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In 1978 Ben Roden died and his wife Lois Roden, a woman well-known in evangelical circles because of her pronouncement that the Holy Spirit was female, became the new Branch Davidian prophet. However, she soon found herself in power struggles with her son George Roden, whom most Branch Davidians considered too poorly versed in Scriptures and too erratic to lead the group. In 1981, after being "disfellowed" from the Seventh Day Adventist Church for proclaiming himself a prophet, rock musician and handyman Vernon Howell joined the Branch Davidians. His knowledge of Scripture and personable manner quickly gained him the confidence of Lois Roden and many Branch Davidians. It also earned him the enmity of George Roden, who saw Howell as his prime rival for Branch Davidian leader and prophet. In 1984 Howell married 14-year-old Rachel Jones. The battle between Roden and Howell escalated until finally, in 1985, a gun-toting George Roden drove Howell and his followers out of Mount Carmel. They established a community in shacks and buses on property they purchased in Palestine, Texas.
Howell visited Israel in 1985 and studied the Bible with several rabbis. There he had, as he explained in a February 28, 1993, KRLD radio interview, "an encounter" or, as he told FBI negotiators, "a miraculous meeting with God," (TDR:43) which instructed him to study and fulfill the prophecies of the Seven Seals of the Book of Revelation.
The rivalry with the paranoid and gun-obsessed Roden heated up after Lois Roden's death. In late 1987 Roden dug up the coffin of a long-dead Branch Davidian and challenged Howell to raise her from the dead. Howell complained to authorities about "corpse abuse," but they demanded proof of a crime. When Howell and seven armed followers snuck onto the property to photograph the coffin, Roden caught them and a gunfight ensued. All eight were tried for attempted murder of Roden; seven were acquitted and Howell's trial ended in a hung jury.
By now George Roden had lost most of his followers, was in debt, and was renting out Mount Carmel's ramshackle houses, including to at least two drug traffickers. [35] After writing threatening letters to a Texas Supreme Court Justice, Roden was jailed for six months. Howell took this opportunity to encourage the county to put a lien on Mount Carmel for 16 years of unpaid taxes. Howell paid the taxes in 1989, thereby gaining control of Mount Carmel. By this time he also had full use of a follower's large house in LaVerne, California and travelled back and forth between the two locations. George Roden continued to threaten Howell and his followers. In 1989 Roden murdered a man with an ax and was incarcerated in a mental institution. Nevertheless, Branch Davidians feared he would return and attack them and therefore remained armed and alert. Roden did escape briefly in late 1993.
In early 1990 Vernon Howell legally changed his name to David (for King David) Koresh (Hebrew for Cyrus, the Persian king who freed the Jews from Babylon). Koresh collected even more followers, almost half of whom were of African, Hispanic or Asian descent. They all believed that he was a prophet--the "Lamb of God"--destined to unlock the secrets of the Seven Seals, show the way of repentance to society and thereby hasten the return of Jesus Christ. And they concurred with his view that he must create a "House of David" where his many wives would bear him children who would become the rulers of a purer new world.
During the siege Wayne Martin, a Harvard-educated African-American attorney, told negotiators his view of Koresh's importance. The Justice report describes it thusly: "America's political system was in decay and in conflict with God's law, and that Koresh had been chosen by God as `the Lamb' to rule over his kingdom on earth. Martin claimed that America and the world were witnessing the birth of a new nation founded on the Seven Seals." (JDR:41) Koresh asserted his prophetic greatness would inevitably attract evil authorities--the "Babylonians" or "Assyrians"-- who would try to crush him. If the Branch Davidians died defending Koresh's prophecies, they would be resurrected and return to conquer the Babylonians and rule the world.
Some have said that Koresh's first prophesizing the government would come to attack him and then collecting a lot of weapons--including allegedly illegal ones--just "invited" a government attack. They call it a "self- fulfilling prophecy." However, intelligent law enforcement should be able to deal with such situations without violence and without massive loss of innocent lives.
