In one of the most haunting cases in American history, Andrea Yates made a chilling 911 call on June 20, 2001, confessing to drowning her five young children in the bathtub of their suburban Houston home.
The mother of five - from the quiet Clear Lake neighborhood - instantly became the center of a media firestorm that shocked the nation.
The children - Noah, seven, John, five, Paul, three, Luke, two, and six-month-old Mary - were found dead, and Andrea was arrested the same day. Just under a year later, in March 2002, she was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to life in prison.
But the story didn’t end there.
Andrea Yates' Conviction Was Reversed in 2006
After her initial conviction, Andrea’s legal team successfully appealed the verdict.
Her defense argued that she had long suffered from severe postpartum depression and psychosis, and that her doctor had recently taken her off Haldol - a powerful antipsychotic medication - just weeks before the tragedy.
In July 2006, a new trial resulted in a dramatic shift: Andrea was found not guilty by reason of insanity. Since 2007, she’s been held in a mental health facility in Kerrville, Texas.
Why Her Ex-Husband Still Visits Her Every Year
Rusty Yates, now 61, still makes a point to visit Andrea once a year. Nearly two decades after divorcing her in 2005, he says there’s a bond only they can share.
“I try once a year to visit in person and we text back and forth some and talk on the phone some,” Rusty tells PEOPLE.
“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.”
Despite their ongoing connection, Rusty admits it’s difficult.
“It’s bittersweet,” he says. “I mean, it's nice to reminisce. Honestly, I never imagined anything like this could happen, especially with her, especially how caring and loving and devoted Andrea is. 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. 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.”
Yates Has Refused Yearly Competency Reviews
Since her admission to the Kerrville facility, Andrea has had the legal right to request annual reviews to determine whether she is competent to leave. But according to PEOPLE, she has chosen to waive that right every single year.
Rusty believes Andrea’s mental state remains frozen in the past. “Andrea spends a lot more time going over old videos of our family, looking through old pictures — that sort of thing — because her mind is still sort of stuck there,” he says.
He adds that while he has found a way to forgive her, she cannot forgive herself.
“I was raised in a tradition where intention matters as much as anything, right? And we're flawed humans. We can have good intentions and do the wrong thing," he explains.
"So, it's easier for me to forgive Andrea than it is for her to forgive herself because she was raised in a tradition of works. It's a strict Catholic upbringing.
"She's kind of stuck because she has this extremely hard time forgiving herself. It's like, how do you take something that significant and get past it in life? Or do you get stuck there? And that's where you're stuck and that's it.”
From Chance Meeting to Tragedy: How Rusty and Andrea Met
The couple’s love story began in the late 1980s, when both lived in the same Houston apartment complex. Andrea was a nurse at the time.
“One night someone had bumped her car in the parking lot, and I was sitting in my apartment,” Rusty recalls. “I was talking to somebody on the phone. I heard a knock at the door and opened the door, and it was Andrea.
"And I literally dropped the phone. She asked me; she said, 'Hey, do you know anything about that?' Because she knew that I parked out in the same area she did. And later she admitted that it was just an excuse to meet me.
"She'd been wanting to meet me," he continues. "And Andrea is a very shy, kind of reserved person. And if you know her at all, that was a big step for her because she's not a very forward person at all."
The couple married in 1993 and went on to build a family of five.