48 Hours - Precious Angels

Episode Date: August 17, 2023

This classic episode of 48 Hours, which last aired on 8/20/2003, features a report on the 2002 brutal murders of Devon Routier, 6, and Damon Routier, 5. Their mother, Darlie, claims her sons were killed by an intruder. On death row for more than 20 years, was Darlie Routier of Dallas wrongly accused of killing her two young children? 48 Hours correspondent Bill Lagattuta reports. Watch all-new episodes of 48 Hours on Saturdays, and stream on demand on Paramount+.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to this podcast ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app today. Even if you love the thrill of true crime stories as much as I do, there are times when you want to mix it up. And that's where Audible comes in, with all the genres you love and new ones to discover. Explore thousands of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals, with more added all the time. thousands of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals, with more added all the time. Listening to Audible can lead to positive change in your mood, your habits,

and even your overall well-being. And you can enjoy Audible anytime, while doing household chores, exercising, commuting, you name it. There's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free 30-day Audible trial and your first audiobook is free. Visit audible.ca. In 2014, Laura Heavlin was in her home in Tennessee when she received a call from California. Her daughter, Erin Corwin, was missing. The young wife of a Marine had moved to the California desert

to a remote base near Joshua Tree National Park. They have to alert the military. And when they do, the NCIS gets involved. From CBS Studios and CBS News, this is 48 Hours NCIS. Listen to 48 Hours NCIS ad-free starting October 29th on Amazon Music. We're done. Two days! I can't wait! Darlie Lynn Routier and her husband Darren, both in their 20s in the spring of 1996, had already realized something most people spend a lifetime trying to achieve.

The American Dream. Bought our first house between 19 and 20. We had three beautiful children, started our own business when we were really young. You know started making more money. This is the house, isn't it wonderful? The Routier home stood at the end of Eagle Drive here in Rowlett, Texas. It's an upscale suburb 20 miles east of downtown Dallas. The kind of place where children were safe and free to roam. Most of the children hung out at our house. It was kind of like the neighborhood mom. where children were safe and free to roam. Most of the children hung out at our house. It was kind of like the neighborhood mom.

Tell me about your two boys. What's your name? Devin. Do something special. Do a cartwheel. Devin was very full of energy. Wow, way to go, Devin. Oh, that hurt. You okay?

Yeah. He was always doing things to make people laugh and to be silly. Get over there. Damon was more reserved. He was shy. Say hi, Damon. Hi. He was quite a bit of mama's boy still.

Damon, can you do a flip? No. You know, even though they would have their little arguments, Damon really, he looked up to Devin. That was his big brother. The Routiers seemed to be perfectly happy. Let's go. Mwah!

Until a shocking crime devastated their lives and shook the entire city of Dallas. This seemed particularly cold-blooded to you? Oh, yes. The story became the topic of author Barbara Davis's fourth book, Precious Angels. And I think that really caught my attention, the savageness of it. Hot shot Australian attorney Nicola Gaba was born into legal royalty. Her specialty? Representing some of the city's most infamous gangland criminals.

However, while Nicola held the underworld's darkest secrets, the most dangerous secret was her own. She's going to all the major groups within Melbourne's underworld, and she's informing on them all. I'm Marcia Clark, host of the new podcast Informants Lawyer X. In my long career in criminal justice as a prosecutor and defense attorney, I've seen some crazy cases, and this one belongs right at the top of the list. She was addicted to the game she had created. She just didn't know how to stop. Now, through dramatic interviews and access, I'll reveal the truth behind one of the world's most shocking legal scandals. Listen to Informant's Lawyer X exclusively

on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify, and listen to more Exhibit C true crime shows early and ad-free right now. Have you ever wondered who created that bottle of sriracha that's living in your fridge? Or why nearly every house in America has at least one game of Monopoly? Introducing the best idea yet, a brand new podcast from Wondery and T-Boy about the surprising origin stories of the products you're obsessed with and the bold risk takers who brought them to life. Like, did you know that Super Mario, the best-selling video game character of all time, only exists because Nintendo couldn't get the rights to Popeye?