At the November 22, 1993, American Academy of Religion panel Jamaican Branch Davidian Janet McBean summarized David Koresh's appeal: "We are spiritual people. And we feel that God is watching what happens to this world. That's the reason why David protected his people and David felt the way he did. . .He felt compelled to give us the revelation as he did. And you can't blame him for that. And we studied it for ourselves. Now if you people study revelations and you see something different, then it is your responsibility to show it to the nation and show it to the world. . .David could speak to anyone on any level, from fourth grade to doctorate."
In 1989 Koresh began having troubles with breakaway members, especially Marc Breault, a follower from 1984 to 1989, who left and joined his wife in Australia. Breault claims that he became disillusioned because power had corrupted Koresh. He charged Koresh manipulated members through fear of hellfire, physically abused adults and children for minor infractions of capricious rules, seduced and impregnated young girls, took other men's wives, and demanded a willingness to die for him and his prophecies. [36]
Branch Davidians admit Koresh devised various "tests" of his followers' faith in God and his prophecies--from long study sessions, to communion twice a day, to food deprivation, to relinquishing wives to Koresh. However, they assert Breault's claims are exaggerations or lies and that he had challenged Koresh for control of the group. Breault replied to such charges in November, 1993. "If I was trying to take over the group I wouldn't have gone to the authorities. I wouldn't have tried to have justice done and had the group dismantled." [37] In his book Breault admits he "became a cult buster." For the next three years Breault devoted himself to the destruction of the Branch Davidians. Breault's often confused, contradictory or emotionally dishonest statements, in his book and elsewhere, reinforce the view that his motives were less than pure.
During 1990 Breault managed to convince a dozen or so discontented Branch Davidians in Australia, New Zealand, England and the United States to join his efforts. The Australians hired a private detective, Geoffrey Hossack, and signed affidavits alleging that Koresh was guilty of the statutory rape of two teenage girls, tax fraud, immigration violations, harboring weapons, child abuse, and exposing children to explicit talk about sex and violence. However, Hossack's visits to California and Texas local police, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, and the Internal Revenue Service resulted in no action. Breault and his wife's visits to California and Waco in 1991 were also fruitless. He laments that McLennan County Sheriff Gene Barber said that "Breault's complaints, along with the others, stemmed from `sour grapes.'" [38]
Linedecker writes in Massacre at Waco, Texas that in October, 1990, Robyn Bunds told Koresh she was leaving the group with their son. They were in LaVerne, California at the time and he immediately sent the child back to Waco. She reported the child missing to LaVerne Police who gave Koresh 48 hours to bring the child back, which he did. Bunds also told police that Koresh was having sex with the underage Aisha Gyarfas, but when they returned to investigate, Gyarfas and Koresh had returned to Texas. [39] (Bunds also instigated an INS investigation of illegal immigrants, as Breault later did in Texas, but neither investigation led to government action.) In September, 1991, Jeannine Bunds, who like her daughter Robyn Bunds was Koresh's lover, left the Branch Davidians, claiming that she was upset that Koresh had asked her if she was "capable of killing her children." [40] Her husband Donald Bunds remained a member of the group.
Breault brought his allegations about Koresh and the Branch Davidians to the Australian television producers of "Current Affair." Reporter Martin King, who co-wrote Breault's book, visited Mount Carmel and interviewed Koresh in January of 1992. The program that eventually aired portrayed Koresh as a sex-crazed, gun-loving religious fanatic. Breault alleges Koresh saw it and was furious. Breault also informed Kiri Jewell's father, David Jewell, that Kiri was slated to become one of Koresh's wives. Jewell sued for custody and in January, 1992, Breault and other former Branch Davidians testified at the custody hearing in Michigan. Kiri's mother Sherri relinquished primary custody and promised to keep Kiri away from Koresh during visitations. (As we shall see, Jewell used his daughter in continuing attacks on the Branch Davidians.) Breault claims that the custody trial "panicked" Koresh and that he began planning for mass suicide over Easter weekend. [41] Breault and Jewell wrote Michigan Representative Frederick Upton with this allegation and Breault contacted the U.S. consulate in Melbourne which sent warning wires to Washington, D.C.
