Waco

Part Four: The Sinful Messiah

As the Branch Davidians began the arduous process of rebuilding the Mount Carmel Center, and his authority swelled, David Koresh began implementing a series of changes that would ultimately bring his burgeoning kingdom crashing down around him...

In 1988, after the acquittal of his followers from a shootout the prior Fall, David Koresh and the rest of the Branch Davidian church returned to their chosen home of Mount Carmel, just outside of Waco, Texas. David's longtime nemesis, George Roden, had briefly transformed the property into "Rodenville," barricading the property line and letting the Mount Carmel Center deteriorate into squalor during the years that Koresh and the fellowship had lived elsewhere.

There, Koresh and his followers discovered the mess left behind by George Roden and those he allowed to live there; including one building that had clearly been used to make methamphetamine by tenants that Roden had seemingly turned a blind eye to. A lot of the equipment and residue had been left behind, and David's followers would reach out to the local sheriff's office, asking them to come and take possession of the stuff... wanting nothing to do with meth or the consequences of getting rid of it on their own.

But now, back at Mount Carmel, the Branch Davidians were reminded of their prior living conditions, which they had, perhaps, overly-glorified during the preceding years.

The compound there had originally been built by Florence Houteff and her followers back in 1957, and didn't feature many modern-day amenities that many of us can't imagine living without: running water, heat, and electricity. If Branch Davidians needed to use the bathroom, they used bedpans or went outside to the outhouse. If they wanted to stay warm, they got blankets. If they needed electricity, they fired up a generator.

But back at the Mount Carmel Center, they were free to get back to what they thought was important: communal living, and daily prayer services, which took place at least three times a day. And with the deteriorated conditions at the compound, they were free to begin rebuilding or renovating buildings to their liking... under the guidance of their newly-established leader, of course.

During the Branch Davidians' tough years - between 1984 and 1988, the time they'd been without a place to truly call home - David Koresh had been able to establish himself as the group's spiritual leader. Although a handful of factions had splintered off in the original split, back when David had left with his followers, the vast majority of the Branch Davidians there chose to follow David, believing him to be their prophet.

In the years to come, David would officially take over as the president of the Branch Davidian church; a role he'd already filled for some time, but was now legally binding. Shortly thereafter, he would legally change his name from Vernon Howell to David Koresh, believing that the name change would help make him more marketable to Seventh-Day Adventists. Selfishly, he also thought the name change would be more appealing and help out his floundering music career.

Years later, one of David's followers, Clive Doyle, would tell reporters with ABC News:

"He believed he was King David. He was using music to reach a lot of people. We're thinking maybe it's a stage name. But it was more than that."

As the Branch Davidians began the arduous process of rebuilding the Mount Carmel Center, David began implementing a series of changes that would ultimately bring his burgeoning Kingdom crashing down around him. Yet, from the get-go, David would warn his followers what was coming: the ultimate battle between good and evil. Yet, they would not be deterred.

In the words of David Koresh:

"We're doing what we're doing and nobody's going to stop us."

After re-establishing themselves as the residents of Mount Carmel, David Koresh began to establish news rules and updated guidelines for his followers to adhere to. His reasoning was sound for the time, as it was something that previous prophets for the Branch Davidians and their predecessors, the Davidians and Shepherd's Rod movements, had struggled with as well: keeping themselves distanced from the outside world. In doing so, they'd be better aligned with God, and much better prepared for the war against ultimate evil.

David theorized in his sermons that, one day, the Branch Davidians would be relied upon to wage war against the evil army of Babylon. Their adherence to this strict, rudimentary lifestyle was important because their success was paramount. Without it, Jesus Christ was not going to be able to return to Earth and establish the Kingdom of David. And if that didn't happen, then all of their work - all of their sacrifice - would have been for nothing.

So, David stated, Branch Davidians needed to abide by the strict rules and guidelines he established... which, sadly, was anything but firmly established. As his followers would learn over the next few years, his message wasn't always related to their faith. Nor, at times, was it consistent with any real religious beliefs, or even what David had stated the day before.

David Bunds, a former follower of David's, later told reporters with ABC News:

"One of the things about being a Branch Davidian... was you're supposed to separate yourself from the world. The world is the sins, the flesh, the desire of the world, and you're supposed to be spiritual."

"[David's] message changed over the years because he was always looking for the next big thing to teach that would shock people into listening to him. It was important for David Koresh... to isolate the group from the world because the world is an influence that is constantly pulling and distracting you from the message."

