The 911 Call

[cami]

Well, these two were serial rapists/killers. Not many husband and wife teams in that arena either but a few have popped up in recent years. Just looking at their photo, they look pretty normal to me. But there is that old thing about the book and the cover that comes to mind. I think most parents who murder do it because of their tempers and abusive natures or for monetary gains. We are seeing some in recent years killing children to unburden themselves of the responsibility or because they feel the children are standing in the way of something they want like a lover.

I do think Darlie's case probably is unique in some ways. She was not a known child abuser, didn't seem to lack patience with the children, did not neglect them. While she had them, they were well nourished, well dressed, kept clean, etc. Her worst attribute seems to be that she sometimes locked them out for long periods and let them run all over the neighborhood unsupervised. So I don't think she overreacted to some behavior problem. People who do that usally show a pattern well in advance and there just isnt one for Darlie.

As far as we know it was not a violent household. No one has ever accused Darin of being violent with Darlie. Some had accused her of throwing things at him, but no one has ever accused her of hauling off and actually hitting him with something. Also, as far as we know she never behaved that way at home, only at the shop. So I think it was more for show.

The only thing that came up was Darin saying he once held a gun to his head to dramatize his feelings in an argument with her. He called it just some of their "dramatic bull>" He claimed that both he and Darlie had their dramatic things they brought into their relationship. With that as a guide, it might give us a little glimpse of how the knife came into the scene that night. If one of them used it to express some "dramatic bull." .....but even so how does it end up in her hand with her stabbing her children and why isn't Darin stopping her? If he's guilty, why does all the physical evidence point to her? If he is innocent, why is he supporting the woman who slaughtered his boys? Why does he seem so regretful immediately afterwards and at the same time so eager to sweep it all away? Who can take the trinkets and toys off of dying wreaths left in their front yard by wellwishers and toss them around like they are playing basketball, jump up and down as if they have not a care in the world less than 2 weeks after the kids die? There are a million questions about Darin.

I do too Goody..think her case is unique.... There is no clear cut motive here...no pattern to sink your teeth into and say "oh well that's why she did it." Unlike people like the Wests..they were motivated by their sicknesses.

Darin sure is the enigma in this case...I just can't get a handle on him but then again I haven't much tried.

 

[beesy]

I am not going to make a judgement on guilt or innocence as my interest is purely on the fairness/reliability of the trial/evidence, i.e. the safety of the verdict. I have some serious concerns with a lot of the evidence and also have issues with the behaviour of the police and the prosecution. I also have a problem with the importance attached to the absense of grieving/silly string video etc. We all react to things differently and if she'd balled her eyes out for a year after it doesnt mean she was less capable of the killings. Conversely, not reacting in the way some people would expect doesnt make her more likely to be the killer

As I have been missing in action, I'm not sure how much of this has been opined by other posters, but everybody knows I can't keep my shut. What problems do you have with the police and prosecution? The public put importance on the SS video. The jurors were suprised to find out after their verdict, that alot of people felt she was found guilty on the tape alone. What an insult to them. It upped the creep factor and I think it shows us Darlie's mindset, but it is certainly not why she's in prison. If it were, she would have been granted a new trial by now. Nine years, she's been applying for one, nine years she's been denied.

However, the one thing that personally sticks in my mind is the 911 tape where shes generally being quite convincing balling and shrieking and hysterical.....all of a sudden at 05:19 she says "...somebody who did it intentionally walked in here and did it Darin..." with such anger in her voice and seemingly towards Darin. Her statement is clearly a response to something Darin (or possibly the police officer, or both) did - either he said something or his body language expressed something. The tone of her voice makes it sound like shes defending an accusation - possibly like "What have you done?", "why the hell did you do this?" or similar and her voice gets progressively more angry and lower in tone, especially the last couple of words and especially the 'Darin'. Doesnt sound like a woman witnessing her two boys dying after being slain by an intruder. Even if she'd snapped and did it herself with totally out of character behaviour, I wouldnt expect a comment like that...seems too calculated to me. For reasons I gave above, this isnt something that I think a court should decide innocence or guilt over, it just bothers me (being a mother)

It bothers me as well, but not for the same reason. I do not think Darlie is accusing Darin of the crime, I think she is catching him running off the script. This would explain her attitude. To me it sounds like she's saying "Darin, you're a dumb butt, shape up and say what you're supposed to say". Do you honestly believe Darlie would be on DR if she knew or even thought Darin did it? Darlie is shrieking on the tape, agreed, but she is not crying.
She did something similar in the hospital. Darin first said he ran downstairs because he heard glass breaking. He mentioned this in Darlie's hospital room while others were there. She snapped at him "no you didn't Darin". How would she know what he first heard? Again, off the script. I don't know why that matters, but it obviously does since she made a stink about it

 

[beesy]

I just know from bitter experience that far too many women will cover up & take the rap for their husbands/partners in the face of horrific circumstances and lets face it, Darlie didnt have independence from her man, so there was not equality in their relationship. My experience of some 'southern women' (and make no mistake, we have our equivalent here in the UK) is that they would literally go to the ends of the earth for their husbands/family. I have had wealthy (but unequal) women, with them and their children beaten to a pulp, who will withdraw charges against the partner (with the money) the next morning.