According to Linedecker, when Kiri Jewell told her father that two other young girls were also slated to become Koresh's brides, Jewell called the Texas Department of Human Services, which instigated the February-April, 1992, child abuse investigation. [42] Many of the Branch Davidian "defectors" eagerly cooperated with BATF and FBI investigators in 1992 and 1993.
That a number of former members were willing to make these allegations certainly suggests that there were problems with Koresh's leadership of the Branch Davidians. However, most of these individuals were influenced by either amateur cult buster Marc Breault or by professional cult busters Rick Ross and Patricia Coates, individuals committed to turning former members' genuine concerns or personal disappointments into action by law enforcement to destroy the alleged "cult."
Child Abuse: The Justice Department report quotes just two 1990 affidavits by former members. Ian and Allison Manning alleged that Koresh insisted disobedient children be spanked with a wooden paddle and that such beatings sometimes severely bruised the children's bottoms. Michelle Tom alleged that Howell spanked her eight-month-old daughter for forty minutes because she would not sit on his lap and once threatened to kill a child if her mother gave her a pacifier. (JDR:224-226)
On February 27, 1992, Texas Department of Human Services social worker Joyce Sparks visited Mount Carmel with two other Human Services employees and two McLennan County Sheriff's deputies. They made two more visits and Koresh visited their offices. The case was closed on April 30, 1992. The Department offered this summary of the nine- week investigation: "None of the allegations could be verified. The children denied being abused in any way by adults in the compound. They denied any knowledge of other children being abused. The adults consistently denied participation in or knowledge of any abuse to children. Examinations of the children produced no indication of current or previous injuries." [43]
Dr. Bruce Perry, who interviewed children released from Mount Carmel during the siege, told the FBI on March 26, "these children had a number of strict behavioral and verbal prohibitions. Violations of these resulted in punishment, sometimes severe. The children, for example, expected to be hit when they spilled. The style of discipline often involved being beaten with what these children labeled `the Helper'. . .some variation on a wooden spoon. Other forms of discipline included restrictions of food, sometimes for a day. . ." (JDR:224) Steve Schneider's attorney Jack Zimmerman says that members never used the word "beatings" to describe the discipline. "The term they used was `Christian discipline'. . .Discipline is not abuse." [44] At a May, 1993, press conference Perry confessed: "We can't say, `Aha, physical abuse,' that's the crux of the issue. President Clinton and Janet Reno say `child abuse.' Child protective services say, `Well, we didn't see any.'. . .It's very complicated. It is an ongoing dilemma for what is the threshold for saying what is abuse." [45]
Sex with Minors: According to Daniel Wattenberg, Texas statutory rape laws are rather confusing, since the age of consent is 14 if the girl is promiscuous, but 17 if she is not. Nationwide, because so many young girls are having sex today, statutory rape laws frequently are not enforced; when they are, the sentences are usually light, assuming the girl fully consented. Hillary Rodham Clinton herself has criticized "the so-called status offenses," including for "sexual precociousness". [46] There are, of course, serious moral questions about the authenticity of a 14-year-old girl's consent to sex with an adult in any small community which considers sex with the leader to be a privilege. Government agencies found that Koresh's alleged victims were unwilling to cooperate and therefore they did not have enough evidence to convict Koresh of sex with minors. More importantly, civilized societies do not deal with sexual abuse of minors by attacking the perpetrator and his victims with heavily armed officers and then burning them to death when they refuse to surrender!
BATF agent Davy Aguilera's February 25, 1993 affidavit, which was used to secure search and arrest warrants against Koresh, states: "Mrs. (Jeannine) Bunds also told me that Howell had fathered at least fifteen (15) children from various women and young girls at the compound. Some of the girls who had babies fathered by Howell were as young as 12 years old. . . He also, according to Mrs. Bunds, has regular sexual relations with young girls there. The girls' ages are from eleven (11) years old to adulthood." There are no other allegations he had children with girls that young.
