Crime Weekly - S3 Ep307: Blood, Cries, and Broken Glass: The Case Against Darlie Routier (Part 2)

Episode Date: May 30, 2025

In the early morning hours of June 6, 1996, a frantic 911 call came in from a quiet neighborhood in Rowlett, Texas. On the line was 26-year-old Darlie Routier, who said she and her sons had been stabbed by an intruder while they slept in the downstairs family room. When first responders arrived, they found a horrific scene—six-year-old Devon and five-year-old Damon lying on the floor with multiple stab wounds, while Darlie was walking around, bleeding from several knife injuries of her own. As officers cleared the house and paramedics worked to save the victims, Darlie repeated the same story: a man in dark clothing had come into the family room, stabbed her and her children, then fled through the garage—leaving the knife behind. But as investigators began to process the scene and piece together what had unfolded in the Routier home, a new set of questions emerged—about Darlie’s version of events, the physical evidence, and what she did—and didn’t do—after the attack. We're coming to CrimeCon Denver! Use our code CRIMEWEEKLY for 10% off your tickets! https://www.crimecon.com/CC25 Try our coffee!! - www.CriminalCoffeeCo.com Become a Patreon member -- > https://www.patreon.com/CrimeWeekly Shop for your Crime Weekly gear here --> https://crimeweeklypodcast.com/shop Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/CrimeWeeklyPodcast Website: CrimeWeeklyPodcast.com Instagram: @CrimeWeeklyPod Twitter: @CrimeWeeklyPod Facebook: @CrimeWeeklyPod ADS: 1. https://www.SkyLightCal.com/CrimeWeekly - Get $30 off a 15-inch calendar! 2. https://www.OneSkin.co - Use code CRIMEWEEKLY for 15% off! After you make your purchase, please let them know we sent you! 3. https://www.WarbyParker.com/CrimeWeekly - Try on ANY pair of glasses virtually today!

Hello everybody. Welcome back to Crime Weekly. I'm Stephanie Harlow and I'm Derek Lavasser. So today we are diving into part two of the Darlie Routier case and I will give you guys a quick sort of a recap. I know it's been a week but I also know a lot of people were engrossed in this case. A lot of people have requested this case so you might not need a recap but I think both Derek and I do so we can get back into that mindset. So in the early morning hours of June 6th 1996 26 year old Darlie Routier called 911 from her home in Raleigh Texas, reporting that

an intruder had stabbed her and her two young sons while they slept downstairs. When responding officers arrived, they found 6-year-old Devin and 5-year-old Damon gravely wounded and Darlie bleeding from several knife injuries. Darlie insisted that a man in dark clothing had broken in, attacked them, and fled through the garage, leaving the knife behind. But as officers examined the scene, they began to notice troubling inconsistencies, especially in Darley's behavior

and in her account of what had happened. Recognizing they ran over their heads, the Rowlett Police Department brought in James Cron, a seasoned crime scene consultant with decades of experience to take the lead. And what he found would only raise more questions. So that's where we're at. We left off last episode with the entry of James Cron and we kind of talked a little bit about him and why he was the right man for the job. And today we are now continuing on with this story.

And honestly, I can't wait. And I know Derek can't wait because he didn't have a great understanding of this case beforehand. But I could tell last week when we were talking about this, he was very much getting into it. And he was like, I need to know what happens next. Yeah, wheels turning.

I do have a confession, and this is a first for Crime Weekly in five years. And I know a lot of people, well, not a lot lot of people but some people don't believe it when I say it But I truly don't know anything about these cases and I try to avoid as much as possible while also still being engaged with you guys in the comment section things like that which can be extremely difficult because Many of you already know what happened, so I do have a confession for this episode. I know the outcome of this

case. It was disclosed in the comments about a hundred times and unfortunately without doing too much research there was a couple things I was taking notes on my own before today's episode. I don't recommend that anybody do this but for some reason the crime scene photos which we're gonna be talking a lot about the crime scene today. The crime scene photos, which we're gonna be talking a lot about the crime scene today, the crime scene photos, specifically involving Devin and Damon, are available online, not blurred. And they're one of the first things that pop up. And I have to tell you, I mean, as a human being,

but as a parent, when you talked about it, Stephanie, you have an idea, right? Like I've been to these types of crime scenes before, never involving a kid like this, fortunately. Thank God, yeah. Yep. It is horrific. You described it accurately, but you even,

I think for the right reasons, downplayed it a little bit. This was a horrific crime scene. I don't recommend anybody go look at it. Just take my word for it. As someone who's seen unfortunately a lot of murder scenes over the years, this was bad. This was really really bad and yeah I don't know all the specifics but seeing that I really wanted to dive right back into it

because someone out there is an absolute monster. I don't know how you could do this to anyone, especially children. And I know where this one goes. I won't spoil it for the people who have been able to avoid any spoilers, but, um, that's where I'm at right now as we approach episode number two. I have not seen the photos. You don't need to be looking at them. You do not need to. It was an accident.

The way it kind of stumb I stumbled on it. It was not a deep search. Yeah pops right now. I believe you actually it pops right in Google searches I just kind of scroll by I'm like nope didn't see you didn't see you didn't see you in fact I was talking to Shannon and she was talking about the episode and how she found it fascinating and she says to me in the text Message she says just be careful if you look up anything because Damon and Devin's photos pop up and I responded to her. Unfortunately, I already have dot dot dot. That was it. So that's where I'm at on it.

Just a terrible case and I'm glad we're covering it because not everyone agrees with the majority. And I think it's important to hear both sides. So looking forward to today. Yes. So let's dive right in. So the crime scene consultant, James Cron, arrived at the Routier home at around 5 45 AM on June 6th. And he began an initial walkthrough to get a sense of what had happened.

He started in the family room. This was where the attacks, you know. Allegedly started. This was there. Yeah, this is where they reportedly took place. I think a little more the allegedly comes from the word attack, not, but either way it is an attack I give we get right down to it

Yeah, exactly and he found that the carpet was soaked with blood in the living room now Devin's body was still by the couch He'd been declared dead at the scene So he was never taken to the hospital blood evidence Suggested that his brother Damon had also been stabbed near the couch, then crawled several feet across the room before collapsing near the hallway in the kitchen. He was still alive when paramedics arrived and was rushed to the hospital where he was later pronounced dead. Now, Cron noted that aside from the devastating injuries, the family room didn't show many signs of a struggle. Given the layout of the room and Darley's account of this violent confrontation, he

would have expected to see more disruption, but instead, the space appeared largely intact. The coffee table near Devin was described as being sort of knocked a jar, but the glass top remained intact, as did the flower arrangement sitting on top. There was also a lamp to the left of the couch, where Darley's head would have been while sleeping, and the shade of that lamp was not a skew, but one of the paramedics later would testify that he had accidentally done that while treating the boys. The lamp and its base were undamaged, and there was no blood. Behind another couch, which bordered the kitchen area, was a narrow table lined with decorative items,

all of which were undisturbed. Now, what does that tell you? If you're walking into a crime scene where this violent confrontation happened, this violent attack, and especially the narrow table with all these decorative items, which kind of bordered the kitchen area, that that would be completely fine.

Nothing was knocked over. If this guy's running out, going that way, passing by it, she's pursuing after him. You kind of expect to see more things overturn. Maybe he would try to like even throw stuff behind him to get in her way as he's running because she's pursuing him. Well, now you're getting more movie.

You get more movie, but at minimum, I would say this. If we're to believe Darlie's account, then she was asleep while she was being attacked. And a lot of you guys talked about this in the comments as some of you were defending her as far as us kind of playing down her injuries. But I throw this back at you guys, because here's where I get to respond.

Yes, I would expect to see more signs of struggle to answer your question directly, especially if this guy's attacking her in the middle of the night and not knowing the layout of the property as well as she does as he's running out, he may trip over some things, etc. I don't necessarily think that the fact that the glass wasn't broken is an automatic sign that like she's lying, but to me the bigger more troubling thing is the actual crime scene that you just laid out. Devin and Damon, one was already deceased, the other one was barely hanging on. When the paramedics got there, yeah. Put yourself in the mind of the monster for a second.

Everyone out there, okay? If I'm approaching this house and I get inside undetected and I look on the couch and I see an adult and two children and I wanna get out of there with as little struggle as possible, ask yourself, who were you stabbing first? Stephanie? Yeah, of course, it's going to be the adult.

Okay, so now, don't let us put words into your mouth. We saw the way that Devin and Damon were stabbed, and we talked about this briefly in part one. There was no doubt what the intention was. They were deliberate, and that was intended to kill them. So if we're to believe Darlie's account, and I would assume she would've been the first one stabbed, right, she could've woken up from the other,

the boy screaming, I'm sure they were yelling. I hate to be that person, they weren't quiet the whole time. No. Especially if they're crawling away. It's sickening to even think about that, okay? I'm sure they were yelling. I hate to be that person. They weren't quiet the whole time. No. Especially if they're crawling away. It's sickening to even think about that, okay? She would have heard something, but yet we're to believe that she woke up to being attacked.

So not only do the injuries, and what I mean by that is a straight shot into her chest. There's nothing of that, okay? If we're to believe that the injuries were established first where she was attacked first and she doesn't have the same injuries as Devin and Damon on top of the note, not being a struggle, it's hard to compute that and say, yeah, that makes sense. The evidence supports your account of what happened because to me, no doubt, if she was attacked by someone, she would have been first and the injuries would have been just as intentional as they were

To damon and devin and yet they're not so yes sign of struggle is a problem for me If i'm approaching that crime scene the bigger struggle for me is the inconsistencies with the attacks I agree. Why would the attacker have changed up his MO between his first two attacks to the third? What what was he intending for her and some people might be like, oh, maybe he wanted her to be alive So he could do something to her then why did he run out when she woke up, you know? Yeah, it's it doesn't it doesn't there's some problems there And then I saw a few comments where people were like, oh She didn't know that her two sons had been attacked when she got up and chased

I get that so no, I don't I get what she's saying I'm not saying I agree with her But yes The way the crime scene is being described is there's blood everywhere that one of the boys had to crawl from the couch To the place where his body was found So you're telling me you don't hear moaning groaning cries shouts calls for mom, anything like that, you don't see this, you're not stepping in wet blood as you get up from the couch.