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It began on the hot Texas afternoon of June 5, 1996. We had a lot of plans that next week. Devin's birthday was that weekend. Imitations were sent out, presents were bought. It was an ordinary day. It was an every ordinary day. Wow, way to go, Devin. That night, Darlie, then a blonde,

joined Darren and the boys in the family room to watch TV. About 10.30, Darren took the couple's third son, seven-month-old Drake, upstairs to sleep. Devon and Damon snuggled into bedding on the floor next to their mother. She said she was going to sleep down there because the baby had kind of kept her up the night before. And then, just before 2.30 in the morning, the unimaginable happened. The next thing I remember was Damon. And he was pushing my shoulder, and he was saying,

Mommy, Mommy. When I sat up, at first I just saw a blur of a man going out my utility room. Did you see his face? No, I didn't see his face, but I saw like a side angle of him, like the profile of him. I start to walk into the kitchen and I realized that the lights were out, so I turned the lights on. There was blood on the front of my nightgown.

And I got about halfway across the kitchen and I saw a knife laying on the utility room floor. It was just a natural instinct to go and pick it up. I came back and I set the knife down on the counter and the first thing I saw was Devin laying across the room. He was up on his back and his eyes were open. And I just started screaming. At the top of her lungs, you know, Devin, Devin, Devin, Devin, Devin, Devin, Devin. When you got downstairs, what was the first thing you saw? I'm flying through the house and run right straight to where I remember where Devin was. When we're talking about seconds, I run straight over to him and he's laying face up with these big two huge gashes inside of his chest. I'm screaming at Darlie and

she came right in behind me and grabbed the telephone and then she's on 911 the whole rest of the time. 9-1-1, what is your emergency? Somebody came in and broke in! Ma'am? At 2.31 a.m., inside the Rowlett Police Department's Emergency Communications Room, came the desperate plea for help. They just stabbed me in my tub, my little boy!

As the call for police and emergency medical assistance went out, Darren Routier began to apply CPR to his son, Devin. When I blew it into his mouth, the first thing that happened was air came out of his chest and blood just sprayed all over me. 5801 Eagle Drive, gonna be in seven. When are they gonna be here? Ma'am, they're on their way. What about Damon?

He was just not moving at all. And Dolly's going back and forth, she's bringing towels, she's screaming, and I'm actually hearing what's happened from her telling the dispatcher They're dead! If they don't get in here, they're gonna be dead! Hurry, please, my God, hurry! And I was down beside Damon. I was telling him, hold on, baby, hold on. Hold on, honey, hold on, hold on.

320-5702, Allen is... At 2.35 a.m., less than four minutes after the 911 call began, the first Rowlett police officer arrived at Eagle Drive and waited for backup. Listen, ma'am, you need to let the officers in the front door, okay? Within three minutes, Rowlett police lieutenant Matt Walling joined the patrolmen already inside the house. He told me that it was possible that the suspect was still in the house, in the garage, that Darley Rudier had said that he had fled out that way. So at that point, he and I drew our weapons and we went into the garage that Darley Rudier had said that he had fled out that way. So at that point he and I drew our weapons and we went into the garage. I

shined my light into the garage and observed that the window screen had been cut. Both officers quickly searched the house and grounds. Satisfied the intruder had fled, Walling led paramedics to the grisly scene. There was nothing, you know, that could have prepared me for what I saw that night. Devin, the oldest, was dead already. Damon was still alive. The smallest flicker of life remained in Damon's eyes. He was carried to a waiting ambulance and rushed here to Baylor Medical Center. Only then did the medics turn their attention to the boy's mother,

and when they did, they realized they had another stabbing victim in need of immediate help. Her throat is slit all the way from this side of her neck to the other. I mean, it's just gushing out blood. You can't believe this has happened. And then you start thinking, oh my god, who would do this? You know, who would do this? Who would do this?

I don't know. Inside the house on Eagle Drive, the investigation began. I'd say within about 30 minutes, I felt like something wasn't right. Coming up next, evidence leads police in an unexpected direction. Did you know that the movie Candyman was partly inspired by an actual murder? Listen to Candyman, the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder, early and ad-free, with a 48-hour plus subscription on Apple Podcasts. podcasts. In the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Peru and New Zealand, lies a tiny volcanic island. It's a little-known British territory called Pitcairn, and it harboured a deep, dark scandal.

