Sixteen years ago, police responded to a call from Andrea Yates, asking them to come to her home. Police found the bodies of the five Yates children, including Noah, 7; John, 5; Paul, 3; Luke, 2; and Mary, 6 months.
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Yates had drowned them in the bathtub of her home in Clear Lake, Texas.
Since Yates drowned her children on June 20, 2001, postpartum depression and postpartum psychosis have been in the national spotlight, bringing what was often a private ordeal for a new mother out into the open.
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While she was initially convicted of capital murder in the deaths of her children and sentenced to life in prison in 2002, Yates received a new trial after it was revealed that a witness for the prosecution lied. After her new trial in 2006, Yates was found not-guilty by reason of insanity.
Yates will likely spend the rest of her life in a mental institution. Her current home is the Kerrville State Hospital, where she works, participates in therapy, and makes arts and crafts.
Her long-time lawyer, George Parnham, says, “That’s where she needs to be.”
Parnham continues to visit Yates. He told ABC13 that the money she makes from her artwork goes toward a fund that offers mental health screenings to low-income mothers. In this way, Yates may be able to help prevent another tragedy.
Additionally, working on the case led Parnham and his wife to start the Yates Children Memorial Fund, which brings awareness to postpartum depression.
Yates’ four oldest children would be adults now, and her youngest would be nearing 18. Instead, they are buried in Forest Park East Cemetery in Webster, Texas.
The Yates family tragedy continues to horrify the public, and no passage of time will change that. But now, society can hope to prevent these horrors from falling on other families.
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