Andrea Yates

Andrea Yates

Biography
Andrea Pia Kennedy was born on July 2, 1964, in Houston, Texas. She was the youngest of five children and was raised in a Catholic household. She was the captain of the swim team and an officer in the National Honors Society before she graduated from Milby High School in 1982. Andrea then continued to a two-year pre-nursing program at the University of Houston before graduating in 1986 from the nursing school at the University of Texas. She worked as a nurse at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. In the summer of 1989, she met twenty-five-year-old Russell “Rusty” Yates at the Sunscape Apartments in Houston, Texas. Rusty and Andrea soon moved in together and got married on April 17, 1993. Afterwards, they bought a four-bedroom house in the town of Friendswood. Following the birth of their son Noah in February of 1994, Rusty accepted a job offer in Florida, so the family moved there and lived in a small trailer in Seminole. After the birth of their third son, Paul, they moved back to Houston and bought a GMC motor home.

It was after the birth of Luke, her fourth son, that Andrea became depressed. Her condition may have been brought on by the extremist sermons of Michael Woroniecki, the preacher who sold them their bus. Andrea’s family was concerned by the way that Andrea was so captivated by the minister’s words. On June 16, 1999, Rusty found Andrea shaking and chewing her fingers. The next day, she attempted to commit suicide by overdosing on pills. She was admitted to the hospital, and prescribed antidepressants. Soon after her release, she begged her husband to let her die as she held a knife up to her neck. Once again hospitalized, she was given a mixture of medications including Haldol, an anti-psychotic drug. Her condition improved immediately, and she was prescribed Haldol on her release. After that, Rusty moved the family into a small house for the sake of Andrea’s health. Things were going very well.

Murder
Andrea stopped taking the Haldol in March of 2000 and gave birth to Mary Yates on November 30 of that year. She seemed to be coping well until the death of her father on March 12, 2001. She then stopped talking, mutilated herself, and read the Bible feverishly. Andrea also stopped feeding Mary. She went to a different hospital and was prescribed Haldol again. Soon after, her doctor discontinued it, believing that she no longer seemed psychotic. Andrea was released soon after her admittance, but she returned in May of the same year. After this visit, her psychiatrist, Dr. Mohammed Saeed, told her to think positive thoughts. Andrea was once again discharged.

On June 20, 2001, put her obsessive thoughts into action and murdered her five children. She started with the youngest boys, and after drowning them in her bathtub, laid them in her bed. She then drowned Mary, who she left floating in the tub. Her oldest son, Noah, came in and asked what was wrong with Mary. Then he ran. However, Andrea soon caught up with him, and held him under the water next to Mary’s body until he was dead. She then left him floating in the tub and laid Mary in the arms of her brothers. Afterwards, she called the police. Then she called her husband, saying and repeating only two words: “It’s time.”

Trial
Andrea’s trial lasted for three weeks. She was convicted of capital murder on five counts. However, because of her psychotic behavior, they voted to keep her in prison for life instead of giving her the death penalty. Her reason for the murders was that the children “weren’t developing correctly.” She felt the need to punish herself for being a bad mother. She told forensic scientist Park Dietz that she wanted to protect her children from the torment of Satan, and on the occasion that she confessed to the jail psychiatrist, she explained further, “My children weren't righteous. They stumbled because I was evil. The way I was raising them they could never be saved… They were doomed to perish in the fires of hell.” Andrea will be eligible for parole in the year 2041.

-page author: Kyle
-left photo courtesy of http://www.detnews.com/
-right photo courtesy of http://www.brianbehrend.com/