There wouldn't be a girl on Pitcairn once they reach the age of 10 that would still a virgin. It just happens to all of us. I'm journalist Luke Jones, and for almost two years, I've been investigating a shocking story that has left deep scars on generations of women and girls from Pitcairn. When there's nobody watching, nobody going to report it, people will get away with what they can get away with. In the Pitcairn trials, I'll be uncovering a story of abuse and the fight for justice that has brought a unique, lonely Pacific island

to the brink of extinction. Listen to the Pitcairn Trials exclusively on Wondery+. Join Wondery in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. In the early hours of June 6th, 1996, the people of Rowlett, Texas say pure evil paid a visit to the Routier family on Eagle Drive. Oh my God! Oh my God! Two young boys had been brutally stabbed. Six-year-old Devon Routier was dead.

At Baylor Medical Center, just after 3 a.m., five-year-old Damon Routier was pronounced dead on arrival. It haunts me every day. When you lose your children, it's like every day you wake up and you're living in this nightmare that just will not end. I remember seeing the yellow tape and police officers running across the front of the yard. Darlie Routier's mother, Darlie Key. Well, it's almost like you go into shock and you become numb and you just think, oh, this isn't for real. Surgeons at Baylor closed a gash on Darlie Routier's neck that missed her carotid artery by mere millimeters. When the doctor came in,

I remember he took my hand and held my hand and said that Darlie was lucky to be alive. and held my hand and said that Darlie was lucky to be alive. My throat had been slit pretty close from one side to the other. I had two stab wounds in my right forearm, one stab wound in my left upper shoulder area, bruises that covered my right arm and my left arm from the wrist probably about to my elbow. Where did the bruises come from? I don't know.

I assume that I struggled with this man. Darlie Routier says she has difficulty recalling what happened that terrifying night and for good reason, says her husband Darren. I believe that she was probably fighting and then was unconscious after the fight. Do you believe that there are details about the attack that she just doesn't remember because she's traumatized? Oh, yeah, definitely. Two little children that didn't do anything to anybody.

I didn't do anything to anybody. Why us? Why our family? Why were we targeted? Minutes after the Routiers were rushed to the hospital, police sealed off their house. It was a crime scene now and Rowlett investigators were waiting for their Sherlock Holmes. Around 5 a.m. the Rowolette dispatcher called me. 61-year-old Jim Cron, a crime scene consultant, has investigated more than 4,000 murders. The crime scene investigators are only interested in the physical evidence, sort of the silent witnesses to crime. And for Jim Cron, the silent witnesses always tell a story.

Evidence just speaks for itself. He arrived at the Routier house just before 6 a.m. Starting with the probable point of entry, a slashed garage window screen, Cron began retracing the killer's steps. The screen cut was inconsistent with both cuts by any burglar. It was a t-shaped cut which made your opening to step through the narrow part. Entering the house the intruder would have seen jewelry on the kitchen counter. And this was in open view as he progressed through and didn't pick up any jewelry. There were two children laying on the floor and one adult on a couch.

Why kill the kids first? And the murder weapon, an 8-inch butcher knife, came from the Routier kitchen. Murders don't enter a place and then look for a weapon. Even something about the 911 call didn't seem quite right. Darlie's sons were bleeding to death at her feet, yet she seemed overly concerned about having touched the knife. They left the knife laying on the floor. There's a knife. Don't touch anything.

I already touched it and picked it up. Okay, it's all right. It's okay. We got in a pinch, baby. One thing crime scene stagers do is tell you that you can't get any evidence that something happened that ruined the evidence. And she was explaining why her prints would be on the knife and maybe not on intruders. I'd say within about 30 minutes, I felt like something wasn't right. Got a phone call. Dispatch told me a child was killed. Rowlett detective Jimmy Patterson dreads having to question parents who have lost their children.

Most of the time you can't talk to them. You can't mention anything about that child that they're not going to cry about. That's why Patterson was startled when he finally spoke to Darlie Routier after she was out of surgery. She didn't ask about her children, so I was a little surprised about that. She didn't? No, but I thought maybe it's just that she already knew. And something else seemed odd. Just after fighting for her life with a man who Darlie said murdered her sons...

