It has been almost 25 years since a very sad thing happened. Andrea Yates, a woman living in Texas, drowned her five children in their home bathroom.
The children were Noah, who was 7, John, who was 5, Paul, who was 3, Luke, who was 2, and Mary, who was only 6 months old. Their deaths shocked everyone. At first, Andrea was found guilty of a serious crime, but later that decision was changed. The court decided she wasn’t guilty because of her mental state. She had a rare illness called postpartum psychosis, which made her see and believe things that weren’t real.
Andrea’s lawyers said that because of her illness, she believed that the only way to save her children was to end their lives.
Her ex-husband, Rusty, said that before the children died in June 2001, Andrea had said she felt like a bad mother.
Rusty remembers that once when he and Andrea’s brother were trying to get her help at a hospital, he called home and Noah answered. Rusty thought Andrea might want to talk to Noah, but all she said was, “I’m sorry, I’ve been such a bad mommy.”
Rusty said that he thought it was a strange thing to say at the time.
He also remembers another time when Luke was learning his ABCs. Luke made a mistake, and Andrea said he should know his ABCs. Rusty told her that Luke was only two years old. Now, looking back, Rusty thinks those comments might have been signs of Andrea’s illness. But she didn’t say or do anything else that made him think she was having crazy thoughts.
Rusty said that Andrea kept her thoughts very private. Her illness made her afraid of being a bad mother and of what God would think of her. These fears turned into the strange beliefs that she had because of her illness.
On June 20, 2001, the police went to the family’s house. Andrea was outside and told them that she had killed her children.
She told the police that she had drowned each of her children in the bathtub. Then, she put the four youngest children on her bed, covered them with a sheet, and called 911.
Andrea told doctors that she thought the only way to save her children from evil was to end their lives.
She told a doctor that her children weren’t good and that she was evil. She said that she was raising them in a way that meant they could never be saved and would go to hell.
