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Remembering the sad, shocking Andrea Yates case, 16 years later
A November 2000 photo shows Rusty and Andrea Yates with their four boys, from left, John, Luke, Paul and Noah. Andrea Yates was pregnant with daughter Mary at the time.
Click through to see more photos from the Clear Lake case that saddened the world...
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Andrea Pia Yates and her husband, Russell, are shown in a family photo with their four boys, from left, John, Luke, Paul, and Noah. Steve Ueckert/Family Photo
Houston police officers stand outside the house where five children were found dead in Clear Lake on Wednesday, June 20, 2001. The mother, Andrea Pia Yates, was said to be on medication for depression and was arrested and charged with five counts of capital murder.Steve Campbell/Houston Chronicle
The house at Beachcomber and Sea Lark, now remodeled, took center stage in 2001 when Andrea Yates drowned her five children.JAMES NIELSEN/HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Father of the five slain children, Russell E. Yates, is escorted back to his house by police. His wife, Andrea Pia Yates, was charged late Wednesday with capital murder-multiple counts.Steve Campbell/Houston Chronicle
Russell E.Yates,the father of the five children who were killed in their Clear Lake City home,is escorted to his car by police after collecting a few items at home on June 20, 2001. Police had been talking to him at a neighbor's house before he went home to collect the items. Karen Warren/Houston Chronicle
In a photo provided by Russell Yates, are his sons, (L to R) Luke, Paul, John and Noah. The boys, together with their sister, Mary, were drown in their home in the Houston suburb of Clear Lake.
Steve Ueckert/Family Photo
Copy from Channel 11 (KHOU) video of Andrea Yates during initial court appearance early morning on Thursday, June 21, 2001. Don Hirsch/KHOU/KHOU-TV (Channel 11)
In an undated photo, provided by Yates, are his sons, (L to R) Luke, Paul, John and Noah. Steve Ueckert/Family Photo
Pictured L to R are: Paul, John, Noah and Luke in a picture dated October, 2000. Steve Ueckert/photo provided by family
Russell Yates, husband of accused murderer Andrea Yates and father of their 5 dead children, came out front of his home in the Houston suburb of Clear Lake on Thursday June 21, 2001, and showed a family portrait taken last November, when his wife was about 8 months pregnant with their daughter. Steve Ueckert/Houston Chronicle
Houston Chronicle front page -- June 22, 2001 Mom details drownings of 5 kids (Andrea Yates)Houston Chronicle
Amy McGee, left, and her sister Tara, rest on each other during this candlelight vigil hend in front of the Yates' home in Clear Lake Friday June 22, 2001, where the 5 Yates children were murdered earlier this week. The mother is held on murder charges.Andrew Innerarity/Houston Chronicle
Kathy Crisp rests a hand on Russell Yates' shoulder during this candlelight vigil held in front of the Yates' home in Clear Lake Friday June 22, 2001, where their 5 children were murdered earlier this week. Andrew Innerarity/Houston Chronicle
Flowers and teddy bears left behind by friends and neighbors lie June 21, 2001 in front of the Yates home.
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John Yates is shown in this undated family snapshot mounted to a poster that sat outside the chapel during his funeral service Wednesday, June 27, 2001, in Houston. John, 5, and his four siblings were allegedly killed by their mother, Andrea Yates. Houston Chronicle
Luke Yates is shown in this undated family snapshot mounted to a poster that sat outside Clear Lake Church of Christ during his funeral service Wednesday, June 27, 2001 in Houston. Luke, 2, and his four siblings were allegedly killed by their mother, Andrea Yates. Houston Chronicle
Noah Yates is shown in this undated family snapshot mounted to a poster that sat outside Clear Lake Church of Christ during his funeral service Wednesday, June 27, 2001, in Houston. Noah, 7, and his four siblings were allegedly killed by their mother, Andrea Yates. Houston Chronicle
Paul Yates is shown in this undated family snapshot mounted to a poster that sat outside the chapel during his funeral service Wednesday, June 27, 2001, in Houston. Paul, 3, and his four siblings were allegedly killed by their mother, Andrea Yates. Houston Chronicle
Mary Yates, 6 months, is shown in this undated family photograph. Andrea Yates is accused of drowning Mary and her four brothers in the family's bathtub. Steve Ueckert/Houston Chronicle
Flowers, angels and small toys sit at the base of the headstone of the five slain Yates children, Noah, John, Paul, Luke and Mary, at a Houston cemetery Tuesday, June 18, 2002, nearly one year after they were drowned by their mother, Andrea Yates. PAT SULLIVAN/Houston Chronicle
Russell Yates walks past the grave of his murdered children Thursday morning June 20, 2002, the one year anniversary of the children's death at the hands of their mother, Andrea Yates.Karl Stolleis/Houston Chronicle
