The Andrea Yates Case
Josephine Malik
Kaplan University
Professor Christine Hilger
Composition I: Effective Writing for Criminal Justice Majors
CM103-02
May16, 2008
On June 20, 2001 Andrea Yates, drowned her five children in the bathtub of her home, and then called her husband Rusty to tell him he needed to come home. Her husband asked “what’s going on’. She repeated her statement and then added, “That its time. I did it”. Not sure of what she meant but in light of her mental illness he asked her to explain .All she said was “it’s the children”. (Crime library.com2001) Andrea also called the police; Rusty arrived within fifteen minutes to find the police and ambulance already at their Huston, Texas home on the corner of Beachcomber and Sea Lark in the clear lake area. Rusty was told he could not go in and he was trying to process the horrifying news, he went to a window and on the back door he screamed “How could you do this?” According to an article in Time, at one point Rusty Yates collapsed into a fetal position on the lawn, pounding the ground as he watched his wife Andrea being led away in handcuffs (Crime library.com2001). Andrea Yates had a mental history, postpartum psychosis and suicide attempts, which supported her acquittal by reason of insanity.
After Andrea’s marriage to Rusty in 1993 she gave up her job and soon became pregnant, within eight years she had five children and one miscarriage. Her family life become unconventional and chaotic .They moved out of their house to a camping trailer and for a while to a converted bus. Andrea taught all her children at home, ran the house, and helped care for her father who had Alzheimer’s disease. Andrea received no out side help (Crime About 2001).When Rusty purchased a renovated 350-square-foot-bus as their permanent home there fourth child was born and living conditions were cramped and Andrea’s insanity began to surface (Crime About 2001).
Michael Woroniecki a traveling Minster...