Father’s Role Probed in Children’s Drownings

Less than a week after Andrea Yates began serving life in prison for killing her children, the district attorney said that his office is looking into whether her husband had any culpability in the drownings.

To call it an “investigation” would be too strong, Harris County Dist. Atty. Chuck Rosenthal said.

Rosenthal said his office began looking into Russell Yates at the urging of e-mails sent since Andrea Yates drowned the couple’s five children in the family bathtub June 20.

Andrea Yates, 37, was convicted March 12 of killing three of her children. Prosecutors have questioned why Russell Yates left his wife alone with the children.