Did Religion or Extremism Play a Role in Mothers who Murdered their Children?
Del Williams
October 24, 2005
Women who kill their children do it for varying reasons. Some kill out of depression, others to get back at absent fathers, and increasingly religious extremism. Did the children have to pay due to the vulnerability of some to extremist views? In the case of Andrea Yates and Dena Schlosser it would seem that some self-appointed prophets played a huge role.
Dena Schlosser killed her ten month old daughter by cutting off her arms and leaving her to die. It was blamed on mental illness, but her stepfather, Mick Macaulay believes the teachings of Doyle Davidson also played a role.
Doyle Davidson told women that they ?possessed a rebellious Jezebel spirit and that they should submit to their husbands.? Davidson admits that he does ?teach that women are weaker and should submit to their husbands.?
Mr. Davidson is known to "lay hands" on people to heal them and says he can draw the devil out of them.
He said he was doing just that at Lisa and Harold Staton's Plano home in September when he was arrested for public intoxication.
In a Plano arrest report, Ms. Staton said Mr. Davidson threw her on the couch, sat on top of her and started smothering and choking her. Her husband, Harold, saw Mr. Davidson sitting on his wife and pulled him off.
Mr. Davidson told police that Mrs. Staton was upset with him and scratched him. He said she told him he "was possessed by Satan," the report said.
"Davidson was raising his voice stating that Lisa and Harold Staton were both fired from their church for calling the police," the report states.
Police noted that Mrs. Staton had redness around her chest and throat; and Mr. Davidson had scratches on his arms and neck.
Police officers called to the scene noticed "a very strong odor of an alcoholic beverage" on Mr. Davidson's breath. He paid a $352 fine.
He said the woman was rebellious and he was trying to draw the devil out of her.
During her incarceration, Mrs. Schlosser has heard babies screaming "mommy ... mommy" and seen babies' faces in her jail cell wall, jail psychiatrist Xioyan Wu testified today. Mrs. Schlosser also initially refused treatment in jail, deferring to God as being the only source of possible treatment, said Dr. Wu.
Andrea Yates who drowned her five children in her Houston home in June 2001 was under the teaching of Michael Woroniecki. She met him through her husband in college. This ?preacher? is extreme to say the least. Warneki is reported time and time again in campus newspapers preaching that education is a waste of time and working a job is not God's will. He has spent 25 years going around the world with his wife, Rachel, who refers to herself as ?my husband?s spouse.? Woroniecki and his wife then became "spiritual advisers" to the Yateses, who despite their marginal lifestyle often sent money to help the traveling preacher with expenses.
His religious views included "all women are descendants of Eve and Eve was a witch. The women, particularly women who worked outside the home, are wicked."
Andrea Yates was obsessed with religion and the power of Satan. Following her arrest, for instance, she told doctors that the deaths of her five children were punishment, and that only execution would free her from the clutches of the devil. She also wanted her head shaved so she could see the number 666 on her skull, the alleged "Mark of the Beast."
There were also the peculiar views of Rusty Yates, who saw his wife's mental illness as an indication that her resistance to evil had been lowered. And, too, there was the non-stop sequence of pregnancies and births. Birth control was not part of the agenda at the Yates household. The youngsters were home-schooled according to Woroniecki's teachings.
Rusty Yates said, "the Bible says the devil prowls around looking for someone to devour. I look at Andrea, and I think that Andrea was weak"--not morally weak but chemically weak, her resistance to evil lowered by mental illness. "Think about a field of deer, and there's one limping around, and that's kind of the way I see it. Andrea was weak, and he attacked her. Jesus says, Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." But Andrea did not have the strength to resist.
Did religion play a role in the murders of innocent children? No! Extremism played a role. Two mentally unstable women were influenced by men who looked at them as second class citizens only worth the children they bore.
Dena Schlosser killed her ten month old daughter by cutting off her arms and leaving her to die. It was blamed on mental illness, but her stepfather, Mick Macaulay believes the teachings of Doyle Davidson also played a role.
Doyle Davidson told women that they ?possessed a rebellious Jezebel spirit and that they should submit to their husbands.? Davidson admits that he does ?teach that women are weaker and should submit to their husbands.?
Mr. Davidson is known to "lay hands" on people to heal them and says he can draw the devil out of them.
He said he was doing just that at Lisa and Harold Staton's Plano home in September when he was arrested for public intoxication.
In a Plano arrest report, Ms. Staton said Mr. Davidson threw her on the couch, sat on top of her and started smothering and choking her. Her husband, Harold, saw Mr. Davidson sitting on his wife and pulled him off.
Mr. Davidson told police that Mrs. Staton was upset with him and scratched him. He said she told him he "was possessed by Satan," the report said.
"Davidson was raising his voice stating that Lisa and Harold Staton were both fired from their church for calling the police," the report states.
Police noted that Mrs. Staton had redness around her chest and throat; and Mr. Davidson had scratches on his arms and neck.
Police officers called to the scene noticed "a very strong odor of an alcoholic beverage" on Mr. Davidson's breath. He paid a $352 fine.
He said the woman was rebellious and he was trying to draw the devil out of her.
During her incarceration, Mrs. Schlosser has heard babies screaming "mommy ... mommy" and seen babies' faces in her jail cell wall, jail psychiatrist Xioyan Wu testified today. Mrs. Schlosser also initially refused treatment in jail, deferring to God as being the only source of possible treatment, said Dr. Wu.
Andrea Yates who drowned her five children in her Houston home in June 2001 was under the teaching of Michael Woroniecki. She met him through her husband in college. This ?preacher? is extreme to say the least. Warneki is reported time and time again in campus newspapers preaching that education is a waste of time and working a job is not God's will. He has spent 25 years going around the world with his wife, Rachel, who refers to herself as ?my husband?s spouse.? Woroniecki and his wife then became "spiritual advisers" to the Yateses, who despite their marginal lifestyle often sent money to help the traveling preacher with expenses.
His religious views included "all women are descendants of Eve and Eve was a witch. The women, particularly women who worked outside the home, are wicked."
Andrea Yates was obsessed with religion and the power of Satan. Following her arrest, for instance, she told doctors that the deaths of her five children were punishment, and that only execution would free her from the clutches of the devil. She also wanted her head shaved so she could see the number 666 on her skull, the alleged "Mark of the Beast."
There were also the peculiar views of Rusty Yates, who saw his wife's mental illness as an indication that her resistance to evil had been lowered. And, too, there was the non-stop sequence of pregnancies and births. Birth control was not part of the agenda at the Yates household. The youngsters were home-schooled according to Woroniecki's teachings.
Rusty Yates said, "the Bible says the devil prowls around looking for someone to devour. I look at Andrea, and I think that Andrea was weak"--not morally weak but chemically weak, her resistance to evil lowered by mental illness. "Think about a field of deer, and there's one limping around, and that's kind of the way I see it. Andrea was weak, and he attacked her. Jesus says, Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." But Andrea did not have the strength to resist.
Did religion play a role in the murders of innocent children? No! Extremism played a role. Two mentally unstable women were influenced by men who looked at them as second class citizens only worth the children they bore.
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