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[Music]
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on june 6 1996 in a suburb of dallas
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texas there was a crime of unprecedented
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horror
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an intruder entered this home and
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attacked two young children along with
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their mother
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police hoped that science would lead
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them to the assailant
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[Music]
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[Music]
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[Music]
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darren and darley routier were a young
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couple in their mid-twenties with three
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children
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six-year-old devin five-year-old damon
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and eight-month-old drake
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darren routier was a successful
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entrepreneur
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darley stayed at home to care for the
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children this was a young couple who had
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made good darren owned his own business
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in 1995 he had made close to 300
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thousand dollars
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in his business he repaired mainframe
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computers had some extensive contracts
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with government agencies
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on the night of the attack darren
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routier was asleep upstairs with
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eight-month-old drake
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downstairs in the family room the two
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older boys fell asleep watching
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television
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their mother dolly was asleep on the
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sofa
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around 2 30 in the morning an intruder
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stabbed the children
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then woke darling who felt a knife at
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her throat after a brief struggle the
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intruder fled
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and darley called police
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when paramedics arrived
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six-year-old devon was dead
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[Music]
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five-year-old damon was barely alive
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but he died on route to the hospital
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darlie was taken into surgery to repair
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her neck wound which missed her carotid
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artery by only two centimeters she also
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suffered a stab wound to her arm
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paramedics noticed that darley's panties
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were missing when i asked her if she
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thought she'd been raped her answer to
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me was well when i woke up i felt some
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pressure down there
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that was her answer but a rape test was
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negative
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darley described the assailant as a
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white male about six feet tall wearing a
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black shirt jeans and a baseball cap
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a screen in the routier's garage had
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been cut
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darley said the intruder dropped the
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murder weapon onto the floor as he fled
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in the alley two houses away police
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discovered a bloody sock
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the motive did not appear to be robbery
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between the kitchen and the room where
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the murders occurred there was 13 rings
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and a gold lady's watch laying out there
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so
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that indicated to us if it was in fact a
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burglary or a robbery that had gone bad
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there was nothing there was valuables
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out there
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to be taken and nothing was disturbed
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now we don't know why now we know that
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this is a sick individual that took
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absolutely nothing from our house but
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took the most of two most important
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things that were important to us
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away from us
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the most prominent evidence of the crime
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scene was blood
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forensic scientists hoped the blood
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spatter pattern would tell them more
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about these horrific murders
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when police examined the murder scene it
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appeared the assailant entered the
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routier home through a screened window
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in the garage
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darley rootier said she was asleep when
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the intruder murdered her two boys
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darlee woke when she felt a knife to her
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throat there was a struggle and the
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assailant fled through the garage
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darley said he dropped the murder weapon
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onto the floor on his way out
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darren root tier said he was asleep
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upstairs with eight-month-old drake and
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woke when he heard glass breaking
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[Music]
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when he walked into the family room
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where the detectives were waiting for
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him the first thing out of his mouth was
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not
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how is damon how is darley it is have
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you seen darley isn't she beautiful and
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doesn't she have gorgeous breasts darren
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said you know i can see why somebody
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came in good looking
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good looking blonde you know 38 double
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d's
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frost that was a little strange too
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considering he had just lost both of his
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sons and i don't believe at that time he
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knew for for a fact if darley was going
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to live or not
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in the kitchen
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police noticed a set of white-handled
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knives one space was empty it appeared
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the murder weapon a 10-inch
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white-handled knife came from the
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routier's own kitchen
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the blood drops on the floor were
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photographed and collected for dna
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testing the size and shape of the blood
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droplets would be analyzed to see if
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they were consistent with darley's
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version of events darley's night shirt
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was another important piece of blood
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evidence
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forensic scientists hoped that it too
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would provide information about the
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murders
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dna testing of the bloody sock found in
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the alley revealed the blood was that of
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the two boys devin and damon
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however police bloodhounds were not able
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to track the intruder's scent beyond the
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location of the sock
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why would an intruder leave a murder
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weapon behind in a house
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and yet take a sock down the alley
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why would an intruder leave this sock in
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open view for the police to find instead
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of disposing it in a garbage can or down
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a storm sewer drain
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police found some other inconsistencies
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darley said she chased the intruder
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through the kitchen and he knocked a
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wine glass on the floor
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but pieces of glass were on top of the
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blood drops on the floor and there were
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no cuts on darli's feet
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underneath the overturned vacuum cleaner
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was more blood spatter and a wheel
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impression in the blood
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it appeared that darley ran through the
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kitchen before the glass broke and the
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vacuum cleaner overturned
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on the handle of the vacuum cleaner was
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a blood stain
