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CNN Saturday Morning News

Details Slowly Leak From Yates Murder Case

Aired June 23, 2001 - 08:00   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: Noah, Paul, John, Luke and Mary, all biblical names, all children resting with God. Just a few days ago, they were five ordinary children living anonymous lives in suburban America. Now, they're everyone's children, victims of an unspeakable crime. At the center of the singular tragedy, the woman who gave them life, now accused of taking their young lives away for reasons no one can fathom. Last night the children's father pleaded for prayers for his wife because she is, quote, "suffering right now."

CNN's Ed Lavandera joins us now live from Houston, where the question that just won't go away is, why?

Hi, Ed.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra.

The woman you're talking about is 36-year-old Andrea Yates and she is in the downtown Houston detention facility you see behind me in a special wing of this jail where she can be observed 24 hours a day by mental health experts.

Last night, as you mentioned, about 150 people gathered in front of the Yates family home in a suburban neighborhood just south of downtown, 150 people. Not everyone that the family knows. Many strangers came to pray, light candles and to offer their support for Russell Yates and Andrea Yates' family, as well. He thanked everyone for coming. He has said that he has been overwhelmed by the amount of support that has been shown to his family and he once again showed his devotion to his wife, saying that she is suffering and she needs a lot of help in this time.

Now, Russell Yates was able to come to this detention facility yesterday with Andrea Yates' mother and two brothers and was able to spend about 30 to 45 minutes with Andrea Yates in the detention facility yesterday. Andrea Yates also appeared briefly in a court hearing yesterday morning. The major headline from that is that she now has an attorney. His name is George Parnham and he is a high profile Houston attorney. I was able to ask him yesterday if he was working on this case pro bono. He said that he was not but that he could not go into details of the arrangements of how he got to be working on this case.

After the Yates family was able to meet with Andrea Yates in the jail yesterday, Mr. Parnum spoke for the family, saying that it was a very personal meeting under an extremely difficult time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE PARNHAM, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: All I can tell you is the family is extremely supportive. Rusty, the husband, the members of her family, her mother, her brothers who are here and we will get through this with their assistance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAVANDERA: One other note. "The Dallas Morning News" has been reporting on its Web site that Andrea Yates told police officers on Wednesday after her arrest and during questioning that she had been thinking about killing her children for several months, saying that she didn't believe that she was a good mother and that her kids were in a difficult situation and were in a hopeless situation. So those are some of the new details emerging from Houston.

I'm Ed Lavandera, CNN -- Kyra, back to you.

PHILLIPS: All right, Ed, thanks so much.

Well, the deaths of the children always hit one's heart the hardest and many of you who did not know them or know them in life are grieving in death, as they were your own children. If you would like to share your comments or questions, we invite you now to send them by e-mail to wam@CNN.com. CNN's Ed Lavandera and Dr. Sanjay Gupta and author Russell Friedman, an expert on dealing with grief, will join us next hour to take those questions.

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