Yates, Andrea

Andrea (Kennedy) Yates, born July 2, 1964, is known for killing her five children, who ranged in age from 6 months to 7 years. She methodically drowned them in the family bathtub in their suburban home in Houston, Texas, on June 20, 2001. After wrapping the bodies in sheets and placing them on the bed, she called the police and confessed.

Yates was psychotic at the time of the murders, but she claims that her major motive was altruistic. She was under the delusion that killing her children by sending them to God would save them from evil. She told investigators that she was not an appropriate mother and that her children were not “developing correctly.” Since they “could never be saved” and were doomed to “perish in the fires of hell,” she felt she had no choice but to kill them.

Yates was an excellent student, graduating as valedictorian from high school. She earned a college degree in nursing and worked in that capacity until her first child was born. Yates married Russell “Rusty” Yates, a computer programmer for the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), in 1993. Though Yates was raised in the Roman Catholic faith, she recanted her beliefs when she and Russell became involved in a very small, cultlike church that espoused a form of fundamentalist Christianity.

A few years before Yates killed her children, she was hospitalized several times for psychosis, hallucinations, self-harm, and suicide attempts. In fact, Yates was diagnosed with postpartum depression after the birth of her first child. Against medical advice but due to her husband's religious beliefs, which insisted on unregulated conception, Yates continued to have babies at approximately 18-month intervals. Her husband's Christian beliefs also required home schooling of the children. In March 2002, Yates was found guilty of murder, and she was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 40 years. However, upon appeal in July 2006, it was ruled that Yates was not guilty by reason of insanity. She was moved to a high-security mental health facility, where she received medical treatment. She has since been moved to a low-security mental hospital.

Filicide is ultimately a family issue and should be understood within this context. The role of other caregivers in filicide, including families and friends who surround the mother and children, has yet to be adequately studied. In the case of Yates, it is possible the deaths might not have occurred had people responded to her mental condition.