'Killer' Texan mum chased fleeing child

A confession details five drownings, reports ANDREW GUMBEL.

HOUSTON - The Texas woman accused of killing her five children has told police how she methodically drowned them one by one in the bathtub.

When her eldest, 7-year-old Noah, realised what was going on and bolted, Andrea Pia Yates chased him round the house before dragging him back to the bathroom.

The 36-year-old mother, who had a history of mental illness and post-natal depression, described last Thursday's horrifying events in "a zombie-like fashion" as she made a videotaped confession, investigators told the Houston Chronicle.

Two-year-old Luke was the first to go, then Paul, 3, and John, 5. After drowning them, Yates laid them out on a bed and wrapped them in a sheet.

As she was putting down the corpse of her 6-month-old baby girl, Noah came into the bedroom and asked: "What's wrong with Mary?"

He ran off before his mother could answer. She caught up with him after a brief chase and dragged him back to his death.

"This is the most horrendous thing I have ever seen," prosecutor Joe Owmby said as he emerged from a preliminary court hearing.

Yates has been charged only with the murder of the two oldest children so far, but the charges are likely to be extended following her confession and other corroborating evidence.

The Harris County Medical Examiner has ruled that all five children drowned.

"We'll be reviewing police files, meeting investigators and making decisions on what exactly to charge," Owmby said.

"We'll be preparing, as always, for an eventual trial, whether there is one or not."

Although the facts of the case seem clear, the reasons for Yates' behaviour are a mystery.

Her husband Russell, a computer engineer at Nasa's Johnson Space Centre, said on Friday that she had suffered from severe post-natal depression following the births of the last two children, and had even been prescribed Haldol, an anti-psychotic drug usually administered to counter deeply delusional symptoms such as hearing voices.

Local healthcare officials said Andrea Yates had attempted suicide two years ago.

She had also been on three anti-depressant drugs, suggesting her symptoms were too severe for any one of them to give her relief.

Russell Yates said the death of his wife's father in March severely exacerbated her problems, sending her into a deep depression from which she had only partly recovered by the time of the killings.

Psychologists and mental illness experts wondered at the weekend why a woman with such a medical history would be left at home to look after five children.

She also took on the responsibility of home-schooling them.

Russell Yates showed no regret for his domestic arrangements.

"I'm not saying it was not stressful. It was manageable. She couldn't do it while she was depressed, but ordinarily."

Andrea Yates, who is being held without bail, could face the death penalty if criminal charges are pressed.

- INDEPENDENT