David Koresh

 ( 1959 Births ) 

With her marriage, in 1964, to merchant marine Roy 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..
Koresh said the abuse, which included rape, lasted four years, until he was nine, but afflicted him his whole life. He said he never revealed who the perpetrator was to avoid upsetting his mother. In July 1965, not long before Koresh turned six, a half-brother, Roger, 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 statutory rape 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 , 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.

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, 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 community".David G. Bromley and Edward D. Silver, "The Davidian Tradition: From Patronal Clan to Prophetic Movement," p.54 in Stuart A. Wright, Armageddon in Waco: Critical Perspectives on the Branch Davidian Conflict (Chicago: University of Chicago, 1995) In 1987, George Roden 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 acquittal, 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.Marc Breault and Martin King, Inside the Cult, Signet, 1st Printing June 1993. . (Australian edition entitled Preacher of Death). Roden claimed the man was sent by Koresh to kill him. He was insanity defense 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.Thomas R. Lujan, "Legal Aspects of Domestic Employment of the Army", Parameters US Army War College Quarterly, Autumn 1997, Vol. XXVII, No. 3.

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

His first name, David, symbolized a lineage directly to the biblical King David, from whom the new messiah would descend. Koresh (כּוֹרֶשׁ, Koresh) is the Biblical name of Cyrus the Great, a Persian king who is named a messiah for freeing Jews during the Babylonian captivity. By taking the name of David Koresh, he was "professing himself to be the spiritual descendant of King David although he had no DNA to connect him with the peoples of the Mediterranean much less King David, a messianic figure carrying out a divinely commissioned errand."Bromley and Silver, p.57

A six-month investigation of sexual abuse allegations by the Texas Child Protection Services in 1992 failed to turn up any evidence, possibly because the Branch Davidians concealed the spiritual marriage of Koresh to Rachel's younger sister, Michele, when she was 12, by assigning her a surrogate husband (David Thibodeau, who was 10 years younger than Koresh) for the sake of appearances.David Thibodeau and Leon Whiteson, A Place Called Waco: A Survivor's Story (New York: Public Affairs, 1999) Regarding the allegations of physical abuse, no evidence was ever found. In one widely reported incident, ex-members claimed that Koresh became irritated with the cries of his son Cyrus and spanked the child severely for several minutes on three consecutive visits to the child's bedroom. In a second report, a man involved in a custody battle visited the Mount Carmel Center and claimed to have seen the beating of a young boy with a stick.Ellison and Bartkowski, 120–121.

Finally, the FBI's justification for forcing an end to the 51-day stand-off was predicated on the charge that Koresh was abusing children inside the Mount Carmel Center. Allegations had been made that he had fathered children with underage girls in the Branch Davidians. In the hours that followed the deadly conflagration, Attorney General Janet Reno told reporters, "We had specific information that babies were being beaten."Sam Howe Verovek, "In Shadow of Texas Siege, Uncertainty for Innocents." New York Times, 1993, March 8 However, FBI Director William Sessions publicly denied the charge and told reporters that they had no such information about child abuse inside the Mount Carmel Center.Stephen Labaton, "Confusion Abounds in the Capital on Rationale for Assault on Cult," New York Times, 1993, April 21 A careful examination of the other child abuse charges found the evidence to be weak and ambiguous, casting doubt on the allegations.Ellison and Bartkowski, 1995

The allegations of child abuse largely stem from detractors and ex-members.John R. Hall, "Public Narratives and the Apocalyptic Sect," pp.205–235 in Stuart A. Wright (ed.), Armageddon in Waco (Chicago: University of Chicago, 1995); Stuart A. Wright, "Construction and Escalation of a 'Cult' Threat: Dissecting Moral Panic and Official Reaction to the Branch Davidians," pp.75–94 in Stuart A. Wright (ed.), Armageddon in Waco The 1993 Justice Department report cites allegations of child sexual and physical abuse. Legal scholars point out that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) had no legal jurisdiction in the matter of child protection, and these accounts appear to have been inserted by the ATF to inflame the case against Koresh. For example, the account of former Branch Davidian Jeannine Bunds is reproduced in an ATF affidavit. She said that Koresh had fathered at least 15 children with various women and girls, and that she had personally delivered seven of these infants. Bunds also says that Koresh would annul all marriages of couples who joined the group and had exclusive sexual access to the women and girls.Ellison and Bartkowski, 1995; Wright, "Construction and Escalation of a 'Cult' Threat," 1995 Thibodeau, a student of Koresh and one of the few to escape the fire that destroyed the compound, stated in 2018 that while he considered Koresh a friend, he "certainly was guilty of something. He was either a polygamist or he was guilty of statutory rape. Probably both."

