Andrea Yates
Woroniecki first met Rusty Yates in the mid 1980s while preaching on the campus of Auburn University, Alabama. Rusty took some literature, and they corresponded by mail for the next several years In 1989 Rusty introduced the Woronieckis to Andrea Kennedy, whom he had recently begun dating. Woroniecki said of this meeting that Andrea seemed slightly intimidated, and that he advised them not to marry quickly, the same advice he gave to other young couples.
The Yates and Woroniecki stayed in touch by letter and telephone, and in 1998, the Yates travelled to Miami after hearing that the Woronieckis were selling their motor home. Rusty bought the bus, a 1978 GMC that Woroniecki had used for his family's travels. During the week that the Yates stayed, Woroniecki confronted Rusty, saying that he was "willing to sacrifice his wife and children for the sake of his job" After this confrontation, Rusty and Woroniecki "grew apart". In the months leading up to the drownings, Rusty described the relationship with the Woronieckis as not being very close.
Andrea Yates had suffered mental health difficulties for several years leading up to 2001. In June 1999 Yates took an overdose of sedatives and over the next 2 years was hospitalized several times, and prescribed a variety of anti-depressant and anti-psychotic medications. On June 20, 2001, a few weeks after being discharged from Devereaux Texas Treatment Center, Andrea killed all five of her children.
In early 2002 Michael Woroniecki came to the attention of the national media when Yates' trial started. Yates' defense attorney George Parnham placed a copy of Woroniecki's newsletter The Perilous Times into evidence, suggesting that the material was dangerous for someone like Yates, and defense team psychiatrist Lucy Puryear said on Good Morning America that "Yates' fate may have been different if she never met Woroniecki". Certain media outlets alleged that Woroniecki bore some responsibility for influencing Andrea.
However, both Michael Woroniecki and Rusty Yates dismissed the allegations. According to the Houston Chronicle, "(Russell)Yates said his relationship with Woroniecki was more like learning from a book. He was free to accept what he wanted and reject that which he didn't". Yates said "That’s just crazy" when asked whether or not his wife was influenced by Woroniecki. He stated that Andrea had suffered schizophrenia, depression and delusions for years. Both Yates and Woroniecki characterized the connection, between Woroniecki’s teachings and Andrea Yate’s state of mind, as nothing more than media created fiction and sensationalist reporting. Woroniecki “…certainly didn’t cause the delusion,” says Yates.
Woroniecki called the defense’s claims “ridiculous”. He stated that he had only met Andrea personally 4 or 5 times over 20 years and that his relationship with her was “one of nothing but love and compassion”. Woroniecki said that he had warned Russell Yates that Andrea and their children needed his love. Peter Jennings of World News Tonight reported that Rachel Woroniecki, in a letter, had told the Yates' that they needed to reconcile their marriage. In an interview with NBC Dateline in March 2002, Mrs. Woroniecki said:
"A major problem is that people think that by emulating our lifestyle they can have the joy and the love that we have without building a foundation in Jesus Christ."
. Woroniecki was quoted by the Grand Rapids Press as saying,
"I will gladly sacrifice my reputation if it can spare Andrea from the death penalty and give her a second chance at life. However ... it is deceitful and irresponsible to blame doctors, hospitals, clinics or 'postpartum depression.' They (Rusty and Andrea Yates) both know that the issues which culminated in this tragedy are much, much deeper."
Read more about this topic: Michael Peter Woroniecki