Murder In America
EP. 184: TEXAS - Andrea Yates: The Mother Who Drowned Her 5 Children In A Bathtub (PT. 1)
Fri, 10 Jan 2025
In today's episode, we examine the disturbing crimes of Andrea Yates, one of the most infamous mothers in American history. In 2001, a brutal crime rocked a suburb of Houston, Texas. A mother had snapped and drowned 5 of her children in the bathtub of her home. But her backstory and the lead up to the crime runs deeper than one could ever have possibly imagined. - Listen to our new show, "THE CONSPIRACY FILES"!: -Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5IY9nWD2MYDzlSYP48nRPl -Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-conspiracy-files/id1752719844 -Amazon/Audible - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/ab1ade99-740c-46ae-8028-b2cf41eabf58/the-conspiracy-files -Pandora - https://www.pandora.com/podcast/the-conspiracy-files/PC:1001089101 -iHeart - https://iheart.com/podcast/186907423/ -PocketCast - https://pca.st/dpdyrcca -CastBox - https://castbox.fm/channel/id6193084?country=us - Stay Connected: Join the Murder in America fam in our free Facebook Community for a behind-the-scenes look, more insights and current events in the true crime world: https://www.facebook.com/groups/4365229996855701 If you want even more Murder in America bonus content, including ad-free episodes, come join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/murderinamerica Instagram: http://instagram.com/murderinamerica/ Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/people/Murder-in-America-Podcast/100086268848682/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/MurderInAmerica TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theparanormalfiles and https://www.tiktok.com/@courtneybrowen Feeling spooky? Follow Colin as he travels state to state (and even country to country!) investigating claims of extreme paranormal activity and visiting famous haunted locations on The Paranormal Files Official Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheParanormalFilesOfficialChannel - (c) BLOOD IN THE SINK PRODUCTIONS 2025 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chapter 1: What happened in the summer of 2001?
While Rusty was finishing his last few years of college, he was actually selected to be a part of a NASA cooperative program in Houston. This was a very big opportunity for him. The students who were picked got to spend three semesters at NASA, designing and building parts of a shuttle, while working with some of the smartest people in the country.
And at the end of this program, many of the students were even offered a job at NASA. This was huge for Rusty. They only picked a handful of students to be a part of this, and he was one of them. Before he knew it, he was moving out to Houston, Texas. The three semesters at NASA went by in the blink of an eye, and Rusty made a good impression there.
After graduating summa cum laude from Auburn, NASA even offered him a job as a junior engineer. And during his time there, Rusty was considered to be a great employee. He always showed up on time and did exactly as he was told. But according to his coworkers, he was unremarkable. One of his coworkers said, He was a pretty quiet guy to himself, you know? He's not one of these high-energy types.
He was smart and knew what he was doing. He'd like to have a good time, laugh at the jokes. If something crazy happened in the lab that was funny, he would laugh. He wasn't like the class clown. He wasn't anything like that. But when the situation would arise... he would laugh just like everyone else. Nothing bizarre, nothing strange back then.
By 1989, Rusty was working at NASA full time and he was living at the Sunscape Apartments, the very apartment where he had been mesmerized by the beautiful brunette in the pool. After seeing her for the first time, Rusty hoped to run into her again. But by that point, the summer had turned to fall so there weren't many people out by the pool anymore.
It seemed as if Rusty had missed his opportunity with her. But luckily for him, one night when he was sitting in his apartment, he heard a knock on his front door. And when he opened it, there she was. The woman introduced herself as Andrea Kennedy, and she wanted to know if Rusty had seen anything unusual in the parking lot the night before.
Apparently someone had hit her car and left without leaving a note. And while this story was true, Andrea would later admit that she purposefully knocked on his door that night because she had seen Rusty around the apartment complex and she too wanted to get to know him. Over the next few weeks, Rusty and Andrea would get to know each other more. And eventually, he asked her out.
Andrea would later say that she was happy with Rusty. He was her very first boyfriend. And the past few years of her life had been a bit lonely. Andrea really liked him. Rusty seemed to have felt the same way about her. The two were undeniably compatible. Both were religious, smart. She was a nurse at MD Anderson, and he was an engineer at NASA, so they were both successful in their careers.
Rusty was also more of the social type, while Andrea was more reserved, so... they complimented each other well. The two would go on to date for the next three years before they decided to move in together in 1992. And it was during that summer when Rusty introduced Andrea to his evangelical pastor friend, Michael Waranecki. He also introduced her to Michael's wife, Rachel.
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Chapter 2: Who was Andrea Yates before the tragedy?
In Dr. Saeed's final notes, he wrote, On the day of discharge, the patient appeared dressed and groomed casually and hygiene was good. The patient waved at me and seemed much more interactive today. No delusions or hallucinations. No suicidal or homicidal ideation. The day after her discharge, Andrea would attend her mandatory group therapy session.
But when it ended, she told Rusty that she didn't think it was beneficial, as all they did was watch a movie about addiction. A few days later, Rusty called Dr. Saeed and told him about Andrea's improvements. He said she was interacting with the children. communicating more, and she was in good spirits. The only issues she had been having was difficulty falling asleep at night.
He also told him about how Andrea didn't want to go to group therapy anymore, and a few days later, she was officially discharged from her outpatient therapy. But despite Andrea's improvements, the doctors warned Rusty that Andrea was not to be left alone with the children. In May of 2001, Rusty called his mother, Dora, and asked if she could come help watch the children.
And of course, she agreed.
With Rusty going back to work, his mom Dora flew in from Tennessee to stay with them for a few weeks. But Rusty wasn't really open with his mom about what Andrea had been going through. She just thought that Andrea needed help around the house, not that she couldn't be left alone with her children. But nonetheless, Dora came to Texas and was so excited to spend the week with her grandchildren.
However, one afternoon, Andrea was acting strangely. Andrea's behavior was concerning. While the kids were playing in the living room, she went into her bathroom, closed the drain to the bathtub, and turned the water on. Slowly, the water filled up the tub. Eventually, the oldest son Noah wandered into the bathroom and saw that his mom was just sitting there in front of the filled tub.
He was so concerned about what he saw, he ran out into the living room and told his grandma. Dora also thought this was odd. It was the middle of the afternoon and the children didn't take their baths until nighttime. So why did she fill it up? When Dora asked Andrea this question, she simply responded, quote, just in case I need it.
Dora could tell that something was definitely wrong with Andrea. Throughout the time she had been there, Andrea seemed very robotic. She barely spoke throughout the day and showed no emotion. And strangely, she would randomly fill up the bathtub in the middle of the day several times that week. but she never told anyone why.
However, they could have never known that her filling up the bathtub was a dark foreshadowing of what was to come. And in just about a month's time, the Yates family would be known all around the world.
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