BellaOnline Forums News and Politics Crime You Be the Judge Article - Andrea Yates

I agree with you Kristin...I am a nice guy.

lol I agree with you that Rusty should have been held liable now that Phyllis brought some new evidence to light

Yes - you are a nice guy, Vance! You are very passionate in your beliefs yet still open to all sides.

Thanks for the great debate - I love it!!!

Keep up the good articles, Buddy. It really sparks interest.

Where did anything say that Rusty knew there was abuse going on? Where was anything mentioned about abuse that was on going?

Sorry you misunderstood my post, Here is what I posted:
Yes there are alot of marriages where the husband is very "clueless" about what he should do when he KNOWS there is abuse going on or things just are not quite right so to speak.

I did not say that Rusty knew or there was any mention of abuse

I think alot of people "dropped the ball" on this one. I do not think that this woman was living the life that she wanted to be living. This story was so awful and touched us all. I think that the husband does bear responsibility in this case, as does the state,I think she may have known what she was doing, but the psychosis is what "pushed" her over the edge don't you think?
I think she needed a great deal of help and I do think that abuse does enter into the picture. Controling someone's every move and "keeping" them there is a form of abuse. So sad. So shameful. I too, do not think she should have been left alone either,

Mary Caliendo
Tea Editor

Phyllis,
Thank-you so much for finding that story. That was the information I had read at the time so I knew that Rusty was at least as responsible as Andrea (IMHO much more), and that HIS choices were what caused this tragedy in the first place.

Vance,
I had a feeling you were looking at this case from a purely male perspective and didn't know all the facts. Thank-you for restoring my faith in you as the good person you are.

It irritates the heck out of me that people can manipulate a mentally ill person to the point of getting rid of his children then turn around and marry someone else and have a happy life. His Karma will catch up with him.

The question I posed to Helen after her post was did she think Rusty deliberately left his children alone with his psychotic wife to allow for the murder of his children?

I am in no way defending Rusty. Simply stating that I don't think he ever thought Andrea was capable of doing such a thing.

I think Rusty had some reality issues and perhaps had a warped interpretation of Christianity but I don't think he should share responsibility for cold blooded murder with Andrea.

Also, he did make arrangements for his mother to be with Andrea during the day while he was at work. Andrea knew when her mother in law was coming and planned on killing the children right after Rusty left that day for work before she arrived.

It is very obvious that Andrea did not "plan" on killing the children. She was psychotic and had a mental crisis that made her go off the deep end. Because she had a psychotic breakdown, she was no longer in control of her actions.

Rusty had urged her to go off the medication that kept her from snapping. I do not think that Rusty chose that day to set up the murder scene then "went off to work knowing she would kill the children" - I believe he manipulated Andrea's thinking over several months or so and hoped she would some day snap and put an end to their life together. Of course, this is only my personal opinion. It does look, though, that Rusty was just as much to blame for the deaths of those children because he was aware of all the dangers of his wife's mental illness yet urged her anyway to stop taking the medicine. He was more than capable of doing such a thing, he was devious and manipulating.

We are only stating our own opinions. Mine is that Rusty knew how to put Andrea's mind onto a certain track of thoughts.

I still think Rusty should have been convicted of "endangerment to children" at the very least.

Rusty should have been put on trial in the beginning - he was just as much to blame as Andrea - maybe more.

Now he is out free and re-married - didn't take him very long to move on, did it?

The woman who married him - gotta question her sanity, too.......