This early picture of the children of the Henry family was published in Newsweek, May 17, 1993, pg. 50. All five—Diana, Paulina, Vanessa, Phillip, and Stephen—were killed during the Waco Holocaust.

We have noted before that, when talking about the numbers and identities of the Branch Davidians at the Mt. Carmel Center, the government's numbers do not add up. The death toll is a case in point.

We have also seen contemporaneous newspaper accounts that 14 Branch Davidians died the first day, and many more were injured (e.g., The Dallas Morning News, March 3, 1993: "Negotiations with cult drag on: 14 may be dead in compound; Group's leader fails to give up as promised"). We have noted no newspapers carried reports of injured persons coming out during the siege.

On April 22 several newspapers across the country quoted the FBI to the effect that 86 Branch Davidians died during the fire.

The Branch Davidian compound became a hell on Earth Monday as David Koresh ordered his followers to set fire to their home, federal officials said. An estimated 86 sect members, including 17 children, were believed to have died in the blaze. (Source: The Dallas Morning News, April 20, 1993, "Koresh vowed not to give in; ATF cites Feb. 28 statement")

The FBI's list of Davidians was published at the same time as that statement, but the FBI could name only 55 people who might have died in the fire. Since the recovery and identification of bodies did not start until April 22, where did the FBI get the number "86"?

Eighty-six is a slang (or mobster) euphemism for murder.

3. (U.S.) to kill, to murder; to execute judicially. (Source: Cassell's Dictionary of Slang, pg. 474, Jonathon Green)

In James Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible of the Bible (published 1890), he included a Lexicon of Hebrew and Greek terms found in the original documents, numbering each for ease of reference by scholars not conversant in those languages. By eerie coincidence (or not), Strong's G86 (ᾅδης) is Hades, the Greek realm of the dead and the Greek deity of death itself. (Source: Blue Letter Bible). It may be a stretch, but when nothing makes sense, only nonsense remains.

With all those agents involved for all those weeks, you might think the FBI could get the names and numbers right—but you'd be wrong. The list of 55 people "unaccounted for" includes Michael Schroeder, who was caught trying to enter Mt. Carmel on February 28, 1993, several hours after the initial raid. Though the reason for his presence outside Mt. Carmel might be disputed, his death was never a mystery: He was shot to death by federal agents, while the two men who were with him were arrested and jailed. Schroeder's body was left on the ground until March 3, when it was recovered by federal agents.

At 1:50 p.m., the body of Michael Schroeder was recovered by agents in a wooded area near the compound. Schroeder had been shot by ATF agents on February 28 when he and two other individuals ambushed the agents. (Source: Dept. of Justice, pg. 39)

Michael Schroeder was never "unaccounted for."

The name "Jillane Matthews" is another problem. It is listed as "unaccounted for" on the FBI list, but that is the first and last time such a person is mentioned; she is not on any list of the dead and did not leave during the siege. Thus of the 55 names of persons on the "unaccounted for" list, three died in February, one was possibly fictitious—that left 51 names available for fire victims.

After counting some deaths that didn't happen and omitting some deaths that did, then inflating the number by half again, the FBI arrived at the magical death count of 86. Maybe the number was just a "Bat Signal" projected on the clouds, a message and a warning to anyone who can read the code.

===

The FBI's death toll published in The Washington Times is produced in FBI List of Mt. Carmel Residents, April 21, 1993. That list has been formatted for readability. (See Vol. II). That FBI list named:

With all those agents involved for all those weeks, you might thing the FBI could get the names and numbers right. But you'd be wrong.

That "information" is yet another piece of disinformation and an attempt to confuse.

The "unaccounted for," by definition, must be those people who were lost in the fire. Yet there were only 55 names in that list, not 86. Of those 55 "unaccounted for" names, three were "reportedly" killed in February. Among those is the name of Michael Schroeder.  Yet Michael Schroeder had been killed in an open field outside the Mt. Carmel Center—the Texas Rangers/FBI had authority over the body since February 28. There was no "reportedly" about it: Michael Schroeder was dead.

At 1:50 p.m., the body of Michael Schroeder was recovered by agents in a wooded area near the compound. Schroeder had been shot by ATF agents on February 28 when he and two other individuals ambushed the agents. (Source: Dept. of Justice, pg. 39)

Here we have an evolving story:

Death Toll—Other Media Reports

The news services provide us with additional death toll information and numbers.

FBI Blamed Koresh for Discrepancies

The FBI blamed David Koresh for the discrepancies, saying that Koresh gave them false information on the number of people in the Mt. Carmel Center. Yet, as we have seen, the FBI had

  1. surveillance devices
  2. undercover operatives
  3. the Davidians who left during the siege

—all of those were available to furnish the identities of those in the Center at the time of the April 19 fire. There was no reason at all for the FBI or anyone else to consult David Koresh or rely on his information.

Death Toll—Branch Davidian and Dept. Of Justice Reports

According to Branch Davidian fire survivor Clive Doyle, 82 Branch Davidians died between the days of February 28 and April 19, 1993 (Clive Doyle's Complete List of Mt. Carmel Deaths). That number includes six Davidians killed on February 28.

The Dept. Of Justice Report (Redacted Version), published on October 8, 1993, states that 75 persons died during the fire. At the time of publication, many of the remains were unidentified.

Death Toll—The Inquest List of Judge Collier,
McLennan County Justice of the Peace,

We now turn to the McLennan County List ("Waco ID's") obtained from the office of Justice of the Peace in McLennan County. The handwriting on that List was present when the Museum received the document and the significance is not known. Note that no organizational name appears on the List. The Doe Numbers are listed in the left column, followed by the identity assigned to the remains, the identification method, the date of identification, and comments.

While reviewing the McLennan County List, the reader should be warned that the methods used in tracking the remains during the forensic process were inconsistent. For example:

The Davidian names Paulina Henry, Lisa Marie Martin, Jillane Matthews, Startle Summers, and Doris Vaega are not found in the McLennan County Inquest list.

Collated Identification Matrix

The Collated Identification Matrix is a collation of lists of Mt. Carmel casualties from the different sources. The primary source is the McLennan County List list. That information is collated with the Autopsy Reports and Inquest Certificates provided by Judge Collier's office. Also included is the information from the Report to the Deputy Attorney General on the Events at Waco, Texas (cached), the FBI list, Clive Doyle's list, and trial testimony.

By default, this list is sorted by MC Doe number. The reader can sort the list by surname, given name, method of identification, or date of identification by clicking on the header of the column.

Linked to each MC Doe number is a page with the autopsy report and death certificate for the individual. In May 1996, Judge James Collier confirmed by telephone that, since the issue of that matrix, no additional identifications had been established.

-->