As his authority swelled, David Koresh also started to become more erratic. He would begin to sleep in, in his air-conditioned room, no less... both luxuries that were not allotted to other members of the church. Because of this erratic schedule, he would wake up other members and force them to endure long-winded Bible study sessions, some of which lasted upwards of 12 hours. This often gave them the impression that he was much more in-tune with God than they were, or at least, had a better understanding of the Bible than they could ever had. But in reality, they were just sleep-deprived.

Those with an outsider's perspectives can see these tactics for what they were: an attempt to keep his followers exhausted, tired, distracted, and unable to see him for what he really was. An opportunist that had a good understanding of the Bible and was able to effectively communicate in a technique known as the gish gallop. You see this in many political discourse debates, in which a person attempts to overwhelm their perceived opponents by providing an excessive number of points or arguments with no regard for the accuracy or strength of said statements. By the time the other person is ready to address just one of those points - in this case, one of a handful of rhetorical questions asked by David - they're already moved onto the next topic. In doing so, they manage to maintain control of the conversation and can direct it onto something else before the original topic ever arrives at an actual point.

David's sermons often became long, rambling diatribes which carried a predominantly narcissistic message. David established himself to his followers as the ultimate authority on the Bible, and his points were so often interwoven with dozens of others; you were unable to start pulling on one without drawing yourself into a conversation or debate about the others it was linked with.

Karl Hennig, a potential convert that stayed with the Branch Davidians for a couple of months in 1987, later recalled to the Waco Tribune-Herald:

"I don't think anyone ever knew what his understanding was, honestly. If you had given them pencil and paper, I don't think they could have written down his message. They might have a piece here and there."

Despite attempting to keep the Branch Davidians shielded from the outside world, David Koresh still struggled with at least one daunting problem: the cash flow.

In the last episode, I described the variety of side hustles that David's followers had started in order to earn revenue for the group while they were attempting to find a home. As was the case back then, David and his followers continued to split their time between Texas and California, tapping into their connections and their members' prior careers in an attempt to bring income in and continue collecting resources for the Mount Carmel Center.

In the years to come, the Branch Davidians would begin to diversify even more, investing money into some local businesses near Waco, which were operated by members of the church. This included an auto repair shop called the Mag Bag, but also included a side business that dealt in weapons and ammunition. This occasionally meant modifying semi-automatic rifles into fully automatic rifles, which was an illegal modification, and something the Branch Davidians had been accused of in the past (if you recall back to the last episode, the weapons seized by the Waco Sheriff's Office were believed to have been illegally modified in the past).

This enterprise, which had started rather small, would eventually become one of the primary sources of income for the Koresh-led contingent of the Branch Davidian church, with them purchasing weapons through mail-order companies and then refurbishing them for resale. They were sold at trade fairs throughout Texas, but would eventually include some mail orders, with the Branch Davidians using the Mag Bag as their mailing location for the shipments of weapons and ammo. But we'll talk more about this in the next episode.

As the Branch Davidians attempted to raise money, David continuously traveled throughout America in an attempt to find converts. He even made trips to England and Australia in an attempt to find Seventh-Day Adventists willing to hear them out, and hopefully uproot their lives and move to the Mount Carmel Center.

During this time, a few members of the church came to prominence. Some filled important roles in David Koresh's inner circle, while others were prepared to play a larger part in this story later on.

Perry Jones was David's father-in-law, who had been a part of the Davidian movement for quite some time. If you recall from the last episode, he had become close with David, especially after he began delivering his Serpent's Root sermon in 1983. Shortly thereafter, in 1984, Perry had given David the hand of his 14-year-old daughter, Rachel, allowing the two to marry (even though David was an entire decade older). Afterward, Perry had become one of David's most trusted advisors, and was seen by many as a major catalyst, causing David to become more paranoid.

Despite the Branch Davidians starting out as a legitimate religious movement, Perry Jones often viewed the United States as an obstacle to their ultimate goal, and viewed them as a potential threat. David's uncle, Kenneth, later recalled to the Washington Post:

"[Perry] was real involved with our rights, freedom of religion, the right to bear arms."

Another figure that came to prominence during this time was David Thibodeau, who met David Koresh during one of his many trips out to the L.A. area. His involvement with the group came about because he played drums, and Koresh invited him to play with their band. There, Thibodeau began to get interested in the Bible for the first time in his life, and eventually moved out to Waco. There, he worked as a bartender and regularly played shows with David's band, but would become more enmeshed in the group later on.

