At a Glance
- Rusty Yates says he forgives ex-wife Andrea for drowning their five children in 2001
- Andrea was found not guilty by reason of insanity after courts accepted postpartum psychosis defense
- Rusty visits her annually at Texas mental health facility and calls her “wonderful, accomplished person”
- Why it matters: Case remains one of most shocking examples of postpartum mental illness impact on families
Rusty Yates still visits the woman who drowned their five children nearly 25 years ago. He brings no anger, only memories of the mother who once baked cookies and read bedtime stories in their Houston-suburb home.
“She’s not a monster,” Rusty tells News Of Losangeles. “I hope people can know that about her – that she’s just a wonderful, accomplished person, caring, loving, who suffered immensely because of this.”
The 2001 Tragedy
On June 20, 2001, police responded to a 911 call from the Yates’ three-bedroom brick house in Clear Lake, Texas. Officers found Andrea standing outside wearing a wet shirt.
“I just killed my children,” she allegedly told them.
The children – Noah, 7, John, 5, Paul, 3, Luke, 2, and Mary, 6 months – were found submerged in the bathtub, then placed on the parents’ bed and covered with a sheet.
Andrea later told doctors she believed killing them was the only way to save their souls from Satan.
“It was the seventh deadly sin,” she told a jail psychiatrist. “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.”
Legal Journey
Prosecutors charged the stay-at-home mom with capital murder. A jury convicted her and sentenced her to life in prison.
That verdict was later reversed. In July 2006, a new jury found her not guilty by reason of insanity after defense attorneys proved she suffered from postpartum depression and postpartum psychosis – a rare disorder causing delusions and hallucinations.
Forgiveness After Tragedy
Rusty says the turning point came when he accepted Andrea’s illness.
“When I realized she only did this because she was mentally ill, then I was done,” he says. “I didn’t blame her.”
The software engineer, who divorced Andrea in 2005, struggles with the permanence of their loss.
“I still suffered a loss,” he says. “It’s still super painful. That’s a pain you can’t go around, you got to go through that. But as far as blaming Andrea, no.”
Annual Visits
Once a year, Rusty drives to the minimum-security Texas mental health facility where Andrea lives. They sit together and talk about their children – the birthday parties, Christmas mornings, and lazy Saturday mornings.
“Andrea and I always got along,” he says. “That’s a time of our life that we both cherish and she’s the only person I can talk to about it. She and I are the only two who can get together and reminisce about what it was like to enjoy those years together.”
The visits carry emotional weight.
“It’s bittersweet,” Rusty admits. “I mean, it’s nice to reminisce. Honestly, I never imagined anything like this could happen, especially with her, especially how caring and loving and devoted Andrea is. I don’t hold it against her, but even just communicating with her is a reminder of that.”
Mental Health Struggles
Rusty believes better psychiatric care could have prevented the tragedy.
“She deserves to be the wonderful person she is, not saddled by her bad actions of the past that only occurred because we really couldn’t get the decent mental healthcare treatment for her,” he says.
He describes Andrea as suffering “internally trying to come to grips with her actions” and calls her internal torment “beyond anything I’ve experienced and anything most people have experienced.”
“Really, in my opinion, she doesn’t deserve that,” he adds.
Life After Loss
The case transformed how the legal system handles postpartum mental illness. Andrea remains institutionalized but receives treatment rather than serving a prison sentence.
Rusty rebuilt his life while honoring his children’s memory. He keeps photographs of Noah’s missing front tooth, John’s superhero cape phase, and baby Mary’s first smile.
The annual visits continue. Each conversation balances love for the woman she was with grief for the children they’ll never watch grow up.
If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health challenges, emotional distress, substance use problems, or just needs to talk, call or text 988, or chat at 988lifeline.org 24/7.
