Mother Gone Mad

Andrea Yates:

In a case of mother-gone-mad that stunned a world, Andrea Yates, to her few friends and neighbors, was remembered as a very recluse suffering from postpartum depression leading up to the birth of her fifth child. That all changed on June 20, 2001, when she caught, drowning five of her children in their residence's bathtub. She was found guilty in 2002 of capital murder, carrying a sentence of life in jail with possible parole. As of July 2006, however, a Texas jury discovered her not guilty because of madness.

Early Life

Andrea Yates was born in Hallsville, Texas. She is the youngest of five children to Jutta Karin Koehler, a German settler, and Andrew Emmett Kennedy, whose parents were from Ireland. She was bulimic during her teenage years. She also suffered from depression and, at the age of seventeen, talked to a friend about suicide. She studied at Milby High School, in Houston, in 1982. She was the class leader, captain of the swim team, and an administrator in the National Honor Society.

Yates finished a two-year pre-nursing program at the University of Houston and passed from the University of Texas School of Nursing. From 1986 until 1994, she served as a registered nurse at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. In the summer of 1989, she came together with Russell "Rusty" Yates at the Sunscape Apartments in Houston, two months her junior. They soon moved in together and were wedded on April 17, 1993, and they declared that they "would attempt to have as many babies as health allowed".Afterward, they purchased a four-bedroom house in Friendswood. In February 1994, their first baby, Noah, was born. Soon thereafter, Rusty accepted a job recommendation in Florida, so they shifted to a small trailer in Seminole. By the birth of their third son, Paul, they shifted back to Houston and bought a GMC motor house.

After the birth of their fourth son, Luke, Yates became unhappy. The media declared that her condition was caused by the extremist speeches of Michael Peter Woroniecki, the preacher who sold them their bus. Her family was worried by the way that she was so fascinated by the minister’s messages.

On June 16, 1999, Rusty discovered that Andrea shaking and biting her fingers. The following day, she tried to commit suicide by overdosing on pills. She was brought to the hospital and prescribed antidepressants. Shortly after her discharge, she asked her husband to let her die as she held a blade up to her neck. Once again admitted to the hospital, she was provided a mixture of drugs including Haldol, an anti-psychotic drug. Her situation improved shortly, and she has prescribed it on her discharge. After that, Rusty shifted the family into a small cottage for the sake of her health. She seemed temporarily settled. In July 1999, she succumbed to a nervous breakdown, which ended in two suicide tries and two psychiatric hospitalizations that summer. She was diagnosed with postpartum madness. 

Yates' first psychiatrist, Dr. Eileen Starbranch, declared that she instructed the husband and wife not to have more kids, as it would "ensure future psychotic depression". They conceived their fifth and last child almost 7 weeks after her release. She stopped taking the Haldol drug In March 2000 and gave birth to daughter Mary on November 30 of that year. She appeared to be bearing well until the death of her father on March 12, 2001. 

Yates then quit taking drugs, injured herself, and read the Bible feverishly. She also quit feeding her youngest child, Mary. She became so incapacitated that she needed unexpected hospitalization. On April 1, 2001, she arrived under the care of Dr. Mohammed Saeed. She was treated and discharged. On May 3, 2001, she degenerated back into a near-catatonic" state and brought a bath in the middle of the day; she would later admit to authority that she had scheduled to kill the children that day, but had thought against performing it then. She was hospitalized the next day after a scheduled doctor visit; her psychiatrist concluded she was possibly suicidal and had filled the tub to drown herself. 

Yates continued under Dr. Saeed's care until June 20, 2001, when Rusty left for a job, leaving her alone to watch the children against Dr. Saeed's instructions to manage her around the clock. His mother, Dora Yates, had been planned by him to come an hour later to take over for her. In the space of that hour, Andrea drowned all five children. She began with John, Paul, and Luke, and after drowning them in the bathtub, put them in her bed. She then drowned Mary, whom she left floating in the tub. Noah came in and begged what was wrong with Mary. He then ran, but she soon grabbed and drowned him. She then left him floating in the tub and put Mary in his Afterwards, she phoned the police. Then she called Rusty, telling only "It's time" continually.