Category: Andrea Yates

Two Texas women who killed their young children in cases that drew nationwide attention have formed a friendship at a state hospital, a newspaper reports. Andrea Yates, who drowned her five children in the bathtub, and Dena Schlosser, whose baby died after she severed the girl’s arms with a kitchen knife, became roommates at the Maple unit of the North Texas State Hospital after each was found not guilty by reason of insanity.

HOUSTON, Texas (AP) — Andrea Yates was found not guilty by reason of insanity Wednesday in her second murder trial for the bathtub drownings of her young children. Yates, 42, will now be committed to a state mental hospital, with periodic hearings before a judge to determine whether she should be released. An earlier jury had found her guilty of murder, but the verdict was overturned on appeal. The defense never disputed that Yates drowned her five children one by one in the bathtub of their Houston-area home. But they said she suffered from severe postpartum psychosis and, in a

HOUSTON Whether jurors find Andrea Yates guilty of drowning her children or innocent by reason of insanity depends on how they see her: a perfectionist afraid of failing as a parent or a loving but psychotic mother trying to save the youngsters from hell. Prosecutors and defense attorneys presented those very different portrayals of Yates, 42, during her capital murder retrial before handing the case to the jury on Monday. The jury, which had been sequestered for the night, resumed its deliberations Tuesday, trying to determine if Yates knew that killing her children was wrong. If the jurors find her

Feared one would grow up to be serial killer, another a prostitute HOUSTON, Texas (AP) — Andrea Yates drowned her five children in the bathtub because she thought she had ruined them so much that one would grow up to be a serial killer and another would become a mute gay prostitute, a forensic psychiatrist testified Wednesday. Dr. Phillip Resnick, who evaluated Yates about three weeks after the June 2001 drownings, said she knew her actions were illegal but didn’t know they were wrong because she was trying to save the children from going to hell. “If she did not

HOUSTON — A psychiatrist testified Friday that she warned Andrea Yates not to have any more children after she tried to commit suicide twice within months of having her fourth child in 1999. “I could pretty much predict that Mrs. Yates would have another episode of psychosis,” Dr. Eileen Starbranch told jurors in Yates’ murder retrial. Starbranch said Yates suffered from postpartum psychosis, which the psychiatrist said causes a mother to have delusions and lose touch with reality, a condition much more severe than postpartum depression. Yates drowned her five children in a bathtub in June 2001, six months after

HOUSTON – Nearly two months before Andrea Yates drowned her five children in the family bathtub, her two oldest sons rushed into the living room and asked their grandmother why their mom was filling the tub with water, the older woman testified Thursday. Dora Yates, testifying for the defense in the second week of Andrea Yates’ murder retrial, said she didn’t know why her daughter-in-law filled the tub more than half full that day in May 2001. “I asked her why … and she said, ‘because I might need it,’ ” Dora Yates testified. Andrea Yates was convicted of capital

HOUSTON — Prosecutors rested their case after showing how Andrea Yates drowned her five children in a bathtub, but defense attorneys say Yates had severe postpartum psychosis and did not know the drownings were wrong. Defense attorneys are scheduled to begin presenting their case Thursday in Yates’ second capital murder trial. Yates’ 2002 conviction was overturned last year by an appeals court citing erroneous testimony. Prosecutors rested Wednesday after calling 12 witnesses. Yates, 41, has pleaded innocent by reason of insanity and faces life in prison if convicted. Yates’ attorneys will try to convince jurors that a psychotic delusion prevented