In his book, James Tabor states that on a videotape that was sent out of the compound during the siege, Koresh acknowledged that he had fathered more than 12 children by several "wives". On March 3, 1993, during negotiations to secure the release of the remaining children, Koresh advised hostage negotiators that: "My children are different than those others," referring to his direct lineage versus those children whom he had previously released.

Bruce Perry, the chief of psychiatry at Texas Children's Hospital who led the team that cared for the twenty-one children who survived the siege of the Davidian compound, wrote after a two-month investigation that "the children released from Ranch Apocalypse do not appear to have been victims of sexual abuse." However, while Perry noted that the Children of Waco were not physically abused, he reported that they were "likely exposed to inappropriate concepts of sexuality," and subject to "a whole variety of destructive emotional techniques ... including shame, coercion, fear, intimidation, humiliation, guilt, overt aggression and power." Perry has reiterated this view as late as 2018.

Koresh himself had been seriously injured by a gunshot. As the standoff continued, he and his closest male associates negotiated delays so that he could write religious documents, which he said he needed to complete before his surrender. Koresh's conversations with the negotiators were dense and they also included biblical imagery. The FBI negotiators treated the situation as a hostage crisis.

The siege of the Mount Carmel Center ended on April 19, 1993, when U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno approved recommendations of FBI officials to proceed with a final advance in which the Branch Davidians would be removed from the Mount Carmel Center by force. In an attempt to flush Koresh out of the stronghold, the FBI resorted to pumping CS gas into the compound with the aid of an M728 Combat Engineer Vehicle, which was equipped with a battering ram. In the course of the advance, the Mount Carmel Center caught fire. Barricaded inside the building, 79 Branch Davidians perished in the ensuing blaze; 21 of these victims were children under the age of 16.

Coroner reports showed many Davidians died from single gunshot wounds to the head – Koresh, then 33, was one of them.. A postmortem on his badly burned remains could not determine whether he died by suicide or was killed. One FBI official speculated that Steve Schneider, Koresh's right-hand man, "probably realized that he was dealing with a fraud" and so shot and killed Koresh before turning the gun on himself. The medical examiner reported 20 people, including five children under the age of 14, had been shot, and a three-year-old had been stabbed in the chest.

Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols cited the Waco siege as their motivation for the Oklahoma City bombing of April 19, 1995, which was timed to coincide with the second anniversary of the Waco assault.

Three documentary films have been made about the siege, including different versions of , Waco: A New Revelation, and . In 2018, BBC Radio 5 Live created a radio podcast titled End of Days, which was about the death and life of Koresh, his involvement in the Waco siege, and the recruitment of people who lived in Nottingham, Manchester, and London into the Branch Davidians. The Court TV (now TruTV) television series Mugshots released an episode about Koresh. A Mexican movie was made entitled "Tragedia en Waco" or "Tragedia: Sucedio en Monte Carmelo Waco Texas", 1993, written by Ulf Kjell Gür. aired by EstrellaTV in April 2021.

Koresh is portrayed by Taylor Kitsch in the 2018 miniseries Waco. However, in the sequel series he is portrayed by Keean Johnson. He was also one of the sources of inspiration used to create the fictional cult leader Joseph Seed in the 2018 action-adventure video game Far Cry 5. In 2011, British indie rock band The Indelicates released a concept album, David Koresh Superstar, about Koresh and the Waco siege. He was also one of the sources of inspiration used to create the fictional cult leader Salem Koresh in the 2021 action-adventure video game Outriders.

A Netflix series called , was released in March 2023. The series encompasses three episodes and features real and never-before-released footage and interviews with surviving cult members and others involved.

• List of messiah claimants
• List of people claimed to be Jesus
• List of Seventh-day Adventists
• Messiah complex
• Twelve Tribes Communities

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