
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, May 4, 1993                   TAG: 9305040174
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WACO, TEXAS                                LENGTH: Medium

KORESH'S BODY SERVES AS CLUE IN CULT DEATHS

Investigators will test David Koresh's remains to try to find out whether he was alive when fire engulfed his religious cult's compound or was shot to death earlier.

Among other questions authorities are trying to answer is whether Koresh shot himself or someone else shot him as the cult's 51-day standoff with federal agents drew to an end.

"The gunfire told us somebody was getting shot. Just who and why is the question," Jeff Jamar, the FBI agent in charge during the standoff, said Monday.

On Sunday, authorities said X-rays and dental records proved that a charred body and fragmented skull were the remains of the 33-year-old Koresh.

Toxicology tests will be used to determine how much carbon monoxide laced his body. The higher the level, the greater the likelihood Koresh was alive when fire engulfed the compound April 19.

Preliminary findings showed Korseh died of a gunshot wound in the forehead, Justice of the Peace David Pareya said. He said he did not know whether any weapons were found near the body.

All six cult members identified publicly by authorities had been shot in the head.

"Some people may have been trying to get out," Jamar said, as speculation. "Maybe they were shot."

Nine Branch Davidians escaped the burning compound. They told lawyers that Koresh was alive when FBI agents started pummeling the compound with tear gas. They said he spent his final hours making sure women and children were wearing gas masks properly.

"Fire is by far the most horrifying death any of us can imagine," said Balenda Ganem, whose son, David Thibodeau, survived. "As to what any of us would do when confronting something of the magnitude of a fire, who's to say what any person would do?"

On Monday, Los Angeles Police Chief Willie L. Williams, former chief Watergate prosecutor Henry S. Ruth Jr. and University of Southern California professor Edwin O. Guthman were selected to review the Treasury Department's internal investigation.

Ruth served on the commission that investigated the fatal standoff in Philadelphia with the MOVE cult. Guthman, a Pulitzer Prize winner, formerly was editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer.

by CNB