I lived in Dallas at the time of these murders, and followed it very closely. Since my daughter is a court reporter, when I saw that the court reporter transcribing the trial really screwed up, I was flabberghasted! The court reporter did some very strange things--like just not ever turning in pages and pages of transcripts. She was given many chances to rectify this, but just didn't ever do it. I began to wonder if she were perhaps working for the Routiers.IMHO, the Routiers were in this together--they were experiencing money problems, and insured these kids lives shortly before they were murdered. I don't know many people who take out large insurance policies on children so young.
Yes, the transcripts were really messed up. The court reporter did a sloppy job and I think was disciplined for this. I don't recall exactly, but didn't they like 'disbar' her or something like that?
Regarding the insurance, I recall that was discussed early on in the investigation and I thought that was logical motive if they killed the babies for a big sum of insurance money. What I recall though, was that they had insurance on the kids, but it was NOT a huge amount. It seems to me that they were covered for $5,000 each, which would cover the funeral expenses. I wouldn't call that a windfall or a motive to kill the kids though.....
They were struggling with money problems. I think that Darlie had expensive tastes and Darin catered to her every want and need and was so proud of her. It did cause him financial problems though, and in the end he lost his home in Rowlett.
There have been so many horrible episodes of mothers killing their children in recent years, that it's hard to keep up with them all. I happened to see an episode the other night on Susan Smith, the woman who drowned her 2 kids in a lake. It's just sickening!