EP. 185: TEXAS - Andrea Yates: The Mother Who Drowned Her 5 Children In A Bathtub (PT. 2)
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What warning signs indicated Andrea Yates' struggles?
But sadly, with the birth of each of her children, her postpartum depression was getting worse and worse. Over the years, her doctors had recommended that she stop having children altogether, but in her and Rusty's mind, this was God's will for them. So by 2001, they had five kids together, Mary, John, Luke, Paul, and Noah. But in the summer of 2001, unbeknownst to everyone, Andrea Yates was on the verge of a mental breakdown. one so severe it would shock the nation. The warning signs had all been there, but no one knew what she was truly capable of. And soon enough, she would finally listen to those voices in her head, voices telling her to drown all five of her young children. So this is part two of the Andrea Yates story. I'm Courtney Browen.
What events led up to the tragic incident on June 20, 2001?
And I'm Colin Browen.
And you're listening to Murder in America.
In part one of this story, we left off with Andrea getting discharged from the psych ward once again. Over the past couple of years, she had been admitted on numerous occasions after multiple suicide attempts and severe hallucinations where she was hearing voices telling her to harm people. But like all the times before, Andrea would eventually get better. She'd be discharged from the hospital and promised to take her medication, but she never followed through on those promises. Andrea didn't like the way this medication made her feel, so she would just stop taking it. And it would only be a matter of time until she started having psychotic symptoms once again. Now, in the spring of 2001, Andrea's father would die from a long battle of Alzheimer's.
In addition to that, she had also just given birth to her only daughter, Mary. So on top of losing her father, she was also experiencing another horrific bout of postpartum depression.
After getting released from the psych ward this time, her doctors told both Andrea and Rusty that she was not to be left alone with her children. At the end of the day, they feared what she might do if left unsupervised. So when Rusty left for work, he would have his mother Dora come stay with her and the kids. But it's around this time when Andrea started displaying some concerning behavior. While her mother-in-law was staying with them, Andrea would walk over to the bathtub in their house and fill it up with water. When they asked her why she filled it up, she couldn't give them an answer. She simply said, quote, just in case I need it. It's also around this time when Andrea began to withdraw. She stopped eating, drinking, sleeping, and talking altogether.
So once again, Rusty knew it was time to take her back to the hospital.
On May 14th, 2001, Rusty took Andrea back to Dr. Saeed's office because she had once again slipped into a catatonic state. Rusty told the doctor that the antipsychotic medication, Risperdal, wasn't working, and he suggested that she be put back on Haldol. which had worked on Andrea in the past. He also told the doctor about how Andrea randomly filled up the bathtub several times that week. Dr. Saeed once again proposed electroshock therapy, but Rusty was completely against it. Interestingly, postpartum psychosis is often treated with a mix of medications and electroshock therapy. In fact, according to the Mayo Clinic, the mild electrical currents that are passed through a person's brain changes the brain activity that's responsible for symptoms of psychosis and depression of course there's a negative stigma attached to ect and many people still believe that it's a barbaric treatment when it originally came out they didn't use anesthesia and the amount of electrical shock they were using was intense but today patients are usually given a muscle relaxer put under general anesthesia and a mild electrical current is used
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What warning signs indicated Andrea Yates' struggles?
0:45–1:41
2
What events led up to the tragic incident on June 20, 2001?
1:41–50:47
3
How did Andrea Yates justify her actions?
50:47–52:07
4
What was the community's reaction to the murders?
52:07
5
How did Rusty Yates respond after the tragedy?
44:25
6
What happened during Andrea Yates' interrogation?
36:03–53:22
7
What was the aftermath of the Yates case?
53:22–1:07:07
Speakers
4 identifiedMore from Murder In America
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