It doesn't make any sense. It doesn't add up. You wouldn't have known that. It doesn't add up. It doesn't add up. And as a mother, my first thought when I wake up and an intruder's stabbing me and then runs away is I gotta check on my kids

who I know are in this room with me. I gotta make sure they're okay first and then figure out what to do with this guy. And maybe you could say, Oh, he, she was afraid that he was going to run upstairs and kill her husband and baby. Yeah, maybe, maybe, but you'd still have a split second to, to do a cursory glance. Where's my other two kids? I got to make sure they're okay. And you didn't do that.

So it's odd. I'm going to be redundant in this episode for anybody else out there. You can dilute this down to its most simplistic perspective. If you're to look at the three people, Damon, Devin, and Darlie, okay, and you look at David, Damon and Devin, and you ask yourself based on these injuries, based on the attack, what was the intention? It was to kill them. And then you look at the injuries to injuries, based on the attack, what was the intention? It was to kill them. And then you look at the injuries to Darlie and where to believe that she was asleep.

So not to be crass here, but how hard is it to hit an object that's not moving? She's sitting there sleeping, she's completely vulnerable, her chest is exposed to you. How do you miss? How do you miss someone who is not moving at that point, not defending themselves? Not defending themselves, yeah. And yet, where to believe that they were all attacked by the same person, and yet somehow, even with a bigger mass to hit, a bigger target to go for, she was lucky enough while sleeping for this individual to completely miss any organs that would have left her deceased as

well? That's hard to believe. This is my opinion, allegedly, it'll come from me. That's because that's the only story that could have possibly made sense, right? Her sons wouldn't have been dead if she was the first one attacked and she woke up to defend herself

and then the guy ran out. The kids would be still alive if she was the first one attacked. I agree. That's the only story that makes sense if she has any chance of getting away with this. But the real story that makes sense is there's no way anybody brutally murdered your two young sons while you slept through it. Exactly.

And that's it's impossible. Right. And push back in the comments. And it's I like the open debate. I like the discussion. I'm telling you where I'm coming from. Stephanie's telling you where she's coming from. If you have an explanation for that, am all ears and I'm not saying that sarcastically I truly want to hear your opinions on it that's why it's great to have these episodes on YouTube because there's an instant feedback but also I want to point out if you're on audio you can also leave comments as well I don't

rate it based on whether you agree with me or not but you can leave we're reading those reviews as well so you know leave a review based on the work we're doing, but also leave a comment if you have some feedback. So next, James Cron moved into the kitchen. There he saw a vacuum cleaner lying between the kitchen island and the counter that separated the kitchen from the family room. Near the sink, Cron observed a large amount of blood that appeared to have been shed or dripped directly onto the floor. There were also smears on the front of the cabinet beneath the sink. On the counter between the kitchen and the family room was a bloody butcher knife, which had come from the knife block nearby. There were also several valuables on the kitchen counters including a purse, car keys, and what was described as a large amount

of expensive jewelry. So I'm gonna stop myself again. And I'm gonna say, I always find it very odd, these, not necessarily these home invasions, because if it was a home invasion, you would expect to see something missing, right? So if this person broke in and like, I'm gonna take stuff, you wouldn't see a bunch of expensive valuables and jewelry and a purse and car keys sitting on the kitchen counter

that stuff would have been snatched up and especially if he walked in and there was people sleeping he would have grabbed that stuff first and then if somebody happened to wake up then that's when he attacks but he did not take that stuff with him if he came into that house specifically to murder these people why wouldn't you bring your own weapon? Why would you depend on the possibility that there's a weapon there you can use when you get there? Why wouldn't you come prepared, right? You had a mask, you had gloves, you know, you were prepared in that way,

but you weren't there with a murder weapon knowing you were going there to kill people. You're going to use one of their knives that you hope is in the kitchen. What if they don't have knives in the kitchen? What if they just replace their knife and then you're just standing there like, ah, what do I do now? You know, it doesn't make sense. I don't believe this. Yeah. The intentionality. And that means that the person went in there, they entered the apartment. We can throw up the map here again. They went to the right first. They must have went to the kitchen, grabbed the knife and then entered the living room. It's just a lot to go in there and think they're going

to walk through this, this residence, unknowing who's up, who's awake, and then entered the living room. It's just a lot to go in there and think they're gonna walk through this this residence unknowing who's up, who's awake, the layout of the apartment. You gotta figure out where the kitchen is. You gotta figure out where they keep the knives in the kitchen. It's gonna maybe it's dark in there and if you turn on lights you're gonna wake someone up or if you're rumbling around you're gonna wake someone up. This just doesn't make any sense. You came there to kill, you don't have a weapon to kill. Yeah and now and you guys shed some light on this as well. Apparently, we don't know this to be true 100%,

but apparently Darren was upstairs with Drake because Drake had been struggling to sleep. This was a thing that was going on, it happens to all parents, right? So Darren was upstairs with Drake sleeping and Darlie was downstairs with Damon and Devin, but to your point here, there's no way of the offender knowing that.

There's no way of the offender knowing the dynamic inside the house and where people Are gonna be for all you know Darren's up in the kitchen having a bowl of cereal You don't know there's no way to to know that at moat at that moment unless you're already inside And then let's break down what you're saying here And this is gonna happen a lot during this episode because I'm hearing it for the first time You mentioned the quote shed or drip to blood directly on the floor That would be the signs of a low velocity blood spatter

Continuously, it could be from an injury. I've seen that before it could also be from An object like a knife having a lot of blood on it and staying in one spot for a long period of time And the blood dripping off that knife onto the floor in that that specific area wherever the offender was standing that would contradict the floor in that specific area wherever the offender was standing. That would contradict the idea of someone who had just stabbed people running through the kitchen with a knife. Because in that thing you would see high velocity blood spatter because as they're running, and you could probably throw up pictures of it here but if not I'll describe it for you and I know we're all adults here so I'll give my best version of it.

A tadpole would be one version of it, where it would look like a ball, and then with a little tail, usually in the direction they're running. So as they're running with that knife, or as they're running with blood dripping off of them, you're gonna see that pattern as they run through the kitchen,

and yet we have a pool of blood, which would indicate that either an injured party or the offender was standing in one space for a period of time. Now that could be Darlie after she was attacked and stabbed and now she's kind of getting herself together But according to her she chased after this offender out into the garage and then retreat retreated back to the living room to render Aid to her kids But you mentioned other things like the smear on the knife block on the smear the blood on the knife block the smear on the cabinets

That's indicative of someone being in the kitchen for at least a certain period of time. So if not the offender and not Darlie, who was it? Yeah, exactly. So again, I'm breaking this down as we go. I may be a little not all as clean and as concise as you say it, but I'm responding based on my reactions. So Kron saw that some of the kitchen drawers were open and bloody cloth items had been placed on top of them So Kron saw that some of the kitchen drawers were open and bloody cloth items had been placed on top of them. Kron also noted a few drops of blood leading into the utility room, which

connected the kitchen to the garage. Inside the utility room, there was a baseball cap on the floor and additional blood near the doorway. There weren't any bloody footprints, but there was blood on the inside of the door that led into the garage. So from the utility room, Cron stepped into the garage, which he later described as a typical garage that was

used for storage and had some cluttered areas. He didn't see any blood, but one of the windows caught his attention. It was open and the screen had been caught in a T-shape. The window led to the backyard, which was enclosed by a six foot privacy fence. So we know kind of where we're headed here with this. Now, was this set up or did somebody actually break in and used the screen of the window to escape into the backyard, which at that point they would have had to have scaled a six foot privacy fence? I have another theory on it and I want to talk to you about it because again,

I'm hearing this for the first time and it just I have some interest that I want to discuss with you. Maybe you'll be able to dispute it. But before we do, let's take our first break. We'll be right back. Okay, let me just paint you a picture really quick. It's 9 p.m. You're finally sitting down after a long day, maybe catching up on some emails, catching up on your favorite show, or let's honestly be real with ourselves, scrolling through TikTok to decompress.

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with your purchase, you can return it for a full refund. No questions asked. You literally have nothing to lose here and everything to gain. And Derek's gonna tell you how you can return it for a full refund no questions asked you literally have nothing to lose here and everything to gain and Derek's gonna tell you how you can check it out for yourself. Yeah I love my skylight frame actually have two of them now one in my bathroom one on my on my counter and I actually have the skylight plus subscription love it it does a lot of meal planning for me and generates shopping list based on my meal planning so that's just another added benefit and also it has this doodle option it's almost like a whiteboard so my kids leave notes on it and I get list based on my meal planning. So that's just another added benefit. And also it has this doodle option.

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by going to skylightcal.com slash crime weekly. Again, all you have to do is go to skylight cal dot com slash crime weekly for $30 off a 15 inch calendar one more time. That's SKY Light cal dot com slash crime weekly Okay, we're back from break I want to throw something at you and maybe you can discredit what I'm about to say based on facts I'm unaware of at this point. You mentioned the T cut in the screen and it being a possible point of egress.

Well why can't that also be the point of entry? Could be. Could they have cut the screen, came in through the garage, through the utility closet, grabbed the knife, and entered the living room. And then knowing how they got in, because we keep arguing, why would they go out this different way if they came in through the front door? Well, if that was the way they came in,

that would be the route they would know to get out. Interesting, right? Yeah, absolutely. However, what did Kron find in the garage about these points of possible entry or exit? Well he noted that the only other way out of the garage was through the large overhead door but that was closed and latched from the inside. So he ain't going out that way. He's not going out. Nope. Nope. He's not getting in. And this is person Sardini. Yeah, not getting in either.

Okay. So he examined the window seal then of that door, the window that had been tampered with, and he looked for any indication that had been used as a point of entry or exit. He found none. There was a fairly thick layer of dust over the entire windowsill in his opinion.

