When police arrived at Andrea Yates’ suburban Texas home on the morning of June 20, 2001, she calmly delivered a statement that would shock the nation: “I just killed my children.”
Inside the house, officers discovered the bodies of Yates’ five children, all drowned in the family bathtub. The horrific crime immediately raised a question that still echoes more than two decades later: how could a mother commit such an act?
The answer, according to medical experts, attorneys, and court findings, lies in a severe and poorly understood mental illness — postpartum psychosis — compounded by untreated delusions and rigid religious beliefs that distorted her sense of reality.
What Happened on June 20, 2001
Andrea Yates lived in a modest home in Clear Lake, Texas, with her husband, Rusty, and their five children. On the morning of June 20, shortly after her husband left for work, Yates filled the bathtub and drowned each child one by one.
Her victims were sons Luke, 2; Paul, 3; John, 5; Noah, 7; and daughter Mary, just 6 months old.
According to investigators, the four youngest children were drowned first. Their bodies were later placed on a bed and covered with a sheet. Noah, the oldest, initially ran when he saw his baby sister’s body in the bathtub, but his mother pursued him, forced him into the tub, and drowned him as well.
Afterward, Yates repeatedly called emergency services and then waited for police to arrive.
A History of Severe Mental Illness
In the immediate aftermath, neighbors and acquaintances struggled to reconcile the crime with the woman they believed they knew.
But it soon became clear that Yates had suffered from profound mental illness for years.
Following the birth of her fourth child, she experienced severe depression and psychotic symptoms. In 1999, she attempted suicide by overdosing on medication and was hospitalized. After her release, she was prescribed antidepressants and antipsychotic medication, including Haldol.
For a time, the medication stabilized her condition. However, doctors later testified that she was taken off the antipsychotic drug shortly before the killings — a decision that may have significantly worsened her psychosis.
By the time of the murders, experts said Yates was experiencing hallucinations, delusions, and profound breaks from reality.
Religious Delusions and a Distorted Sense of Salvation
At trial, psychiatrists testified that Yates believed she was evil and that her children were doomed because of her perceived moral failures.
She reportedly believed that she had committed an unforgivable sin and that her children, as a result, were corrupted and destined for eternal damnation. In her delusional state, she came to believe that killing them while they were young was the only way to save their souls.
She later told doctors that her children “could never be saved” if they continued living under her influence.
Experts testified that these beliefs were not rooted in rational theology but were instead manifestations of psychosis, where religious ideas became intertwined with hallucinations and extreme guilt.
The Role of a Controversial Preacher
During the investigation and trials, attention turned to a traveling preacher whose teachings Yates had reportedly followed closely.
The preacher espoused rigid beliefs about sin, motherhood, and salvation, including claims that unrighteous mothers produced unrighteous children and that children who died young could avoid eternal punishment.
Both prosecutors and defense attorneys acknowledged that while the preacher was not legally responsible for the killings, his teachings may have fed into Yates’ delusions and reinforced her distorted beliefs during periods of untreated mental illness.
The preacher denied influencing her actions, and no charges were ever brought against him.
Trials, Convictions, and Reversal
In 2002, Andrea Yates was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life in prison.
However, her conviction was later overturned after it was revealed that a key prosecution witness had falsely testified about a television episode that supposedly mirrored the crime and influenced Yates’ actions. The episode did not exist.
In a 2006 retrial, Yates was found not guilty by reason of insanity.
The court concluded that at the time of the killings, she was unable to distinguish right from wrong due to severe mental illness.
Where Andrea Yates Is Now
Following the verdict, Yates was committed to a state psychiatric hospital, where she remains today.
She has repeatedly declined opportunities for review that could lead to conditional release, choosing instead to remain in treatment. According to her attorney, she grieves for her children daily and understands the gravity of what happened, though she continues to suffer from mental illness.
Her case has since become a landmark example in discussions about postpartum psychosis, maternal mental health, and the consequences of inadequate psychiatric care.
A Case That Changed Public Understanding
Andrea Yates’ crime forced a national reckoning with how postpartum mental illness is recognized and treated. At the time of the killings, awareness of postpartum psychosis was limited, even among legal and medical professionals.
Today, the condition is widely recognized as a psychiatric emergency requiring immediate intervention.
While the tragedy remains one of the most disturbing crimes in modern American history, courts ultimately concluded that Andrea Yates was not acting out of malice — but out of a mind completely overtaken by illness.