I’ve talked about how homes have lives just like people do: “A 100-year-old home may be the meaningful setting of a bridal shower or a funeral reception, someone’s first breath or their last, a gleeful war homecoming or a dreaded knock at the door.” Well, homes can see bad things happen, too.
While it may seem macabre to some, you can’t deny the morbid curiosity that often surrounds what are pejoratively called murder homes. These dwellings, tainted by the darkest of histories, are often crime scenes of the most salacious kind. Of course, a murder home can be anything from a nationally-recognized home — and basement — like Jon Benet Ramsey’s to a place where the owners might not even know a crime occurred. But it’s not about glorifying the gruesome; instead, it’s a reflection of our innate fascination with the mysteries of human behavior — good and bad.
In a city as diverse as Dallas, where every neighborhood has its own story to tell, these homes serve as snapshots of a different time and we’re left to our own imagination to unravel what secrets lie within those halls.
daltxrealestate.com is adding a touch of true crime with this roundup of the most popular “murder homes,” historical hauntings, or just all-around eerie sites in Dallas. Strap in, y’all. This is a rabbit hole-maker.
1. McKinney Model Home: Where Realtor Sarah Walker Was Murdered
The public at large may not necessarily remember this violent crime, but Realtors do.
In McKinney’s Hemmingway at Craig Ranch, a brand new home made front page news back on July 8, 2006. “There was a pretty brutal crime scene in the bottom part of the model home,” McKinney Police Captain Randy Roland told reporters then.
But at least this murder brought about positive change for Realtor safety.
Kosoul Chanthakoummane walked into a Craig Ranch home and attacked Realtor Sarah Ann Walker, robbing and killing her. The crime brought sharp focus on Realtor safety — singular real estate agents working inside a model home that is open to the public, often in a new, remote neighborhood location.
The murder was one of four real estate agent deaths in 2006 that helped spur awareness by the National Association of Realtors. At the non-profit Collin County Area Realtors, Plano Police crime prevention officers offer safety presentations weekly safety training during September’s Realtor Safety Month. During new member orientations, Plano Police have often cited Walker’s story to emphasize why Realtors should take safety precautions during open houses that may leave themselves vulnerable, CCAR’s Chief Operating Officer Joanna Fernandez told the National Association of Realtors Magazine.
2. 410 Dogwood Drive in Wylie: Where Candy Montgomery Killed Betty Gore
The serene streets of Wylie hold a dark secret behind the brick walls of 410 Dogwood Drive. It was here, on the fateful day of June 13, 1980, that Candy Montgomery brutally killed Betty Gore with an axe in the utility room of her own home.
This gruesome event sent shockwaves throughout the close-knit community, leaving a lasting mark on the history of this otherwise peaceful Wylwood Estates neighborhood. For a time, residents thought there was an axe murderer on the loose in a small town where nobody locked their doors. Soon enough, North Texans discovered Montgomery was the confessed killer. And she was famously found not guilty.
Now four decades later, the stigmatized property has fared well. When the home was put on the market in August 2020, the market was desperate for move-in ready homes, and 410 Dogwood was. Two days. That’s how quickly the 1974-built home sold for its $260,000 asking price. (And yes, unlike some other murder homes I researched for this story, the death was reported on the listing’s private remarks for Realtors.)
Think lightning can’t strike again? For this home, which would be famously portrayed in Hulu’s Candy series a few months later, it did. In March 2022, the newly renovated home went on the market for $344,900, nearly unrecognizable with bright updates and transitional decor. It sold in four days $5,000 above its asking price.
3. 721 S. Central Expressway: Where Candy Montgomery Famously Had Her Affair
The Como Motel in Richardson has become a destination for true crime followers of the Candy Montgomery story. Do I call them fans? Famously, the Como was the site of the affair, conducted by Candy Montgomery and Allan Gore. The story was retold in the HBO Max series Love & Death, as well as Hulu’s Candy.
But the inclusion of this 1956-built no-tell motel is almost symbolic. Did a murder ever happen here? Not that I can find reported in Dallas Morning News archives. Did a crime take place here? Oh, I’m sure. But with regard to Montgomery’s salacious affair, did a crime take place all those afternoons that Candy Montgomery slid money through the check-in window for a room to rendezvous with somebody else’s husband? Almost. Individual states have the jurisdiction to pass and enforce adultery laws criminalizing an extramarital affair. Luckily (or unluckily?) in Texas, adultery has never been never criminalized. However in Oklahoma, it is a felony offense to this day.
4. 5801 Eagle Dr. in Rowlett: Where Darlie Routier Killed Her Sons
Nestled in the quiet suburbs of Rowlett, 5801 Eagle Drive is the infamous location of a chilling crime against children. In the late hours of June 6, 1996, Darlie Routier, a mother of three, called 911 to report a home invasion and the stabbing of her two young sons, Devon and Damon. Routier also sustained stab wounds with a knife from her own kitchen.
