“Why isn’t he living in that bus?” Holmes says, referring to the converted Greyhound that the Yateses once lived in. “It was fine for his family, for his children to sleep in that luggage hold.” Psychiatrists testified at the trial that the stress of those living conditions contributed to Andrea’s mental decline. For his part, the NASA shuttle engineer told NEWSWEEK that he moved out of the house where his children died because he wanted to simplify his life. “I don’t want to spend my time cutting tree limbs,” he says. As for the appeal, which he gives only a 30 percent chance of success, Rusty says he’s paid all he’s going to pay. “What I spend on food and lodging is nothing compared to what I’ve paid in legal expenses,” he says. “I’ve lost money in this, not made it. I’ve given all that I want to give.” His pastor, the Rev. Byron Fike, says he remains involved in the church: playing basketball, attending men’s prayer sessions and becoming involved in the singles group.
Yates says he’s still considering suing his wife’s doctor and the mental hospital that released her less than a month before she drowned the children. He’s also contemplating another legal action: divorce. “Being apart from Andrea has been an extreme struggle,” he says, adding that he is allowed to hug her only once a month. “Andrea and I need to sit down and work out where we’re going from here.”
Meanwhile, Andrea’s health has improved. According to those who have visited her, she is taking about a fourth of the antipsychotic medication she was during her trial, she works in the laundry room and she takes part in group therapy. She also now fully realizes that she killed her children. Recently Yates asked her mother to bring photos of them. “When she saw these pictures, you could see the pain and the sadness,” says Holmes, who was there. “She just cried.”
