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Opinion

Marriage is about sharing ... blame

Karen Klucznik 
Opinion Columnist

On June 20, 2000, a young mother woke up and had breakfast with her family. After seeing her husband off to work, she filled the bathtub with water and then systematically drowned four of her children as they struggled. She chased the fifth child down, dragging him while he kicked and screamed, back to the bathroom and as he said his last words, "I'm sorry," she held his little head under water until at last he succumbed. She left his body floating in a tub of urine, feces and vomit.

These words are difficult to read, to write and even harder to process. The heart-wrenching Yates family story has made many of us stop and ask what would make a mother murder her children. But a question rarely asked is why Rusty Yates has not been held responsible for the deaths of his children.

While our society points the finger and blames the other guy for its problem, I am still a true believer that each person is responsible for his or her own actions whether they are sick or not. While Andrea's sickness may have driven her to murder, her husband definitely did not put up any roadblocks to stop it.

Texas statutes say that child neglect is "the leaving of a child in a situation where the child would be exposed to substantial risk or physical or mental harm, without arranging for necessary care."

So keeping that in mind, let's recap the Yates story. 

1994: Andrea gives birth to their first child, Noah, and begins having violent visions. She keeps these episodes to herself.

1998: Rusty decides the family needs to "live light" and purchases a 350-square-foot bus for all five of his family members to live in. By this time, Andrea had given birth to two other children -- John in 1995 and Paul in 1997.

1999: Rusty comes home to find his wife chewing on her fingers. The next day she tries to commit suicide, is hospitalized and diagnosed with major depressive disorder. She is released, but refuses to take her medication and soon resumes self-mutilation in addition to refusing to feed her children.

July 1999: Andrea puts a knife to her throat and begs Rusty to let her die. Again, she is hospitalized and begins treatment with the anti-psychotic drug Haldol. 

She improves immensely and is released with a warning from Dr. Eileen Starbranch that having another child may trigger more psychotic episodes.

Rusty, at the urging of family members, trades in the bus for a house and Andrea continues on her path of improvement -- even taking pleasure in hobbies.

March 2000: Against her doctor's advice and at the urging of Rusty, Andrea becomes pregnant again, and, in November, gives birth to Mary, her fifth child. Months later, her father dies and it is these two situations that ultimately lead to a devastating downward spiral.

March 2001: Andrea is under the care of Dr. Mohammad Saeed who claims that she is not psychotic, changes her medication, tells her to think "happy thoughts" and sends her on her way, but not without a warning to Rusty that she should not be left alone.

Obviously that last warning fell upon deaf -- or stupid -- ears, for on the morning of June 20, Rusty left for work before his mother arrived, leaving Andrea alone with their five children. It was the last time he saw them alive.

We all know Andrea is guilty of murdering her children. She admitted it. She was tried for it and convicted of it. And though her conviction was overturned last year and she is set to be retried in June of this year, sadly, another guilty verdict will probably be handed down. 

The one person who may have prevented this tragic crime was Rusty Yates. But he didn't. If my husband came home to find me gnawing on my fingers or with a knife to my throat, there is no way on God's green earth he would ever leave me alone with our child. It wouldn't take a doctor telling him not to -- this is common sense not brain surgery. But Rusty did it anyway.

He ignored the warnings from doctors to not have another child. He ignored the warnings to not leave Andrea alone. Sure, his mother was on her way over that morning, but he left before she arrived. Not leaving Andrea alone means not leaving her alone. Not for one second. 

By doing this, he is responsible. He had a responsibility to protect his children from harm and he let them down. No, he didn't go off and leave them dangling from a tree limb, but he did leave them with someone who was in a catatonic and psychotic state, and that act alone should count as a punishable crime. Too bad we can't convict someone of stupidity. 

Many may feel sorry for Rusty Yates -- poor Rusty, he has suffered so much, lost so much, etc. But his children will never get to "move on" with their lives like he did March 18 when he remarried. They will never graduate from college, fall in love, have babies or grow old. And he played a huge part in taking those things away from them. Shame on Rusty Yates for being so stupid, and shame on us for not finding some legal avenue in which to hold him responsible.

Klucznik, an opinion columnist for The Daily Cougar, 
can be reached at karenklucznik@yahoo.com.