Mother Charged With Killing Five Kids
H O U S T O N, June 20 -- A mother accused of drowning her five children in her own home was charged tonight with five counts of capital murder.
Andrea Yates could face the death penalty for allegedly killing her five children. Police say she admitted killing the children, ranging in age from 6-months to 7-years-old when she called police to her home. A Houston police information officer said Yates' arraignment had not been scheduled yet but could happen sometime Thursday.
Police say Yates called Houston police to her home this morning but didn't give a reason why.Police say she answered the door out of breath at around 10 a.m. According to John Cannon, a Houston Police Department spokesman, she told an officer, "I just killed my kids."
She led the officer to a bedroom, where he found four children — Luke, 2, Paul, 3, John, 5, and 6-month-old Mary — all dead, Cannon said. All had apparently been drowned, and the bodies were covered with a sheet, he said.
Her fifth child, 7-year-old Noah, was found dead in a bathtub, police said.
Shortly after police arrived, Yates' husband Russell also showed up, said another police spokesman Robert Hurst. He told officers his wife had called him and told him to come home, too, Hurst said.
Andrea Yates seemed calm as she was led from the home in handcuffs. Police said she has been cooperating and talking with investigators.
"It is just rather unimaginable," Cannon said. "It's difficult to deal with when you are talking about five little kids who were killed, probably systematically."
Treated for Depression
Cannon said Yates told police his wife was on medication for postpartum depression, and a neighbor, Pat Silas, said he recently told her his wife had been depressed since the birth of Mary six months ago.
However, police did not offer an official motive and did not say whether medication or depression may have contributed to the slayings.
Harris County Child Protective Services said they had no records of incidents with the woman, but that they were contacted two years ago by a local psychiatric facility that had treated the woman for depression.
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