There were no signs that anyone had gone through it, right? The dust is undisturbed. There's no smudges, fingerprints, shoe prints. There's nothing. So like what kind of person, unless you're flying through, like you can transform into a bird and fly through and leave everything undisturbed, what kind of actual human is able to get through a window

in a garage without disturbing this thick layer of dust on the window sill. Yeah, this reminds me of another case. John Bonet. You're talking about John Bonet, yeah. Yep, bingo. Exactly. Bingo.

We have the cobwebs. And so this is why I love this stuff. Not the, what we're actually talking about, but the puzzle you're putting together here. And yeah, I just posed a possible theory, and Kron is saying, no, Derek, this is why I don't believe that's the case. Because if I'm envisioning this window correctly,

it's a small window, it's not huge, the offender would have to kind of slide through it and it would be physically impossible for them to not disturb any of the dust on the windowsill in the process of doing so, especially when they were exiting, if they're exiting in a rush, right? If somebody's chasing them. Yes, so look at the picture of the window, click on it, it, if they're exiting in a rush, right? If somebody's chasing them. Yes, so look at the picture of the window, click on it, it's hyperlinked.

Okay, I can see it here. Yeah, so I'm looking at, I get you, this is a bigger window than I expected that I envisioned, and these photos are going to be really instrumental to this case. Again, if you're listening on audio on a Friday, yeah, you're getting the episode early, but come back on Sunday. Check out these photos or do your research on your own. We're providing them for you at the timestamps. It'll make your life a lot easier, but just looking at the window as is,

it is a very large window as far as a person being able to get through, but I would still make the argument and I stand on this. It would be very difficult to get through that window without disturbing any dust. And you would see it. We've all seen it in our house where it's just a swipe and it leaves some type of smudge. But if the dust is perfectly intact, try doing that for me.

Don't hurt yourself. Give it a shot and see if you can pull that off. No, even I remember like closing basement windows and then like the cuff of my sleeve is a small swipe when I'm pulling away. Yes. This person would have to have to it, and it's possible on the way out, I don't know about the way in

because they would want to be quiet, but on the way out, if Darlie was giving chase, they could have literally dove through the window and avoid touching too much of it. But how, I don't see that happening. It'd be the most luck, it'd be the luckiest guy on the planet.

You'd have to really know what you were doing, have control of your body in that way, and I just don't, yeah. But it is? You always think, like, I could dive through this window, and then you try, and you end up smack dabbing with your face in the window. Correct.

And I mean, you could see inside the garage. And don't you think the T shape would have been sort of like ripped open more? It's pretty ripped open. If this person had dove through it? It's pretty ripped open. I mean, it's gonna expand as they go through, and then maybe contract a little bit because it's stretched out when they go through.

But yeah, I mean, definitely look at these photos, guys. Come to your own opinions on it. But I wanted to point it out, especially the photos, because when I said, and you said it as well, JonBenet, that window was much higher. It was much smaller. This is not a one for one comparison. This window is much bigger. Looks like it's a little closer to the ground, it was much smaller. This is not a one for one comparison. This window is much bigger,

looks like it's a little closer to the ground, maybe not much. So it would be more possible in this scenario than John Benet, but I think the same argument still holds true. So Kron continues looking at this window in the area around it. He notices that there's no blood, no scuff marks, no debris, no bark, mulch, or damp vegetation that might have been carried in from outside. There was also a large animal cage even partially blocking the windows opening. So that large animal cage being in there partially blocking the windows opening I think is also important. If you were gonna get in or out that way, you might have moved that cage at some point

to make it easier for yourself or to make it so that nobody would hear. After inspecting the garage, Kron went outside to examine the perimeter of the house. He looked for signs of forced entry or disturbances, footprints, blood, broken flower beds, moved mulch, discarded weapons, but again, he found nothing. So in total, Cron spent about 30 minutes walking the scene and by the time he was done he no longer believed an intruder had come through that window or into the house at all. Instead, he concluded that Darley's account of what had happened didn't add up. He then

directed crime scene investigators to begin photographing the scene and collecting physical evidence. Now before we break down the evidence found inside the house, there's something important to note. According to Darley's family, officers and investigators moved several items around while processing the scene, and it wasn't always clear who had handled what. On their website, the family's website, they state, quote, For example, the phone was photographed in different locations. A lamp in the family room was moved around. The vacuum cleaner was photographed in different positions in the kitchen area. Family files were moved from one location onto one of the couches, and a pillow was moved around, to name just a few. The photographs showed that

little care was taken to secure the crime scene, and that minimal information could be gleamed from the pictures since objects were moved repeatedly in some cases." So as we go through the evidence described by investigators and crime scene experts, keep in mind that the layout of the scene may not have been fully preserved. Yeah, and this is always going to be the case with these cases and we want to be accurate and law enforcement has an obligation to go in there and that's why before touching anything a video should be taken of the crime scene before Moving anything around but you have looky-loos in there. You have multiple investigators. You have Emmys you have rescue

Rescue personnel a lot of things it could be completely innocent why things were moved, but if it's not Articulated or not written down it opens the case up to interpretation. And I'm not villainizing them, but as defense attorneys, you're gonna look for those things because they raise questions and they raise speculation. They cause reasonable doubt, yeah. They cause reasonable doubt. But the only thing I would, and I know I'm biased in this

because I'm usually on the other side, but you have to ask yourself, in this case, it's not always the situation, but what would be law enforcement's incentive here at this moment? I know some of you're gonna say well, they thought Darlie did it so they were already, you know making the scene look a certain way to make her look bad, but I Would I would I would like to believe in this particular case most of these things that may not be in the exact spot They were could be explained, but I also acknowledge

that it shouldn't happen. There should have been a video and you can explain it afterwards. Even something as innocent as the paramedic who was like, yeah, you know, when I was trying to provide life saving measures to these victims, I bumped into the lamp and the lampshade moved. The fact that he even remembered that is impressive. That's what I'm saying as far as innocent. Sometimes things are moved in the moment trying to save a life that you don't even remember doing because it's a subconscious response.

You just do it and not even remember doing it and therefore you don't write it down. But there are so many photos in this case and you can look them up. And even some of the things I was described, I didn't want to just keep doing this every time. But when we're talking about the blood that we talked about a few minutes ago, all the photos are there for you guys to look at and interpret yourself. You can see the blood droplets and where they go and how they're pretty consistent and then they're not in the garage. It tells a story.

You just have to interpret the information the way you want to do it and come up to your own conclusions, but it's all there for you to consume and kind of develop your own vision of what the crime scene looked like before, during, and after the incident. Yes, exactly. And I think it's important to also understand, there was a lot of pictures taken in this case. Yes. And I think they did that because the police were like,

we need to make sure to document everything we possibly can. So I don't believe, and if you ask me, is there a chance for law enforcement corruption? Is there a chance the law enforcement is like messing with stuff intentionally? Yeah, cuz we've seen it happen. Of course in this case I don't see what the motive would be to do that You know you have somebody who killed two kids as law enforcement officials as people who have children of their own Don't you think you would want that person apprehended? Right. What's your motive in being like, let's frame this mother. Why? That would be the motive, right? For some people would

be they didn't like Darlie because they thought she was a killer and therefore they enhanced the crime scene to tell that story. So they were biased? Correct. But they, but these are several multiple law enforcement officials who are all biased to the same degree enough where they're all agreeing to do this Even though not one of them is like hey, but there could be a kid killer out there We have kids guys don't you think you might want to apprehend the real person? I get one of them said that come on. I get it and there's a lot of them has broken sense And and the blood being found and I don't I'm assuming you're gonna get into this I don't want I'm assuming you're gonna get into this, I don't wanna get ahead of us, but all this blood,

I'm assuming it was sampled, and you're gonna get the, you're gonna find out who it belonged to. That's gonna tell you a story as well, because I mean, I looked at that drawer photo, there was exhibit, I believe, 79, when we were going through it, on the actual drawer that was pulled out. Whose blood is that all over it?

It's a substantial amount of blood in there. Whose blood is that? These are the questions that I have, of right now and I'm hoping we answer them. So let's talk about what they found inside as far as evidence. And we're going to start back in the family room. Investigators examined the couch where Darlie said she'd been sleeping when she was first attacked, but they didn't find any cuts or defects on her pillow or the couch itself. Nearby on the carpet, about 18 inches

from Devon's body, they found a bloody impression that resembled a knife. Not far from that was a folder that held the boys' life insurance policies, which were valued at just $5,000 each. Investigators also examined the coffee table near Devon, and the flowers arranged on top. The flowers had no blood on them. However, investigators did lift two latent fingerprints from the glass tabletop. There was also a latent print found on the sliding glass door in the family room. In the kitchen, Kron and other investigators documented the vacuum cleaner in its original position before carefully moving it to examine the area underneath. And I want to point out again, this is why Darlie's family could have seen the vacuum

cleaner in different positions throughout the crime scene photos, because they're not going to leave the vacuum cleaner there the whole time. They have to lift under it to see is there blood? Is there evidence? So they're going to take a picture of it where it was when they found it, and then they're going to move it. Correct. And take more pictures Right, but if they didn't you know, we always say if it's not in the report it didn't happen

It's it's a painstaking process, but you have to document even the most trivial things because those will be the holes That defense will try to stretch and do you know what happened when investigators lifted the vacuum cleaner? They found evidence underneath it. They noticed what appeared to be roll marks on the floor, which they didn't want to disturb. Under the vacuum, they found two bloody footprints, both of the same size, as well as blood drops and fragments from a broken wine glass. The vacuum itself had blood on the handle, the body, and the wheels, and Kron believed the footprints could have belonged to Darley, who was barefoot when officers arrived at the scene.

