Narcissistic tendencies?

[blefuscu]

It took me a while but I read all the court transcripts, watched everything I could find on the case, read everything I could find and realised that the evidence shows she's guilty. The blood spatter doesn't lie. The intruder theory just isn't possible. I honestly wanted to believe that she was innocent, I asked questions on here, I read links given to me.

Her wounds fooled me. I wondered why she would cut her neck so close to a blood vessel, very risky. But I believe she did it. Her wounds on her arms/hands were not consistent with a frenzied attack. The bruises were done with blunt force trauma, not consistent with someone holding her down. Her throat was cut.

Yet her sons were stabbed! With force. She was never stabbed. Just small (in comparison to say Travis Alexander) cuts. If you are going to attack an adult to try and kill them (and they are asleep) then you have the opportunity to a. Cut their throat straight through and they'll never know it happened, or b. Stab them repeatedly.

 

[Madeleine74]

She cut her neck to make it look like a real attack. Whatever was in the way got cut. It's not like she sat there and thought about blood vessels versus veins. She took a knife and swiped it across her neck. The wound was longer than deeper, so it's considered an incised wound. That wound was different than the ones on her sons and in contrast. It's one of the things that gave her away.

Well there were many things that nailed her. The blood pattern didn't match her story either. And what intruder specifically goes after 2 little sleeping boys, and uses a knife, from inside the house, to cut the window screen from the outside and then puts the knife back into the knife block? Forget the silly string video. Pretend that never happened. All the evidence is right at the scene and it contradicts her.

 

[chlban]

She cut her neck to make it look like a real attack. Whatever was in the way got cut. It's not like she sat there and thought about blood vessels versus veins. She took a knife and swiped it across her neck. The wound was longer than deeper, so it's considered an incised wound. That wound was different than the ones on her sons and in contrast. It's one of the things that gave her away.

Well there were many things that nailed her. The blood pattern didn't match her story either. And what intruder specifically goes after 2 little sleeping boys, and uses a knife, from inside the house, to cut the window screen from the outside and then puts the knife back into the knife block? Forget the silly string video. Pretend that never happened. All the evidence is right at the scene and it contradicts her.

This has always been my POV. I could care less about the Silly String video. It's the evidence.

 

[Fireweed]

The silly string video is still evidence, as it goes to the suspects state of mind. Very often criminals are caught because of their actions after the murder. Wasn't it the Menendez brothers who immediately went on a shopping spree? The silly string video is not physical evidence, but it certainly supports the supposition that Darlie was not grieving normally - and yes there is a "normal" way to grieve.

 

[Madeleine74]

The SS video is evidence but IMO it's not enough evidence to convict and certainly not by itself (it shouldn't be). I think it's easy to see what you want to see in that video. Some see a gleeful killer who is thrilled that she killed her sons; others see a mother who is celebrating the life of her sons. The point is that there's enough subjectivity to make a claim either way and the portion we've been able to see is not the entire video, so by it's very nature we're not seeing everything.

I hope the jury convicted her based on the physical evidence and her lies, not on that video. There was plenty of physical evidence to prove her guilt and her inability to pick and story and stick with it certainly raised many red flags. Her lies were ridiculous too.

 

[Zzzz]

The part I've always wondered about is Darlie's state of mind. Did she slash the screen before she murdered her children, making it premeditated? If so, why not pick an easier and safer way to kill them? If she was overcome with rage and killed them in a frenzy, how did she so deliberately stage the cover up in the few minutes afterward - and plan her 911 story - in that crazed state of mind? Wouldn't she have had to cover the boys' mouths so they wouldn't scream while they were getting stabbed - to avoid waking Darin? That part alone makes it more deliberate. So, my only conclusion is that she just has to be a psychopath, as the DA claimed. But why no other evidence of that personality during her lifetime? Or was there?

 

[chlban]

The part I've always wondered about is Darlie's state of mind. Did she slash the screen before she murdered her children, making it premeditated? If so, why not pick an easier and safer way to kill them? If she was overcome with rage and killed them in a frenzy, how did she so deliberately stage the cover up in the few minutes afterward - and plan her 911 story - in that crazed state of mind? Wouldn't she have had to cover the boys' mouths so they wouldn't scream while they were getting stabbed - to avoid waking Darin? That part alone makes it more deliberate. So, my only conclusion is that she just has to be a psychopath, as the DA claimed. But why no other evidence of that personality during her lifetime? Or was there?

