The husband of a Texas housewife who drowned the couple’s five children in the bathtub has filed for divorce.
Russell Yates’ petition was filed in Harris County, where Andrea Yates was convicted of capital murder in the 2001 drowning deaths of three of the couple’s children, who ranged in age from 6 months to 7 years. She was not tried in the deaths of the other two.
The petition was mailed last week and seeks a “standard, uncontested divorce,” Russell Yates’ attorney, David Salinsky, told The Associated Press Monday. “It is nothing out of the ordinary.”
Salinsky deferred questions about the reasons for the divorce to Yates; he did not immediately return a phone message.
Andrea Yates’ attorney, George Parnham, who continues to handle her criminal case, said he was certain she was aware of the filing.
“My only interest is for her well-being, and I am going to make sure she gets through this process as softly as possible,” he said. “It’s just one of those facts of life.”
Andrea Yates was returned last week to the facility near Rusk where she is serving her life sentence after spending about nine days at a prison hospital. She required treatment after refusing food and drink.
Russell Yates said his wife was struggling to deal with the three-year anniversary of the drownings in June, her 40th birthday on July 2 and the issues in their marriage.