Darlie Routier Case

Darlie Routier, a 26-year-old mother from Rowlett, Texas, was convicted and sentenced to death for the June 6, 1996, stabbing murder of her five-year-old son Damon. Her six-year-old son Devon was also killed in the same attack. [Routier claimed that an intruder had broken into the family's home and stabbed her and her two sons while they slept on the first floor. The case remains one of the most debated capital murder convictions in Texas history](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-61143507), with significant questions raised about the evidence, the investigation, and whether Routier received a fair trial.

On the night of June 5-6, 1996, Darlie Routier and her two sons, Devon and Damon, were sleeping in the downstairs family room of their home at 5801 Eagle Drive in Rowlett, a suburb of Dallas. Darlie's husband, Darin Routier, and their infant son Drake were sleeping upstairs. At approximately 2:31 AM, Darlie called 911, screaming that an intruder had attacked her and her children. When paramedics and police arrived, they found Devon and Damon with multiple stab wounds. Both boys were pronounced dead. Darlie herself had stab wounds to her neck, shoulder, and arms, including a wound that came within two millimeters of her carotid artery.

Initially, police treated Routier as a victim. However, investigators grew suspicious when they noted that the crime scene appeared inconsistent with her account. A window screen in the garage had been cut from the inside, not the outside. There were no footprints in the mulch beneath the window. [Blood evidence suggested the attack had originated from within the house rather than from an intruder](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2017/06/06/darlie-routier/).

The case took a dramatic turn when news footage emerged of a birthday memorial held at the graves of Devon and Damon eight days after their deaths. The video showed Darlie and family members spraying Silly String on the graves. Prosecutors used this footage extensively at trial to portray Routier as cold and unfeeling. Defense attorneys argued the footage was taken out of context.

Darlie Routier was arrested on June 18, 1996, and charged with capital murder. Her trial took place in Kerrville, Texas, after a change of venue. On February 4, 1997, the jury convicted Routier of capital murder in the death of Damon and sentenced her to death by lethal injection.

[The case has attracted sustained attention from innocence advocacy groups and investigative journalists. In 2008, a Texas court ordered DNA testing of several pieces of evidence, including a bloody sock found near the scene](https://apnews.com/article/darlie-routier-dna-testing-texas-death-row). The testing, subject to repeated delays, is ongoing. Routier has maintained her innocence throughout her decades on death row at the Mountain View Unit in Gatesville, Texas.

Darlie Routier was arrested on June 18, 1996, and charged with two counts of capital murder in Dallas County, Texas. The trial was moved to Kerrville, Texas (Kerr County) on a change of venue. [On February 4, 1997, Routier was convicted of capital murder in the death of Damon Routier and sentenced to death by lethal injection](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-61143507). She was not tried separately for Devon's death. Her conviction was affirmed by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. [In 2008, the court ordered DNA testing of evidence including a bloody sock and fingernail scrapings](https://apnews.com/article/darlie-routier-dna-testing-texas-death-row). DNA testing has been subject to extensive delays and remains ongoing as of 2025. [Routier is currently on death row at the Mountain View Unit in Gatesville, Texas](https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/01/us/darlie-routier-dna-testing-texas/index.html). She has maintained her innocence and her case has been taken up by multiple innocence advocacy organizations.