Andrea Yates’ Ex-Husband Recalls 'Offhanded Comment' She Made to Young Son that Now Disturbs Him By Christine Pelisek

It’s been almost 25 years since Andrea Yates drowned her five children in the bathroom of her Texas home.

The tragic deaths of Noah, 7, John, 5, Paul, 3, Luke, 2, and 6-month-old Mary stunned the nation, leading to a capital murder conviction for Andrea, which was later overturned. She was later found not guilty by reason of insanity as she suffered from postpartum psychosis — a rare condition that causes hallucinations and delusions.

In Andrea’s case, her defense team argued that the stay-at-home mom’s untreated delusions became entangled with deeply held religious beliefs that killing her young children was the only way to save them.

In an interview with PEOPLE, Andrea’s ex-husband Rusty recalls comments she made about being a bad mother prior to the June 2001 killings.

“When she was sick, her brother and I were trying to admit her in 2001, and I called home to talk with Noah, and I thought she might want that,” he says. “And he would be like, ‘Hi, mommy, and the only thing she said was something to the effect of, ‘I’m sorry, I’ve been such a bad mommy.”

Rusty says at the time he “thought it was an offhanded kind of strange comment.”

Rusty remembers another incident in 2001 when their son Luke was trying to learn his ABCs.

“He messed up and Andrea made an offhanded comment that he should know his ABCs or something like that,” he says. “And I’m like, ‘He’s two. He’s not like 20. He’s two.’ Looking back, those comments kind of fit what we know now of her delusions, but she didn’t say anything else or do anything else during that time that would say, ‘Oh, yeah, I’m having these crazy delusional thoughts.’”

“She didn’t tip her hand at all to say, ‘Hey, I’m thinking all these things.’ She kept all that very guarded,” Rusty remembers. “Andrea’s psychosis took a direction that were based on her fears of being a bad mother or her standing before God. And then those fears were kind of realized in her delusions.”

Police were called to the family’s home in in the Houston suburb of Clear Lake on June, 20, 2001. When officers arrived, they found Andrea standing outside the house and reportedly confessed: “I just killed my children.”

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She reportedly told police she submerged her children in the bathtub one by one before placing the four youngest on her bed and covered them with a sheet, then calling 911.

Andrea reportedly told doctors she believed the only way to save her children from Satan was to kill them, according to the Texas Tribune.

“My children weren’t righteous,” she reportedly told Melissa Ferguson, a jail psychiatrist who testified at her trial. “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.”

If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.

If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health challenges, emotional distress, substance use problems, or just needs to talk, call or text 988, or chat at 988lifeline.org 24/7.