5 chilling details about the Andrea Yates case ahead of the release of ID’s The Cult Behind the Killer

On June 20, 2001, in  Clear Lake, Texas, Andrea Pia Yates, a former nurse and devoted mother, drowned her five young children in the family's bathtub. Yates confessed right away to the police, explaining that she believed she was saving their souls from eternal damnation due to her own failings as a mother.

Her actions stemmed from severe postpartum psychosis, a rare but devastating mental health condition that distorted her reality, compounded by deep religious convictions. Yates was first convicted of capital murder in 2002 and sentenced to life in prison, but an appeals court overturned the conviction due to flawed expert testimony.

In a 2006 retrial, a jury found her not guilty by reason of insanity, and she was committed to a state psychiatric hospital, where she remains under treatment. Now, 24 years later, the story gains new focus through Investigation Discovery's three-part docuseries.

The Cult Behind the Killer: The Andrea Yates Story, ​​​​​​the series premieres Tuesday, January 6, 2026, on ID, with episodes available to stream on Max afterward. 

The Cult Behind the Killer: 5 Chilling Details about the Andrea Yates case

1. The methodical sequence of events on the morning of the drownings

On the 20th of June 2001, Andrea Yates waited until Rusty left for work at NASA before engaging in her illogical actions. She first filled the bathtub with water and submerged the youngest, 6-month-old Mary, while holding her face downward until she ceased struggling.

Then came 2-year-old Luke, 3-year-old Paul, and 5-year-old John. Finally, after chasing 7-year-old Noah around the house, he ended up in the tub. The whole process took under an hour in their Clear Lake home.

Later, putting all the bodies on the bed and covering them with a sheet, at 9:56 a.m., Andrea called Rusty, stating in a matter-of-fact manner that he should return home because it's bad. Only eight minutes earlier, at 9:48 a.m., she had called the 911 numbers, gasping for air as she asked for a policeman without saying any more.

The arrival of the cops saw her pointing them to the bedroom, where she confessed that she had drowned her kids because she did not want them to go to hell, because she had ruined them in her parenting, as per CNN. 

2. Andrea Yates' long struggle with postpartum psychosis and suicide attempts

The onset of Andrea Yates’ psychiatric problems occurred after the birth of her first child in 1994, although they intensified greatly in the wake of subsequent deliveries. Suffering from postpartum depression after the birth of her fourth child, Luke, in 1999, Andrea tried poisoning herself twice, first by swallowing a knife and then with an overdose of antidepressants.

Hospitalized for 18 days after the overdose, electroconvulsive therapy and medication made her symptoms momentarily cease, only to recur when she gave birth to Mary in 2000 as her fifth child. Yates experienced visions of stabbing her children and hearing voices repeating that she was a bad mother.

Despite her doctor's advice against additional pregnancies as her condition could worsen, she went ahead and had additional children. By early 2001, Andrea Yates refused to eat, talk, or engage her children, remaining blank and fixed for hours.

Rusty commented about her condition in his emails to her relatives, but she refused treatment in a hospital as she felt it could damage her soul, according to the New York Times.

3. The role of traveling preacher Michael Woroniecki in shaping her beliefs

Michael Woroniecki, a nomadic preacher who ministered on college campuses, met Rusty  Andrea Yates in the 1980s at Auburn University and later influenced the couple's faith. Woroniecki's teachings emphasized strict biblical literalism, warning followers of hellfire and Satan's constant presence.

He urged women to submit fully and bear many children as a path to righteousness. The Yates family followed his advice, living briefly in a converted bus purchased from the Woronieckis and exchanging letters with his wife.

Andrea internalized messages from Woroniecki's pamphlets, which claimed that natural childbirth humbled women and that large families proved devotion to God. A former follower described Woroniecki's control as manipulative, preying on vulnerabilities.

Andrea Yates came to believe Satan dwelled in her, dooming her children to damnation unless she intervened. While Rusty denied direct causation, experts noted how these ideas amplified her psychosis, blending faith with delusion, as reported by ABC News. 

4. The stark calmness in Yates' 911 call and police confession

At 9:48 a.m. on June 20, 2001, Andrea Yates called 911 with a steady but labored voice, simply stating, "I need a police officer," when pressed for reasons. The dispatcher, sensing urgency, sent officers to the scene.

Upon arrival, Yates led them silently to the master bedroom, where the covered bodies lay, then admitted without emotion, "I drowned them." She explained her motive: to spare them hell, as her failures had corrupted them, one son might become a killer, another a prostitute. 

In a 90-minute videotaped confession played at trial, Andrea Yates repeated these details methodically, showing no tears or remorse, which prosecutors later used to argue sanity. Psychiatrists described this detachment as a hallmark of psychosis, where the mind rationalizes horror as salvation, as per Book Reporter. 

5. The expert testimony error that overturned her conviction

The prosecution's witness in the 2002 trial of Yates, forensic psychiatrist Dr. Park Dietz, testified that Yates, although mentally ill, knew what she was doing was wrong. During cross-examination, he claimed that Andrea Yates must have copied an episode of Law & Order that had aired a week prior about a mother drowning her children to save them from hell to prove insanity.

This prejudiced the verdict of guilt, with a life sentence. Days later, Dietz acknowledged the mistake, that the episode had aired two years before, and informed prosecutors, who appealed. In 2005, the Texas Court of Appeals held that the false testimony deprived Andrea Yates of a fair trial and ordered a retrial.

In 2006, the second jury acquitted her by reason of insanity after listening to untainted evidence of her delusions. Dietz described it as an honest mistake, but it highlighted how it may be problematic to place so much reliance upon one expert, according to Psychiatric News. 

Watch The Cult Behind the Killer, releasing on January 6, 2025, on ID.