Topic: The woman who killed her 5 children. Is her husband partially responsable?
MIB
Ex-Member
posted
This little topic comes from my mother. I'm just relaying it here. The mighty flameboard!
The woman in question is pregnant with her 6th child! Yep. That's right. According to the news her mental problems started appearing while she was still pregnant with her 3rd child! So here's the question. Why the hell was her husband allowing here to become pregnant time after time when he knew she was having these menatl problems and was currently unable to cope??? Any comments?
posted
Andrea Yates. Houston, TX. Drowned her five children (ages 6 mos. to 7 years). She and her husband ("Rusty" -- anyone else think he drove a pickup with a gun rack and Hank Williams on the stereo?) were both religious (she, Roman Catholic; he, Methodist) and homeschooled their children (careful, Omega). Not that I'm saying that either of those played a role in her decision to kill them.
But, this is a rather big story here in the States. And I'm sure that some anti gun-control advocates will show this as proof positive that a tub full of water can be just as dangerous as guns. But I digress.
posted
I looked on CNN.com, this is so terrible. And those poor japanese kids was just last month.
I don't want to speculate about these things, sorry. I have so little information about the incident or the couple's life prior to this, prejudice would probably get in the way.
-------------------- "I'm nigh-invulnerable when I'm blasting!" Mel Gibson, X-Men
posted
I live in Houston, and the media circus with this is intense. First of all, the Harris County Sheriff's Department is refusing to release the results of the pregnancy test that is given to all female inmates as they are processed into the jail. It's a matter of confidentiality, they say. However, the department does have media leaks, and the story about Andrea Yates being pregnant yet again is false. At least, according to the local news the story is now confirmed as a rumor.
The story essentially goes as this so far: the Yates family lived in a suburb of Houston called Clear Lake. The father, Russell Yates, worked for NASA, and the mother, Andrea Yates, stayed home to care for and school their children. At the time this happened, they had five children ages 7 years to 6 months.
Andrea Yates has had a history of mental illness. She developed post-partum depression after the birth of her fourth child nearly two years ago. She was prescribed on three anti-depressants and one anti-psychotic drug prior to this tragedy. Her doctor, for reasons unknown, took her off of the anti-psychotic drug and replaced it with another anti-depressant.
On the day this happened, Andrea Yates took her five children and drowned them in the bath tub one at a time. As she was drowning the fourth child, the oldest son walked in on her. She chased him through the house, grabbed him, and drowned him, too. After this, Andrea Yates called her husband at NASA and told him to come home immediately. All she told him was that something had happened to the kids. She then called the Sheriff's department and asked for them to do a welfare check on her home.
The Sheriff deputy arrived at the house and found the children. The father arrived home as the medical examiner arrived. Andrea Yates is currently in the county jail on suicide watch. The funerals for the five children were held yesterday.
posted
I really don't know how the father has been handling this. When the story first broke, one of the news stations showed footage of sherrif's deputies carrying Russell Yates out of his home; he was so distraught. The next day, he held a news conference outside his home where he expressed sorrow for the lost of his children, and then he said he still loved his wife completely in spite of all that has happened.
That statement outraged quite a few people who said he should not have been talking to the media that soon, how could he say he still loves his wife after she killed his kids, etc. That's been his only news conference. There has been footage of him attending the candlelight vigil held outside his home, being comforted by neighbors, at the children's wake, and at the funeral (which, I was incorrect about, it was today not yesterday). He's been getting raked over the coals on the morning radio shows here. People have been saying he's responsible for not picking up on the signals of his wife's inner demons.
-------------------- The philosopher's stone. Those who possess it are no longer bound by the laws of equivalent exchange in alchemy. They gain without sacrifice and create without equal exchange. We searched for it, and we found it.
Is it just me, or doesn't anybody ELSE know that the situation should NEVER arise in which these two sentences are used together?
I'm sorry if this is a bit draconian, but people with mental illness shouldn't be having kids. It's irresponsible.
[ June 28, 2001: Message edited by: First of Two ]
-------------------- "The best defense is not a good offense. The best defense is a terrifyingly accurate and devastatingly powerful offense, with multiply-overlapping kill zones and time-on-target artillery strikes." -- Laurence, Archangel of the Sword
-------------------- "The best defense is not a good offense. The best defense is a terrifyingly accurate and devastatingly powerful offense, with multiply-overlapping kill zones and time-on-target artillery strikes." -- Laurence, Archangel of the Sword
Registered: Mar 1999
| IP: Logged
posted
My Uncle Duke has a very bad case of Down Syndrome -- I always get a haircut before visiting my grandparents (he lives with them on their farm in Princess Anne, MD) because he enjoys grabbing my hair and YANKING it.
On the other hand, my ex's sister also had Down Syndrome, but could carry on conversations, and interact with other people (as opposed to Duke, who gets up at 4, does a few chores around the farm, then sits in his underwear in front of the TV allnight).
...Fo2, rather surprised to hear you express that one sentiment.
I'm sorry if this is a bit draconian, but people with mental illness shouldn't be having kids. It's irresponsible.
I mean, people with mental illness generally can't regulate themselves to that bit. If they could reason: "gee, I'm sick in the head, I won't have any more kids", they wouldn't be mentally ill.
But the point I'm trying to make, is that it would essentially come down to the government (be that local, state, Federal or some combination of the three) to regulate the family habits of mentally ill patients.
Printer-friendly view of this topic