Then there was Marc Breault, another figure I mentioned in the last episode. Marc was a Seventh-Day Adventist from Hawaii, who was attending school in California. He sought to become a pastor one day, and was recruited by Perry Jones, David's father-in-law to join the Branch Davidians. Later, he met David Koresh, and found himself enticed by David's sermons, including his belief that he was the reincarnation of King Cyrus the Great.

In many ways, Marc Breault was an equal of sorts to David Koresh... at least, when it came to knowledge of the Bible. For that reason, he became one of David's closest confidantes, and many believed that David liked him the most out of them all. The two would have several long, deep discussions about the Bible, and David even suggested that Marc might be another prophet (like himself). However, over time, the two would begin to butt heads over David's behavior... something we'll see play out later in this episode.

Finally, we have Steve Schneider, another member of the church that would gain favor with David over the next handful of years. Steve grew up as a Seventh-Day Adventist in Wisconsin, then later attended Newbold College in England, before dropping out and returning home. Later, he started a Ph.D. program in comparative religion at the University of Hawaii, where he married his wife, Judy.

Judy was less eager to become a part of the Branch Davidian church, but acquiesced to help make Steve happy. Steve had been recruited to the Branch Davidians by Marc Breault, a Hawaii native that returned to find converts, and discovered Steve, who felt the need to evangelize, but didn't think any specific calling was worthy of his service... until he was introduced to David Koresh.

While it's unknown when Steve and Judy Schneider would move to Waco - likely sometime between 1986 and 1987 - Steve would become a prominent member of the church in the years to come. When disputes started arising between David Koresh and Marc Breault, Steve would end up filling the gap as David's right-hand man, something we'll see crop up in the episodes to come.

When he took over as the president of the Branch Davidian Church in 1988, David Koresh shared his belief that the Kingdom of David would be established in Israel. This is something that Benjamin and Lois Roden had thought for years, hence the settlers that they had sent years prior to establish a community of Branch Davidians in the Holy Land.

But as the Branch Davidians continued to build up their new home at Mount Carmel, David began to pull back on the belief that the Kingdom of David would be established in Israel. Instead, he reckoned, maybe Jesus Christ would one day reign from a throne in Waco, Texas. If that was the case, then he and his followers needed to continue building up the barricades outside and increase the number of weapons kept on-hand. Which, if you recall from the last episode, were already pretty substantial, and included rifles, shotguns, and handguns.

David believed that the enemies of the church would someday come to get them, and began to organize guard shifts, which included not just men, but women. All would be trained to handle firearms of all sizes, and each were forced to exercise every day on a workout course he designed. They were also forced to eat the exact diet that he put forth, and forbidden from buying any other additional food, drinks, or snacks. Paranoid of people disobeying his rules, David even initiated regular searches of rooms to find any contraband.

Of course, when it came to the specific rules, David himself was exempt. After all, he was sacrificing all of his time and energy being a conduit for God.

Marc Breault later recalled to the Waco Tribune-Herald, using David's then-legal name to identify him:

"First, he was the only one allowed to eat meat. Then he was the only one allowed to drink Coke. Then he was the only one allowed to drink beer. The thing I noticed about Vernon is that whatever he was tempted with, eventually God would get around to saying it was all right for him to do."

Throughout this time, allegations were made that David and his followers were engaged in child abuse, which ranged from pretty typical child abuse such as spankings, into much more serious, systematic allegations that remain undetermined to this day.

Among the methods used for punishing children at the Mount Carmel Center was paddling; as in, the use of a paddle to spank children. The Branch Davidians prided themselves on never doing so out of anger, telling the child their punishment well ahead of time, and then giving themselves time to try and work through the anger, not wanting to strike the child out of pure frustration. While this is the party line, it's hard to say how well this policy was implemented, and whose definition of anger or frustration was used.

It's been said by many former members of the church that these punishments would be administered for the smallest of reasons: for something as major as hurting someone else, and for things as minor as spilling a glass of milk. And this punishment - padding - would be administered to all children, regardless of age. Allegations have been made over the years that children as young as eight months old were given this physical punishment, when they were simply took young to even know what they had done wrong.

JoAnn Vaega was six years old when her family left the Branch Davidian compound, and later told ABC News that she remembered being hit regularly:

"... as a kid, being disciplined was like a 24/7 thing...

"There's nothing that you could do right, is how I felt as a kid, that fear, that nothing you can do is going to be good enough. You're raised with just fear. Everywhere is fear."

