29 Facts About David Koresh

David Koresh was an American cult leader who played a central role in the Waco siege of 1993.

Some details of David 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.

David Koresh 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.

In July 1965, not long before David Koresh turned six, a half-brother, Roger, arrived; a few weeks later, the Haldeman family set up home in Richardson, Texas.

Matters improved after about the age of 12, when David Koresh became interested in sport, which he was good at, and developed his physique.

David Koresh tried various jobs, but was either fired from or abandoned each of them.

David Koresh never saw the resulting daughter: the teenage mother thought him unfit to be a father, so she moved away and refused to see him.

David Koresh 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.

David 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 David Koresh to begin teaching his own message, called "The Serpent's Root", which caused controversy in the group.

When David Koresh announced that God had instructed him to marry Rachel Jones, a period of calm ensued at the Mount Carmel Center, but it proved only temporary.

David Koresh said the prophecies of Daniel would be fulfilled in Waco and that the Mount Carmel Center was the Davidic kingdom.

Roden said he was just moving the cemetery, while David Koresh claimed that Roden had issued a challenge to resurrect the body.

David Koresh went to authorities to file charges against Roden for illegally exhuming a corpse, but was told he would have to show proof.

David 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.

David Koresh's group was discovered by Roden, and a gunfight broke out.

At the trial, David Koresh explained that he went to the Mount Carmel Center to uncover evidence of criminal disturbance of a corpse by Roden.

David Koresh's followers were acquitted, and in David Koresh's case, a mistrial was declared.

Roden claimed the man was sent by David Koresh to kill him.

David Koresh was judged insane and confined to a psychiatric hospital at Big Spring, Texas.

David Koresh is the Biblical name of Cyrus the Great, a Persian king who is named a messiah for freeing Jews during the Babylonian captivity.

In one widely reported incident, ex-members claimed that David 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.

Finally, the FBI's justification for forcing an end to the 51-day stand-off was predicated on the charge that David Koresh was abusing children inside the Mount Carmel Center.

David Koresh said that Koresh had fathered at least 15 children with various women and girls, and that she had personally delivered seven of these infants.

On March 3,1993, during negotiations to secure the release of the remaining children, David 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.

David Koresh is buried at Memorial Park Cemetery, Tyler, Texas, in the "Last Supper" section.

David Koresh is portrayed by Taylor Kitsch in the 2018 miniseries Waco.

David Koresh was 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.

David Koresh was one of the sources of inspiration used to create the fictional cult leader Salem Koresh in the 2021 action-adventure video game Outriders.