5 Disturbing Details “The Cult Behind The Killer: The Andrea Yates Story” Left Out

NEED TO KNOW

Andrea sought extensive treatment for postpartum depression and psychosis

While there were several mentions and stories relating to Andrea's mental health in the docuseries, there was little information about her years-long struggle to treat it.

In Suzanne O'Malley's 2005 book, Are You There Alone?: The Unspeakable Crime of Andrea Yates, she wrote that Andrea had been suffering from depression as young as her early teenage years. One of her classmates claimed that Andrea had contemplated suicide when she was 17 years old.

Fordham Law School author and criminologist Deborah W. Denno wrote in her own 2003 paper that years before Andrea had ever met Rusty, she was suffering from "intense loneliness and, perhaps, depression," while working as a young nurse.

Andrea's mental health reportedly further deteriorated after she and Rusty, who married in 1993, welcomed their first four children together. Rusty specifically mentioned that after the 1999 birth of their fourth child, Luke, Andrea suffered a "nervous breakdown."

"We were still at Andrea’s mother’s house and Andrea walked off," he recalled in the doc. Rusty then claimed, "I open the bathroom door and she is standing, looking at herself in the mirror, with a knife up to her neck. She just stood there, catatonic.”

Andrea was subsequently hospitalized and sought treatment for her postpartum depression. While the docuseries highlights her brief stay at the hospital in early 2001, it did not mention the variety of medications she was taking to treat her diagnosis.

Over the course of her mental illness, Andrea was prescribed antidepressants such as Effexor, Remeron, Wellbutrin and Zoloft, as well as the antipsychotic drug, Haldol, per Denno's paper. Two weeks before Andrea killed her children, she stopped taking Haldol.

Rusty Yates didn’t explain why they had a fifth child after doctors encouraged them to not have more

After she and Rusty welcomed their fourth child, Andrea attempted suicide several times and was diagnosed with postpartum depression and psychosis. She was treated by psychiatrists and doctors and given a combination of treatments that temporarily helped her.

Toward the end of 1999, Andrea stopped taking her medication when she began feeling more like herself, despite a doctor encouraging her to continue. Doctors also urged Rusty and Andrea to not have anymore children, as it could result in Andrea's conditions relapsing.

Andrea's first psychiatrist, Dr. Eileen Starbranch, later testified that she told the couple to not have another child, because, as she wrote in her notes at the time, it would "guarantee future psychotic depression," per CBS News.

In March 2000, Andrea became pregnant with their fifth child and subsequently went off Haldol. They welcomed daughter Mary in 2000.

During his interviews in the docuseries, Rusty did not share why he and Andrea decided to forgo the doctor's advice. Rather, he explained that they had previously agreed to have "however many children that come along."

"Going into our marriage, we said, 'Well, we're going to have however many children that come along, right and right or wrong,' that’s what we decided," he shared.

Rusty further recalled thinking that Andrea's postpartum depression and psychosis was like the "flu," where there was a "50/50 chance that if she has another child, she'll relapse."

"If the risk of having another child was the flu that was a risk worth taking," he said. "I just thought, 'Okay, she'll get sick. Worst case, it’ll be like a flu. She'll get treated with the same medicines that worked for her before and we'll be done.' "

Andrea's condition ultimately worsened, and she "went from being what seemed like normal to in a worse state," Rusty recalled.

"She was completely out of it," he said. "I didn’t know it at the time, but Andrea was having visual hallucinations, auditory hallucinations, and it led to the delusions she had of having the devil in her."

Andrea was left at home with her children after doctors advised Rusty to not leave her alone

The docuseries begins with Rusty explaining that on the morning of the killings, he left Andrea alone with the children while he went to work. He recalled that the last thing he saw was Andrea eating cereal out of the box as he said goodbye to the kids.

However, the docuseries does not mention how, according to testimony at Andrea's trial, doctors specifically advised Rusty to not leave Andrea alone with the children in the midst of her depression and psychosis.

Andrea's psychiatrist Dr. Mohammad Saeed wrote that after he treated Andrea in 2001, he alerted Rusty of this advice, according to Dr. Park Dietz's testimony as reported in the Houston Chronicle. Rusty, his mother and mother-in-law had been working together to watch the kids and Andrea.

On June 20, 2001, Rusty left work work in the morning approximately an hour before his mother was set to arrive. Shortly after Rusty left, Andrea drowned her children. He has never been charged in connection with his children's deaths.

Michael Woroniecki has continued preaching across the country

The docuseries heavily focuses on the controversial preacher Woroniecki, who was described as an alleged "cult leader." Andrea began listening to Woroniecki after Rusty heard about him.

In the docuseries, several of Woroniecki's former followers spoke about their experiences and described how they believed his influential persona emphasized people's fears about a potential doomsday.

After listening to Woroniecki's teachings for years, Andrea allegedly began to believe that the devil was inside of her and the only way to save her children was to kill them before they reached the "unrighteous" age of 12.

"It was the seventh deadly sin," she reportedly told jail psychiatrist Melissa Ferguson, who testified in her trial. "My children weren't righteous. They stumbled because I was evil. The way I was raising them, they could never be saved. They were doomed to perish in the fires of hell."

The jury in Andrea's second trial in 2006 learned about what Woroniecki was allegedly preaching before reversing the 2002 verdict and finding her not guilty by reason of insanity.

Shortly after Woroniecki's name and teachings were brought up in both of her trials, he defended himself and denied any involvement in Andrea's conduct.

"I shared Jesus with them," Woroniecki told Good Morning America in March 2002. "I hold [Rusty] responsible [for the drownings] but I also hold Andrea responsible. God knows what we shared with those people."

Woroniecki did not participate in the docuseries, but it briefly mentions in the end that he has continued to share his teachings. It also shared that Woroniecki never faced any criminal or legal responsibility in the Yates children's deaths.

Over the last five decades, Woroniecki and his family have traveled across the country to spread the message of the "simple Christian gospel of salvation through the work and Person of Jesus," per his website.

Despite what he has described as the "terrible lies and fabricated stories" from his former followers, Woroniecki has maintained that he is not "a cult or religious fanatic."

Rusty visits Andrea in the mental health facility and visits his children’s graves

Rusty spoke about his early relationship with Andrea and how she changed as a mother, but he didn't elaborate on his current relationship with her after their 2005 divorce. Andrea has been held at a mental health facility in Kerrville, Texas, since 2007.

“I try once a year to visit in person and we text back and forth some and talk on the phone some,” Rusty told PEOPLE in January 2026. “Andrea and I always got along. That's a time of our life that we both cherish and she's the only person I can talk to about it. She and I are the only two who can get together and reminisce about what it was like to enjoy those years together.”

Rusty described the reunions as "bittersweet," because while it's "nice to reminisce," it also brings up memories of what the past was like and what their future could have looked like.

"Honestly, I never imagined anything like this could happen, especially with her, especially how caring and loving and devoted Andrea is," he shared. "I don't hold it against her, but even just communicating with her is a reminder of that. So, we try to focus on the better times, but it's a little hard to, even in our conversations, avoid that most significant tragedy."

He continued, "And I think that for her, it loomed so large that it's really kept her from growing, from really living and trying to enjoy the balance of her years. It's just too big. She can't get past it.”

Rusty further revealed that he has "encouraged" Andrea over the years to try and seek release. Although he said that she mostly "resisted the idea," he has seen a "slight shift" in her and now thinks she may be "a little more open" to it.

In addition to visiting his ex-wife, Rusty has also visited his children's graves, and privately mourned their deaths for the last 24 years.