Born Vernon Wayne Howell in Houston, Texas, in 1959 to a fifteen-year-old single mother, David Koresh never knew his father and was raised by his grandparents. From a young age, the high school dropout was interested in the Bible and music. In 1981 Koresh joined the Branch Davidians, a religious sect which in 1935 had settled ten miles outside of Waco. The Branch Davidians were a" renegade sect of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, which had formally denounced the separatist group. In 1987 Koresh and the group's leader, George Roden, engaged in an armed power struggle in which Roden was shot. Koresh was tried for attempted murder. However, the trial judge declared a mistrial when the jury was unable to reach a verdict Later the same year, Koresh assumed control over Mt Carmel, and in 1990 he legally changed his name to Koresh. Reflecting his messianic mission, .Koresh is...