In the same article, Dana Okimoto, who had a child with David, said that she had been told by David to beat their son with a paddle so hard that his bottom bled. As she recalled:

"If there was one thing I could take back, I would take back the spankings. I felt like the most evil person in the world to be beating my baby this way. But this was what God wanted and needed from me."

Parents of another child say that their kid, only eight months old at the time, was beaten so badly that their bottom was left bruised and bleeding afterward.

Other tactics for administering abuse included separating families, which came about in cases where David thought mothers or fathers were too soft on their children; or in cases in which he thought his children were forming closer bonds with their mothers or other relatives than himself. He would send these children to be parented by other adults in the group, oftentimes parents who already had children of their own to care for. This resulted in children being neglected during vital stages of childhood... or worse, being abused by adults that didn't have strong attachments to them and believed that administering stern physical punishment was necessary, as it had been dictated by God.

This act of removing children from families also fed into the communal living vibe of Mount Carmel, which is a system that David wanted to flourish, as it gave him more control and authority over the collective family unit. After all, if you thought that you could lose your children at any given moment to the group, wouldn't you be more inclined to listen to whatever he said?

Just in case you thought that David spared his own children from this type of abuse, you're sadly mistaken. It's been reported over the years that David subjected his eldest son Cyrus to the worst punishments of all, not just beating him from infancy but starving him for days when he misbehaved. He was also not opposed to psychologically mistreating Cyrus, locking him in the garage for a night and telling him that rats would eat him when he was just three years old.

Marc Breault, one of David's most trusted followers, recalled a particular incident from when the group was living in Palestine, Texas, which had stuck in his memory. He later recalled to reporters with the Waco Tribune-Herald:

"After 5 to 10 minutes, the cries became whimpers and Vernon would return. Then Cyrus would start crying again. Vernon would go back to the bus. You could hear the spanks from where we were."

Sadly, this type of corporal punishment was not the only kind of child abuse that David Koresh would become known for. That's after the break.

Robyn Bunds, born in 1969, grew up in Los Angeles to her somewhat-wealthy parents. She was not really what you'd expect from a Branch Davidian, as she wasn't particularly religious... despite her parents' adherence to the Branch Davidian faith.

Robyn was introduced to David Koresh - then calling himself Vernon Howell - through her family. Her parents were devoted followers of the Branch Davidian church, but from a distance. They had donated to the Roden family for years before Koresh took over as the new president, and when Robyn first met him, he'd really yet to take control.

At the time, he was still awkward, working through a lot of his speech impediments and haphazard thinking that led him to spin himself in circles trying to articulate a point. But after being sent to live with the Branch Davidians in Waco by her family, she began to admire Koresh for his ability to lead the congregation at such a young age. At the time, the Branch Davidians were wandering around in Palestine, Texas, having yet to return to Mount Carmel.

It was during this period that Robyn became a dedicated follower of David's. When she was just seventeen years old, the two had sex for the first time. Later speaking to the Waco Tribune-Herald, Robyn stated:

"Before, it was harmless. You sent tithes, had services. When Vernon came along, he totally changed it. He said you had to give him all your money. You had to live on the property. You had to give up everything else. You had to give him your mind... your body."

On August 5th, 1989, David came forward with a new sermon that he titled his "New Light." Like most of the other sermons he'd delivered over the past 6 or 7 years, it started with him stating that he was "The Lamb" from the Bible, destined to open up the Seventh Seal... yadda yadda yadda. What happened next surprised even his most ardent followers.

David announced that he was revoking all of the marriages within the Branch Davidian church.

With this announcement, David also proclaimed that all of the women within the church, essentially, belonged to him. They should - or would - become his wives. The men and women would then henceforth be separated, sent to live in separate dormitories, where they would only ever interact during Bible studies. Even then, they weren't really allowed to talk to each other, and were chastised if they attempted to do so.

David stated that he had been tasked by God to have 24 children, who would serve as the ruling elders in the Kingdom of David. Together, they would rule over Earth for a thousand years after Jesus Christ returned. In order for him to have these 24 children, he needed to have access to all of women in the church of child-bearing age. Per David's instructions, this also included all of the girls above the age of 12.

In an audio tape titled "The Foundation," which was later sent to Branch Davidians living abroad in Australia, David stated:

"Only the Lamb is to be given the job to raise up the seed of the House of David, isn't he?"

After his New Light revelation had been made, David stated that he needed to take all of the women in the church as his wives. Not just the single women, or the new arrivals, but all of the women involved in the church, including those that were already married. Those that were married had their marriages annulled in the eyes of the Lord, David proclaimed.

