ROWLETT, Texas — The case of Darlie Routier has been one of the most talked about murder cases in DFW history because it happened in a quiet suburban neighborhood in Rowlett.
Two little boys were brutally stabbed to death, and the killer was their own mother.
It all started June 6, 1996, when Darie Routier made a 911 call to Rowlett police at 2:31 a.m.
You hear her screaming, "Oh my God my babies are dying. Someone came in while we were asleep, and me and my little babies were sleeping downstairs, and someone came in and stabbed my babies. I woke up and my babies are dying. They are dead. Oh my God.”
The 911 tape is hard to listen to because it’s a mother describing the stabbing deaths of her two little boys -- six-year-old Devon and five-year-old Damon. She says an intruder came in while they were asleep, killed the boys and slashed her throat.
Toby Shook was one of the prosecutors who helped on the case.
”The children were attacked first according to her. She woke up with a man on top of her. The stab wounds were so inconsistent the children were impaled basically with a knife. It went all the way through where hers was a superficial wound across her neck," said Shook.
Almost immediately, police questioned her story. She says an intruder came into the home and attacked them seemingly for no reason.
"She claimed that she was awakened by a man, and he had tried to stab her and had sliced her throat and that she couldn’t remember his face. He was right over her face, but she had amnesia when it came to what he looked like," said Shook.
Police say nothing was taken from the home and they believed the crime scene was staged.
”There were all types of watches and rings placed out in the kitchen on counter that this supposed killer missed. It was supposed to be a burglary, but nothing was taken," said Shook.
Police say the murder weapon was found at the scene with her fingerprints on it.
"What was clear was the evidence circumstantially. We had a very strong case. We called 38 witnesses and put out information that the crime scene had been tampered with, " said Shook.
Darlie was charged with capital murder just days after the attacks.
”This arrest is a result of the most intensive and exhaustive investigation ever conducted by the Rowlett Police Department. We believe the white male suspect described by Darlie Routier as the man that attacked her and murdered her children never existed. We also believe that the wounds present on Darlie Routier were self-inflicted," said Randal Posey, Rowlett Police Chief, 1996.
Her husband, Darin Routier, was in the house at the time. He was asleep upstairs with their newborn baby. Darlie has always maintained he had nothing to do with the murders.
”One of the first questions I asked her was, 'did your husband murder these children?' and she said absolutely not," said Shook.
Darlie took the stand during her trial and never showed much emotion. Prosecutors say she was concerned about her hair not being done the night before her testimony.
"Who would do something like this, stab their children?" I asked Shook.
"Someone that is deeply disturbed that is self-centered that doesn’t have a conscious," said Shook.
Routier testified during the trial that she awoke to find a young white man in a black shirt, jeans and a baseball cap standing over her with a knife. After a brief struggle, she told officers he dropped the knife and fled through a garage window.
Darlie was sentenced to death. Her husband stuck with her during the trial, but they are now divorced.
For years, she and her family have filed appeals insisting that she is innocent. They claim there is DNA that will eventually clear her.
Prosecutors say they tested 100 DNA samples from the scene, and all belonged to Darlie and her little boys.
"There is DNA testing going on right now and I don’t think the DNA testing is going to move the needle one way or the other," said Shook.
Routier has always insisted an intruder, or intruders, killed her children, not her.
In an interview with ABC News, she maintained her innocence.
"I thought it was important for people to hear me tell them that I did not actually murder my children. I remember the overwhelming feeling of anger and thinking it can't be real. I cannot believe they're doing this to me when I did not do this. I did not kill Devon or Damien," said Routier.
She sits on death row awaiting execution, while her lawyers appeal her case. We asked her for an interview she declined.