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CNN Saturday Morning News

Vigil Brings Support From Yates' Neighbors

Aired June 23, 2001 - 08:34   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Funeral services are planned Wednesday for the five Yates children who were allegedly drowned by their mother. According to the "Dallas Morning News," Andrea Yates told police that she had thought for months about killing her children because she believed she was a bad mother and that her children were not developing normally. Her next court appearance is July 24.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Countless people around the country are grieving for the five Yates children almost as if they were their own children.

PHILLIPS: A symbol of that collective sorrow was in evidence last night outside the Yates home in suburban Houston. CNN's Martin Savidge was there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The crowd of 150 people gathered in front of the small house on Sealark Street (ph). The yellow police tape gone, but not the knowledge of what happened inside. Neighbors, friends and strangers stood quietly, holding onto candles, to children and each other. The flickering flames as fragile as the young lives they represented.

Russell Yates was on the other side of Sealark Street, bearing the grief of the loss of five children and the heartache over a wife now blamed for their deaths.

RUSSELL YATES, FATHER OF FIVE SLAIN CHILDREN: And my wife's, she's really suffering and, you know, I just ask, you know, we can say a prayer for her because she's, you know, she needs it. She's suffering right now and she needs lots of prayer.

SAVIDGE: The two sides came together in the middle of the road. They prayed for guidance, for comfort and for peace.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm so sorry.

SAVIDGE: One by one, they approached Yates, sharing words, memories, laughter and tears.

YATES: You're great neighbors, you know that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. SAVIDGE: As they crowded round, they surrounded him with their glow then drifted off, returning the darkness to the street and to lives forever changed.

Martin Savidge, CNN, Clear Lake, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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