She could not describe the face at all. If they're face to face and they can't describe this face, then there's a possibility somebody's not telling you the truth. As dawn broke... Any suspects? None at this time. Did it appear that the attacker broke into the home?

So did the gruesome story. Some feared a psychotic killer was on the loose. Several residents on Eagle Drive reported seeing a mysterious black sedan driving slowly past the Routier house the night of the murders. Rowlett police tried to calm the community. So, you know, we're going to do all we can. And stepped up patrols. We were interviewing the entire neighborhood. Going through everything, every trash can, every sewer, everything else. But every lead so far had been found inside the Routier house. These are the similar blood drops that we found there at the location. According to Rowlett crime scene investigator, Lieutenant David Neighbors,

blood evidence was the most telling silent witness of all. Where it was found and where it wasn't found. On the edge of the couch, where she claimed she sustained some of her injuries, there was no blood evidence to indicate that she had sustained any wounds while laying on the couch. After fighting off the attack, Darley said she chased the intruder into the utility room.

She had bloody footprints around the kitchen area, but not through the kitchen into the utility room where she said she walked. Once you cross the threshold from the utility room into the garage, there's no blood evidence in the garage. And that's the way she said that the intruder exited. But there was blood at the base of the kitchen sink. In the kitchen, it appeared that someone stood at the sink and bled. And she said she never went, you know, towards the kitchen sink. In the kitchen, it appeared that someone stood at the sink and bled. And she said she never went, you know, towards the kitchen sink. As night fell, Lieutenant Nabors used a chemical called Luminol to reveal traces of blood not

visible to the naked eye. You spray this chemical on there and it reacts with the hemoglobin part of your blood and glows a bright blue or an eerie blue color. With the lights turned off and the luminol sprayed on, detectives made a chilling discovery. I've never seen anything like it in an 18-year career. That's next. As night fell on the evening of June 6, 1996, police combed the Routier home for evidence in the stabbing deaths of 6-year-old Devon and 5-year-old Damon. Inside the Routier's kitchen, Rowlett crime scene specialist David Neighbors switched

off the lights and sprayed luminol on the sink, which suddenly glowed with an eerie blue light indicating the presence of blood. A lot of blood. It indicated a cleanup. There was blood in the sink and someone had washed it out? Blood in the sink and around the sink and it was cleaned up and it was washed up. Even to veteran investigators, the discovery was almost unthinkable. Even to veteran investigators, the discovery was almost unthinkable. Could it be possible that Darlie Routier butchered her sons and then, while standing over the sink, slit her own throat? After the crime, you and your husband went down to the police, voluntarily talked to them. Right.

And they came in on their own? Yes. Without attorneys? Without an attorney. For nearly a week, police questioned Darren and Darlie separately three times. And according to Detective Patterson, Darlie's story changed three times. The difference now is that she's changed the position of where the intruder was. Isn't it possible that a person could be so traumatized by what happened that maybe

when you tell the story the second or third time things change? There's some things that can change in a story, but I think you always know exactly where the perpetrator is if there was a perpetrator. The investigation continued to turn against Darley. She claimed that the suspect went out in the garage and exited the backyard. But police found no evidence to indicate that anyone had climbed over a six-foot-high backyard fence or fled through its gate, which was closed and difficult to open. It struck me that he was awful conscientious to shut the gate when he left.

Detectives did find one clue that would support the intruder theory. A bloody sock was found on this spot here in this alley which is just 75 yards from the Routier house. DNA tests would later prove the blood belonged to the boys. To Darlie Routier this discovery proved an intruder murdered her sons and then escaped down the alley. But to Jim Cron the bloody sock was just another red flag. You came to believe fairly early on that this was a staged event. Definitely. Detectives believed Darley had overturned a vacuum cleaner

and broken a wine glass to indicate a struggle had taken place. Jim Cron was convinced the crime scene evidence, his silent silent witnesses had spoken clearly. There was not one thing at this entire crime scene that said Darlie Rottier did it. It's the totality of everything. All the evidence says she did it. And if that weren't enough, investigators were also puzzled by the Routier's behavior. Just eight days after the crime, a local news crew videotaped Darlie and her family at the boy's grave, celebrating what would have been Devin's seventh birthday. Are we allowed to do this?