You need to watch what you say about Southern gals. Most of us on here are and from reading these posts, not a single one would take the rap for her man. Darlie has not and has even suggested in one of her appeals that Darin was at fault because he was looking into an insurance scam.

In order for the state to find Darlie guilty, they ought to have gone some way to have found Darin was innocent. How can she be proven conclusively as guilty unless he was found reasonably conclusively as innocent? or at least reasonably conclusively as complicit?

If you are in LE, you should know this is not legally possible or necessary. The state only has to prove guilty the one charged. It's the defense's job to prove someone else did it.

 

[beesy]

Yes they can come to a conclusion quickly, as they obviously did in this case. However, if the evidence was able to demonstrate that despite this conclusion, the investigating team kept an open mind during the investigation again, there would be no basis for the defence to argue otherwise. A chief investigating officer needs to ask him/herself "what the likely challenges to my investigation?" and cover those things. The fingerprints in the utility and on the table - I would have thought it was obvious that these would linger if unidentified, what more could they have done to avoid this? It was obvious that at some point, she would accuse her husband. No, you cant prove a negative but I dont think there was enough evidence put forward (as I can see and I stand to be corrected on this of course) to explain why he was eliminated as a suspect

Darlie has not accused Darin of killing their boys or of attacking her.
Why do you think the first PO's at the scene came to the conclusion that Darlie did it? Is that why Walling stood guard at the front door? Was he scared Darlie would escape? Is that why Walling and Waddell checked the house before allowing the medics in? Is that why they then checked the yard and alley?
Chron made an educated guess that there was no intruder when he went to the crime scene later that morning. The evidence points to Darlie and Darlie only. There is no frame-up, no LE with blinders on, it is what it is.
As for the fingerprints on the UR door and the one on the table, Darin and Devon were elimated as donors. Darlie and Damon could not be ruled out. The patent print on the UR door was identified as Darin's knuckle. Darin lived at the house so you can't arrest him because there was a patent print on his own door. The latent was too smeared to even run through the data bases.
Recent testing(not sure when) has been done on the prints. Darlie's team hired a different print expert who came to the same conclusion. You will find this in the transcript of her last appeal.

 

[beesy]

Question here: I read somewhere that a knife and a screwdriver were seen near the sock but not collected - is this fiction?

There were 2 knives found down the alley which were being used for gardening. They were rigged up with a rope of some sort. The PO asked the people who lived in that house that very night about the knives and were told they were being used for gardening. Because they were still attached to the rope, the PO came to the conclusion that they were not used in the attacks. Later it was proven that he was correct. It's in the transcripts.

 

[Britlaw]

In repsonse to the last few posts.....in order

Re the silly string tape I think too much has been made of it full stop, both in and out of the courtroom

Re the 911 tape I think you misunderstood me, I think Darin said something to her or his body language did that was accusing her and she's defending herself, yeah..telling him to shut the f*ck up lol.

I wasnt saying anything derogatory about southern gals, quite the reverse. You have very close family relationships/ties and are fiercely protective of these, which is to be applauded. All I was saying is that sometimes these are taken to the extreme and women stand by their man when they shouldnt (in this case it could be Darin standing by his wife when he shouldnt). On the other hand, if Darin were involved in with her and she implicated him it wouldnt do her any good because it would throw her intruder theory out of the window. We might find out when shes exhausted all her options.

I am a lawyer and yes of course I know it is not necessary to prove someones innocence to find another guilty but it is highly desirable for the prosecution to be able to eliminate all potential suspects, as the existence of one that was actually at the scene without such elimination can cast doubt on the prosecutions case.

I think people here think I am a Darlie supporter and I am not. I think that LE and the prosecution were under tremendous pressure to get this case done and dusted quickly. The case came before the courts in record time. I have never accused the LE or the prosecution of a 'frame up' or unprofessional behaviour. We have bitter experience in the UK of public & media pressure on prosecutions and as a result had a series of high profile convitions quashed. I dont believe in the death penalty but I want to see guilty people locked up. Like many people, I get angry when I see OJ on the telly - whatever one thinks about the case, the person who butchered two people is out there. If Darlie is going to be executed, I would prefer there to be no lingering doubt as to whether she is guilty or not (if you are a death penalty supporter then you should want this too).