Mrs. Bunds herself had made love to Koresh and told Newsweek that being chosen by Koresh was an eagerly sought honor. Koresh "wouldn't do it unless you wanted it. . .It wasn't about sex, but he was a very appealing, sexual person." Robyn Bunds, who first slept with Koresh when she was 17, said, "he's perfect, and he's going to father your children. What more can you ask for?" [47] According to 1990 affidavits by former members Ian and Allison Manning, and Marc Breault in his book, Koresh had bragged in Bible study about having sex with Michelle Jones and Aisha Gyarfas when they were 14. (JDR:219-221) However, even Marc Breault admitted that Aisha Gyarfas was "completely captivated by Vernon. She was like his little puppy dog tied to his leash. Aisha would do anything for Vernon." [48] Both girls, then ages 17 and 18, died with their children in the April 19th fire.
According to the Justice report, on February 22, 1993, a young girl told Texas Child Protective Services social worker Joyce Sparks "that on one occasion, when she was ten years old, her mother left her in a motel room with David Koresh. He was in bed and he told (her) to come over to him. She got into the bed. David had no pants on. He took off her panties and touched her and got on top of her. . .We talked about how she was feeling when this happened and she responded. . .scared. . .scared but privileged." (JDR:219) The Justice report concedes, "This evidence was insufficient to establish probable cause to indict or prove beyond a reasonable doubt to convict." (JDR:215) Evidently this is the same girl the Treasury Department report states was "unwilling to testify about what happened." (TDR:64) Similarly, the Washington Post reported that a LaVerne, California sergeant said that "one of the underage girls alleged as a victim was out of the cult, in her father's custody. . .she eventually confirmed she had sex with Koresh." The sergeant also admitted that while he'd garnered enough evidence to arrest Koresh, he doubted he had enough to convict him. [49]
Both reports and the sergeant are probably talking about the same young girl--who may be Kiri Jewell. According to Linedecker, in mid-February David and Kiri Jewell flew to Texas at the BATF's expense to speak to agents. [50] Kiri had been given over to her father's custody. And David Jewell was in constant contact with Marc Breault who, according to his book, had been working closely with a LaVerne, California sergeant. If this is indeed Kiri Jewell, one wonders if Mr. Jewell had joined the "cult busters" committed to destruction of the group and even was using his daughter in that effort. He even exposed her to public scrutiny by allowing her to appear on a March, 1993 "Donahue" show to talk about her experiences with the Branch Davidians.
Polygamy: In 1879, Reynolds vs. United States, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that polygamy could not be protected by freedom of religion because it was "subversive of the public order" due to mobs rioting against hated polygamous Mormons. It is questionable whether criminalizing bigamy and polygamy would stand such a questionable court ruling today. Nevertheless, individuals are still prosecuted for bigamy and polygamy, be they liberals promoting plural marriage as a more fulfilling lifestyle or Christian, Mormon and Muslim fundamentalists, citing Scriptures. Further, those who practice "plural marriage" are open to the charge they are abusing children exposed to the lifestyle.
Koresh and Branch Davidian Paul Fatta have admitted publicly that Koresh was a polygamist. On February 28, 1993, Koresh told CNN, "There are a lot of children here. I've had a lot of babies these past two years. It's true that I do have a lot of children and I do have a lot of wives." [51] On the same day he told KRLD radio, "I'm a polygamist. Which is not according to your laws, I understand that, but according to the laws of God."
Paul Fatta told reporters that Koresh did believe he had a right to take any consenting Branch Davidian woman as wife. "Mr. Fatta said that Mr. Koresh presented this behavior as a test of faith for the men who had lost their wives." [52] However, Branch Davidians deny that Koresh controlled the sex lives of the members. Ruth Riddle told an interviewer, "No. Not true. It was totally up to the couples what they wanted to do." She said she and her husband were planning to have children. [53] Stan Sylvia, who was forced to go through a parental training course to regain custody of his son, calls the allegations that his daughter Holly was really Koresh's child "government and tabloid lies." [54] Involuntary Servitude: Davy Aguilera's February 25, 1993 affidavit contends that Poia Vaega alleged that in June, 1991, Koresh and Stan Sylvia "falsely imprisoned" and physically and sexually abused Mrs. Vaega's sister, Doreen Saipaia, for three and a half months. Despite this allegation, Ms. Saipaia's relatives Neal and Margarida Vaega remained at Mount Carmel and died in the April 19th fire. Moreover, the FBI opened and closed a possibly-related investigation on "involuntary servitude" during 1992 but did not press charges. (TDR:Appendix D:4) Charges of "involuntary imprisonment" or "involuntary servitude" are frequently made by those influenced by cult busters. The fact that BATF and FBI failed to make this allegation to the media indicates even they questioned it.
