The 51-day standoff between the federal government and the Branch Davidians cult on Netflix's 'Waco: American Apocalypse' was nothing short of horrible. After all, owing to the way religious leader David Koresh handled the situation, it resulted in the deaths of 86 largely innocent people, including four ATF officers, as well as 82 group members, including 28 young children.
David Koresh: How Many Wives and Children Did He Have?
Although David joined Branch Davidians at the age of 22, he was able to persuade its then-leader Lois Roden that he had the exceptional gift of prophecy within two years. He was thus allowed to begin preaching his new light message to the sect, only to soon allege God had chosen him to father a child by Lois despite her being a late-60-year-old widower. Yet, when he was 25, he declared that he needed to marry Rachel Jones
Rachel was just 14 when David proposed their union, but her long-time loyal family reportedly agreed to it without any issues, resulting in her becoming David's first and only legal wife. The couple then welcomed three wonderful children into their lives, including Cyrus Joseph Howell (March 20, 1985), Star Hadassah Howell (April 6, 1987), and Bobbie Layne Koresh (December 14, 1991). However, by the time their youngest was born, the head had already enacted his teachings not only to accept other
According to documentary series, David had a "revelation that he was supposed to have other wives." At first, he took single girls, but then the revelation developed, and he was supposed to take all his followers' marriages [if he wanted them]." Yet the most shocking aspect remains that most of these "wives" were underage girls.
Michele Marie Jones Thibodeau (Rachel's sister), Dana Okimoto, Nicole Elizabeth Gent Little, Sherri Jewell, Kiri Jewell (Sherri's daughter plus the 10-year-old "wife"), Robyn Bunds, Katherine Grace Andrade, among others.
Except for Cyrus and Star, he had Sky Okimoto, David Lord Gent, Dayland Lord Gent, Serenity Sea Jones, Mayanah Songbird Schneider, Latwan "Little One" Jones, Chica Jones, Pages Kara Brittani, Chanel Andrade, and Baby Summers, all of whom died in the devastating April 19, 1993, fire that slain their entire community of Mt. Carmel Center in Texas.