Ducks stand near the Yates children grave site Wednesday afternoon, July 26, 2006, at the Forest Park East cemetery in Webster, Texas. Their mother Andrea Yates who earlier was convicted of killing her five children was found not guilty today after her retrial.Kevin Fujii/Houston Chronicle
Convicted child killer Andrea Yates is shown in this Texas Department of Criminal Justice photo made in Gatesville, Texas, Thursday, March 21, 2002. Yates, 37, arrived at the Woodman State Jail about 5:45 a.m. where she was photographed, fingerprinted and issued a white prison uniform. It was part of the regular routine for women coming into the prison system at the Central Texas intake center. Yates confessed to drowning her five children in a bathtub last June, was convicted March 19 on two counts of capital murder and sentenced to life in prison. Houston Chronicle
Rusty Yates opens the car door for his new bride Laura Arnold as they leave the Clear Lake Church of Christ after being married Saturday, March 18, 2006 in Clear Lake, Texas. Yates former wife, Andrea Yates, drowned their five children in a bathtub in 2001. DAVID J. PHILLIP/Houston Chronicle
Andrea Yates weeps during closing arguments in her retrial July 24, 2006 in Houston, Texas. Yates' 2002 capital murder conviction for drowning her five children in a bath tub was overturned by an appeals court because of false testimony by the state's expert psychiatric witness. Pool/Houston Chronicle
Andrea Yates (left) has a word with legal assistant Mary Parnham (also George Parnham's wife) as proceedings get started in Yates' hearing. Yates' attorney, George Parnham is in the background preparing for court to start. Yates appeared in Project Court #1 (230th District Court), presided over by State District Judge Belinda Hill, in the Harris County Criminal Justice Center. Her attorney, George Parnham presented motions for Yates' upcoming trial. Steve Campbell/Houston Chronicle
Andrea Yates leaves the Harris County Jail with her attorney George Parnham as she is released on bail, Feb. 2, 2006, in Houston. Yates was released on bail after her conviction was overturned in the drowning deaths of her children. As a condition of her release, she is being taken to Rusk State Hospital in east Texas. She will stay at the hospital until her new trial begins in March.BRETT COOMER/HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Andrea Yates and her attorney George Parnham listen as the verdict is read in her murder retrial July 26, 2006, in Houston, Texas. Yates was found not guilty by reason of insanity for the drowning of her five children in June 2001. The jury in Yates' first trial found her guilty of the deaths, but a higher court overturned the ruling because testimony from a prosecution witness was considered erroneous.Getty Images
Sixteen years have passed since Andrea Yates drowned her five children in a bathtub in the Clear Lake home she shared with her husband Rusty Yates.
The tragic events of June 20, 2001 captivated and saddened the world, making headlines everywhere, with many mourning children that they never even knew.
Yates called 911 that day, asking that Houston police come to her house. She didn't tell the dispatcher why.
In the years since, her name has reemerged, usually connected to similar cases of women stricken with postpartum depression killing or injuring their children, or when it's learned that she could be given certain privileges.
Story continues below...
Yates was sentenced to life in prison in 2002 after being convicted of capital murder for the drowning deaths of Noah, 7; John, 5; Paul, 3; Luke 2; and Mary, 6 months.
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An appeals court granted Yates a new trial and a jury found her innocent by reason of insanity in 2006, sentencing her to a mental hospital.
The Yates children are all interred at Forest Park East Cemetery in Webster. Their final resting place is marked by an ornate monument featuring etchings of their faces.
Yates, who turns 53 on July 2, currently resides in the Kerrville State Hospital, where she will likely stay for the rest of her life.
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The tragic case propelled conversations about women's mental health, specifically postpartum depression and the more severe postpartum psychosis. Yates suffered from both.
She and her husband Rusty divorced in 2004 and he has since remarried and started a new family. According to her longtime attorney George Parnham, she spends her free time doing arts and crafts. Parnham, his wife and another friend of Yates' are the only visitors she currently receives.
In 2002, Parnham and his wife created the Yates Children Memorial Fund, to help bring awareness about postpartum depression to the Houston community. Since the fund's creation, over 600,000 brochures on postpartum illnesses have been handed out around the community.
