The Ballad of Dena & Andrea
“The Ballad of Dena & Andrea” is a podcast featuring original murder ballads and conversations in reaction to the story of Andrea Yates and Dena Schlosser, two women who murdered their children in the early 2000s.
Host Becky Poole was originally drawn to this story when she learned that Dena and Andrea ended up as roommates, briefly, in a North Texas mental institution. She soon discovered that their lives had been heading in the same tragic and preventable direction for years. Poole wrote an album in the style of Appalachian murder ballads and Americana to create empathetic myths about these mothers.
With this podcast, she invites artists, colleagues, and friends to have conversations in reaction to the story - covering topics like religion, mental health, women's health, misogyny, our failing justice and healthcare systems, motherhood, creating work about tragedy, and more. Each episode includes a bit of Dena and Andrea's story, an interview chat, and an original song. Not a classic true crime doc but myth-making by ballad with honest conversations. Please join us to discover what might come up for you.
The Ballad of Dena & Andrea
The Ballad of Dena & Andrea - Episode 01
This first episode introduces the story of Dena & Andrea in an epic murder ballad. You’ll hear a bit about what a murder ballad is and why I dig them. I’ll chat with two friends, who also tell stories of murder, about the pros and cons of true crime, what it’s like to create macabre content with humor, and the importance of letting go of reductive “good/evil” narratives. Guests: Muriel Montgomery & Nick Casalini of the true crime humor podcast “Muriel’s Murders.”
This pod takes twists in and out of light-hearted and serious. Be prepared for emotional rollercoaster action!
CW: postpartum psychosis, depression, suicide, infanticide, and religious zealotry. Please take care of yourself while listening.
When I use the word women I aim to include anyone who has identified as a woman, female, or femme at any point in their journey.
Links from Show & Guests
Texas Killing Fields I-45 between Houston and Galveston
Ballad of Dena & Andrea Links
Postpartum Support International
PSI Yates Children Memorial Fund Legal Justice Program
A bit about the Yates Children Memorial Fund
National Suicide Hotline: You can call 998 or find help online at
Support the Pod Links
Hosted & created - Becky Poole
Songs written & sung - Becky Poole
Musical Saw - Becky Poole
Song & Theme Instrumentation, Production, & Mix - Abby Posner
Mastered - Dave Locke
Podcast Audio Editing & Mixing - Evan Mosher
Graphic Design - Stefan Lawrence
Photo - Logan Futej
Thank you for listening. For more about postpartum psychosis, go to Postpartum Support International. For the full album click here . Join the conversation on Instagram.
Hi, I’m Becky Poole host of “The Ballad of Dena & Andrea” a podcast showcasing murder ballads, and conversations in reaction to the story of Andrea Yates and Dena Schlosser, (two women who murdered their children in the early 2000s).
I wrote an album based on their story in the styles of Appalachian murder ballads and Americana to examine this story’s cultural significance and create empathetic myths about these mothers. And of course, to have sad songs do what sad songs do, help us process tragedy and grief. But the point of creating work from difficult material for me, is to have conversations with people. So having a podcast come out along with the album seemed like a good idea. I’ve sat down with creators, artists, and friends of mine to talk openly about the story, the songs, and their topics - like mental illness, religion, misogyny, motherhood, grief, women’s health, writing about death, and a lot more. In each episode, I’ll tell you a bit about the story, bring in a friend to chat and share a song from the album.
Please note, that in this podcast, we will discuss postpartum psychosis and depression, domestic abuse, suicide, infanticide, and religious zealotry. Please take care of yourself while listening.
Also note when I use the word women I aim to include anyone who has identified as a woman, female, or femme at any point in their journey.
Ok here we go
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You’ve probably heard of Andrea Yates, the Houston woman who drowned her five children in their home bathtub. But you maybe haven’t heard of Dena Schlosser of Plano, Texas. She’s a woman who cut the arms off of her baby. In both cases these women suffered from postpartum psychosis. And In both cases, the bible told them to… along with other messaging and trauma.
Dena and Andrea met while they were both in a North Texas State Mental Institution. Kinda seemed like, “Oh hey you killed your kids and she killed her kid… so um, we’ll just leave you two alone.”
Dena seemed more into it and when a reporter asked her about Andrea, she said, "She is almost my identical personality," "I think we'll be friends forever. I've only known her a short period of time, but I believe the feeling is mutual. She probably thinks that same thing.”
Andrea… didn’t say much about Dena.
What do you think they talked about in that room? I imagine they talked about their baby girls, Mary & Margaret. Maybe they talked about Church, the Bible, homeschooling their kids, or how they were taken off of anti-depressants by their husbands, how they left careers and changed their lives to fit into new religious institutions, how they attempted suicide, or how postpartum psychosis felt. Or maybe they just stared at the same beige walls.
I want to tell you why I chose murder ballads to recount this story. There is just enough information and cultural curiosity about this story to create a solid myth about these women. Which to me, is what murder ballads are; true stories that become elevated to myth, warnings and reflections of a time. And although they may have been used to simply spread news from town to town, these songs become bigger than just the facts. They are sprawling metaphors singing a tone of American life - of a culture of oppression, poverty, and mistakes.