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dna test revealed it was darleys the
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blood dripped onto the handle at an 80
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degree angle as if darley were leaning
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over the vacuum cleaner the pattern was
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not consistent with darli's running past
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the vacuum as she told police
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either darlie routier was mistaken about
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what happened in the kitchen or she knew
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more about the murders than she was
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telling police
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blood spatter expert tom bevel was asked
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to analyze the blood drops found in the
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routier home
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as co-author of a well-known textbook on
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blood pattern analysis it was bevel's
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job to interpret the story told by the
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blood trail
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bevel noticed the blood drops on the
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kitchen floor were circular in shape
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meaning they were deposited by someone
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standing still or walking very slowly
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darley said she was stabbed on the sofa
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and while bleeding ran through the
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kitchen after her assailant
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but running would have produced blood
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drops more elliptical in shape usually
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with a tail indicating the path and
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direction of the person running
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darley also told police that the
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intruder dropped the knife under the
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kitchen floor
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but tom bevel could find no evidence of
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that
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numerous people to include myself
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examined that floor to try and find
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evidence of a knife drop
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either even pointed straight down or
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falling on its handle or falling on its
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side or whatever and we were unable to
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to find anything that would be
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consistent with that if it had as much
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blood on it as it was found which it
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would have to then it should have
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produced an outline of a knife or
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evidence of the knife dropping onto the
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floor
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and we simply didn't find that
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barry dickey is a forensic audio expert
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assigned to analyze dolly's telephone
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call to police
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[Music]
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in order to conduct his analysis dickey
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isolated darley's voice by eliminating
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all of the background noises
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[Music]
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[Applause]
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in my opinion darley had moved from at
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least three different rooms in the house
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these rooms were moved in a very rapid
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fashion
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and she did not stay in any one of the
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ambiences very long
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but if darley walked briskly in between
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rooms
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this contradicted her story to police
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when police interviewed darley after the
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murder she was holding a wet towel to
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her neck wound
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police wondered if the towel had been
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used to clean up blood before they
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arrived
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to find out investigators used luminol a
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chemical that glows when sprayed on an
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area where blood has been removed
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once we darken the kitchen down and
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applied the luminol we were able to see
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footprints there in front of the sink
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which kind of made the hair on the back
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of our neck stand up
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the footprints in front of the kitchen
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sink were darlies
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on the cabinet beneath the sink
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there was visible blood
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and luminol revealed that more had been
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cleaned up before police arrived the
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blood evidence in front of the sink
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indicated to us that someone had bled
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had stand there in front of the sink for
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a significant amount of time bleeding
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and not moving around there was blood
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drops on top of blood drops
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in the floor in front of the sink
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dna testing revealed the blood belonged
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to darley
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prosecutors suspected that it was here
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where darley cut her neck and arm
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if there was an intruder and he came in
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he came in without leaving any evidence
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of walking through there
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also on the carpet was an unusual blood
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impression the distinct outline of the
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murder weapon the heavy line of blood
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near the tip of the blade told forensic
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experts something important about the
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killer the only way that i am aware that
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you could get
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something coming off of the knife
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in in that manner as we found it would
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be to have the knife in the hand
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of a person that is bleeding in other
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words they are contributing blood
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continuously
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so if you had a wound on this arm with
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the
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knife in this hand with the blood
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flowing down the arm ultimately across
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the hand and then down the blade of the
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knife that will produce that very heavy
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bleeding that we've got in the front of
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the knife in the impression
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coincidentally darley had a knife wound
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on her right arm
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dna test revealed that the blood was
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that of both damon and darley and not
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that of an unknown assailant
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darley said she picked up the knife from
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the kitchen floor and put it on the
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counter
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she said nothing about taking it into
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the family room
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no bloody trail no fingerprints no uh
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trace of the suspect i mean peter pan
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came down the chimney maybe and
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committed the murder but or you know
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tinker bell or somebody but we have
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no
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evidence of anyone coming through the
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window committing the murders
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police were now convinced that there was
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no intruder in the routier home on the
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night of the murders
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[Music]
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just eight days after the murders the
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routiers celebrated what would have been
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devin's seventh birthday
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at the cemetery
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family members invited a local
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television news crew to attend
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[Music]
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if you knew devon and damon
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you would know that they're up in heaven
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and they're up there having the biggest
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birthday party that we could ever
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imagine
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and they wouldn't want us to be down
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here being sad even though our hearts
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are breaking
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i know that devin
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and damon would want us to be happy
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district attorney greg davis watched the
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celebration on television
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i was just sickened by what i saw
