The Bloody Sock

[chlban]

Yes first she had Drake whilst Darin went to the hospital, then the cops asked her to come get the dog because he was at the top of the stairs barking at the cops. The neighbour across the street Gorsuch and his wife then took Drake to their place until Darin could come back for him.

Sorry, I was being a bit smart mouthed there. The reactions of certain dogs has been influencial to me in determnining the guilt of more than one suspect. Darlie, OJ, Sam Sheppard. As a dog person, I am very familiar with canine reactions and Darlie's dog, as you said, would not let the police upstairs yet never barked once while that massacre was ocurring.

That means on thing to me. There was no intruder.

Of course, I would never depend solely on the reactions of a dog to deternine guilt or innocence. It is just one more link in the chain.

 

[heatherc]

Sorry, I was being a bit smart mouthed there. The reactions of certain dogs has been influencial to me in determnining the guilt of more than one suspect. Darlie, OJ, Sam Sheppard. As a dog person, I am very familiar with canine reactions and Darlie's dog, as you said, would not let the police upstairs yet never barked once while that massacre was ocurring.

That means on thing to me. There was no intruder.

Of course, I would never depend solely on the reactions of a dog to deternine guilt or innocence. It is just one more link in the chain.

Completely agree its just another piece of the 'Darlies guilty' puzzle. I think she planted it to make it look like the mystery intruder dropped it on his way out. I agree that she went out the front door, would of been a lot easier.

 

[cami]

Completely agree its just another piece of the 'Darlies guilty' puzzle. I think she planted it to make it look like the mystery intruder dropped it on his way out. I agree that she went out the front door, would of been a lot easier.

I have always believed she planted that sock there to incriminate the house owner myself. I know it's a crazy thought but there it is.

 

[chunchoboi]

Okay so Darlie is new news to me. Ive heard of her but never really read about her till a few weeks ago. Been reading and reading and the one thing I'm curious about and can't seem to find a clear answer about is this.
The police officer who was on scene said that at one point Darin ran out of the house to go get help from a nurse who lived near by. What ever came of that? Did he actually have contact with the nurse? Is that what he did? Or would he have had the time to run and put the sock where it was found?

exactly what I was thinking!

 

[Madeleine74]

That sock certainly is a curious find, one that has provided lots of fodder. Not sure if it was planted to point to anyone specifically (I mean, why not then actually plant it right on someone's front lawn rather than near a street drain?), but it was clearly intended to make LE think the 'intruder' at least "went that way to escape," i.e. away from the Routier house, so they'd not be looking at the 2 adults inside the house.

 

[chunchoboi]

I'm pretty sure Darin dropped it there when he went to the neighbor to get help. I don't know if it was deliberate (probably) or by accident, but Darlie, as bloody as she would have been, could not have left the crime scene to drop it without anything being noticed or disturbed. Her jewellery on the counter remained at the crime scene. Everything else to do with the crime was still at the crime scene. I think it's safe to say that Darlie never herself left the crime scene. But Darin did, there's documented officer statement on video that he had gone to the neighbors to get help, and to me, that's the only real opportunity for that sock to have been dropped.

 

[dogperson]

I've been reading through the threads on this case again after seeing it featured on a Forensic Files episode this week. Just my opinion, but there are easier ways to get rid of a sock than taking it down the street, so I feel Darlie was not attempting to dispose of the sock. If she simply wanted to get rid of it as evidence, it would most likely have flushed easily down the commode. (You wouldn't believe the odd things that kids/family members have flushed down the commode at our house, including a whole hand towel once, haha.) I think it may have been planted to lead LE to look for suspects outside the Routier's own house, as if the perpetrator dropped the sock while he/she fled.

However, in regard to Darlie's skin cells being found in the sock, you would probably also find my skin cells inside a good deal of the clothing in my household since I'm the one who does the laundry. Socks often end up inside out and need to be turned, so it could be that when Darlie retrieved the sock from the dryer, she inserted her hand and pulled the sock right side out, leaving some loose skin cells behind. Having said that, my opinion falls more on the "Darlie Did It" side than that a stranger did it. This crime makes no sense. No robbery, no sexual assault, no true motive for it.

Putting the sock over the knife handle could prevent fingerprints but also might provide a better grip on the knife. If the killer was Darlie, she couldn't know whether the knife handle might become slippery during the crime, either from a sweaty palm or from blood.

I would like to think a mom couldn't do such a thing as this but we see bizarre heinous crimes in the news every day.

 

[blefuscu]

I've been reading through the threads on this case again after seeing it featured on a Forensic Files episode this week. Just my opinion, but there are easier ways to get rid of a sock than taking it down the street, so I feel Darlie was not attempting to dispose of the sock. If she simply wanted to get rid of it as evidence, it would most likely have flushed easily down the commode. (You wouldn't believe the odd things that kids/family members have flushed down the commode at our house, including a whole hand towel once, haha.) I think it may have been planted to lead LE to look for suspects outside the Routier's own house, as if the perpetrator dropped the sock while he/she fled.