She was only in her mid twenties when she killed them. She isn't the first psychopath to murder at that stage of life. Jeffrey MacDonald comes to mind.

Add to that the fact that her life had gone along pretty swimmingly up until around the time of the killings. They were in their mid twenties, lived in a nice house that she had decorated like a bordello, but that was clearly what she wanted. Drove nice cars, nice vacations. Then, money problems. That was most likely the trigger.

I lean toward it not having been thought out well in advance. I think it might have been floating around in her head, but not a deliberate plan prior to that night.

As far as covering up in "a few minutes" afterward, I think that depends on what those "few minutes" consisted of. Meaning, I doubt she was all that frenzied. She had to be able to tell they were close to death if not already gone, so any delay would simply ensure that they die. They were certainly past screaming at that point, so she didn't have to worry about that. Yeah, there was a chance Darin could walk in on her, but maybe she was familiar enough with his sleeping habits to not be worried.

I think the problem in this case is the same as it is when any parent kills their children. Thankfully, most people just can't get their heads around it. Unfortunately, we have seen all too many times that no matter how nuts it seems to most people, it happens.

I would only worry if it made sense to you.

 

[Louie14]

Darlie has spent the last 17 years of her life playing the victim. She's probably compartmentalized what she did to the point that although she *knows* deep inside, she still believes she's some sort of victim.

She'll never admit it either.

This is a woman who killed her children and then had their bodies exhumed, which were buried together holding hands, cut off their hands in order to get their prints.

If she's guilty - and I think the evidence is quite clear that she is - she's a pretty damn awful person.

I did not know she had their bodies exhumed knowing that she murdered them . I agree , she'll never admit it , just like Diane Dawns .

 

[Fireweed]

I think it was supposed to be a murder suicide and darlie chickened out once she started in on cutting her own throat.

 

[Zzzz]

I think it was supposed to be a murder suicide and darlie chickened out once she started in on cutting her own throat.

Some people think Darlie was trying to commit suicide when she slashed at her throat. I don't. If she was trying to kill herself, I think she would have readily admitted her murders, as did Andrea Yates and Dena Schlosser. Instead, she went straight into cover-up mode, with lies and totally staged "evidence" to focus the blame on a fake intruder. If you are in the state of mind that you are killing yourself along with your kids, you don't try to cover it up. You don't put the screen-cutting knife back in the butcher block.

 

[Madeleine74]

Agree Darlie was not trying to kill herself. She was trying to make it look like she had been attacked by "an intruder," hence the multiple dark bruises she inflicted upon her arms, which were not seen in pictures taken when she was in the hospital and not observed by any medical personnel who attended to her, but only appeared after, which implies those were done purposely and by her to bolster her story of fighting off the "intruder."

 

[HMSHood]

Agree Darlie was not trying to kill herself. She was trying to make it look like she had been attacked by "an intruder," hence the multiple dark bruises she inflicted upon her arms, which were not seen in pictures taken when she was in the hospital and not observed by any medical personnel who attended to her, but only appeared after, which implies those were done purposely and by her to bolster her story of fighting off the "intruder."

Darlie Routier reminds me of Diane Downs. Downs shot herself to make it look like she was shot by a carjacker.

 

[chlban]

Darlie Routier reminds me of Diane Downs. Downs shot herself to make it look like she was shot by a carjacker.

And Jeffrey MacDonald, where his wife and two baby girls were brutally stabbed and clubbed to death and he got a single punture wound and, supposedly, a bump on the head.

 

[PlainJaneDoe]

After watching the Herzog documentary I went back and looked at several others over the years. I was surprised to see many common elements no matter when they were made. 1) Instead of asking Darlie to explain some of the very hard evidence against her, the interviewers focused on the silly string which just adds fuel to her supporters' claim that the silly string convicted her. Nobody ever discusses the real evidence with her. Or her changing stories. 2) She is glammed up in every one except the very first one, with tons of make-up and mascara and hair styled like it was done in a beauty shop. She pauses dramatically every 2 or 3 words, puckers her lips, says a few more words in a breathy voice, pauses, oh poor innocent me, throws in all the religious stuff to show how saintly she is - clearly relishing the attention. Singing just emphasizes the narcism. It's amazing when you view all of them together.

In one made around the 10 year point, she said she wouldn't be with Darin if she got out, implying be was responsible. So they must have split long ago.

