suspect. She was charged with capital murder three years later, after the elected prosecutor who resisted pressure to arrest her left office. (...) After she was convicted in March of 2002, True crime author Diane Fanning published Through the Window: The Terrifying True Story of Cross-Country Killer Tommy Lynn Sells. Sells told Fanning about a murder in Illinois in which he had killed a child and was startled by the mother who came into the room. Two years later, Texas Ranger John Allen provided an affidavit in support of Julie’s petition for a new trial. The Illinois Innocence Project had corroborated the serial killer’s confession. Julie was acquitted in a new trial, and the courts have issued her a Certificate of Innocence.
(Read here and here about child serial killer Tommy Lee Sells (sentenced to death in 2000 and later executed in 2014) who confessed to over a dozen homicides in Missouri, Texas, NY and Illinois) between 1980 and 1999, many of them children. Drifting throughout the country, only interrupted by the occasional jail term, Sells seemed to target small children and particularly enjoyed multiple murders. Among the murders Sells is credited with are the killings of a nine-year-old child in Texas, the slaying of a mother and her five-year-old child in Forsyth, Missouri, the killings of another mother and child in West Virginia, and another similar crime in Tennessee).
Investigating Innocence (currently investigating the case):
Darlie’s case is very similar to another mother who was wrongfully convicted of stabbing her 10 year-old son. On Oct. 13, 1987, in Lawrenceville, IL, Julie Rea was awaked at 4 a.m. to the sound of her son’s scream. When she rushed to his room across the hall, in the dark of the night, she collided with a child serial killer, Tommy Lynn Sells. He dropped the knife on the floor, and began beating her with his fists. Despite physical injuries, including a gash on her arm, a black eye, bruises and abrasions, Julie became the prime suspect. She was charged with capital murder three years later, after the elected prosecutor who resisted pressure to arrest her left office. (...) After she was convicted in March of 2002, True crime author Diane Fanning published Through the Window: The Terrifying True Story of Cross-Country Killer Tommy Lynn Sells. Sells told Fanning about a murder in Illinois in which he had killed a child and was startled by the mother who came into the room. Two years later, Texas Ranger John Allen provided an affidavit in support of Julie’s petition for a new trial. The Illinois Innocence Project had corroborated the serial killer’s confession. Julie was acquitted in a new trial, and the courts have issued her a Certificate of Innocence.
(Read here and here about child serial killer Tommy Lee Sells (sentenced to death in 2000 and later executed in 2014) who confessed to over a dozen homicides in Missouri, Texas, NY and Illinois) between 1980 and 1999, many of them children. Drifting throughout the country, only interrupted by the occasional jail term, Sells seemed to target small children and particularly enjoyed multiple murders. Among the murders Sells is credited with are the killings of a nine-year-old child in Texas, the slaying of a mother and her five-year-old child in Forsyth, Missouri, the killings of another mother and child in West Virginia, and another similar crime in Tennessee).
What the supporters say
The prosecution’s theory is based on the argument that Darlie took the time to stage a crime scene, cut her throat, slashed her right arm (even though she is right handed), and ignore the fact a living witness [the son who survived a little time] to the events remained. Damon was observed moving, gasping for air, and looking around the room by the first officer on the scene. The paramedic stated that when he got to Damon there was still light in his eyes, and he was fighting for his life.
The State of Texas got it wrong this time. Speak out for Darlie before it is too late.I think that, the court of public opinion has GOT to change for Darlie, and people MUST be made aware of the true injustices involved in this case, in order to be released. Each high profile inmate that has been released recently was, well, just that - high profile. It seems like it takes the public as a whole, nationwide and worldwide, banning together saying THIS IS WRONG AND WE WILL NOT STAND FOR IT, in order to get anyone's attention. Stephanie, Texan citizen and friend of the family
The prosecution’s theory is based on the argument that Darlie took the time to stage a crime scene, cut her throat, slashed her right arm (even though she is right handed), and ignore the fact a living witness [the son who survived a little time] to the events remained. Damon was observed moving, gasping for air, and looking around the room by the first officer on the scene. The paramedic stated that when he got to Damon there was still light in his eyes, and he was fighting for his life.
The State of Texas got it wrong this time. Speak out for Darlie before it is too late.I think that, the court of public opinion has GOT to change for Darlie, and people MUST be made aware of the true injustices involved in this case, in order to be released. Each high profile inmate that has been released recently was, well, just that - high profile. It seems like it takes the public as a whole, nationwide and worldwide, banning together saying THIS IS WRONG AND WE WILL NOT STAND FOR IT, in order to get anyone's attention. Stephanie, Texan citizen and friend of the family
Please sign the Petition to the Dallas Conviction Integrity Unit.
How you can help
1. Awareness -- Darlie needs people to help raise awareness about her case. Please share articles, videos, and other information with friends through social media and other means. Spreading the word and educating people about this case will help to get the attention of people who can help.
2. Advocacy -- Write to politicians, organizations, and individuals that may be able to help. Provide information about Darlie’s case and urge them to get involved.
Dallas District Attorney Craig Watkins runs an Integrity Unit that is responsible for investigating cases like Darlie’s to determine if a wrongful conviction has occurred. Please write to Craig, call him, fax him, or contact him via Facebook to ask that his unit investigate Darlie’s case.
District Attorney Craig Watkins
Frank Crowley Courts Building
133 N. Riverfront Blvd, LB 19
Dallas, Texas 75207-4399
(214)653-3600 Office
(214) 653-5774 FAX
Craig Watkins’ official Facebook page (you can send a message through this page) is here.
