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04/25/93
53 bodies found so far at cult site; official says 2 have gun wounds
By David McLemore / The Dallas Morning News
WACO-From a distance of 200 yards, it's hard to see that people are working amid a tomb.
Saturday, Texas Rangers and state and federal technicians continued efforts to glean evidence from the ruins of the Branch Davidian compound east of Waco.
Investigators from the Tarrant County medical examiner's office have accounted for 53 bodies in the compound's ashes, many of them burned away to dust and bone.
The examiner, Dr. Nizam Peerwani, said autopsies indicated that two people, a man and woman, found side by side died of a single gunshot wound each to the head. He declined to speculate on when they died or whether they were suicide or homicide victims.
Three others died of smoke inhalation and carbon monoxide poisoning, and the cause of death of a fourth person was undetermined pending a toxicology report, he said Saturday at a news conference.
No identifications have been made, but that is expected soon.
Dental records have been received on 15 people, including those of cult leader David Koresh from age 15. Mr. Koresh was 33 years old at the time of the fire.
Eighty-six people-as many as 17 of them children-apparently died in the blaze that swept the compound Monday afternoon. The FBI injected tear gas that morning trying to break their standoff with the sect.
Forty-four bodies, including the charred remains of a woman who still clutched her small child to her body, have been taken to Fort Worth to begin the laborious task of identification.
Previously, Dr. Peerwani said he had seen no evidence of any shootings. His disclosure of the two gunshot-wound victims comes days after the FBI said some Branch Davidians may have shot and killed other followers, possibly to prevent them from escaping.
Agents said they also could have been suicide victims or hit by ammunition exploding in the heat. Agents said they did not fire any weapons Monday before the compound fire.
In other developments Saturday:
* An attorney for one of the survivors told The Dallas Morning News that sect members believed Mr. Koresh would surrender after he finished his religious tract. The FBI called Mr. Koresh's writings and promise of surrender a stalling tactic.
Houston lawyer Dan Cogdell said Clive Doyle, being treated at Parkland Memorial Hospital, said "it was (Mr. Doyle's) understanding that Koresh was going to surrender after he finished. . . . He said that was everybody's understanding on the issue.'
* Members of the Seventh-day Adventist Church of Waco held a memorial service, joined by Michael Morrison and Samuel Henry of Manchester, England. The Branch Davidians split from the Adventists long ago.
Mr. Morrison said his sister and niece died in the fire, and Mr.
Henry said he lost his wife and five children, from 19 to 28 years.
"The people in Waco do care, gentlemen. Our hearts go out to you,' the Rev. Larry Guinn said.
Bunker searched
In Waco, reporters were taken to within 200 yards of the compound.
Work crews, some wearing gas masks, cleared a 150-foot arc around the scorched concrete bunker that served as an ammunition dump at the base of the compound's watchtower. They then shored up the damaged building to continue the risky job of removing ammunition piled "thigh-deep' inside.
Besides those that have been recovered, five other bodies remain in the shallow graves where they were placed after the Feb. 28 raid in which four agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms were gunned down.
But the immensity of the violence and sudden death that claimed so many lives after the 51-day siege still hangs over the sect home.
At a Saturday briefing, Chuck McDonald, a spokesman for Gov. Ann Richards who is helping the Texas Department of Public Safety, began giving out sparse information.
"Last Monday, like so many people, my family and I watched the fire burning on TV,' Mr. McDonald said. "Afterwards, we sat and talked about what happened. My son, Patrick, my 8-year-old, began crying. He wanted to know why the children had to die.'
Mr. McDonald's voice choked as he fought for composure. "There
wasn't a lot I could tell him. I said, "Patrick, whatever happened,
those children are in a better place.' '
`Crazy things'
Again, in a silent room, Mr. McDonald's voice broke: "Adults do crazy things. But children have no control over what happens in their lives.
"When I first walked up to that crime scene, I thought about my kids. I think now I have a better appreciation for my family, for my kids.'
There were no questions.
Three dozen Texas Rangers have been assigned to six sections of
the compound, an area roughly the size of a city block, to gather evidence, catalog it via computer store it for possible legal action.
The Justice Department has also called on the services of the Allegheny County, Pa., fire marshal and Onyx, his 4-year-old black Labrador retriever, one of only 25 such dogs in the country trained to sniff out fuels used as accelerants in arson fires.
Onyx sat patiently while her boss, Fire Marshal John Kaus, said, "Onyx will prove to be invaluable in this case in that she can cut the investigation time three to four hours a day just in the amount of ground she can cover.'
In Dallas, Mr. Doyle, 52, one of nine Branch Davidians who escaped the fire, was in good condition with burns on hands and arms. Other sect members at Parkland, Misty Ferguson, 16, and, Marjorie Thomas, 30, were in critical condition Saturday.
Four others are being held in the McLennan County Jail and one remained hospitalized in Waco.
According to his attorney, Mr. Doyle said people inside the compound couldn't understand FBI instructions to flee, amplified from speakers surrounding the complex, the FBI has said.
The message was unintelligible because the speakers were out of sync, Mr. Doyle told his attorney. The instructions coming from one bank of speakers was delayed by one or two seconds from the message coming from another set, Mr. Cogdell said.
Staff writers Larry Bleiberg and Karen Lincoln Michel contributed to this report.
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