Some traditional American murder ballads stem from true stories brought over from Scotland, Ireland, and England years and years and years ago and sung by those settlers in Appalachia. A good example of this migration is the song Two Sisters. Certain folk song indexes have estimated that there are around 500 versions of this song dating back centuries and even pre-christianity.
Musically, the form of a murder ballad is stripped down, simple, repetitive. A narrator, a melody, a story. This focus puts the listeners and I believe the singer somewhere between a campfire and a trance.
A lot of these songs are about a man killing a woman. As is the case in the homegrown classic “Omie Wise” about John Lewis, a man who murdered a young woman named Naomi Wise in 1908. The truth of it is that he ran, was arrested years later and convicted for something else and never convicted for Naomi’s murder. But in the song, and its subsequent many versions - his myth is made. He gets varying endings and she is always dead. The violence of men is expected in the songs; they are not being judged as “other”, monsters, or even wrong, their story is just being heard.
Women’s existing narratives of violence seem too binary, they are victims or they are monsters. With my murder ballad writing I am choosing to filter true contemporary stories of women perpetuating violence, and the violence thrust upon them, through pretty gritty songs to even the score a bit sure, but also to tell more women-centered stories in this form. Because I like it and its soothing. I'll talk to my therapist about that
<<<<<<<<<<<< THEME BREAK <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
For this initial interview I wanted to talk to two of my friends who also tell stories about murder and create work in the podcast space. How do they do it? These guests are well seasoned podcasters and just the most delightful and inspirational couple you’ve ever met. They have created so much art together - from visual art to musical theatre to their initial podcast “Hella in Your Thirties” to sketch comedy which is how we met - yes, doing sketch comedy in Chicago. I love how they tell stories with humor and care for each other, their audience, and the folks they’re talking about. Join me now with Muriel Montgomery and Nick Casalini of the true crime humor podcast “Muriel’s Murders.”
INTERVIEW WITH MURIEL & NICK:
And now here comes this episode’s song. It’s um, not funny… But it is an overview of Dena and Andrea’s story in a sprawling epic murder ballad. Other songs coming up on the podcast are more produced and lean more Americana over ballad. But this one is tradish, a capella, repetitive, substantial … Strap in and get (un)comfortable for “The Ballad of Dena & Andrea.”
Tonight I tell the tale of two women and their strife.
Both devoted to the Lord and took their children’s lives.
Andrea Yates from Houston is the name you probably know
Police found her babies wet and breathing no more.
She was a Valedictorian. Worked as a registered nurse.
Married Rusty and they followed a preacher who said she was cursed.
She gave birth to 4 babies and after the 4th one
Her doctor told her no more on account of depression.
But along came baby Mary the only little girl.
Who knew then that she would have only 6 months on this world.
Andrea tried to kill herself many times with pills and knives.
Restrained herself so hard you could see bruises on her thighs
Again the Dr ordered her to be chaperoned
Rusty thought it’d be ok if he left them all home.
She begged her husband not to leave her alone with their kids.
He smiled and said you love them turned around and left he did
In under one hour she had filled up the tub
and taken all the lives of the babies that she loved.
Her husband Rusty peered into the house window
Andrea what have you done, as if he couldn’t have known.
Dena Schlosser is the woman who you may not know.
Some call her the Baby Chopper of Plano
Dena has her bachelors in the school of psychology
Worked at a daycare center and started a family.
They joined a church whose Pastor says medicine is a sin
And commands that women should silently obey their men.
Her husband John he told her that she could work no more.
Then he lost his job and so it goes they ended up poor.
A day after baby Maggie came into this world
Dena fell into despair, her mind began to swirl
She ran away from home and she slit her wrists
Since they took her off her meds she could see the apocalypse.
Blood in the streets and demons as she cut off Maggie’s arms
Was Dena’s final vision to save her from Satan’s harms.
These two women were set up with beds in North Texas.
Strangers but now roommates shut away from all of us
Postpartum psychosis was a card they were both dealt.
What was happening in their bodies? What was it they felt?
Their crimes for us so ghoulish, for them their worst mistake.
How do we know for sure that if broken no lives we’d take.
If you’d like more information on postpartum psychosis and depression please go to postpartum.net There are additional links to mental health, safety, and reproductive resources in the show notes as well as links to information mentioned in this show.
You can listen to the full album of songs for the Ballad of Dena & Andrea on spotify and apple music Songs were written by me, Becky Poole and produced by award-winning multi-instrumentalist folk musician, and incredible producer, Abby Posner. Find her at abbyposner.com Theme also composed and played by Abby Posner.
Special thank you to Evan Mosher for sound sweetening, Julie Rosing for help producing, and to Andrew and the team at VoiceTrax West in Los Angeles.
Thank you so much for listening and please join me in future episodes as we explore more themes in “The Ballad of Dena & Andrea”.