Near the vacuum was a wine rack, which Kron noted had no blood on it, none on the bottles, the glasses, or the rack itself. After fully documenting the scene, Kron tested the stability of the rack by rattling it, bumping into it, and jarring it slightly. He later said, quote, none of the glasses fell off, end quote, which obviously brought up the question about how a wine glass ended up broken underneath the vacuum cleaner. Yeah, and for my audio listeners, I'm looking at the roll marks right now and I don't think there's a way to articulate it perfectly but just

me seeing it for the first time, it looks like these rule marks occurred after the attack. Why is that important? Because the rule marks are actually in blood. It's not like the rule marks you would see in a normal carpet. It looks like there was blood there and the vacuum rolled through it. Why is that important? That means that after this incident occurred, after three people were brutally stabbed, someone grabbed the vacuum cleaner and rolled it through blood.

Do you believe? I don't think somebody was vacuuming. I think they just moved the vacuum cleaner. Yeah. But didn't lift it. Nope. Just rolled it through the blood. And so you have to ask yourself, do you believe

the attacker rolled a vacuum after doing this or being, apparently this person was kind of ran out of the house, but are you to believe that person grabbed the vacuum and rolled it through the area and if not him, then who? And if you're believing that Darlie was innocent in this, do you believing that Darlie was innocent in this do you believe that after she was stabbed and chased a defender and

attack her out of the house at some point between her being on the 911 call and seeing her kids that she moved the vacuum that's up for you to decide no and why would she be moving the vacuum the people who support her are gonna say oh the police did that the police made those marks when they were messing with the crime scene after. I got it, I got it. And that's what it will always fall back on. And I'm not saying that like that to say it's not true,

but whenever there's a defense, it's always gonna fall back on police ineptness or corruption. And there's no way to dispute that because you have to be in the mind of the officer. So it's a great defense. If you can prove it, it's a great defense, but you can always say, whenever in in doubt police did it because they either were

just not good at their job or they were at an axe to grind. And that's the, that's the, that's the cop out. And I hate to use cop out. Like it's, I'm not trying to diminish it and say it's not true in certain cases, but that's always the fallback. But it can't be true in every case. And because people know it's true in some cases, they'll use this argument to just paint every case that they don't like the outcome of with these broad strokes of, well, there's always a chance the police and their incompetence or their, you know, biasness

cause them to do this. It cannot be the fallback for everything. We have to look at these things. Does it happen? Absolutely. But I think you worded it best. It's not every case, guys. It's not every case. And listen, this is also very interesting what I'm gonna tell you next. Because we keep going through this. Well, would the offender who was in the house do this? Would he do that? Would he do that? Would he do this? As mentioned

earlier, there was a significant amount of blood on the floor in front of the kitchen sink. So when investigators examined the sink and counter area more closely, they discovered signs that someone had attempted to clean the surface. So what did they do? Well, they sprayed luminol around the kitchen to detect traces of blood not visible to the naked eye, and it revealed blood stains in the sink. Patterns that were consistent with someone rinsing blood from their hands and there was also evidence that a towel may have been used to wipe up some of the blood around the sink. When is the offender going to have blood on their hands?

After he's killed the two boys. Are we to assume that after killing the two boys and Darley doesn't wake up, he now goes into the kitchen, washes his hands so he can have a clean slate before going back and attempting to kill Darlie who is still sleeping through the water turning on and someone being in her kitchen. Or you have to believe that after Darlie was stabbed and chased the guy out of her house before going back to her kids or even after going and finding her kids like that, somewhere

between the 911 call she went and washed her hands. Why would she have blood on her hands? She wasn't the one who was stabbing anyone. My point being if she's getting stabbed, right? If she's getting stabbed and she's bleeding and she gets blood on her while in that process, she could have blood on her hands. But I would still in agreeance with you say at any point, and you have to ask this question for yourself,

if you were stabbed or you just saw blood all over the ground and your kids are laying on the ground, are you going to take even a moment to go wash your hands? Do you give a about the blood on your hands to go wash your hands? And more importantly, let's even say that's possible. Are you going to clean it up after the fact? No. And I mean, we did this with Scott, with Michael Peterson. Remember the staircase? Yeah. There was evidence that he had tried to clean it up and he was like, oh, I didn't know what to do.

I was just, you know, people behave differently and no, no, man, because- That's not a consideration at that point. It's not a concern. So your third option is that Darlie stabbed her two kids and then, you know, wanted to wash her hands so that their blood was not on her hands when the police arrived.

I don't think at this point, if you're operating from an objective perspective, you can look at what we've laid out so far or what you've laid out so far and say that it doesn't have to be a top consideration that someone in that house cleaned up the crime scene before law enforcement arrived. And why would the offender have done that? And when would he have had time to do that?

Well, because the only reason I'm saying this like that is I know we're really focusing on Darley right now and I do know the outcome of this case. I'm not playing stupid, but there was also another adult in that house. Darren was in that house as well. Now, I know we haven't talked about him a lot. I don't know the specifics of when exactly he found out in that moment, but there were two adults in that house. I don't know what happened. Nobody knows exactly what happened that night. But based on what you've discussed so far in the descriptions of the evidence and the

pictures I'm looking at, to me, it looks like someone attempted to clean up the scene before police officers got to the crime scene and had a chance to actually do their investigation. Which if we're to believe the amount of time that went by between the attack and Darley calling law enforcement, that's a significant amount of things that were done in that short period of time. Absolutely. And I saw, I did see some comments where people were like, you know, I think Darren was in on it. Darren's only in on it if Darlie knows.

I would concur with that. Yeah, so there's no world that exists. Because that would still be Darren stabbing the kids in front of her. Yeah, there's no world that exists where everything went down as she described it, but the intruder with the mask on was Darren, and then she chased him out of the house,

and then he what? Ran back in and jumped up the,. Yeah, exactly dove through the garage window Spider-man up the house got in the bedroom cleaned himself up and then came down like well, what's going on here? No, no not happening not happening guys. We're gonna take another break. We'll be right back Okay, let's be honest we're officially in that weird season where the sun is out, the AC is blasting, and your skin is just, I don't know, like confused. Or pale. Yeah, well, I'm always pale, but I've noticed that lately my skin's been feeling kind of

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it deserves with one skin. So we are back and in the utility room, crime scene investigators examined the blood evidence. Darley had told officers that the blood on the floor came from the assailant dropping the knife as he fled, but the stains on the floor didn't look consistent with a knife being thrown or dropped. Investigators noted that further testing would be needed to determine that for certain. On the inside of the door leading to the garage, they found latent prints in blood, and while Kron hadn't seen any

blood in the garage during his initial walkthrough, when crime scene investigators looked more closely, they found a small smear of blood on a child's whiteboard lying on the ground. The smear was several feet inside the garage, just past the utility room door, and appeared to be a transfer stain from the sole of a shoe. Investigators later concluded that it likely came from one of the officers or responders on scene. The garage window where the screen had been cut was also examined closely. A blonde hair was collected along with a latent and palm prints. And listen, testing is going to show more about this hair and it's going to come up in a later episode. So just be patient. I'll stand by on that one. I would expect to see more blood in the garage, especially around the window if

The offender was injured or had blood on them because those blood spots that I'm seeing on the ground in those photos if we pull That up again right now To me that doesn't look like someone who was who was the attacker and had blood transfer on them It looks like someone who was injured So anybody who's had a nose bleed or a cut on them where it's bleeding significantly, the blood doesn't stop unless you have a chance to kind of hold your hand over it and do whatever. So I would expect to see those same droplets

that we're seeing in those previous photos trail throughout the garage and up the windowsill. And we don't have that. It looks like the blood trail kind of stops near the doorway. Well, Darlie said she chased him into the garage and she was injured. So you'd expect to see blood from her in the garage.

Fair. Fair. But if the knife block had blood on it as well, who was grabbing the knife block? Well, maybe somebody who already had blood on them. That's my point. That's my point. So the blood stopping there is suggestive that the person didn't go past it. But I would also say that you make an argument there.

If she's bleeding and she's injured and she's giving chase, yes, if she doesn't enter the garage, the blood droplets would stop there. Well, how far did she say she went in? She just said she chased him into the garage. And yeah, you don't know exactly. Yes The evidence man the evidence you can interpret it different ways depending on what you believe So now investigators are gonna search the backyard No blood was found on the fence or the gate, even though the assailant, according to Darley's account, would have had to have escaped either over the fence or through the gate to leave the yard. About 75 yards away, three houses down, they found a white tube sock with two small blood spots near a trash can in the alley. And this is where people get hung up, And I'm sure you noticed the sock comments

in the comment section of part one. This is where people get hung up on it. Darren told law enforcement that the sock came from a rag pile he kept in the utility room made up of old socks and other scrap fabric. So this is interesting. It is interesting.

Several houses down, huh? Three houses down, yeah. Okay. That is interesting. It is interesting. We're gonna have houses down, huh? Three houses down. Yeah, okay That's that is interesting to find that that far down that that means that either there's some truth or this was a more elaborate plan Especially the fact that it's coming from Darren if we're to believe that Darren wasn't involved Why would he lie about this and and is the blood on the sock consistent with the blood found inside the Routier home? Correct. Is it the same person? There's some questions there, but either way, the one question remains, how did that sock

get that far away from the house? And did they look to see if there was actually a pile of socks and old rags and stuff in the utility room? Were there socks in there or was it just old rags? I'd be, you know, we'll see if we can figure that out. I would like to know how certain Darren was about this sock coming from that pile. Yeah, this exact, it's a white tube sock, you know?

It's like the most common sock that ever existed. Now if that blood on that sock comes back to Darlie or Damon or Devin, we'll see. Then we know it was in the house. We will know it was in the house and it belongs there, yeah. So the evidence collected was sent off for testing. That included the bloody sock, the knife, the knife block, and the cut window screen, as well as blood samples, latent prints, and other trace evidence.

The results obviously wouldn't be ready for several days. But while investigators processed the Routier home, other officers canvassed the neighborhood to speak with residents about the family. Most neighbors described the Routiers as flashy but friendly. Darren was known for wearing sleeveless shirts to show off his muscles as well as diamond rings and a flashy watch. Darlie had gotten breast implants, size 36 triple D, and was often seen in tight-fitting tops with diamond rings on nearly every finger. They also said that Darlie tanned regularly and liked to dress up in fancy clothes,

but even with their over-the-top style, they were not disliked. In fact, some neighbors saw them as a good family. Darlie was known as the neighborhood mom who baked cookies, welcomed kids into her home, and offered help to anyone going through hard times. She once cooked meals for a neighbor in crisis and even covered a mortgage payment

for a woman battling cancer. Oh, that's nice. That is nice. Admittedly, that is nice. That is nice. So police also asked whether anyone had seen or heard anything unusual around the time of the murders and several neighbors had.