The investigation that followed led to her arrest and subsequent conviction. She was sentenced to die by lethal injection and remains one of the few women on death row, though she always claimed her innocence.
When the Rowlett home went on the market in December 2022, daltxrealestate.com turned up a fascinating fact. Darlie’s own custom burgundy and gold draperies that she splurged $12,000 for — they were still there.
Routier splurged on items like this with her and her husband Darin’s newfound wealth. But they quickly became overextended and owed $10,000 in back federal taxes, $12,000 in credit card debt, and payments for two mortgages on Eagle Drive, all totaling approximately $200,000 in 2006.
When the 2,740-square-foot home last went on the market in August 2022 for $410,000, the home had relatively few updates since the murders. After the gruesome crime scene, the family room carpet was torn out, the kitchen sink removed, and parts of the kitchen floor taken out. But recognizable features like the green marble floors, green marble fireplace, and drapes remained.
The price dropped monthly to $390,000 until December 2022, when it was pulled off the market for updates. Now, the home has been well neutralized, taking out the heavy curtains and dated green marble in favor of more modern finishes, and was relisted for $419,000. And it seems those efforts paid off. The murder home sold in less than a month.
5. 4100 Stonegate Blvd. in Fort Worth (Demolished): Site of the Unsolved Stonegate Murders
If you have a hard time placing the name Stonegate Mansion, that’s understandable. It no longer exists. But if I mentioned the Cullen Davis Mansion, it’d click because it’s the scene of Fort Worth’s most high-profile unsolved murder case — and the crime’s only suspect charged with murder was a powerful Texas millionaire who was found not guilty.
Millionaire oilman T. Cullen Davis, a dashing 38-year-old from old money, commissioned renowned architect Albert S. Komatsu to build the 19,000-square-foot mansion for $6 million in 1971. Throughout the early 1970s, this estate at 4100 Stonegate Blvd. was home to some of the most decadent society parties hosted by Davis and his wife Priscilla.
But the “it” couple fell on hard marital times and Cullen Davis moved out during a pending divorce, leaving Priscilla and her daughter, Andrea Wilborn, 12, to live there. Priscilla had three children total from her first and second marriages.
On August 2, 1976, Stonegate became the scene of a violent double murder by an unknown masked gunman who evaded police. Reportedly arriving from a “divorce celebration dinner” according to one unsubstantiated source, Priscilla, 35, came home with her boyfriend Stan Farr, 30, around midnight and noticed that the elaborate security system was disarmed. She was soon confronted by a man dressed in black clothes and a black mask, who was holding a gun. According to Priscilla, the man said “Hi,” and then shot her once in the chest. He turned to Farr, an imposing 6-foot-3 man, and shot him four times. The masked gunman shot Andrea sometime earlier while she was staying home alone.
The murders captured North Texan’s attention, but the ensuing criminal case captured the nation’s attention when Cullen Davis — one of the richest men in Texas — was charged with murder. During the trial, the jury heard audiotapes of Davis purportedly recruiting a hired gunman for the shooting. But in what some said was a symbol of what wealth can buy, Davis was twice acquitted, and the case remained unsolved. The mansion itself, once a symbol of luxury, became a haunting backdrop in Fort Worth’s murder home history.
By the 1980s, Davis sold the home and filed for bankruptcy. A full 40 years later, the mansion became a pile of rubble — demolished to build luxury condominiums — and a specter of Fort Worth’s most high-profile unsolved murders.
Realtor Heather Guild discusses the Stonegate Mansion murders on Episode 9 of her podcast, Crime Estate.
6. Dealey Plaza: Where Lee Harvey Oswald Killed President John F. Kennedy
There’s a Dallas murder that engrained a dark date in our collective minds — Nov. 22, 1963 is the day “Dallas Killed Kennedy.” Dealey Plaza was the famous scene of the crime where visiting President John F. Kennedy was shot and killed as thousands watched.
The late Pierce Allman, noted historian and co-founder of Allie Beth Allman and Associates Real Estate, was there reporting live for WFAA-TV. Actually, the young reporter unwittingly said, “Thank you” to the President of the United States’ assassin.
Standing near the Texas School Book Depository, Allman was merely 10 feet away from the Presidential Motorcade as it turned from Houston Street onto Elm Street.
“There were three loud reverberating explosions,” Allman reported live from the scene. He quickly realized he was part of an active crime scene and needed a phone to call the television station.
“I went up the stairs of the depository building and there was a guy in the doorway,” Allman said. “I ran up to him and asked him where the phone was. He motioned, ‘In there.’”
He didn’t know he had encountered Oswald until Secret Service agents visited him later to corroborate Oswald’s testimony of leaving the School Book Depository.
Today two “X’s” on Elm Street mark the approximate locations where the bullets from Lee Harvey Oswald’s rifle struck and ultimately killed the 35th president.