 

[beesy]

In repsonse to the last few posts.....in order

Re the silly string tape I think too much has been made of it full stop, both in and out of the courtroom

The only people who make a big deal about the tape are her supporters, who say she was found guilty on that. I don't think it proves her guilt at all. What I see is a woman who is acting like a kook, running around, smacking her gum in her Daisy Dukes. I think the interview after the spraying of Silly String is however, important. Not a tear in her eye. And she actually said that the boys had lived a full life. What I see is a young mother too accepting of her sons' brutal murders too quickly..I see a beaming Darin who is proud of LE using all kinds of fancy things to catch the killer, stuff he's never seen in movies(paraphrased) . He seems to take the fact that they are working hardcore on the case a compliment to him. Of course, when they arrested Darlie, suddenly LE had done a horrible job

Re the 911 tape I think you misunderstood me, I think Darin said something to her or his body language did that was accusing her and she's defending herself, yeah..telling him to shut the f*ck up lol

No, he is talking to the PO's. He has never once said anything about accusing her. We have no idea how long they had to talk about what their story was going to be before she cut her throat and called 911. Darin must have said something that he was not supposed to say. Not accusing her, but a slip-up in the story. He cannot accuse her because then he shows his guilt. She cannot accuse him because she shows her guilt.

I wasnt saying anything derogatory about southern gals, quite the reverse. You have very close family relationships/ties and are fiercely protective of these, which is to be applauded. All I was saying is that sometimes these are taken to the extreme and women stand by their man when they shouldnt (in this case it could be Darin standing by his wife when he shouldnt). On the other hand, if Darin were involved in with her and she implicated him it wouldnt do her any good because it would throw her intruder theory out of the window. We might find out when shes exhausted all her options

Funny you should should we are protective because that's what I was doing. If you believe the 2nd Attack theory, you have to believe that Darin was downstairs at the time.:twocents: Since Darin did not have a shirt on we do not know if he had spatter on his back or not. So then the question is how much did Darin do once he came downstairs? Darin did not start this. Darin did not attack Darlie, but he did make a horrible decision when he decided to help her. :twocents: Damon only lived about 8-10 mins after his fatal wound. At some point she and/or Darin realized Damon was crawling across the floor and someone stabbed him again. One very important piece of evidence is the knife outline on the FR floor near Damon. There is a pooled area of blood on the tip in Darlie's blood. This could only come from her standing there beside Damon long enough for her blood to collect at the tip. If an intruder had placed the knife on the floor during his attack on Damon, then Darlie's blood would not be at the tip like that. By her words, the intruder attacked her after he stabbed both boys. Her story does not include a 2nd attack on Damon.

I think people here think I am a Darlie supporter and I am not. I think that LE and the prosecution were under tremendous pressure to get this case done and dusted quickly. The case came before the courts in record time. I have never accused the LE or the prosecution of a 'frame up' or unprofessional behaviour. We have bitter experience in the UK of public & media pressure on prosecutions and as a result had a series of high profile convitions quashed. I dont believe in the death penalty but I want to see guilty people locked up. Like many people, I get angry when I see OJ on the telly - whatever one thinks about the case, the person who butchered two people is out there. If Darlie is going to be executed, I would prefer there to be no lingering doubt as to whether she is guilty or not (if you are a death penalty supporter then you should want this too).

Of course I want the right person to be punished for this. Once you wade through all of the evidence, you will see that the right person is being punished. What do you think any of these new tests will prove? Darlie lived there so anything of hers is to be expected. If they find something that they can't match, it does not prove someone else did it. In order to prove it was someone else through these new tests she wants done, you need a suspect to compare the results to.

 

[beesy]

IPolice are always screwing up convicting these poor innocent victims just ask Scott Petersen or Jeff Macdonald or Diane Downs. They just went after them as LE was too lazy to find the real big dark bushy haired strangers who are really guilty.

I'm assuming you're joking

 

[beesy]

It makes perfect sense, Goody, if you accept the fact (yes, the fact) that Darlie never wet any towels. There would have been water on the floor, diluted blood on the carpet, on Damon's shirt, on Darlie's t-shirt, diluted blood on the towels. There wasn't blood diluted by water anywhere; if there had been, the forensic experts would have easily detected it & Mulder would have been grinning like a cheshire cat.

D & D never mentioned wetting towels in their statements to police. They didn't mention it until they discovered that LE had taken the kitchen sink out of the house. Darlie had to explain the washed-out blood in the sink, and Darin decided to support her story.