These women would become a part of the "House of David," who were, in essence, David's harem. They were explicitly forbidden from having sex with anyone else, not even their prior husbands, and were to bear David's children. In doing so, they became his "wives" in all but legalities.

In the same audio tape I mentioned a moment ago, entitled "The Foundation," David Koresh told his followers:

"You only have one seed that can deliver you from death... There's only one hard-on in this universe that really loves you and wants to say good things about you. Remember Mary and God - Yeah - God couldn't make any advances because the world would misjudge."

Based on Biblical prophecy, David stated that he was entitled to 60 wives and 80 concubines, believing that he was the antagonist from the Bible's Song of Solomon, which prophecized that he would have:

"...threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, and virgins without number."

One of his followers, David Bunds, later recalled to ABC News:

"David Koresh's justification for taking all of the women for himself was theological... he's the one that had the power, he's the one that had the authority to 'give the seed.'... So yeah, being a member of the House of David was [seen as] a privilege."

Sadly, as I've mentioned, this decision wasn't just handed down to all of the adult women in the group. With his New Light revelation, David Koresh stated that the girls aged 12 and above would be moved out of the dormitories they shared with their mothers, and into gender-segregated adult quarters. They were also to become members of the House of David, with David Bunds later recalling to Newsweek:

"It was an intrinsic part of his teachings that he would have sexual relations with young girls."

In that same article, David Bunds recalled a story where David Koresh laughed about having sex with one of these prepubescent girls, seeming to make light of how unprepared for sex she was with a grown man. Bunds recalled that Koresh joked about how he:

"... was having problems penetrating her, because she was so young and little. He told her to start using tampons, the kind that you insert in, to make herself larger."

This poor girl was Michelle Jones, and she was the younger sister of his first (legal) wife, Rachel. According to David, God had told him that Michelle was to have a daughter with him named Shoshanna, and their daughter was destined to rule the Kingdom of David alongside his firstborn son, Cyrus.

However, according to the telling, their first of many sexual encounters was not pleasant. Yet it was a story that David often joked about to other followers, with Robyn Bunds later recalling to the Waco Tribune-Herald:

"It was rape. When he describes it, he says (the girl) thought he was getting into bed to get warm. That's what he said. When he tried to pull down her panties, she tried to get him not to. She was 12 years old. She trusted him. He's her sister's husband. She was 12. I remember being 12. She resisted, but he kept going because he said God told him to. Psychologically, it's weird. But you got used to it. It was normal."

Michelle would later give birth to a daughter on February 3rd, 1989, when she was just 14 years old. Like other members of the Branch Davidian church, no father was listed on the birth certificate. She would end up having two more children with David a few years later.

Sadly, Michelle was not even the youngest girl selected to become a part of the "House of David."

Kiri Jewell, the daughter of one of David's wives (Sherri) later said that she was chosen by David to become one of his wives when she was just 10 years old. She later testified to Congress that she had been taken to a nearby motel, where she was left alone with David and forced to engage in sexual activity with him.

Sadly, David's proclamation that all of the girls and women in the church belonged to him went mostly unchallenged. In fact, many of those that were already close to David seemed to enable him, stating the same vile rhetoric that you likely hear variations of to this day ("that women grow up faster than boys" or that "it's okay for older men to have relations with younger, underage girls"). Look no further than Erline Clark, David's maternal figure, who told the Washington Post in 1993:

"He never raped anybody in his life... They grow up faster."

Many of the women and girls involved in the Branch Davidian church at this time would become pregnant. However, as was the case with Michelle Jones, no father would be listed on any of the birth certificates. David, the only male allowed to be with the women and girls, was quite obviously the father. But he was only legally married to one woman, Rachel Koresh, his first wife. If he was discovered to have married more - or even sired children under the guise of marriage - authorities would have been compelled to act against him for polygamy, of all things. Perhaps even child rape.

For that reason, it's still publicly unknown just how many children he had at the time. While we have a good idea - at least 12 - the exact number remains undetermined because only three had his name listed on their birth certificates (that being the three children he had with his first wife, a son named Cyrus and two daughters named Star and Bobbie). Jeannine Bunds, the mother of Robyn and another one of David's "wives," later told reporters and investigators that of the women that David impregnated, she had helped deliver at least seven children, which she estimated was roughly half of the children he had. Several were not even given birth certificates. Those that were had no father listed.