Just watched this. What took my breath away was her description of her dream in which she asked one of her dead sons why he left her. (paraphrase?) Not "how could he [the "real killer"] steal you from me"...nope, it put the blame right on the kid's shoulders. Whether that occurred in a dream as she claimed, or she just made it the heck up, to me that was hugely revealing. That's the terms in which she thinks.

 

[cami]

I think Im the lone person who really thinks she is innocent , Im just not convinced she could injure herself to that extent I just think something else happened that we may never know, if she was involved I speculate that there was a huge fight and things got out of hand, Ive been brusied to that extent and as crazy and bipolar as I am, I hate to say it but in the throws if my worst upset self injury I have done some severe damage but hers to be self inflicted ? narcicsistic people find it harder to damage their appearance if nothing else....it just seems like she had assist in those brusies. if she is guilty I think someone else is equally as guilty.

so for me its one of two ways, two are guilty or she is innocent

but It is very interesting how hated Darlie is, like 2percent said above lots of mothers have done horrific things, everyone above talks of her manarisims, to me, I just cant judge, because put her next to Cooper Harris' mother, Darlie at least looks sadder and more pitiful that that woman has looked !

OH here we go with the "hate" I don't hate Darlie, I hate the act she committed. Despite her bruised arm, it's the physical evidence, the blood evidence, the fibre evidence that proves to me she killed those boys. You need to take the emotion out. Once you do that you can look more objectively at the case.

 

[cami]

The silly string video is still evidence, as it goes to the suspects state of mind. Very often criminals are caught because of their actions after the murder. Wasn't it the Menendez brothers who immediately went on a shopping spree? The silly string video is not physical evidence, but it certainly supports the supposition that Darlie was not grieving normally - and yes there is a "normal" way to grieve.

I agree, the silly string video was used at trial to impeach Darlie's claim she was a grieving, broken mother too afraid to go to the bathroom alone.

 

[Madeleine74]

Even still... you can totally ignore the silly string video and still come to the conclusion that Darlie is guilty of the murders of her sons. How? Just follow the evidence.

Physical evidence alone will get you there. But there's more than just physical/forensic evidence. If you look at what all was going on in Darlie's world at that time and if you go through her testimony and all the different stories she told and compare that to the crime scene you can't find evidence of any intruder, unless you know of one who can levitate, does not have fingerprints or footprints, can stab 2 little boys and come back to do in the 2nd one who wasn't yet dead, is able to do all this without leaving any evidence of themselves at a bloody crime scene, feels the need to murder sleeping children but leaves the lone adult downstairs alive and able to run after him/her, does not steal anything, and cuts through a window screen to come inside then goes to the occupant's kitchen, specifically to their knife block to grab a bread knife to... ummm.... cut the window screen that was already cut? Then puts the bread knife back in the butcher block, while levitating their way out and dropping another knife they borrowed from the homeowners.

So how did that person get in the house and why did they use the Routier's bread knife to cut a window screen that was already cut by them to get in and then (so politely) put that knife back in the butcher block?

 

[chlban]

Even still... you can totally ignore the silly string video and still come to the conclusion that Darlie is guilty of the murders of her sons. How? Just follow the evidence.

Physical evidence alone will get you there. But there's more than just physical/forensic evidence. If you look at what all was going on in Darlie's world at that time and if you go through her testimony and all the different stories she told and compare that to the crime scene you can't find evidence of any intruder, unless you know of one who can levitate, does not have fingerprints or footprints, can stab 2 little boys and come back to do in the 2nd one who wasn't yet dead, is able to do all this without leaving any evidence of themselves at a bloody crime scene, feels the need to murder sleeping children but leaves the lone adult downstairs alive and able to run after him/her, does not steal anything, and cuts through a window screen to come inside then goes to the occupant's kitchen, specifically to their knife block to grab a bread knife to... ummm.... cut the window screen that was already cut? Then puts the bread knife back in the butcher block, while levitating their way out and dropping another knife they borrowed from the homeowners.

So how did that person get in the house and why did they use the Routier's bread knife to cut a window screen that was already cut by them to get in and then (so politely) put that knife back in the butcher block?

This. While I understand the argument that the video is evidence, it has been used for so long by her nutjob supporters as the "reason she was convicted. Because of that, I shy away from it.

As you said, the evidence is overwhelming. If the tape had been excluded completely it would not have mattered on bit, IMO.

 

[LavenderLotus]

I was with you til "nut job supporters"