Yates' Preacher Warned of Hellfire

March 26, 2002

A psychiatrist on Andrea Yates' defense team says the disturbed woman would have never drowned her children if she hadn't found religion from a man named Michael Woroniecki.

A newly uncovered videotape shows traveling evangelist Michael Woroniecki in action. On the tape, Woroniecki is publicly preaching that the that "the whole world is going to hell."

This is the same man Andrea Yates depended on for religious guidance. Psychiatrist Lucy Puryear told Cynthia Hunt of ABCNEWS' Houston affiliate KTRK that Yates' fate might have been different if she never met Woroniecki.

"It's heartbreaking," Puryear said on Good Morning America. "She has schizophrenia. She still would have been ill, but I don't believe she ever, ever would have drowned her children."

Woroniecki first caught the attention of Yates' husband, Russell, who became devoted to the preacher when he was a student at Auburn University in Alabama. The preacher was on the college campus circuit, recruiting new followers. Russell Yates, or Rusty, as he's known, later introduced Woroniecki to his young, impressionable wife, Andrea.

The Yates family followed Woroniecki's teachings and patterned their lives after his. The preacher had six children with biblical names and lived on a bus. The Yateses had five children with biblical names, and lived for a while on a bus they bought from Woroniecki.

On the newly released video, Woronieki tells followers that "multitudes are going to hell. God doesn't give a hoot about your little selfish affluent self-oriented world."