Mass Suicide: As mentioned above, Marc Breault claims that Koresh planned mass suicide during Easter, 1992. In his book, he asserts that members began calling families to say goodbye, selling assets, and returning to Mount Carmel. Linedecker writes that David Jewell wrote Representative Upton that Steve Schneider had told his family goodbye and that a young woman fled the group with her children because of her fear of a slaughter. [55] Surviving Branch Davidians who heard these allegations at the time say those at Mount Carmel laughed them off as absurd (private communication). And Koresh told Waco Tribune-Herald reporter Mark England, "I'm not ready to die. It's all lies. Every year we've gathered for Passover. Every year. Look, the place is being built up. We're spending lots of money. A lot of people are putting time and effort in. . .I've got the water-well man coming in. I mean, two weeks in a row we're supposed to be committing suicide. I wish they'd get their story straight." [56]
The Treasury Department report states that a child had told a California police officer that she had been trained by Koresh and his advisers "to commit suicide in several different ways, including placing the barrel of a handgun in her mouth and pulling the trigger." (TDR:46) Edward Dennis identified this child as Kiri Jewell. (JDR:Dennis:37) (Reportedly, she said the same thing on the Donahue television show.) According to Edward Dennis, after the fire, former member Dana Okimoto alleged that "Koresh's biggest fear was someone would take his wives away and that he felt that rather than letting someone take his wife, the wife should kill herself and if she could not do so one of the `Mighty Men' should do it, since this was one of their duties." (JDR:Dennis:34)
Despite the statements of some former members that the Branch Davidians might commit suicide, the FBI had collected statements from many more Branch Davidians that they would not. FBI spokesperson Bob Ricks said after the April 19th fire: "We went thought the world and interviewed former cult members, associates of cult members, the number that I last checked was 61 people. The vast bulk, the substantial majority of those believed that they would not commit suicide." [57]
Propensity Towards Violence: During the siege, numerous neighbors and acquaintances of the Branch Davidians were interviewed. Most made statements like that of A.L. Dreyer, an 80-year-old farmer living near Mt. Carmel: "I've never had no trouble with them people. . .I have no fear of those people." [58] McLennan County Commissioner Lester Gibson was shocked that Branch Davidian Wayne Martin was involved in any violence. "He was very friendly and quiet. It was common knowledge that he was a Davidian, but he never talked religion." [60]
Nevertheless, Koresh and the Branch Davidians, like many Christian fundamentalists, firmly believed that the "advent" or "Second Coming" of Jesus Christ would be accompanied by violence. Millions have studied the Book of Revelations and believe that 144,000 devout Christians will be called up into heaven just before the end of the world and that the sinful remainder of humanity will die horrible deaths. Millions believe that before Jesus appears there will be natural, economic and political disasters for which Christians should be prepared with food stocks and weapons to fight off the "Babylonians"--government agents, evil doers and hungry hordes from the cities.
