3 Eye-Opening Quotes From One of David Koresh’s Wives in ‘Waco: American Apocalypse’
Waco: American Apocalypse premieres on Netflix on March 22. From director Tiller Russell (Night Stalker: The Hunt for a Serial Killer), the three-part documentary series explores the definitive account of what happened in Waco, Texas in 1993 when cult leader David Koresh faced off against the federal government in a bloody 51-day siege. Kathy Schroeder, one of Koresh’s many wives, is featured prominently in the Netflix docuseries. Below are three quotes from Russell’s latest Netflix show that give some insight into what it was like living as a Branch Davidian.
[SPOILER ALERT: Spoilers ahead regarding Waco: American Apocalypse.]
Hear from the people inside of and surrounding Mount Carmel in ‘Waco: American Apocalypse’
Each 50-minute episode of Waco: American Apocalypse is driven by intimate and revealing interviews with people from all sides of the conflict. These interviews include one of David Koresh’s spiritual wives, Schroeder. The docuseries also contains interviews with the last child released from the compound alive.
There are also interviews with the people who were working outside of Mount Carmel, including a sniper from the FBI Hostage Rescue Team. Others interviewed for the Netflix series include the FBI Crisis Negotiation Unit Chief, key journalists covering the story, and members of the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) tactical team who watched their colleagues die in the 1993 shootout.
Kathy Schroeder justifies David Koresh having sex with children in the Netflix series
The Branch Davidians believed Koresh was the second coming of Jesus Christ. Throughout their time living under his belief system, many of the women left their husbands to be with Koresh. He believed he had total control over all women on Earth. Schroeder was one of those women, who described sex with Koresh as a “bible study.”
“The whole time [Koresh and I] were having sex, it was a bible study,” Schroeder says in episode 2 of Waco: American Apocalypse. “He did it to give me that one little bit of tenderness with my God.”
Later in the episode, Schroeder addresses Koresh having sex with minors as young as 10. “People think that a man having sex with a bunch of underage girls is a crime,” Schroeder said. “And in conventional wisdom, that could probably be very well true. However, these weren’t underaged girls because you come of age at 12 [in Branch Davidism].”
Waco, Texas shooting happened 30 years ago from February 28 to April 19, 1993
The conflict at Koresh’s Mount Carmel compound began with the biggest gunfight on American soil since the Civil War on February 28, 1993. The siege ended with a fiery inferno captured live on national television on April 19. For nearly two months, the stand-off at Waco riveted TV viewers across the globe and became the biggest news story in the world at the time.
Released to coincide with the 30th anniversary of this national tragedy, Waco: American Apocalypse features exclusive access to recently unearthed videotapes filmed inside the FBI Crisis Negotiation Unit, raw news footage never released to the American public, and FBI recordings. “Since this story first erupted thirty years ago, it’s fascinated the world as an iconic and tragic moment in American history,” Russell said in a statement to the press.
“A prophetic leader with an apocalyptic vision, a fierce debate over the right to bear arms, and testing the constitutional limits of religious freedom—it has powerful and provocative elements that still reverberate today. The details of what happened during the 51-day stand-off are complex and often ferociously debated, but rather than assigning blame or pointing fingers, we tried to treat it from a deeply humanist perspective—focusing on what it feels like for people on all sides to be caught in the maws of history.”
Tiller Russell
86 people died in the Waco siege; Kathy Schroeder says ‘that’s acceptable’
When authorities moved in on Mount Carmel in February 1993, four ATF agents were killed. Meanwhile, six members of Koresh’s religious sect died. After 51 days of negotiating, the final assault on Waco took place. Sixteen more ATF agents were wounded on April 19. Meanwhile, 76 people inside of Mount Carmel including women, children, and Koresh, died.
“Watching everybody I know die was painful but acceptable,” Schroeder says in episode 3 of Waco: American Apocalypse. Another one of Koresh’s followers David Thibodeau said those people “died for their God” that day.
