Nearly 25 years ago, on June 20, 2001, Andrea Yates drowned her five young children in a bathtub in her Houston suburban home, which she shared with her husband, Rusty Yates. She reportedly admitted to the crime and was convicted of capital murder in 2002. However, it was later overturned, and she was found not guilty by reason of insanity. Looking back on her situation, many wonder if her illnesses were overlooked and if there was something that could have been done to prevent the tragedy.

Postpartum Psychosis Murders

Andrea Yates has a history of postpartum depression and psychosis that dates back to her first child. She was taken off a powerful antipsychotic only weeks before she spontaneously drowned her children – Noah, 7, John, 5, Paul, 3, Luke, 2, and Mary, 6 months. On that day, police responded to a 911 call from Yates’ home in Clear Lake, Texas, a suburb outside of Houston. After the killings, she positioned their bodies in a bed as if they were sleeping, and on the phone with 911, she confessed, “I just killed my children.”

When the officers arrived, they found Yates standing outside wearing a wet shirt. She detailed the killings to the officers, explaining that she drowned her children one by one. However, her oldest son, Noah, ran away after seeing his infant sister’s lifeless body. Unfortunately, his mother caught up to him and wrestled him into the tub. She reportedly told the doctors after her arrest that she believed the only way to save her children from Satan was to kill them. 

Charges and Convictions

Yates was charged and found guilty of capital murder. She was later sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 40 years served. However, the defense attorney, George Parnham, appealed the 2002 verdict, and three years later, she was given a second chance at life. After the reversal of her initial conviction in 2005, Yates was found not guilty by reason of insanity during her retrial in July 2006.

Following her new conviction, she was placed in a Texas mental health facility in 2007, and each year since becoming eligible for release, she has waived the annual competency review. Instead, she opts to continue her treatment. “She just loved those children,” Parnham told PEOPLE. “And she, in her psychotic state, believed she was saving their lives, saving their souls.”

Docuseries on Andrea Yates

Yates’ case became huge, the tragedy led to a nationwide debate about how postpartum mental illness is overlooked, and many question whether anything or anyone had influenced her actions. While many questions still remain unknown, a 2026 Investigation Discovery docuseries took another look at the case, and ‘The Cult Behind The Killer: The Andrea Yates Story’ was created. The new docuseries was released on HBO Max on January 6, 2026. It dives deep into the theory of Yates, as a mother of five who was manipulated by religious beliefs taught to her by an alleged local cult leader, Michael Woroniecki.

History of Mental Illness

Yates had struggled with her mental health for years before she murdered her children. She had been hospitalized, she had attempted suicide, and witnesses claim they saw her walking in circles in her home. When she had her first child, Noah, Yates’ longtime friend Marlene Wark said she was “very happy, very strong.” However, after their fourth child, Luke, Rusty Yates reported his wife began suffering from severe depression and attempted suicide in 1999. She was given antidepressants and Haldol, an antipsychotic medication, to suppress her symptoms.

Now, Yates resides in Kerrville State Hospital in Kerrville, Texas. She has been there since 2007, after she was reconvicted, and refuses to review her condition to be released. “She’s where she wants to be. Where she needs to be,” Parnham told ABC News in June 2021. “And I mean, hypothetically, where would she go? What would she do?”

Parnham said she will most likely spend the rest of her life at the facility, watching old videos of her kids and making items to sell anonymously to support the Yates Children Memorial Fund. Parnham and his wife found the fund to support women’s mental health, knowing that Yates is regretful, but she was not supported enough after giving birth, and continued to have kids without any help. “There’s not a day that goes by where she doesn’t care for, talk about, is happy about her children’s lives before June 20 and grieves for her children,” he said.