A reporter who interviewed Lonnie Kliever, professor of religion at Southern Methodist University wrote: "Koresh was typical of the leaders of the millennarian sects who use their ability to interpret Biblical prophecy to gain power and influences. But Koresh's style also should be familiar to millions of Americans, Kliever said after listening to the 58-minute message broadcast the first week of the siege. `I listened to the tape,' Kliever said. 'I grew up in a fundamentalist Baptist church. I heard that preaching all my childhood. You can hear that same sermon in thousands of churches any Sunday or Wednesday night in this country.'" [61]
Koresh was convinced that he was the "Lamb of God" who would "break" the Seven Seals and bring on the Apocalypse and the Second Coming of Christ, as prophesized in the Book of Revelation. These prophecies are very bloody and violent. As the Lamb breaks each of the Seals, the Book of Revelation prophesizes, in summary: 1--a rider on a white horse rides forth to conquer; 2--a rider on a red horse takes away peace so men may slaughter; 3--a rider on a black horse is holding a pair of scales; 4--a rider of a pale horse named death has power over a quarter of the earth to kill by sword, famine, pestilence and wild beasts; 5--those slaughtered for God's word are told to rest a little longer until all brothers in Christ's service are put to death; 6-- after a violent earthquake the great day of wrath comes; 7-- "now when the Lamb breaks the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour." [62] When BATF raided Mount Carmel and killed six Branch Davidians, Koresh and his followers were convinced that they had to wait a little longer, and then they too would be put to death, as a fulfillment of the Fifth Seal.
Former Branch Davidians claimed that Koresh was obsessed with members proving their loyalty to him and his prophecies by promising to kill or die for them. David Block told BATF agents that he "left the cult group because (Koresh) would always remind them that if they were to have a confrontation with the local or federal authorities, that the group should be ready to fight and resist." (TDR:45)
Branch Davidian Kathryn Schroeder, who has agreed to testify for the prosecution to obtained reduced charges, claims that Koresh "told his followers that soon they would have to go into the world, turn their weapons on individual members of public, and kill those who did not say they were believers. As he explained to his followers, `you can't die for God if you can't kill for God.' Koresh later canceled the planned action, telling his followers that it had been a test of their loyalty to him." [62] Some former members claim Koresh had a "hit list to eliminate former members who were complaining to law enforcement authorities and the media." (TDR:28) Breault, Jeannine and Robyn Bunds and Dana Okimoto also alleged that Koresh believed "law enforcement officers have to be the vehicle for his death in order for his prophesies to come true." (JDR:Dennis:38)
It is true that after the raid and during the siege Koresh several times challenged negotiators to fight and even claimed that he and his followers had been preparing for battle with authorities since 1985. (JDR:51) If Koresh's statements had been merely "all talk" before the February 28, 1993 BATF raid, they certainly began to appear much more threatening once he and his followers vigorously defended themselves against the raid. Nevertheless, it was government action that prompted their violent reaction.
These allegations of (non-defensive) violence certainly would be alarming to the public if made by a criminal or a radical political group--even though the First Amendment protects such "alarming" speech. However, these statements must be viewed differently when made within a Christian apocalyptic framework. In her recommendations to the Justice Department, Nancy Ammerman wrote that authorities responsible at Waco "should have understood that new or dissident religious groups are often `millennialist' or `apocalyptic.' That is, they foresee the imminent end of the world as we know it and the emergence of a new world, usually with themselves in leadership roles."