One resident reported that the night before the murders, a man driving a truck was seen parked in front of three different houses. At one point, he even shined a light into someone's face. Two people called the police that night to report him. Another neighbor said that between 1 and 1.30 a.m., she saw a white car driving repeatedly through the neighborhood. It made several passes down the street, though she couldn't say whether it ever stopped

near the Routier home. One neighbor, who lived about a half ever stopped near the Routiers home. One neighbor, who lived about a half a mile from the Routiers, told police she was watching TV around 1.30am when she noticed a dark-colored four-door vehicle parked in front of her house and heard someone at her front door. She looked out front and saw a large, built man on her porch, turning the doorknob and pushing on the door. When she turned on the porch light, he ran off towards Willowbrook Drive,

which is one straight over from Eagle Drive, where the Routiers lived. Later that night, the man came back and tried to enter through a front window with a knife or a screwdriver. She didn't call the police at that time because she didn't think much of it until she heard about the murders.

Another neighbor said she saw a small black car near the Routier home and according to her, it left just as police and firefighters arrived or shortly afterward. Alright, so here's what I'm starting to wonder. This neighbor saw a large built man, and we know that Darren liked to wear sleeveless shirts to show off his big muscles. So if this was a planned thing between Darren and Darlie, basically like, hey, we're broke, we can't afford anything, and two kids, three kids at this point is too much, and he helped her, it makes sense that he may have been planting the seeds of doubt around the neighborhood the night before so that when police canvassed the neighborhood, which they always do, there'd be neighbors

being like, yeah, we saw sketchy people, yeah, there was a man trying to get in my window with a knife or a screwdriver, yeah, we saw sketchy people. Yeah, there was a man trying to get in my window with a knife or a screwdriver. Yeah, we saw this guy and he was wearing all black, kind of dressed exactly like Darlie reported him to be dressed. And this is suspicious and it's kind of all adding up. And like you said, causing reasonable doubt. Yeah, I think that's another angle to explore

and to consider because when we talk about life insurance and you mentioned it briefly in episode one, obviously $10,000 total isn't going to get them out of their financial struggles. But to the point you just made now, which is it's not only the insurance, but also the cost going forward. The lifelong cost of taking care of children. Yeah, you get rid of that if you don't have the kids. So that would also be an angle or a motive to explore because yeah, on the surface, the life insurance policy, even if paid out,

is not going to fix their troubles. But not having to spend money on those kids going forward would. What happened back in the day, you know, during like Victorian times when people had too many children and then they were like, hey, we can't afford these children, they would dump them in orphanages. Yeah. And we don't have that now. And some people might say, oh, dumping a kid in an orphanage is not as bad as murdering them. But isn't it? People knew the state of those orphanages, what happened

to those kids in the orphanages. And just the fact of saying to your kid, most of the time there wasn't even a conversation with the kid, but just the fact of, you're not my kid anymore and I will never see you again. What's the difference at that point? It's tough to rationalize the irrational, but that's what our job is,

to think not about how we would approach things, but how people would potentially approach them and rationalize them in their own heads as this being the only way out. This is what they need to do. May not agree with it, but. If we went about any of these cases, only looking at it from the perspective

of what we would do and how we would feel, we'd just be sitting here every week with you guys being like, I don't understand why this happened. I don't get it. Next case, that would be it. But you have to look through the different kinds of minds who would be capable of doing something like this. And as we know, unfortunately, as unfortunate

and as sad as it is, parents kill their children all the time, every day. Is this true? So while police were interviewing neighbors and working the crime scene, Darlie was at the hospital being treated for multiple knife wounds. all the time. Every day. Is this true? So while police were interviewing neighbors and working the crime scene, Darlie was at the hospital being treated for multiple knife wounds.

Nurse Jody, who was one of the first to see her, later said that when Darlie arrived, she kept alternating between two statements. And those two statements were, I need pain medication and why did they kill my boys? And this is a weird statement, why did they kill my boys? You said there was one person in there, but why are you saying they as if there's like some

syndicate out there, you know? Like the small crime syndicate that took John Benet Ramsey kind of thing. Who is they? Why are you talking about a they? And Dr. Patrick Dillon described Darlie as tearful and frightened and when he asked how she had gotten her injuries, she said she'd been stabbed by a white male wearing a baseball cap. She added that she'd only seen him from behind. Which is weird because when she, didn't she say when she woke up she saw a man standing over her? That's my, that's what I'm going for it if we're wrong guys correct us but my understanding is that she woke up to a man over her stabbing her

Yeah, that's at least for a moment there now She would see him from behind as she was running after him, but it would be a brief moment Not only have seen him from behind. Yeah, she would there would been a brief moment where they were face to face Yeah, I agree So hospital staff documented several injuries on Darley's body She had a three and a half inch cut across her neck, a 1.5 inch stab wound on the front of her left shoulder, and two wounds on her right forearm. One was a nick that didn't even require stitches, and the other was a stab wound approximately 1 inch long. She also had cuts across the palm side of her left

fingers and thumb. Yeah, I've studied these photos extensively, more time than I care to admit. You can look at them as well. Maybe Shannon can do like a slideshow here to kind of go through them, and you can pause at any moment when you want. I'm not a pathologist.

You know, I've seen injuries over the years, but I'm by no means an expert. The bruising to me is interesting. There's a lot of bruising on her body. You can see it on her forearms and on like her elbow area there to me guys this the the the injuries They're more significant than I thought I will acknowledge I will admit that but to me all of these injuries could be self-inflicted now could they be during a struggle?

Absolutely, but then in that way I would go back to what I just said at the beginning of this episode. I Don't want you to do it. You can take my word for it, but if you have the stomach for it and you really wanna get to the truth here, go look at Damon and Devon's injuries and compare them to hers. And you tell me if they're consistent. I'll leave it at that.

Would you say that some of the bruising is around the knife wounds? Some of it, but I think you can see a couple of photos there. There's one like in that forearm area there that's on the opposite side. Yeah, I mean, the bruising is difficult to think it's self-inflicted, but. Well, I remember a case, that's why I asked.

Yeah. I remember a case and I cannot remember who the name of the person was, but they had inflicted the knife wounds on themselves, but they had worn many layers of clothing or thick clothing or something, and because of that, it caused compression of the surrounding tissue, which led to bruising,

because they were trying to make it look like they'd been attacked, but they didn't wanna feel the pain, so they wore, I think it was a thick sweater and several layers of shirt and then cut through that and because of the compression of the surrounding tissue it ended up like bruising a lot around the knife wounds a lot more than it normally would have. To add to that I just had my surgery that the incision site is a certain area but I had told you you know as we as we do

talk I was bruised from the waist down to areas that were not operated on and that that can happen but yeah there's some injuries there that I wish I had been there to witness personally and these photos aren't the best but I would say that if you're willing to stab yourself or cut yourself you could also really squeeze and scrape up your arm to create some bruising beforehand if you're doing it yourself. So I'm looking forward to hearing your opinions on this, but regardless of where you fall, I just will always have the question of why aren't her injuries more lethal in nature.

The one across the neck and chest area, if you specifically focus on that one for a second, it's a swipe. You can see that that's one continuous cut because the pattern, it doesn't look like two different swipes. It doesn't look like jabs. It looks like a swipe across the neck. And I know we all watch TV shows and movies and there's slashing. That doesn't look like a slit across the throat to me. That looks like someone in a downward angle slicing themselves. That's what it looks like to me. This was the most concerning injury to to the doctors and it was the neck wound and Dr. Alejandro Santos determined that exploratory surgery was needed to evaluate the extent

of the damage. There was too much blood to determine how deep the wound was or whether it had damaged either of the carotid arteries which are major blood vessels located on both sides of the neck. So they do this surgery. And I don't think that she expected this because once they were in surgery, doctors discovered that the neck wound was, in their words, superficial. The knife had cut through the skin and fat and just barely nicked the underlying muscle, but had not penetrated it. The wound extended to but did not go through a carotid sheath, the protective layer that surrounds the carotid artery. Darlie was 2 millimeters away from having that artery sliced. If it had been hit, she could have bled out in minutes without immediate medical help.

So could have gotten extremely lucky either way, whether it was from an offender herself, she might have came close to killing herself. Just from trying to create this illusion, if that's what happened. Or, during the attack, as this offender's slicing across, they missed. But, I know I've said it 17 times. We don't know who the offender is. We only know based on Damon and Devvin, their kind of approach, right? Their M.O. and it looks like they were more into the punching and jabbing and stabbing than they were slicing and where to believe that those happened

before she woke up. So to you, what you said earlier, this offender stabs them directly multiple times, but with her, they change it up and decide to slice. It just doesn't make sense to me. If you're going to kill someone, you're going to plunge the knife into them and ensure that you hit a vital organ. This is a complete deviation from what we see on Damon and Devin and to me, regardless of the significance of the injuries themselves, they don't align with the injuries to Damon and Devin, which would suggest that the person who stabbed them didn't

stab her or there are two offenders and she has never suggested that. Yes, even though she said they. Said they, yeah. She was asking Nurse Jody, like, can I have pain medication and why would they do this to my boys? Yeah, it's just, it doesn't align for me. But I do acknowledge the injuries are more significant than I originally thought before seeing them.

