"Are You There Alone?" (2004) is the unspeakable true crime of Andrea Yates which exposes the human mystery of the most horrifying crime in recent history and the legal drama surrounding it.
Hardback: At 9.48am on Wednesday, 20 June 2001, Andrea Yates dialed 911. Dorene Stubblefield, a dispatcher for the Houston Police Department, answered the phone.
"Are you there alone?"
"Yes," Yates said. Suddenly there was more static, then another long silence. Stubblefield wondered if she'd lost her. The sound of panicked breathing returned.
"Andrea Yates?"
"Yes."
"Is your husband there?"
"No. I'm sick."
"How are you sick?" Stubblefield asked. Yates's answer was unintelligible.
"Andrea Yates, is your husband there?"
"No."
"Why do you need a policeman, ma'am?"
"I just need him to be here."
"For what?"
"I just need him to come."
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As a journalist, Suzanne O'Malley began covering the murders of Noah, John, Paul, Luke and Mary Yates hours after their mother, Andrea Yates, then 36 years old, drowned them in their suburban Houston, Texas, home in June 2001.
Over twenty four months, O'Malley interviewed or witnessed the sworn testimony of more than a hundred participants in this drama, including Yates herself; her husband, Russell "Rusty" Yates; their families; attorneys; the personnel of the Harris County district attorney's and sheriff's offices; medical staff; friends; acquaintances; and expert witnesses.
O'Malley argues persuasively that under less extraordinary circumstances, a mentally ill woman would have been quietly offered a plea bargain and sent to an institution under court supervision.
O'Malley's exclusive personal communications with Andrea Yates and her interviews with Rusty Yates allow her to offer fully realized portrayals of people at the center of this horrifying case and more importantly, she makes a critical contribution to our understanding of mental health issues within the criminal justice system.
O'Malley wrote in her Prologue that she "can trace the steps of Andrea Yates in exacting detail but to know the mind of Andrea Yates was the challenge."
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On 30 July 2001, Andrea Yates's attorneys filed Notice of Intent to offer insanity defense.
On 22 September 2001, Andrea Yates was found mentally competent to stand trial after the jury deliberated more than eight hours.
On 18 February 2002, Andrea Yates's murder trial began.
On 12 March 2002, Andrea Yates was found guilty of the murders of three of her five children after the jury deliberated less than four hours and sentenced her to life in prison with the possibility of parole in 2041 - when she would be nearly 77 years old - after the jury deliberated for thirty-five minutes.
However, a day after the guilty verdict, O'Malley's reporting regarding the mistaken testimony of a key prosecution witness contributed to a motion for mistrial and grounds for an appeal of Andrea Yates's conviction.
Andrea Yates and Rusty Yates divorced in 2004.
On 26 July 2006, after three days of deliberation, the Texas jury in her retrial found Andrea Yates not guilty by reason of insanity.
She is currently residing at a low security state mental hospital in Kerrville, Texas.
In May 2012, Andrea Yates's petition to attend weekly church service outside of the hospital is denied.
About the author: Suzanne O'Malley's investigative reports on the Yates trial appeared in the New York Times Magazine, O, the Oprah Magazine and on Dateline NBC. She has written for the New York Times Book Review, Esquire, Harper's Bazaar, Salon.com and Texas Monthly and has been a producer and consultant for NBC and MSNBC. She is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Texas at Austin and lives in New York City and Houston.
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