"They should have understood that new groups almost always provoke their neighbors. . .They defy the conventional rules and question conventional authorities. . .Not surprisingly, then, new groups often provoke resistance. . .organized `anti-cult' response that make predictable charges (such as child abuse and sexual `perversion') against groups that are seen as threatening. . .The corollary to their provocation of neighbors is that they themselves are likely to perceive the outside world as hostile. This almost always takes the form of rhetoric condemning the evil ways of non-believers, and that rhetoric can sometimes sound quite violent. It may also be supplemented by rituals that reinforce the group's perception that they are surrounded by hostile forces. . .as the (Branch Davidians) talked about the evils of the federal government and went through the ritual motions of rehearsing a confrontation with their enemies, they may have been reinforcing their own solidarity more than they were practicing for an anticipated actual confrontation. The irony, of course, is that their internal group rhetoric did eventually come true." (TDR:Ammerman:5-6)
Branch Davidian Stan Sylvia expresses the duty incumbent on all of us to study the massacre of the Branch Davidians. "Let's have mercy for the people who died there. Let's examine what really happened there. Regardless of what your opinion of us is. Whether we were bizarre. Whether we were inhumane. Whatever you think of us. It doesn't give anybody a right to come in and kill helpless women and children." [63]
THE BRANCH DAVIDIANS
Outside Mount Carmel February 28*: Donald Bunds Paul Fatta, 35 Janet McBean Janet Kendrick Stan Sylvia
Arrested on Feb 28, 1993: Delroy Nash, 29 Woodrow Kendrick, 63
Left Mount Carmel During Siege: Brad Branch, 34 Livingston Fagan, 34 Nahara Fagan, 4 Renae Fagan, 7 Oliver Gyarfas, 19 Victoria Hollingsworth, 59 Heather Jones, 10 Kevin Jones, 11 Mark Jones, 3 Margaret Lawson, 75 James Lawten, 70 Christyn Mabb, 8 Jacob Mabb, 10 Scott Mabb, 12 Daniel Martin, 7 Jaime Martin, 11 Kimberly Martin Sheila Judith Martin, 46 Catherine Matteson, 77 Natalie Nobrega, 11 Gladys Ottman, 67 Anita Richards, 64 Rita Fay Riddle, 35 Ophelia Santoya, 62 Bryan Schroeder, 3 Kathryn Schroeder, 34 Angelica Sonobe, 6 Crystal Sonobe, 3 Joshua Sylvia, 7 Jaunessa Wendel Landon Wendel, 4 Patron Wendel, 1 Tamara Wendel, 5 Kevin Whitecliff, 31
Survived April 19th Fire Renos Avraam, 29 Jamime Castillo, 24 Graeme Leonard Craddock, 31 Clive Joseph Doyle, 52 Misty Ferguson, 17 Derek Lloyd Lovelock, 37 Ruth Ottman Riddle, 29 David Thibodeau, 24 Marjorie Thomas, 30
Died February 28, 1993: Winston Blake, 28 Peter Gent, 24 Peter Hipsman, 28 Perry Jones, 64 Michael Schroeder, 29 Jaydean Carnwell Wendel, 34
Died April 19th, 1993**: Katherin Andrade, 24 Jennifer Andrade, 19 Aldrick Bennett, 35 Susan Benta, 31 Mary Jean Borst, 49 Pablo Cohen, 38 Yvette Fagan, 34 Doris Fagan, 60 Lisa Marie Farris, 26 Ray Friesen, 76 Dayland Gent, 3 Diana Henry, 28 Paulina Henry, 24 Phillip Henry, 22 Stephen Henry, 26 Vanessa Henry, 19 Zilla Henry, 55 Novellette Hipsman, 36 Floyd Houtman, 61 Cyrus Howell, 8 Rachel Howell, 23 Star Howell, 6 Sherri Lynn Jewell, 43 David Michael Jones, 38 Michelle Jones, 18 Serenity Sea Jones, 4 Bobbie Lane Koresh, 16 months David Koresh, 33 Jeffery Little, 31 Nicole Elizabeth Gent Little, 24 Livingston Malcolm, 26 Douglas Wayne Martin, 42 Lisa Martin, 13 Sheila Martin, 15 Abigail Martinez, 11 Audrey Martinez, 13 Juliete Santoyo Martinez, 30 Crystal Martinez, 3 Joseph Martinez, 30 Jillane Matthews Alison Bernadette Monbelly, 31 Melissa Morrison, 6 Rosemary Morrison, 29 Sonia Murray, 29 Theresa Noberega, 48 James Riddle, 32 Rebecca Saipaia, 24 Judy Schneider, 41 Mayanah Schneider, 2 Steve Schneider, 48 Laraine B. Silva, 40 Floracita Sonobe, 34 Scott Kojiro Sonobe, 35 Aisha Gyarfas Summers, 17 Gregory Allen Summers, 28 Startle Summers, 1 Isiah Martinez, 4 Hollywood Sylvia Lorraine Sylvia, 40 Rachel Sylvia, 13 Doris Vaega Joanne Vaega, 4 Margarida Joanna Vaega, 47 Neal Vaega, 37 Martin Wayne, 20 Mark H. Wendell
This is not a complete list.
* Several dozen more Branch Davidians lived elsewhere or were temporarily outside Mount Carmel on February 28, 1993.
** Most of those not named were children, including two unborn children.
Source: Associated Press, Justice Department Report and other sources.