There is a photo of the kitchen sink on JFD and to me it looks like there is one area where a streak of blood is diluted. This in no way proves her story about wetting towels for the boys. We know she was at the sink rinsing blood down the drain while she was bleeding. And you keep forgetting, but Darlie cut up a chicken that day. Unless she butchered a chicken herself on that counter, that's the bloodiest already butchered chicken I've ever seen

 

[beesy]

I think his voice does sound quite panicked and distraught. I thought I heard him crying..he repeats a few times "get somebody and he sounds like he is crying. I do not hear him say "Drake" it sounds more like "Blake" ??? That's what it sounds like on the wav file.

Isn't it possible that Darin is really crying and/or upset, but still guilty? But, who is Blake? I still hear "make it". It's so frustrating, possibly a very important statement and it's not transcribed.
One of the problems is that the OP screams "ma'am" right when he says "here". When Dani slowed it down for me, I had more trouble hearing it. It was too distorted.

 

[deanws]

In repsonse to the last few posts.....in order

Re the silly string tape I think too much has been made of it full stop, both in and out of the courtroom

Re the 911 tape I think you misunderstood me, I think Darin said something to her or his body language did that was accusing her and she's defending herself, yeah..telling him to shut the f*ck up lol.

I wasnt saying anything derogatory about southern gals, quite the reverse. You have very close family relationships/ties and are fiercely protective of these, which is to be applauded. All I was saying is that sometimes these are taken to the extreme and women stand by their man when they shouldnt (in this case it could be Darin standing by his wife when he shouldnt). On the other hand, if Darin were involved in with her and she implicated him it wouldnt do her any good because it would throw her intruder theory out of the window. We might find out when shes exhausted all her options.

I am a lawyer and yes of course I know it is not necessary to prove someones innocence to find another guilty but it is highly desirable for the prosecution to be able to eliminate all potential suspects, as the existence of one that was actually at the scene without such elimination can cast doubt on the prosecutions case.

I think people here think I am a Darlie supporter and I am not. I think that LE and the prosecution were under tremendous pressure to get this case done and dusted quickly. The case came before the courts in record time. I have never accused the LE or the prosecution of a 'frame up' or unprofessional behaviour. We have bitter experience in the UK of public & media pressure on prosecutions and as a result had a series of high profile convitions quashed. I dont believe in the death penalty but I want to see guilty people locked up. Like many people, I get angry when I see OJ on the telly - whatever one thinks about the case, the person who butchered two people is out there. If Darlie is going to be executed, I would prefer there to be no lingering doubt as to whether she is guilty or not (if you are a death penalty supporter then you should want this too).

I agree with you Britt because it is going to be a circus when her day comes. However, it wouldn't matter what tests were done and what results came back, there will always be the die hards screaming DARLIE IS INNOCENT. I think it is fairly common in a high profile case. You know....OJ and Loser Petterson are innocent! It is the nasty LE wanting to frame them. I think most peole in DR are innocent...ect...LMAO!!!!

 

[sharpar]

I'm assuming you're joking

scarastic as all get out my dear ! But that is every convicted murderer's story more or less .

 

[beesy]

The patent print on the UR door was identified as Darin's knuckle. Darin lived at the house so you can't arrest him because there was a patent print on his own door. The latent was too smeared to even run through the data bases

I need to correct myself. The latent print was identified as belonging to Darin(his knuckle). The patent was the one in blood that was too smeared.

 

[beesy]

I found it in the trial transcripts, cant recall the volume. The digitally enhanced tape was played and they were refering to the text transcript (exhibit 18D) but I would like to see a true copy, so I can see what they saw. The sound expert didnt sound very convincing on the 'moving from room to room' evidence - talked of damped and reflective ambience (carpet/no carpet) but could only establish the difference in a minute part of the tape - like 4-6 seconds. Technology has moved on, it would be good to get that tape analysed again now, she was certainly busy doing something!

