DEVON and DAMON ROUTIER - 7 and 5 yo (6-1996) - Convicted: Mother, Darlie Lynn Routier - Rowlett, TX

In 1996, Darlie Lynn Routier (Texas), then 26, was believed to have fatally stabbed her sons, 7 and 5, though she was only tried and convicted in the death of the 5-year-old. She had a stab wound to her neck that prosecutors say was self-inflicted.


http://www.cncpunishment.com/forums/showthread.php?8041-Mothers-On-Death-Row

Darlie Routier: Doting Mother/Deadly Mother


June 6, 1996


Darlie Lynn Routier


In 1997, a court found Darlie Lynn Routier guilty of probably the worst of human crimes: killing two of her natural children in cold-blood. Motive is still a mystery, but the prosecution painted her as a shrewish, materialistic young woman who, sensing her lavish lifestyle crumbling, slew her two sons Damon and Devon in a mad attempt to resuscitate her and her husband's personal economy.

The following story relates the events of the murder and those leading up to her sensational trial, resulting in her conveyance to death row in Dallas, where she awaits death through lethal injection. The evidence against Darlie was damaging and, in retrospect, her defending counsel had little hope for her acquittal.

But, recent findings in her case have cast a doubt over her guilt at least over the legalities that brought her thumbs down to death row. Therefore, the final chapter in this report is dedicated to the most recent controversy that may result in a new trial for Darlie Lynn Routier.


Dawn had not yet arrived over the posh neighborhood of Dalrock Heights Addition, near Rowlett, Texas, and in a bird's eye view the usually safe-and-coddled environs of the upper-class community looked peaceful and tranquil before the new day. But, at 5801 Eagle Drive, discordance roared. Evil rampaged.

The first outsider to hear of the troubles raging within was Doris Trammell, night dispatcher for the Rowlett Police Department. She was surprised when the emergency phone rang at 2:31 a.m. troubles were few there, for it was the kind of community known as a safe haven from the rest of the world, a place to raise a family but her nonchalance was jolted. A hysterical female voice at the other end of the line was telling a terrible story.

The voice screamed, "Somebody broke in to our house...They just stabbed me and my children..." Trammell shocked upright in her chair, captured her senses, then tried to calm the woman, tried to get the details in as orderly manner as possible. But, the caller continued to scream panic-stricken into the mouthpiece from her home..."My little boys are dying! Oh my God, my babies are dying!"

Trammell's fingers scrambled for and punched the main police unit line; she side-mouthed into the microphone, "Stand by for medical emergency, woman and children stabbed!" then advised the woman at the other end to hold on while she summoned an ambulance. But the woman continued to sob and yelp, without hesitation, "My babies are dying! My babies are dying!"


"Ma'am, please calm down, tell me what's happened!" the dispatcher begged, but the woman was incoherent and Trammell grew more confounded. Drawing up her computer screen, she traced the call by its caller ID to a number belonging to a Darin and Darlie Routier (pronounced Roo-tear) at 5801 Eagle Drive. After several more pleas, Trammell convinced the party at the other end to subdue, to take a deep breath, to explain what was happening over there. The dispatcher still could not believe what she was hearing. Murder in peaceful Rowlett?

SNIPPED.

http://www.crimelibrary.com/notorious_murders/women/routier/4.html