However, in regard to Darlie's skin cells being found in the sock, you would probably also find my skin cells inside a good deal of the clothing in my household since I'm the one who does the laundry. Socks often end up inside out and need to be turned, so it could be that when Darlie retrieved the sock from the dryer, she inserted her hand and pulled the sock right side out, leaving some loose skin cells behind. Having said that, my opinion falls more on the "Darlie Did It" side than that a stranger did it. This crime makes no sense. No robbery, no sexual assault, no true motive for it.

Putting the sock over the knife handle could prevent fingerprints but also might provide a better grip on the knife. If the killer was Darlie, she couldn't know whether the knife handle might become slippery during the crime, either from a sweaty palm or from blood.

I would like to think a mom couldn't do such a thing as this but we see bizarre heinous crimes in the news every day.

And no evidence at all of an intruder

 

[Zzzz]

My apologies for commenting on such an old thread, but the sock has always been an enigma. I saw a photo of the sock as it was found and was surprised to see it laid out right next to the neighbor’s garbage can. On the grass, not in the alley. In plain sight. It doesn’t look dropped, but looks specifically placed. (Google will bring up images).

Now I think Darlie put it there (before she slashed her throat) to target the neighbor as the culprit. I believe this is the same neighbor she identified in a letter to a relative while she was awaiting trial. And maybe also the one she claimed watched her sunbathe.

This would speak more of premeditation vs snapping. It sheds a different light, IMO.

 

[BOSCOE]

I believe Darin dropped the sock there in error. I've never believed he was innocent in this horrific crime. It's impossible for me to believe he would have slept through the crime like Rip VanWinkle.

My instincts tell me there was a lot of premeditation in this crime. Part of staging was for Darin and Drake to be upstairs. Not saying he swung the knife but totally believe he knew what was going to happen. And the little nonsense on the 911 call never swayed me a bit.

 

[HARMONIZED1]

There are really only two pieces of evidence that tell us beyond any reasonable doubt that she is the killer.

1. The fiber on the bread knife. Microscopically it is the same size, substance, etc. as a fiber from the screen, and there is NO other explanation for how it got there. That knife cut that screen. Who else but Darlie had access to that knife. Certainly not an intruder.

2. The blood drops on Darlie's shirt. It is cast off blood, cast off of the murder weapon as it was raised to stab those kids. I have seen Dr Henry Lee conduct the same tests to determine cast off blood in two other murder cases. It is not just some wacky test Bevel thought up on his own. It is a generally accepted test that most forensic experts use to determine the paths blood takes as it is cast off of murder weapons. Plus I have never seen any defendant come up with some other explanation for how the blood could travel the path it does that exonerates the defendant. If it was so impossible as Darlie's defense wants us to believe, there should be all kinds of scientific theories to thwart Bevel's conclusions even if her attys were idiots.

We can toss around the mysteries all we want, but we can't ignore the bottom line. Throw out everything else and you still have the above in big flashing lights.

Actually they admitted to dusting around the window and ALSO on the knifes. The knife could have easily been cross contaminated. Actually, there was a better chance of cross contamination than not.

The Blood Drops. The blood spatter analysis of today is much further along than that of 1995. The blood spatter we now know could have easily been caused during the time SHE was attacked. Tom Bevel has been discredited in his own profession several times. The Wrongful Conviction of Jason Payne / Tom Bevel's Credibility Questioned

I still don't know what the hell to believe. I just know its not a slam dunk like the prosecution wanted the jury to believe. I hope a real trial happens and we can know the truth.

 

[MommySleuth]

Goody, your post #9 above was a great one! But I think, to further complicate how much trouble these two mystical fellows went to, we also have to ask ourselves how they first managed to get into the kitchen to obtain the knife that actually cut the screen. So now we have an idiot who breaks into the house, pulls a knife from the cutlery board, goes back outside the same way he came in, cuts a screen on the window, and then lets himself in again! Makes sense to me! LOL!

I know I’m like 20 years behind with my reply, but there is new evidence out now that proves what they originally thought was screen matter on the knife, was actually matter from the brushes the crime lab used to brush over the knife to test it.

 

[The Armchair Alienist]

Just a little clarification with the fibers found on the knife - "The state said a fiber found on a bread knife was evidence that Routier used it to cut the garage window screen. But that fiber also was consistent with the fiberglass brush that had previously been used to dust for fingerprints." It's not definitive that the fibers are from either one the screen or the brush - just that fibers are consistent with both.

 

[cami]

Actually they admitted to dusting around the window and ALSO on the knifes. The knife could have easily been cross contaminated. Actually, there was a better chance of cross contamination than not.

