For those who believe Darlie innocent - help me understand.

[SisterGrimm]

If anyone is interested here is a body language reading on Darlie Routier. This is my favorite body language specialist and her channel is called The Dialogue Body Language (The Dialogue for short):

 

[AtomicPsychoKitty]

But there is zero evidence of an intruder.

The crime itself would be evidence of an intruder.

 

[SisterGrimm]

The crime itself would be evidence of an intruder.

There was a staged break in.

 

[TXangel]

First, I want to clarify that I'm not claiming Darlie is innocent but if I'd been on the jury and had all the informationwe have here, I'd have had to go with not guilty.

The couple of things that make me question her guilt or innocence the most:

The timeline. If the doctor/med examiner/whichever it was is correct and Damon could have lived 9-10 minutes at most after being stabbed as he was and he was still alive when EMT arrived, there's practically no way for Darlie to have done all of the things that were done after he was stabbed. Especially considering about half that time was spent on the phone with 911.

The sock. No way was it thrown 3 houses down. And if she'd ran down and dropped it, there would have been blood along the way. Her wounds didn't kill her but they bled pretty good. Not to mention that neighbors report seeing a car driving in the area and slowing/stopping near the Routier's but no one saw Darlie dashing down the way, wearing only a bright white t-shirt?

The bread knife. It was said the fibers found matched the screen fibers. It's also been said the fibers match the strands from fingerprint brushes. I wouldn't have considered it good evidence.

The blood spatter expert. Yes, the prosecution had a blood spatter expert pretty much say "I'm an expert and this evidence says absolutely that there was no one else in the house". First, it can't say that. Second, an earlier defense team had blood spatter experts who had a completely different opinion. The team she had at trial chose not to call these experts as witnesses.

One piece of information I haven't been able to find- its been said the boys each had only around 10k in life insurance and if she was doing it for money, it'd make more sense to kill Darin with the 800k life insurance policy. But how much life insurance did Darlie have? Its known that Darin had discussed a robbery insurance scam but is it possible he tried to have his wife and sons killed to get himself out of debt? Were phone records ever checked for that night to see if a call was placed between bedtime and the time of the murders? I know in 96 you couldn't get the information you can now but you could definitely find out if a call was placed and to what number at what time. I'm sure he was looked into but exactly how hard did detectives look at Darin as a suspect? As far as I've found it doesn't seem he was ever suspected at all, which in itself seems strange to me.

I believe the responding detectives saw what they saw right off and made up their minds they'd found the killer so didn't look very hard at other options. This isn't exactly rare. It happens all the time with all sorts of crimes and no one wants an unsolved double child murder in a affluent upper middle class suburb on their record.

 

[Zzzz]

Txangel - Thanks for your observations and thoughts. You've brought up some good points but I think some of them are based on misinformation. The facts will help clear up at least some of your questions. I won't address everything because I don't have time right now, but I'll put a few of your comments in italics and then give you my answers below it.

1) The timeline. If the doctor/med examiner/whichever it was is correct and Damon could have lived 9-10 minutes at most after being stabbed as he was and he was still alive when EMT arrived, there's practically no way for Darlie to have done all of the things that were done after he was stabbed. Especially considering about half that time was spent on the phone with 911.

The sock. No way was it thrown 3 houses down. And if she'd ran down and dropped it, there would have been blood along the way. Her wounds didn't kill her but they bled pretty good.

The blood evidence on the floor shows that Damon crawled a certain distance after he was stabbed the first time. It is believed that while Darlie was running down the alley with the sock (before she cut herself, so therefore no blood), Damon crawled. When she returned and saw he was still alive, she stabbed him again. Then she cut herself and called 911.

2) Not to mention that neighbors report seeing a car driving in the area and slowing/stopping near the Routier's but no one saw Darlie dashing down the way, wearing only a bright white t-shirt?

The report of a suspicious car driving in the area was for earlier in the day, not at the time of the murders.

3) The blood spatter expert. Yes, the prosecution had a blood spatter expert pretty much say "I'm an expert and this evidence says absolutely that there was no one else in the house". First, it can't say that.

The blood spatter expert did not testify there was no one else in the house, only that the blood spatter on Darlie's nightshirt implicated her as the stabber. Much other evidence (which I won't go into here) was used to show there was no intruder.