We sang happy birthday and then we sprayed silly string. Happy birthday to you. Why were you spraying silly string? Because Devin and Damon played with silly string all the time. I love you Devin and Damon. I was giving him the birthday party that he didn't get to have. What came to be known as the silly string video was later shown on local newscasts. Dallas County Assistant District Attorney Greg Davis remembers its impact.

Here's a mother who's supposedly been the victim of a violent crime. She's just lost two children and yet she's out literally dancing on their graves. Eleven days after Devin and Damon Routier were brutally slain, the Rowlett police made their announcement. A significant event has now occurred in this very intensive investigation. I watched it on TV. At approximately 10.20 p.m. this evening, investigators from the Rowlett police department arrested Darlie Routier. This is unbelievable. This can't be happening.

Mrs. Routier was charged with capital murder stemming from the stabbing death of her sons, Damon, age 5, and Devin, age 6. You were surprised when she was arrested? I was shocked. As for the father, Darren Routier, at this point we do not believe that he was involved in or participated in the murders. And I argued with them about it and told them that they were wrong.

And they said, well, we're not. And I remember watching them smoke their cigars and high-five each other as they basically ruined my life. I couldn't believe what they were saying, what they were accusing me of. It was just, it was unreal. Is Darlie a warm-hearted mother or a cold-blooded killer? I did not murder my children. Darlie Lynn Routier faces a judge and jury. Did you have anything at all to do with this?

Next. Less than two weeks after the violent deaths of her two boys, Darlie Routier stood accused of their murders, held under suicide watch in Dallas County's Central Jail. Did you do this? No, I didn't. Did you have anything at all to do with this? I did not murder my children. I had nothing to do with this. Nothing. The state decided to try Darley for the murder of five-year-old Damon. Because of his age, that killing was a capital offense in Texas. Punishable by death. To bolster its circumstantial case and provide a motive for the killings, the prosecution, led by Greg Davis and Toby Shook, focused on Darley's character. How would you describe Darley Routier?

Very materialistic, very self-centered. The DAs depicted Darley Routier as a pampered wife, distraught because her husband's computer business wasn't making enough money to pay the bills. Financial records show that they were two months behind on their mortgage, they're behind on their credit card payments. Missed mortgage payments, missed credit card payments. We were late on one mortgage payment and they found it in the trash and it had already been

paid. What was the state of your marriage at that point? Um, we had a good marriage, just like anybody else's. You have your ups and downs. If this is such a wonderful marriage, why is she trying to take her own life a month before the murders? The prosecution seized upon a journal entry Darley had made while suffering from postpartum depression after the birth of her third son, Drake. It was written just one month before the killings and addressed to her three boys.

She said, forgive me for what I'm about to do. She was contemplating suicide. Were you aware that she was depressed? It was not as serious as they tried to make it out to be. She had somewhat of the baby blues. It may have been a contemplation, but there's a difference between a contemplation and an attempt. To the prosecution, the motive was clear.

A depressed, self-involved Darlie had killed her boys in an attempt to maintain an extravagant lifestyle. Darlie's family pooled their resources and hired two high-powered defense attorneys. Doug Mulder. Morning. Doug Mulder. I never had believed that she was capable of this. And Richard Mosty.

They picked out who was guilty and then they made everything fit. How many reports did you have? I thought we had an excellent chance at an acquittal. I expected that we would get an acquittal in the case. On January 6, 1997, a jury of seven women and five men heard opening arguments, although cameras were banned from the tiny second-floor courtroom. She is innocent. I bet my life on her. Both sides played to the media outside.

This woman killed those two precious children in her home that night. Author Barbara Davis watched every minute of testimony in the standing room only chambers. I never even took a bathroom break because if you got up, you lost your seat and you didn't get back in. The state began building its case by recounting its long list of circumstantial evidence, including testimony from a forensics expert who told the jury that fragments from that garage window screen which had been cut were found on a second knife in the Routier kitchen. What did that mean? Prosecutors believe that at some point Darlie cut the garage window screen with that second

knife. Then they say after stabbing her sons with the other knife, she ran down the alley to plant the bloody sock, raced back home, slit her own throat, finished staging the crime scene, and called 911. 911, what is your emergency? But even with all of that, perhaps the most devastating evidence against Darlie was...