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because it had only been a week since
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these boys deaths and yet we've got a
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full-blown birthday party out there at
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the graveside and it really struck me as
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more than curious
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at the dallas county institute of
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forensic sciences charles lynch
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discovered the most damaging piece of
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evidence contradicting darley's intruder
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story on one of the bread knives from
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the rootier's kitchen
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lynch found a single fiberglass rod and
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some rubber dust
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the cut window screen in the routier
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garage was made of polyvinyl chloride
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bundles
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the interior core of that bundle was
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composed of fiberglass rods
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the fiberglass rod found on the kitchen
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knife was identical to the fiberglass
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rods from the rooters screen
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lynch could not find any other source of
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fiberglass inside the routier home that
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was similar
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so i was able to eliminate all of the
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sources of fiberglass that i could find
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as being a source so
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the conclusion is that a fiberglass rod
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found on the bread knife
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may have
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come from the window screen but not to
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the exclusion of all other sources
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fbi profiler alan brantley was convinced
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there was no intruder
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we have never seen a case where an
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offender comes from outside the
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residence
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breaks into the home
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takes a knife and then goes back outside
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the home and cuts the screen to come
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back in
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those
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steps that kind of behavior is just
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unnecessary to the commission of any
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kind of an offense unless you're
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attempting to make the scene
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look like something you think it should
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look like or that you want other people
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to believe
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occur
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and again that's an element of stage and
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on darley's night shirt scientists found
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cast off blood spatter on the back right
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shoulder area
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dna testing revealed that the blood
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belonged to the two boys
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some of those blood stains are
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coming in a direction consistent with
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the movement of the item that was
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bloodstained
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in my opinion in this case the the knife
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as you're drawing the knife backward
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the blood is coming off of the end of
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the knife as it's being drawn backward
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and of course if it's close enough and
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it's still in an upward flight it will
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point in an upward direction with the
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blood stains
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the blood spatter was pointed upwards
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consistent with the movement of a bloody
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knife in darley's right hand
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the forensic evidence all told a story
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a story quite different from the one
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darley told police
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[Music]
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prosecutors believe that the murders
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were premeditated and the darley
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encouraged the boys to sleep with her
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that night in the family room
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sometime after 2 a.m
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darlie took a bread knife from the
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kitchen
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and cut the screen in the garage
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she returned the knife to the holder
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without rinsing the fiberglass residue
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found later by forensic scientists
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darlie used the largest knife she had
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to murder her two children
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blood spatter on the back right shoulder
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of her night shirt placed the murder
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weapon in darley's hand
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[Music]
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speculation is the darley may have
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removed her panties to suggest the
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possibility of a sexual assault
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standing at the kitchen sink
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darlie turned the knife on herself
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slicing both her neck and right arm
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then something unexpected happened
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five-year-old damon was still alive
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crawling through the family room
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he was stabbed two more times
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the knife impression on the carpet was
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caused by blood from her arm wound as it
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dripped over the tip of the knife
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[Music]
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the audio analysis of the
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moving in 911 rooms quickly as she
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staged the crime scene and removed some
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of the blood evidence
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[Music]
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but darley's attempt to mislead
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investigators
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failed
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it's hard to explain it but
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these kids were in her way
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they were in the way of her lifestyle
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and her ambitions
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and what she wanted to do and
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she simply made a decision that those
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children would no longer be in her way
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darli routier was arrested and charged
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with the murder of her two sons
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darren routier denied he was involved
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and no charges were filed against him
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patricia springer described the possible
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motive in her book flesh and blood
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there is no one reason why darlee
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routier did this it is a combination of
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things it had nothing to do with money
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it had to do with the multiple births
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with the total responsibility we've
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learned since then that darren really
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didn't help a lot with the children
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they painted this picture of the perfect
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family and how great they were and
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everything they did was as a family but
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the family knife was an illusion
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that they um perpetrated on anyone that
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would listen to it darley routier was
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found guilty of first degree murder and
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was sentenced to death
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she currently sits on death row
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awaiting execution
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texas is a pretty conservative state and
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i want everybody to know
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that you can't go out and kill our
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children and expect to live
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i think that darley
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got exactly what she deserved in this
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case
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we probably gave her
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more justice than she deserved in this
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case
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if you look at the barbaric acts
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that brought her to that courtroom
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we did all the that the system allowed
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us to do to her but she richly deserves
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to be on death row and she richly
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deserves to be executed one day
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[Music]
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[Applause]
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so
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[Music]
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you
