7/26/06:After 3 days, the jury in the Andrea Yates trial found her not guilty by reason of insanity in the drowning deaths of her children. She will be committed to a state mental hospital. A judge could determine if she should be released in the future.
1/9/2006: Andrea Yates pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity in the deaths of her five children. March 20, 2006 was set as the date for her new trial. She will remain in custody until her trial.
1/6/2005: The capital murder convictions of Andrea Yates were overturned by the Texas Court of Appeals.
Text of Court Opinion
Andrea Pia Kennedy Yates was born on July 2, 1964 in Houston, Texas.
Russell Edison Yates was born on September 6, 1964 and raised near Nashville.
Ages at Wedding:
Andrea and Russell were both 28 years old when they married.How They Met:
They met at their apartment complex in Houston in 1990.Wedding Date:
4/17/1993. Wedding was performed by non-denominational pastor Rev. Ronald L. Collins in Clear Lake Park, Texas in a simple ceremony. They told guests that they would not use birth control.Andrea and Rusty honeymooned in Cancun, Mexico.
Residences:
Their first home was a $90,200 home in Friendswood, Texas, purchased by Russell on 3/30/1993.In 10/1996, they began living in a 38-foot travel travel until 1998 when they purchased a 350 square-foot renovated 1978 GMC bus for their home.
In the fall of 1999, they purchased a 1,620-square-foot, three bedroom house a6 942 Beachcomber Lane in the Clear Lake area of southeast Houston. The house was sold by Russell in May, 2004.
Andrea, a registered nurse at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, 1986 - 1994. In 1994, she became a full time mother and home-schooled their children.
Rusty, engineer for NASA at the Johnson Space Center.
Previous Marriages:
None.Children:
- Noah Jack, born on February 26, 1994
- John Samuel, born on December 15, 1995
- A miscarriage in November, 1996
- Paul Abraham, born on September 13, 1997
- Luke David, born on February 15, 1999
- Mary Deborah, born on November 30, 2000
Charges of child endangerment and negligent homicide were never filed against Russell Yates.
Conjugal visits have been strictly forbidden.
Andrea, talking to the jail psychiatrist: "It was the seventh deadly sin. 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."
Source: Time.com
Rusty: "I can't carry her through life. That's too great a burden to bear. I need her to walk on her own. I can hold her hand, but I can't carry her."
Source: Time.com
On July 20, 1999, tried to knife herself. She was hospitalized in a catatonic state for 10 days.
During March, 2000, in spite of the psychiatrist's warnings, and at Rusty's urging, Andrea became pregnant again and stopped taking Haldol.
After her father's death in March, 2001, Andrea regressed back to self-mutilation and she was again hospitalized.
A few months later, in May, 2001, she was back in the hospital for ten days.
Not affiliated with any church, Andrea often deferred to Russell in public.
Andrea's family described Russell as selfish, controlling, demanding, unemotional, manipulative, superior, insensitive to Andrea's needs, and unwilling to help with the children. Denying the comment, he reportedly never changed a diaper.
Andrea and Russell had communication issues with each other.
They never left the kids with baby sitters.
Russell believed in a traditional marriage of a submissive wife, and that a man should be the breadwinner while the woman should be the homemaker and take care of all the housework and child care. He is described as seeing women as inferior.
Andrea home-schooled their children and reportedly had little time to herself.
Russell stated that they wanted to live a simple life and avoid social integration. Russell reportedly told Andrea that her weaknesses would be punished by God.
Warning Signs
Warning signs of Andrea's deteriorating mental condition were apparently not heeded: suicidal, underweight, uncommunicative, detached, severely depressed, overwhelmed, and acutely religious.Time Line
6/20/2001: Murder of the five Yates children.3/19/2002: Russell did not attend Andrea's sentencing hearing as he was in New york appearing on NBC's Today Show.
1/2003: Russell reportedly quit wearing his wedding ring.
8/2004: Russell Yates filed for divorce.
1/6/2005: The capital murder convictions of Andrea Yates were overturned.
3/2005: The divorce became final.
1/9/2006: Andrea Yates pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity in the drowning deaths of her five children.
2/1/2006: After setting $200,000 bond, Judge okays Andrea Yates to leave prison to spend time in a state mental hospital.
3/18/06: Russell weds Laura Arnold.
7/26/2006: Andrea Yates was found not guilty by reason of insanity in the drowning deaths of her children. She will be committed to a state mental hospital. A judge could determine that she should be released.
