Some were girls as young as 12 years old. In order to produce those children, he mandated that his male followers become celibate, even those who were married, and took multiple “wives” from the ranks of his followers. He prophesied that he would have 24 children who would play an integral role in the end times. The Davidians believed that the apocalypse was imminent, and that Koresh was the Lamb of God foretold in the Book of Revelations whose arrival would lead to the second coming of Christ. Koresh was a high school dropout and drifter before he joined the Branch Davidians, but once in the group, he declared himself a prophet. Koresh led the group for five years before the siege. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity and confined to a mental institution until his death. According to the Times, Koresh “tied a pink bow around the skeleton's neck, to dress it up.”) In 1989, Roden murdered his roommate, and told authorities that he believed he was a hitman hired by Koresh. (His lawyers brought the exhumed coffin to court, hoping to introduce it as evidence. Koresh was later acquitted on charges that he attempted to murder Roden. 22-caliber rifles and two 12-gauge shotguns with almost 400 rounds of ammunition.” The weapons were confiscated by authorities after the gunfight, but later returned. 223-caliber semi-automatic assault rifles, two. Koresh and his supporters were armed with, according to the New York Times, “five. Roden was wounded in the gunfire, and Koresh won control of Mount Carmel. There was a shootout between the two camps. They later told police they were there to photograph a decades-old corpse that Roden had exhumed for resurrection, in order to offer authorities proof that he had desecrated a body. Koresh and seven of his followers, exiled from the compound during the dispute, snuck back onto the property. Roden, who said that Koresh had raped and brainwashed his mother, demanded that Koresh perform a miracle in order to win control of the group and challenged him to the task of raising the dead. He embarked upon a sexual relationship with Lois and challenged her son, George Roden, for leadership of the group after her death.ĭavid and Rachel Koresh with their son, Cyrus. David Koresh, born Vernon Wayne Howell in 1959, joined the sect in 1981 and became a leader within the community. The 1993 siege was not the first act of violence to occur at the Mount Carmel Center, the group’s Waco, Texas compound. The group was led first by Roden and then his wife Lois until her death in 1986. Instead, the sect was created by Benjamin Roden in the late 1950s, as an offshoot of an offshoot of the Seventh-Day Adventist church. The Branch Davidians had a violent history even before the siege.ĭavid Koresh was the last leader of the Branch Davidians, but he didn’t form the group. Before that happens, here’s what you should know about the true story of what happened at the Branch Davidians’ compound, and of those who survived it. With these two projects in the works, a new generation will soon be introduced to Koresh and his doomed followers. Netflix is also releasing the documentary Waco: American Apocalypse on March 22nd, which relays exclusive footage from the tragedy. The project is a sequel to the Paramount miniseries, and it follows Branch Davidians who survived the siege. On April 16th, Waco: The Aftermath will air on Showtime. The show starred Taylor Kitsch as the cult leader and is based on the memoirs of a survivor, David Thibodeau (Rory Culkin), and FBI negotiator Gary Noesner (Michael Shannon.) Now, this year, two more series about Waco will premiere. In 2018 Paramount released a miniseries called Waco, which later moved to Netflix. Since then, there have been many retellings. The tragedy was broadcast live and shook the nation. After a 51-day standoff, dozens of Davidians were killed during the botched final operation, along with multiple members of U.S. Federal Government conducted a siege on a compound that was occupied by David Koresh, and his religious cult, the Branch Davidians. It’s been nearly 30 years since the Waco massacre, and America is still trying to unpack what happened.
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