Happy birthday to you. ...the infamous silly string video. Prosecutor Greg Davis remembers the day of the showing. I could see a lot of people in that jury box having the same kind of reaction that I had had when I first saw it. They couldn't believe their eyes. They were disturbed by what they saw. But you know that people do grieve in their own ways. Is it possible that this is just the way she handled the stress of the moment? I have never, ever seen anyone grieve in that sort of manner.

Does this man look like he's got a worry? The defense countered by attempting to discredit the DA's circumstantial case. They had very, very little hard evidence. The defense also argued that Darley could not have had the presence of mind to stage the crime scene. As for planting that bloody sock...

If I had done this, why would I chance running down an alley to drop off a piece of evidence when anybody could see me running down there? Plus, Darley's attorneys claimed there were no witnesses, no confession, and no motive. There was absolutely no reason for her to kill those children. Just put her on the stand, got to ask you that. Then, against the advice of her lawyers, Darlie took the stand. I needed to stand up and be heard. But she withered under cross-examination by prosecutor Toby Shook. She claimed to have amnesia, yet the amnesia was very convenient. If she needed to explain a piece of damning circumstantial evidence,

she'd come up with a new story. She'd have a memory of it. The trial lasted nearly five weeks. The case went to the jury on Friday, January 31st. Darley's family waited and hoped. At noon the following day came the announcement. Good luck. Thanks. A verdict had been reached.

I just had a feeling inside of my heart that something wasn't right. And then when they came out and said guilty. It was like being hit by a ton of bricks. Darlie Lynn Routier was sentenced to death for the capital murder of her five-year-old son Damon. Author Barbara Davis began writing her book certain that Darlie Routier had gotten what she deserved. She did it. Until a phone call changed everything.

Do you have any comments? Is there anything you would like to say? We got it wrong. She didn't do it. That's next. In February 1997, Darlie Lynn Routier was sentenced to death for the murder of her five-year-old son Damon. Prosecutors chose not to try her for the murder of six-year-old Devin. In her account of the crime and trial, Precious Angels, Barbara Davis left no doubt that she also believed Darlie Routier was guilty as charged. She did it, and she deserves to die for doing it. But then, just weeks after the book was published...

I got a phone call from a source asking me to meet with him. I said, why? She did it. And the answer was, not after you see what I have to show you. Davis met with her source. And within about ten minutes, I was in tears. I was literally sick at my stomach because I knew that it was wrong. We got it wrong. She didn't do it. What did you see that began to convince you that she didn't do it?

The first thing that I saw were photographs that were not presented to the jury. I saw a woman that fought for her life. These are bruises on the inside of her arm as if someone were sitting holding her down. What was so special about her bruises that she couldn't have done it herself? Well her hands were solid bruises. Massive bruises on both of Darlie's hands. She could have hit her hands to create bruises, no? She had bruises that she couldn't have put on herself in places she couldn't have reached. These are fingerprints like someone has dug their nails into her while trying to hold her down as she was struggling.

Those were shots we never saw. If these photographs were so convincing to you, who wrote the book telling America she did it, why didn't her defense attorneys show those pictures to the jury? I think they were overwhelmed. There were over a thousand photographs. Both sides argued the bruises. Prosecutors and even Darley's defense attorneys disagree with Barbara Davis. Every picture that shows a defensive type wound to Darley was admitted into evidence. The fact is they were shown, they were considered, they were argued at the trial. And there's something else. A police surveillance tape secretly recorded at the boys' gravesite.

