|
Why Would a Mother Kill Her Own Children?
by Sahar Kassaimah
09/07/2001
Wednesday, June 20th, must have been the worst day of Russell Yates' life. He returned home to find out that his wife, Andrea, had drowned their five children - one by one - in the bathtub of their Texas home. The crime was incomprehensible and unthinkable both for Russell and society as a whole. No one could believe what happened and everyone seemed to be asking the same questions: How could a mother commit such an act against her own children? Could postpartum depression cause her to end the lives of her children in such a horrific manner?
What happened?
According to the Houston Chronicle, Russell Yates, a computer expert at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, left for work at 9:00 a.m., after saying goodbye to his wife and children. His wife, Andrea Yates, then filled the bathtub and started killing her children. She began by drowning her son Luke, and then Paul - who was followed by John. After killing her three sons, Andrea placed their bodies on the bed and covered them with a sheet. Then, she took her baby daughter Mary, 6 months, and held her under the water in the bathtub where she had just killed her brothers. At this moment, her fifth son, Noah, 7, caught his mother and upon seeing his sister's body lying motionless in the water, he asked, "What's wrong with Mary?" His mother ordered him to get into the tub. The boy ran from her. But, she chased him around the house and forced him to submit to the same fate as his siblings.
She then removed her little girl's body and placed it on the bed beside her brothers. After killing all of her children, Andrea calmly called the police and told them what she had done. Then, she called her husband at work. He told reporters that he felt something wrong when his wife told him, "You need to come home."
He asked her, "Anyone hurt?" and she replied, "Yes."
"Who?" asked Russell.
"The children. All of them," she replied.
When the police arrived, they found Andrea sitting calmly on the couch. "She looked at me and looked away," said Frank Stumpo, a Houston police officer. " I picked up the blanket and [the] children started coming into view. I saw another body and another body and another body. Everybody was wet. Their hair was matted and wet." Then, he found Noah's body floating face down in the tub. He asked Andrea, "Do you realize what you have done?" She replied, "Yes, I do. I killed my children."
Prosecutor Joe Owmby said, "I've been here 15 years ... this is the most horrendous thing I have ever seen."
Russell Yates arrived at the crime scene only to find out that not only were all his children dead, but that their own mother had been their murderer.
Upon his arrival, the police barred him from entering his house. He went to the back door, and looking through a small opening in the drapery, began banging on the doorframe shouting, "Andrea, how could you do this? How could you do this?"
What Andrea's relatives say about her?
Andrea Yates, who could face the death penalty as a result of her grizzly act, was reported to be suffering from postpartum psychosis (depression).
"She was always trying to be such a good girl," said Andrea's mother, Jutta Kennedy while wiping her tears away. "She was the most compassionate of my children. Always thinking of other people, never herself. She was always trying to care for everybody." She also said that her daughter took care of her father and visited him for almost eight years, before he died. "Andrea was his baby. She was named for him. And she would do everything for him. She would change his clothes and wash him and help feed him."
After her marriage in 1993, Andrea gave up her job as a nurse because her husband wanted her to be a stay-at-home mother. Andrea and Russell decided to have as many children as would come along. However, after the birth of her fourth boy, Luke, Andrea started to have serious problems. She even tried to kill herself by swallowing a handful of her father's prescription pills while at her parents' house in June of 1999.
After her father's death, Andrea's status became worse. "She just went spiraling down," said Russell. "She never responded that well," added Russell. "She got to about, maybe, 65 percent, and sort of stayed there." "She became robotic and showed nervous habits... particular to her."
Her family members mentioned that Andrea showed some signs of mental distress even before she began having children. However, her mother denies that claim. Andrea's brother, Andrew Kennedy, said his sister began receiving treatment for emotional problems this spring, after she put a knife to her throat while visiting her mother's house.
"We never dreamed she'd kill our kids," said Kennedy. He also said that his sister had gotten better for a while. "But recently you could tell by looking at her. I'd say, 'How are you doing?' And she'd say, 'O.K.' But I could sense it wasn't O.K.," added Andrew, who also mentioned that he noticed such occurrences even before his sister began having children in 1994. "I think it was a slow process," he added.
After the murder, with a fixed look of shock, Russell said, "My wife, I'm supportive of her. But on the other [hand], I know that the woman here is not the woman who killed my children ... One side of me blames her because you know, she did it. But the other side of me says, 'Well, she wasn't in her right frame of mind," said Russell. "My wife, she's really suffering and I just ask that you say a prayer for her because she needs it ..."He spoke of how much she loved her children and how good she was with them.
So, could a mother who gave that much love to her children commits this cruel crime, even if she is battling postpartum depression? According to Justice Department Statistics, about 200 children are killed by their mothers annually. Furthermore, one in every 10 women suffers from postpartum depression and around one in every thousand women is severely depressed. Psychologists say that because of postpartum depression, mothers sometimes think they are saving their children from a "hellish" life and some even go as far as blaming the Devil himself for their actions.
"People suffering from postpartum depression say it feels like utter despair… like there's no way out. Patients feel like their life is a stainless steel bowl, and no matter how hard they try to get up the sides, they keep slipping back. They feel no sense of hope. These moms feel like inside they are rotting away," said Dr. Nancy Snyderman.
Police state that Andrea said she killed her children because she realized she was a "bad mother" and because she felt that they were not developing "normally". She has been charged with capital murder and could face the death penalty if convicted. But, it remains unclear as to whether her condition may have contributed to the killings. Owmby said that his office would be examining the circumstances surrounding the deaths before deciding on which penalty to seek.
However, even if the prosecution does not seek the death penalty, the question remains the same: Is depression an acceptable excuse for a mother who has killed her children?
|