4) Second, an earlier defense team had blood spatter experts who had a completely different opinion. The team she had at trial chose not to call these experts as witnesses.

Darlie had the best defense team in the state, a man lead by Doug Mulder who successfully defended (the obviously guilty) Walker Railey, who strangled his wife in a very notorious case. When a defense team of this magnitude decides not to call a witness, it is usually because they believe the witness will not be credible and will be damaging to the case.

5) One piece of information I haven't been able to find- its been said the boys each had only around 10k in life insurance and if she was doing it for money, it'd make more sense to kill Darin with the 800k life insurance policy.

Darlie did not do it for money. There were a lot of other issues at hand, including her emotionally fraught state of mind at the time, her anger toward Darin, her sociopathic tendencies, diet pills that made her hyper, their perilous financial situation (after years of free-spending) and a slew of other things. There are threads on this forum that discuss that.

6) I'm sure he was looked into but exactly how hard did detectives look at Darin as a suspect? As far as I've found it doesn't seem he was ever suspected at all, which in itself seems strange to me.

Darin was considered a suspect initially and there are other threads on this forum with discussion on that subject. On the 911 call, you can hear Darin come down the stairs and discover the crime. Darlie even tells the operator he just ran down the stairs. Darlie angrily explains to him what happened. She has always proclaimed his innocence.

I hope this helps clear up a few things. Thanks again

 

[Catmommy]

You have certainly come up with enough excuses to convince yourself, TXangel, but have you actually read the trial transcripts? The jury is always presented with more evidence than a sleuthing board provides. Perhaps actually reading what was presented at trial could help you to understand why so many of us think that Darlie is guilty and exactly where she needs to be.

 

[MeadowMuffin]

You have certainly come up with enough excuses to convince yourself, TXangel, but have you actually read the trial transcripts? The jury is always presented with more evidence than a sleuthing board provides. Perhaps actually reading what was presented at trial could help you to understand why so many of us think that Darlie is guilty and exactly where she needs to be.

Exactly. Many of these questions are addressed in the transcripts.

 

[TinaG]

First, I want to clarify that I'm not claiming Darlie is innocent but if I'd been on the jury and had all the informationwe have here, I'd have had to go with not guilty.

The couple of things that make me question her guilt or innocence the most:

The timeline. If the doctor/med examiner/whichever it was is correct and Damon could have lived 9-10 minutes at most after being stabbed as he was and he was still alive when EMT arrived, there's practically no way for Darlie to have done all of the things that were done after he was stabbed. Especially considering about half that time was spent on the phone with 911.

The sock. No way was it thrown 3 houses down. And if she'd ran down and dropped it, there would have been blood along the way. Her wounds didn't kill her but they bled pretty good. Not to mention that neighbors report seeing a car driving in the area and slowing/stopping near the Routier's but no one saw Darlie dashing down the way, wearing only a bright white t-shirt?

The bread knife. It was said the fibers found matched the screen fibers. It's also been said the fibers match the strands from fingerprint brushes. I wouldn't have considered it good evidence.

The blood spatter expert. Yes, the prosecution had a blood spatter expert pretty much say "I'm an expert and this evidence says absolutely that there was no one else in the house". First, it can't say that. Second, an earlier defense team had blood spatter experts who had a completely different opinion. The team she had at trial chose not to call these experts as witnesses.

One piece of information I haven't been able to find- its been said the boys each had only around 10k in life insurance and if she was doing it for money, it'd make more sense to kill Darin with the 800k life insurance policy. But how much life insurance did Darlie have? Its known that Darin had discussed a robbery insurance scam but is it possible he tried to have his wife and sons killed to get himself out of debt? Were phone records ever checked for that night to see if a call was placed between bedtime and the time of the murders? I know in 96 you couldn't get the information you can now but you could definitely find out if a call was placed and to what number at what time. I'm sure he was looked into but exactly how hard did detectives look at Darin as a suspect? As far as I've found it doesn't seem he was ever suspected at all, which in itself seems strange to me.

I believe the responding detectives saw what they saw right off and made up their minds they'd found the killer so didn't look very hard at other options. This isn't exactly rare. It happens all the time with all sorts of crimes and no one wants an unsolved double child murder in a affluent upper middle class suburb on their record.

Regarding phone records, keep in mind that in 1996 Darin and his associates used beepers to communicate and had predetermined codes to reference times and places. Did LE pull and review his phone/beeper records?