David Koresh

David Koresh (; born Vernon Wayne Howell; August 17, 1959 – April 19, 1993) was an American cult leader and preacher who played a central role in the Waco siege of 1993. As the head of the Branch Davidians, a religious sect, Koresh claimed to be its final prophet. His apocalyptic Biblical teachings, including interpretations of the Book of Revelation and the Seven Seals, attracted various followers.

Coming from a dysfunctional background, Koresh was a member and later a leader of the Branch Davidians, a movement originally led by Benjamin Roden, based at the Mount Carmel Center outside Waco, Texas. There, Koresh competed for dominance with another leader, Benjamin Roden's son George, until Koresh and his followers took over Mount Carmel in 1987. In the early 1990s, he became subject to allegations about polygamy and child sexual abuse by former Branch Davidian associates.

Further allegations related to the Branch Davidians' stockpiling of weapons led the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) and later the FBI to launch a raid, now known as the Waco siege, on the group's Mount Carmel compound in February 1993. During the 51-day siege and violence that ensued, Koresh was wounded by ATF forces and later died of a gunshot wound in unclear circumstances as the compound was destroyed in a fire.

Early life

Some details of Koresh's life vary among sources, but he was born Vernon Wayne Howell on August 17, 1959, in Houston, Texas, to unmarried parents: 20-year-old Bobby Wayne Howell and 14-year-old Bonnie Sue Clark. Two years after the birth, the relationship broke down. Bonnie continued to flounder, with an abusive, first marriage to a Joe Golden quickly ending in divorce. After this, around 1962, unable to cope with her situation, Bonnie moved away to Dallas. She placed her son in the care of her mother and an older sister: Bonnie's mother would pretend to be Koresh's mother; Bonnie would pose as an aunt when she occasionally visited him.

With her marriage, in 1964, to merchant marine Roy Winfred Haldeman, however, Bonnie at last felt in a stable enough position to raise her son herself. The truth about who his real mother was was thus revealed to a five-year-old Koresh, an experience he carried with him his whole life. To make a tumultuous situation still worse, it was at this time that Koresh said he began to be sexually abused by one of his mother's male relatives. In July 1965, not long before Koresh turned six, a half-brother, Rodger Winfred Haldeman, arrived; a few weeks later, the Haldeman family set up home in Richardson, Texas. There developed permanent difficulties between Koresh and his stepfather, but the boys got on well.

Koresh described his early childhood as lonely. Due to his poor study skills and dyslexia partially caused by poor eyesight, he was put in special education classes and bullied by his schoolmates. Matters improved after about the age of 12, when Koresh became interested in sport, which he was good at, and developed his physique. Despite this turnaround, Koresh dropped out of Garland High School in his junior year. He tried various jobs, but was either fired from or abandoned each of them.

At the age of 19, Koresh had an illegal sexual relationship with a 16-year-old girl, who became pregnant. He never saw the resulting daughter: the teenage mother thought him unfit to be a father, so she moved away and refused to see him. He claimed to have become a born-again Christian in the Southern Baptist Church and soon joined his mother's denomination, the Seventh-day Adventist Church. There, Koresh, then 20, and the pastor's daughter, 15-year-old Sandy Berlin, began a two-year relationship. During their courtship, while praying for guidance one day, Koresh allegedly opened his eyes and found the Bible open at Isaiah 34:16, stating that "none should want for her mate". Convinced this was a sign from God, Koresh approached the pastor and told him that God wanted him to have his daughter for a wife; the pastor dismissed the suggestion out of hand and forbade him from ever seeing her again, an instruction that Koresh ignored. With the pastor furious at him and the congregation weary of and repulsed by his sex obsession, Koresh was expelled from the church.

It was now summer 1981, and Koresh's next move was to Waco, Texas, where he joined the Branch Davidians (splinter group of Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist). Benjamin Roden, who died in 1978, had originated the Branch group in 1955 with new teachings that were not connected with the original Davidians.

