Dr. Resnick’s own conclusion was that Yates was severely mentally ill because she reported having delusions and hallucinations. The first explanation of this was that Yates didn’t want her children to burn in hell so she drowned them because she couldn’t bear to do nothing about it. The second explanation was that Yates kept her psychosis to herself because she was under the delusion that Satan could hear what she said and force her own children. The third reason was that Yates believed it would be a greater sin had she not killed her children. She believed that suicide was a sin, but attempted it twice because she’d rather sacrifice herself over than her children in order to save their souls. The fourth reason was that Yates believed the