But the doctors did still say they were superficial. Yeah. Right? They barely nicked the muscle. You're right, yeah. So why would somebody who intended to kill you and had, you know, apparently had no issue doing that and knew exactly what to do to do that, why would all of a sudden he just be like, let

me give you a little slash across the neck. There's one knife wound, one stab wound, but if you notice it's near no vital organs. None. Exactly. And that's important. And over the years, some people have tried to explain why the neck wound appeared more

superficial than expected. In 2015, CNN covered Darley's case in an episode of Death Row Stories. And according to the show, quote, the necklace Darley had case in an episode of Death Row Stories, and according to the show, quote, the necklace Darley had been wearing at the time of the attack was so deeply embedded in her throat that it had to be surgically removed, but it also saved her life, stopping the knife less than 2 millimeters from her carotid artery. End quote. Now, photos of the necklace do show what appear to be nick marks, however, Nurse Jody later

disputed CNN's version of events. He said he was the one who removed Darlie's necklace before she was taken to surgery, and that it certainly had not been embedded in her neck. In his words, quote, when the technicians pulled the dressing off the wound on her neck, a chain was freed around her neck. End quote. Jody said the necklace had been under the dressing applied by the paramedics and that it was unattached.

He didn't even have to undo the clasp to remove it. Right, and why would all these people lie about it? That's exactly what I was thinking. So now we got the police and Nurse Jody, he's in on this? Right, exactly. What is his motive to be in on this? What's his bias?

No, more than likely they're just telling what they saw. In the operating room, the medical team thoroughly examined the rest of Darlie's injuries and came to believe that all of her wounds were superficial. None had struck any vital organs or caused significant internal damage, unlike the wounds her sons had suffered. Dr. Alejandro Santos later testified that the stab wound to Darlie's shoulder had gone through the skin and into the fat, stopping once it reached the muscle. One of the wounds on her right forearm also reached the muscle and bone, but did not fracture it. The second wound on that arm was just a surface nick and didn't require stitches. According to Dr. Santos,

neither wound on her forearm appeared to be defensive in nature. He explained that defensive wounds usually involve multiple horizontal cuts across the underside of the forearm, injuries commonly seen when someone raises their arms to protect themselves. He said it a lot more eloquently than me. I'm not going to repeat myself. I'm in agreeance. The injuries are not consistent with what we see with Damon and Devin. That's my biggest gripe. And apparently, according to the doctor, not consistent with defensive wounds either. Defensive wounds or anything substantial. It looks bad in the pictures, but they're

all superficial. His words, not mine. Well Darlie also had cuts across her left fingers and thumb on the palm side. And so when a nurse named Paige asked how she had got them, Darlie said, quote, this is where I tried to grab the knife, end quote. So Darley is suggesting that there should be defensive wounds because she fought back. But the nurse, Paige, didn't find the injuries consistent with that account, and she later testified,

quote, they looked like paper cuts to me. They were scabbed over and just on the surface, end quote. Dr. Santos agreed, and he said those types of cuts were not what he would classify as defensive wounds. In his words, quote, usually they would be larger and deeper. Normally you would see puncture wounds to the hands, to the palm, and to the fingers, and they would be deeper wounds if someone is trying to stab you. End quote. This makes sense because a defensive wound is going to be you trying to protect yourself from the stabs of this person, and this person isn't going to go easier on you because you're defending yourself

They're not going to be like oh i'm going to stab and slice lighter because she's defending herself You're going to see the same force being exerted upon your Defensive posture whether it's your forearm or your hand that you would see to the rest of the body Yeah, and if you think about how hard you would grip that knife in that moment of fighting for your life, it would not be paper cuts. It might cut off your fingers. Yes, absolutely. Depending on how sharp the knife was, yes, absolutely.

If it's a sharp knife and you're gripping that knife and it's sliding through your hand, you're gonna have long-term damage in your hand. So after Darlie came out of surgery around 5 a.m., she was transferred to the ICU. Dr. Santos testified that her wounds didn't warrant intensive care from a medical standpoint, but he felt it was the best place for her.

He was concerned about how she would react once she learned that Devin and Damon had died, and he didn't realize that she already knew that. He also worried that the media might disrupt her recovery, and he didn't realize that she already knew that. He also worried that the media might disrupt her recovery and he believed that the ICU would provide a more secure controlled environment. Nurse Chris was assigned to care for Darlie once she arrived in the ICU. He helped her get settled in the room and without any prompting she asked quote, how could anyone do this to my children? End quote.

Throughout his time with her she repeated the question several times. At one point, she said she had picked up the knife after the intruder dropped it and expressed concern that her fingerprints might have obscured the intruder's fingerprints. She questioned whether she should have touched it at all. Again, Chris didn't ask, Darlie just volunteered the information. Chris said she eventually asked for pain medication, but he knew that police were planning to question her, so he initially told her no. When she asked again, she rated her pain as three out of five, so Chris gave her what he described as a very small dose of Demerol and Phenergen. So Chris was right. Detectives did want to interview Darley, but first they met with Darren, her husband, at the crime scene to get his version of events. According to Detective Jimmy Patterson, Darren explained that Darley and the

boys had fallen asleep downstairs while watching TV, and he and Drake had gone up to bed sometime after 1 or 1.30 a.m. He awoke to Darley screaming, and he ran down the stairs only to find Devon and Damon wounded in the family room. Patterson also asked about Darren's clothing, especially his jeans, which had blood on them and had a tear along one leg. Darren said the jeans had been ripped at work prior to the murders and that the blood had gotten on them when he knelt down to help Devin. He was also wearing a white t-shirt, which he said a neighbor had given him after the fact. I find it weird that Darren's wearing jeans when he went up to bed.

Am I the only one that doesn't understand ever sleeping in jeans? I just don't see this as an option. I've been guilty of it, and let me just go back a few years when our beautiful babies were still infants and maybe you didn't give it a chance to take a shower and you're still in your clothes

from work that day and you fall asleep because you're just exhausted. This might not have been the norm for him, but maybe on that particular night he fell asleep in jeans because he was struggling to put Drake down and when he finally did do that, he was still in his work clothes for the day. That could be an explanation for it.

Yeah, I guess it just feels like these people are super bougie and I don't see you just passing out in your nice bed on your nice linens with your dirty work clothes that you wore all day. At least you'd strip them off and fall asleep in your boxers or something, right? In defense of Darley and Darren, it seems like on this particular night,

I don't know if it was the norm, but it seems like everybody kind of was out of their normal routine. The boys weren't in bed. Darlie was on the couch. He was, Darren was upstairs with Drake. It seems like maybe two parents ever just looking at it on the surface without all this context. Just two parents trying to get through the night with three kids.

Young kids, you know? We've all been there. But why are the older kids not upstairs in bed? Like, if you've got to be up with a crying baby, why would you keep your younger kids up with the crying baby? Why don't you put them upstairs and sleep and then bring the baby downstairs so as not to disrupt the older kids that are sleeping? Why are they all downstairs until 1 30 in the morning? It sounds to me from what I was seeing from the comments that this was something that they would do movie nights. Maybe their rationale was a

little different. Maybe they were like, okay we're gonna sit downstairs with the two boys. I'm gonna sit downstairs with the two boys I'm gonna sit downstairs with the boys and watch a movie and they'll maybe fall asleep and You go upstairs with Drake and that way the baby's not crying and keeping them up. I don't know I don't know. Maybe Drake liked being upstairs in a certain position more I will tell you the this area as far as the pattern of behavior or the reasoning behind where they were in the house Unless focused on that. That's why I like to really focus on the crime scene and the evidence, because to me, that's so much more compelling. I think there's a conversation to be had about

this. And I guarantee you that people will be on both sides of the aisle when it comes to this, because we all have different approaches to parenting. So I think we got to discuss it. But for me, it's not I'm not hung up on it. I don't I'm not hung up on it unless this wasn't the norm unless this was not a thing that happened regularly because I did Some comments about movie night movie night with the three young kids like this is not going to 130 in the morning If you have a crying baby, you want to keep that baby as far away from your other two kids so they they can sleep I don't know but if you're in the camp of

Darlie didn't do this there's there's a case to be made that this happened around 130, but they were asleep much sooner than that They could have been he went upstairs between 1 and 130 and they were still awake That we said he didn't say whether they were still awake Yeah, that's my point like did they fall asleep? You see how I can kind of like he said he said that Darley and the boys had fallen asleep downstairs while watching TV right and then he and Drake had gone up to bed is wrong one one one or one or one thirty But did they fall asleep around one and then you went upstairs or do they fall asleep an hour earlier? And then you went upstairs, and why would you take so long to go upstairs?

I'm with you that be see what I'm saying how we can pick it apart Yeah, if we were there we could say oh They actually fell asleep around 1030 He fell asleep too, and then he went upstairs around one and you would be like okay That means a little baby when he's falling asleep around yeah, you know But you don't we don't know and that's why I'm not will never truly know and that's why I'm not Fixated on it. I'm not saying you are but I'm just saying that's why I love the photos I love the actual evidence that was was seized at the crime scene because that right there is going to tell you the story.

That right there is going to, it's impartial, it's unbiased, it's objective, and it's going to, as much as it can be without being altered, right? Even if it was altered, that also tells you a story. Like the absence of evidence tells you a story. So for me, that's what I really am gravitating towards. To me, it's important for the point of if this was a setup, it would make the most sense for Darlie and the two boys, the ones who are getting stabbed to be downstairs and Darren and the baby to be somewhere completely else in the house. That would make sense. And so

if it wasn't, that would make the most sense for it to go off without a hitch, right? Because if they're all upstairs sleeping and they're trying to pose this as a home invasion and there was just somebody in the neighborhood looking to break into anyone's house and steal things, well, then that person could have gone in and the first floor, taken the jewelry, taken the purse and gone out and nobody would have gotten hurt. Why would he continue to go upstairs and then stab people? And why would he only stab some of them and not all of them? And so you're gearing towards premeditation. So I'm gearing towards pre-meditation. Why was this the way that the people and the

members of that household were set up on this night? Or not pre-meditation, maybe pre-meditation as far as wanting to do this and this situation working out where it can be done. Well making the situation work out so that it can be done. We're gonna be downstairs tonight. Yeah. So we're gonna take our last break and we'll be right back. Okay so this is so real. I used to dread shopping for glasses. The options were overwhelming. The lighting was always weird and I'd leave feeling like I'd settled on a pair I didn't

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That's warbeparker.com slash crime weekly. All right. We are back. So Detective Patterson asked Darren to remove his shirt, and Patterson observed blood on Darren's stomach and bare feet. At first, Darren said he thought he had cut his foot, but after checking more closely, he realized that the blood wasn't his. He hadn't been injured. He gave detectives permission to collect his jeans and underwear, and a crime scene officer

was called in to take custody of the clothing. Patterson described Darren's emotional state as mixed. He said Darren cried a little, then stopped and became calm and even laughed a few times. Still, Patterson believed his behavior was appropriate, given the circumstances. Next, Detective Patterson and another detective, Chris Frosh, went to the hospital to interview Darlie, take photographs of her injuries, and collect evidence. They arrived just after 6am and found Darlie in what Patterson described as a somewhat upset state.