Ascent to leadership of the Branch Davidians

In 1983, Koresh began claiming the gift of prophecy. David Thibodeau, in his 1999 book, A Place Called Waco, speculated that he had a sexual relationship with Lois Roden, the widow of Benjamin Roden and leader of the sect, who was then in her late 60s. Koresh eventually began to claim that God had chosen him to father a child by Lois, who would be the Chosen One. In 1983, Lois allowed Koresh to begin teaching his message, "The Serpent's Root", which caused controversy in the group. Lois's son George Roden, intended to be the group's next leader, considered Koresh an interloper.

When Koresh announced that God had instructed him to marry Rachel Jones (who then added Koresh to her name), calm ensued at the Mount Carmel Center, but it proved only temporary. A fire destroyed a $500,000 administration building and press; George Roden said Koresh started the fire, but Koresh replied that "no man set that fire" and that it was a judgment of God. Roden, claiming to have the support of the majority of the sect, forced Koresh and his group off the property at gunpoint. Koresh and around 25 followers set up camp at Palestine, Texas, 90 miles (140 km) from Waco, where they lived under rough conditions in buses and tents for the next two years. During this time, Koresh undertook recruitment of new followers in California, the United Kingdom, Israel, and Australia. That same year, he traveled to Israel, where he claimed he had a vision that he was the modern-day Cyrus.

The founder of the Davidian movement, Victor Houteff, wanted to be God's implement and establish the Davidic kingdom in Israel. Koresh also wanted to be God's tool and set up the Davidic kingdom in Jerusalem. At least until 1990, he believed the place of his martyrdom might be in Israel; however, by 1991, he was convinced that his martyrdom would be in the U.S. instead of in Israel. He said the prophecies of Daniel would be fulfilled in Waco and that the Mount Carmel Center was the Davidic kingdom.

After being exiled to the Palestine camp, Koresh and his followers eked out a primitive existence. When Lois died in 1986, the exiled Branch Davidians wondered if they would ever be able to return to the Mount Carmel Center, but despite the displacement "Koresh now enjoyed the loyalty of the majority of the [Branch Davidian] community". In 1987, George Roden exhumed at least one body from the community cemetery. Roden said he was just moving the cemetery, while Koresh claimed that Roden had issued a challenge to resurrect the body (and that whoever resurrected the body would be the new leader). Koresh went to the authorities to file charges against Roden for illegally exhuming a corpse, but was told he would have to show proof (such as a photograph of the corpse).

Koresh seized the opportunity to seek criminal prosecution of Roden by returning to the Mount Carmel Center with seven armed followers, allegedly attempting to get photographic proof of the exhumation. Koresh's group was discovered by Roden, and a gunfight broke out. When the sheriff arrived, Roden had already suffered a minor gunshot wound and was pinned down behind a tree. As a result of the incident, Koresh and his followers were charged with attempted murder. At the trial, Koresh explained that he went to the Mount Carmel Center to uncover evidence of criminal disturbance of a corpse by Roden. Koresh's followers were acquitted, and in Koresh's case, a mistrial was declared.

In 1989, Roden murdered Wayman Dale Adair with an axe blow to the skull after Adair stated his belief that he was the true messiah. Roden claimed the man was sent by Koresh to kill him. He was judged insane and confined to a psychiatric hospital at Big Spring, Texas. Since Roden owed thousands of dollars in unpaid taxes on the Mount Carmel Center, Koresh and his followers were able to raise the money and reclaim the property. Roden continued to harass the Koresh faction by filing legal papers while imprisoned. When Koresh and his followers reclaimed the Mount Carmel Center, they discovered that tenants who had rented from Roden had left behind a meth lab, which Koresh reported to the local police department and asked to have removed.

Koresh was infatuated with American singer Madonna. God, he claimed, had even said to him, "I will give thee Madonna."

Name change

Vernon Howell filed a petition in California State Superior Court in Pomona on May 15, 1990, to legally change his name "for publicity and business purposes" to David Koresh. On August 28, 1990, Judge Robert Martinez granted the petition.