The Cult Behind the Killer: The Andrea Yates Story – Review | ID / HBO Max

THE CULT BEHIND THE KILLER: THE ANDREA YATES STORY on HBO Max is an I.D. documentary series in three parts. Also, it isn’t really about Andrea Yates. Instead, it’s about the self-proclaimed preacher Michael Woroniecki and his cult. As such, the first part of the title is more accurate. Read our The Cult Behind The Killer: The Andrea Yates Story review here!

THE CULT BEHIND THE KILLER: THE ANDREA YATES STORY is a new ID documentary streaming on HBO Max. All three episodes of the true crime docu-series are out now, and it is a wild watch. As someone who only grew up with religion as a part of life when it came to school holidays and only attended church for weddings, baptisms, and funerals, I cannot wrap my head around following anything blindly.

This is probably why I am so fascinated by true crime documentaries about cults. To me, it is so obvious that anyone raised in an environment of following a preacher or a book will be much easier prey for these cults. And yet again, I feel this three-part documentary series confirms it.

Continue reading our The Cult Behind The Killer: The Andrea Yates Story review below. Find it on HBO Max now.

A preventable tragedy

The Cult Behind the Killer: The Andrea Yates Story is a gross title for this true crime docu-series. First, it isn’t about Andrea Yates, only as a footnote or a starting point, if you will. And second, she isn’t actually a convicted killer due to her being mentally ill and under the influence of sinister people, and not getting help from those closest to her.

Andrea Yates drowned her five children in the family bathtub. One by one, which is a desperate move by a mentally ill woman who thought she was saving her children. It happened on a June morning in 2001, when her husband Rusty went to work despite knowing that his wife was at the end of her rope and she would be the caretaker of their five children.

Even if you thought she would be okay, how should children between the ages of 6 months and 7 years be okay in that situation? Had a woman left her husband alone with their five kids, and it ended in tragedy, I have no doubt she would be in prison right alongside him. It’s always the mother’s fault.

Needless to say, people were left shocked when the news of her actions came out. She called the police herself after completing her mission of “saving” her children. She confessed to it all, but it was soon established that Andrea Yates was suffering from postpartum depression and psychosis. And not even for the first time!

Also, this was far from the only thing influencing her actions on that fateful day, which was entirely preventable. And that is the greatest tragedy.

Not really about Andrea Yates

The Cult Behind The Killer: The Andrea Yates Story isn’t really about Andrea Yates. Instead, it’s about the preacher Mike Woroniecki and his strange cult built on Doom’s Day ideas and everyone going to hell. Also, all women are wicked, children must be disciplined (which means beaten), and only he is truly able to speak with God.

It’s this strange home-brewed version of Christianity as we’ve seen in so many documentaries about cults.

I find it fascinating and wanted to know more about how Michael Woroniecki was able to build this cult, and I must confess, I still don’t understand it. We hear from two men, Rusty Yates and David De la Isla, who got caught up in the world of having Woroniecki as their savior when they came across him at their college campus.

This makes no sense to me… getting a college education and being radicalized by religion is counterintuitive to me.

One of the two was the husband of Andrea Yates, Rusty, who worked at NASA when it all went wrong. How do you combine science and space with the religious and hateful ramblings of Mike Woroniecki?

The only explanation I can see is one familiar to that of The Handmaid’s Tale, which is that the man is King of the family, and everyone else is beneath him. What is referred to as “traditional family values”. Oh yes, watching a documentary like The Cult Behind The Killer makes me just as angry as these docu-series always do.

Watch The Cult Behind The Killer: The Andrea Yates Story on HBO Max now

The only person I really want to listen to is Moses Storm, who was born into this cult. As such, he had no choice, and yet, he seems much more aware of what he was trapped in than those who went into it willingly. As for Rusty Yates, he seems to still be deeply in denial, comparing postpartum depression with the flu despite having already seen that it meant a suicide attempt for his wife.

I suppose that’s how you can “deal” with it, while not truly dealing with it. Also, it angered me to no end that “The Andrea Yates Story” only barely followed up on what actually happened to her. You have to return to the credits and catch the very final sentence to see what becomes of her.

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Instead, the focus is on the men who used to be in the cult. Not that we ever hear the how and when of how they left said cult. As such, it is the perfect example of what Mike Woroniecki preaches: Women are not what matters… even when the story is supposedly about them.

Just keep in mind that everyone gets away with having influenced Andrea Yates, but a girl was convicted of having made a young man kill himself. I’m not saying this was wrong, but not having anyone pay for what they did to Andrea Yates most certainly is!

This Investigation Discovery three-part docuseries is a fascinating and angering watch, but one you ought to watch. If nothing else, then to live by the creed: When you know better, you do better. We all need to know better if we are to avoid these tragedies in the future.

THE CULT BEHIND THE KILLER: THE ANDREA YATES STORY can be streamed on HBO Max now.