Why Andrea Yates’ Ex-Husband Rusty Still Visits Her Decades After She Drowned Their 5 Children (Exclusive)

need to know

• Andrea Yates pleads guilty to drowning her five children in 2001 in the bathtub of their home in Clear Lake, a suburb of Houston, Texas

• In March 2002, Andrea was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison. The conviction was later overturned, and in July 2006 she was found not guilty by reason of insanity.

• Her lawyer argued she suffered from postpartum depression and postpartum psychosis

On June 20, 2001, a stay-at-home mother called 911 to admit that she had drowned her five children in the bathtub of her home in Clear Lake, Texas, a suburb of Houston.

The shocking crime made national and international news and led to the arrest of Andrea Yates, 37 at the time.

In March 2002, Andrea was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison for the deaths of Noah, 7, John, 5, Paul, 3, Luke, 2, and Mary, 6 months. The conviction was later overturned, and in July 2006 she was found not guilty by reason of insanity.

Her lawyers argued that she suffered from postpartum depression and postpartum psychosis and that her doctor had stopped her taking the powerful antipsychotic drug haloperidol in the weeks before the murders.

Andrea’s ex-husband Rusty, 61, spoke to People about his life with Andrea and why, nearly 25 years after their child’s death, he still visits her once a year at a mental hospital in Kerrville, Texas.

“I try to visit in person once a year and we text back and forth and sometimes call,” Rusty said. “Andrea and I always got along great. It was a time in our lives that we both cherished and she was the only one I could talk to about it. She and I were the only two people we could get together and reminisce about those years together.”

Rusty, who divorced Andrea in 2005, said that while they both admired each other’s friendship, “it was bittersweet.”

“I mean, it’s nice to recall. I honestly never thought something like this would happen, especially to her, and especially how caring, loving and loyal Andrea was. I have nothing against her, but even just communicating with her reminded me of that. So, we tried to focus on The focus was on the good times, but even in our conversation, it was hard to avoid that biggest tragedy that was so big for her that it really stuck with her, from growing up and really living her life and trying to enjoy her years, she couldn’t get over it.”

Andrea has been incarcerated at the facility since 2007.

She could have been reviewed annually to see if she could afford to leave the agency, but she chose to waive her right to review each year, People magazine previously reported.

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According to Rusty, Andrea has fully embraced her role as a mother and “for her to have it end this way is really devastating.”

Andrea “spent a lot of time looking back at old videos of our family, looking through old photos – that kind of thing – because her mind was still stuck there,” said Rusty, a computer engineer at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

“I grew up in a tradition where intention is more important than anything, right? We’re all flawed human beings. We can have good intentions and do the wrong things,” he said. “So, it was easier for me to forgive Andrea than it was for her to forgive herself because she was raised in the work tradition. It was a strict Catholic upbringing. She was kind of stuck because it was so hard for her to forgive herself. Like, how do you take something so important and overcome it in life? Or are you stuck there? That’s where you’re stuck, that’s it.”

Rusty said he met Andrea, then a nurse, in the late 1980s while living in the same apartment building in Houston.

“One night, someone hit her car in the parking lot and I was sitting in my apartment,” he said. “I was on the phone with someone. I heard a knock on the door and I opened the door and it was Andrea. I actually dropped the phone. She asked me; she said, ‘Hey, do you know about this?’ because she knew I parked in the same area that she parked. She later admitted it was just an excuse to see me.”

“She always wanted to see me,” he added. “Andrea is a very shy, reserved person. If you know her, this is a big improvement for her because she’s not a very forward person at all.”

Four years later, in 1993, they married and started a family.

“I’m almost jealous that she gets to spend so much time with her kids while I have to work all the time,” said Rusty, who is involved with ID. The Cult Behind the Killers: The Andrea Yates Storywhich premiered on January 6 and is available on HBO Max. “I offered; I said, ‘Hey, if I work half time and you work half time, we might be able to do it.’ I’m a mother now,” she said. “I thought, ‘This is a role she has accepted, and being a father is a role I have accepted.'”

“This is my favorite role in life – being a father,” said Rusty, who has a 17-year-old son from his second marriage, which later ended in divorce. “Honestly, I think being a mother is [Andrea’s] Favorite character. “

If you or someone you know is facing mental health challenges, emotional distress, substance abuse issues, or just needs to talk, call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org 24/7.

Read the original article on People