Later, many of the surviving followers would express remorse for not acting against David at this point in time, but almost none chose even speak up against him. David Bunds, one of these followers, told ABC News years later:

"It's sick and it's perverted and yeah, it's one of the things about David Koresh that probably bothers me the most. My position now is that David Koresh was a pedophile... I wish I would have done something. I don't know what I would have done but I wish I had done something."

After the "New Light" revelation had been made, David Koresh told his male followers that they were to give up all sexual thoughts. They weren't even to have relations with themselves, as it would cause them to dwell on "impure" thoughts. David told them that if they continued to serve him - and through extension, God - they would be rewarded with their perfect mates in Heaven, who would be created from one of their ribs, just as Eve had come from Adam.

These men were told not to even change the diapers of baby girls, for fear of them getting aroused. Which, if you ask me, seems to be a bigger tell of David Koresh being a perverted fuck than almost anything else in this story.

These men were instead meant to serve the group in other ways, and were given the nickname "Mighty Men," named after the Song of Solomon which described the guards who protected the bed of King Solomon from outside threats.

Over time, these men would begin to take on an increasingly-militarized role, with David becoming more concerned about the threats coming from outside of Waco. He made the men take up more and more patrols, and spend more of their time training with firearms for any potential conflict that would come their way. While George Roden hadn't ever really known what to do with Mount Carmel, his idea of essentially turning the compound into a fortress seems to have been one that David Koresh agreed with.

David would begin to joke that the evil army of Babylon, which he had been predicting for quite some time, would arrive any day now. Why, you may ask? Well, to stop him from being married to so many women, of course. As you can imagine, this joke was not received well among the men whose wives he had stolen.

After David's "New Light" sermon, some of the members of the church left; men and women who didn't want to give up their families to David. In the case of the men, they didn't want to give up their wives and children. In the case of women, they didn't want to give up their very lives. In either case, as the Waco Tribune-Herald wrote, the very notion of the "New Light" voided the most honored institution listed in the Bible, marriage, and was unholy at its core.

Among the individuals who left the church during this period was Marc Breault, David Koresh's most trusted and respected advisor, who had been living at the compound for years now. A few months prior, Marc had married an Australian woman named Elizabeth Baranyai, and he wasn't going to just give her up to David because he said so.

After delivering his "New Light" sermon for the first time, David reportedly took Marc aside and joked:

"So, Marc, how does it feel now that I'm stuck with Elizabeth?"

Marc had already sent Elizabeth away weeks prior, in order to begin establishing a new life for themselves away from the Branch Davidian church. A short time later, he would abandon the life he had built for himself there, but we'll catch up with Marc's story again in just a little bit.

At this point, I'm sure many of you are wondering: why? Why stick around at this point? Why continue dedicating even more of your life to this guy who clearly isn't acting out of some Godly mission, but clearly just his earthly desires?

Well, just take a step back and try to think about it from their perspectives. At this point, they've invested the entirety of their lives in David Koresh. If their souls were their life savings, they've gone all-in on the stock of David Koresh. They believe him to not just be a good man and a leader, but a literal conduit of God. They've thrown away their careers, their hobbies, their interests, their passions, even their families, to help this man achieve his ambitions. Which, by the way, he claims he's been personally given by God himself.

And when he asks you for just a little bit more... just one more sacrifice in order to put yourself ever close to God? Well, if you knew eternal salvation was on the line for you and everyone you loved... wouldn't you do it?

Also, recall that David had been separating families for quite some time, and did so to an extreme degree following his "New Light" revelation. From this point forward, men and women weren't allowed to confer with their spouses, because... they simply weren't married anymore. And their children were to be raised by the community, not just them. So the family unit that they may have once taken comfort in no longer existed.

Many of these men and women felt like they had no other choice. If they backed out now, not only would they have lost whatever time, energy, and resources they had invested in the church - in David Koresh - they would have also lost out on their only chance at salvation. Their chance to help build the Kingdom of David, which Jesus Christ, himself, would reign over for a thousand years, would be gone forever.

Also, if you're still having trouble thinking about why these people stuck around... I'd like you to think about all of the people in your life that you've thought about cutting off for having crazy or outlandish beliefs. Maybe you have a grandfather who started saying crazy shit about vaccines a few years back, or maybe your once-cherished sibling started getting really into Qanon a handful of years back. At what point do you cut them off entirely? It's not an easy decision to make for anyone.

On a similar note, what do you think would take that loved one of yours to give up their beliefs? The ideals that they hold close to their heart may be important to them, but it might not be nearly as important as the prospect of eternal salvation is. And that's what was on the line here.

