The Andrea Yates case shocked the United States in 2001, when she confessed that she herself drowned five of her children in the bathtub. Originally from Texas and born in July 1964, this woman called 911 shortly after committing the crime.
Who was Andrea Yates?
Her maiden name was Andrea Kennedy, she was the youngest of five children and suffered from bulimia as a teenager. Bulimia is an eating disorder in which the person binge eats for a certain period of time and then, in moments of guilt and restlessness, causes vomiting. Later, Yates became a victim of depression and at the age of 17, he spoke of suicide for the first time.
In 1982, she graduated top of her class and captain of the swim team. Then she set out to practice nursing and did so for more than ten years. When she met her husband, Russell “Rusty” Yates, they announced that they would have as many children as “nature would allow” and after the wedding, they moved into a four-bedroom home.
Children began to arrive, but after the fourth Andrea fell into a deep depression. One day her husband found her trembling and biting his fingers; The next day he attempted suicide by consuming an overdose of pills. He was admitted to a hospital and medicated with antidepressants, initially maintaining the will to die, but later, after psychiatric treatment that included antipsychotics, Yates became stable again.
Antipsychotics are drugs that treat psychosis, a condition characterized primarily by visual or sound hallucinations, interactions that a person thinks are real but are not, as well as delusions. After being immobile for some time, Yates had a new nervous breakdown that led to two new suicide attempts and two psychiatric hospitalizations.
having children despite recommendations
Considering Yates’s mental health history, the first psychiatrist recommended, she later testified, that she had no more children, as it would “guarantee mental depression in the future.” Despite this, the couple conceived a fifth and last child, a girl named Mary.
Andrea had stopped taking antipsychotic medication when she conceived the last girl, so later, after giving birth, the crisis returned. Yates harmed himself and continued to read the Bible. The family lived in a suburb of Houston on the day of the murder.
On 20 June 2001, her husband went to work and left her alone with their children, despite recommendations from psychiatrists to keep her under observation throughout the day. It is later revealed that Rusty remarked at a family gathering that he was leaving her alone for a short time to encourage his wife’s independence. That day Rusty agreed with his mother, Andrea’s mother-in-law, that he would arrive an hour after her departure. In the hour when Andrea was alone with the children, the fatal outcome occurred.
He first started by drowning his three little ones. He started with John, Paul, and Luke, and then left them at his bedside. Then he drowned Mary, who had just been born, leaving her floating in the bathtub. Noah, one of the children, came in and asked his mother what was wrong with Mary; Sensing danger, the little boy fled, but his mother caught him and drowned the couple’s last children with him.
Yates initially called 911 and requested a police presence without explaining the reason. Later, during the trial, he confessed to killing five of his children. Initially in 2002, he was sentenced to life imprisonment with at least 40 years in prison; Then, in 2006, he was found not guilty on the grounds of insanity. Yates has since been confined to Kerville State Hospital in Texas, a mental health clinic.
Her husband filed for divorce in 2004, arguing that he had not lived with her since the murder of their children. In 2006 he married a new woman with whom he had a son; Nine years later she filed for divorce.