We regret that the whole life of these people... The tape showed that on the day of the infamous Silly String celebration... We love the children so much. The Routiers first held a solemn memorial service for their boys. We have many things to pray to God about. Because of legal concerns about the hidden camera, the tape was never shown to jurors. Convinced Darley was wrongly accused,

her family put out a desperate call for help. How eccentric an eccentric Texas millionaire are you? Well, I think other people have to answer that question. You know, if you're not rich, you're crazy. If you have money, you're eccentric if you have money you're eccentric you know enter brian pardo and we're overlooking lake waco a waco texas millionaire who had spent his own money before to defend another death row inmate they were thinking uh well maybe this man can help us pardo hired longview texas attorney stephen lo to lead the effort. One of their theories came as a shock to the family when Darley's husband was fingered as a suspect.

Darren Rattier is a suspect in this case. I am unable to rule him out. What motive would Darren have had? $300,000 in insurance money. On Darley? Yeah. They want to try to make something very small, very large, and try to make me look as bad as possible. But of course, you have to remember they're trying to trade me for her. In the wake of these allegations, Darren Routier severed all ties with the Pardo camp.

Was he ever considered a suspect? Oh, sure. But you ruled him out? We think Darley was the one who murdered the boys. This is sort of the headquarters for the appeal right here. This is the Darley war room. Dallas attorney Stephen Cooper also represents Darley Routier. In July of 2001, Cooper filed an appeal in part claiming that Darley deserved a new trial because her original defense attorney, Doug Mulder, had previously represented Darren Routier, and that constituted a conflict of interest. There's no question that she got a raw deal, that she got an unfair trial, and there's

no question in my mind that she's innocent. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals rejected that appeal. It just hurts us a little deeper and robs us of some more time with Darlie and Darlie of more time with her family, but it's not the end. And earlier that same month, Darlie's other attorney, Stephen Loesch, passed away. But the legal efforts continue to get Darlie Routier another trial.

Yet another appeal has been filed by yet another new attorney, claiming there is evidence important to the case, which was not addressed at her 1997 trial, including a mysterious bloody fingerprint found at the crime scene. It's an intruder's. The Routiers had Devon and Damon's bodies exhumed

in May of 2000 to take their fingerprints. Attorney Stephen Cooper claims that forensic testing indicates the partial print is from an adult and not one of Darley's children. If it is not Darren's and it's not Darley's and it's not any of the police or paramedics and it is an adult, it supports, obviously, the defense that an intruder was in the home. But perhaps this document is the most surprising turn in the case.

It's an affidavit signed last summer by Darren Routier, admitting that three months before the murders, he was looking for someone to burglarize his home for an insurance scam. Darren was confronted, denied the burglary. The circle kind of got narrower and narrower and he ultimately admitted it. In the same affidavit, Darren says the night of the murders, Darley asked for a separation. And Cooper says there's something more he'd like a new jury to hear. We do have a new witness that was unknown at the time of the original trial.

A witness, he says, who fears for her life and has declined our request for an interview. This new witness claims that on the night of the murders, she saw two men walking by the side of the road around the time the boys were killed, one of whom loosely matched the description of the intruder Darley had just given police ten blocks away. Less than an hour later, she says she saw a small black sedan leaving the area. Interesting, a small black car was a suspicious vehicle seen in Darlie's neighborhood prior to the crime.

Whether any of these new leads eventually reveals a new suspect, one thing remains constant. Darlie Routier insists she is not the killer. You're looking at me straight in the eye. You're telling me you didn't do this. I didn't. If you're lying to me, then you are really a good and convincing liar. But I'm not lying to you. More than seven years after the murders, More than seven years after the murders, Darlie's family and supporters carry on a public crusade to clear her name.

I'm going to do everything in my power for the rest of my life, if that's what it takes, to prove my daughter innocent. They've never come up here with anything new for us. They'll take the evidence that was presented, they'll tell the public that it was never presented, they'll reinvent the case. If a new trial is granted on appeal, are you prepared to go to court and try this case again? I'll tell you what, we'll try this case any time we have to. Still holds up?

Absolutely. Nothing's changed. I have been robbed of so much. For the rest of my life, I have to wonder what they would have looked like, how big they would have been, how their voice would have been changing. I didn't do anything and this has been taken from me and it's wrong. Darlie Routier says the only thing she did that terrible night was try to save her sons. What would Devin and Damon say? Was their killer a crazed man they didn't know?

Or the mother they loved and trusted? Darlie Routier continues to appeal her conviction.