Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Live At Daybreak

Five Children Killed: Houston Police Spokesman Discusses Tragedy

Aired June 21, 2001 - 07:31   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.
CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Thirty-seven minutes after the hour. We have more now on the deaths of those five Houston children. Their mother, 36-year-old Andrea Yates, in custody right now, charged with capital murder for killing her children. And in the state of Texas, that would qualify her for the death penalty if convicted.

Police department spokesman Robert Hurst joins us now from the crime scene.

Good morning, Mr. Hurst. Thanks for joining us.

ROBERT HURST, HOUSTON POLICE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: Good morning.

LIN: Well, we understand that Andrea Yates is cooperating with this investigation. Has she told investigators how this happened, why this happened?

HURST: At this point, no formal statement has been released by the homicide investigators to the media. And no motive has been given at this time.

LIN: How would you describe her demeanor at this point now that she's in custody?

HURST: She is answering the questions that the homicide investigators are posing to her. And she is currently in a temporary jail facility here in Houston. A couple of weeks ago, we received a very catastrophic flood here in Houston. So she is not at the Harris County jail. She is in a temporary holding facility close to that Harris County jail.

LIN: Is she receiving psychiatric care? Is she under any sort of special watch?

HURST: Not that I'm aware of.

LIN: Not that you're aware of. Russell Yates, you managed to -- or your officers have managed to question the husband about what happened. Has he been able to shed any more light on the circumstances?

HURST: I'm not in a position to go into any information that Mr. Yates has passed on to the homicide investigators. He has been questioned regarding what happened here by the homicide investigators. But as to what he has told them, I'm not in a position to discuss that at this time.

LIN: How is Russell Yates doing now?

HURST: I do not know, ma'am. I haven't seen Mr. Yates. And no information has been passed on by the homicide investigators to me about his mental status.

LIN: All right.

Have the autopsies yet been performed on the children's bodies? Do you know yet the cause of death?

HURST: The cause of death has not yet been determined by the Harris County medical examiner's office. Dr. Joyce Carter, who is the Harris County medical examiner, is expediting those autopsies. But no information has been released regarding the exact cause of death at this time.

LIN: Mr. Hurst, I understand that all the responding officers are all fathers themselves. How have they described the scene that they found in the house? How are they managing to, I don't know, digest what it is that they saw, what it is they're investigating at this point?

HURST: The Houston police officers that responded to this call for service at this address on Beachcomber Drive in the Clear Lake area of Houston responded and acted in a very professional manner. They represented the Houston Police Department in a very exemplary manner and they are back on duty today.

LIN: Mr. Hurst, I would expect nothing less of the Houston Police Department. I'm just wondering if there's just been a human response within the department on this case. I don't know if you've ever seen anything like this before.

HURST: Unfortunately, in police work, tragedies are something that police officers are trained to deal with. This, obviously, is a tragedy. And those officers dealt with it in the way that they were trained to do so by the Houston Police Department.

LIN: Robert Hurst, spokesman for the Houston Police Department, thank you very much for joining us this morning.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com