He asked whether she was feeling up to speaking, and she said yes. The detectives asked whether Darlie and Darren had gotten into any arguments the night before, and Darlie said they had, but described it as a minor disagreement. She told them that after the boys fell asleep in the family room, she and Darren sat together in the family room to talk, mostly about their finances, and the conversation ended on good terms. They kissed, told each other they loved one another, and then Darren took Drake upstairs while she stayed on the couch.

But hey, this is not what Darren described. Darren told Patterson, the detective, I went upstairs after Darlie and the boys fell asleep. And then I took the baby upstairs, after Darlie and the boys fell asleep. And she's saying the boys fell asleep, and then she and Darren had a conversation that included their finances,

which maybe got a bit testy, but ended well. Then they kissed each other, said good night. And then Darren took the baby upstairs. So there's some inconsistencies there. Yes. Okay. Okay. Darlie said she woke up to find an intruder standing over her with a knife. And at first she didn't realize she'd been cut.

She told the detectives that a struggle followed. She used her arms to fight him off and then watched as he backed away and walked towards the utility room So even earlier what we said derrick where she said she only saw him from behind and then we were like well Maybe she saw him for a split second when she woke up now darley's telling the police she's fighting hand-to-hand combat with this man Yep, there's two things acknowledging there. She was injured or stabbed before she even woke up which goes to my point of How does this offender miss if his intention is to kill her which clearly it would be based on what he just did to the kids, how does he miss?

How does he go? Why does he switch up his, his MO as far as what, what he's actually doing in that moment? Why does he go to a swiping motion, a slicing motion from stabbing? Yeah, he's just playing with her. Like I wonder if I can get her to wake up. I stay like by slashing her with a knife that first stab or that first injury She's completely still and not fighting back

Think about that How do you miss? How do you miss and then also like you said she acknowledged she's looking directly at him? Yeah, and I didn't even realize I've been stabbed. Yeah. Well that I can understand the shock of it, right? The shock of it you may not feel the injury at that moment, especially if nerves are severed. You'd feel blood. You'd feel warmth.

You'd feel something out of the ordinary. I am never going to get past the fact that those injuries are that superficial when she's an easy target. I hate to describe it like that, but she's an easy target. How many of you would miss? She's a sitting duck. Literally. So I don't understand it okay so now she the

offender cuz she's fighting him off and he's like oh I can't I can't I can't fight this woman over she's overpowering me she's laying there on the couch and she's just holding her hands up and I can't stab her now and get her backs up and he he escaped right so he's backing up towards the utility room. Darlie said she chased him into the garage where he escaped. Once again why is her blood trailing through the kitchen trailing through the utility room but not found in the garage if she chased him into the garage? Now in the utility room she said she noticed a knife on the floor and that's when she realized she was bleeding. So she picked up the knife and placed it on the kitchen bar.

She mentioned to the detectives that her fingerprints would be on it. She then said she screamed for Darren and called 911. It just doesn't add up. The math's not math-ing. So as the interview continued, detectives asked Darlie a series of questions to help build a description of the intruder. She couldn't describe his face, but she knew he was wearing a black cap with the bill facing forward, though she didn't see anything printed on it.

His hair was straight, dark brown, and shoulder length, and he wore a black short-sleeved t-shirt with no visible design or writing. She didn't recall whether he wore a belt, and she said he had on blue jeans, although she didn't see any brand markings. She couldn't remember anything about his shoes, socks, or any possible tattoos or scars. When asked about the man's height and weight, Darlie looked at Detective Frosch and said about his size. Frosch was estimated to be around 6'2 or 6'3 in four contexts.

Darlie's about 5'2. Very tiny, tiny woman here. You know, she's very descriptive about clothing. And I would wonder if the question was ever posed to her, did she see the individual covering their hands with gloves or socks? Because when you go back to that sock you saw earlier, I was asking myself why would the the perpetrator grab a sock out of the sock pile for any reason if they came in through the garage what would they grab it for and the only thing that I could come up with was they didn't bring gloves for some reason and they decided to grab a pair of socks to cover

their hands so to maybe leave less trace evidence right but then at that point to me her being that close and being fixated and have tunnel vision on those not on the knife if he was wearing socks or some type of gloves she would say yeah it was weird he was wearing white tube socks or whatever they were on his hands when we when we were fighting over the knife that would be something that you would remember but I don't believe she ever accounted for anything like that happening which goes back to the point of if the offender did grab the sock, why did they grab it? Why? Or did it like get attached to him? Yeah, how would it get attached and not fall off before then?

But how did it stay attached? Yeah, that doesn't make sense. That long? Yeah. They had it for a reason and it had blood on it. And I definitely think she would have noticed if the offender was attacking her with a white tube sock on his ass. That's something, like he's doing sock puppets over here. Yeah, exactly. I mean, I think she would have noticed if the offender was attacking her with a white tube sock on his hand That's something because he's doing sock puppets over here. Yeah I mean, I think you would remember that it would almost be the only thing I'd remember

I mean they didn't grab it after the fact to wipe off the knife So it doesn't make sense to me and I remember when she was first questioned She could not describe this person at all by the way, remember? Yeah, she could not at all She couldn't tell whether he was white or black. Didn't know nothing. And all of a sudden she's got his baseball cap, his shirt, his hair. It's brown, it's straight, it's shoulder length. The way the bill of his cap was facing, things like that.

Now she's got this very, I would say vivid detail considering what she was going through at that time. So is it coming back to her as more time passes? Which can be that can happen sometimes for sure sure so and then she even knows, you know He's about his size six to six three, which let's be honest here Most men are not six to six three. You're really this is not the average height of a man You're narrowing down the the the suspect pool here quite a bit. I'm six one Everyone thinks after the show that I'm 5'5

Yeah, I thought you were like 6'4 when I met you in person because you're like a foot taller than me It feels like but everyone's like I can't believe Derek's tall. Most people are not that tall Yeah, most men are not that tall. So now you're really narrowing it down. Yes. I'm sure they are sorry, too So Patterson later testified that Darlie did not cry during the conversation and she only mentioned the boys briefly saying they had been stabbed. She did however describe the jewelry she had taken off and left on the kitchen counter in detail. Detectives left the hospital after speaking with Darley but it wouldn't be the last time they had questions for her. At the request of investigators, medical examiner Dr. Janice Townsend-Parchman

visited the hospital to examine and photograph Darley's injuries. After completing her evaluation, Dr. Townsend-Parchman concluded that all of Darley's wounds were relatively superficial. She said they didn't go very deep into her body and didn't strike any vital structures. She also didn't believe that the injuries were defensive in nature. During her later testimony, Dr. Townsend-Parchman said, quote, the most common thing I see in defensive wounds of the hand is deep, incised wounds. Now I'm talking about deep, incised wounds. Must go all the way through the skin into the subcutaneous tissue on the fingers and

palms, sometimes going through the tendons or all the way to the bone. End quote. When asked straight out whether Darley's wounds could have been self-inflicted, Dr. Townsend Parchman said it was possible, but also possible that someone else had inflicted them. But Dr. Townsend Parchman is saying this very carefully. She's saying- She has to.

These are not defensive wounds. Now, so when she says it could have been Darley, or it could have been someone else, she's not saying someone could have attacked Darlie and these were defense wounds. She's saying somebody else could have made these superficial wounds on Darlie. Somebody else was involved in the plot. Someone else was involved in the plot, yes. So Darlie stayed in the hospital for the next two days and during that time, several members of the medical staff noted what they described

as a flat effect. They were surprised by this especially because Darlie was no longer under anesthesia and the pain medication she had been given could make someone drowsy but wouldn't typically cause emotional detachment. In their experience most mothers became hysterical upon learning that their children had died but that didn't happen with Darlie and I've thought this way multiple times and I'm always super careful with this because I do know that certain people react differently in certain scenarios. But there is going to come a point

when the shock wears off and you realize what has happened and what you've lost, where you're gonna have something of a mental break, I think, right? Like at some point, this is going to happen. And with Darlie, it just never did. She never seemed to react emotionally to the brutal murders of her sons, right?

This isn't even like your sons were in a car accident. It was an accident. Somebody brutally stabbed your sons while you slept. That's going to cause a reaction at some point. You would think, and maybe that wasn't witnessed, but no, I'm with you. We've talked about this at length. Everyone reacts to trauma differently and there's no standard for it. And in some instances, the person is absolutely innocent of any wrongdoing and yet doesn't show emotion ever in front of people. And it's just the way they are.

