They never found my oldest son Devon’s blood on the knife, only mine and Damon’s.
True, and it has led to some of the wildest speculation imaginable: there were two killers, maybe more. One used a knife from the kitchen, while the others brought their own weapons. Beyond preposterous.
The reality is quite different. Judith Floyd received four blood stains from the knife for testing, and she did not detect Devon’s blood in those four stains.
Mosty: And that would be consistent with Devon not having been stabbed with that knife?
Floyd: No, that would just be consistent with his blood not being in those four places that were removed for my testing…certainly his blood could have been elsewhere on the knife and it was not removed from those four swabbings.
(Judith Floyd, Sec. 3149)
Mulder: Are you telling the jury that you have no evidence that Devon’s blood was ever on that knife?
Van Winkle: That’s correct. The samples I tested were limited and not all the blood on the knife.
(Carolyn Van Winkle, Sec. 3190)
An ironic thing happened later in the trial that suggested another possibility as to why Devon’s blood wasn’t found on the knife. In trying to discredit Bevel’s blood demonstrations, the defense had an Oops! moment.
Mosty: You know, do you not, that if someone is stabbed, the skin actually has a cleansing effect?
Bevel: That can happen, yes sir.
Mosty: And that, in fact, even though there might be blood there, the skin as it comes out cleans that knife off?
Bevel: That can occur, yes.
(Tom Bevel, Sec. 3536)
Robert Poole, a firearms and tool examiner, received a portion of Devon’s chest plate from the Medical Examiner’s office. He was unable to draw any conclusions in regard to the upper wound, but found significant tool marks in the lower of the two holes in the plate. Poole concluded that the “characteristics of the damage present in the cartilage were similar to the test marks I received in making stabs with [the butcher knife].”
(Robert Poole, Sec. 3098)
Dr. Joni McClain performed Devon Routier’s autopsy. She testified that a single-edged knife, such as the butcher knife, could have produced both stab wounds to his chest.
Davis: Could you tell us whether or not stab wound #1 could have been produced by the butcher knife?
McClain: Yes.
Davis: Could you tell us whether or not stab wound #2 could have been produced by the butcher knife?
McClain: Yes, it could have.
(Dr. Joni McClain, Sec. 61 and 91)
Conclusion
It’s possible that Darlie washed off the blade in the interval before stabbing Damon a second time, planning to replace it in the butcher block as she’d done with the bread knife. Or, it could simply be that Devon’s blood wasn’t picked up in the four samples that were tested. When Darlie says “they never found”, she’s implying that the DNA analysts specifically searched and searched and searched for Devon’s blood, but it just wasn’t there. That is a misleading statement. Forensic analysts have no vested interest in whose blood is found on a particular piece of evidence.
Once again, the defense had full access to the evidence. They could have tested every square millimeter of that knife if they were determined to prove the absence of Devon’s blood. I suspect that Darlie’s attorneys really didn’t want to open that can of worms. They already had a mountain to climb proving the existence of even one intruder, let alone two.