Other people to write to:
. Judge Robert Francis 6th Floor 3rd Circuit Frank Crowley Court Bldg 133 N. Industrial Blvd Dallas, TX 75207
. Govenor Rick Perry Office of the Governor P.O. Box 12428 Austin, TX 78711 http://www.governor.state.tx.us (800) 252-9600
. Senator Ken Armbrister 3205 East Mockingbird Victoria, TX 77904
. Senator Gonzalo Barrientos P.O. Box 12068 Capitol Station Austin, TX 78711
. Senator Rodney Ellis 440 Louisiana Suite 575 Houston, TX 77002
. Senator Mario Gallegos Jr. 2205 Clinton Drive Galena Park, TX 77547 Senator Eddie Lucio Jr. 500 South Kansas Weslaco, TX 78596
1. Awareness -- Darlie needs people to help raise awareness about her case. Please share articles, videos, and other information with friends through social media and other means. Spreading the word and educating people about this case will help to get the attention of people who can help.
2. Advocacy -- Write to politicians, organizations, and individuals that may be able to help. Provide information about Darlie’s case and urge them to get involved.
Dallas District Attorney Craig Watkins runs an Integrity Unit that is responsible for investigating cases like Darlie’s to determine if a wrongful conviction has occurred. Please write to Craig, call him, fax him, or contact him via Facebook to ask that his unit investigate Darlie’s case.
District Attorney Craig Watkins
Frank Crowley Courts Building
133 N. Riverfront Blvd, LB 19
Dallas, Texas 75207-4399
(214)653-3600 Office
(214) 653-5774 FAX
Craig Watkins’ official Facebook page (you can send a message through this page) is here.
Other people to write to:
. Judge Robert Francis 6th Floor 3rd Circuit Frank Crowley Court Bldg 133 N. Industrial Blvd Dallas, TX 75207
. Govenor Rick Perry Office of the Governor P.O. Box 12428 Austin, TX 78711 http://www.governor.state.tx.us (800) 252-9600
. Senator Ken Armbrister 3205 East Mockingbird Victoria, TX 77904
. Senator Gonzalo Barrientos P.O. Box 12068 Capitol Station Austin, TX 78711
. Senator Rodney Ellis 440 Louisiana Suite 575 Houston, TX 77002
. Senator Mario Gallegos Jr. 2205 Clinton Drive Galena Park, TX 77547 Senator Eddie Lucio Jr. 500 South Kansas Weslaco, TX 78596
3. Organise a support concert for Darlie Lynn Routier with the song she song for her boys, "Because You loved me"
Find out more
Official websites for Darlie Routier: www.darliefacts.com; and www.fordarlieroutier.org
Case information
. The case of Darlie Routier by Investigating Innocence, currently working on the case
. All documents on the case here
. Chronology about the case here
. All case filings here
. All case evidence here
. Facebook: The truth about the evidence of the Silly String (includes ABC video)
Official websites for Darlie Routier: www.darliefacts.com; and www.fordarlieroutier.org
Case information
. The case of Darlie Routier by Investigating Innocence, currently working on the case
. All documents on the case here
. Chronology about the case here
. All case filings here
. All case evidence here
. Facebook: The truth about the evidence of the Silly String (includes ABC video)
Media
. Supporters rally in Dallas in the defence of Darlie Routier, June 2019, 21 CBS DFW
. Serious doubts continue to linger in the Darlie Routier case, May 2016, DALLAS MORNING NEWS
. Darlie Routier Youtube Channel (10 videos) or webpage here with 10 videos
, Documentary "Women on Death Row" reviewing the cases of 7 women on death row including Darlie Routier
. Darlie Routier "Waiting for a Miracle"
. Darlie Routier, first ABC prison interview on YouTube (including 911 call from Darlie Routier screaming "My babies are dying, they're dead!")
. Darlie Routier, second ABC prison part Interview on Youtube
. The Case for Darlie Routier, by Carol Factor
. Enter the World of Darlie Routier, By Anne Good, for Justice: Denied, The Magazine for the Wrongly Convicted
. Author's Notes, by Don Davis - Hush Little Babies
. Supporters rally in Dallas in the defence of Darlie Routier, June 2019, 21 CBS DFW
. Serious doubts continue to linger in the Darlie Routier case, May 2016, DALLAS MORNING NEWS
. Darlie Routier Youtube Channel (10 videos) or webpage here with 10 videos
, Documentary "Women on Death Row" reviewing the cases of 7 women on death row including Darlie Routier
. Darlie Routier "Waiting for a Miracle"
. Darlie Routier, first ABC prison interview on YouTube (including 911 call from Darlie Routier screaming "My babies are dying, they're dead!")
. Darlie Routier, second ABC prison part Interview on Youtube
. The Case for Darlie Routier, by Carol Factor
. Enter the World of Darlie Routier, By Anne Good, for Justice: Denied, The Magazine for the Wrongly Convicted
. Author's Notes, by Don Davis - Hush Little Babies
Published on Dec 30, 2013 In season two of the four-part companion television series, ON DEATH ROW, created by Werner Herzog exclusively for Investigation Discovery (I.D.), the Academy-Award nominated filmmaker dives deeper into the abyss of the human soul, conducting a uniquely thought-provoking analysis of why people, and the state, kill.
May 2015: New book release on Darlie Routier
In the wake of more than 1,500 exonerations across the country (150 of which were for inmates on death row) and growing demands for reforms within the justice system, award-winning journalist Kathy Cruz uses a new lens to examine the controversial Darlie Routier case
May 2015 : WATCH CNN Death Row Stories on Darlie Routier
Contact Darlie Routier
Darlie Routier
999220
2305 Ransom Road
Gatesville TX 76528
Darlie Routier
999220
2305 Ransom Road
Gatesville TX 76528