The Blood Drops. The blood spatter analysis of today is much further along than that of 1995. The blood spatter we now know could have easily been caused during the time SHE was attacked. Tom Bevel has been discredited in his own profession several times. The Wrongful Conviction of Jason Payne / Tom Bevel's Credibility Questioned

I still don't know what the hell to believe. I just know its not a slam dunk like the prosecution wanted the jury to believe. I hope a real trial happens and we can know the truth.

Okay but when does LE dust the

I know I’m like 20 years behind with my reply, but there is new evidence out now that proves what they originally thought was screen matter on the knife, was actually matter from the brushes the crime lab used to brush over the knife to test it.

No there isn't. Not in Darlie's case anyway. The colour of the brushes were not the same as the fibre found on the serrated bread knife and the dust brush fibres are larger than the fibre found in the grooves of the bread knife. She lost that on appeal

Please explain why LE would dust the sharp blade of a serrated bread knife? Why would they be looking for prints on the sharp edge of a knife?

 

[cami]

Just a little clarification with the fibers found on the knife - "The state said a fiber found on a bread knife was evidence that Routier used it to cut the garage window screen. But that fiber also was consistent with the fiberglass brush that had previously been used to dust for fingerprints." It's not definitive that the fibers are from either one the screen or the brush - just that fibers are consistent with both.

No it wasn't. The testimony from Linch was that dust brush fibers are larger than the fibre found in the groove of the bread knife and not the same colour. And once again, who dusts the sharp blade of a knife for prints?

 

[Berrybell]

exactly what I was thinking!

That is a great question. Would Darin or could he have planted the sock? I believe Darlie is guilty but I have never been able to accept Darin isn't responsible or a participant to some degree.

 

[JimmyWells]

Because she could have been using it as a buffer between her hand and the knife so she doesn't leave prints on the knife. She abandoned it altogether when she picked up the knife during the fracas and was kind enough for Darlie to notify the dispatcher that she handled the knife.

I know it's probably been discussed elsewhere and I'm being a bit dense, but...WHY would Darlie have been so keen to dispose of the sock? Why not just leave it in the room? I accept that she's guilty, don't get me wrong, but this sock thing really bugs me. I just don't understand why she deemed it so necessary to go and dispose of it.

 

[Zzzz]

Yes.....1) She could have been using the sock as a buffer on her hand to hide her fingerprints, ditched it, then came back and discovered Damon still moving so had to stab him again, making the first cover-up moot. Or... 2) She could have planted it to implicate the man in the house where it was found (it was laid out in a straight line very open and obvious, right next to his trash can). She also blamed that man in letters written to her relatives. Or.... 3) She could have been trying to throw it down the sewer drain right next to where it was found to destroy evidence (like towels used to wipe out the sink and other things) and, in the hurry, that one item missed. Nobody ever searched the sewer drains. Or..... 4) She could have wanted it to look like the intruder escaped through the laundry room and garage to bolster her whole story, like a sock from the laundry room had stuck to his pants as he ran through. Or.... 5) She could have just been doing something totally irrational and nonsensical because the whole episode was irrational and nonsensical - and a lot of what she did doesn't make sense because she isn't very bright and adrenalin was high. There are all kinds of reasons.

If you listen to the 911 call it is clear that Darin came downstairs, while she was on the phone, shocked at what he saw. He was in the background the entire time she was on the phone. She "explained" to him what happened and "promised" him it was an intruder. There's no way he had the wherewithal (or time) to grab a sock and run off with it - why not ditch the knife or something else more incriminating?

 

[tinyrip1]

First post here on websleuths, but I've been following the case on other message boards over the years. I've been turning that sock over in my head trying to figure it out. It doesn't make sense at all. If you broke in to rob and it turned to a murder why take the sock. If Darlie (or Darin) planted it why take it that way, (and again why a sock? why not jewelry?)

So now my latest thought on the sock is that its not tied to the crime scene at all. I think the boy were slipping into the garage for a Popsicle and scratched themselves on the cat cage or got a little blood while playing. they go into the laundry room grab a sock and wipe it off. They think if mom sees it she'll be mad to they get rid of it. throw it at the neighbors garbage and there it is.​

 

[Berrybell]

First post here on websleuths, but I've been following the case on other message boards over the years. I've been turning that sock over in my head trying to figure it out. It doesn't make sense at all. If you broke in to rob and it turned to a murder why take the sock. If Darlie (or Darin) planted it why take it that way, (and again why a sock? why not jewelry?)

So now my latest thought on the sock is that its not tied to the crime scene at all. I think the boy were slipping into the garage for a Popsicle and scratched themselves on the cat cage or got a little blood while playing. they go into the laundry room grab a sock and wipe it off. They think if mom sees it she'll be mad to they get rid of it. throw it at the neighbors garbage and there it is.​

Great point!!