And now, about Russell Yates . . .

SF Chronicle ^ | 3-19-02 | Debora J. Saunders

[Oldeconomybuyer]

Hey, I'm ready to start a Russell Yates Vasectomy Fund. On Friday, a jury decided that Yates' wife Andrea, 37, will serve a life sentence in prison for drowning the couple's five children, Noah, John, Paul, Luke and baby Mary. She won't be eligible for parole until 2041.

[AppyPappy]

She could have gone to her family. The same ones that have taken to the air to blame Russell. They could have taken her.

[lsee]

They could have taken her..

Indeed, they could not only have taken her IN, they also have taken her and the kids OUT of there, forcibly if necessary. If I knew my daughter or sister was sick and knew her husband would not get a second doctor's opinion and then a THIRD, I'd be taking her to these doctors myself over his protests, even over HER protests. There's a time for politeness and there's a time to interfere. It's easy to point fingers at the son-in-law/brother-in-law now, but I wish they'd done more on their OWN.

[NYCVirago]

When you have a nut in the lens, you let him dig his own grave. Why is he even being interviewed? Because it fits the agenda being pushed.

Which agenda is that? It certainly isn't the "Rusty Yates is at fault" agenda, as he's been handled with kid gloves by the media.

[texgal]

I think there is a lot more to this story that may come out if Andrea does get treatment and regains her sanity.

I agree. All I could think during his interview the day of the murders was that this guy doesn't look devastated, he looks relieved. What he is reported to have said to his wife pretty much confirmed that for me. When she called and told him he'd better come home, she finally done it. He didn't ask "what do you mean" or "what are you talking about" - he asked "which one?" to which she replied "all of them".

Word is down here in the area that he's already got wife #2 waiting in the wings. He does bear responsibility in the deaths of those children and for the condition in which he allowed his wife to continue.

[contessa machiaveli]

there will be lots of women standing in line to get at rusty. he's attractive in a zombie-like way and he's obviously virile. why do i also have a feeling that andrea was sort of a sex slave (when she wasn't busy taking care of the children). rusty is a demanding borderline personality.

[berniel]

Wouldn't it be interesting to watch a video of Andrea watching a video of Rusty on Larry King intimating that he may chose to move forward and marry/procreate again? I bet she would eventually spell out EXACTLY what he put her through, probably relegated to sleeping on the floor next to their bed, etc. etc.. Berated and taunted into offing the kids. She only failed him when she didn't end her own life.

[GussiedUp]

SICK! And on the website, he says they "died tragically". Ground control to Major Rusty: THEY WERE MURDERED! and YOU MUST HAVE HAD AN INKLING SHE WAS LIKELY TO MURDER THEM BECAUSE YOU WEREN'T SURPRISED WHEN SHE CALLED YOU!

I totally agree.

[PokeyTheGoat]

And where could she have gone, AppyPappy? Leaving is not easy, I've been there. I took 25 years of being married to an alcoholic and all the garbage that brings with it. I had three kids, no marketable skills, nowhere to go really. At the right time I was able to but not until then. She was psychotic to begin with and had more kids than I did and less marketable skills.

Actually she was a trained R.N. I left my spouse for awhile and even had him arrested due to his anger problem. I actually put up with it (why I still don't know) until my child came along. That, as they say, was all she wrote.

Whatever I tolerated for myself; the rules changed when I had my precious child in the picture because I am my child's protector. That is when my spouse saw something smelly hit the fan but hard. We're still married and doing quite well now but I dropped him like a hot rock and sic'ed one nasty attorney on him as well. I forced him into therapy and will make the story short now but I had zero marketable skills (my own fault and now being corrected) when I left in the middle of the night with no living family members to turn to. I was completely alone but I asked for help and got it. There IS help out there for ANY woman wanting to leave. I know this firsthand. But Andrea had family and job skills, I did not.

No one but NO ONE so much as twitches at my child, even vocally, and there was no physical abuse involved but the mental/verbal as severe. I have also found that a bully will truly back down and change their behavior when they know it will not be tolerated.

[Aliska]

My only comment is that I would expect a normal husband to crack up over something like this. I don't understand his seeming lack of emotion.

He may have been well aware that his wife wasn't fit to be released from the hospital but went along with it because he needed her at home to babysit so things could get back to normal for him.

Some husbands who have mentally ill wives live in fear of what could happen and others are exactly the opposite. They live in denial. I think this husband was in deep denial.

[2sheep]

>>>I do think what Randy Rusty had in mind to bring home from the doctors vists wasn't ol' Andrea, but a new model based on the women from the Stepford Wives.

Right.  Back when the police and legal system were for truth instead of for the fulfillment of an agenda, they might have checked this guy's background for satanism and occultic practices.  This whole thing smacks of one (Russell) who is a witch or a charmer...who puts spells on others -- a "Puppet Master."  The culture is steeped in unbelief and people are programmed to believe whatever lie is fed them.  People may watch a "show" on TV of hypnotism and think it is funny and a game, but it is not.  It is a spiritual tool to manipulate others.  The woman was wrong to yield, however, if he was her only support system then that system has a foundation of sand and evil.  You can tell who is true and who is false by their fruit and this guy's fruit stinks as he wants personal honor, book sales, his name in lights and to make his name great.  He should have married Lorena Bobbitt.

De 18:9 When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations.
10 There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch,
11 Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.
12 For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee.

[Marysecretary]

I'm glad you were able to, but not all women are, especially those with low self-esteem or psychotic, as Mrs. Yates was. We can't stand in someone else's shoes. Mary

[Marysecretary]

We don't know what her relationship with her family was or even if they would have taken her in with five kids. All this is conjecture. Woulda, coulda, shoulda. too late now.

[almajur]

The more we hear from Russell Yates the more evident it becomes that he was a Controllist and he had a piece of clay in Andrea...he molded her every which way to suit Him. Timothy Roche did a lengthy piece for TIME.com on Jan. 20, 2002 titled THE YATES ODYSSEY...I printed out the ll pages. Example: "The family had Bible study three nights a week in the living room because Rusty had not found a church he liked." I seem to remember seeing Mr. Yates officiating over the 5 small coffins of his children - not a tear could I see. He waxed eloquent in place of the pastor of the local church which handled the arrangements...keep in mind the Yates family Had no church. IMO Rusty Yates drove his wife, Andrea, crazy. The wrong person is in prison.