So, throughout this entire saga, if you find yourself thinking that these people are crazy for continuing to believe in David Koresh... please don't write them off like that. It's easy for us to think that thirty years later, with all of the context given to us by pop culture and investigative journalism, but these were people that felt like they had everything to lose if they were wrong... and, sadly, they ended up putting their faith in someone that took advantage of them.

These aren't people to mock, they're people to pity. Because they and their children, above all, were the most tragic victims of David Koresh.

After leaving the church in 1989, Marc Breault struggled to figure out a path forward.

Marc had arrived in Waco and lived among the Branch Davidians for a few years. He always hated the conditions there, and grew resentful over David's hypocritical logic, giving himself special privileges that he denied to everyone else.

Eventually, just a few months before the "New Light" sermon, Marc had discovered that David was raping a thirteen year old girl that he had brought over to America from Australia, for the explicit purpose of having sex with. She wasn't even a member of the church. Shortly thereafter, Marc started planning his exit strategy, sending his new wife, Elizabeth Baranyai, back to her native Australia to begin building a home for them there. She would start earning money to pay for Marc to fly over, and he applied for an immigration visa to Australia at around the same time.

When David proclaimed his "New Light" revelation, Marc had confirmation that David - the man he had followed, who he once thought was a prophet - was nothing more than a wolf in sheep's clothing.

Marc attempted to dissuade members from continuing their association with the church, but had little luck with the followers back home in America. Believing that they were too far gone, Marc instead decided to try his luck with the Branch Davidians in Australia, where he now lived. In doing so, he tried to point out the gaps in David's teachings, which only caused David to take his sermons to the next step.

At around this point, David Koresh started proclaiming that he was the next version of Jesus Christ, a "Sinful Messiah," who could judge humans fairly because he, like all of us, had urges and baggage in his own life.

This cold war continued back and forth for several months, during which time Marc tried to erode the trust that the Branch Davidians in Australia had in David Koresh. This ultimately culminated in a Biblical duel in Australia, with David flying over to try and win over his followers once again. They had been wavering because of Marc's attempts to turn them away from David and prove he was a fraud. Thankfully, David's attempts to win them back were unsuccessful, and the Branch Davidians began turning away from the church (some from religion altogether).

From there, Marc would continue trying to turn members of the Branch Davidian church abroad against David. This included those at Mount Carmel, almost all of whom refused to hear him out. But Marc wouldn't give up on trying to find out if he could save any of them, especially the children, who weren't there of their own choice but were suffering just as much as anyone else, if not more so, because of their inability to understand the harm being directed at them.

Later, when speaking to the Waco Tribune-Herald, Marc stated:

"My primary reason for trying to help is the children. They have no one else to help them. If people say we were stupid, well, that may be true. But the children aren't."

As David Koresh and his following entered the 1990s, they continued trying to grow. But at this point, there were forces working against him. Not government agents conspiring to take him down... at least, not yet (we'll touch on that in the next episode). But, rather, forces of his own making; people that David Koresh had wronged in his quest to create the perfectly insular community that he could lord over.

First, there was David Jewell, a man from Michigan. You haven't heard his name yet, but you have heard the name Jewell. David Jewell had never been a part of the Branch Davidian church, but his ex-wife Sherri Jewell had. Some time beforehand, Sherri had gone down to Texas to join David, and eventually became one of his "wives," a woman in the so-called "House of David." Unfortunately, she had brought her daughter, Kiri, with her.

If you recall from earlier this episode, Kiri was just 10 years old when she was chosen to become another one of David's "wives." She had been marked by a Star of David pendant that she wore around her neck, which all of the women in the "House of David" wore after they had been chosen by David.

During his attempts to find an avenue to take down David Koresh, Marc Breault had reached out to David Jewell on a whim. During their first conversation, Marc broke the news to Jewell that his young daughter was being sexually abused by David Koresh, and this resulted in Jewell suing his ex-wife Sherri for custody of Kiri. Among the witnesses that testified in the subsequent trial was none other than Marc himself, who spoke about the abuse he had witnessed firsthand for years.

David and Sherri Jewell would eventually work out a joint custody agreement, but the judge overseeing the case ordered Sherri to never take Kiri around David Koresh ever again. This decision resulted in Sherri saying goodbye to her daughter forever and returning to Mount Carmel, where she felt a true calling.

This finally started to get the ball rolling on authorities paying attention to David Koresh. But sadly, it wasn't yet enough.