And in that case, people are like, wow, they're so strong and stoic and put together. But with this, with what we have here with Darlie and the questions around the actual crime itself, the way they are and in that case people are like, wow, they're so strong and stoic and put together. But with this, with what we have here with Darlie and the questions around the actual crime itself, yeah, with no reaction, no emotion, it's gonna raise some eyebrows and understandably so. This is not the case that you wanna be non-reactionary. This is not the case where you wanna be non-emotional

because unfortunately it makes you look guilty amongst other things. I just don't, I don't see how you would have a choice that at some point this emotional dam would break. Yeah, you would think so. I think for most people it would. Yeah, you're not wrong, but there are outliers. So multiple staff members who spent these days with Darlie said they had never seen a reaction like hers. And another concern raised by staff was the way Darlie's account of the night seemed to shift slightly over time. Her conversations with nurses, as well as comments overheard during visits from family and friends, varied enough to draw attention. These evolving accounts

were interpreted by some as a sign of deception or inconsistency. Others argued that trauma, blood loss, medication, and shock could have easily caused confusion, memory gaps, or variation in detail, especially so soon after a violent attack. One example of Darley's story shifts came from nurse Diane, who said Darley repeatedly mentioned seeing a car parked across the street the day before the murders. She told Diane the vehicle didn't look familiar and didn't seem like it belonged in the neighborhood. Darley said it gave her the feeling that someone was watching the house. She brought it up multiple times throughout the day

to both hospital staff and visitors. Diane also recalled that when Darren was in the room, he would go over the night's events in an effort to make sense of what had happened. And during one of those conversations, he said, quote, I'm positive I locked the window, end quote. Then either he or Darlie suggested that the boys may have

unlocked it the day before. According to Diane, Darley repeated her story about the intruder multiple times throughout the day. She later testified, quote, Darley always was bringing it up about the story of the intruder coming into the house or she had woken up with the intruder over the top of her. She felt pressure from him and she tried to fight him off and ran out the garage. That's the same type of story that she told me and the different people that came in throughout the day. I heard that story at least three times throughout the day." Eventually, Diane asked her to stop. She felt Darlie needed rest and that continuing to focus on the details of the attack might do more harm than good.

Darlie's story shifted again during a conversation with another nurse, Nurse Denise. This time, she said she woke up when Damon started crying. Then she felt pressure at her neck. A man was on top of her, wrestling with her. She began yelling and the man ran off, hitting a wine rack and dropping the knife. Darlie said she turned on the light and saw her two boys lying on the floor. There was blood everywhere. She screamed and Darren came downstairs

and that's when she realized she had been stabbed. He started CPR and Darlie called 911. That's an entirely different story. That's an entirely different version of events. Yeah, she's not being very consistent. And at this point, I would recommend to anybody who's unfortunately in Something like this the number one thing whether you're innocent or guilty would be not to say anything right you're recovering you're in shock

Your story is gonna change over time, especially if you're medicated So don't say anything at all But because when you do speak and your stories are inconsistent if you're not guilty of anything it looks bad And if you are you're only digging a deeper hole. So, if you're in the camp of Darlie's guilty, then this to you is confirmation that she's... This isn't even like a slight shift. No, it's a complete difference.

She said she woke up when Damon started crying. Correct, yeah, it's not good. So now she heard her sons, and remember, there's people in the comments last video being like, oh no, no, Darlie said she ran after the man because she didn't know her kids had been harmed. That's right, So she knows at this point that the kids are injured or something's going wrong. Now she may think they're just scared if you're in Darlie's camp, but yeah, you're right. This is to your point. You know your kids are under duress. Are you going to chase after someone

when your kids need you? Yeah, but now she's also saying she yelled and that's why the man ran off. He hit the wine rack. then he dropped the knife. She turned on the light and then she saw her two boys have been stabbed. She screamed for Darren and that's when she realized she'd been stabbed or before she told the police she realized she'd been stabbed when she chased the guy to the garage and saw she was bleeding. It's just a completely different story, not even the same story at all. And her story changed again when she spoke to her aunt,

Sherry. According to Sherry, Darlie initially seemed numb, but when they began actually discussing what happened, she started crying and was just in agony. Sherry described it as a very deep cry. And during their conversation, Darlie told her what she remembered from that night. In Sherry's words, quote, she had been sleeping downstairs with Devon and Damon, and Damon had nudged her awake, and she just saw this man leaving, and then she started to follow him, and she realized that the room she was in,

the TV was on, and there was a little bit of light. But as she was getting further out into the kitchen near the utility room, it was darker, and she just stopped and thought, he could still be there, I better not go any further. She wasn't even aware that she was wounded until she turned on the lights and she saw her boys, end quote. When asked if Darlie gave a description of the intruder Sherry said quote

She just had a vague description of him that she didn't see him very well end quote Yeah, a lot of inconsistencies here and a lot of lies Derek Inconsistencies is the professional way of saying it, but if if You are involved if you are involved, if you are, if Darlie's the offender, then she knows what the crime scene looks like and what's gonna be there. So she can fit her story to fit that narrative.

And even then she's not doing a great job of it. So this is a problem. It's a lot of her speaking and a lot of it not making sense and a lot of inconsistencies in her account of what happened that evening. And that's a problem for her. Or lies. So we got more inconsistencies slash lies.

Darlie's best friend Barbara, who also visited her in the hospital, later testified about Darlie told her, quote, she told me that she heard Damon going, mommy, mommy. He leaned on her saying, mommy, mommy. And she felt pressure on her legs and she opened her eyes and the man was coming down straight with a knife at her Throat and then if she didn't put her arm up, he would have killed her end quote, so how did he slash your neck if you put your arm up and Was that why it wasn't that deep?

What this doesn't make any sense according to Barbara Darley went to the kitchen to chase after the man and Damon followed her to chase after the man and Damon followed her. Okay, Darlie pushed him back and told him, just wait for mommy. Barbara added, then she went out to the garage and that's all she said. How is Damon following her into the kitchen? No, no, no, no. What?

Now with that small of a body and those injuries, he's bleeding out within moments. And then she pushed him back and she doesn't realize he's gushing. Come on, come on, man. And by the way, the crime scene doesn't tell that story because from what you're reporting He the drag it was more of a drag mark him drag him crawling away He wasn't he wasn't upright and in the opposite direction Yeah

So no, no, no, no a lying liar by June 8th Darlie had been in the hospital for two days. According to multiple staff members, she continued to have a flat A-fect. Dr. Santos later testified that because of this, he was hesitant to discharge her. He worried she hadn't fully processed what had happened. Still, that day, Darlie was released.

She and Darren were supposed to go to the funeral home for the boys viewing, but instead, police met them at the hospital and brought them to the station for further questioning. And this is because the police are like, yo, something's wrong here. Something's not adding up. This doesn't make any sense. I think that Darlie's demeanor, how it was described as being flat, maybe didn't come from her not processing, but maybe it came from

a dissociation. A dissociation from what had happened because she was there because whether or not you were the one who did this these are still your kids and there's going to be a certain level of you know something that's hard for you to continue living with. So you split. You split off from what you did and kind of put that in a Pandora's box and you disassociate. And it really does seem like that's what happened, because the medical staff is describing Darlie as completely emotionally flat. Instead of having this reaction when she finally

realizes that her sons are dead and they're never coming back. And she never has this, yes, hasn't processed it, but maybe it's because she didn't want to process it because what she had done was unprocessable. You know what I mean? It wasn't, it wasn't, her brain wasn't able to comprehend it or to sit with it and continue being this position where she's talking to people and trying to make herself look innocent So she had to basically sever that part from her and put it in a box. So she wasn't Expressing emotional feelings because she wasn't having them because she disassociated from them Yeah, you're definitely trying to get into the mind of people not my area of expertise I lead this episode and I'm gonna make it concise because we still have multiple parts to go. For me, as the

detective here, I'm looking at the crime scene cleanup. Does appear to be something was done beforehand. I'm looking at the significance or lack thereof of the injuries and how they're not consistent with Damon and Devens. I'm also looking at that sock. That sock bothers me. I need to know more about it. So where I am now and the questions I have moving forward, when we look at what happened, I ask myself if it's an outside party who's responsible for this, what was the motive? Was it financial in nature? Well, nothing was taken. Was it murder? Was it to send a message? Well, you only killed the Was it murder? Was it to send a message? Well, you only killed the two kids.

You could have killed Darren. You could have killed Darlie. You could have killed everyone and sent a real message. But instead, you must have known people were going to be there. Was the intent all along to just kill the two kids and get out and send a message that way? That doesn't make a lot of sense to me. So I have that question.

What would the motive be in this case? Because it doesn't seem like whatever it was, they carried it it out and the final area that I really want to dive into is We know the during and we know the after and the during is according to the accounts we have right? So we don't truly know the during when I say during I mean the actual the actual crime We know the after for sure. We're hearing from doctors and nurses etc first responders I want to know the before and I know you've gotten into the before a little bit as far as the financial issues that they were having, but I want to know more about Darlie because we haven't talked about it a lot,

but we have had other cases where one of the parents, in particular women, are going through something and they kill their children for no reason. Like a postpartum depression, a postpartum psychosis thing. I don't, I have, you know, whatever it might be. But I would love to hear more from people who were close to her to see if there were any signs

of something going on in her life where she was acting differently than she had before. From Darren, from her friends, from her family members, any reports of anything, from a mental perspective, anything that we should be aware of. Because we keep trying to understand from Darren, from her friends, from her family members, any reports of anything from a mental perspective, anything that we should be aware of. Because we keep trying to understand why she would do this. But if going through some type of mental duress,

there may not be an actual explanation. It could have been something much deeper than that. So that is also an area, although at this point, and after part two, we have no indication of that, we wouldn't be doing our job if we didn't at least explore it. So as we go into part three next week, those are areas that I'm focusing on, but also still being very receptive

to the additional evidence that's gonna come forward, because you've mentioned a lot, but we don't even have the results from some of that stuff, blood, hair, et cetera. There's a lot more of this story to tell, and look, I'm gonna need another notebook by the time this one's done. Yeah. And I mean, there's, if you look at why people kill their children, there are reasons, right? There's reasons that they do it, not reasons that would make

sense to us, but sometimes it's for money. Sometimes it's because they think they're saving them from some, you know, horrible life. Like they've realized life is terrible and they wanna save them from this. So they call it an altruistic motive. Sometimes it's to punish the other parent. So when you say what happened before, were there issues between Darlie and Darren that went beyond financial?

Were there issues of betrayal, infidelity, things like that? That's what we need to find out. That's what we need to talk about. And if there were, then that is a possible motive that she could have done it to punish her husband. To teach him a lesson. Alright, now you got me wanting to do part three right now. You ready? Yes. Let's do it. Okay. Guys, we appreciate you being here.

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