The case of Darlie Routier captivated North Texas in the 1990’s, and thanks to a 16-year-old "true crime" blogger it was again in Dallas County Court this week.
Routier, now 50, is the Rowlett mother who is sitting on death row for the murder of one of her two sons. To this day Routier maintains that an unidentified intruder savagely stabbed her young sons to death and stabbed and injured her in June 1996. She was found guilty of murdering 5-year-old Damon but was never tried in the death of her 6-year-old son Devon.
Teenage "true crime" blogger Ryan Kester estimates he’s spent thousands of hours poring over material from the case, but recently requested access to the original evidence.
“I wanted to be able to see it exactly as the jury saw it because I think that’s important. I want to make sure I’m not missing anything,” Kester said.
On Thursday, his request went before a Dallas County judge who ultimately denied it, instead he will get copies of some photos of evidence.
“I was impressed with him,” Routier’s attorney, Steve Cooper, said.
Cooper was in court for the hearing and agreed with Dallas County prosecutors that the material should not be released.
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“I did not come home and lock myself into a room and throw a fit, partially because that was just be playing into people’s perceptions of me,” Kester said.
Kester believes Routier is innocent and hopes that her appeal for a new trial is eventually granted. In the meantime, the aspiring lawyer hopes to continue learning more about what happened.
