Psychiatrist Says Yates Considered Stabbing

Andrea Yates considered stabbing her five children but decided it was too bloody and drowning was a better way to end their lives, a psychiatrist testified.

Dr. Melissa Ferguson said Yates also ruled out drugs to kill her children, but believed drugs were possible for suicide. Ferguson interviewed Yates in jail the day after her children were drowned.

Ferguson testified that Yates told her she thought about killing her children for at least three months and thought about it the night before the children were drowned.

Ferguson described how Yates believed she had been marked by Satan and said that Yates told her killing her children was the right thing to do.