Then came Robyn Bunds, a woman whose name you have heard in this episode. She was one of David's first "wives," and was only 17 years old when David (then in his late 20s) slept with her. Over time, though, Robyn grew resentful of having to share David with the other women and girls in the church, having become just one of the many women he slept with... a vast number that included her own mother, Jeannine. Robyn later told reporters with the Waco Tribune-Herald:

"I've had his child. He's slept with my mother. I can't think of anything weirder. He doesn't even try to justify it. It's against the Levitical law in the Bible. Did you know that - It's against Levitical law to have a woman and her mother or a woman and her sister. He uses that law when it backs up something he had to say. But when it doesn't, he explains it away."

Robyn had a child with David, a son, and some time later, chose to leave the church of her own volition. In an attempt to get back at her, David attempted to withhold custody of their son, moving the child between California and Texas in order to avoid her.

This ultimately got the police involved, and David was ordered to give the child back. Hoping to avoid a more watchful eye, he complied. But for the first time, authorities became aware of the allegations being levied against David Koresh.

A child abuse investigation was eventually started by Texas Child Protection Services, having been spawned by allegations made by Marc Breault and others that child abuse was rampant throughout Mount Carmel. Even worse, Breault and others - including Robyn Bunds - alleged that David was having sex with underage girls, some of whom he had taken to be his "wives."

In response to the investigation, David Koresh asked one of his newest followers, David Thibodeau, to "marry" one of his youngest wives, Michelle Jones, who was still just a teenager at the time (and the sister of his first wife, Rachel). Thibodeau and Michelle wouldn't actually be married, mind you, and they wouldn't get to live as a couple or have a real relationship of any kind. But their relationship would be a paper marriage, to deflect attention away from David Koresh... and hopefully lead authorities to surmise that Michelle's three children might have been David Thibodeau's, not David Koresh's.

This decision proved to be a savvy one, as it not only helped refute the allegations that Michelle's children were his own, but helped enmesh David Thibodeau into the group. His marriage to Michelle Jones, while a sham, gave him more reason to stick around and care about the group. He later recalled to the Austin Chronicle in 1999:

"Whatever David's reasons were in marrying me to Michelle, it was a shrewd move. Somehow, being a husband, even in name only, settled me."

After the events that would follow, David Thibodeau would attempt to clear the air about many of the allegations made against David Koresh and the Branch Davidians. But in an interview with the Dallas Observer years later, he admitted:

"Koresh certainly was guilty of something. He was either a polygamist or he was guilty of statutory rape. Probably both."

In the years since, some have cited this closed investigation by CPS as proof that the allegations against David Koresh were baseless, rooted in nothing more than jealous rage by his ex-followers. However, evidence would come out later that gave proof to the allegations, with many of the child survivors from Waco going on to be treated by Dr. Bruce Perry, a noted figure in the true crime world.

Dr. Perry, a clinical psychiatrist, specializes in childhood trauma and is one of the forefront experts in the field. He was also married to Arlis Perry, a woman who was murdered, and whose story I covered in one of the earliest episodes of Unresolved years ago.

While treating the children, Dr. Perry noted behavioral and emotional trauma tied directly to their time spent living at the Mount Carmel Center. In an interview with ABC News in 2018, Dr. Perry noted:

"They had a pervasive belief that David Koresh was God... David was not to be questioned... A set of young girls had been designated to become his brides. And they were disappointed this wasn't going to happen."

In conversations with these survivors, Dr. Perry found:

"While we watched them, we learned a lot about the belief system of the Davidians. One of the things that all of these kids had learned to do, even the really young kids, was march and handle a gun... Younger kids would draw a picture of the compound with fire coming out of it and I'd say, 'What's that?' and they'd say, 'That's none of your business. You'll find out.'"

In February of 1993, the first real in-depth expose focused in on David Koresh and the Branch Davidians living at the Mount Carmel Center was published by the Waco Tribune-Herald. Titled "The Sinful Messiah," the seven-part series had been written by journalists Mark England and Darlene McCormick, and featured interviews with many of the people I've quoted from in this episode, including Marc Breault and Robyn Bunds.

As I mentioned, this series was first published in the waning days of February 1993, much to the chagrin of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, who had unsuccessfully tried to push back the publication of the series at least a day or more.

You see, the ATF, as it was known, was in the midst of organizing an operation that was, at the time, the largest in its organization's history. An operation that would end up defining this story decades later. This was a raid that was planned to go forward the following morning , February 28th, 1993.

Despite the publication of "The Sinful Messiah" that Saturday, officials moved forward with the half-baked plan for the raid early that Sunday. And, as they would discover, the Branch Davidians had a good idea they were coming...