Andrea Yates Research Paper

At any point in time, someone’s world can be turned upside down by an unthinkable horror in a matter of seconds. On June 20th, 2001 in a small, suburban household in Houston, TX, Andrea Yates drowned her five children in a bathtub after her husband left for work. The crime is unimaginable, yes, but the history leading up to the crime is just as important to the story. Andrea Yates childhood, adulthood, and medical history are all potent pieces of knowledge necessary to understanding the crime she committed. From birth to teen years, the childhood of Andrea Yates was both positive with accomplishments, and negative with different sufferings from various mental diseases. Andrea Pia Kennedy was born the youngest of five children on July 2nd,

The downfall of Andrea was sudden, and started with the overdose of a drug that treats major depressive disorder, Trazodone on June 1. After this incident, she was put in the hospital and diagnosed with major depressive disorder by her doctors, but her husband was told that this was an isolated event and was put on a few antidepressants. Barely a month later, Andrea attempted suicide for the first time on June 20th, 1999 by putting a knife to her throat. This attempt frightened Russell Yates, and he started to notice the unusual actions and words his wife was doing and saying. He worried about Andrea’s visions and descriptions that she provided to the hospital staff when she described a knife that was “dull, thin, long like a slicer, and had a wood handle” (O’Malley 38-39). The hospital staff also reported an incident where Andrea may have spoken to Satan, or the dark idea possessing her mind, and she screamed, “What do you want?!!” (O’Malley 40). After 19 days of hospital stay in the psych ward, and an intense mixture of antidepressants called Haldol and Cogentin, Andrea was discharged to a Partial Hospitalization Program. By August 18th, 1999, Andrea’s doctor, Dr. Starbranch, wrote in her notes during a post hospital appointment that the couple wanted to have “as many babies as nature would allow” and designated the fact that this would “guarantee future psychotic depression”

Although many events happened before and after the crime that could have altered her future, the background of Andrea is the most vital information to have to understand where she came from, like the births of five children or constantly moving around in a motor home. By understanding her medical past, the drastic actions that she took on June 20th, 2001 are as clear as they will ever be in a twisted crime like this one at hand. Andrea Yates childhood, adulthood, and medical history are all essential in understanding the murders of her five