That is a copy of what was played at the trial. Darlie's family says a longer one(perhaps the entire thing?) was played at one of her pre-trial hearings. This might be true, but it wasn't done as a frame-up. I think the sound dude weeded out some white noise and probably some other background things that were happening at dispatch. Darlie approved the transcript that was played at the trial. She says one thing is wrong and that is "I was fighting". She says she said "frightening". This is another one of Darlie's edits. On that tape is the only time Darlie ever said she was fighting with the intruder. In all of her other stories, he has already attacked her when Damon wakes her. So she insists that is not what she said. Not to overlook the fact that "frightenin'" is not the correct tense.
My favorite story is when she reduces the intruder to a "blur of a man". So she was "frighenin' of this blur". It's great, Darlie

 

[Britlaw]

That is a copy of what was played at the trial. Darlie's family says a longer one(perhaps the entire thing?) was played at one of her pre-trial hearings. This might be true, but it wasn't done as a frame-up. I think the sound dude weeded out some white noise and probably some other background things that were happening at dispatch. Darlie approved the transcript that was played at the trial. She says one thing is wrong and that is "I was fighting". She says she said "frightening". This is another one of Darlie's edits. On that tape is the only time Darlie ever said she was fighting with the intruder. In all of her other stories, he has already attacked her when Damon wakes her. So she insists that is not what she said. Not to overlook the fact that "frightenin'" is not the correct tense.
My favorite story is when she reduces the intruder to a "blur of a man". So she was "frighenin' of this blur". It's great, Darlie

Did I suggest it was done as a frame up? Please stop implying that I think she was framed or fitted up by the police etc, as I dont. I would just like to see the actual exhibited transcript rather than those posted on Darlie sites which could include words not on the original (or omit those that were).

 

[Britlaw]

Did I suggest you suggested a frame-up? No, I didn't. I'm not sure how we know this wasn't the exhibit copy. How do we know if the trial transcripts only list the exhibit number? I suppose it's possible for you to get ahold of the original tape and hire someone to transcribe it or you could do it yourself. Maybe Tom Cruise will help you steal the tape from the case files.

I think I'll just give up, I'll stick to my arguments in the courtroom, I gets paid for those and in the main, people are civil.

 

[Mary456]

Did I suggest it was done as a frame up? Please stop implying that I think she was framed or fitted up by the police etc, as I dont. I would just like to see the actual exhibited transcript rather than those posted on Darlie sites which could include words not on the original (or omit those that were).

Beesy wasn't accusing you of thinking it was a frame up, Brit; she was just throwing that out in a general sense.

Darlie and her lawyers had the same 911 tape that the prosecution had. She and her counsel went over it numerous times before she testified (it's in the transcript), and the only thing she disputed was the word "fighting". She changed that to "frightened" and then to "frightening". Other than that, they had no objections to the content, including Barry Dickey's testimony that she was moving from room to room while speaking to the operator.

 

[Mary456]

I would just like to see the actual exhibited transcript rather than those posted on Darlie sites which could include words not on the original (or omit those that were).

About a year ago, Jeff took up a collection to pay a "real" sound man to decipher the tape. He thought Barry Dickey was an idiot, along with all the other prosecution witnesses.

Anyway, a lot of Darlies lined up to send him their hard-earned money, but Jeff never carried through. Not another word about it. He might still be floating around on the net, though, so it's worth a try. Just beware of scam artists, if ya know what I mean.

 

[beesy]

I think I'll just give up, I'll stick to my arguments in the courtroom, I gets paid for those and in the main, people are civil.

Gee, I guess you don't appreciate my humor. I am curious to know why you think the copy on JFD is not what was presented at trial. I've always assumed those are the edited copies that were presented at trial and were analyzed by the state's sound expert, not by Darlie's people. The reason I brought up "framing" is that many of her supporters have suggested that a longer tape than what was presented at trial and what her defense was given, was played at one of her pre-trial hearings. As usual, her supporters believe some very important "noises" on the tape were deleted by the big meanie heads. As far as some of the things said in the background that are not transcribed, I've always assumed that the state's sound expert just simply didn't transcribe them for whatever reason. I've never thought about her supporters editing it before posting it. See? They can get you and you don't even realize it.
Oh, you mentioned before about the expert saying he thought she was running around because of the carpet/floor differences. I don't know anything about how he got that(why he's there and I'm not), but I can hear that there are times when she is closer to Darin and then the PO's because of their voices. Like the time when she basically calls Darin a dumb butt. We can't hear what he is saying or what the PO is saying although it's obvious they are talking. I can also hear Walling saying something like "what's the problem, Mrs. Routier". It's not transcribed and it's confusing because I think he misprounces Routier. Anyway, I think that shows she was running around because Waddell stayed by the front door and supposedly Darin was tending to Devon, but that's a whole nother thread.

 

[beesy]

I was coming to tell Brit that I played it over and over again last night and I am coming around to her, Dani's really, way of thinking. I don't hear Darin say Drake, but I didn't hear "make" it either...so I am open now to it being "blake" which is what Dani makes it as. Brit if you want me to email you the wavfile on this let me know by pm....thanks

I don't know if I've said anything about this before, but here goes: many Southerners say cain't,sounds like paint, for can't. Is it possible that's the long A sound we are hearing?